The Rich Eisen Show Basketball Podcast S2 E10. Bulls comeback win, Wolves, Zion, West preview, East preview

All right, people, we're back.

It's the Rich Eisen Show Basketball Podcast. Adam and TJ are here. What's up, guys? Winner, winner, chicken dinner, Chicago Bulls.

Let's go. This guy, he denounced his team, if I'm not mistaken. He said he was over him.

He said he was one of the season over. He said he didn't have no part to do with the Bulls. He burnt jerseys, you know, and now he's a bull's fan in one of the worst attempts at tanking in the history of the NBA. The your 10 seat Chicago Bulls go into Toronto. And thanks to DR DeRozan, her 36 screams, Zach Lavine's 39 points knock off the Toronto Raptors in the 9 10 game. They now go to Miami tomorrow. The Heat lose at home to Atlanta.

Oh, my gosh. Where do we start, Adam? Just walk us through your range of emotion watching the game last night. We'll just start there. Down 19 in the third quarter. Down what? A dozen to start the fourth quarter.

Walk us through. How is it watching that last night? I expected the worst. So I expected the Bulls to lose. I expected we'd maybe put up a fight, but ultimately lose the game. When I saw we were down 19 points at that point, I was about to say it's over. I'm taking a shower. I'm done with this team.

I'm not even gonna watch the rest of this. I just done some push ups. I've done 200 push ups. I'm really sore right now. This guy feeling good right now, but a little sore. I did my push ups and I'm still watching the game. I see we're down 19. I'm like, ah, I think I'm just going to take a shower and just, you know, it's over.

Yeah. But then all of a sudden, you know, I see Zach Levine. He starts, starts to get on fire. And the thing of Zach Levine is he's such a talented player. He frustrates me because he can have these moments of brilliance where he looks like he can be the number one guy in a championship level team. But then he also has these moments where he looks like he's like the third or fourth best player. He's so inconsistent.

He has the talent, but when he gets on fire, it is so fun to watch. So he started to, uh, to hit some shots. Then all of a sudden I'm hearing some screams. I'm hearing this one in particular loud scream.

I'm like, what is that? Every time the Raptors hit a free throw or shoot a free throw, excuse me. And like rich and you guys mentioned on the big show, ESPN started to detail who is screaming so incredibly annoying and so incredibly loud.

And of course it was the Marta Rosen's daughter. And I don't like this behavior. I have to be honest.

Listen, I'm being honest. I don't like this behavior because it encourages future awful screaming and yelling and screaming like that. Like a shriek, like a loud shriek to me is like nails on a backboard. It stresses me out. So I understand why people would be annoyed around here, around her at the same time. The one time I was about to say at the same time when it did happen, it was the best time possible.

The only time I approve of that was during yesterday's game. I don't want it to happen again, but during yesterday's game she was back home in Toronto. She was probably born there and it was hilarious. So I don't even know what to think. Like it was such an incredible game.

I didn't think she unquestionably affected the game, right? For sure. I mean, kayfabe.

Yeah, sure. It's a wrestling term. That means we're going to keep it real. No, she didn't. But let's just run with it and say, yes, that that she did.

She did affect. How could she not because you're you're in a loud arena first and foremost, you can hear it on the broadcast. You can hear it through the broadcast, but there's just because it looked like she was under the basket.

She was under the basket. There's mics. We know there's Mike. Thanks to Mike Del Tufo. We know how many mics are usually around the best.

So and she was right there. I mean, look. Yeah, sure. Why not?

Yeah, sure. She affected the game. No, the difference is usually at NBA games, there's a bunch of fans screaming at once. So it kind of blends in.

So it doesn't bother the player at the free throw line as much. But when there's one sudden shriek, it startles you. Also, it's a home game. These are GM grown ass men. I don't think they're getting startled on the basketball court. You do hear it after a while. But I was making it seem like they got afraid or something. But no, it's like when you're about to shoot and you're about to follow through when you hear that, that can affect your shot. Absolutely. It's a Toronto home game, right?

So you would assume that it's quiet. That's the term. That was my only during free throws.

And then all of a sudden it's this loud shriek as you're about to release. I don't know. Like they shot. They missed 18 free throws.

Yeah, they were 18 for 36. You make five more. You shoot 64 percent instead of 50 percent. Sixty four percent from the line. Still bad. I mean, I'm in the game. I've heard 36 shrieks. I'll grant you. Maybe six of them led to missed foul shots, which made them lose the game.

