Heat in Hot Water? (Hour 4)

Alrighty, fourth and final hour of this Thursday edition of the Zach Gelb show. Trying to sweep Dallas out of the postseason, just like what the Florida Panthers did to Carolina last night. This game four, where Vegas leads a series 3-0.

It's 1-1 after one. And in the NBA world, we know a team that's playing right in the backyard of where I'm at right now. Is already in the NBA Finals, that's the Denver Nuggets.

A lot of sweeps this time of the year. As Denver did sweep the Los Angeles Lakers. And now we are waiting to see what's going to happen between the Heat and the Celtics. The Celtics avoided getting swept out of the Easter Conference Finals and have an embarrassing performance.

When they did get that game for victory in Miami and they finally showed some heart. Boston was an eight point favorite tonight. Hickey likes the Miami Heat to win.

I told you that this is Vegas begging you, imploring you to plus the points with Miami. So therefore, I did minus the eight points and I think the Boston Celtics are going to win this game by nine. It's only one quarter in, but Boston is up by fifteen points.

Thirty-five to thirty. And Jason Tatum, who's not even hitting from three. He only made one three point shot in that first quarter, but he has twelve points. And you have the Boston Celtics still up by fifteen points. But that three point shot is so big for the Celtics as a team. Because I was reading this the other day, this is from Phil Perry. And we know how reliant the Boston Celtics are on the three point shot.

But, he pointed out the records. The Celtics, Hickey, are thirty-six and two when they shoot forty percent from three. And they're twenty-nine and thirty-one when shooting below forty percent. So you look at this Boston Celtics team, the key is forty percent from three. They are seven to twelve after this first quarter from three. So a good start for the Boston Celtics who are shooting a little over fifty-eight percent from behind the arc. That's the key.

That's the number. If they hit their threes, they win. If they don't, they struggle. Like, they lose. And that's the story so far of the series. That's why you kind of look at the three point shooting as really the biggest number that's going to factor into whether the Heat wins tonight or the Celtics win.

And it's kind of funny. Now I know this Miami team is without Tyler Hero, who's not expected to return even if they get to the NBA Finals. That's what I read a report earlier today, but I did see that there's now some optimism. Because right before the game tonight, he was actually shooting around on the court in pregame warm-ups. And one of the beat writers, I forget which one that covers the team, made this point that you haven't seen Tyler Hero do that as of late. So you never know with injuries in the NBA, Hickey. One day, the player has no shot of returning.

And then the next, not even the next day, a few hours later, maybe he does have a shot of returning. But the initial diagnosis was really that if they got to the NBA Finals, at the time it happened, the first round, everyone's laughing about the Miami Heat potentially getting to the NBA Finals. But the earliest he would be able to return is the NBA Finals. And then you read earlier this week, oh yeah, it's not looking encouraging that a return for the NBA Finals, that he's out on the court before the game.

And he's shooting in some capacity. So it wouldn't surprise me when Miami, assuming they still do, get to the NBA Finals. Because if the Celtics win tonight, this goes from everyone was genuflecting to Miami to then there is a lot of pressure on Miami in Game 6. Because if you go up 3-0, and there's never been a team in the NBA that's come back from a 3-0 deficit. And then this gets to 3-3 and you're going back to that building at TD Garden where I know the Celtics have not played well this year. But when you look at Game 7s, they do play well in that building. If you lose that Game 6, not that it is a Game 7 hickey, but it has the feel of a Game 7. Because then, if this goes to 7, you know everyone would be lining right back up and stepping right back up on this Boston Celtics bandwagon.

Oh, absolutely. And it's crazy to think that a team that should be in the Finals on the Celtics would have no pressure at home in a Game 7. But when you're down 3-0 and you get at least to a Game 7, even though they're at home and the better team, all the pressure is still in the heat for that one. It's now 38-23 with the second quarter just underway.

And it's kind of crazy. Because heading into this postseason and not knowing that Tyler here was going to get hurt. And let's be real, Miami was a playing tournament team. And they were down in the fourth quarter in the second playing tournament game.

So it's not like people were really talking about them. I did say before the playoffs started that if you were going to tell me that one of these three teams weren't going to get to the NBA Finals. If it's Milwaukee, Boston, or Philadelphia. And I thought there was a big separation between Milwaukee and Boston and then the Philadelphia 76ers. But if you had to give a fourth team, I said it would be Miami because they've been there and done it before with Jimmy Butler. But that's even coming from me, I said it would be a Dark Horse team. There's no one that actually really believed in this Miami Heat team so that probably factors into it that we weren't really talking about them.

