James Harden The Hero (Hour 1)

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Additional terms apply. Live from the police show, yet not overly ostentatious, studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor, 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Tuesday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS is the number to jump on in. 855-212-4227. You can always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good ol' cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gelb.

That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Guess why today Antonio Daniels, one of our favorites, is going to join us at the top of the hour to chat a little NBA postseason. Donovan McNabb will be joining us at 820 p.m. Eastern, 520 p.m. Pacific, and then Xavier Rhodes, the longtime NFL cornerback, is going to be dropping by at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific. And across the other way, unfortunately producing this extravaganza for the next four hours because once again, the hickey hex has worked out unfortunately in the way that he designs it to. He is the hot take artist himself. Last year, he didn't learn his lesson.

And this is the tough part for me, and this is why I'm annoyed. Because last year when the Rangers are up 2-0 against the stinking Tampa Bay Lightning, hickey sends out the tweet, Oh, I'm already looking at a spot for the Canyon of Heroes for the parade. They didn't win a game since. And then after the Rangers took a 2-0 series lead this year, he should have just shut up. Instead, guarantee Mika Sibenejad in game three is going to score a game winner. And then in game seven last night, and you heard my reaction live on the air, I was confident going into game seven.

I felt as good as you can going into a game seven. But the moment I saw the hickey hex on Twitter last night for one Rangers, I said, Oh, no. Oh, no.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Because that's the thing with hickey. It's the obnoxious confidence that he has. Like if he would have tweeted out 3-2 or 2-1, I would have been fine.

But the fact that he thought that was going to be a blowout in game seven and he had the Rangers winning 4-1 and they didn't even score a goal. It's heartbreaking. And there's a lot of times when you listen to this show, hickey and I are going at one another. Football.

It's a bloodbath on the air. But there's two sports where we share the same team. That's baseball and it's hockey.

And I was looking to have a little bonding moment. And we were going to see the Rangers go on this big run and hickey had to ruin it with his fingers. He just had to ruin it. Type it away on Twitter and just put in the hickey hex on the blue shirts.

And it's so disappointing. So producing this extravaganza for the next four hours is no other than hot take hickey. I don't know about that hot take hickey. Anything you got to say for yourself, by the way there, bud? Any apology? I'm sorry you did it again. Anything from you?

No. No apology. Show up. My biggest regret is that I wasn't called to play last night. I would have showed more heart and put more effort in. I definitely would have kept the puck in the offensive zone longer than the Rangers did yesterday.

That's my regret. That I was here working instead of on the ice in Jersey putting pucks in the back of the net. I just don't get why you have to do this. We're supposed to have a good locker room camaraderie around here. This is the one of the few sports that we actually share the same team.

We needed a good run. And then the moment you sent that tweet out last night, right away, oh, oh, devils are going to win. Devils are going to win. Devils are going to win.

I saw the responses from people. And people know when you are that confident, like once again, if you said 3-2, if you said 2-1, that's not an obnoxious score. You pick your team slightly. But when you go 4-1 and you thought the Rangers were going to pants the devils last night, that's when I knew that we were bleeped.

And I just hate it because you have to cast this spell upon us. And you should have just picked the devils last night because I'm convinced this is how sports work, right? If you would have picked the devils last night, we would have been in here today popping champagne. And I would have loved the fact that you were wrong. But this time you're wrong.

And I don't love the fact that you're wrong on this one. So this is a tough pill to swallow as the Rangers went all in. They got Teresenko.

They got Patrick Kane. And they have nothing to show for it because they lose in the first round. And these hockey playoffs have just been mayhem when you see also the Bruins who had the most points in the history of the NHL, the most wins in the history of the NHL, and they lose in the first round after going up 3-1.

It feels very similar to at the time when Tampa Bay a few years ago tied the most wins of all time in NHL history in a regular season. And they got swept in the first round, which is even more embarrassing than losing in seven games. But they got swept in the first round. And we know what Tampa eventually did go on to do. But that's hockey. You always had these big upsets.

And now you're down to your final eight teams. You'll see the Panthers and Maple Leafs get it started tonight. A lot of pressure on the Maple Leafs with the way that the East did break out with Boston now out of it. The Panthers, Kuchuk, has been just a great player this year. 40 goals, 69 assists, 109 points. You got the Kraken and the Stars tonight. Pete DeBoer in year one.

