Joel Berry vs Sawyer (3/9/20)

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast. Tune in to The Drive weekday afternoons 3 to 7 on Sports Hub Triad. I'm gonna take the hotter, looser, more confident team. I like the Tar Heels to upset the Blue Devils inside Cameron and Dorr. This game means more to North Carolina than it does Duke.

I expect North Carolina to jump out on the Blue Devils the same way NC State did last Monday and I think they're gonna hold on to a leap. I thought the craziest Duke Carolina image I'd have this year was Walker Miller hitting a go-ahead free throw in overtime at the Smith Center. However, that is now trumped by Justin baby Admiral Robinson being the difference in a Duke Carolina game. It's simple, without him Duke loses.

With him and his 13 points when Duke wins the game by, you guessed it, 13 points. And I think where he helped most was on the defensive end. Other than Vernon Carey, he was Duke's best defense against a North Carolina 2-big lineup. Javon Delaurier, Matt Hurt, Jack White, it was also his senior night, they couldn't stay on the floor. Brooks and Armando Bacot, they were dominant, combining for 39 points and 15 rebounds. 39 points and 25 rebounds, excuse me.

J-Rob had four blocks on his senior night in addition to those 13 points and the way he scored those 13 points, Robert, might have been the craziest part. He pulled a North Carolina defender to the three-point line because early on he hits a couple of threes and then in the second half he hit some triples. He was four of six from three, the rest of Duke was six of fifteen. In the second half he had the three that put Duke ahead 77-67. North Carolina the rest of the way, they wouldn't get to that mark, it was with less than five minutes left to go.

That really felt like a dagger, it broke North Carolina's will. It's no longer a what-if for Duke, like Duke is not a great three-point shooting team. They entered the game 96th in the country from three, so they needed something from out there and it's just strange to say that J-Rob provided it and it wasn't a one-off. Over the last four games, Justin Robinson is seven of twelve from three-point range. He's the latest example of Coach K having intuition and it paying off and it happening very late in the year. Brian Zubek, his role expanding starting in the month of February during that Duke Championship year in 2010. Grayson Allen in 2015, Coach K just misses a player for the first time, that was Rashid Suleiman.

Grayson Allen's minutes goes up as a result and without Allen against Wisconsin in that championship game, Coach K and Duke do not have their fifth title. Last year Jordan Goldwire, not playing at all. Then against Louisville, he plays in the second half of that game, sparks the big comeback, they went at the Yum Center against North Carolina in the semi-final last year. That classic that ended with Zion's second jump and that put-back. Duke's not in that position without Goldwire, who played terrific defense that night at Charlotte.

He played 28 minutes in the game. So Justin Robinson, he's just the latest of Coach K developing a player and having intuition went to insert him into the lineup and these last four games he's been very good for Duke. Not just good for J-Rob Standard, very good for the Blue Devils in general, which today is the number 10 team in America and the latest AP poll. This was Coach K after the game talking about J-Rob's emergence. Justin Robinson has been a godsend for us. He had his fingerprints on every aspect of the game tonight. You know, in his four blocks, but he helped change some shots, rebounds, and we were able to execute down the stretch with him making a few assists.

That's Coach K, your thoughts are welcome. 336-777-1600. Robert Walsh, the producer of this show.

Aaron Gabriel, he's in the house as well as an assistant producer. Brendan Marks gonna be here to talk about Duke, North Carolina, NC State's chances, the ACC tournament which begins tomorrow in Greensboro after a five-year absence. Again, your thoughts welcome at 777-1600. Let's go to Ed in Winston-Salem who wants in on the North Carolina end of things. I think J-Rob was the difference in this game for Duke. Ed, what do you got after the Tar Heels drop both regular season games to Duke?

You hit the nail on the head. Justin Robinson was definitely the expect to reside scoring, you know, 13 points. I think he had four blocks, you know, several rebounds, and then Carolina inconsistency shooting the ball 40% from the field, 33 from three-point range, and then Duke, this was really a big shocker just beating them down the court. I know at least five or six times, you know, on transition baskets getting easy layups or dunks, and in the second half I believe they may have had another two or three, but Duke was a better team on that, and if I could let me ask you a quick question, Josh.

Yeah, what's that? Duke is, I know will be in Greensboro for the first two rounds, but right now both bracketologists Palm and Leonardi both have them number three seat in the Midwest behind Duke and Creighton. Do you think that'll happen or do you think if they would win out in the ACC they could see in the East? Yeah, it's interesting.