That's all she had. And by the way, DeMar says she's not going to Miami. That's the wrong way to look at this. I feel like her entire class should take a trip to Miami because they can learn about ocean life. They can learn about fish during the day, you know, and then they can take in the game at night. So it's a it's a learning trip. Mar should pay for the whole class plus teachers to go. Oh, for sure.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And then you could take them. Like I said, let's learn about the ocean today. Let's learn about, you know, fish and whales and, you know, whatever else is growing in those waters. And well, I might be a little too soon for the nightlife. You know, maybe, you know, they could maybe they could have Dave Grepman come over and give them a tour of live or something, you know, while it's still closed out of Grepman runs live anymore. But, you know, why not bring bring all the kids out?

Adam, where do you come to grips with? You wanted this team to lose when it was obvious that you had no shot this year, right? You want a tank for Vic and now you're a game away from the eighth seed in a match up with Milwaukee. I'm all in. Let's go for it. You're back.

I'm back, baby. But take the tank. Dream has been over. We still have the dream of beating Miami. And then guess what? We play the Milwaukee Bucks. Yeah, they have Giannis, whatever.

Never say never. Let's go in now. You still want to be around like you didn't discard this team like it's always we teach, you know, like like a paper towel after you got them scrubbing your hands after you went to the bathroom, you just Kobe them into the trash. And now you're back to we now.

I don't know. It's always been we even when I've talked about this team and complain, it's always we because I'm a Bulls fan for life. Don't ever get it twisted. Adam, you do know how like tape works, right?

You know, you can go back and review something that's how these microphones when you speak into them, you know, they what you say is it's documented for eternity. That's the experience of a fan. You're you're with them. You're against them. You're ultimately with them. You just have kind of you break up for a little bit.

It's like Ross and Rachel. We're on a break. Yeah, I was on a little break with the bulls.

Come on. I was a little frustrated. I had to go find myself. The bulls had to go find themselves. And now we're back. Chances in Miami tomorrow night. What are you going to do?

You have not come off. I have no faith in this Miami team. They no showed hard against Atlanta. The problem with the Bulls is this team has been so inconsistent the entire year where we can look amazing one game and then the next game we lose against the Houston Rockets. Like when my dad and I went to the game, we lost to the worst team in the league. So that's the problem with this team.

Very talented, but so inconsistent. I kind of think we blew our load against the Raptors. I don't want to say that. I don't think well, we're on YouTube.

It's okay. I don't think do I think the Bulls have a chance to win? Yes, but if I'm putting money on it, I'd say that the heat will win the game. Although a lot has to do with if Kyle Lowry will play. He's questionable for the game tomorrow is their best player.

Yeah, he had like 33, I think in the last game. So if he doesn't play, that's a huge loss for them. I can see us beating them. If they're fully healthy with Lowry back, then I'm going heat though. You're going heat. I'm going heat.

Unfortunately, I don't want to say that, but I just have to be honest in what I'm talking about. So yeah, I'm going with the heat. What about you guys? What do you guys think?

I don't know. I have no faith in in Miami. If we want to take it back two days.

Wait a minute, like less than a week ago, we were sitting here. We were talking about, hey, Miami could get hot. They could win.

And now you have no faith. Just watching them play on two on Tuesday. Really you have faith that I watching that game they had. They couldn't rebound. They couldn't shoot. Jimmy Butler was like, was he 519 or something or six of nine?

It was really 19. It was really bad. And Bam got totally, you know, ineffective, chewed up by Capella's. The couple had four points, 21 rebounds everywhere affecting that game.

Clint Rodman, Clint Rodman. And I just think kind of after that, the fans are deflated. They're going to show up mad late if they show up at all. Plus, you know, I think Chicago's going to go in and beat. There's a lot of rain down in Miami. Apparently, I see streets are flooding.

Maybe that keeps people away. I don't know how far Fort Lauderdale's away from where the heat played, but I don't know. I was pretty surprised how Miami play it at home like that.

I mean, Trey Young is just kind of a knack now, which is John T. Murray. They have a knack for kind of showing up in big games. So let's not forget. Two years ago, this team went to the conference finals. They were on fire. Yeah, they were on fire. You know, Collins played above. You know, he played incredible.

And Trey Young became kind of like a star during that run. So, yeah, no, I'm going to give this wide open. I'm gonna give the Bulls a shot. It's pretty wide open there. Now, are they going to they going to upset Milwaukee if they advance?

