REShow: Steve Aschburner - Hour 3 (5-3-2023)

This is the Rich Eisen Show with guest host Dan Helle. LeBron carries a three.

Curry relocation three is up and gone. You care about talking to the legacy question with these two guys? From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

You've got two all-time greats, they're two very different players. Earlier on the show, NFL writer Jason Cole, professional pickleball player Tyson McGuffin, NFL network analyst Charles Davis. Coming up, senior writer for NBA.com, Steve Ashburner. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Dan Helle. What is up?

Hour three underway. Time is flying here in Los Angeles on the West Coast with Brockman, Del Tufo, and TJ. I don't know if you guys saw this story the other day, but read that Travis Kelce interested in doing some work with the WWE. Of course, we saw George Kittle at WrestleMania. I'm not a huge wrestling guy. You know, when I was a kid, I used to follow it.

Jimmy Superfly Snuka and Hulk Hogan and the British Bulldogs and Randy Macho Man Savage. Oh, yeah. But you still are, right? So you're very much into this. Very much. It got me thinking a little bit about NFL players, current NFL players, because you could go way back, that would make great WWE superstars. And you were kind of into this game a little bit, right?

Absolutely. You were down. I'm down for anything wrestling related. Well, I guess, I mean, just look around. Look at his area. Look around your office there, all the wrestling stuff.

He's got a couple of belts. I mean, you gave us a little tour the other day, which was fun. So anyway, we did our top five list of current NFL players who would make great WWE superstars. And we each took our turn. And I'm going to start. As you should. All right.

Number five. He was a three time Pro Bowl tackle for the Tennessee Titans. He's currently suing the Tennessee Titans because of a surgery that didn't go as well as he would have liked in 2020. That's Taylor Lewand. So I think Taylor Lewand would be a great heel in the world of professional wrestling. He's a big guy, right? You know, 6'5", left tackle. He has the resume.

He has the personality. You know, great podcast, Busting with the Boys. I think they've been trying to get rich on Busting with the Boys for like a calendar year.

Almost a year. Yeah. Is he ever going to go on it? Not until the bus has a motor. Oh, he won't go on the bus until it has a motor. Brilliant.

Because I don't think the bus is ever going to have a motor. Big fans of both of those guys and their podcasts as well. So Taylor Lewand, number five on my list of NFL stars who would make great WWE superstars. Number four, George Kittle.

I mean, this is obvious, right? I played tight end in high school. I love tight ends. The tight ends are ruling the world.

It was the strongest position in the draft this year. And we saw Kittle. Were you there when Kittle came out? I was there, man. I was in the house. How was it? How was he?

It was great. The thing is, when you have that many people at SoFi, many of them are foreigners. Many of them don't watch football. I don't think a lot of them knew who George Kittle was.

Really? Those of us who did know that it was George Kittle. We definitely popped for him. Number three on my list.

This is another one that I was really, really proud of coming up with. DK Metcalf. How good would this guy be? Obviously. I mean, he's shaped like a martini glass. He's huge. You got the person.

You got it all. He could be the hair. He could be good. He could be a villain.

He could be whatever you want him to be, and he could be the heavyweight champion of the world. Daniel Jeremiah said he was a human batsuit the way the man was built. You're right. That's a great one.

I haven't heard that from DJ before. All right. Number two.

I got a combo platter here. It's going to be a tag team. Travis and Jason Kelsey. Makes sense. Right?

It's good. You got the one brother who's Uber. Well, they're both Uber athletic, right? For sure. I don't want to take anything away from Jason just because he's a lineman.

He's a little more portly than his brother. I think I love the brother tag teams. I think that would be the best tag teams in the world.

I think that would be great. And number one on my list, the baddest man in the NFL, Rams defensive lineman, Aaron Donald. Look at the guy.

I mean, you know, I don't think we hear or see enough of Aaron Donald because he's not out there as much as some guys are, but I think he will be a bad ass WWE superstar. So that's my top five. TJ, well, you know, I'd love your list.

I kind of kept some guys off my list because I figured you would have them on yours. So I'm a casual. I'm a casual. No, no, no. Because Aaron, Aaron Donald and DK Metcalf, I'm like, you'll probably put them on because it makes sense.