Thank you for the phone call, Ed. You said they're behind Duke and Creighton. I think you're talking about Duke here if I have it correct. They're number 10 right now in the AP poll, and it looks like to me that unless they get to the championship game, Duke, they're not gonna be even on the two line. I think they're gonna be a three because their first game is gonna be against either NC State, Wake Forest, or Pittsburgh. I don't think just one win there is gonna be enough to propel you. The big question is if they go up against in the second round, who would it have been? It would be Florida State in the second round. If they face them and beat the Seminoles, who right now are number four, is that gonna be enough for them to climb in the pole even if they lose to say Louisville in the championship game? I think it would be close, but I understand what Leonardi and Palm are thinking in that regard having Duke on the three line.

I want to shift things to something that happened just drastically this weekend. In the NBA LeBron James faced Milwaukee and the Clippers this weekend. The entire Lakers did too. It wasn't just LeBron James, but LeBron was terrific in both games. Giannis, he got a little nicked up Friday night and yesterday LeBron in game 61 or 62 for the Lakers, you could tell it really mattered to him to beat the Clippers after losing the first two. Also it seems like he really wants to be involved in this MVP race that everybody said was wrapped up even two weeks ago for Giannis to win back-to-back years. I think LeBron is gonna win the MVP eventually if these paces continue because his story is stronger than Giannis's. You might think that sounds crazy, especially if you're a basketball nerd and look at the analytics. Giannis, he has LeBron in pretty much every single statistical category.

However, while Giannis has the stats, LeBron has the emotional appeal. Johnny Cochran, I think, said in the 90s it's not about when you're defending a case. It's not about just presenting the facts. It's about telling a story and whoever story wins or whoever story is better will likely win the case. That's how he said he won the OJ trial.

He told a better story than the the attorneys on the other side did. LeBron James here hasn't won the MVP in several years. He didn't make the playoffs last year, his first year with the Lakers. The Lakers haven't been to the playoffs in a half dozen years.

It's his 17th season. The Lakers are in first place. Maybe the most beloved Los Angeles Laker, not named Magic Johnson, passed away tragically two months ago and the Lakers have dedicated this season to Kobe Bryant.

LeBron, he's having an amazing year and also it feels like the fact that Giannis won last year is gonna be used against him. It's hard to win awards back-to-back year. I think Tony Bennett in the ACC did a better coaching job than Leonard Hamilton did, but Leonard Hamilton was a better story. FSU had never won an outright ACC championship, which they clinched this weekend in the regular season. Leonard Hamilton didn't make the NCAA tournament his first six years in Tallahassee.

It was a full rebuilding job. Tony Bennett won last year. I thought Tony Bennett did a better job, but he doesn't win the award.

Leonard Hamilton is a better story. Like in the Oscars, if you've won the award before, that's gonna hurt you when you're facing somebody who is a better story. Even though LeBron's won it four times, it's been such a long time that it almost feels like he hasn't. Ah, Giannis, he's still very young. He's gonna have all these years to win it.

You're gonna hear that expression. It's gonna be a part of the news cycle. Giannis has the stats, but LeBron has the story, he has the emotional appeal, he has the narrative on his side, and Vegas has taken notice. Two weeks ago, Giannis was a runaway favorite to win the MVP. LeBron, he was at plus 1,500. Even on Friday, going into the game against Milwaukee, he was plus 1,100. Now LeBron's odds are all the way up to plus 300. While Giannis, who was minus 700, he's down to minus 200.

I don't mean to get into all the Vegas lingo, I hope I'm not talking over anybody's head here, but it's now gotten razor-thin. And I think if things are close, which I expect them to be now, going down the stretch the final four weeks of the season, narrative and story are gonna play a role, and LeBron's story is better than Giannis's. Today is finally the day of the great Joel Berry-Sawyer-Dillon 2K showdown. It's gonna happen here in our studio. I'll give you my pick for this game. I'll give you a... I'll somehow come up with a point spread since we were just talking about Vegas. I'll conjure one of those and I'll react to the rest of the ACC Awards next on The Drive.

No mercy, no pity, no fear. You're on The Drive with Josh Graham. I think it's just a matter of just being more efficient with my play and just being a smarter basketball player overall. Coach Williams, Coach Davis, Coach Rob, Coach Fred, everybody just all just helped me become a smart player.