But who would have thought how big of a deal actually it would have been. Gabe Vincent now not being in this game tonight with the ankle injury and him having to miss Game 5. And he suffered that towards the end of Game 4. He's been awesome in this series averaging 17.5 points per game. And when you have a roster that doesn't have, I'm not saying Gabe Vincent is a star, but when you have a roster that's dependent on those other guys because you don't have a ton of star power. You lose that guy in addition to already losing Tyler Herro and I don't know if Gabe Vincent is going to be able to play in Game 6 or not.

But it's kind of crazy that now Gabe Vincent Hickey has become a big deal to some extent in this NBA postseason when you see how much a team like Miami misses him tonight. Absolutely and again that's part of what makes the Heat so tough as a team and such a tough out in the playoffs is yes they only have one star in Jimmy Butler. But their bench is good and they are a very very deep team where you can even miss Gabe Vincent, you can miss Tyler Herro and even Victor Oladipo too got hurt very early on in the playoffs. They're missing three bench players and I know Vincent just got hurt so it's not like they've been winning games without him. But they've had two significant role players in Oladipo and Herro out really since the jump of the playoffs and it's no problem.

The show goes on, next man up, they have made it happen. It's been impressive. And Martin, one of the Martin twins, Caleb Martin has been really good for them too. He's done a nice job off the bench. But it's kind of funny, it's like Gabe Vincent gets hurt and then you have Kyle Lowry who's won a championship in this league and is well respected, a very good player in this league. I don't think anyone calls him a great player but he's a very good player.

Then he gets put back in that starting lineup. I know he's been dealing with his own injuries, getting up there in age throughout the season. But you're right, it's not like there's a lot of great players on the Miami Heat. Jimmy Butler's a great player. Bam out of bio at times shows that he could be a great player. I still call him a very very very very good player.

That's not a knock on him. But these other guys that are just guys that are solid, you have a bunch of solid guys on your team and that kind of makes you... I don't want to say a championship team, now they have a chance to go win a championship.

There's no doubt about that. But it makes you a very tough, a very gritty team and a team that you just don't want to play. I'm not saying everyone should have been able to predict this Miami Heat team getting to the level that they did.

But it's clear you don't want to play Miami when you have Spoelstra who's the best coach in the sport. And then also you do have Jimmy Butler who is just a great player and there's very... There is a few amount of players in this league that could go win on their own.

And you could say well define winning. It's not necessarily just winning a championship. I mean like taking a team through an entire conference. And Jimmy Butler has shown you ever since getting to Miami that he's taken his game to that next level and he is your culture guy where in other spots he wasn't viewed as the guy. Like in Chicago he wasn't the guy. That was Derrick Rose's team. In Minnesota that was Carl Anthony Towns' team.

In Philly that was Joel Embiid's team. And he comes in there like an alpha cause he... You know the story and everything he had to overcome. And he has that competitive nature where no one's going to outwork him. And when that checks and balances is coming from someone that isn't viewed as the star of the team.

It's like how effective can that message be? And eventually him and Carl Anthony Towns had that dust up in that practice in Minnesota. And he goes to Philly.

Ben Simmons was a baby. And then he finds his way down to Miami. And Miami was the perfect fit for him because you have Eric Spulstra. You have Pat Riley.

And they... I'm not saying they gave the team to him. But if any player can grab that team and can fit in perfectly with the Heat culture out of the entire league. Like Jimmy Butler is the definition of what the Miami Heat look for.

And he sets the tone for that team night in and night out. And I think a lot of success even in sports overall is not only about star powers who you have. It's about fit and culture.

And I know Heat culture gets a lot of eye rolls and I'll be honest I'm kind of doing it myself a little bit. But there's a reason why it's so popular and the reason why it exists is because they look for certain guys. And that fit right into what they want to do. They have specific roles for certain players. And those players that accept the roles kind of go all in.

Help round out this team. And that's where they've been no matter who really is on the squad. Even before Jimmy Butler. They're always competitive. They're always in the mix. In part because they have a system that works. And when you get the right guys in the right system believing. It's really hard to beat. Especially come playoff time.

It is really hard to beat. And with all that being said. I had that sense at least before the game tonight. That Miami was just getting ready for game six.

And I wonder this. I'm not questioning the injury necessarily with Gabe Vincent. But if this was a game seven tonight.

If this was a game that you had to have. I wonder if he is playing in the game. And when you lose a player like that. And Jimmy Butler right now is off to a bad start. He's one of five from the field. Only has four points. Bam's not showing up right now. Only has four points as well.

I just wonder. And it would be so the complete antithesis of what the Heat are about. But we've seen this Heat team before. Just in this post season. Like win game one up against the Milwaukee Bucks. Then Giannis doesn't play in game two.

And you end up not even showing up and being competitive in that game. This may be what game two was in Milwaukee in that series. What game five is tonight. Cause it feels like just early on. And there's still a lot of time left.