And any time he's in year one with the new team, they always have success. You got the Devils and Hurricanes coming up tomorrow. And the Oilers and Knights as well. So we'll see how this does play on out for the rest of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But geez Louise, really, when you look at these eight teams remaining, I truly...

If I had to take a stab at this, and I don't know where you lie on this, Hickey. I'm pulling for the Oilers because I want to see McDavid in the Stanley Cup. And I want to see McDavid play in what has been a historical season for Connor McDavid. As he's going to become... And you look at what McDavid's done. He's won the unanimous MVP already once. And Gretzky's the only other player to do it.

And he's going to do so again this year with 64 goals and 89 assists and 153 points. So from an NHL standpoint, I'm pulling for McDavid to get there. And then when you look in the East, Devils, Hurricanes should be a good series.

I actually leaned New Jersey in that one. But Panthers and Maple Leafs... I kind of feel like whoever wins that series is going to go to the Stanley Cup Final.

And right now... And I think this is going to surprise you, Hickey. Because someone called in before the playoffs did start, and they said Oilers and Maple Leafs. And I said, I could see the Oilers, but the Maple Leafs... I did believe they'd get out of the first round and win their first series since 2004. But for Toronto, it's one thing to win a series.

And that's another thing to go in two more series to get in the Stanley Cup Final. I'm going to go with Toronto right now. I think Toronto in seven just survives against the Panthers. I'm predicting a Maple Leaf and a Oilers Stanley Cup Final.

How about you? I'm going the Kraken in the West. I want to see kind of... You think the Kraken are getting to the Stanley Cup Final? That's what I'm rooting for.

Wow! Okay, how about that? A little fresh blood here, making their first playoff run. Let's kind of do what the Golden Knights did a few years ago.

But get the deal done. In the East, I'm with you with the Leafs. I'm going to go for a little bit of good sports karma here and root for a tortured fan base that has not won in a very long time. And has gotten clowned for losing for a very long time. That I will admit, hand up, I did enjoy every single year, and the Leafs got eliminated in the first round. Seeing Toronto fans lose their minds, seeing other fans make fun of them.

So, because my teams are not big winners, and I'm hoping one day to enjoy a championship, I am going to root for the Leafs here to make a run to the Cup, hoist Lord Stanley himself, and hopefully that karma of wishing well upon a tortured hockey fan base, maybe one day, not this year, not next year, but hopefully one day soon while I'm still alive and can enjoy it, that good karma will be brought back to me in a form of maybe a Mets World Series, a Rangers Cup, a Penn State National Championship, so fingers crossed. You really haven't realized the formula yet. You haven't. Just start predicting things that you don't want to see happen and they will happen.

Because whenever you're all in on one of your teams or you feel very confident, it doesn't take much for you to feel confident. You put out these outrageous predictions, they don't become true. So just start tweeting out that the Devils will win 4-1 and the Rangers will have won last night. Start saying that Penn State's going to get embarrassed by Michigan like 48 to 17 and then Penn State will actually beat Michigan. That's what you need to start doing. You need to do the reverse mush.

You need to put a reverse hickey hex out there. And if you do that, then I do think you'll actually start to have some success with your teams. I respect the power you think I hold. I like that. I like that. I like the fact that you think I am influencing these games and having, you know, dramatic, swift changes on the outcomes that would have happened. I wish I had that power. You did see the tweet that someone sent you last night where they said, are you ever right at anything? And you responded back, I guess not.

How do you not realize that now? And I'm not saying we all, you know, get 100% of things right and we're all more wrong than right. But for you, like, you make Mendoza look good. You're way below the Mendoza line.

We need you to, we need to basically have you be the sacrificial lamb on this show. Where when we want a team to do something well, we have you predict the opposite so they actually do well. And then I really do believe that we'll start to, even though your predictions will be wrong, they're wrong already now.

But then you'll at least be able to benefit from it and we'll start to have your team start to win. Like you predicted that Penn State's going to college football playoff this year. You've predicted that like last year the Mets are going to go to the World Series.