That was Cole Anthony in the Cameron Indoor Stadium visiting locker room following Duke beating North Carolina by 13 points. We're being joined by another great North Carolina point guard, Joel Berry, kind enough to spend time with us here in studio from the Greensboro Swarm. And that question was in response to how he grew as a player since he returned from injury when many people said that, hey, maybe it's best for you to just pursue the NBA draft, not return to Chapel Hill. I think his play over the last month has kind of taught us that it was the right move. There is a thing or two you can learn playing for a Hall of Fame basketball coach like Roy Williams. Like give me a sense, Joel, some of the areas year to year playing for Coach Williams you got better in at the point guard spot. Yeah, one of the biggest things for me was valuing the ball. Being a point guard, you know, you want to set your team up and be able to put your team in the best position to get a basket. So from my freshman year all the way into my senior year, I think each year I got better in the assist to turnover ratio. And I think that's the biggest thing for me that I improved on and that's just something that the point guard needs to have. And with Coach Williams, he helped me with that and also with the assistant coaches and me just being more comfortable. But that was the biggest thing for me.

It's so interesting you bring that up. That's exactly what Kobe White brought up at this time a year ago where he wasn't considered to be a draft pick at all and then he's picked in the lottery, picked in the top 10. There was a lot he gained for playing under Coach Williams and this year Cole's gotten a lot better where he's become a more efficient player. Saturday snapped a six game run in which he had 17 points and at least 43% shooting.

So he's been great the last month of the year. I asked Cole about this idea that he potentially could sit out and this is what Cole told me in the locker room as well after the game. I had a bunch of people talking to me about draft style. I mean all that stuff is cool but at the end of the day I sit out. The best way to get better at basketball is game experience. It's getting out on that court and just playing basketball. So that's what I did. I mean I felt like I had a lot more to give this team, a lot more to give my brothers.

I feel like I couldn't go out like how I went out with them. At this point we're not done yet. It's gonna play as far as I can for this team. Let me ask you this. That locker room, the visiting locker room at Cameron, is there any locker room that's more tight or small as that one? No I think that's the tightest locker room I've ever been in.

It was just tough just getting in and around that. But what he's saying there, he wanted to give this team more and I think commitment is lost in today's college basketball where you have a lot of guys transferring left and right. I don't want to blame those guys for doing it because they're wanting to put themselves in a better situation. But the James Wiseman go to school for a month and then decide yeah I'm just gonna pursue the NBA draft. That doesn't make much sense to me because even if you want to make the comparison to NFL players sitting out or excuse me college football players sitting out of the bowl game, those guys they're required to be in school for three or four years. They've been there and they've followed through on their commitment to play college football. College basketball, the one and done players, you're there on campus for six, seven, maybe eight months. So if you said you're gonna commit to Roy Williams in North Carolina you follow through on that commitment and it seems like that's what Greg Anthony has said time and time again about his son.

Hey that's what Cole's gonna do. He committed to North Carolina on get up last year. This is what he wants and I think that's something that is gonna be looked on well by draft scouts too saying he could have left and just pursued the NBA and he decided to come back instead. Right I think that was a great decision and I like what he said. There's nothing like having game experience and you can never simulate any workout or anything that you do to a game experience.

I've had had my fair share of that too and knowing that it's very different from working out and playing the actual game. So I think that him wanting to come back and compete for the team, I mean he's just a kid that just likes to play basketball and if that's what you like to do then you know I think that everything else should go out the door and you just go play basketball. So I love that he said that. It's Joel Berry in with us. Former Tar Heel great now with the Greensboro Swarm dropping buckets like 18 points this this most recent Friday. So you've had your fair share of pro basketball experience and of course you've reached the top levels of college basketball as well. So when you see Cole Anthony not just as a tremendous college point guard but as somebody who's gonna be transitioning one day to the NBA, what stands out to you about him? Is it his frame or something about his game? I mean he's a 6'4 point guard. He's very athletic, very quick on the court and I think that you know going to the NBA there'll be some adjustments. I mean you're playing with guys who are just as athletic as you can do some of the same things that you can do and even better. So now when you get to the NBA level you know a lot more IQ come in to play.

You know you have to think the game and you have to be smart about it. But I think he'll be just fine. I mean he's a great player. Alright here's what we need to do. So he's gone is what y'all are saying. He's out of here. I don't know if he's gone. I'm gonna be honest. I'm gonna be honest. His family's okay. Yes.

Like most instances where guys decide to GoPro early when they're not ready. It's okay I need to make some money to help my family. Well I guarantee you Greg Anthony is telling his son do what's best for you right. We're good.

We're fine. Now that doesn't mean he's still not gonna jump because this is a thin draft and he might be a lottery pick. But if he enjoys Chapel Hill enough to return the way he did a month and a half ago. If he enjoys Chapel Hill enough to want to follow through and potentially have success there and win there since he hadn't done that at any point really this year. Looking at the recruiting class next year. The one area that isn't very strong in this great recruiting class is point guard. There's a chance that he could fit well with some of these guys. Fit well with the Puff Johnson.