So you figure, you figured I'd do DK, huh? I mean, look at the guy, man. Like you said, he's got the hair, he's got the look, he's got the build, he's got everything. Let me just give you five that I had off the top of my list. I also went with some brothers in the history of wrestling. The best tag teams are always brothers, whether it be often Sika, whether it be Steiner, the Steiner brothers, whether it be Booker T and Stevie Ray, Harlem Heat, whether it be the Briscoe brothers, whether it be the Hardy Boys or the Young Bucks, Nick and Joey Bosa. We've got the Bosa brothers in there.

I think they could be a dominant tag team. Chandler Jones I have on my list. As you know, his brothers, John Jones, the UFC heavyweight champion, the baddest man on the planet, so you have to figure that some of that probably trickled down to Chandler. Chandler probably caught a few L's growing up to John right then, you know, so he had to pick some stuff up from his brother and his other brother, Arthur, played in the NFL and his brother, Arthur, played as well.

And so in a pinch of something happening, they had like a six man match. He could always call up his two brothers to come to the ring and help them win some type of trios title. Then we got Micah Parsons, who I just love because Micah Parsons, it seems, could do anything. He can play football. He can play linebacker. He could be on the line. He could probably play running back.

He sat in the chair that you're sitting in and hosted half the show for us. And I feel like his personality, his size, his speed, everything could make him a good professional wrestler. And then we have a rookie, Siaki Ika, just got drafted by the by the Browns. And, you know, Polynesian wrestlers have been some of the greatest and most popular and most over wrestlers in the history of the sport, from the high chief, Peter Maivia to Snuka to the Tonga Kid to right now, the biggest attraction in wrestling is the blood and Roman Reigns, the Uso's, Sola Sequoia. So I feel like he could could fit in there as a professional wrestler. And then you always need a guy who's like the ladies like he's handsome. And I only know he's handsome because Rich and Brockman say it every time his name pops up. He dresses well. You need someone like Jimmy G in there, the style and profile. You know, he could be like this this generation's gorgeous Gino Hernandez, if you don't know, do some research.

But I think Jimmy G would be the guy that all the ladies would hoon over and maybe he could take over ownership of Space Mountain from Ric Flair, Ravishing Rick Rude, Ravishing Rick Rude type. I don't know if he has that. All right, we'll get one more. There is one more. Sorry.

No, you were good, Mike. Here's something that you might not know. There's a coach in the NFL who is a pretty decent high school wrestler. Well, Mike Hoskins, the biggest Bill fan that we know.

He didn't know this. Oh, that's Bill McDermott. That's Bill's head coach Sean McDermott. Oh, really?

I would throw. Yeah. Sean McDermott was a two time national prep school wrestling champion.

I think he was 61 and 0. He only got taken down one time in his wrestling career. And if you need a mouthpiece, a manager, an advocate, if you need someone to come out and just like work with a wrestler, but jump in the ring when need be, you got coach Sean McDermott because he could really take you down.

And maybe we pair him up with the Alpha Academy, with Chad Gable and his number one guy, Otis, make Sean McDermott part of the Alpha Academy. And he'll he'll twist you up like a pretzel is what I'm saying, Dan. OK, I get that. You never want to mess with somebody who has cauliflower ear in a bar. That's rule number one. You just don't. And if you don't know that, if you go anywhere, you're in a bar, you're in a restaurant, you're in Wal-Mart. It seems like something might pop off.

Just check the guy's ears. If they're a little cauliflower, then it's not the worst thing in the world for you to go. You know what? Let's just go about our business and walk away, because chances are you're going to get, you know, belly to back suplex.

It's not going to work out. I thought you were going to say Dan Campbell, Dan Campbell was probably too big to wrestle in high school. I like I mean, I mean, he's a heavyweight, right?

But like McDermott's tiny, which brings me to this question. What's the smallest superstar in the WWE? That'd be Rey Mysterio.

How tall? Rey is five, five, five, five, five, five, seven, somewhere in there. Really? Yeah.

I didn't even know that existed. Oh, yeah. He's one of the greatest of all time. Wow.

Five. Nobody knows what he looks like. Right. Have everyone seen him without the mask?

Oh, yeah. He's been unmasked before. Just not in WWE. Back in WCW. As you know, Kevin Nash, you know him.

He got in a match and he lost his mask. So yeah. Kevin Nash is like six, seven. He's seven foot.

He's six. A legit 6'11". Kevin Nash was able to get a legit high school basketball player. Oh, and you know where Kevin Nash played college ball at? No.

