Denver Dominates The Lakers (Hour 4)

Yo yo it is the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports.

Just want to play you a quick audio clip here. This is LeBron James last night when talking about his future 38 just wrapped up as you know year 20 in the NBA. This is LeBron James saying he will mole his future this upcoming off season. Now we know LeBron is a great competitor. That's in the heat of the moment. It's not inconceivable when you're 38 and just wrapped up year 20 to be thinking about retirement. But no one actually believes LeBron James is going to walk away from the game this off season.

First off, no fanfare would be very un-LeBron like, no big announcement, no retirement tour. I really do believe that part of that was being caught up in the heat of the moment where you don't really want to answer the questions. So you just say, all righty, my mind's at a different place. I got to think about a lot of things this off season. Sure, there has to be a physical toll that's catching up to with how many injuries he suffered in Los Angeles. So it's not like out of this world for him to be talking about this stuff. But I really think a lot of it is to use that as leverage and to keep the Lakers guessing and to try to put the push on the Lakers a little bit more and ram up the intensity to go on out there. And probably, I don't know how you make this work, go get his pal in Kyrie Irving. And that's been like a rumor that's been out there for a year.

And I don't know about you, Hickey. And we've seen other players like, for example, Damian Lillard has been bouncing around this postseason. I think it was at Brooklyn and maybe it was that one other spot during these playoffs. Kyrie Irving last night, it's such on brand for Kyrie Irving to show up.

Series is pretty much done so at 3-0. You know that eventually you're going to see Denver go to the NBA Finals. The question was just, was it in game four or game five? He shows up to LA, sitting right there.

You're basically begging the story to be about you in a game that didn't have a lot of storylines going in. Cuz when the series is 3-0, and you see how much better Denver is compared to the Los Angeles Lakers. I'll give credit, even though I'm not a fan of Kyrie, and I used to be a fan of Kyrie, and I like the way that he's handled himself the last two years. I'll give credit to Kyrie.

That was, let me get in the news and be an attention whore. Hey, someone's got to push a narrative of him getting LA and might as well just show up. Sick courtside. Trae Young's been there as well throughout the postseason. So plenty of guys that could be on the move or at least in rumors this offseason, all somehow weirdly finding their way to LA at some point this postseason.

Here's the question. You think LeBron gave him the tickets? You think LeBron said, guys, come on out. Kyrie, longtime buddy, even though you wanted to leave me all those years ago and now you want to come right back under Superman's cape, you think LeBron gave a few tickets out there to Kyrie? That's interesting just because that takes away from LeBron. I don't know if he would do that and help out a friend.

And then also kind of in doing so, take a little bit of the shine and talky points away from him. You're thinking too short term. He's thinking long term where he wants Kyrie on the team. You said Trae Young, right? You say Trae Young is at a Lakers game too? Yes, he was.

I must have missed that. But I saw a report today that the Lakers are considering maybe making a play for Trae Young this offseason. What a surprise. Wow. That was from Lakers reporter at the athletic as well.

So come on. And I think LeBron, GM LeBron is just getting some comp tickets to some of his friends. And they never hold the player accountable for tampering. It's always only the organizations. Well, players don't tamper in Adam Silver's eyes.

Which is crazy. Only teams. Just friends having lunch. Just friends inviting someone courtside. Calling players. And it's so selective.

That selective spineless silver with the things that he takes issue with with tampering. By the way, I saw Vegas odds are out. And I think 100% LeBron is coming back and playing basketball next year. And I do think it will be for the Lakers. The poll question today, will LeBron James be playing basketball next year?

Yes. Your 21 Cummings at 86%. No, we will retire is at 14%. If you had to take a guess right now, the highest odds to land LeBron James, if he had to give the top five highest odds, if he's not going back with the Lakers, that's the premise of these odds. Who do you think the five teams are right now?

In no order. Knicks are definitely in there. The Knicks are two at plus three 50. I saw they were betting favorite earlier. There's a different team now in the number one spot. Okay. Mavericks, are they in the top five?