Fit well with the De'Ron Sharp. These type of players who are gonna be coming in next where. So I'm not I'm not completely ruling it out yet. I hope not. I hope he got enough trying to say listen I don't want my only season in a Tar Heel jersey to be the worst season in Tar Heel history. And you got Garrison Brooks coming back. Yeah G. You know Ant Harris is gonna be coming back. He's gonna get the medical red shirt. Talk that talk Jay. Yeah we got buckets coming back.

Dang right we do. Yeah Garrison's been getting it in. As you see he the accolades that he won man he's been he had a great season this year. Second team all ACC and the most improved player in the ACC. When you don't win a ton it's easy for you to get overlooked. That's ridiculous man.

Oh my gosh. Second team that guy was a bug. He's averaged 25 the last four games bro. He's averaging like a double-double this season on a putrid UNC team. How does that man get overlooked? Who is this Hughes? Who is this Hughes? Get out of here. I actually knew Elijah.

Elijah Hughes when he played at East Carolina a few years ago. Congratulations. I don't give a ding dong dang. Listen what I'm saying to you. G is first team all ACC. Ray Charles can see it. Stevie Wonder can see it.

It can be seen is what I'm saying. Fida is the unofficial mascot for Tar Heel basketball for a reason. He's gonna ride or die with Joel Berry and the Heels. But here's what we got to do. We've got something we've been trying to line up for a while now. JB is about to go head-to-head with our assistant producer Sawyer Dillon. Both of you guys are terrible at talking trash. You're so polite. Sawyer is very polite too and he's a quieter type. So Robert what have you guys cooked up today to try and set this thing up?

To make this thing seem bigger than what it actually is. Joel versus Sawyer Dillon in NBA 2k. Paul who really has game?

It's David versus Goliath. Actually it's Joel Berry and Sawyer Dillon. Sports Hub Triad presents Free Throws in the Studios. All right this is gonna happen in about 10 minutes. You can find the video stream on Twitch. We'll be posting that on our social media pages. It's posted now. All right it's posted now so you can find that at Sports Hub Triad on Twitter. I'm sure we'll find a way to get it on Facebook. I'll retweet it at Josh Graham Radio.

B Dot's page will have it. Here are the ground rules. We're gonna do three random teams or you can have a fourth suicide where you have to randomize a fourth time and have to go with the team you pick. Are you okay with that? I'm okay with that.

All right. If you had it your way is there a team you would play with you feel most confident with? I like the Brooklyn Nets.

I'm really good with them so if that's one of my choices I'm going with it. Kenny Atkinson got fired this weekend. Which was crazy.

I don't think he wanted the coach KD and Kyrie. That's crazy. They're in the playoffs without them. Right. Here we are.

Yeah that happened this past weekend. Wow. So how confident are you feeling right now? You got a little bit of a warm-up and I played Sawyer earlier today. I'm here to tell you he's not listening to this right now okay. Earlier today he gives you the baseline drive man every single time.

JB. If you're gonna go baseline. Don't listen to him. He's got Sawyer by four and a half points okay. Sawyer is a four and a half point favorite. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.

So don't let him sit here and try to gash you. He's team Sawyer. Sawyer is team home team okay.

Don't you listen to them. I'm team setting a line. Las Vegas you know they don't pick favorites they just set the line.

I'm thinking about picking Joel Berry plus the four and a half. Are you? But I'm just setting the line here right. You got to establish it. It's home console. It's home arena. Home studio right. Like these these are things that are working against Joel but Joel can go into Cameron and have success.

So I have no doubt he can go into the sports hub triad studio eat some East Coast wings and also beat Sawyer Dillon who's for some reason flexing. We're doing radio man. I can see you over there.

This is so terrible. Man and things are about to get better. You guys are about to go head-to-head.

You can find that again on the Twitch stream. We're about to talk to Nacho Trainer as well with the Venom. You got the Venom gear on right now a Venom hoodie.

So we're gonna be giving away a Venom and Swarm prize pack in a bit. We're gonna talk to Nacho and we're gonna give you updates on Joel Berry versus Sawyer Dillon. It's the showdown that we've been waiting for for a long time.

And it's coming your way. Next. I'm so mad at Sawyer Dillon right now.

He doesn't give a damn about the radio show that we're doing because we're trying to make things work out perfectly and time things well. So of course the game's going to overtime and Sawyer's the guy who plays 2k calling time outs in order to give his guys rest. In order to advance the ball even though there's nine seconds left to go.

