Hey, what's up, everybody? We're back. It's the Rich Isaac Show Basketball Podcast, and we are in the thick of NBA playoffs round one, and we're going to break it all down.
Quick episode here, hitting on all the games, all the matchups tonight, Thursday, where you're listening to this, the weekend matchups. My guys are here, Adam, TJ, I guess Kawhi's been great. You want to start there, TJ? We just start right in with Clippers sons. I tried to explain this to you months ago, and you know, Rich has been on this thing for years about load management with these NBA players.
And the one thing I wanted to say the rich, but I can't say to him because it's the Rich Isaac Show. It's not the TJ Jefferson show, but the thing he when he's constantly complain about Kawhi sitting out is I want to say, Rich, you know who is not complaining about Kawhi taking games off. That's a Clipper fan. How many Clipper fans do you see going losing their mind? Because Kawhi's taking time off. We don't because we understand the history of the Clippers. We understand the history of the injuries that our players have suffered, not only in the players playoffs, but just getting to the playoffs. So I was perfectly OK with Kawhi taking all the time he needed to make sure that that body was right.
Pause. That sounded weird, but you know, and now that he is healthy and now he's in the playoffs, Kawhi might be the best player in the NBA right now over the last four weeks. And it's not a surprise to me.
He's in his back. So I'm very happy right now. When the Phoenix we stole a game. Yeah, we do what you're supposed to do. I'll I'll stand by this. If Paul George is healthy, I think the Clippers win this series in six. I think you might win the series anyway in six. I kind of expect you to win tonight, Thursday. Adam, I wrote down some stats of Kawhi.
Oh, yeah. I saw you work in his first two playoff games. Thirty one, eight and seven with three steals and three threes in game one. That was game two. They lost. But still, awesome game.
Awesome game. Thirty eight, five and five with three threes in game one. Kawhi has been the best player in the playoffs right through the first two games. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And you can't discount the fact that he's doing this without his second superstar, Paul George.
Reason why he went to anyway. Exactly. Yeah. So he's carrying this team on on his back in the first two games. The Clippers definitely have the advantage in terms of depth.
Their bench is way better than the sun's. And the great matchup head to head obviously is the matchup between Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Duran. Kevin Duran's played pretty well in the first two games.
I think he had what, twenty seven and twenty five. Yeah. But it's clear that Kawhi is the MVP of the playoffs right now, at least in terms of that series. And to me right now, the Clippers look like the better team. They lose game two, but they still played pretty well. They stole game one. And I'm expecting right now.
And this is me disagreeing with my original pick. I like the Clippers in the series right now. I think that they're going to win the series.
I'm pretty shocked. Phoenix is favored tonight by four points when it feels like, yes, they did win game two, but it wasn't easy. Clippers were out to a ten point lead, you know, late second quarter. They were up ten and then Phoenix kind of turn on the second had Devin Booker was out of his mind. He was on last game. Kevin Duran didn't do too much.
Had a super quiet twenty five. Chris Paul kind of did his thing after a slow start as well. Overcame the Scott Foster curse. Yeah. Come on.
Coming back to L.A. I kind of expected this to be maybe a pick them or maybe maybe kind of a one point game on either side. Phoenix by four. Kind of surprising.
I'm kind of with you, Adam. I'm kind of leaning Clippers now in this series. The the depth, the length on the bench. Russell Westbrook. I know he shot three of 19 in game one, but had the great hustle plays at the end of the game. He had like twenty seven points in game two. He was being very aggressive, getting to the rim and finishing, which we, you know, didn't see a lot out of him throughout the entire season. Played better with when he got to the Clippers. But man, if he can give them twenty a night off the bench.
Look out, you know, rest. I think he had a cold after last game. He said, you know, mentally, things work with these athletes, he says, when he was with the Lakers, he missed a few shots. He knew he was coming off the game. He said, now that he's been with the Clippers, he understands he can miss some shots. And as long as he's making contributions everywhere else on the court, which he is definitely doing, he's not worried about that quick. He's not worrying about getting snatched out of the game.
