Denver Dominates Phoenix (Hour 2)

Alrighty, Zach Geld's show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. So two things last night in the NBA, six are Celtics, Suns, Nuggets. The Celtics, an embarrassing performance. The Sixers, a fantastic performance. And you look at that Celtics team, I said this in the beginning, Sean Grandy, the voice of the Celtics who just joined us said it as well. It's not shocking that the Celtics lost, it's how they lost.

Because they, for the entire game, just had no fight. And you look at that Sixers team, they played as great as a game they could play. And being awesome, maxi sensational, Tobias Harris gave them a jolt, as he should with the amount of money that he gets paid.

And you know what, Hickey? Even though you probably should be more impressed with Embiid and Maxi, I think the biggest thing I took away from that game was actually James Harden. And the reason why I say that is we were having this discussion at length yesterday. Can you get in the post season Embiid, Maxi, and Harden to all play together? Because you've seen Embiid go off and Harden go off and then Maxi not play great. You've seen Embiid and Maxi go off and then Harden not play great.

And naturally, when you have three players that you're relying on, two guys are really going to carry the way for you and lead the way. But we just asked Harden not to be a dud. He won them game one. He was remarkable down the stretch in game four. He won him two games this series.

In game two and game three, no show. Combined for five made shots from the field in games two and three. And last night, he doesn't need to go give you 30 points.

He didn't need to give you 25 points. He just needed to be efficient when you have Embiid play like the MVP and Maxi go off and have the big game as well. But Harden did that. Solid four of eight from the field, only took two three pointers, made his free throws, 17 points, dished out 10 assists as well, and had eight rebounds.

That to me, from a sixer side of thing, outside of going into Boston and dominating the game on your terms and taking it to Boston, a team that's been a pain in the ass for you the last few years. I was actually most impressed by James Harden because we were all kind of waiting. Harden great game one and four miserable in game two and three for Harden to have a dud of a performance when it meant the most last night.

And he did it. He was really damn good and he was balanced and he balanced out the Sixers last night. So with all the ups and downs in that game, the domination of the Sixers and then the Celtics just being pathetic Al Horford with the big fat zero in the point column. I know Tatum at 36, but he did nothing in the first quarter. Jalen Brown was okay. Mark is smart, not good enough.

No, like really? Pritchard, I know he only played nine minutes, but he was really damn good. But it's like, you know, Brogdon had a stinker.

It's like you look around and you go through everything in that game. I was actually most impressed by Harden, even with Embiid playing like an MVP and Maxey just being a flat out stud. And that dude's going to be a problem for many years and you've seen signs of it. But Harden, it was that third piece last night and Harden didn't crap the bed. He did a really good job last night. So that's who I was actually most impressed with with the Sixers last night. He was, he was very solid. And we had a question of, you know, forget about being great. Can you just not be as brutal as he was in games two and three and his credit, he was solid.

Like I said, it wasn't definitely was not a detriment. You look at the depth overall for the Sixers yesterday, five guys scoring double digits, getting contributions from literally anyone and everyone who took the court last night, which is very impressive credit to Harden, but also credit to everyone. I mean, Daniel House scoring in double digits, having a really good game. Maxey, I mean, I don't have the exact stats to back it up, but it felt like every single three he hit, he had six of them, was like at a huge point when the Celtics are starting to make a run throughout different parts of the game.

It felt like it was almost an early dagger each time he hit a big three. He was incredible. The Sixers overall just played a truly clean, impressive game throughout the entire roster for the duration of the entire game. And then to get to the other game from last night, Suns and Nuggets, because we basically spent the first hour talking Celtics and Sixers.

Let me just say this about Denver. Shame on anybody that their take is, oh, Nikola Jokic isn't fun to watch because I watched the Joker a ton. I watched him obviously last night in their 118 to 102 victory. He was awesome last night. And it's obviously not the best game that you've ever seen him play, but I'm watching that dude last night when he goes for 29 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists. And I go, people don't find this guy entertaining.