Like this is terrible. It's in overtime now. Can we check in on the live stream?

Can we go to Twitch right now? It's Joel Berry in studio. It's in overtime. His Celtics or excuse me his Jazz are facing Sawyer's Celtics. Here's what we got right now. It is currently a 59 Celtics 56 Jazz as the Celtics take the ball to court. Yeah Joel Berry doing a little bit of play-by-play there. Sawyer is the guy who says give me that give me that when he's trying for the basket.

Yes he is. I hate that. I hate it so much. The other thing I hate is cookies. Don't get me started.

Cookies. How much time's left in this game? There is 143 left in the game.

Nothing ever works out the way we want it to. How about we do an impromptu let's get crazy. Let's do that. An impromptu let's get crazy.

Your calls welcome right now at 336-777-1600. Just hot takes galore. We're gonna throw them out there. Let's get crazy. We're throwing away journalistic integrity as Robert keeps an eye on the Twitch stream with Joel Berry in overtime with Sawyer Dillon as those two are going head-to-head in 2k. We will get the combatants on the air in 10 minutes.

Alright I'll start things off. Your thoughts are welcome 336-777-1600. Last week Tim Duncan beat the Charlotte Hornets as the head coach of the Spurs. Greg Popovich was out for personal reasons. Wake Forest might be looking for a basketball coach sometime soon. Why not Tim Duncan keeping Randolph Childress as an assistant coach keeping him around. Maybe Brandon Childress as a GA following in his dad footsteps. It's gonna be Tim Duncan who's the head coach of the Wake Forest Diamond Deacon. Hot takes only none of that cold bleep.

We will not judge a take for being too hot but we will judge it for being too cold. Aaron let's get crazy. Tom Brady of course in the news recently. Everybody wants to know where Tom's gonna go. Is he gonna go? Is he gonna stay? Tom Brady's gonna hang it up. Tom Brady's gonna retire and won't sign anywhere this offseason in the NFL free agency frenzy.

Whoa! A hot take for sure. Tom Brady hanging it up. Let's go to Scott in Greensboro. Scott let's get crazy. Scott go! Scott let's get crazy. Alright I got one for you. It's gonna be the craziest one you've ever heard. Alright.

Wake Forest is gonna win a national championship in either football or men's basketball within the next decade. Whoa! Alright that is pretty crazy.

We're mowing through these. Robert let's get crazy. This weekend the DC defenders they broke a new record for the longest beer snake in XFL history. Well that's not gonna sit well with the Roughnecks and they're gonna get a new record and their cup snake is gonna go all around the stadium and touch its tail.

Whoa! How about them Houston Roughnecks? How about them? The Roughnecks are getting W's left and right including a win over the Seattle Dragons. Let's go to Chuck.

Chuck let's get crazy. You tell Joel Berry to stop playing on Virginia mode and score more than 60. Talking trash to Joel Berry.

I don't know if it gets better than that. Talking trash. Somebody just called in Joel and said uh stop playing that Virginia style and score more than 60.

Whoa! It's NBA 2K here. What are we talking about? We'll get to the game in a second. We're in the middle of Let's Get Crazy. Robert what do you got for me? Let's get crazy. Once Alex Trebek does decide to hang up his quiz shoes, John Stewart's gonna step up and feel those quiz shoes adequately.

Oh John Stewart gonna replace Alex Trebek. I got one for you. We got East Coast Wings hooking us up with wings. I am the biggest wing fan you're gonna find so special thanks to East Coast Wings at Kernersville and Greensboro for providing wings for today's big game between Sawyer and Joel Berry. However unequivocally I could say with experience this weekend a plate of wings is the worst thing to eat in front of a woman. I'm telling you right now that you get it you get it in your teeth there's no like way to eat a wing pleasantly.

It's the best tasting thing you're gonna find. Yeah I'm not there to impress you sweetheart. I'm here to rip this little wing in half and daggone suck it down to the bristle. How many have you already torn apart?

At least 13 of them. Listen those wings were amazing today. They smacked. Like I was out there like even JB looked over and was like dang bro you turn them wings up. Did I fuck this whole game?

Not all of them. No they gone. I know you ate all the wings. I haven't had any wings yet. Well I ate all the flats there's some drumsticks.

No I mean it'll work if you're not eating all the flats. When we were on location and you were sitting over there getting smack-faced in the booth beside us you better be quiet over there aye. Aaron let's get crazy. Tacos are delicious nachos are gross. Whoa. Wow.