And I think like that has to just mentally keep you more involved. And one thing about Russ and I've said this before and I'll say it again, doesn't matter if he's shooting three for 19, it doesn't matter what's going on. His effort is going to be 100 percent each and every time that man finishes lacing up his sneakers. So, you know, I'm loving I know a lot of people were a little iffy about the Russ pickup. I'm loving the pickup. I love the fact that he found his way. I love that he found his spot on his team and he is doing this thing, man. Big ups to Brody for, you know, overcoming, you know, all the noise because, you know, there's a lot of static and there's a lot of noise.
He's not worried about that. He's just doing this thing. And he's a very vital part of this team right now, especially with Paul and his stop on Devin Booker in Game one was one of the best defensive plays I've ever seen. It was incredible the moment considering it was in the playoffs. He had the wherewithal not only to block Devin Booker, but also throw the ball off of Booker as he went out of bounds. So that was just an incredible play. I love watching Russ play. The passion is always there. He's one of those guys that that now especially he's not really in his in his prime anymore, but he's one of those guys who are just like, no, no, no.
And then yes, yes, yes. He's one of those type of type of players. But overall, he's definitely a net positive one. And you just have to accept if you're a Clipper fan that he will make some bad decisions.
He'll make, you know, questionable shots. But overall, he's definitely a valuable member of this team. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.
He's been playing he's been playing well. I was going to do it a quick look at the old plus minus. I mean, he was minus 13 minus 13. You know, those are some analytics, though, that I just you know, I get why why we have those. And he lost.
He was minus 13. But there's no analytics on passion and great measure. That's hard hustle. Yeah, that's true.
That's true. OK, let's let's talk about the other big game. It's kind of a shame that these two games are on at the exact same time tonight.
Yeah. King's Wars. It's seven o'clock Eastern on TNT. Probably by the time you listen to this game will be going on. Suns Clippers seven thirty on NBA TV. Net Sixers. I mean, I assume that's going to be a sweep, TJ. We don't talk much about that, but let's get into the I wouldn't necessarily say a sweep.
I mean, I'd say gentlemen's sweep. Maybe, maybe, you know, the Sixers did not play well in the first half of that game and beat, I believe. Yeah, you're down and combined for nine. I want to say you were down 10 early.
And then it was almost like you're playing to the level of your comp. So second half, I'm sure whatever Doc said, it definitely motivated them because they came out in the second half and then they put the game away. But, you know, if they stay on that second half level in intensity, sure, it could be a sweep. But if they have another, you know, couple of halves like they did in the first half, the Nets could definitely take a game. I expect another hard fought game. You probably win tonight, maybe lose game four and then go home and wrap it up. But the other big game, kind of the best series right now in terms of gameplay is his king's warriors. I know the kings are up to, oh, we know what happened with Draymond Green and Devonta Sabonis.
We were very heatedly patch talking about that yesterday morning, a pretty big show. And then Draymond gets suspended. Mike Brown said yesterday while accepting NBA coach of the year that Sabonis is going to play, did have kind of a chess contusion, but he's good to go. How big of a factor is not having Draymond Green out there? Ultimately, will it matter?
I kind of think it doesn't matter much. The kings are playing better. They're just a better team than the Warriors. And I kind of expect the kings to win tonight, even though they're six and a half point underdogs, Golden State, different team at home. Of course, one of the best home teams, one of the best, one of the worst road teams in the NBA this year. What do you guys think about this series? What do you think happens tonight?
Adam? Well, I have been underestimating the Kings. I didn't think that they really had a chance in the series before the series started.
And they've been a revelation. The first two games Malik monk has been playing out of his mind. This is a guy who I thought coming out of college was, was going to become the next Ray Allen.
I really believe that with him. And he struggled with his first few years in the Hornets. Then he was on the Lakers. And I think he's really found his groove now with his former Kentucky teammates here in Fox. And he's a great instant offense for that team. So he's been outstanding.
De'Aaron Fox, obviously he's besides Kauai, he might be the second star of the playoffs. They just cannot stop this guy from getting into the lane. He does that pull up jumper. He does the the floater. He's so fast to me.