Where'd you go? Kevin Nash went to Tennessee? Yes, he did. Wow.

He played basketball. See, it just shows like I'm removed from the wrestling world. And I've told you guys, now that the WWE and the UFC are under the same umbrella and endeavor, I'm going to have to figure out a way to get more in tune with the WWE. Well, I'm here for you, Dan.

Whatever you need. I appreciate that. I heard that it's when you watch on when you're there in person, it's at it's a little more evident than when you're watching on TV, that it's a little bit more of a production. Yeah. You know, because, you know, you've got the cameraman there, things that you can't see on television. You've got the cameraman who really helped the wrestlers out. Like case in point, WrestleMania this year, Snoop Dogg was the he was a celebrity host with Mike The Miz and The Miz was going to have a match with Shane McMahon, who's Vince McMahon's son.

And he came down and he blew his either his quad or his knee out right before they were getting started. Man. Yeah. So we don't thought it was fake. But when you were there, you knew it was.

Oh, you knew it was real. Right. Right off the bat.

So they're kind of standing around wondering what to do. And the next, you know, Snoop, by the way, props to Snoop goes up. He punches Mike. The Miz. Miz goes down. Snoop does not a very great people's elbow, but he people's elbows, Miz, and he gets the one, two, three in a very improv match.

The only thing that could have made it better. Snoop should have walked before he dropped the elbow. But then you go back and I saw a fan video and you see a cameraman. He got the word from the back and he was just telling Snoop, hit me, it's punch, Miz. So a lot of these guys are doing this stuff on the fly. And it's one thing for the pros to do it, but for Snoop to be able to like pull that off at the drop of a hat, because no one knew that this guy was going to blow his leg out.

You know, really just props to Snoop for for being on point right there. So I'm not going to say the name of the guy on the air, but what's the what's the minor league? They're NXT. NXT. OK, so not necessarily the minor league, but like that's, you know, we're holding their skills before they get called up.

It's the triple A? I guess in baseball terms, that would be the best definition of it, yeah. So as an NXT guy who is a former college wrestler and he's now an NXT guy and we're talking about how you become a superstar, how you establish yourself, how you build your popularity.

And he said it was two very different approaches, right? Because there's a lot of former football players and a lot of former college wrestlers who are just big dudes and, you know, get into it. And they come from a team background.

And then there's others that came from the true minor leagues of wrestling, more about the showmanship of it. And he said they're they're such different backgrounds that those guys tend to be more kind of about themselves and about just trying to like step on people to get up to, you know, the next level, whereas the other guys are a little bit more team players. And when you have your, you know, your script, but you go off script, even if it's a little bit, sometimes it can kind of screw things up, even if the outcome is the same. You know, whoever's going to win or was planned to win ends up winning. But it was interesting to hear him talk about how two very different approaches and sometimes people could be rubbed the wrong way.

Yeah. I mean, look, some people grow up fans of the sport. Some people don't. Some people get in into it because of circumstances like they're, you know, whatever football, basketball, baseball career didn't work out, you know. But you know, one thing I've always heard old school wrestlers say is you can either make friends or you can make money.

And so sometimes that business, you know, there's only there's very few main event spots. So you kind of do sometimes have to look out for yourself if you want to get one of those spots. I don't know if I'd like to live like that, either make friends or make money. I mean, I like both friends and money.

Is there anything wrong with that? Don't make me choose friends or money ain't good, you know, unless unless your friends are buying you dinner. I think the choice is easy. I guess if you have a bunch of rich friends and you can have friends and I don't know.

Your son, he chose friends and money because you're his friend and you buy him food. So that is true. He you know, I'm very moldable, much more moldable as a father than I was as a kid.

I think it's it's not ideal. But that was fun, man. That was a good idea. Yeah, that was good.

This is longer than I anticipated. We'd be talking about wrestling, so I really don't know much about it. But it is interesting and it's you know, I think for a lot of these guys who have the personality, I mean, heck, you know, like McAfee was a punter and he's now doing stuff with the WWE. You know, Kelsey's an active player, wants to do stuff, you know, Kittle Gronk when he was still 24, seven champion.

I mean, you could do a whole list of former players who would be fantastic as well. And to be honest, I'm surprised more guys, given that it keeps you relevant, that you can make pretty damn good money. If you get to that star status, more guys don't don't do that. It's tough, though, Dan. It is a very tough way of life. The guys are on the road, you know, 270, 300 days a year, you know, no matter what anyone says on it, it takes a physical toll on your body.