Slander of nachos. Wow. Three three six seven seven seven one six hundred. Clearly Joel Berry and Sawyer are in studio with us right now so something has just happened in overtime. Yeah. We will tell you what that is.

Next. You know what today is? What is today B. Dot? The 23rd anniversary of the day that Biggie died.

JG. That's why we got this Biggie right here. That's a bummer way to start a segment. Well a lot of people are actually celebrating the life versus mourning the passing. Yeah then why don't we celebrate the day of his birthday rather than the day that he dies? Well the day that he was murdered it was a lot more um you know historical. Yeah I just don't want to think about the day that he dies I'd rather say oh it's it's it's Biggie's birthday.

Listen in hip-hop in the urban world March 9th is a holiday that is the point. Oh to my folks in Greenville America East Carolina fans out there three nine means what ECU's records been the last three years so it's Scotty Montgomery day according to a lot. Shouts to Mike Houston they're trying to turn things around. So we got Joel Berry in studio here with us. Sawyer Dillon as well. Doesn't have headphones doesn't seem he needs them. What just happened?

There are people who are on the edges of their seats right now. What just happened in this game? Joel was playing with the Utah Jazz and Sawyer was playing with the Boston Celtics and went to overtime what was the result? All right Sawyer won the game why are you being so passive right now?

