Wide Open West (Hour 3)

And away we go, hour number three of our radio program. That's right, it is the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Nuggets GM Calvin Booth will be stopping by and you will hear from him 20 minutes from now. At the top of the hour, Eric Eger for Sumer Sports will join us to recap the 2023 NFL Draft and then you will also hear at 9 20 p.m Eastern, 6 20 p.m Pacific from the owner of the Florida Panthers in Vinny Viola after their historical victory last night to move on to the second round to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

By the way, you can think of all the auto parts where your car care needs guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. You do have game one between the Celtics and Sixers. No Joel Embiid tonight.

Adrian Rozianowski before the game did say that the Sixers are optimistic that he'll be able to play in game number two, but early stages still in the first half. 10 40 to go in the first half. The Celtics are up 38 to 34. And Hickey, I don't know about you, but I really can't see a path where the Sixers win this series. And if this goes to seven games, I'll be stunned. I probably get the Sixers two games in this series. If you tell me that the Boston Celtics win this series in five games, I wouldn't be surprised whatsoever. But I'm going to go with that the Celtics find a way to go back to the Easter Conference finals and that they'll win this series in six games. Even if Embiid is healthy and I know he's not playing tonight and it looks like he's going to at least try or be on track for game number two, to me it doesn't matter. I don't see a big difference in the Sixers team this year compared to previous teams that have struggled in the postseason, especially against the Celtics team.

I will say right now Celtics in five and I'd be even surprised if it gets to six games. And here's the other thing too. Embiid even admitted it a few years ago or last year I think it was. I forget when he said this, but he gave the line of you can't call it a rivalry when one team's just kicking our ass every time they play. And that's what Embiid said and I'll give him credit for for acknowledging that because sometimes right when you lose to a team that is quote unquote a rival you don't usually hear that from someone that's a star of an organization. But even though Embiid has dealt with injuries and we all know that he's a great player and he'll probably win the MVP as that's announced tomorrow night, which I hate that by the way when they have this award show at the end of the year but they announce all the awards scattered around throughout the postseason that doesn't make sense to me. But what I will say is that the Sixers have failed Embiid and I just wonder when Embiid is eventually going to want out.

I know he loves Philly. I know he loves the organization, but this team through however many times they've tried to get him a number two whether it was Ben Simmons. I know Markelle Foltz is going to be the third piece and even James Harden. It's like yeah James Harden is going to be a free agent this summer. There's all the reports that maybe he's going to go back to Houston and the easy thing to do is to go get Dame Lillard. I don't know how they're going to get Dame Lillard, but if you can't get Dame it's like what are you going to do to replace Harden?

And don't get me wrong I like Tyrese Maxey a lot and Maxey's been really good. But you need that number two piece that's solidified and it's crazy to me Hickey through all the moves that they've made how they've not been able to find that number two piece and the craziest part is the guy that Embiid is so close with Jimmy Butler was on that team and on that team and I know it's right reported that Butler took less money to go join the Miami Heat, but if you know that situation Jimmy Butler was not back in Philadelphia because no matter how it was reported Ben Simmons basically won out there because Ben Simmons and Jimmy Butler just weren't going to coexist. It just wasn't going to happen right now obviously that's the biggest one where you know that's the guy that we always look at it the one that got away, but I will say yes I would agree in one sense that the Sixers have failed Embiid also he's failed them though he's not been healthy and I get he's not trying to get injured I get injuries or you know happen more than just you know it's not really a skill thing, but the Sixers have been in the postseason six times and then beat on the roster. Five out of the six years they made the postseason he's missed at least one game the only time he did was in the bubble and they got swept in four games by the Celtics he was dealing with an ankle injury they played through he can't stay healthy and I get it it's just you can't predict injuries but it's also now a trend every year in the postseason he's dealing and playing through some sort of injury it's either keeping him out or limiting his effectiveness. But not that you just say okay when when you look at injuries that they obviously stink they're horrible they're unfortunate part of the game it's just whenever he gets injured you never believe in the team anyway even before the injury. Every Sixers fan if they're being honest with you they'll admit it the reason why they made such a big stink for the MVP award this year I'm not saying that Embiid doesn't deserve it it's because they know in their heart that this isn't a championship team so they they're going to advocate and call to support their guy to go win an MVP because that's the only thing the Sixers are going to be winning this year. I'll tell you the only time I thought they had a championship team or somewhat resembling of a championship team was when they lost in the second round to the Raptors when Kawhi hit that shot at the end of the game and it bounced off the rim like three or four times and maybe they would have won that