People don't find this guy fun. And right before the game, he has that personality. He has that little fun flare with Matt Ishbia. He goes over, smirks at him, tosses him the basketball. They have that embrace.

They have that hug. Nikola Jokic is just great to watch and shame on anybody that says he's not fun. And I know last night, the first half on Bo sides, it was sloppy. But then Denver just shows you last night in that second half, why they're the better team and they're the deeper team as well. And we'll see what happens if CP3 ends up playing in game six or not and how effective he could be cuz he wasn't playing well before he suffered this injury. But the Suns last night, they are all Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.

That's what they are. We talk about the Celtics lack of focus. I don't know what DeAndre Aiden was doing last night. But you look at Durant and Booker and Booker going into the game was shooting 61% from the field. He finally cools off where he goes eight to 19 from the field. He had 28 points still in the game, but Durant didn't give you one of those games where he elevates the team when that game through the first half was right there for the taking. And then Denver comes out of half and they have that dominant third quarter. But you look at Denver last night, that starting five is just so well balanced. You know, Brown coming off the bench and giving you 25 is enormous as well. But there was a reason right before you had Jamal Murray, Terrace ACL, why I was telling anyone that could listen, I like this Denver team.

And last year when people, I have a tweet out there, I got to go back and find it. But last year when everyone's ripping Denver for going down quickly to Golden State in the first round, when many people thought Golden State was vulnerable and they go on to win the championship and Denver only won one game. And I think that was game four in that series. I sent out a tweet and I said, what else did people really expect out of Denver? Yeah, you like to see them play better, but until they get Jamal Murray back healthy, this is a team that's going to have to delay their championship pursuit. But when Murray's back and Murray is displayed that he's more than capable of still being the player that we saw him before the injury, they're a team that looks a lot like that run that they went on in 2021, right before the injury to Murray, where they have all the makings of being a championship team, being the best team in the NBA, and being a team that could win it all. And last night, it wasn't the prettiest thing in the world through the first half, but when they needed to be great, they were great. And they just showed you they are a better, more well-rounded team than the Phoenix Suns, who the Suns right now are two players, Booker and Durant. And can Booker and Durant win you some games?

Yes, absolutely. We all know how great they are. That was the series that probably should not have been 2-2.

It probably should have been 3-1, but it was 2-2. And last night, the better team and the team that will win this series in the Denver Nuggets showed you why they are the better team in this moment right now. This year, we'll see what the Suns look like. Maybe it's a different story when they get more time to gel together, and now knowing that you have KD, how you're gonna fix and shape up the rest of the roster from some of the important players that you lost in the Durant deal in order to get him to Phoenix. But the Suns, to me, just don't look like a team, even after finding a way to take 3 and 4 that are going to be able to beat this Denver team 4 times. I don't know if it's over in 6.

If it gets to 7, I'll be extremely confident in Denver. So far, every home team has won this series, but if you had me make a prediction right now, even if you get CP3 back for game 6, I don't think that's a big plus for the Suns. It's crazy to say with the career that he's had, but that's asking a lot with the groin injury for him to come on in, play big minutes, and go give you productive minutes in a game 6. And we've seen Devin Booker be sensational. If he's not on fire, then you need Durant to be on fire, and Durant has had an up and down postseason. And even if you get both those guys cooking, it still may not be enough when you have the Joker, when you have Murray, Caldwell Pope, Porter Jr., Gordon, Green who's 9,000 years old still playing.

You saw what Brown did last night? This is just a team in Denver. Hickey, they're better than the Suns. And they should and they will go on to win this series.

It's been very frustrating, yeah. It's kind of why after even game 3, I've lost a lot of confidence in this team because it's truly a two-man team. It's Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and nobody else. Credit to Landry Shammett for showing up in game number 4, but you see right again, game number 5 on the road, it's Durant, it's Booker, and no one else. And if they are not having all-time great scoring performances, the Suns, forget about even having a chance to win the game, don't even have a chance, period, to compete against the Nuggets.