You predicted the Rangers were going to win this series and go to the Stanley Cup final. Like, we need you to start predicting the opposite and then good things will start happening for your sports fandom. So that's just the way that I look at it.

I really do. Well this is what you don't realize, the sports gods will wreck it. They see right through that. They see through the fake prediction. That's why you've got to have a good poker face.

They see through the... Just shut up and embrace it. Pulling the okie-doke of, oh man, I think the Devils are really going to crush the Rangers tonight. They have, the Rangers have no chance in this Game 7. Just try it one time.

And all of a sudden next year it's 5-0 after two periods the Rangers are winning. They will see right through that. The reverse mush on purpose does not work. Just try it one time. Just trust my guidance one time. We will try this at a future date. And just listen to me. And it will work out a-okay.

That's what we need from you. By the way, last night in the NBA, and I see that Jimmy Butler is out for tonight. So there will be no Jimmy Butler tonight up against the Knicks. They heat up 1-0 in this series. I like the Knicks either way in this game tonight. You look at Miami up against Milwaukee. They won that first game, then they lost Game 2.

I think the same thing was going to happen tonight. I still like Miami in the series, but no Jimmy Butler tonight. We'll see how much that ankle does impact the rest of the series. And you do have Lakers and Warriors, which is a big-time deal.

Who do you like in that series, by the way? Before I make my prediction, and I have my prediction written down right in front of me. Lakers and Warriors, Hickey, who are you going with in that series? Warriors and 6. Now, I don't feel good about my Warriors prediction, but I do think the Warriors are going to win that series. If the Lakers are going to win this series, they're going to need AD to be the AD that they traded for. And I know he's been dealing with injuries, and it seems like within each and every game, it feels like he's going to be done for the season.

There's always one fall or one injury that for about a stretch or two in the game, you're like, oh, is he ever going to be able to come back? I do believe AD is the biggest key in that series, but I'm just not betting against Steph Curry right now, even up against the great LeBron James. But when you get to the games last night, I know that we were both of the thinking that the Celtics are going to win this series with ease. I said that the Celtics are going to win this series in six games.

This series is far from over. But I guarantee you last night, and I don't know, I'm not well versed in the Boston strip club scene, but I can guarantee you there was a big time fiesta last night in the Boston strip clubs, because James Harden, who always goes to a strip club, whether he's playing good or just playing poorly, he was dominant last night with 45 points and six assists. And, Hickey, if I would have told you before the game that there'd be no Joel Embiid and that Jason Tatum would put up 39 points, Jalen Brown would be 8-10 from the field with 23 points, and then Malcolm Brogdon off the bench would have 20 points, and there was no Joel Embiid for the Philadelphia 76ers, you probably would have said to me, how many points did the Celtics win by? And the Sixers stunned the Celtics in Game 1 last night, 119-115, and James Harden played his best postseason game of his career because he had 45 points, 7-14, 17-30 from the field, but he finally elevated his play in the postseason.

I know people would say, oh, the first round he had that one big game and then after that he had a playoff stinker, but that was up against the Nets. They could have put out like Hickey and me up against the Nets as two of the starting five, and the Sixers still would have won that series. But you look at what Harden did last night, it was really impressive, but there is still part of me, Ryan, where I go, yeah, it's great that he did it in one game, they're eventually going to need Joel Embiid back. Quite frankly, you could argue, and I'll do so, that you don't even need to play Embiid in Game 2 and give him more time to rest because you did your job taking one out of the first two games before you go back to Philadelphia, so I wouldn't even play. I know the Sixers, yes, they were optimistic that he could play in Game 2.

I would rest him for Game 2, you're playing with house money and then go back to Philadelphia and see when you get Embiid back if you go take two games on your home court, so I would not play Embiid in Game 2. But I got to give the tip of the cap to James Harden last night. With that being said, though, you'll want to see if he can consistently do this in a playoff series because there's been many, many bad and long nights for James Harden in the postseason. Last night wasn't one of them, great performance, fantastic performance, but let's see if he can do this the rest of the way because if the Sixers want to win a championship, James Harden, even though Joel Embiid's probably going to win the MVP tonight, James Harden is their most valuable player because of the fact that Embiid needs a complimentary piece when he's on the court and he needs a finisher, and that's the role, even though James Harden hasn't done in his career, that he needs to do in Philadelphia if they want to go find a way to get three more wins and punch their ticket to the conference finals.