You're fine. You're falling on basically a thin piece of mat that's covering plywood. You know, the ropes are cable. They're hard. Everything's hard. You know, you're really depending upon the person you're in the ring with to protect you and take care of yourself or else, you know, tragedy can happen. We've seen guys, you know, get paralyzed and broken limbs.

And so it's a very tough business to get into. Yeah. It is an interesting point you bring up, because unlike the UFC, where, you know, the premier fighters are fighting two, maybe three times a year, these guys are on the road every week. Right. And the superstars, for the most part, are on the road. Yeah. You're doing it, you know, five, six days a week. Maybe sometimes, you know, back in the days, they would do multiple shows, you know, so you'd have a match at, you know, maybe noon in Greensboro, North Carolina, then you'd have to drive three hours to in either direction and have, you know, a match at six o'clock that night.

Luckily, they don't have to do that as much anymore. Sounds like an NBA schedule, man, playing 82 regular season games, you know, or Major League Baseball 162. Steve Ashburner from NBA.com going to be on with this here in just a couple of minutes to talk some NBA hoops. I'm going to be very curious to see what he has to say about the Lakers chances here to take this series.

I know we are often in this microwave society, prisoners of the moment. And based on what we saw last night, well, we could see the Lakers winning at all. I still, you know, could see Golden State taking, you know, four games in a row wide open. Who knows how this is going to go, but a lot going on in the NBA playoffs right now. We're going to be talking with Ashburner in just a couple of moments, and we haven't really touched on any other series outside of, you know, the Lakers and Warriors. We've talked a little bit about the Celtics and Sixers will be playing game two tonight.

The new line right now, Boston by eight at home, trying to even things up against the Sixers who will be getting Joel Embiid back in the lineup with that. Sorry, I hate to interrupt you, but you mean the National Basketball Association, most valuable player Joel Embiid? There you go. Okay. Yeah. How did you know that wasn't going to be, that was going to be the tag on my Joel Embiid?

Well, I don't think it was. Is that the right MVP? Do we have the right MVP? I'm too biased to answer this question any other way than yes. I'm glad.

I'm glad he won. I think he could be easily be a two-time MVP. For sure. The jokers could easily be three in a row. No, that's true. That's true.

But it was unbelievable season for, for Embiid. For both of them. You know?

Yeah. They're, they're, they're both two great players. And just the differences in the two styles of play. Like we said yesterday, Joker doesn't really run, can't really jump, very dominant the way he plays basketball and beads game completely different. Just as dominant.

Well, and just the whole, you know, what he's been through with the injuries and the process and what they, you know, Philadelphia, I, I, I'm, I'm definitely not going to say Philadelphia deserves another title being a Washington DC native, but it'll it going through what they have gone through and with Joel, I'm glad to see him finally get the, the MVP that he deserves. We're going to be a playoffs with senior writer for nba.com, Steve Ashburner coming up after this Men, do you get distracted during the day thinking about your underarms, sweating, itching, or emitting an odor? Do those thoughts keep you from showing care when it counts new and improved dove men plus care antiperspirant with 72 hours sweat, no to protection and one quarter moisturizing cream helps you forget about your underarms so you can be present for the moments that matter.

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He's not really hitting both through the screws. Plus local podcasts like believe in Astros and believe in the Bronx. You're going to have to get some more innings out of the rotation.

Just search BLEAV podcast wherever you listen. Welcome back. Dan Helle filling in for Rich Eisen. You can call us at eight four four two oh four rich. We're on the Roku channel two 10 series XM two 18 on Sirius two oh two on XM we're on Instagram rich eyes and show or YouTube as well.

Rich eyes and show as well. Let's talk a little NBA playoffs with Steve Ashburner senior writer from NBA dot com Steve how you doing? I'm good Dan thanks for having me on.

My pleasure. Game two tonight Sixers Celtics and Joel Embiid the reigning MVP going to be going to be playing in this one despite battling the sprain knee. Were you surprised he didn't take the Jimmy Butler approach and just let him sit for at least another game?

Well we haven't seen it yet. So I'm in Boston. I was there when Doc Rivers talked about what Joel had not been doing lately in his rehab and what he has been doing. And his comments from Monday night to Tuesday were pretty consistent because on Monday he told us he had done zero running. Had zero running for four since April 20th and then yesterday he went out and ran through some I guess they call it skeleton work or whatever and did some running. But I mean I asked Rivers how do you go from zero running to playoff mode just like that.