I was hoping or thinking, expecting going to the playoffs, it'd be a four-headed monster of Durant, Booker. And that game was there for the taken last night. At halftime it was, yeah.

It was right there. Because Denver was sloppy. It reminded me a lot like the Knicks first round series at times up against the Cavs where it was like just an ugly tempo. There was just not a lot of productive play last night, not a lot of offense to start the game, and then boom, out of nowhere, that avalanche of the Denver Nuggets just continue to hit and roll right down the mountain and just wipe out the Suns in that game. Really, the Suns and the Celtics, their performance so far in the postseason are kind of a mirror image of one another. Like you look at the Celtics, we're begging for them to show that killer instinct.

We're begging for their stars to be dominant, like Tatum will have a dominant game, Booker will have a dominant game. You'll see greatness from Brown, you'll see greatness from Kevin Durant, but the rest of the guys, even with those guys being up and down, aren't showing up. And we talked about the Celtics, we knew they were never going to lose their first round series up against the Hawks, but it wasn't impressive. You look at the Suns, they went up against the Clippers where you barely saw Kawhi Leonard in that series.

There was no Paul George. And yeah, they won in five, but it wasn't impressive. And you had to play those players so many more minutes than you would like to. And now in this series, even though I view Denver as a better team than the Suns, it's like you look at the Suns and you go, when are they going to show up? And I do think the Celtics are more embarrassing than the Suns because the Celtics, I do believe have the better team and they haven't just been thrown together with the big addition like that, like Durant has with the Suns as quickly as they have.

What was it, like eight or nine regular season games for KD? But you kind of look at that Celtics team and that Suns team, the way that they've played just in this post-season, it's been similar where you know that they have a different gear. You know they could be better and you're just waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting to see it. And you don't end up seeing it.

And we haven't seen it yet. Well, I guess for the Suns, I'll ask you, like, what else do you want them to do? Up against the Clippers.

Were you impressed with their performance? Booker and Durant have been, for the most part, great. Their issue is nobody else, like I was counting on DeAndre Ayton to be a contributor. He's been terrible. Chris Paul has been hurt and when he's not been hurt, he has not been good whatsoever.

It's a two man show and you're seeing Booker and Durant going to do so much where they could be heroic and carry the Suns to victory themselves. Well, you see why Monty Williams got really annoyed with DeAndre Ayton last year. Whether he was in the right or wrong at the time, it's the same thing this year where you're looking at DeAndre Ayton and you're like, dude, you're a number one overall pick.

You could be playing a whole lot better. So yeah, he's a big disappointment. That's a guy that I want to see go play better because I know he could play better. And we've done shows before where people have said, oh, that's why he was deserving of the number one pick. And you see this guy, he's like a roller coaster.

Up and down, up and down. He's got to play better. And he got the contract this off season when everyone thought he wasn't going to be back on the team.

So that kind of was a recipe for disaster. But in the first round, when you're going up against the Clippers and you have to grind it out in a five game series, if you could have blown them out like you were supposed to, I'm talking about in the individual games, you could have had a little bit of a more fresh Durant and also Booker. I know Booker's been great, but those guys had to play a lot of minutes in only a five game series. And they had to push a lot harder than they would like to up against a team in Los Angeles that did not have Paul George and didn't have Kawhi Leonard outside of the first two games of the series. And we talked about that in that series.

Eventually that's going to come back to burn them. And Durant, I would have, I need to see better performance from Kevin Durant. I know you talk about how it's a two man show and you're not wrong, but you look at Kevin Durant last night, I know he was great in games three and four, but like last night he wasn't all that impressive to me.

And for Kevin Durant, we talked about this before, he moves around a lot. You go and join that great team in Golden State. And we knew you were going to just win a championship each and every year you go to Brooklyn and you did a terrible job.