He's the fastest player in the league. Seems like it. Yeah. So they're, they're just John might raise his hand and go, Oh, that's true. I think they're one, two right now.
Any order you'd like? Yeah. So, so this case, this King's team, I think we've all underestimated at the same time though, tonight, I believe the warriors are going to come out with all the passion with all the fire. I believe that, that the warriors will win tonight.
The Kings, they don't have any experience really in the playoffs, especially on the road. That's a different animal when you're on the road. The only guy that really has experience right now is Harrison barns. So, so you're going to chip at his shoulder. Exactly.
Yeah, no, he does. Yes. I mean, he got sent out of town though. Oh, Kevin Durant.
Bye Harrison. Yeah. So yeah.
Which by the way, 10 out of 10 would have made that deal. So of course, keep going, keep going. Oh no, for sure. Yeah. So no. So I'm just saying, no, I think that not having Draymond does matter, but at the same time, I still think that the warriors will win tonight. I mean, is it an easy game?
Is it a close game? What do you see happening tonight? I mean, look, yes, all of those things you said are true, but you also don't know what you don't know. And these Kings don't know any better. They don't know.
They're not supposed to be nervous. They don't know that they're not supposed to go on the road to golden state and win one of these next two games. Well, I think this is the fact that this dream on suspension happened is going to fire up the warriors.
I think it gets them something to rally behind in a weird way where, where they're upset. The fact that he was suspended and sub bonus was not, and Jordan pool is the key to this game. Jordan pool has been terrible. The first two games, he needs to step it up. He needs to have a 25 point, you know, five or six three point.
He's been terrible. If he plays well, they win. If he's continuing to shoot these terrible numbers and not playing any defense, then it's going to be very difficult for them to win. It's awesome numbers, TJ, a dream on green, miss nine games this year, golden state three and six in those games with wins over Cleveland, Houston, and Minnesota.
So not exactly blowing your socks off. Yeah. You know, look, we draymond kind of like the metronome really of the warriors. He kind of makes that team go, right? He keeps the beat kind of keeps them on track. So we have an edge.
Yeah. We can't understand undersell or understate his value to this team. But that being said, him being out, that is a great loss. But I do think golden state does take this game tonight for all the reasons you you guys stated earlier, the fact that like now the kings have to go into this arena, which is used to winning big games, which is used to winning championships. These fans are going to be rowdy. And back to a guy you mentioned, I think Jordan Poole may be key because you know what you're going to get it from Steph.
I'm going to call it now. Steph's probably going to put 40 up tonight. Clay will probably put up 30. So you now the Jordan Poole factor. He hasn't played well. We've noticed that he's been benched because of his lack of defense.
But I do agree with you, Adam. For some reason, I feel Jordan Poole. I think maybe they feed him early the night. I don't know if he's going to get to start. I don't know how their rotations going to work with with draymond out.
I don't know who the starters but I feel like Jordan Poole might might get into the starting lineup maybe. But if even if he doesn't the second he hits the court, I feel like they're going to go to him maybe try to get him going and he hits a three or two gets that crowd behind him gets that momentum going. It's going to be loud, you know, obviously Sacramento's loud, but it's a different kind of loud when they're cheering for you as opposed to cheering against you.
Now, we also know the e40 efonzarelli e40 water is going to be in the building. He's going to be sitting court side. So there's going to be some juju coming at the Kings that way. I'm looking for Golden State to win this game, but I'm telling you, man, would it surprise me if I wake up in the morning? Well, I'll be watching the game.
So it's not going to miss it. But would it surprise me tomorrow if the headlines ring read Kings go up three and oh, I think I might be slightly surprised but not really like not like it's something that's unbelievable. I think it's going to be it's going to be a good game. I think we're going to find out early.
I think we're going to find it early. Golden State needs to come out hard. They need to come out strong. They need to make shots. Steph Curry three of 13 from three in game to only nine of 27. You know, he's a lifetime 40 percent shooter from three. I think we only nine to twenty seven from three in the first two games. I mean, he scored 58 points, but he's doing it the hard way.