I don't want to like come off as confident or cocky but. Well just state the facts. So the facts was I almost choked it. Facts were. It was it was bad I mean Beaton was there he called in I mean I think I gave Joel the ball like three straight times leading up to the fourth yeah fourth quarter came down it was pretty neck-and-neck I mean I thought I had a pretty wide open shot to win the game with Kimba it didn't fall went to overtime and then over time it was just I just coasted you know it was it was like it was it was a dunk and then a three and then Joel just missed like four or five bunnies I'm talking about just close ones go bear miss the close easy buckets buckets they make ten times out of ten. I remember interviewing Joel after games at North Carolina and the folks in Chapel Hill and I assume the folks at the swarm and the NBA they do a good job of coaching you the way you're supposed to answer questions and such so let's do this in the most coach speaky textbook way possible since you just lost a game it's tough how do you tell me the way you're supposed to handle questions from a reporter like me when I ask you final possession there you gave him an open look what happened man I just didn't go my way give me give me what you could be the person that is translating what he just said it was BS the game was glitching everybody that was there saw it I'm sitting here trying to make shots guys open layups how you gonna miss the open layer really Donovan Mitchell is the open layup yeah right yes Aaron so dot uses you go on the game cheated you know that's how you go all right glitch we can maybe transition this to a broader discussion of what things in video games what pet peeves do you have more than anything else because I hate it when people blame the game glitching for them losing I hate it be like it be happening though is this game under protest is that what's happening right now no we can run it back when what was the final score like it was a 12-point win you won by 12 they threw my they threw my bench in at the end saw your covered the spread that's what they call a bad beat it goes to overtime you're thinking oh man it's close someone's gonna win and then saw your covers the four and a half I do have to say this though Joel and I mean it and all sincerity I mean you you you're handling the loss well right now do you think you're handling the loss a lot better than you would have your senior year in college oh man it's about the same it's about this you haven't punched a wall baby you haven't punched a wall today so that lets us know that you have mature I would like to know that who were you who had who you you weren't the or playing 2k that was him and Theo well see what really had me mad from the start was he got Golden State yeah you know go to the state man yeah yeah Stephanie clay get to hit threes you really can't do nothing thanks Robert I can hear him in the other studio an audible gasp when he learned that Theo is playing with Golden State that's there's no worse video game 2k crime than saying oh I'm gonna be the Warriors yeah circa two years ago yeah unless you're black core and if you play on black core and you just pick curry or clay or somebody off that team and just build your old team as sharpshooters it's the worst what's black core what is that black top like outside so we're gonna be at the Greensboro Coliseum the rest of the week Tuesday through Friday we're excited about it you're gonna catch your boys tomorrow night I'm thinking about it I'm thinking about I might need about I need to be there I probably need to be there so we made this five-game run yeah they say I look like Jeremiah Francis so I could check-in Jeremiah Francis's minutes seem to be going up sports up dry at three three six seven seven seven one six hundred this is the postgame show to Sawyer and Joel Barry's 2k game that just happened here so let me let me figure this out let's go person by person here Sawyer you talk some smack you felt confident when this first went down when we first started discussing this in January did Joel exceed your expectations he did his best like I wasn't expecting him to be as as good of a defender as he was like it was really hard to ISO unless I kind of got like a running start like if we're just both sitting there and he's yard me it was almost impossible for me to get around them which caught me by surprise I was thinking usually when you guard it's like kind of like you can't really predict but he was all over me so I had to work on like kicking out to the corners and stuff like that can I say something Josh what do you got that was a big discrepancy in the game see when they were playing all right so Joel's on offense with the ball uh-huh and saw yours not playing defense man up saw you has another player and is letting the computer guard up Joel Barry did you take notes on this no I didn't take notes I'm on snapchat I mean Twitter right now but what I'm saying is I just remember this strike me as someone who's still on snapchat no I remember this happening though because Joel screamed out yo you playing computer defense let this be known this was in the floor down by hate that computer defense like when you throw like when you're playing mad and you throw the 50-yard bomb down the field they don't turn into the quarterback yeah I hate yes that's what he would that's what that's what and so now sorry was like oh you should have put it in the rules in the beginning whoop-do-whoop so now I'm like oh there's gonna be a discrepancy and then with guard one-on-one I started getting buckets and then I went back to the computer Sawyer you're letting the computer guard yes he calls a lot of pick and roll so I'm having to switch to the center I'm having to make sure I'm forcing his guy around the screen correctly I mean it's a lot Robert this sounds like Sawyer making a ton of excuses at the beginning of this game I was like hey what do you what do you like pro players how do pro 2k players play and he was like oh they set up screens and they'll make the the four of the five they'll guard the paint and then let everybody guard around it so he was doing the sweatiest stuff possible to try to win this game like Sawyer's calling timeouts in order to advance the ball when there's nine seconds left hey I need to give the guys a breather maybe give the the virtual virtual players Wow virtual players of pep talk that's all I told Josh I was gonna tell dot this me and Josh decide to play about 12 o'clock if you you will know as soon as I say this he's this type of guy does substitutions for the full minute in the timeout 2002 Lakers were tired like Kobe needed needed a breather so I was I haven't played 2k in years though he waxed me with Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki yeah I don't play I don't I don't remember the last time I owned a video game I blame the player on that we just did a hot take segment Robert does that warrant the hip-hop air horn the fact that the Lakers were a good team in the early 2000s I think so uh man one of your boys Dwayne Bacon he's gonna be playing in Atlanta tonight for the Hornets how about that yeah that's uh he's been playing he's been whooping man and he's been came down in and did his thing so I'm happy for him yeah well we're we're gonna keep an eye on that later on tonight big NBA slate where you have the walkie facing Denver you have Utah facing the the Toronto Raptors so a couple big games in the NBA tonight so I gotta ask you this though this this is a big headline something that's going on in the NBA people were discussing over the weekend it is the Lakers winning their last two against Milwaukee and the Clippers Giannis he's been seen been seen as the runaway MVP candidate all throughout the year now the odds have become close to even where LeBron is seen to be an MVP front-runner right there with Giannis two games two games and it's not just those two games it's every time there's a big game he brings up he puts on his big boy panties okay remember