series maybe they would have went on to win the whole thing because remember you can't predict injuries but Golden State got decimated with injuries that year and the next thing you know Kawhi is in the finals and wins it and I would probably bet that the Sixers would have beat the Bucks in the next round just with the team the Sixers had that year because that's really before when things started to hit the fan in Philadelphia so it's yes you're not wrong Embiid's got to stay healthy but this team wouldn't even be close to being in this position if it wasn't for Embiid. I know you're not knocking Embiid in saying that yeah I know you understand his importance but even if he's fully healthy this team's not beating Boston because the team has not given him a number two star that could go hit those clutch shots late like we talked about as great as the Koliokic is they're not a championship team until they get Jamal Murray back and that's what they had happened this year and Jamal Murray showed that he could be back for that ACL and the first round he had two great games and they had a great game to open things up take a 1-0 lead up against the Suns and Philly has to find Joelle Embiid basically with Koliokic as in Jamal Murray and they haven't been able to find it Zach Gelb's show CBS Sports Radio let's get to five questions five answers we do this every Monday and Friday we'll get two onsides offsides HTH hit it! Zach's taking on the most polarizing issues in sports which side of the line of scrimmage will he end up on offside defense number 69 it's onsides offsides with Zach Gelb on CBS Sports Radio all right Hickey what do you got all right Zach to keep it very very simple Steph Curry was incredible yesterday as he scored a game 7 record 50 points as the Warriors beat the Kings to advance to the Western Conference Semis now Curry went 20 of 38 for the field while scoring or assisting on 66 of Golden State's 120 points now the defending champs needed every bit of Steph's historic performance as Klay Thompson in game 7 went just 4 of 19 from the floor and Andrew Wiggins shot 5 of 16 so onsides or offsides this was Steph Curry's most impressive playoff performance of his career there's been so many impressive playoff performances by Steph Curry but there's tiebreakers it's like when you have like who's the greatest quarterback of all time you have so many great quarterbacks but then you use championships as tiebreakers so the stage that it happened in does matter first round don't get me wrong on the road in the raucous environment up against the Sacramento Kings but just for starters last year when he's in the belly of the beast of Boston and you're down 2-1 in the series and he puts up 43 points with 7 of 14 from 3 and 14 of 26 from the field and had 10 rebounds that to me is already better than the one in game 7 yesterday because it happened to the NBA Finals and that knotted up that series at two games apiece and then the Warriors ended up to win two more when they won the series in six games so just for starters that one is in front so you asked me was this Steph Curry performance the most impressive playoff performance of his career yeah it was obviously impressive but that one last year in the finals was more impressive to me so I go offside offside the Boston Bruins etched their name into the history books last night as they joined an infamous list of historic regular season teams yeah not unless you want to be on no that do not win a championship after courting the most wins and points in NHL history the Bruins were bounced in the first round by the Panthers after their 4-3 overtime loss in game seven at home yesterday in other sports the Warriors back in 2015-2016 won the most regular season game 73 only to blow a 3-1 lead in the finals so the Cavaliers did not win that finals the Patriots you as you know very well were 18-0 lost in the Super Bowl to the Giants back in 07 and the 2001 Mariners recorded the most wins in MLB regular season history only to lose to the AI to the Yankees in the ALCS on sides or offsides the Bruins losing in the first round after setting an NHL record is the biggest choke in sports history does this have to be a team that had the most wins in the regular season because I have one matchup that the team didn't have the most wins in the regular season that I think is the biggest choke of all time oh interesting uh who's that the Yankees against the Red Sox have 3-0 in 04 you have 3-0 you just have to win one game like here's what like here's what I'll say not that I'm defending the Patriots losing to the Giants in that Super Bowl it's one game you look at these series where it teams up 3-1 or they're up 3-0 you have multiple chances you have four chances to win one game that's the thing to me weird to say impressive here that makes it more impressive that you you weren't able to win the whole thing I look at the there are 3-0 against the Red Sox 3-0 against the Red Sox and you weren't able to win one game remember that game three well I forgot what the score was like 18 to nine or something like that was crazy to nine doubles them up and you couldn't win one game after that so that to me is the biggest sports choke of all time just just off the top of the head but is that the way that you wanted me to answer that question just one there sure yeah sure I'll just go for the biggest choke of all time so that that technically counts but this one's up there it is definitely up there you're up three one with the most points most wins against the team with the fewest points in the playoffs oh that's brutal but I'll go Yankees choking 3-0 in the ALCS compared to the Bruins losing in the first round after setting a NHL regular season record is the biggest choke job in in sports history so go offsides how did you answer that one by the way oh I think it's Bruins honestly by a mile more than up 3-0 yes you were the best team statistically