And you know he acknowledged that that's a that's pretty big ask. So if either either they were sandbagging us in terms of what Embiid was doing to get his himself back for game two or if he plays at all we're likely to see maybe cameo appearances until he's gassed which might take you know a matter of a few minutes depending on the pace that we have in this game. So you know we'll see. I don't know what to expect from Joel Embiid in game two. I am surprised from the standpoint Rivers had said you know if there's any question at all they would basically err on the side of caution because they've split they've already got the split of the of the first two at Boston. They've got home court advantage now regardless of what happens tonight. There's no real urgency for Embiid to be out there tonight.

I mean this way he can wait till you know two more days. You know who knows what that might might spell in terms of his knee and its conditioning. So we'll see. It'll be obviously the biggest angle going into tonight's game. Now if he comes out and he plays like an MVP or anything approaching it then you know Boston could be in trouble and that that may be what Philadelphia sees it's like you know let's grab the series while we while we have the edge. That's interesting to go from not running at all for as long as he's been out to running for the first time to the very next day playing in a playoff game. Yeah I I I would lean towards him not having a huge impact in this one but and I also I just sit him out another game like I thought that was really smart what the Heat did with Jimmy Butler but listen he's the only one who knows exactly how he's feeling and I'm sure he's in Doc's ear saying let's go I'm ready to go I want to get back which is which is often the case. Dylan Brooks in Memphis his time there is over were you surprised when the report came out that the Grizzlies said basically under no circumstance not basically under no circumstances will Dylan Brooks be back with the Memphis Grizzlies. Yeah I mean I was very surprised by that I mean not only is that sort of bad form in an employer employee relations in general but I mean they're throwing this guy under the bus even even if he spun out of control for a couple weeks there of the postseason I mean this this you know Dylan Brooks has been a helpful piece for them he was he was really important in previous you know playoff toes dipped in the water last year and such and I you know I thought he would I did he did a very credible and at times thankless job for them this year he accepted that wall as a 3 and D guy and he guarded the other team's most potent scores on many nights he allowed Jaron Jackson Jr. to thrive as a as a help defender and a room protector and win the defensive player of the year award you know Dylan Brooks it was ill advised I was standing right in front of him when he made the comments about LeBron in the postgame locker room in in Memphis and in real time I mean it was as if you could hear while he was talking in front of me I could hear in my head oh this is a huge mistake do not do this you know you were going to live to regret this and you know apparently he's he's he's going to regret it in ways beyond what he would have thought look it would have been easy for the Grizzlies to just let free agency happen in the meantime they could have you know lied to media people and just said well you know we're we'll certainly be competitive with Dylan and you know we want him to come back and stick to a nope under no circumstances policy internally you know stuff can leak out and I guess in essence this did leak out but was it see I'm still wondering was it a quote or was it a characterization by someone who reported it if you have if you have management there or the owner of the Memphis Grizzlies saying under no circumstances with coat marks around it that's one thing if it's a characterization by somebody you know tweeting out their version of the Grizzlies stands on books even if true you know in essence but under no circuit I can't I can't beat somebody up unless I know that's exactly what someone said now they just said look we're done with him he can go out there and find something better we need to make a change of the that might imply under no circumstances but that's pretty cold and harsh language if it truly was said by official Grizzlies person then you know I think they're going to hurt themselves they're going to hurt themselves in in free agency with other NBA players who wants to go you know work for play for an organization that after you bust a gut for them will you know sort of you know put you out there like that and and do you wrong I just I think it there was no profit in it for them to do this and they got a little emotional and carried away and I I think that they've got some damage control to do as a result and Dylan Brooks hasn't even hit create and say yeah that seems to be the consensus out there Suns up 2-0 on the Nuggets I'm sorry Nuggets up 2-0 on the Suns as the series goes back to Phoenix and I see obviously on their home court Phoenix favored by three and a half as of right now that game is going to be on Friday I to me I look at this series and I I think this series is over Chris Paul battling a groin injury Denver looking very much like the number one seed what's your take on that series well yeah I mean you know I've professionally I've been I've had to violate my rule of not talking about other men's groins you know it's it's it's material to what we're we're watching and I hope to see as this plays out I mean Chris Paul is vital to them he organizes them he brings a toughness he brings even you know some cheap shots that can be instrumental in