No, absolutely not. Neither team. They'll probably get swept, which is fine. Gentlemen's sweep, whatever. Milwaukee is the favorite to win the title.

You're supposed to get swept or lose in five games in that series. But, you know, for what the Bulls were this year, the injuries to even make the playoffs at all to be one of the final way, that's a pretty big deal. No doubt. Yeah.

I mean, I guess it's all right. I mean, I know you're not in the lottery, but you weren't going to get the topic anyway. You had a 2 percent chance if you even made it. So why not be in the playoffs and give yourself a shot?

Well, yeah, that's kind of why I've I've just gotten to the point where I'm just like, all right, well, whatever. Like, I guess I'll root for us going forward because I realize our chances of getting the number one pick is just astronomically low. Even though I think when the Bulls did get the number one pick of Derrick Rose in 2008, I think it was something like two or 3 percent chance. Yeah, it was a very low percentage chance. So you never know. You never know. That's why the Mavericks tanked. That's why.

So you never know. But the other game last night, kind of a ho hum back and forth, high scoring. It was entertaining. Josh Gideon was at a triple double. He's been awesome.

Shea, obviously, has been showing out all year. Thunder beat the Pelicans. So now they play the T wolves tomorrow. Do we know if Rudy go bears back? I didn't see any of that today. Obviously suspended for the Lakers.

I was under the impression it was just that it's just going to be a one game, which I still like. I still say you could have suspended him next year. You just did your team a disservice by sending him out that game for a punch. I mean, look, did he swing on him?

Kind of. He jabbed him in the chest, but in the chest, like, you know, in the face. That's one thing. But I mean, ultimately, by sitting Rudy out, you hurt your team, which and then someone else will go over on this side. Well, TJ, he hurt his team by throwing the punch. Absolutely true. But I bet you to a man, they would have been like they would have rather had him on the court against the Lakers.

They more than likely would have won that game with go bear. And, you know, but again, he put himself in that position. He put his team in that position. So if he would back spasms, apparently, Rudy go bear.

Interesting. You know, you talked about the Thunder. We got to look at this pelican squad, right? Because you look at this team, man, and they're so good.

If you put Zion on this team, you know, when he went out the beginning of January, I believe the pelicans were one game behind the Nuggets for the best record in the West. And then you have people calling this man a bus. I think he's already shown when he plays that he does have the skill set and he is good. So you can never label him a bus like I don't care if he never played again. Yeah, I think maybe your argument could be he was the number one pick and he only lasted X amount of years. Let's just say like he never played after today.

But I don't think you can really ever say he was a bust. Like his body gave out. Maybe he had injuries.

Maybe there's something mentally going on. But like in terms of skill set and playing, I you can never say the dude was in terms of skill set. Absolutely not. He's one of the best players in the league when healthy. But if you just never play, if you're always injured, then then you are a bust. Because if you look at that draft, they could have picked John Moran. Nobody knew that John Moran would become this good except maybe Jerry West. He was talking about it before the draft.

But looking back of Zion doesn't play again, or if he's just always injured, then he is a bust. It's unfortunate. Listen, I don't consider that in terms of the other people you look at his bus. I think there should be a separate category then, because I'm not going to say I mean, a bus doesn't average 26 again. Yeah.

And 26 and eight, like you just don't. But has he even played 50 games in a season before? I don't even think he's done that. He's missed a lot of time.

We all know that. But if you just look at his impact, I mean, they were the two seed or whatever they were when Zion goes down. He hasn't played since January 2nd. They immediately lost three, 14 out of 17 games, including a massive losing streak of what, 10, 11 games in January.

And they really had to scrap and battle. They went on a great run at the end of March to even make the play in. If I'm his teammates, I'm incredibly, incredibly disappointed with him. Well, I think it's what Stephen A kind of said earlier in the week on the big show, like the talent is there, injuries you can do nothing about.

It's what are you doing to prevent injuries, to rehab from injuries? And if his teammates have an issue, if there's something there of what Zion's doing, then, yeah, that needs to be addressed. And then that can go into whatever you want to call him, Buster, what have you.

I'm not going to call Zion. I'll call him soft. He might very well be. I definitely wouldn't call him soft.

I'll call him soft for what he did yesterday. I understand that the mental part is such a huge part of the game, but when you're getting a max contract, you're cleared physically to play. You are cleared physically by the doctors to play. You're healthy to play and you have a win or go home game and you decide not to play. That's ridiculous to me. That is absolutely ridiculous.