you've ever seen in the NHL yeah but and you lose in the first round but first round so weird like remember it was what three four years ago or Tampa Bay they had I think it was like 119 points and they got swept in the first round and the Bruins were better and they're up 31 win one game two of those three games at home and you choked it away I'm not defending Boston but for me up 3-0 that's just that's crazy like we've seen teams come back three one and also hockey it's so bizarre we have seen teams come back from 3-0 deficits hockey I feel like each and every year there's at least two or three major upsets in the first round so um anyway let's keep moving speaking of upsets parody has shocked the NBA playoffs as to the first round team seeded first second third and fourth have all been eliminated these Celtics right now are currently the odds on favor to win the title followed by the Warriors and Nuggets Denver's looking to go up 2-0 in the Suns later on tonight with the Celtics do have an early lead over the Sixers while Joel Embiid is not playing missing game number one on sides or off sides these Celtics are your pick to win the NBA Finals I really want to pick Denver I do but that's now isn't it funny going into the postseason the West is kind of viewed as weak and now you look at these last four teams you got the Suns the Nuggets the Lakers and the Golden State Warriors as much as I do think Denver's gonna get on out of that that West gauntlet I can't tell you I'm shocked if they end up losing in the conference finals or even if they lose to the Suns that's you those four teams you can flip a coin but the Celtics now with the Bucks out it was a two team race I think the Celtics are now above every other team in the Eastern Conference now Miami's gonna be difficult if they're in the conference finals because Jimmy Butler doesn't go out without down without a fight but who knows where he's gonna be out from a health standpoint with that ankle injury yeah I got to give the edge to Boston right now so I'll say Boston's my pick to win the NBA Finals on sides let's talk a little football because over the weekend plenty of teams had solid NFL drafts the Eagles continued to build their Georgia pipeline drafting both Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith in the first round but the Texans well the Texans made the I'm sorry why do you have to do this what do what oh I just saw your tweet oh the Rangers can't we just be on the same team one time oh where you just learn your lesson from last year where you guaranteed pretty much a Stanley Cup parade when they were up 2-0 against Tampa Bay can you just do if you want to mess up the Colts if you want to mess up Penn State I'm not messing up anybody but come on some confidence in hey you're out of that working game three when they lost where's your confidence level I do think they're going to win the game I don't need your prediction though tweeted I just I that's I like pretty I like tweeting predictions oh that's so that's I don't see my brain here's the hickey hex tweet Rangers four devils one Rangers are a team the last two years that is at their best when their backs are against the wall they'll come out ready to go oh yeah please am I wrong you and my razz you know Boomer Esiason he has that freezer and he throws the jerseys in the freezer yes we need to throw you and morass in the freezer we have to get an extra large freezer fit you and morass not do well more so morass but come on kind of quickly well they got a chance right out of the gate here oh this would be great if they scored and they don't because the hickey hex is alive please act don't worry act gave me a hug so it's all it's all good what the heck does that mean act usually in a joking manner like to believe most of the time always says oh hickey I hate you you're the worst blah blah blah blah but now since all three of us are ranger fans services since the playoffs have started act has realized the nicer he is to me the better the Rangers have played okay so today I walk in and you know act germaphobe this guy does not go within five feet of anybody as soon as I walked in he gave me a hug because it was game seven so kindness is a two-way street acts doing something nice to you now do us all a favor and and get these stop with these predictions when it comes to the Rangers just stop I'm rewarding the faith with some confidence that is for sure so anyway like we're saying I hate you going back when it comes to this tweet I hate you I love you all the other times but I hate you in this regard I don't know why you think that I'm going to have any impact on this game go ahead okay the eagles they burst through that glass like the kool-aid van and just beat the crap out of you jaylen carter no one smith were taking the first run the texans made arguably the biggest and most surprising splash of the draft taking cg shot at number two then trading up from number 12 to number three to grab alibaba edge rusher will anderson junior the panthers made the easiest decision got their quarterback of the future and bryce young while pairing him with jonathan mingle out of old miss so a lot of teams had pretty good reasons this uh this weekend feel good about their future on sides or off sides the eagles had the best draft of any team over the weekend the reason i'm gonna go on sides here is that's a team that is built to win a championship like the texans in a few years you may say oh that was a great draft because you got your quarterback and your defensive edge rusher five years from now we may say oh it's the carolina panthers because bryce young ends up being a stud but when you are a championship team and you add the pieces they did in jaylen carter and nolan smith who could be immediate contributors right away you win a championship this year which they have a chance to do so those players are going to have to play a role in the defensive