swinging a game this way or that so yeah that that if he's hobbled at all then you know they're going to have problems Denver to me is looking more and more like a team in full I think that they you know way you know we're seeing them you know night after night in the playoffs in ways maybe we don't when they're playing those games and in the Western Conference and and you know Mountain Time Zone and things like that or they they truly have stepped it up at this point but I mean the way they the way they pick up each other and you know how Jamal Murray can almost be a bonus at this point I mean he wasn't having a good game and yet you know he hits you know a key shot or two and all of a sudden you know that can put them over the top so you know Phoenix has got the scores though I mean to deal with with Booker and Durant on the floor at the same time that could that could totally shift at with the change in venue so I'd still be amazed that this is not at least the six game series. Elsewhere in the Western Conference Lakers stealing game one on the road from the Warriors doing large part to Anthony Davis 30 points 23 rebounds the best game in the playoffs by a Laker big man since Shaq 21 years ago and and they got contributions from guys they needed to get contributions from a D'Angelo Russell Dennis Shruderich chipping in 19 points LeBron with 22 and 11 boards this series obviously far from over but what a drama filled night it was last night between those two teams in the Bay Area yeah when you're when you're talking about a what is it a six six seed and a seven seed yeah first time in a long time you never would have guessed it from you know the way this thing is already shaped up and yeah I think that that that was just you know a quirk of the Western Conference regular season and how things played out but these are these are two playoff tested teams you know Golden State showed that any of those those nervous feelings about oh they can't win on the road all of a sudden this year well that they took care of that against Sacramento LeBron and his team have been rolling you know the one caution I guess is that the Lakers had a few days off Anthony Davis was was fine and rested he's had a pattern of not putting together consecutive big games you know one day in between is a lot different from you know whatever it was they had two three four days to prepare and so you know can he be that force the same way you know in game two and again in game three and again you know maybe they don't need quite that much but he could have a drop-off he had drop-offs against Memphis and it was rather telling LeBron too LeBron too was you know I mean he's not invulnerable he's pretty indestructive but still you know that could have been Pete LeBron so Golden State you know it's interesting when these teams though just like with Boston just like with man less so with New York because they're sort of fortunate to be so far but they lose that home court advantage right away it's a thing that they strive for all season long and all of a sudden the series you know looks like it could flip on something like that now Golden State you know they got they're gonna have to go out and win on the road again and it won't be just a bus ride it'll be a little longer flight down the coast to do that in LA so you know we'll see but you know I think they they know the formula they'll figure out a way to not have Jordan Poole launching from 28 or 30 feet whatever it was with the game on the line and the outcomes could could flip I think I think you know three of these four series are gonna go pretty deep pretty long yeah I could easily see that I actually I'd be surprised if the Lakers and Warriors don't go to seven games defensively I thought the Lakers were very smart and how they were playing the Warriors most of the game they weren't concerned with anybody outside of Steph and Klay on the perimeter they were able to dominate the paint I think Jared Vanderbilt has been a tremendous addition to the Lakers defensively but you saw that change when the pace quickened there in the fourth quarter their transition defense not nearly as good as their half-court defense which leads me to wonder why why doesn't Golden State just push the pace the entire game well that's good question we might we might see them shift that gear you know in game two you know especially if you know like I said key Lakers are not as fresh as they were I mean when Anthony Davis is dominating to both ends you know it frees up his teammates at both ends and so you know defensively they know he's got the rim he's got the paint and they're able to do a little bit more but yeah I think I think obviously a quicker pace favors the Warriors if they can maintain it all right we are we're in the semi-finals of course of the NBA playoffs talking to Steve Ash Ashburner senior writer from nba.com two storylines two most interesting storylines to you in the semi-finals in the eastern and western conference you can go one from each conference you can go two in one conference what what's the most interesting thing to you right now let's see well I'm covering the the Sixers and Celtics so I thought it was fascinating the way James Harden dusted off the best version of his old self in game one we may not see it again if him beat his back and and playing you know halftime or better Harden is going to have to rein himself in again for the betterment of the 76ers but he came out and a guy frankly a guy that I really don't like watching at least that red version of him when he when he was pounding the ball for Houston and Brooklyn and you know begging for foul calls and things he didn't do that he wasn't driven to try to get for the line