I don't think you can take Zion seriously as a potential superstar guy that can take you to a championship level type of game because that mentality you cannot win with a player who has that. But again, we just can't. We don't know. First of all, you call them soft. You just said that a girl shrieking would scare you. So you shouldn't call him soft.

First and foremost, different. But like, we don't know what's going on. Like, and if there was something, if he wasn't doing these things, I assure you, it would come out from the team. Somebody's boy would say something. Someone on the team would say, like, man, this dude, like, you would hear about it. And as far as I know, we haven't heard any of his teammates. We haven't heard anyone associated with the squad talk bad about this guy.

The only one who's talking about him are the press and the people wondering what's going on. So I can't, I'm not going to call him a bus and I can't say soft. I don't know if mentally something's going on.

I don't know physically. Look, I'm not Zion, but I do recall I dislocated my kneecap once, right? And I'm not a world class athlete anymore. But and I had and I didn't I had nowhere near the amount of rehab and the type of rehab he had.

I had decent rehab for a kid who did it that didn't have insurance. It's but that way. But I do know for months, man, it took me. I had to sit there and think every time I walked down the flight of steps for months, I had to force myself to put my left leg down and remind my brain had to like, go, you can do this. And that's just me just trying to walk down the flight of steps.

So I don't know. Like this was his hamstring. Obviously, it wasn't his knee, but you just don't know mentally what's going on. I understand. I understand. I'm not going to like call this man the six foot eight, two hundred eighty five pound monolith soft or a bus. I just I I personally can't do what they showed him in warm ups and he was dunking the basketball.

He was making explosive moves. I understand that there is a mental hurdle when you come off an injury. It is tough. You are in your head. But like I said, when you are considered the best player on the team, a franchise level player in a win or go home game, you have to play. Do you think Michael Jordan or Kobe or LeBron or any of these guys would ever sit out this type of game given that type of situation? Absolutely not.

There's just not a chance. And I'm a Zion fan. I have been a Zion fan since he was in high school and he went to Duke, which is my favorite basketball college team.

So I've always enjoyed Zion. But what he's shown me is that he's not mentally strong. He's just not. And he doesn't do the steps that he needs to do to get in better shape every single year. He's out of shape when he comes into the league. So it's a problem with him right now.

And if I'm a New Orleans fan, I'm I'm upset. He played twenty nine games this year, did not play all of last year. And then in the twenty twenty one, which was only seventy two games a year, he played sixty one games and was awesome.

Obviously, twenty seven and twenty seven and seven. We'll see. We'll see. Obviously, you know, this is a legacy type deal. I mean, he's only twenty two years old.

So lots of time to figure this out. And then we'll look back in 10 years and be like, man, remember when Zion got off to a slow start? Steph Curry.

It's that way. Steph Curry got off to a slow start in his career, too, with it, with the exactly. You know, he was a guy who you never know. You just you thought, OK, this kid's not ankles. He's got bad ankles.

It's never going to work. Here's another guy might be the MVP of the league this year, Joel Embiid. His first three seasons, he played thirty one games in three seasons. He did not play for two years in a row.

And he had that, you know, that bus label, that soft label will tell me that he's a bus now or tell me that he's soft now. No, his body got right. The fact of the matter is the human body is not made to be that big.

I don't believe this right. You're not meant to be seven foot two, two hundred ninety pounds. You're not really meant to be six eight to ninety, however big Zion is.

So, you know, the bodies are different. I'm just trying to look at this in a way where I just don't want to call these athletes who do things that none of us and I mean us, I mean, everyone watching can do. I just feel like there's got to be something more. I don't believe that the man just said, oh, I could play basketball, but you know what? I don't feel like playing today, even though I know he said. I got to feel like Zion, which I still don't understand what that means. But it's just hard for me to believe someone would be like, man, go ahead, go out and play without me.

I'm good. I mean, I don't know. Ben Simmons was very similar. Yeah, but apparently he did have a hurt back and apparently there was something going on upstairs. You know, I shouldn't talk about Ben Simmons because I'll get frustrated and I'm too close to that. I'm not rooting against Zion.

I want him to succeed. The league is better when Zion Williamson is healthy. He is he is a superstar level talent and and just the highlight reels alone. He's he's an incredible player.