I know he individually was great as a player, but the team that he put together was a disaster. And now you go to Phoenix, it's only one year and not even a full year. Now they go win a championship next year, the year after that. But that comment is always going to be out there by Charles Barkley about the bus rider and the bus driver. And there's a lot of pressure on Durant and when it's a two man show and you don't play to the level that you're capable of and you're not on fire, then yeah, you're going to see a result last night with the way that it did transpire. So it's not like you look at the Suns. Well, you know what? You thought the Suns would win a championship, right?

Before it started going to the plus. Absolutely. So it seems like you're not disappointed with what they're doing. Well, I mean, I get when you see half of the contributors, I thought we're going to be a integral part of this team hurt and ineffective. It's not surprising that they're losing to the Nuggets about to get eliminated.

That's all like you look at it. Kevin Durant, I don't if you're this is how the Suns are trying to win. They are relying on Durant and Booker to score 40 points a night on like 80% shooting.

It could happen in two games in a row like we saw at home. It's not sustainable to winning. It's kind of so they are. And when that is your formula and your recipe for success, it's not one that's going to happen in the playoffs all the time. So it's almost like I picked them and it's I'm wrong and it's a failure because it's changed your bus for them.

But it's not surprising. See that series played out when it's truly just your strategy is are we an all time game from Booker also game from Durant and that's it. Does CP3 really even change the series that that drastically because we were talking about he was not played well even before that injury. I say no just because also to the groin injury like that is something that lingers.

I don't think he's going to be fully healthy so I don't think he's going to be able to if he does play tomorrow impact the series and have an all time great game. It is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a break when we come on back. There's five QBs. I just can't wait to see how they're going to play this year.

We'll get to that on the other side. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show that Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. So I was thinking about today when I was listening to Jordan Love address the media for about 10 minutes and we'll play you some of that audio coming up later on in this hour. I'm like who are five quarterbacks who not necessarily need to be the best but just five quarterbacks with the schedule going to be released tomorrow that I just can't wait to watch the play this year to see what the conversation is going to be about them. So I'll give you those five in just a second.

I do have an honorable mention. The honorable mention is Kyler Murray because the conversation about Kyler has completely flipped where yes he got paid and he got paid off of criticism where down the stretch he was hurt. They have that playoff game. He got absolutely blown out the entire team by the Los Angeles Rams and his own teammates Kelvin Beach.

Others as well have called into question his leadership or said he needs to be a better leader and he's to grow up. The thing with Kyler I can't put him in the top five right now is we don't know when he's going to play this year and we don't know if he's even going to play with how late in the year he did tear his ACL and because that team is as bad as what we think they're going to be are they really going to throw him out there for the last four games of the season with how much money they have invested in him. But really Hickey what I think becomes the big part of this conversation if he does play and we talk about this all the time how many times with a quarterback when you tear an ACL like physically you recover but mentally how long does it take you to recover and I always say about an ACL your first year back from your ACL that's like knock all the rust off and you won't get back to form until the year after that. The tricky part with Kyler is that Kyler may not see the field and that first year may not be until next year or it's going to be at most maybe a handful of games who knows with the recovery process on this stuff. But really this is a new regime Monte Austin Fort and Jonathan Gannon I know Gannon could make all the sound effects and go like boop boop boop boop boop and fall in love and say everyone that it's all honky-dory and he loves all these players right now but they didn't draft this guy and I know they have a financial commitment to him but we've seen a lot of teams get out of big contracts this one you may have to wait a little bit because according to spot rack it's like you look at the the the dead cap it's like 2023 it's 97 million so he's there this year you know that 2024 it's 81 million and it doesn't fall off and drop off until 2025 and the dead cap is at 33 million and you have a team that could be the number one overall pick in the draft this year in the Cardinals like that's how bad I think they're going to be their picks gonna be in the top five and oh yeah by the way you have the Texans first round pick from the trade to move off of the third pick so the Texans go get Will Anderson Jr. and you have a guy in Caleb Williams that everyone loves Drake May who's extremely popular as well the UNC quarterback with Mac Brown for for Kyler Murray if you are on the field even if you're like truly not a hundred percent ready but you do get on the field you got to play well because if you're picking high up in the draft I'm not going to fault Monty Austin for it and Jonathan Gannett they're like all right we have questions about this guy and even though there's money we'll figure out the money and how to trade him after that and we'll go take one of these young quarterbacks in the draft next year so I can't wait to see when and if Murray gets on the field this year and where their draft pick is because it can really dictate Kyler Murray's future with the Arizona Cardinals.