but I mean he just he was you know tremendous as a scorer he still had a half dozen assists it fit because they needed that firepower so I thought Harden largely this season refurbished his image and and and showed his willingness to sacrifice you know what what he had gotten so comfortable doing for you know for the good of the Sixers and I think that in game one of this round I mean he just did it all over again and that for me was was impressive he's gonna end up in the Hall of Fame I don't have a vote you know he's already won an MVP he doesn't need my approval but but to me that was impressive so I would say that is as number one you want it on the series that are still going on right yes one anybody's a dramatic failing or anything geez what would I say I you know I'm a Julius Randle fan and so watching how he sort of navigates the criticism the benching you know the the the ankle recovery that's still not a hundred percent you know he's a proud guy the team rode with him you know for quite a while before they've enjoyed this success Jalen Brunson is sort of you know changed up the pecking order there the way they played when Randall wasn't playing you know that helps change up you know the pecking order as well and so you know he has expressed that he just wants to be available to the Knicks for however much he can help and I you know I've always enjoyed his game I get a very animated personality I love watching his old school low post game and yet you know he goes outside and obviously you know adapts to the whole stretch for era so I guess I would keep my eye on him I just don't know whether that series gonna last long enough to spend a lot of time watching Julius Randall I think that Miami you know that was a strategic move to not have Butler played if they had needed him I'm pretty sure he would have played and Spolsa he's the best coach in the NBA if he gets his team you know down to Miami they could easily win the next two all of a sudden it's three one and that's gonna be awfully hard for New York to come back from so that might I think end up being the shortest of these four series yeah it's gonna be interesting to see if they can close this out in relative easy fashion if they get Jimmy Butler back and then at some point you know if they advance Tyler Herro is gonna be back as well Julius Randall with 25 points and three three pointers in that win last night over the heat Steve Ashburner senior writer from NBA.com Steve we appreciate the time enjoy tonight you're welcome Dan all right shedding a little light on the the NBA playoffs that was great I love watching Randall play too you know it's funny listening to TNT guys talk about it last night they're like he is fearless there's nobody on the heat roster who's gonna keep him from doing exactly what he wants to do at least last night for the most part he did along with Jalen Brunson who went for 30 didn't look like it was going their way though I mean they needed a nice last three minutes of that game to kind of pull that out and draw blood get even they got really lucky I mean the next day they could easily be down 2-0 well and Jimmy Butler's gonna be back and probably feeling a whole lot better than he would have had he tried to play last night as well more NBA talk and a whole lot more we we got what quarter hour left 15 minutes left show on this Wednesday from Los Angeles Dan Helle filling in we're back in a moment. Dan Helle filling in for Rich Steve Ashburner from NBA.com just on talking NBA playoffs and he's really good he was great he was he was excellent it got me thinking though about some of the things that I heard last night after the game well there are a couple things that really stood out to me TNT had a shot and when I'm saying the game I'm talking about the Warriors and the Lakers TNT had a shot Darvin Ham was speaking in the locker room after the game and LeBron looked exhausted like absolutely thrashed he was kind of listening but not really listening they did like a little cheer chant at the end he was not involved and I say he was not involved because it wasn't that he was not listening or he was too tired he was taken off shoes he was just exhausted and I think we tend to forget even though we beat it into the ground that he's 38 years old but the beating that it takes the toll that it takes on your body when these guys are playing you know all these regular season games and then in the playoffs and LeBron spoke to the media after that and said that Anthony Davis will have his jersey hanging in the rafters at crypto.com so it got me thinking though if they win a tie if they were to win a title this year this year this year that's two titles for Anthony Davis and he'll probably end up being the best player on both right he was the best player in the bubble yes and he'll probably LeBron won finals MVP that year I believe but that's just something that happened right just happened but he was certainly he they don't they don't win it without him no no chance no chance but you're right he was best player they can't win without Anthony Davis if he saw what he did last night and he gets a jersey retired wow what that statue two titles I mean we know LeBron's getting a statue if they win another title 100 I don't think Anthony Davis gets a statue but do you do you retire his number that's a that's a great quiet two titles right I mean he will go down on this list of I'm a hater though the bubble one doesn't count but it's different it counts but it's different no I get it they benefited their most by having the four months off yes yeah I guess so yeah why not I mean he's gonna finish his career as a Laker at that point if he wins another title for sure so yeah probably I