side of the ball so for immediate return that's what i'm going to go on sides on the eagles draft and their value of these guys were absolutely great jaylen carter a little bit different because of what happened off the field but nolan smith being there at the end of the first round i was surprised by that one and finally stick with the nfl draft storyline because one of the biggest talking points of the draft was the fall of will levis who went from a projected top 10 pick to out of the first round completely now he was taken early on in day number two the titans did draft the former kentucky quarterback 33rd overall he will now sit behind ryan tannehill tannehill is in the final year of his deal on sides or off sides will levis will start at least 10 games for the titans in 2023 here's the part i don't get you would consider will levis a bit of a project right like i didn't view will levis as someone that walks in game one and starts right away by design i mean not really really think about it not really he started two years at kentucky he's a five-year college player like richardson he didn't really play at penn state 13 had 13 starts in his career whereas levis has played what 20 i do the math here 25 starts yeah but last year he never really looked all that good i get what you're saying that he's different looking good and you know being ready to play or two different things i still think there's a lot of development that has to go on i know tannehill gives me zero reason to believe and and and you shouldn't believe that ryan tannehill is gonna get through the entire season because of injuries or whatever happens and they're looking to basically pull him but 10 games is a lot especially when he's i don't think he's going to be starting week one and this is just regular season right not that i'm assuming that tennessee's gonna make a playoffs if you want to include the postseason him starting a wild card game i guess if you want to go for it go for it yeah i'll go offside on that one oh i still think there's a lot of developing that needs to go on with bull levis too all righty zack gilb show cbs sports radio calvin booth the gm of the nuggets will join us next you're listening to the zack gilb show we continue it as a zack gilb show coast to coast on cbs sports radio on saturday the nuggets on their home court did take a 1 0 series lead in the second round of the mba playoffs up against the phoenix suns defeating phoenix by a final score of a buck 25 to 107 he got game two coming up tonight between those two teams at 10 pm eastern 7 pm pacific and now joining us is the general manager of the denver nuggets and that of course is calvin booth calvin appreciate the time as always how you been good good thanks for having me on well i appreciate you coming on so it's such a feel good story to see what jamal murray is doing right now he was sensational up against the timberwolves and we know back in april of 2021 he unfortunately suffered that torn acl to see him go get 34 points on saturday to give you guys a 1 0 series lead just what was going through your mind when you're watching that performance no it was exciting invigorating had the gym energized and it was a great one for our team how did your relationship the last few years when a player suffers an injury like that uh get it even stronger yeah i mean it's just uh the rehab process process is always uh very challenging for an athlete and for him to bounce back to what he did is just amazing how did you guys navigate those last two years just wondering well it's hard you know we we knew we're missing our one of our emotional leaders and better producers on our team and uh you know just wanted to give him time and space to get all the way healthy and make sure he was feeling like himself i saw nikola yokic after the game said that jamal murray is the best player in the nuggets and you guys are following him right now how did you kind of process that one when a guy that's won back-to-back mvps is saying that about his teammate yeah i mean that's nikola in a nutshell he's just he roots for other people to do well and that's why he plays the game the way he does he moves the ball he provides opportunities for guys like jamal and uh you know he acknowledges when jamal's playing at his very best do you think jamal murray right now is your guys best player because a lot of people get to see that quote they go oh that's just nikola yokich be a knight it's still the joker i mean look when you talk about our best score and our toughest one-on-one matchup and the guy that probably puts the most fear in the other team i think you absolutely have to talk about jamal murray but obviously we talk about like all around controlling the game and dictating uh the pace and tempo of the game i think you know nikola is about absolutely the best nuggets gm calvin booth here with us game two coming up at 10 p.m eastern 7 p.m pacific when you look at jamal and you know him as well as anybody behind the scenes in these moments and we saw it a few years ago him take his game to that next level why is he able to do that um i think honestly he was built for it and him and his dad they trained for the stuff from a young age i mean i've seen numerous stories and i've heard some from from him himself and his dad but like you know going outside and shooting free throw after free throw if you miss he has to run him or whatever whatever it may be but i just think the the mental toughness that he built for this training regimen growing up and uh the ability to center himself and like stay focused for long periods of time just like um was something that he worked out very hard for me on page you guys were able to take a 1-0 series lead we'll see what happens tonight just what type of effort do you expect from the opposition in phoenix yeah they have hall of famers over there so they're going to step up to the challenge and we're going to get