Forty forty one shots. He's getting to the line, but man, he's not doing it from outside. And, you know, obviously that's really a key for him and Clay. A lot of people we haven't really mentioned the fact that Mike Brown, the head coach of the Sacramento Kings, was an assistant of the Warriors for years.
And so this guy has a detailed, detailed knowledge of all of their game plans. And I think that's definitely helped the Kings in terms of of their defensive plans and the Kings were locking down the Warriors in game to making every single shot difficult. Mitchell on the Kings is a really, really good defender and some of the shots Golden State's were going to say we're taking they would make but they'd be very difficult to shots to even like, you know, get up. So so yeah, we we've been under estimating the Kings defense, I believe, also coming into the playoff.
That was the not that the Kings don't play defense for you. All of a sudden they are, which getting back to Adam's point, Mike Brown was really responsible for the defensive game plan for those words when he was on that staff. So, you know, I don't know how they went from a regular season where seemingly I, you know, the analytics, I don't know what all those mean.
I could just go by what my eyes sees. I don't know what happened in the regular season that they didn't play defense that well. But man, they are. They're really locked in now.
And Mike Brown, like he really deserving of that coach of the Year award and congratulations to him for for winning and that. Absolutely. You guys, you guys both think Golden State wins tonight?
Yeah. What are the what do you guys put the chances that they win both games? Is it to to going back to Sacramento? Look, man, the defending champions, right? And Dre will be back for game three. So that'll be another four or game four.
I'm sorry. Another level of, you know, just getting that crowd involved in boosting the players up. So, look, if it's to two, it's not going to be a surprise when we do our pod next. What is this series at? So we'll have how many games played? Well, actually, game five, if necessary, is next Wednesday.
So if we do a show next Thursday, what's this series at? Is it over or is it three to somebody? Well, OK. Sweeps probably not going to happen. So is it over? Does the Sacramento wins in five?
I don't think so. I'll go. No, I'll go. Well, we have game six.
I guess that's my question. Yeah. Yeah, I'll go. I'll go three to Sacramento game six.
Well, we have game six. You both say yes. Yeah, I agree. I want to say no, just because. But why not?
We have to have that balance. I want to see what happens tonight. All right. Let's talk Grizzlies Lakers. Man, oh, man. We've talked about this the last two years. T.J. on the big show.
For some reason or another, we can't quite figure it out. We agree that Joss is a superstar. Yes. Superstar Tom Ryan. John Moran, top 20 player in the league.
Yeah. Why then when he is out of the lineup, Memphis doesn't miss a beat. It's because they did not miss a beat last night against the Lakers.
It is so strange. John Moran is out. This superstar player takes a horrendous fall in game one. The hand that he had banged up seemingly looked like he broke.
Look, he snapped his wrist in half when it happened. Can't really do anything. Can't dribble. Can't shoot. He's out. Game two.
Bam. They're up 20 points. I think that this Gris team may really must subscribe to this next man up philosophy. Right.
Because you're right. Jaws missed games. They had a they were like twenty three and five last year when he missed the game. They continue to thrive even if he's not in there. And when I speak of next man up, you've got to give a shout out to Xavier Tillman senior. Like I got to be honest with you. Ties Jones when he well ties Jones.
You know, I get it. He's been starting. He's he's played a more prominent role out this year this year. But Xavier Tillman, like nobody could have foreseen that company was averaging seven points a game and then he just balled out. He did all the little things to help win that game. And I got to say, I was very impressed with him as someone who, you know, Xavier didn't really have that spotlight. You didn't know how he would react under those bright lights.
But man, he came through last night in a big way for this for this Memphis. You shocked that happened that you thought the Lakers going up to. Oh, didn't you? I did. Yeah, I thought I was over it.
But yeah, it's interesting. So Jaron Jackson, junior and Xavier Tillman. They've known each other since they were in high school. They were a U teammates in high school. They played together at Michigan state. And last night they balled out for the Memphis Grizzlies.
Those two guys were the best players on the Grizzlies. Jaron Jackson's had a great series so far. He's blocking shots, getting rebounds. He made it tougher a D last night. Anthony Davis was, it was bad last night.