Two things can be true from last night. Number one, Harden was great. That was, like you said, and I'm agreeing with you, best game he's ever played in his career, biggest shot he's ever hit in his entire career. Did not think he had it in him. Give him a lot of credit, a lot of respect for having that performance, especially without Embiid, taking the team, putting them on their back, and coming through in the clutch moments. With that said, with how great he was yesterday, now like you said, going forward, do you expect that James Harden three more times in the series?

No. I can't say it. Because yesterday was the exception, not the rule. We've seen too much of a sample size of James Harden struggling in the playoffs, shrinking in the big moment when they need a game for him to replicate what he did last night, whether it's with the Rockets, whether it's with the Nets, whether it's with the Sixers last year. He could not do so. So he did it one time.

Congratulations, all the praise. But I can't sit here and tell you, I expect another game like that, or just even more consistent performances from him that they'll need to get past the Celtics. In recent memory, you look at players that had shortcomings in the posties that eventually got to the top of the mountain. Alexander Ovechkin, he eventually won a Stanley Cup in Las Vegas when they defeated the Knights, but you were wondering, was he ever going to get there with how many short and early exits they had? Clayton Kershaw, obviously for baseball.

Eventually, he got the job done. I'm actually rooting for James Harden. I'm not saying I expect him to get to the finals. I'm not saying that I look at James Harden and I believe in him.

But this guy has been so great in the regular season that when you flip the switch in the postseason, he's been so bad. When you look at some of those numbers from a history standpoint, how many missed shots against the Warriors all those years back, I would have no problem if James Harden just goes on a tear and goes on a run. And this is coming from someone that grew up rooting for the Nets.

So you'd probably think that you'd be surprised to hear this. But when James Harden got to Brooklyn, he gave it his all. He catered to Kyrie and eventually he was the only one to basically say this wasn't working out and he wanted his way out because of the fact that he knew what the real Kyrie Irving was because he was a royal pain in the ass. Harden, even though it ended ugly in Houston, it was time for him to go. Even though Brooklyn was a disaster, remember he came back in that series basically playing on one leg, so I respect him for doing that. I don't know where you stand on this, Ryan, but I'd be more than fine if Harden goes on this run and goes on this tear because it is long overdue. I don't expect it to happen, but it would be nice to see a guy that's just been destroyed in the postseason finally has his moment. I guess I just don't view James Harden as a sympathetic figure in large part because a lot of his postseason failures are on him. It's not like Ovechkin where Ovechkin's played well in the playoffs and the team overall has failed him. It's more the fact that Harden has had opportunities to knock off these 73-run words. He's had opportunities to knock off the words in general multiple times. He's more like Kershaw. And he quits.

Before the ring. He quits. He gets in his own head.

He's not into it. He's just someone that, attitude-wise, I don't think is the right attitude you need. So maybe it's partly personal because I've believed in the Rockets. I've believed in Harden. I've wanted to in years past see him succeed and come up short of God and burn. So I just moved off that and said forget it.

But sympathy-wise, he is not someone that I'm rooting for, I guess I'll say. The Suns, by the way, who lost last night and they're down 2-0 to the Nuggets. And Denver has been a great story.

We'll get into them on the other side. But the Suns and Celtics are kind of imitating one another. And I do have more confidence in the Celtics than I do with the Suns. But the Celtics so far in this postseason have not been impressive. That series up against the Hawks, it went longer than it should have ever gone. The Suns, with all that the Clippers were missing, it was crazy that series went to five games and how some of those games were so close. But you look at the Celtics and the Suns, they have not reached to where they're supposed to be in the postseason yet. And we haven't seen the consistent efforts out of them. And for Boston, that's alarming last night.

No Joel Embiid. And you're not able to win the game, especially when you got the production that you did from Jason Tatum. I look at the Celtics, this better be their wake-up call. And they better answer the bell in game two.