They are not. Plus a thousand. Okay.

And also those odds are probably going to plummet after you predicting he'll be on the Dallas Mavericks next year. Good value out there, folks. For those value chasers. There you go.

You're welcome. You said it. You can't be, you can't be sarcastic saying you're welcome to anyone after the crap that you pulled. I pulled, you said it's, you guaranteed that I would be able to go to game five.

Did you not agree at the time? I think it was what that was after game one. Do you want to play? No, that was before the series. Do you want to play the audio?

I mean, I know you're all nervous, but no one, no one in their actual heart of hearts ever thought in reality, a sweep was going to happen. You have the clip. I want you to play the clip and let people be the judge.

Let's go listen up. The whole thing. It's the hickey hex. Really do not think this would be a sweep. Oh boy.

The TikTok music is playing. Oh no. We're flirting with, I guess, a little danger here based on a small sample size of track records previously, but I think you should be good for game five. No, no, you will be good for game five. LeBron's going to get hurt in game one. Anthony Davis going to get hurt as well. Darvin Ham's going to get suspended and then there will be a nugget sweep.

That's exactly what's going to happen after hickey tells me I'm going to be good for game five. I truly do not think this will be a sweep. I truly do not think this will be a sweep. I truly do not think this will be a sweep. And the Denver Nuggets for the first time in franchise history will go to the NBA finals. Oh my God.

They swept the Lakers. Wow. So there you go. All I heard in that clip, Hickey, was you saying there's not going to be a sweep. You guaranteed.

And I said, okay, folks, here we go. It's going to be a sweep in favor of the Denver Nuggets. I heard you outline the ways that the sweep is going to happen. Nothing happened the way that LeBron not get hurt.

No. When did he get hurt? He has that injury.

He's been dealing with that injury. If that's really the one thing that you're going to pick on from that, I actually called grace. Stop. I called the stop. It did not happen. I was wrong on that.

The sweep did happen. You, you said that. Sorry. I reversed that. My apologies. I called that the sweep would not happen. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I did not give enough credit to the to the Nuggets.

My apologies on that Denver. Yeah, that's. This is terrible. It's a terrible job. That's what I, that's what I got to say is just.

And this throws a serious wrench in our, in our friendship. I don't know if I can look at you. I'm going to Denver tomorrow morning. Gotta get up at four o'clock and get to the airport. I'm going out there to visit some family and I should be going to a game five. And I got to spend more time with my family.

That's a great thing. That's on you. Stop. You know what your sister, your brother-in-law I'm going to more family time. I'm going to start saying, rooting against some of, some of your teams or some things with you.

What do you mean starting? So I'm starting to root against the teams that root for like you haven't been hating the Colts or hoping for Penn state's demise. Did I not hold hands with you and, and basically lead Penn state to a victory in March madness this year?

I was screaming, we are Penn state. And it was not accepted. It was not, you were screaming it into an echo chamber of no one. Oh, okay.

So just take a shot at all the listeners then that's, that's real nice of you. Wow. No, I'm saying you started the Penn state bandwagon.

We did not accept. Oh really? Well, the athletic director of the university thanked me impact craft, thanked me for supporting you because he knows you're a jinx.

A lot of people, they know about the hickey hacks, a lot of people. And all I need to hear from you today is that you're sorry, but you take no accountability. Just it's really disgraceful. I was wrong. I'm not going to apologize. I was hand up. I was wrong.

The clip does not lie. Unfortunately, the sweep did in fact happen despite the Charles Barkley guarantee. And you did that intentionally. You did that intentionally. You didn't want to see me go to game five.

I know how you work. No, I want to see you go to game five. I was supposed to fill in for you. I lost out.

You can't go to the game. We both are losers here with Denver. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yes, we are.

The listeners are the real winners. I'll be no, please. No, please.

100%. Please. Come on.