their best punch but hopefully we're able to handle it do you view this season as championship robust just wondering for the nuggets no man i i think you know yanas nailed it on the head last week when he when he made his very um very impactful comments about the process and you know going forward and maybe not working out um i think every year our team is going to be a tradition as long as we have these guys healthy and uh you know we're going to we're going to try our hardest to win it if we don't it's not us i mean it's what it's bust but also i think we're going to go for it though we're going to give everything we got and hopefully get it if we don't we're going to give everything we got this year too i feel like what's good for you guys this year is clearly like how we started this conversation you have jamal murray back and i'm sure that gives you guys a feeling like you can win it all last two years when you didn't have jamal on the court that had to be tough to try to just overcome that from a mental standpoint and looking at what you didn't have on the court right definitely also like it made everything clear as far as what we need to do to be able to compete with the best teams and you know obviously uh the last couple of seasons when jamal was out uh nicola had to carry a herculean load and i think i think seeing how that impacted his uh energy level over the course of the season and um how deep other defenses compare for them um made it easier to see what we need to do to improve our team on the way out with calvin booth i know the mvp award is going to be announced tomorrow are you like past karen about the mvp i know nicole yokich won it the last two years it'd be awesome if you could win it three straight years in a row but it seems like the conversation for the mvp this year just got to a level that was absolutely ridiculous yeah i mean that's just the nature of the the beast you know a lot of good stories came out of this mvp conversation and um i i i do hope that nicola wins the award i think he does deserve it and i know if he doesn't get it you know it won't bother him that much but uh he'll be really focused to try to win the whole thing if you had to make a case for the joker to go back to back to back what would the case be since you are the gm of the nuggets well um uh arguably this is the best season he's he's had all the the three years that the mvp has been in the conversation and uh the irony in the whole thing is that he probably won't get it this year um i think everybody will be a bit surprised if he does get it which is crazy based on the impact he's had on winning his overall style but i just think uh i think that the way he plays every single night the numbers he puts up just deserving of every award calvin booth we know that arena that you guys playing ball arena is going to be jumping tonight if no one's ever made it out there to denver colorado for a game just what's the atmosphere like you you play in multiple venues during your time as a player than seeing it from a different side now as the general manager yeah i think it's an intimidating environment for the opponent uh you have the altitude to deal with our fans are are very excited and energized by our team which adds to the the volume and ability and i i think when you have guys like uh jamar burry and aaron gordon and michael porter jr and even nicola all these guys christian brown kcp bruce brown making exciting plays like jeff green and one of the best dunks of the year so i think we have a exciting team and uh when when those plays happening our building erupts well good luck tonight we appreciate the time thanks so much for doing this thank you thanks for having me on you're listening to the zach gilb show gilb show is that gilb show cbs sports radio got to credit the sixers for their first half performance as you do just had the second quarter get it underway um a second ago but at halftime it was celtic 66 sixers 63 james hardin with 21 points in the first half now remember no joe ellen bead tonight according to adrian wojnowski sixers are optimistic that you could get joe ellen bead back for game two and you do have the suns and nuggets coming your way at the i was gonna say top of the hour but it's at 10 p.m eastern 7 p.m pacific sorry i'm distracted a little bit i'm watching the ranger's game it's game seven i'm hosting a radio show i thought i was good at multitasking but when you're in a game seven and your team's an elimination game it's sometimes tough to focus but it is no score with five minutes to go in the uh in the in the first period rangers on their third power play of the game one ended pretty quickly because it ended up being a four on four the second one they got a bunch of looks and no goals and this one with a minute left in the power play so far has not been all that good so we'll keep you updated on this game seven tonight so hickey when we get to the western conference i'm actually feeling pretty good that we have these four teams left in the western conference like going into the the postseason it was like okay you thought the nuggets and the suns one of those two teams out of the eight could get to the finals and then you courtesy wise said until someone takes out the warriors are always going to be a tough out that's just the way that i felt about this now as we sit here and we have game two between the nuggets and suns tonight and denver's already up one no i'm not saying the series is over it's the farthest thing for being over but the suns have not looked good so far this postseason and it's weird to say that about a team that in the first round they won their series in five games but that's been a team where in the first round like who are you going up against you went up against the clippers who did not have paul george and then kawaii after two games did not play in the series he was a non-factor which we've ended up uh finding