But they got to play better, especially with the Bucs out. You should be in the NBA Finals. And if they're not, that's an embarrassing, I don't care what Giannis says about failure and all that stuff. The Celtics don't get to the Finals.

This is a failure of a season for them. And they got to win the Finals too because it's championship or bust for them. But when you take the Bucs hickey out of the East, if the Celtics don't get there, that's just flat out embarrassing.

The roads open perfectly for them. You got in round two a banged up Embiid against a team that you dominate anyway even when he's healthy. And the winner of Heat Knicks, who let's be real, the Knicks aren't ready to go contend for a championship. I don't even care if they get to the Conference Finals. And Miami, even if they get through, who knows where the health of that ankle of Jimmy Butler is going to be. And Jimmy Butler so far has been a one-man band. So yes, the Celtics have the depth, the talent, where they should walk right to the NBA Finals for the second year in a row.

Let's take a timeout on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. When we come on back, we will discuss that Game 2 between the Nuggets and Suns. Suns down, 0-2 in the series. And Denver, I'm actually falling in love with the Denver Nuggets. I did so in 2021 and then Jamal Murray unfortunately suffered that ACL.

I'm all behind Denver and I'm a big believer in Denver. We'll talk about that series when we come on back on the Zach Gelb show. That's just crazy to me. Where you go from being like a good player, solid player, someone that no one's really talking about but you're a fine player in the league. And then you call out one of the greatest players of all time in LeBron James. And not only did you call out LeBron James, your entire team who all they do is talk to Memphis Grizzlies were basically like, what the heck are you doing?

How do you say that you don't respect LeBron James because he's never scored 40 points up against you? And what he did was he poked the bear and he got the wrath of the bear. He got mauled by the bear of LeBron James. And now the Memphis Grizzlies are like, we want no part of Dylan Brooks. And is part of him getting scapegoated for this?

Yes, like he brought it upon himself. There's bigger issues with the Memphis Grizzlies than just Dylan Brooks and there has to be other changes as well. But this dude, all he did was run his mouth and then failed to even address the media after the games and face the music after the games. And he just has become one big fat joke where the team is like, we don't care if you want to be back.

Nothing's going to change our minds because we know we need to move on from you. And I just saw that Ramona Shelburne is reporting that a big reason also why they're making this decision, you know, outside of just him running his mouth and embarrassing the team and all that. Ramona Shelburne just said on ESPN that Dylan Brooks wants and NBA contracts are outrageous. I remember I think it was like six or seven years ago where Timothy Moskov got like 80 million dollars.

I didn't expect to be saying that name, but that was one that I always do remember. But Ramona Shelburne just said that Dylan Brooks, Hickey, he wants twenty five million dollars a year. Think about that. You run your mouth like that, you get embarrassed, you annoyed LeBron James. LeBron James basically smacked you in the face with his performance.

They end up beating you by 40 in the final game. And then you ask for twenty five million dollars a year. You know, part of me has to has to respect the ego of Bum Brooks because you would think the ego would be fractured after this. He sounded like a scared puppy dog the other day when he finally decided to address the media in locker room clean out day. But you go from being the biggest joke in the league from the playoffs so far.

And then you're asking this team for twenty five million dollars a year. No shame. Hickey from Bum Brooks makes all the sense of the world because of the exit interview, too. We talked about how he's more than just a three and D kind of player and is elevating himself above his role, despite the fact that he was cooked on defense multiple times by anyone in the Lakers, but especially LeBron. And they left him open for three, like twenty something percent. So you couldn't even the role that he made it seem like the other day that he was better than he couldn't even fulfill half of what he was being asked to do. And now he thinks he's better than he is.

And now he obviously thinks he's worth more than he certainly is for sure. You know, Bum Brooks is he's kind of like the the NBA's version of Eli Apple, where all he does is just run his mouth, run his mouth, run his mouth, run his mouth. And then there's a lot of times he's looking like burnt toast. That is kind of what Bum Brooks is. If I had to make a comparison in another sport and quite frankly, I think Eli Apple is a better player than Bum Brooks. But he gives off major Eli Apple vibes. And the problem for Brooks, no Joe Burrow to bail you out. Because at least Eli can talk.