So I'm rooting for him to get healthy and get in shape and have a long career. And just that team, that team has so much potential when they're at full strength with B.I. and C.J. and some of the role players, you know, Herb Jones and and Trey Murphy and an Alvarado. That's a fun, exciting team that can kind of really spice things up in the West and the West is already super stacked. But again, also pulling for Zion. Love watching him play.

I want him to be out there. If he says he can't go, he can't go. We have no choice, you know, but to take these guys at their word. Can we criticize?

Sure. But we have no idea. By the way, at the end of that game, when the Pels were down for with a couple of seconds of that play where I think it was Hayes cut the ball, did kind of almost like a taught, you know, what was the NCAA game where the guy caught it and he caught him and flipped it back. Yeah, I mean, Villanova did that once they won the national title, but that play the kitchen in the dish to B.I.

and look. Five, 50 percent of the time, that's going to get called a foul. Yeah, you know, and it very easily could have been and that could have been a four point play and that could have tied the game like B.I. definitely thought he got fouled. It's really hard to tell, though, on the replay. But, you know, that's a fifty fifty right there, depending like you said yesterday on the big show, whoever's reffing that game.

So the whole thing could have been different. But that that Pels team is not bad, man. And you put Zion on back on there. You got to watch out. But he's got to be out there. Adam, he's got to be.

He's got to be out there at some point. All right. We got to talk about him, guys.

I know you don't want to do it. We got to talk about him. We got to talk about the Lakers. I mean, they're in the playoffs.

I'm fully on board. We're talking about them. Seven seed Lakers survive. What a terrible end of that game. The fourth quarter of that game, it felt like we were all being punished for something we did in former life that we were forced to watch that.

I mean, Minnesota has a 15 point lead at one point. It's 80 to 65. We're watching Sarah and I are watching Ted Lasso and I got it on the small TV and I'm just like, I don't need to pay attention to this, but I'll just keep it on just in case.

So that's super funny. Wait, what's the score now? What's going on? How come no one can make a shot? What if it went like eight minutes and didn't score? It was ridiculous. I feel bad.

I mean, it's one of those situations, too. It's like talking about Anthony Edwards, how much we love this guy, how exciting he is. He's an up and coming superstar in the NBA. Absolutely no shows. Rudy go bear that whole situation. The injury's going on there.

Ah, just I, I wanted it for them more than they wanted it for that. Like, could they have tagged in Craig Kilborn? I know he was there. Could he have came off the bench and puts on your martini Craig, but get some jumpers up, Craig, I know you still got it in you. And then LeBron makes the smart basketball play, which he seemingly does 98% of the time to a wide open shooter. And then the stupid call at the end. I mean, shouldn't shouldn't have, shouldn't have called that whistle. It was a foul though.

I was the landing spot. He's got to get his hand. I was looking at his feet. He definitely hit his hand. The ball was already out, but he had his hand and he did bump him. He did the spot. I mean, big ups, Mike, kindly to hit those free throws.

The first one I thought he kind of short-armed it and it kind of rolled over, but let's just talk Lakers here. What chance do you give them in the second in this opening round against Memphis? Are we going to see another Shannon sharp situation? This is going to be a wild.

I mean, we can only hope, I think this is going seven games. Yo, it's going to be crazy. Cause all I hear about is, you know, who's going to guard a guard job.

I'm saying like, who's going to guard a D and stuff, but yeah, who on the Lakers is going to guard job, but then again, who's going to guard LeBron. And then you're going to have, there's going to be some interesting story. Cause Dylan Brooks is going to do something over under the amount of technical files are going to get called on Dylan Brooks in this series. I think we should probably bet that over on that. He's going to get teed up. Doesn't the 15 throughout the year carry over.

So if he gets teed up and that is true in the playoffs, he's going to get suspended. And did he reach 15? Oh, that's for sure.

I think he got to 16. All right. So then I take that back. Maybe he won't. He, but he's not, he's not going to be on his best behavior.

He'll know how to be on his best behavior. So he was wearing the other day. He looked like super fly, man.

You know what I mean? He did the straightened his hair and everything. I was wild.

I loved it, man. I hope he plays a game like that. Oh, could you imagine? Oh, he'd be like one of them 70 super pimps.

You know what I mean? Like super fly is going to be nuts. Honestly, the Lakers have nobody to guard John Moran. How maybe Schroeder maybe don't do it. How is D'Angelo Russell and Dennis Schrute are going to stay with Moran? Well, they're going to have to, I mean, look, they're guards and they, I mean, it's not like they can't get the job done. I mean, John is going to go off and get his, but they've got guys. They're just going to have to run a bunch of guards at him, but this dude's like the energizer buddy too.