Like you said before the ACL injuries are just so tough I honestly expect nothing from Kyler Murray and I think he will play at some point this year but it's like probably back mid-november let's just say for argument's sake and there's six games left and you're working back from injury and you're lying some Andre Hopkins and nobody else right the outfits line can't protect you like I'm not expecting much from him anyway just from the injury perspective let alone the lack of talent that he's working with it's he's in a really really tough spot both team wise financially wise his future wise as well I'd be I'd be okay with being in his financial situation well you're right the team right the team financially with him he is in a great a great financial spot yeah if I'm him hey if I end up not working on out I got all this money I'm sitting on a bag of cash what do you get a five year two hundred and thirty something million dollar deal yeah I'd be laughing to the bank even if I can't reach my full potential as a player and he always is baseball to go back on to that always gets thrown out there as well but at this rate you get that much money if it doesn't end up working out in football go live life on a on a beach or not even I guess he would just be happy locking himself in his in his room and playing some video games I would imagine just call of duty that's right I'm sure he has a great an elite gaming cave I would imagine perfect gaming chair maybe the controllers on each chair perfectly angled without a doubt there's no way you ever let the cardinals do like a video special where they like go to your house and they take the camera crew because once his gaming cave gets shown assuming he has one and I would think he does I think it's safe to assume that oh you're gonna become a lot of people gonna be making a lot of jokes at the expense of columnar good thing MTV Cribs is no longer a really thing saves Calamari some extra criticism I love the MTV Cribs back in the day always been you know what my favorite part was when they went to the fridge seeing what people had in their fridge was always great stuff and Dave Chappelle did a great spin-off on MTV Cribs it's one of the funniest things I've ever watched alright five quarterbacks so I can't wait to see play this year five is Lamar Jackson got paid he's talking about throwing 6,000 yards this year which is just ridiculous you get safe flowers we'll see if Bateman could finally stay healthy we'll see what happens with Odell Beckham but he's there if they had anyone else but the last two years he's been injured at the end of the season Lamar great player unanimous MVP in the past I just want to see if he can make it healthy this year and if you could take that team to the next level after getting paid number four I think you're gonna be surprised by this one Hickey Anthony Richardson I don't know well you're clapping right now I'm not saying he's gonna be any good I just don't know what Anthony Richardson is because when he was at Florida there was like two games it was the first game against Utah I'm pretty sure it was a Tennessee game where it was like wow Anthony Richardson looks like the way that Anthony Richardson is being hyped up and everyone talks about how Anthony Richardson is a project and a lot of people thought he would sit out the first year when you go fourth overall it's tough to sit out the entirety of the of the first year and it's not like the Colts have someone in their roster that can weather the storm and that you would love to see play like Gardner Minshew is a fun story he's not a great starting quarterback he's not a good starting quarterback in this league how likely do you think it is because Richardson to me everyone talks about the ceiling and the potential of Anthony Richardson I want to eventually see that but with how much he's hyped up I hope he's playing this year and I want to see what he could do if that offensive line gets back to the old Colts offensive line Quentin Nelson you would think's gonna bounce back this year Jonathan Taylor is one of the better backs in football I don't love the receiving room Pittman's good I've been a fan of Pittman but I'm just intrigued to see in a bad division when Anthony Richardson could do this year because outside of Jacksonville and it's not another playoff team in that division me too I hope that Shane Seiken I think he is the good fit to kind of get the most out of Richardson but we'll see how fast he can develop in terms of playing this year I would say 60% chance he starts week one 60 yes the way the Colts have talked already not that they're getting crazy or getting over you know overly excited it seems like already that there's a thought when they drafted him this guy's not as far away from seeing the field as ever maybe right you would think all right so it won't be a Mitch Trubusky type of thing with the Kenny Pickett when they're just gonna throw true true busky to the wolves in the first three four games or whatever it was and everyone trying to tell you oh Mitch is gonna be great he's gonna be phenomenal he was just in a bad organization now he's going to Pittsburgh I just hope we don't have to go through that crap because Gardner Minshew is a very likable guy and I could say people say no well that one