And you know what? There's Joe Burrow beating Patrick Holmes and Arrowhead, and it's all good. There's no Joe Burrow coming to the rescue right now for the Grizzlies.

And John Moran's a great player, but there's a lot going on clearly off the court. And I'll be I'm not going to be surprised and I'm going to assume that they make Bum Brooks the scapegoat and it's well deserved. But when do people start pointing the fingers also at Taylor Jenkins?

Like, I don't think he's going to get fired, but I just I start to wonder how much longer of a leash is Taylor Jenkins on and when does that start to become short? Because they've done a great job through the first two years where it was and what they've turned it around the last two years. But this team is nowhere close to winning a championship. I don't care if they finish with the second best record this year in the Western Conference heading into the playoffs.

No one was picking this team to go to the NBA Finals or even just get to the Western Conference Finals. So I think they need maybe and Jenkins seems like a fine coach, but they may need a more authoritative voice in that locker room. And that's a tough part because now in this era of athletes, the drill sergeant doesn't always work. And you have the drill sergeant kind of on like borrowed time or, you know, it's only going to work for a few years. But if you get a championship, it's it's worth it.

But I do wonder who's that next guy that you could bring in or how much longer Jenkins is going to be given with this team? The Grizzlies, whether it's a coach or player, need someone with championship clout. The Grizzlies think of themselves like they have accomplished a lot. They haven't. They have not. They've won one player series.

That's it with this course so far. They have not done anything. They talk, though, like they are the Warriors with all their success, whether it's a head coach that's won a championship, whether it's veteran presidents that have won championships, they need someone to kind of check them because it's not a talent issue.

Jaws, super talented, Jaron Jackson Jr., super talented, doesn't bane as great. They have the talent you need to win a championship. They don't have the attitude. They don't have the culture you need that facilitates winning in the playoffs. Really, the the Memphis Grizzlies, you know, the Memphis Grizzlies are. And and I'll borrow a line from from Shaq. Shaq tells his kids, I'm rich, you're not. The Memphis Grizzlies are basically like the rich kids who they're they're talking this big game, but they really haven't accomplished anything. They're just talking based off their parents money. Like that's what Memphis is doing right now.

They're telling you, oh, I'm in this club. We're great. We're unbelievable. But when it actually gets time to show what you're worth. You're not producing.

You're not succeeding. And they need to stop telling you how great they are. They need to stop attacking all these other teams and provoking all these other teams. And quite frankly, they got to zip it and start winning because in the last year and a half, they went from a team that a lot of people are rooting for that was extremely likable to a team that just keeps on biting off more than they could chew. And that's a problem. And until they change that. And I'm not saying don't have a little confidence, don't have a little swagger, but they've they've gone from zero to one hundred.

You can't go to one hundred and say that you're all these things and then keep on playing the way that you've been playing when it matters the most. And we'll see if they do make those changes. By the way, I told you last night I was really concerned with the Suns. After what we've seen to the first two games, I know we just had the Sacramento Kings go up 2-0 and then not find their way to advance to the second round. But now Chris Paul is injured.

I know he wasn't playing great, but this is not a Suns team that has a ton of depth. Denver's up 2-0. Jamal Murray didn't even play great last night and they still won the game.

Nicole Jokic was awesome with this 39 points and 16 rebounds and their defense was really good as well. You look at that Denver team and I always say this about in any sport, great teams find a way to win when they don't play their best. And that's what Denver did last night.

They did not play a great game and they still beat the Suns by 10 points and KD did not play well. Aiden did not play well and this is a Suns team that they're down 2-0 and I do believe that this is going to be Denver in five now. I thought Denver was going to win this series in seven going in. I now think this is going to be Denver in five because I believe Denver will get one in Phoenix and they'll come back and they'll close this thing out in five games in Denver. And this is a Denver team where they went on that seven or eight game win streak and then they had those two losses back in 2021. And in that second loss you had the torn ACL by Jamal Murray. I remember on CBS Sports Radio me saying, Watch out for Denver. I really like Denver.