I'd never seen him get tired. So what's your answer? You've given the Lakers in this series, Adam, do you expect them to win?

I have the whole conspiracy rant that I went on yesterday. It was a little tongue in cheek, but it wouldn't surprise me whatsoever. If we see a couple of Scott Foster games and suddenly, and suddenly the Lakers are up three two and everyone's like, how did that just happen? I agree. It's it's uh, the NBA is best interest for the Lakers to advance.

Absolutely. But despite, you know, AD and LeBron being incredible hall of fame level talent, I just saw that game and listen, they barely beat Minnesota over time against a Minnesota team without their all defensive center with their superstar shooter going three for 17 from the field in two of their clutch role players out and they barely beat the timber wolves. The Lakers are just sloppy.

Like towards the end of the game, they made so many bonehead mistakes, even though they won the game there, you can't be sloppy against the Grizzlies. I think it'll go like six games and I have Memphis winning a key matchup to me also will be Jaron Jackson against Anthony Davis because Jaron Jackson was arguably the best defensive player in the entire league this year. It seems like he's going to win it.

Yeah. And so he's going to have to, as we always say, you can't stop 80, but you got to contain him. He's that type of player where if he contains him to like 18 points, 20 points, eight rebounds doesn't let him go off.

Then I just think that Memphis has the overall advantage. And like we've been talking about with John Marantz, like he's just going to destroy, destroy the Lakers. I mean, you guys forget the Lakers are really good defensively now after now after this trade. So trades. Yeah.

And that's something to take into consideration. They were historically bad in the beginning of the year. But yeah, they are a credit where credit to the Lakers are a different team. They have been a different team after the trade deadline that it was 16 and seven or something. Was that the staff that I saw? Something like that? It was even better than that. Was it better than that? I mean, they played great down there. They had a great march. They needed to they needed to have a great march to get into this situation. And they did.

You know, so hats off to them. How much do they have left as LeBron have one final amazing playoff series left in that body of his? Who's going to guard LeBron will be will be Brooks or or Bain or that's that's what I'm interested in. What will the match up be in terms of guarding LeBron?

Yeah. It's going to be it's going to be wild. It's going to be wild. The other exciting first round series in the West, with all due respect to sons Clippers, that's going to be the best series of the first round. And my I agree.

Really is. Is Paul George going to play? Probably not. And then why then why would you think that would be better than Kings Warriors or Grizzlies Lakers? Just because I do.

I'm asking you to explain, sir. Well, I'm a Clippers fan, so that's why I feel. Aren't you realistic?

I'm not. These people who act like the Clippers have no chance. The Suns have four players who who else on that team scares you are four really good players, four really good players. But you've got a point guard who's aging, who gets hurt all the time. You've got this unbelievably talented superstar Hall Hall of Fame top 15 player who's coming off of multiple injuries, right? You've got Durant.

That's Durant and Paul. Then you've got DeAndre Aiten, who sometimes plays like Tarzan and then sometimes plays like Jane. And then you've got Devin Booker, who is going to get you 25 30 a game. And I'm not buying this fact that like this Phoenix team can't be beat because for one thing, and you and I talked about this on the big show. Yeah, when it comes to getting buckets, sure. But there's a lot more that goes into this defensively.

And it's about, you know, matchups and switches and like covering up for your this guy's weakness and knowing where people are going to be on the defensive side. And I don't know after nine games if they're going to have that type of chemistry with Kevin Durant, like we're going to have to see. But in no way, shape or form, can I believe these people like I think 16 experts all pick the Suns, not one person other than perk gave the Clippers a chance. And I find that to be a little ridiculous. Did perk pick the Clippers to win?

I believe he did pick the club. I agree with you, TJ. I believe the series can go seven. Oh, interesting. The Clippers are deep, bro. They're the deepest team in the playoffs right now.

Very deep. And I've been hearing some reports. I don't know for sure if it will happen, but some people are saying that Paul George will come back eventually in the series, maybe not the first couple of games, but that he will come back. And yeah, I think we are underestimating the Clippers right now. And we're really is exactly. He's that dude. He's proven to be that. And I can't wait to see that matchup with Kawhi against KD.