There's 7.20 to go. And Boston's up 47 to 32. And we've seen Boston before. Where in game one they played a really good first half. And then in the third quarter they just absolutely imploded. And we've seen these big leads before in the playoffs. Even when Denver up against the Lakers in that first game in the Western Conference Finals. I think they put up like 81 points in the first half.

Memory serves me right. It was an enormous lead for the Denver Nuggets. That game got really close and really tight at the end. So I get it basketball is a game of runs.

But it kind of looks like and you get the sense that Miami is perfectly content just going back to South Beach. And trying to close this out in game six with the effort so far and the play so far on the court. I hope not. Because I don't think if you're the Heat you can kind of play around here. You do not want this team who has a lot of talent gaining momentum.

Starting to actually believe a comeback is real. If I was the Heat I'm putting my foot on the gas here and ending it tonight. Don't go back home. Don't sit on your laurels and say oh we're going home. We'll be fine. The last thing you want is a confident Boston team going to Miami where they have played well on the road. They played really well on the road the last two years. You can't be sitting back and think alright we'll put all our eggs in the game six basket and hope it goes our way.

That has a recipe written for disaster. Let me ask you this real quickly. Your chest hair. Do you have more chest hair on one side of your chest compared to the other? I don't know. I don't really have a lot of chest hair so I can't say I've looked a lot.

Because a lot of people are commenting on these videos that you're putting out. Where Hickey and this I heard Bo Gishay this morning this is a gel bit. This is not a gel bit.

This is a Hickey operating on his own going into the shower and doing shower no cap and I now guess you're releasing these daily videos. A lot of people are commenting on your chest hair. It looks like well it's first off it's all like over the place. You're right. It's like in spots. But it looks like on one side of your chest compared to the other there is a lot more chest hair. So that's what people are commenting so I just wanted to ask if maybe the camera was a little bit misleading.

And maybe you were like Davante Adams and all of a sudden you're saying oh you're getting misquoted and what you actually meant wasn't the way that it's actually getting portrayed publicly. But so far I think we should keep track of the record of these shower no cap takes. And you said in your first ever video, and it's not over yet, but you said Miami would win game 5.

That's right. 47 to 32, 630 to go. It's trending that shower no cap is going to get off to an 0-1 start.

Oh I mean there's way too much time. I think the heater win this game. Even still. Down by 13 right now is honestly for how well Boston shot in the first quarter, I would still say a win right now for Miami. Weather the storm, they did it in game 1, they did it in game 2. This is a team that you want to talk about just kind of grinds away and can cut down a 17 point deficit to 13, to 10, to 7, to 5. That's this team. Okay, well we'll see if they come on back. I'm not ready to say that it's definitely a loss right now, but it's trending to being a loss.

I know we've got to get to a break in a second, but real quickly, what was the very weird video shower no cap segment take today? Concern about the Ravens. 2023, pass first offense, not going to work. Can't be doing that. Okay, so we can't really give you a win or loss on that because you've got to see throughout the entire season. That would be one in December.

We kind of look back on it. I think we should make that segment beneficial to this show even though I don't condone it and even though I don't endorse this segment. I feel as if you should do in the moment takes so we can quickly keep track of that to further illustrate the point of you being a mush and the hickey hex being a real thing. Well if it wants to be sponsored by the Zach Gelb show, we can absolutely do that. I can have your agent talk to my agent and we can work out a deal. Okay, I have an agent. Do you actually have an agent or no?

Yeah, you're talking to him. Okay, so maybe I'll have Lep reach out to you and Lep Seltzer will... I'm hoping for a negotiation. What's your price?

You want a few Twizzlers or something like that? Well, you know, classic negotiation. I'm not going to end the price first. I want to see what you guys offer first. So if you have a little piece of paper, write it down. Have any other suitors?

Write the name, write the number down. I will evaluate, talk to my people and I'll get back to you. We'll pay you in Tootsie Roll Pops. How about that? No. That's our first offer.

Where else are you getting a better offer right now? Absolutely. I'd rather have nothing than Tootsie Roll Pops. Alright, we'll pay you in peanut butter. We'll give you a jar a month. That's it?

Go through a jar a week? Come on, this is not a segment that is demanding big-time money, big-time lucrative money. I don't know. I don't know.

A lot of people are talking about it. Gotcha. Alrighty. Well, if anyone could top a jar of peanut butter a month, you go give Hickey a call.

855-212-4CBS. We'll come on back with a closing bell and coming up at 9.40 p.m. Eastern, 6.40 p.m. Pacific, the owner of the Easter Conference champion Florida Panthers will join us in Vinny Viola. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. Another day is in the books and we're taking stock of the sports world. It's time to find out who's up and who's down. Let's end the day right and hit the closing bell.