out that that was a meniscus injury and then the suns give you that stinker in game one we're sure we should praise jamal murray and his excellence first and it's great to see jamal murray back but this suns team tonight's a big night for them now i know right if you go down to oh you could come on back we just saw the warriors do this but this is suns team that's also dealing with the mental side of it too yes they just got kevin durant which they didn't have last year but this is suns team that they were up to oh a few years ago in the mba finals they lost in six to milwaukee and last year in the second round against dallas i don't know what the heck happened in game seven because that was one of the more lethargic performances that you would ever see an elimination game by a team where you knew by the end of the first quarter that game was over and it just you doubled down on that feeling at halftime and it was like okay you're in hospice you're in hospice you know you're not getting out of getting out alive just when was the the plug gonna get pulled and that was when that game was officially gonna be over when you saw zeros on the scoreboard but i want to see where the suns are at mentally tonight and right out of the gate because we even talked about this after their their first game where they didn't play well right out of the right out of the gate when they were going up against the clippers and in game two i know they ended up winning but the first half was not all that or the first quarter is not all that impressive for the phoenix sun so i don't know what phoenix team you get tonight and they've been a team that's been so tough to figure out and the west is only getting tougher because you're going up against denver who you know could get to the championship because murray's playing great and then even if you do get through you're getting either the lakers or the warriors where if you told me one of those teams are going to be here i think most people would say okay i can get behind that i didn't think you were to get both teams here in this spot especially when the warriors went down 2-0 so we're looking at this wester conference right now i didn't think it was gonna be much of a gauntlet heading into the postseason now we're here and it's been a gauntlet with the final four teams remaining and if you're the suns you go down 2-0 tonight it's gonna be tough for me to actually believe that you will come back because so far this postseason they've kind of they've kind of been in uh snooze mode no they absolutely haven't it's a little frustrating i don't know if it's you know you overlook an opponent that again was missing one of their best players going into the series and paul george and then their best player in quiet leonard then gets hurt after game two is now played i don't know if it's one of those you're just not focused you're not dialed in but the nuggets are absolutely not a team that you can just kind of throw your jock shops on the court and expect to win you saw it in game number one they got dominated you i'm with you i think tonight's the night where i know frank i still have said before i agree with him here i think the winner of tonight wins the series and that's how massive it is for the suns to where if you want to get back and have a chance to win this series and take down the nuggets you have to win on the road in game two and give yourself a chance that he's going home that you're not in an impossible situation to dig out of the only reason why i would push back on that is and i get it from the denver side of it if you go out too well you got to feel great about it especially with the sun just not being that team that we thought they were going to be so far early on in the postseason but even if the suns win tonight and this gets to one one i fully expect them when this goes back to denver that this is going to be two two it's tough for me as much talent as they have with devin booker kevin durant chris paul who's looking old d'andre adan i can't trust this team to then win this game and then go to phoenix and get both three and four like if this goes back to two and it becomes the best of three i would trust denver right now more so just because if the suns win tonight does not mean that all of a sudden i'm going to go pick them to win this series okay i mean they're still my pick two in the finals so i'm not oh you're picking them still to win the finals i am not getting off that back here and you and you have not felt good at them at all this year they've not looked very good so far in the first five games or really six games now um but i'm sticking with the pick i'm sticking to my guns and you have them going up against who boston yes i had the bucks so i got to scratch that now say boston yeah i think by when it's all said and done in the postseason you're gonna be scratching the uh the sun's off the board as well and night may at least you're still surviving and you're winning and you're advancing and that's the name of the game and maybe they just kind of knew it it didn't matter what the clippers threw at them the suns were going to win that series because there's no way without kawaii and paul george that the clippers were going to win that series i know a few years ago right the clippers still got to the conference finals when when they lost kawaii leonard but when you don't have both of them maybe mentally the suns that's why you saw them kind of sleep through that series because they knew even though they were on the court they didn't have to dominate and they would still find the way to win that series and win it pretty quickly i think the suns though tonight they need kevin directly more aggressive that's the only knock i'll say of him so far going to phoenix um he is someone who does kind of i think he's easy to fit into a star-studded team because he doesn't really have an ego so he's not someone that has to demand