There's there. There's one of the best matchups in the entire league right there. Two Hall of Fame players going at it right now, because one thing about Kawhi is we know he's going to do it on both sides of the ball at a very high rate. So he's going to be busting hump on D. He's going to be busting ass on. Oh, Kawhi is that dude, man. And I'm excited.

And I hope he takes this personally. And I think you're right that the depth of the Clippers bench can make the difference in it going seven or even the Clippers winning. The group is have like probably arguably maybe the best bench in the league if you really look at it. So yeah, the Suns are top-heavy, but but when they get tired that Clippers depth with, you know, the the role players, the Norman Powell's, the Nico Batums, you know, Eric Gordon, exactly the old Thailand coming in and checked. And then you got Russ who's just been playing great, who's kind of like found out his spot on the team, understands his niche. You got Russ Russ and Katie going against each other. I think the first time in the playoffs. That's true. That's a wild storyline. Phoenix did lead the West and opponents point per game.

Just just under 112. Yeah, that's going to be exciting. But again, Chris, like I said, that's because I'm more invested in this calves. Nix, maybe you guys are going to be this is going to be a good series, too. I wanted to get I'm going to get to the East and say, I just OK. I just wanted to finish up in the West. And do I know the Kings, by the way?

Woj bomb just happened. Mike Brown just was named coach of the year for the Kings. I think that's low key going to be a really good series, too. And, you know, the Kings just have to I don't know what they have to do to win this game. It's almost like, you know, they got a run, run, run and they got to shoot. Well, Golden State has a couple of these games where they're just, you know, twenty five threes in the game. I look out. I don't think the Kings have a chance in the series. Really? No, I just don't.

I think lawyers are big favorites. I think they'll win maybe one or two games if they're lucky. Maybe they'll get game one.

But the experience factor to me is just too much with the Golden State Warriors. They've been there every year for the last eight, nine years. Yeah, they're getting a little older, but you're not worried about the 11 and 30 road record. That's the regular season. They've had all types of issues in the regular season. You have Gary Payne Jr. the second getting traded to them. You had Wiggins out for multiple games. You have the punch in the face from Draymond to Jordan Poole. But look now, if you look at the Golden State Warriors, Wiggins is coming back.

They're all healthy right now. They just have too much talent. And I do like the Kings in the future.

But right now, they just aren't ready for the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs. Top two scoring teams in the NBA, the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors, one twenty one for Sacramento, one nineteen for Golden State. It's going to be an explosive offensive, super entertaining, high scoring up and down, kind of like those games in the 80s where it's like, I mean, I wouldn't would surprise me if we see one fifty one forty five. Look, this Kingston put a point out seventy six against the Clippers. I'm seventy six point so over time. But yeah, that's a lot of points. I want to see one of those old school Denver Nugget Phoenix Suns from the 80s game.

Alex English has forty five points, you know, and you know, and we're looking at one sixty to one fifty. Like that's what I want. Buckets, baby.

Buckets. Yeah. Scary.

Any chance? Uh, the Nuggets get upset in the first round. I mean, look, as Kevin Garnett once famously said, anything's possible, but I don't know. OK, see, uh, takes a couple of games there and puts a little scare.

I can see this definitely being a series. Yeah. You know, I played really tough down the stretch, man. And obviously they got two super nice players.

Yeah. I mean, Giddy, the crazy thing about about watching Giddy play is that he doesn't really have any like moves per se. He just has like a quick step and he's able to just get by people all the time.

It's he doesn't have like a crossover or anything crazy. He's just such a solid player. And he's so young. He had a 30 point double last night. It's just kind of like super casual about it.

Yeah. He looks like he'd be like the lead in a WB movie about a high school basketball team. You know, he's got all the girls are are are staring at him. We're wondering how he's this good of a player.

He's got the the Australian accent. That guy's that guy's a superstar in the making. And obviously, say, Gil, just Alexander, who's to me, he's the most improved player in the league this year. He's just elevated to an absolute superstar. Yeah, that team has such a bright future. So first round draft picks they have when we're forgetting about Chet Holmgren, who was injured this whole year, you have him coming back and you have multiple first round picks over the next four years. This team is going places.

And Lou Dort ball down the door. It went crazy last night. So what do you get a season average in the first half?

Yeah, it finished with twenty seven. All right. Let's go to the east real quick before we finish this up.

I think we can all agree, right? Clap Cavs. Nix is going to be the best first round match up.