Only on the Zach Gelb Show. The owner of the Florida Panthers, Vinny Viola, is going to join us coming up 15 minutes from now. Matthew Kuchuk, who already had the game-winning goal in Game 1 in the 4-overtime affair and then in Game 2 in overtime as well. Well, he didn't get the game to overtime last night. It was 3-3 and the Hurricanes tie up the game. And you had Florida man advantage with 5 seconds left in regulation and Matt Kuchuk does it again. Ryan Hart in the circle, shot and it's fought off by Anderson.

Markov right circle down to the eagle like Kuchuk in front of shot. He scores! He scores! He scores! Matthew Kuchuk a power play goal!

It's 4-3 Panthers with 4.3 seconds to go. Matthew Kuchuk puts the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final as they sweep the Carolina Hurricanes in what was a really fun series even though it was a sweep. Every game was decided by one goal and Kuchuk gets three of the game winners. And they traded for him in July and you saw that team a year ago go out in the second round as the president's trophy winner.

Now having the fewest points out of any team in the playoffs this year and they're off to the Stanley Cup Final 4 wins away from hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup. Give a stock up though to Matthew Kuchuk. Isaac Wilson is the brother of relegated Jets quarterback Zach Wilson who has been moved down to second on the depth chart as now the Jets are going crazy and the NFL is going crazy for the great Aaron Rodgers. Isaac Wilson committed today. He's a four star recruit to Utah so he's going to go play with Kyle Whittingham's squad and maybe eventually replace Cam Rising as Cam's in his final year there. Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Miami and Oregon also in on Isaac Wilson. Isaac Wilson going to Utah so give him a stock up.

This is actually encouraging. There was a lot of thought that Javonte Williams had an opportunity to start the year on Pup and maybe even miss the entire NFL season. Javonte Williams has been doing some limited work at OTAs. I saw a video of him running today with the football so that's good news for the Denver Broncos and I don't know if you saw this Hickey. Russell Wilson, he wouldn't say how much LBs he dropped this offseason but he's looking slim. Now I don't love this Denver team but Russell Wilson is looking like he's starting to focus more on football again rather than just being the star and I like what I'm seeing so far. It's OTAs, let's not get crazy but I'm starting a little bit more optimistic about the Denver Broncos so give Javonte Williams a stock up.

This is Chris Mannix on the Rich Eisen Show with a horrible take. Frankly, the Nuggets aren't very interesting. Like Nikola Jokic is arguably the best player in the game right now but he's not someone that does a lot of interviews outside of the NBA mandated stuff.

He's not going to see a lot of profiles on Nikola Jokic. Jamal Murray, great player, not especially interesting. Michael Porter Jr., excellent player, not especially interesting, at least not compared to what we have at the bottom of the playoff bracket where you've got drama in Los Angeles almost weekly.

You've got the Suns, can they succeed in this first year with Kevin Durant, the Warriors, all their dysfunction this year, the Clippers, can they get it together? The Nuggets problem is they're not respected, they're just not talked about. People just don't find them as interesting as some of the teams on the bottom half of the bracket. They're just not a compelling team to talk about, to write about, at least not as compelling as some of the other teams I mentioned. That is a lazy ass take. It really is.

They're not compelling, they're not fun to cover, they're not good to write about. Nikola Jokic is the best player in the league right now. He's a unicorn on that basketball court. He is a walking triple-double. He's the definition of consistently great. And the story of Jamal Murray, where he was a stud in the bubble, then the next year as the ACL tear, and now is back, and not only is back, but is dominating, and is an absolute assassin. He could have won the Western Conference Most Valuable Player. That's how good that guy was. So don't tell me that this Denver team is boring, because that doesn't make sense to me.

They're actually very fun to watch. Give Chris Mannix a stock down. Aaron Rodgers. He's playing the hits. Big Bruce Springsteen fan now, Bon Jovi fan, mentions how much he loves the Jersey Shore and he used to go to DJ Pauly D concerts.

Except one problem. He publicly admitted that he has never watched the greatest TV show of all time, and that's The Sopranos. I don't get how Aaron Rodgers has never seen the show. Like, he's heard of it, and he says he's a one-show-at-a-time guy. The show's been out for years and years and years and years. What are you doing, Aaron?

You know, when it's a little ayahuasca time, sit down and end up watching The Sopranos. It's a bad job by Aaron Rodgers. Give him a stock down. And finally, Jimmy G needed surgery in this offseason for the foot injury. He's not going to be able to participate in the start of OTA. He's expected to be back by training camp. Not that this is the end of the world, but it's not the best way to get off to the right start, to put your best foot forward, no pun intended, in your Raiders tenure, no matter how long or how short that's going to be. But you look at this, it's like the Raiders, they can never just have a positive story there. It's unfortunate, it's not the end of the world, let's not freak out, but not the best news that you want to hear. So give a stock down to Jimmy Garoppolo. And that is the closing bell on today's Thursday edition of the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.