He had a bad game. So yeah, I was surprised at the Grizzlies win. It shows that they're a tough, good team and they have some good role players. Hopefully they get John Moran back for games three and four, at least game four. So this could become a real series.
And if he does come back, obviously, like we've said, the war, it's a real series already. Yeah, the Grizzlies play good without him. But to me, they need him to actually have a chance to win this.
Yeah, I think so, too. I don't think Memphis is winning this series without John. They need an out there, whether he's 75 percent or whatever, they need his playmaking ability.
Even if he just gets, gets in the lane and dishes or just creates shots for their guys, they're going to need him to win this series. L.A. did their job. They won a game on the road. Now it goes back to L.A. They have the home court advantage for the rest of the playoffs. Does that mean anything?
I have no idea. The Lakers have been such an interesting team this season, obviously played really well since the trade deadline and the latter half of the year when LeBron came back healthy. LeBron has two double doubles in this series. He's doing his thing.
Austin Reeves is suddenly now. Did you see that some GM said that he's one hundred million dollar player? I did see.
Did you see that? I was OK. I wasn't just skinned by it. I wasn't pretending right now. I definitely saw that scrolling through something.
I went, oh, OK, and then kept going. Anyway, he's playing great. Like suddenly this is a guy who can make shots and create and defend.
I just don't know why. It just feels like it's going to be Laker Celtics like a throwback 80s NBA finals this year. But I'm looking at the stats last night. A.D. went four for 14 from the field and DeAngelo Russell went two for eleven.
So they were six for twenty five. You can't have that as the Lakers if you have any chance to advance in this round. DeAngelo Russell, this guy can get hot quick. He's a guy who could score twenty five or thirty points a game. But when you're going to for eleven, that's you just can't have one of the big surprises for the Lakers has also been really had tomorrow. He has been he's been incredible. He was in their game one win when he had twenty eight or whatever it was. So if they can get that type of production from him off the bench, they're going to be tough to beat.
But just real quick, going back to Tillman. Right. Twenty two and thirteen.
Amazing. The previous one, two, three, four, five games you buy combined for that had 30 total points. Yeah, exactly.
Ten, fourteen. He had like 30 rebounds. So what this guy did was amazing, considering he exceeded his totals over the last, you know, five, six games. And I said, you know, great point.
Same thing with really, really. Twenty nine in game one, 20 in game two. You're going to get that type of production. You're going to win games. What did you make of your boy Dylan Brooks, D.J.? Dylan Brooks, man. He is unbelievable. He's unbelievable. You haven't seen his whole look. It's it's tremendous with the way he ended the regular season with like he just let the he blew his hair out. And then now he's got the cool braids going and these outrageous white rim thick sunglasses that he was wearing. The man's doesn't wear the most gigantic DB chain that he had on.
This guy is tremendous, but he's not a liar. LeBron is old. LeBron is old and he hasn't scored 40 in the playoffs in three years. He says, don't talk to me until you put 40 on me. Do you think LeBron gets 40 in game three?
I mean, my initial reaction is to go, yeah, he will. But even OK, say LeBron doesn't get 40, say he puts up another 34 piece, you know, and it's like, OK, Dylan, what do you say? I feel like, you know, Dylan Brooks is talking about he's old. Well, to me, saying a 38 year old is old is one of the reasons why society has such a messed up view of of age.
Right. Because 38 isn't old as a human being. But, OK, might be old to chase 22 year olds around the basketball court.
But LeBron is not old compared to life. You know what I mean? But also Dylan Brooks talking about, you know, I poke bears. We better hope that bear you poke didn't just like sniff some coke that fell out of a plane, buddy, because you're going to get mauled if you poke that bear named LeBron James.
And I think you poked them. And I would say is Dylan Brooks. You found kind of your niche, right? You kind of want to be the villain. You want to wear the black hat.