year he was good and and now you know maybe he could play for for a few weeks like people just they hype up the guy in front of the guy because people are afraid to take the kitty gloves off and take the floaties off and let's just go see what's gonna happen with Anthony Richardson hey Chris Sims did say that the Eagles offense would have no drop-off going from Jalen Hurts to Gardner Minshew so that's the quarterback the Colts got right there let's go to the third one I like pro football talk so I'm gonna sit one out for like the first time in my life I love it uh Justin Fields I can't wait to see what he does because he was good last year like there were some inconsistent moments obviously the team stunk now they go get DJ Moore I think people are already starting to go out of whack with the expectations like I love Dan Orlovsky he was on our flight down to the draft and we've always been very close as a show with Dan Orlovsky you know even before anyone knew who Dan Orlovsky was from a media standpoint you know I had great conversations with him he's a bright football mind but he talked about Justin Fields being in contention for the MVP if they double their win total we talked about this yesterday and go from three wins to six wins like that's a good year for the Bears and if Field shows you he can continue to be the guy I just want to see Fields put it together for a longer stretch this year he was great running the ball last year made some impressive throws as well got to cut down on the turnovers but I'm intrigued to see what Fields could do especially now lining up with DJ Moore as his number one wide receiver two it's Aaron Rodgers Rodgers going to the Jets this rejuvenated Aaron Rodgers where now he's like happy-go-lucky Aaron Rodgers and I know he doesn't trash Green Bay but he clearly wasn't happy the last few years the only time he was happy was when he was sticking it to Gudekunz and Lafleur and Murphy as well but now it's like when you look at Aaron Rodgers he's saying all the right things he's talking about showing up he is showing up and you got a good team with the New York Jets I want to see how far Rodgers can take the Jets and number one it's Jordan Love the guy that's replacing Aaron Rodgers we've heard about this guy for three years we've barely seen him play I don't think anyone was an expert of Utah State football but you look at Jordan Love that little sample size that we saw up against the Eagles Hickey Darius Slay was praising him till the cows come home that fourth quarter he what had one touchdown pass I think he completed like threw for over 100 yards I think it was he again in one quarter against a team that went to the Super Bowl looked pretty good but what makes it so easy to root for him and we'll play some of the audio in a bit the last three years he's never said the wrong thing and that's not an easy spot I know everyone would love to be a first round draft pick but he didn't ask to go to the pack because he didn't ask to deal with the wrath of of the of the front office and Rodgers all fighting and all that stuff but it playing out in the public spotlight with the franchise legend and this guy has done everything the right way and now we're gonna see what he's gonna look like on the field so those are five quarterbacks I can't wait to see play this year Lamar Anthony Richardson Justin Fields Aaron Rodgers Jordan love anyone else that you want to throw into the conversation like Mahomes Burrow Josh out like Allen there's a little intrigue just because that team fell back last year but the main guys you know for the most part I wanted to leave out Deshaun Watson can you bounce back knock off the rust after last year Russell Wilson big one can you play well I mean it's not hard to play better than you did last year but can you now live up to the contract and play up to a Super Bowl caliber I was Jared Goff there's a lot of expectations for the first time a long time in the Lions can you live up to them and one last one I can I guess it sure NFC quarterback yes Dak Prescott no oh not that press no because I am intrigued about Dak because the last two years the defense has showed up in those playoff games but he has not showed up who's so it's an NFC quarterback who is it Daniel Jones not oh I know it is Geno Smith not Geno Smith okay I don't know who it is go ahead Sam Darnell oh stop it I want to see if the hype is real Matt Miyoko who is someone who is not a hot take artist claimed and who covers you all the 49ers for NBC Sports Bay Area stop now he made an absurd claim yeah he said it dumbest thing I've ever heard that is the most talented pass to the 49ers I've ever had in Sam Darnold it looks to be that Sam Darnold is going to be the week one starter or has a chance to be the week one starter if he plays well I hate Trey Lance we know that Trey Lance I would say that he would replace Sam Darnold in terms of intrigue but I'm intrigued to see maybe I'll just open up to the 49ers quarterback overall how they play now over a full season can you can you Kyle Shannon actually win with anyone that's what I want to see so maybe intrigue with Shanahan more than Sam Darnold but the quarterback situation gonna be fascinating about 10 seconds ago I took off my headphones because I just don't want to hear about any