the ball or demand a certain style of play that we saw kind of kyrie and duran not really work together other super teams that have failed but you need kevin duran who has been passive at least on the clipper series he's got to take over tonight he has got to be the man for phoenix and they don't have a chance to tie this game or tie this series well they also whenever durant goes somewhere they cater to every one of his needs and i know right when he went to golden state it's still viewed as steph's team but the best player was clearly golden state and in those late moments the ball went to kevin durant uh you look at brooklyn that's a totally different circumstance but the whole organization was literally handed over to kevin durant in this case they got to play through durant you're right and durant's the best player on the court what you've done in years past it really doesn't matter because durant's being brought in to be the finisher in this case and we'll see if he could end up doing that but if they don't win like i asked calvin booth earlier is this championship or bus for denver and he said no you very rarely hear an owner a gm a coach say it's championship or bus like brandon bean last year wouldn't say it's championship or bus with the bills it's 100 championship or bus now i think you got to be sensitive now which it's like so crazy about saying that someone failed and i know this son's team is only together for what eight or nine regular season games but they don't want a championship this year it's a failure it's 100 of failure now you could still have successful moments in the season but at this rate this son's team went all in to go win a championship and you may win a championship next year and it may be worth it but if you don't win a championship this year in a year where we didn't feel all that great about many of these teams going into the postseason the mba it's absolutely a failure also if you take the bucks out of it too i know they're in the east and the sons are in the west but a lot of people had like yourself the sons and bucks meeting in the finals now the only team that probably needs a lot of people really feel like could go to the finals is the celtics i people aren't going to cross off the heap because of butler but we'll see what happens with that ankle you gotta win the championship this year if you're the sons and i gotta see a championship team and ever since they went up 2-0 in the mba finals i have not seen a championship team from them since then because last year the regular season meant nothing into the playoffs and the second round they got embarrassed by the mavericks and this year so far first round was that was pedestrian wasn't really inspiring and now in a game like this tonight i know it's early in the series but hickey you're not wrong it feels like their backs are up against the wall and they have to for the first time this postseason the sons have to make a statement because so far they have not made a statement they've just been blank i got to see them make a statement tonight and i've been a lot more impressed with jamal murray in this postseason so far than anything that phoenix has showed me and for denver it's weird because all year long we wondered if denver could win a championship and now one game into the series we're wondering if phoenix can even show up tonight it's funny how that works there hickey i mean look the playoffs are always about swings and momentum ebbs and flows and your opinion changes based on how you know series go how injuries go how teams look um but especially when you look at kind of you know this game i mean yeah it's just you're right phoenix has not looked you're right phoenix has not looked the same ever since they were up to oh and then lost four straight to the bucks and this is a game where i guess the only thing i'll say to be fair to phoenix is there's really no way to make a statement against the clippers like if they win by 40 without choir paul george is still like okay there's no choir paul george no but there wouldn't be this criticism nothing you they would have done i think would have given you a reason to believe now you have a chance against the nuggets to actually send a real statement you lose game one here's a statement opportunity here in game two to to not allow the series to quickly get out of your hands so i'm not disagreeing here with you because i don't think anyone's sitting there and just like praising the sun's out the wazoo if they would have just blown out the clippers but they never put their foot on the throat of the clippers and just dominate an inferior team in that last round they just did not do it so it's like to me in that regard since you didn't do that that's when that's even when you win a series in five it it is a bad look if they would have just done that for three games out of the five where they're just clearly the better team i don't think we're sitting there and crushing the sun's all that much after one loss but the fact they have not looked ready for the moment at all yet is part of why this is the first time i'm really intrigued on what they're going to be able to do tonight and i genuinely don't know the answer i think this is a coin flip it's a 50-50 game tonight also a lot of pressure on the nuggets also a lot of pressure on the nuggets though now that jamal murray's healthy looking good you had an opportunity to go up 2-0 at home and get a team that a lot of people are picking to win the west you got also yourself sent a statement and take control of the series right away because calvin booth can say it's not championship robust it's championship or these finals are bust it is but but there's more pressure on the sun's tonight i know you want to protect home court but you kind of feel like through four games if you would ask before the series that this would be 2-2 heading back to denver is probably what most people would say