yet when he played against Zion what he do he specifically made it his business to dominate those games against Giannis what did he do deed up Giannis make sure I'm the better player out here on the court last night well against our Kawhi what does he do guards Kawhi they have to go through Paul George to get buckets cuz who King James is on Kawhi I'm telling you he should be front-runner it's my theory I've been working this workshopping this for the last 24 hours or so it's something I believe for a long time MVP awards are won by players who have the best story the best narrative not necessarily the best season where like I mean there's times where the best actor doesn't win because they won best actor the year before the year prior to that Giannis he won the award last year he's still a young guy Lebron's 35 he's in year 17 he's playing for the Lakers and I think the story of Lebron not having won in over five years is something that I think is gonna be more than just a tiebreaker it's something that's gonna work in his favor where I think some of the voters think okay Giannis won it last year and Giannis he's gonna have many years to win it while Braun doesn't necessarily have that I think the better story wins Johnnie Cochran he said it in the 90s Johnnie Cochran once said that the better the the attorney that tells the better story is gonna win the case and that's what we're trying to do with every single one of our cases it's not necessarily about the facts it's about the narrative it's about the emotional appeal of it and the emotional appeal I think favors Lebron well even the stats favor Giannis at the Kupo but that diminishes the skill of the things that Lebron has been doing when you just say that he's gonna get it in advance because his story all the saber saber metrics all the analytics the stats everything favors Giannis he's been more consistent than Lebron across the entire season but Giannis won it last year and Lebron hasn't won at the last handful of years like they don't they don't mind a back-to-back they gave it to stealth back-to-back they didn't mind giving it to Giannis back-to-back that's a great story it is a great story but Lebron James is having the type of year where it's close enough that narrative and story can play a role in it that's the way I feel what do you think Joe oh I say the story the story is there I mean let's all be honest I mean he's doing this Lebron is doing this at age 35 in his 17th year I mean not too many people can do that Giannis is still young but Lebron is doing this and everybody knows what Lebron does and I think he should win MVP because of the impact that he has on the game not only does he score but I mean look at the passes that he makes I mean he's playing defense um I mean just overall he's doing everything almost I mean for historical significance as well Michael Jordan won five MVPs hmm Lebron's won four this is a chance for him to even up that regard Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won six of course and I think he won but Robert see if the stat is correct I think Kareem won six NBA MVPs all in one decade he did it in the 70s I think I think Kareem won all six of of his MVPs in a 10-year stretch crazy thing he did yeah I would say so but no I think it's gonna be Lebron yeah Robert just fact-checked it it is correct so I think there needs to be maybe a rematch for this this video game but it's got to be at the swarm facility yeah he's got to have some home court advantage next I agree and it might have to be on a ps4 with no glitch oh yeah right up some rules man I know no off ball defense oh oh god Lee I would never take those terms I'm telling I'm not playing own ball defense only against the NBA player no way you're crazy let's do it though let's do it yeah or maybe even neutral court like if you guys could find a way to link up somehow some way we can make this happen because that was just too good of a game it was fun it was really good I would say I lost but it was a really good game Joel Berry what regrets do you have um my overtime I I turned the ball over sometimes too so yeah boy Williams taught you to value the basketball I know and he capitalized on it so I doubted him a little bit but saw you came to play so I got to give my props to him Theo had a good Roy impression did you ever have one uh no not really Theo's more of a character and I am yeah I wonder what Roy would say if he saw you turning over the basketball in 2k and overtime the way you did yeah something like that what was that Robert look at looking at that overtime stat sheet here here's the reaction it doesn't just happen like magic Josh all right everything that you want to happen even though I'm just a stat checker for you I still got to do stuff over you all right there's no greater joy when I've been to Carl listen and you lash out like that Rob I love it me and Robert we are he's he's my radio wife yeah we are a married couple on the air be careful did you see on my IG story about the work husbands and the work wife relationships I did not oh my gosh it's some of the most disrespectful stuff ever going on in some of these work relationships I think I did see some of that and I don't think that's what's happening oh no no no no maybe on my part I might be sneaking around on him all right so before we let Joe go and B dot go as well Tuesday through Friday we're there baby ACC tournament we're gonna be there every single day and maybe Joe Barry will make it for the nine o'clock game tomorrow nine o'clock seven o'clock my wife already picked out my outfits though so I'm ready yeah Sawyer was asking me hey man what do I wear that was asking me that last week because y'all always got this like clowns that's but they always got that same goofy attire the stupid blazer jeans and this is interesting and the Oxford shoes like dude this is interesting you saw what I wore at Cameron I had I had like the gray jacket on I had so I some khaki pants yeah and brown shoes you're planning me for this no I'm not clowning you but that's just like the the uniform you know how like Popeyes has a uniform and Wendy's has uniform the journalists for the ACC tournament clearly have a uniform ah man I think I think if you wear a jacket you're going way above and beyond like Sawyer he's he works down there how many people were wearing jacket maybe two or three people a lot really like usually it's a long sleeve shirt or a polo polo and jeans that that's generally the journalists so nobody's out there with tracksuits on no yeah I'm sorry tracksuits all right Sawyer how many tracksuits do you own I got a matching our gray hair I guess you could say how many tracksuits do you will be done all right so be that's gonna wear a different tracksuit every day at the ACC tournament this week I think we're just gonna send you into the locker rooms and we're gonna get you to get reaction from players I would love to do like they may not even know you're coming you can't go in the Carolina locker room though he's gonna speak his mind he's gonna go in there they can't go in there Garrison Garrison yeah gee you know oh man listen all I know is this I'm serious now this is where my professionalism is really gonna have to stand ahead because if we should happen to lose tomorrow night going in that locker room I feel like I want to interview B dot more than I want to interview Garrison and all the guys now we just got to get you away from the press conference room coach Williams oh man coach Williams yeah the hell that's be done uh I'll let you guys go feel free to grab some wings on the way out thanks to the folks from East Coast wings for hooking us up here and a special thanks to edible arrangements of wet as well of Kernersville special thanks we got animals yes edible arrangements edible arrangements okay I'll be Robert thanks to them and East Coast wings Robert what do we got and take it to the house life is like a bag of hot Cheetos you never know what you're gonna get all right we take it to the house neck