Denver with all the pieces they have, they could go to an NBA Finals. And then the Murray injury happened to see Murray be back when he did in Game 1. I know he made a nice play late but he did not play all that great last night. Murray's just a killer on the basketball court. Nicole Jokic is just absolutely sensational. I do believe this Denver team is going to the Conference Finals and I actually think they're going to the NBA Finals. Because you have Nicole Jokic who the other day said Jamal Murray is the best player on the team. He's not but he's their most valuable player which is weird to say about, you know, Jamal Murray because Jokic has won back to back MVPs. He's a Finals for Award tonight but you look at a guy like Jamal Murray, he's their closer, he's their finisher.

And to have him back and to have him now be for the most part consistently thriving in the postseason, I love what I'm seeing from this Denver team. And we both said it in the first round, even though the Suns won in five, we did not like what we were seeing from Phoenix. Through these first two games, Phoenix has just been absolutely terrible.

And I don't see how they're going to have the fight now especially with the unknown of Chris Paul and Paul wasn't playing well anyway. To go beat this Denver team four times, barring injury. I love what I'm seeing from Denver so far. I'm concerned, without a doubt, I still will pick the Suns to win the series.

I still am not moving off of them. We've seen plenty of teams down 0-2 going back home, turn the series around. But they have to, especially offensively, get more ball movement. They have to get easier shots. For whatever reason, their offense is Devin Booker, go play, ISO 101, hit a tough shot. Kevin Durant did the same thing. John Drayton has been invisible at times, very frustrating, but I think going home, again, to me, Kevin Durant especially, is too great to go down five. He is. Oh, didn't he get swept last year?

No help around him? Sure. I think this Phoenix team is a lot better than what he was dealing with with the Nets last year. Well, they don't have a deep team whatsoever. That's fine, but I don't see how the Suns are coming on back in this series.

And by the way, we talked about how they've been sleepwalking, and they haven't had that killer instinct in them. Denver in the first quarter last night only scored 18 points, and Denver then scored 22 points in the second quarter. Phoenix only puts up back-to-back quarters of 21 points. They could have made a big statement early, and they didn't.

And then in the fourth quarter, Denver just pants them, where they outscored them 27-14. This team, I don't think the Suns have realized it's the playoffs yet. Because so far, up against the Clippers, they sleptwalked through that series because they just knew that the Clippers didn't have Kawhi, and they didn't have Paul George. And now, in the second round of the playoffs against a team that's the number one seed in the Western Conference, do they know that the postseason has started? Because we have not seen Phoenix at all in the playoffs this year play to the capabilities that they can be. It is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio.

We will talk about Jordan Love's future next. So, I don't know if you know this, but my name is being thrown out there in the news for things that I have not even reported, nor have actually confirmed to attend. Well, no. One is, I don't want to say it's going after me, but one is just a blatant lie. The other is just confusing me with somebody else. All right, let's leave the juicier one for a second about the blatant lie.

So, let's go just the confusion then, number one. So, Bryce Harper's making his return. I forget how many, what is it, 162 days since the surgery? 162, I believe.

Yes, sir. And he's in the lineup tonight, and he's going to be de-aging for the Phillies. So, there's a reporter in Philadelphia who's no relation to me, but his name is Matt Gelb, and he covers the Phillies. So, the athletic and bleacher report both put out there on Sunday, the athletics Zach Gelb reported that Harper was scheduled to meet with the doctor to get an update about his recovery from Tommy John. Gelb noted the seven-time All-Star could beat his projected return date by more than two months with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski calling his recovery amazing. So, I apologize to Matt since it's his reporting and people are giving me the credit for that, but I don't even get how that happens.

Like, I get it right. We have stories that get featured all the time on Bleacher Report and the athletic, but someone had to send them the Matt Gelb report. You had to see the Matt Gelb report, and I don't know, maybe when they type it, it like something pops up, you know, names of reporters in the past or talk shows in the past, says things that they just see Gelb and they click on my name. I don't know how they get it, but they literally typed in both the athletic and bleacher report Zach Gelb. And one of the athletic, or no, it was the Daily Mail because Matt Gelb works for the athletic. It was the Daily Mail, and then it was also Bleacher Report. So, I don't even get how that's possible on that one, but they're putting my name in that report, but I have no fillies inside news. So, don't come to me thinking I'm like the next Jeff Passit or something like that. Well, at least it's a, I guess we'll call it a good case of mistaken identity and not, you know, mixing you up for, you know, someone who's in the news for the wrong reasons. Like criminal acts or something like that? Yeah, that would be bad.