What are we doing here? All right. So you guess one team so far, the next of plus three 50, give me the other four. Go ahead.

Let's see. Let's go with the golden state wars. Are they in the top five? They are six.

Oh, just on the edge. The Celtics. They gotta be in the top. Nope. Really? The Phoenix suns.

They are fit at plus 800. Okay. So we got two. We got the suns and we got, I already forgot. You're on top of sixers. They're number one at plus 300.

Number one. Wow. Okay. Sixers. Nicks. Suns. Hmm.

You're thinking too much. Nope. In the top five.

Nope. They're outside. They're seventh at plus a thousand. They're tied with your maybe crazy, but let's see. Clippers staying in LA. Number three, plus 500.

Staying close to home or close to Bronny at least. And injuries on that team though. Four. Right.

That's the only team we don't have four. Can I give you a hint? Sure. I'm coming home. Cleveland. I was going to say, is he going back for a third and final run?

Plus 700. At that point, if you're the Cavs, don't you got to, Oh yeah. You wouldn't say thanks, but no thanks. But it's kind of then him going back for the third time.

That's a little excessive. He's not leaving anyway. You're the only one that believes that he's leaving. So I think he's done with AD.

That's tough. He's not. He left it all in the court yesterday. 40 points. You need AD in the fourth quarter and you're at a gas to step up. Where was he? Down the stretch. Where was he? AD really didn't show up in the first half.

That's what killed him. When LeBron goes for what? 31 in the first half and AD only got you what? Four points I think in the first half. That's when AD was just... Well, you could survive that if you're AD.

Okay. LeBron will just put the tank on E in the first half. That's when you have to take advantage. Get you the 15 point halftime lead. And then you rely on what is the most talented player in your team at that point in the second half to take over the game and at least finish out that game and send it back to game five. He'll be back with the Lakers next year. There's no doubt in my mind. I just don't see how they get a deal done with the Dallas Mavericks. There's no way that that makes sense to me. I get what you're saying. He wants to play with Luca.

But how they get the contract back and they make that work, it just doesn't add up if you're just asking me. Let's hear DeAndre Hopkins. He discusses what he wants in a new team.

This is courtesy of the I Am Athlete podcast. What I want is stable management upstairs. I think that's something that I haven't really had the past couple years of my career coming from Houston to being in Arizona. So I've been through three to four GMs in my career. So a stable management, a QB who loves the game, a QB who brings everybody on board with him. And which is not just himself, but people around him and a great defense.

I think defense won championships. What an indictment by the way of Kyler Murray right there. You want a QB who loves the game? You've had, who was the offensive lineman earlier this off season? Calvin Beecham.

Calvin Beecham, that right. The former jet who questioned the maturity of Kyler Murray and said he needs to grow up. Buddha Baker didn't give all that a convincing answer with us at the Superbowl on Kyler Murray. And there you go right there, DeAndre Hopkins, who probably knows Kyler Murray better than anybody. And there was excited at one point to get traded to the Arizona Cardinals and says he wants a QB that loves the game.

That's a bad look, Hickey, a brutal look for Kyler Murray. But it's really not that surprising. Like that's just the homework clause, the playing the video games, the teammates don't trust them, the coaching staff doesn't trust them, the front office doesn't trust them. Sure, but different when you have a star wide receiver say it. After the whole contract homework clause thing, that was just, I think that was the biggest indictment.

But again, I think if- Ads on though. Right, I was just gonna say, I think if Kyler Murray at least had up to when he got hurt in what, early December, you had at that point 12, 13 games to change the narrative. And it doesn't sound like he did a lot to put away any doubts about his love for the game and his willingness to win. Let's also go to DeAndre Hopkins of the five QBs he would want to play with this courtesy of the I Am Athlete podcast. One of my favorite quarterbacks that I've been watching since he came in the league is Josh Allen. Josh Allen, he reminds me of, he reminds me of an old school or of a new school, Andrew Luck. I love Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts. Man, he's Houston kid, your dog, Jalen. Number three, who I would love to have a ball thrown, Patrick Mahomes obviously.