more propaganda for Sam Darnold that you've been leading for a long time and you wanted him on the Indianapolis Colts I don't forget that he has a great team at the 49ers of winning it's gonna have nothing to do with Sam Darnold so I've taken off my headphones I have no clue if you're responding back to me right now but stop with this Sam Darnold nonsense I hope he doesn't play a game for the San Francisco 49ers I actually check that I hope he plays and then he's just absolutely horrendous the first three games of the season because I'm sick of everyone trying to hype up Sam Darnold already Martin is proud of how Tyrese Maxey at a monster night last night has developed as a player the first step as a young player in this league is like you put the work in you know I mean like you build confidence in yourself you build confidence in your game you find your niche you find out what you what you're really good at and then you just put the work in and he's been doing that and the Sixers played for their standards a perfect game last night you got contributions from their three best players you know how great Embiid was with 33 you saw Maxey get 30 points and then James Harden was efficient was 17 points dishing out 10 assists as well pulling in eight boards too is a great performance for the Sixers and Embiid says that Sixers left it all in the court in their game five victory coming in here game five you gotta do whatever it takes you know and sometimes you know we're all human beings and sometimes you need to be reminded myself included sometimes I need you know people to remind me to remind me you know the job I gotta do and you look at this performance for the Sixers for the last few years when they would go up against Boston especially in the playoffs it was like you knew they didn't believe in themselves and they knew something was missing and there was a lot of times where they just knew Boston was the better team and Embiid even said it before in the past this isn't a rivalry until we start beating them because they always kick our ass and I think they got the sense in game four that yeah we have not been great through the first four games you know Embiid's playing on one leg but this is 2-2 and when you have Marcus Smart not get that shot off in overtime and it doesn't count it's like okay this is 2-2 anything could happen and Boston has just been playing with fire playing with fire not showing that killer instinct and last night Hickey really what the Sixers did and this series is not over yet but they eliminated that mental hurdle when it's going up against the Boston Celtics where now for the first time in one of these playoff series they really have Boston backpedaling and Boston backed into a corner and after game one nice victory without Embiid but it's only 1-0 and you lose game three you get embarrassed and then you're dominating game four and you almost lost it but you won but then in game five last night that was just a total ass kicking and we know momentum is now totally shifted to Philadelphia. Philadelphia has a chance to close this thing out in South Philly coming up tomorrow night but I think that mental component is so big where Boston probably didn't really respect Philadelphia all that much thought they were going to be able to kind of walk through this series like they've had in years past and now Philly's actually for the first time in a long time believe it in themselves because Harden's playing well, Maxey's been a stud and there's a reason why Joel Embiid won the MVP this year. And you look at the three games they won I think in most years there's no chance the Sixers win any of the three games they won in this series in previous years. Game one knowing B that was I thought for sure a loss. Game four after you lose that emotional game three which in B gets the MVP award at home and you lose I thought okay no way you're coming back and getting yourself off the mat James Harden overtime and in regulation big shots to tie and win the game and then game five I thought okay no way you get a nice game four win. And again they almost choked away in game four too. Going back to Boston right after a 60 point lead that you allow to be gone in the fourth quarter back to Boston after that win no way the Celtics come out flat all three wins give the Sixers credit I don't think in most years before this year they win any of those three games in this series. Jalen Brown and what led to the ball out loss last night? Unnecessary fouls, gotten a little bit of foul trouble as well and kind of just threw our rhythm off and we got to be able to get stops and guard a lot better than we did tonight it just seemed like the door just went open it just seemed like we couldn't get nothing going and every game got its own story that's the beauty of basketball so I believe in my guys so I think that we can come out and be inspired to play next game. It's not all that convincing by the way you have like a little fire and energy there when you're talking about the belief level in the guys I'm not saying you have to rant and and yell and go nuts but that's like me saying do you believe in Hickey as the producer of the show? Yeah I have a lot of confidence in Hickey you know seems like the door is not open right now but yeah we'll find a way.