think I agree with that TJ yeah who cares two titles sure yeah why not I guess all right I put up on the poll who's more likely to come back after a 1-0 deficit to win the series it was Celtics early now warriors 52% really it was pretty split but you know 52 48 I would say Celtics more likely to win this series wouldn't be that's that's a that's a tough that's a great poll question tough it's tough I don't know why didn't we do a poll question yesterday about what I don't know I didn't think of one here's the thing with Anthony Davis it's so dumb it's just like oh what I'm thinking at that exact second and I just put it out that was good here's the thing with Anthony Davis so you look at the numbers I mentioned this earlier he played in 56 games this year 40 the year before 36 the year before and then his first year with the Lakers he played in 62 so he's you know he's played in more than 56 games one time in four years with the Lakers but I think LeBron has a point you win two titles you go your name goes up in the rafters I mean well bronze missed a lot of time in the last few years too yeah LeBron's 38 I you know yeah but not really I mean he's been in the league since he was 18 yeah he's put more miles on his body than anyone else and he plays in the Olympics every year it's crazy I know Chris will tell you he doesn't dislike LeBron but then most of his comments will lead you to think that there's a little something there we'll just say this at the end so we don't have to really get into it you're in the fight world you heard what Chell Sonnen said like come on there's something going on I also tried to explain to him that Chell Sonnen doesn't necessarily the person who he says but the people who know know Chell you know yeah Chell says a lot of things to get to get attention here's what I would say here's what I would say about LeBron I appreciate longevity and staying power now as I get older oh yeah more than I ever have no and I don't remember how long ago it was but LeBron's body and this may be what you're alluding to is very different than when he got into the league right like he's thinned out I don't he lost 20 30 pounds the fitness was a bigger deal like he's a different dude I don't know if he was if he was as big as he was at one point in his career if he would have the ability to do what he does now at 38 heat days he was yeah he was swole yoked yeah absolutely swole and it's pretty well documented how much LeBron spends on taking care of his body the the rehab and the rehabilitation and all that stuff so you know it's it's a credit to him and his greatness obviously one of the best ever the best ever I'm kidding I'm kidding I'm not gonna do that at the end of the show headed to uh to New Jersey this weekend for UFC 288 I'd be remiss if I did not what do we got talking through it what are you looking forward to I'm looking for that main event person the main event is uh Henry Cejudo and Osmond Sterling Cejudo coming back basically coming out of retirement so Henry Cejudo is one of four double champs in UFC history yeah holding a holding a title in two different divisions uh simultaneously and he's one of the all-time greats he's he's a was a gold medalist in the Olympics as a wrestler um he is he's also one that can listen he they call him the king of cringe because he says a lot of stupid stuff sometimes but I think it's great I think people get on triple c too much man he's really smart and he's a great coach and you look at all the guys he's worked with recently um and they've all been they've all been winning we should have had triple c call in this week I know that would why didn't we do that I didn't even think I would have thought of that but I also like Aljamain Sterling yeah and I like you know Al Joe won the belt uh initially because of a penalty because he got kneed uh in the face when he was down and couldn't continue in the fight a lot of people questioned whether he could have continued or not and because he couldn't continue the belt transferred uh from Peter Yount to him so he won the title because he couldn't continue and he took a lot of hate for that he took he took a lot of hate because I still I'm not necessarily convinced that he couldn't have continued that same thing happened to Anthony Smith when he fought John Jones and Anthony Smith could have quit could have stopped could have been the new champion Anthony Smith continued on and ended up losing and still a very good active fighter uh in the UFC also looking forward to the co-main event Bilal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns at welterweight potentially a title eliminator there this is going to be the most UFC you guys have talked on the rich eisen show and like what ever no not ever we've had adecinia in here a few times yeah so that's it is he's become in studio yeah he's a character we had holly home back in the day so that's about the extent of it yeah I think she's I think she's based in the area Ronda Rousey you could get a little WWE talk and some old uh UFC stuff with Ronda Rousey guys it's been a uh it's been a pleasure let's not take uh yeah a year and a half next time you're in here rich back in the seat again tomorrow rich back on friday back on friday kirk morrison uh he's back tomorrow you love lala kent on vanderpump rules now get to know her on give them lala with her assistant jess what you did not see is when racquel arrives and she wants to talk to me i made her sit in a corner explain sat in a corner booth all by herself in the dark waiting for to talk to you waiting for me to finish dancing to 50 cent it's my birthday sit in the corner give them lala wherever you 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