Number four, I'm gonna have to go with not a lot of people. People respect this guy, but you know, as a Thon quarterback, Lamar Jackson, obviously. And number five, man, because there's some good quarterbacks out there that's young and good. I'm gonna have to go with my dude in San Diego with the Chargers. I'm gonna have to go with my dude from San Diego. We all know he means the Chargers, but how do you not know who, you know, Justin Herbert by name right there, Hickey? Imagine I was like, hey, we're back in the Zach Gilcher.

Let me go to my dude, my producer on the other side of the glass. You know, it would be clear that I didn't know what your name was. Maybe I should start forgetting your name though after you mush me.

Yeah, not great that you don't know the city. The quarterback's name is a top five. The San Diego thing I can't crush him for. Everyone does that. They've been, it's like six years now.

Doesn't matter though, everyone still does it. But those teams, Bills, Eagles, Chiefs, Ravens, and then his dude in San Diego that plays in Los Angeles in, in Justin Herbert with the Chargers. I don't think the Chargers are realistic. They already have Keenan Allen, Mike Williams.

They just draft to Quinn and Johnston. I don't think the Eagles are realistic as well. The Bills are, the Chiefs are, and the Ravens are.

If you're Buffalo, don't you have to get on the phone and make sure that this deal is done. You are right there on being on, right on that, that tipping point, right on the verge of getting to a Super Bowl, just slightly behind Kansas City and Cincinnati right now. You go get DeAndre Hopkins. You have Stefan Diggs, DeAndre Hopkins. Also Gabe Davis. And you got the two tight ends. Kincaid you just drafted, I love out of Utah.

And Dawson Knox, hello. That would really be something. If I'm Brandon Bean, the return's not going to be much. You got to just figure out the money.

I would, that's the one that really makes the most sense. But then if you're Kansas City, it's like the rich get richer. If that's the case, if you're Brandon Bean, you want Josh Allen to throw more, Hey, Dodger Hopkins, you know, as a third wide receiver, that'll make him throw a little bit more and run less.

That's for sure. I would also like to see Baltimore too. You will get a few weapons there for Lamar. You can't use that excuse of, he doesn't have a number one wide receiver anymore. Like Odell is not a number one to me anymore. Bateman's never healthy. You go get DeAndre Hopkins.

That's a legit number one wide receiver. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. And outside of Mark Andrews, the perfect security blanket, the guy catches everything. You throw in his zip code. He's coming down with it. That's exactly what a guy like Lamar needs.

Well, Andrew's a stud and they also drafted Zay Flowers as well from this past draft. All right, we'll take a time out. Come on back to the closing bell, Zach Gilm, CBS sports radio. Another day is in the books and we're taking stock of the sports world. It's time to find out who's up and who's down. Let's end the day right and hit the closing bell.

Only on the Zach Gilm Show. The Panthers taking commanding 3-0 series lead up against the Carolina Hurricanes. They win last night, won nothing. Let's hear Sam Reinhardt score to make it that final score in the second period.

We'll listen up to Panthers radio. Near point, Montour down here on the near side, then down behind the net. Bennett off to the near corner. Kachuk. Kachuk in front, Reinhardt a shot, tough jump. He scores.

A power play goal. Sam Reinhardt just under the crossbar and the Panthers strike first. And also the defensive player of the week is sponsored by the Navy Federal Credit Union who proudly serves the armed forces, DoD veterans and their families. Their members are the mission.

Learn more at navyfederal.org. How about Florida Panthers goalie, Sergey Brabovsky. He was outstanding in game three of the Easter Conference Finals Monday night as Bob did post a 32 safe shutout performance as the Panthers took a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Hurricanes. The shutout was the first of Bobrowski's playoff career and he is now 10-1 in his last 11 games. Give the Florida Panthers fewest points entering this postseason.