What are we doing there? Jason Tatum on being booed at home. We've got booed before so it's not anything new weird to say but we've been in that position before and you know we didn't we didn't play well today you know fans could see it you guys saw it and we we know that.

Wake up it's like you lost game four because you were sleepwalking through the first three quarters wake up and you wake up at home in front of that crowd that's disgraceful. Mike Malone the coach of the Denver Nuggets says Nicole Jokic continues to just play at a high level joker last night 29 points 13 rebounds 12 assists he was dominant. I think sometimes we maybe take Nicole Jokic for granted because what he is doing is just incredible and he makes everyone around him better never gets rattled cool hand Luke and you know we're just so thankful that you know he's a Denver Nugget and have the relationship in the in the eight years together that I have with him.

Yeah people that say that Nicole Jokic isn't fun to watch you don't have a damn clue what you're talking about but I do think some of what Mike Malone said you've kind of taken for granted because he's just been so consistently great where it's like you always expect them to play at that level. Let's go to Dan Campbell and if Hendon hooker could play this season this courtesy of the green light podcast. Really this is a redshirt year for him he's got to get this leg right first and then and then he'll learn he'll learn under Jared you know and then let's see what happens you know if he can eventually become your two or maybe down the road later on it's more than that but that's it's gonna be a long time.

There's no reason right now to say that oh you expect Hendon hooker to play because Jared Goff just had a really good season and there's been even talks of contract extensions now I would not extend Jared Goff right now let this year play out let's see what Goff could do if you could repeat and take it to a different step than what he did last year and then if Goff does struggle maybe then you go to Hendon hooker but there's no reason to say that you expect him to play right now. Let's go to Jordan Love who discussed his mindset after Aaron Rodgers signed the contract extension last offseason. When I got drafted here I knew right away that I knew exactly what situation I was being put in who I was being behind so I knew it was going to come with time that I was going to come in and learn and grow but I mean I'll admit I think the hardest time was when he re-signed the contract last year it was kind of like okay well where do we go from here what do I do? No because he thought he was never going to see the field when you see a guy just re-sign a contract you probably thought you were going somewhere else I understand that. Jordan Love had his communication with Aaron Rodgers since the trade. We talked after the trade kind of just wish you the best you know going forward he wished me the best and you know always there for me if I need anything if I have any questions or anything but I'm always just grateful to be around him and for the time I had with him to be able to learn and be behind him it's very grateful for me. I don't know what Jordan Love will be as a pro but that dude's a professional and I remember a few years ago he joined us and some people are like oh we didn't love his answers and I was like what do you mean you didn't love his answers? He had so many tough questions being asked about a legend in Aaron Rodgers that's not an easy situation and you've seen him grow up the last few years and you heard it today and I just hope that dude with the way that he handled the situation last three years which has been pretty much flawless I hope he has a lot of success and I'll be rooting for him. I love the way they handled the press conference I love what he had to say today. Absolute pro. Bill Ryder from Ryder than you right here on CBS Sports Radio and CBS Sports HQ will join us next.