Chris Brockman loves it because he feels like sports needs villains. You are you're stepping into that role and you're making that name known for yourself. But again, be careful what you wish for, because I ain't poking LeBron, bro. I'm just saying I haven't left that man. Let that man. Right. Adam, is Dylan Brooks crazy? Yeah. Why would you do that?
What is that? What is there to gain from him doing this? There's nothing he can gain. Do you think LeBron's going to get psyched out?
Because, oh, my God, Dylan Brooks called me out. Oh, this is like a new is Dylan Brooks, the new Lance Stephenson. Yeah, absolutely. 1000 percent. Exactly. Yeah. Because the difference between those guys are like average. So like whatever players, at least Draymond is like a future Hall of Famer.
These guys are like point per game scores. It's like, what are you doing? But also, you know, hold on. Breaking news.
Oh, what you got? Oh, my God. Holy crap. Oh, T.J., I'm sorry.
Oh, my God. Kawhi Leonard is out tonight. Why? What is out with a sprainy windhorsed?
This is why we keep the TVs on when we record. It's twelve forty five Pacific. Wow. Kawhi Leonard ruled out tonight. All right, I'm going home nap.
Dude, thanks for watching the podcast. Even look injured in game two. I didn't notice. Holy crap.
What is happening? Oh, no. Maybe that's why the insiders knew that that the Suns were favored. They knew. That's why I was favorite.
I guess Vegas always got to be honest, though. Thinking back, there was a play where he landed and I thought I saw a little like hitch in this gate. I was like, OK, no, it's fine. It might be. Yeah, that might be it.
Right knee sprain, according to the source, corny ESPN. Oh, man, this changes. This changes everything. OK, but look, I think sometimes robots need maintenance. So I'm going to put a positive spin on this. The motherboard and his body was acting up.
There was a part that had to be shipped from Japan that didn't get here in time. So, you know, we just go back and delete everything. We just thought the Clippers would move on in the series. Well, this this changes everything.
It just depends. It depends if he can come back for game four also, because if he misses two games, then no, there's not a chance. But if he's sitting him out, if sitting him out means he'll be rested and ready for for game four, then OK. And, you know, again, suck it up. The grinsies run out. John Moran. Somebody's got to step up. I don't know who that person is. I don't know where you get that after just saying how great this guy has been. Wow. What would you say in that he aggravated it in game one and played through it in game two?
Man, I'm telling you, 31, eight and seven. I was watching that and I thought that to myself, I'm like, something just seems a little off. But, you know, he man was at the same knee. He had the issue the ACL. I'm not sure the right knee. I believe they're saying he sprained his right knee.
Not not related to the surgery, but still a right knee sprain. OK, well, then that's a positive. That's positive. That's a positive. If you're looking for any type of spin, the only thing that kind of goes against you here, TJ.
Well, there's a lot. Chris, I'm a Clipper fan. Today's Thursday Clippers back in action on Saturday. So not the two days of rest. And that's the other crazy thing. The Clippers and the Suns are the only teams in this playoff that don't have at least three games off right between games.
Every game has been two games off. So. Oh, man. But again, look me in my eyes and I'm going to tell you, am I surprised? No, because I'm a Clippers fan. I've been a Clippers fan since 1999. I've seen this happen before. I've read this book.
All right. It stinks. And I'm in shock. But wow, I guess I'm not that much in shock because it's the most Clipper thing that could happen.
So, wow. Well, let's just hope he's back for game four. And then you guys could, you know, if you lose tonight, even it up.
And then it's the best best two out of three. Anything else than any other series? I think I think we can all agree Celtics Hawks is pretty much over. Yeah.
That's a rat. Nuggets. T. Wolves is probably pretty much over. That's probably the T. Wolves best shot. That was played very well in the second half. I can have me to believe that maybe they could still get it. They got something.
And I think I could see the Nuggets winning in five. Yeah, I was getting one. Carl Anthony Towns needs to play better. He was terrible. Yeah. First two games. So if he plays better at home, I could see them getting one huge game tonight in the garden. I mean, this is an interesting series.
Cavs Knicks. It's one one tomorrow. Oh, sorry. It's tomorrow night. Yes. Tomorrow night.