That would be bad. So, this is, I mean, mistaken identity, bad Java Bleacher Report, but all in all, I was telling a good day for you that you are being, you know, considered a newsmaker enough where your name is on the front of a lot of people's minds. I forget what it was, but I once woke up to a text. I forget what the act was, but it was like a heinous act, like repulsive, disgusting, like the biggest, the lowest of low that you could do. And there was some criminal, his name was Zach Gilb. G-I-L-B.

Yeah, that you want to say, wait, you don't want that. And my friend is the first, this was years ago, my friend texted me the story and I woke up and it was the first thing that I saw. I read what the person was being accused of.

I was like, oh my goodness gracious. Because when you read the name quickly, it's like someone has the same name as me. Then I realized, oh, there was a letter difference, clearly my last name with an E, this guy's last name with an I. Now, the other thing is there is a local group on Long Island that they had these events. And I have talked at one of these events before. And they asked me to speak again.

And I said, yeah, sure, I would love to. And it's a good group of guys, right? They bring in speakers and you basically just chat some sports with them.

And it's a whole lot of fun. It's about like 50 guys. Well, there's this newspaper on Long Island. I guess it's like one of those local, you know, every town has kind of like a local newspaper. So they send out this local newspaper and my mother sent this to me today. She said one of my friends sent me this article.

So let me just be clear here, Hickey. They asked me to speak at an event. No one ever told me a day. No one ever told me a time. No follow up email. Someone reached out to me and said, would you speak at our event again? I said, absolutely.

Just let me know a time and day. No one ever told me the time or the date of the event. So here's the article in this local paper.

It says, let me just pull it up here. Unfortunately, our breakfast plan for April 23rd had to be postponed because our speaker, Zach Gelb, a CBS Sports radio host, had to reschedule. I'm getting slammed by one of the local papers on the island. I had to reschedule. I never got a date. I never got a time. They just asked me if I would speak. So I'm getting dragged through the mud by one of the local Long Island papers. When did they ask you to speak?

Like a month ago. No date, no time, no follow up. And they spoke or at least maybe leaked whatever you want to call it to the local newspaper that you flaked on them or you had some sort of conflict. Now, I'm going to still speak at this event because the person that reached out to me, I'm going to text them. And I'm not even going to bring up the article because I don't even really give a rat's ass, but I'll still speak at the event. But you never told me a date.

You never told me a time. And then you put in this paper that I'm I'm not I had to reschedule. Was that in today's paper?

I guess so. My mother sent it to me today. She said one of my friends sent me the the paper because they saw my name and my mom was expecting to read something good. And it ended up like, oh, Zach yelled big time to set the event. At this point, as you sit here at six fifty three p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, May 2nd, no one still reached out. No one. So they've they've claimed to reschedule without even acknowledging you.

And they still have not gotten interesting. Wow. That's so my best friend.

Jeez. His uncle runs this group. It's like a brotherhood religious group.

He runs this group. And my best friend said, would you speak at the at the group outing? And I said, yes, just let me know what date or time had them reach out to me and I'll do it. No one ever reached out to me. Now, I'm not saying you're in the wrong, I'm just asking questions, trying to be a neutral reporter. Do you think my friend here told him I do it and then just never told me the date and time?

Oh, not even that. They reached out and the email they went to spam on accident. No, because I've recently cleaned out my spam email. So it wasn't like one of those missed.

Hey, the email went to another location outside of my inbox. You have my number. Call me if that's the case. That's a good point. That's also true.

OK. But don't say that I was going to do this and then all of a sudden something popped up with my schedule. I think it was actually free that week. I think they're saving their ass and maybe they just couldn't organize the event. And now they're trying to use you as a scapegoat for their failure to maybe secure the venue or get people to go. Maybe maybe you're being blamed here. Yeah. And they didn't reach out on purpose because they knew they couldn't put the event on. And so it's all it's blame. Zach, it's out of us. Now I know how to bum Brooksville. Maybe not. Zach helps show CBS Sports Radio and Tonya Daniels next.