What do you guys see there? Close series. I'm talking about before I just see the Cavs winning this.

Donovan Mitchell, best player out of any of those two teams. So, yeah, I can see it going six or seven, but you have the combination of Garland and in the inside presence of Evan Mobley. I just think it'll be so it'll be just a little too much for the Knicks to handle. I'm looking forward to that. Garland versus Brunson matchup. I think that'll be a fun matchup to watch. It's going to be very wild. Kind of comes down to Joyce Randall's health, right?

Absolutely. That ankle is going to be the key. If he can get back on that court, then I might even go as far as to say I think the Knicks can win. But if Randall is going to be out, you know, one or two games, I think you got to go with the Cavs.

Yeah, I think so. Quickly, quickly is an important player for the Knicks. Also, that's the type of guy I can score 30 in a game. So the Cavs need to watch out for him. If he gets hot, then, yeah, the Knicks can win the series for possible six man of the year. R.J. Barrett, our buddy Ben Lyons is favorite player of all time. That's going to be a super fun series.

I think it goes six or seven as well. I don't disagree with you guys there. Any worry, TJ, about the Brooklyn Nets?

I mean, look, there's always a worry, right? At this point, anything can happen turned into a nice team. Mikel Bridges has been awesome.

They have. But I mean, look, the Sixers should. Take this series and what, five, six at the most. I mean, again, it depends on health of James Harden. Well, so far they've been healthy and that's great. So and this is the healthiest I know and beads been going into the playoffs in a while and harden. You know, he low key, the guy led the league in the sisters this year. How many players have had multiple seasons of leading the league in scoring and assists?

I guarantee there haven't been many that have done it more than once. And James, I think this is the second time that he's led the league in dimes and he's, I think, a three time scoring champion. So you know, man, Maxie, we just need Tobias Harris to, you know, be that 15 that, you know, 20 point score that he can be. I think the Sixers I don't want to say should be easy, but I would be shocked if this went seven. I think the Sixers should win this and honestly five or six. Yeah, I think of all goes is, uh, I mean, as planned, I think the Warriors and Lakers are going to move on.

Um, I thought we were stuck in Sixers. I know, but I'm talking about the next round. I'm talking about the second round of the playoffs. If all the teams that win expect us to win this. You think the Lakers are going to? I think the league might twist some things, but even still, it has LeBron James and it has the possibility of being the greatest second round in NBA playoffs history.

If you just look at these possible matchups. Uh, OK. Who do you got moving on Friday night? I know by the time people listen to this, um, and by the time we return next week, we'll be well into the first round. But tomorrow night, Bulls Heat, Adam.

I got the heat moving on. Uh, unfortunately, Thunder T. Wolves. I got the T. Wolves bouncing back.

Really? I'm going the opposite way. I think both road teams win tomorrow.

T. J. Man, because both of the road dogs won prior round, right? The playing games were. Did the home team win? Yeah, no, both tents. Yeah, yeah.

So one yesterday. I'm gonna say this. I think Chicago is kind of going to ride it away with a little bit.

That's what I think. I think they're going to take out the heat because I can't see Kyle Lowry hitting for 33 again. I just can't. I don't see Jimmy Butler playing that bad again.

But let me play that bad. But I'm gonna go Bulls and I'm gonna go. Uh, Thunder only happens when it rains, and it's been raining a lot. So we're just gonna go with O. K. C. I'm gonna go Thunder Bulls within these things.

Think we get some Fleetwood Mac. Uh, okay, so when we come back next week, massive the weekend is gonna be huge. We got to play in finals, uh, tomorrow on Friday night and then four games Saturday.

Four games. This is the best time of year. This is this is one of the best time. It's the best time of year. We're gonna come back with a full, uh, you know, mid first round podcast next week, and we'll see where we're at.

We'll see who's up to Oh, what series is 11 and appreciate you guys checking us out. I just need this man to remind everybody who he is. Okay, what do baby show him?

Remind them who you are. Kawhi. You're a two time champion, two time MVP. He did it on two continents.

Well, not two continents, two different countries. Let's go clips. Let's make it happen. All right.

Could you imagine if the Clippers upset the sons and came one? Oh, my God. I don't think that's an upset, man. I'm gonna stick with that. All right. All right. Good luck to all our teams. Thanks, you guys, for checking this out. Good job, guys. Adam T. J. I really say two different continents. You did. That was really awful. I caught myself. I caught myself. I'll see you next week. Peace out.