Friday night. Cavs looked horrendous in game one. And then the Knicks look horrendous in game two. It's kind of back and forth.
They're just kind of trading training duds here. Knicks one point favorites. But the garden is going to be rocking. You know, that kind of depends on the health of Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson's got to stay on the court. So what do you see of that series is still going seven or is that going to be in a winner?
Game three kind of takes control. I can still go see seeing it going seven. I still like the Cavs overall, but I can't wait to watch the Knicks play at home. Knicks playoff games are my favorite to watch at home that that wild crowd is going to be the wild scene crazy tomorrow. You're going to see the Pete Davidsons of the world sitting courtside, Spike Lee. So it's a scene there.
So I can't can't wait to see that. But I still like the Lions. Yeah. The fact that Davidson was the first Knicks fan I mentioned.
I mean, Woody Allen, I guess what he can get bounced to. But let's not overlook something. Just real quick on this nuggets, T wolves. First of all, our boy Aunt Edwards bawled out last night.
Forty one point. He really struggled in game one. He's struggling game one. So that was a nice bounce back in and bubble. Jamal Murray came back like holy cow bubble. Jamal Murray's 40 points. He looked like he did before he blew his knee out. And, you know, it's such a shame because who knows where Jamal Murray would be right now? Had he not blown out his knee?
And also, would Joker have those MVPs? If Murray had continued on that path that it looked like he was going to in the bubble before he got hurt because this guy was a walking bucket, man. So it was great. I don't really have a dog in that fight, but it was just great to see him come back and be like, oh, yeah, that guy. That's the guy that we thought we were going to get after the 2020 season. And of course, like I said, and just he can't. He put him on his back last night.
He didn't get it done. But man, he balled. I gotta say, watching that watching them play last night, Denver, I think I might switch to Denver to come out of the West now.
I was kind of low on them heading into the playoffs. But if Jamal Murray is going to show up and play like that, it's going to be bubble Murray where he's hitting turn around step backs. He's getting in the lane. He's really making things happen. Combined with what Joker can do, combined with Michael Porter Jr. hitting threes, combined with Aaron Gordon wreaking havoc around the rim. Denver looked really nice.
And if Yana still has his back issue, if. Boston still has their turnover issues and, you know, kind of living and dying by the three if they have some off nights. This might be Denver's title to kind of take. Yeah, they've been especially for years, especially with Kawhi now banged up Phoenix looking super inconsistent. And, you know, the Lakers only put up ninety three last night. That's not gonna be enough to stay with Denver. So, yeah, it's Denver. It looks like the best team right now. I've never seen, by the way, this many injuries to star players in the first like two or three games of the first round ever. Yeah. While even Miami losing Tyler here, that's a huge loss for them. But I also say this, you know, looking at the Sixers and beat is still doing and being tight.
That's true. Twenty eight. Nineteen. He's still to me the most unstoppable force offensively. And, you know, Maxie put up thirty three.
He was just in his bag. So, you know, James Harden is doing his thing. He only had eight seven assists that last game, but we still got to dub. We'll see it all. It's all going to come down on coaching. I think coaching is the thing that's going to win this championship for whatever team wins.
I think you're going to have to look at the adjustments being made like Ty Lue is, you know, I thought he was going to have to make some adjustments with Zubats, maybe sending him some more playing Plumlee a little bit more because he was just getting eaten up, you know, while through a pick and roll. But I don't know. I'm now I'm just flabbergasted now.
That's why it's quite news. The curse of Donald Sterling can say when will this end? I guess when I'm long gone, Adam, like Roman Reigns will be the WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion still in 20 years and I'll be gone off this planet in the Clipper curse will still happen. And it's just never going to end. All right, everybody, we'll leave you on that. Thanks for watching. Enjoy the games tonight, Thursday. Enjoy the games Friday and all weekend. We'll see you next week. Everybody stay healthy out there. I mean, watch yourself getting into the painted area. Mentals and chickens in your ACLs, apparently all right, boys, good stuff. TJ, Adam LeBrock out.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-04-20 20:26:26 / 2023-04-20 20:41:11 / 15