Now one win away from the cup final, a big fat stock up. How about the Jokic brothers last night? They see their brother, Nikola Jokic, punch his ticket to the NBA Finals as they sweep the Lakers and Nikola Jokic in the game was absolutely brilliant as he's been for most of his career and now he's the league's best player and the Joker last night gets triple double, 30 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, hit that big three-point shot as well and then after the game, Joker's brothers are just tossing around Mike Malone like he's a rag doll celebrating with him. I love the Jokic family.

Give them a stock up. How about the dominant sickie of Stan Kroenke. Now I know that's not a popular name in some parts of the United States but the Rams, they win the Super Bowl in 2021. You just had the Avalanche win the cup final last year and you had, is this right, the lacrosse championship? He owns that team too in this past year? That's right.

How about that? And now the Denver Nuggets are in the NBA Finals and that is as good of a run as you could have. Very diverse hockey, basketball, football, lacrosse. He's hitting all the right buttons right now with teams he owns. That's unbelievable.

Give Stan Kroenke a stock up. And then let's get to Windhorse, Windy, Brian Windhorse. This is on ESPN.

This one I couldn't believe. This is on first take. I know he carries LeBron James' water if that's the nice way of saying it but here's Brian Windhorse saying the Lakers were very impressive despite getting swept in this series. The Lakers absolutely were terrific in going down in this series. I'm not sure I've seen a more impressive performance in a sweep ever.

Now don't get me wrong. We know Denver has a lot more talent and these games were all pretty close games for the most part. Game one was a buck 32 to 126. That's when the Lakers didn't show up in the first half. Then game two 108-103.

Game three 119-108 and then Denver got the sweep done last night 113-111. So for the talent gap I can understand what he's saying but to the level he took it and knowing who he's associated with that just comes off as trying to put lipstick on a pig. If we're starting if you want to talk about participation trophy society we're starting to hand out trophies to people for just giving a good effort and I get LeBron was great last night in the contest but that's ridiculous. You know what that is? You know who's loving that comment?

Michael Malone. More fuel on the fire. They're giving us no credit. Instead of talking about us sweeping the Lakers they're talking about the Lakers playing great despite getting swept.

He must just be loving right now everything being talked about his team because it's so I think at times unintentional but it's feeding right into what he wants. Play it again. I gotta hear that one more time. The Lakers absolutely were terrific in going down in this series. I'm not sure I've seen a more impressive performance in a sweep ever. Now I think of one person when that happens Marco Valenti. Marco? I mean just. You are you either win or you lose and you don't like to hear any of the nonsense after that. Your thoughts on that Marco Valenti? It's almost comical that you're gonna say that with a straight face.

Terrific in a in a getting sweat. I mean grow up be serious be serious. I know if you want to say they got swept and it looks awful but you know what if you you peel it back they actually didn't play all that poorly the nuggets were just really really good fine but the way you present it. The most impressive sweep I've ever seen.

Right because I know I usually rank when teams get swept of how impressive they were in their performance. I mean just give me a break. Absolutely stupid so give a stock down to Wendy who they call him. Alrighty that's the closing bell it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We got a break a little bit earlier you will hear from Sonny Dykes on the other side. Let me give you the final poll calculations for the day. You can always give me a follow on Twitter at Zach Gelb at CBS Sports Radio.

Once again that's C-A-C-H G-E-L-B. Will LeBron James be playing basketball next year? That was big after last night LeBron talking about retirement. I don't think he's retiring for a single second. He'll be back with the Lakers next year for year 21 but the final calculations that would be 86.4 percent say yes the king will be back for year 21 in the association and then you had 13.6 percent that do believe that LeBron James will retire. Hickey thinks he's playing for the Mavericks next year. I disagree with that I don't see how deal gets done. I have him returning to Los Angeles and we'll see if he brings his pal who's sitting courtside with him last night Kyrie Irving if he bolts Dallas to go find a way to team up one last go around with the Los Angeles Lakers or more so I should say with LeBron James so.