South Florida Success (Hour 3)

Our number three of our radio program, that's right, it is the Zach Gilb Show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Coming up, 30 minutes from now, you have Game 4 of Celtics Heat.

Miami has taken a commanding 3-0 series lead, and they're looking to sweep Boston out of the playoffs later tonight. Let's head out to the guest line right now and welcome in a man that played for the Miami Heat and also the Boston Celtics, won two championships with the Miami Heat, and that of course is Joel Anthony, who's now the GM for the Montreal Alliance. He's kind enough to join us on the Zach Gilb Show.

Joel, appreciate the time. How are you? I'm doing good. I'm doing good. Thanks for having me.

Well, thanks so much for coming on. So, you're undrafted. You know all about this Heat culture. Just what is it like for you right now to see the Heat one win away from getting to the NBA Finals with all these undrafted players? It has been really good. Spoe really has those guys rolling. They're playing extremely well, but in a style that's unique to Miami, that represents that culture in terms of coming with that underdog mentality.

You're able to see that every day, and right now we're able to see the results of all that hard work that those guys have put in. When you were in Miami, you knew how good of a coach Eric Spulcher was, but I think the rest of us did not. What did you see from your coach back then?

Because now he's, right now, pound for pound the best coach in the sport. One of the things you need to be successful is consistency. Those are some of the things that he drove into all those teams in terms of his attention to detail and making sure that we're as well prepared for whatever we're going to go through. Just to be able to go through all those practices every year, every day, honestly, it was always something that he was always trying to perfect with us. That standard is something that carried over to everyone in the organization. Those are very important things to Spulcher to make sure that guys were as well prepared and that they played the style of basketball that represents that culture in terms of the hard work and discipline that goes into it.

Like I said, he has them in a really good place right now. He was always controversial early on because there was that thought that maybe Pat Riley would eventually come on back. I know he was in the organization from 1997 to 2008 before becoming the head coach in that 2008 season. Was it obvious early on in your tenure with the team that he was going to be a really good head coach? Did you have a lot of belief in him early on?

For me, there's some bias. Spulcher was the coach that really gave me an opportunity early on. It's the same narrative, giving an undrafted player an opportunity. The fact that he was looking to look wherever and it was about if you were putting in the work and you were going to do well, you'd be given the opportunity based on the work that you put in. So there's trust in terms of the talent that he saw.

It didn't matter where you came from, where you're drafted, what your salary was. Spulcher was about having guys come in to be able to produce regardless of that type of background. You also saw the work that he put in, the same way that he demands a lot of hard work, a lot of hours.

It's obviously extremely difficult for some people to go through physically and mentally in Miami. Spulcher is someone that has grown up in that system as a professional and he does it himself. You see the time that he puts in and what all those things mean to him. So the work that he puts in, even though he's demanding it from his players, is coming from him and his staff as well with all the time and detail that they put into every individual and then as a collective as well.

Joel Anthony here with us. So you have two championship rings from your time with the Miami Heat. When you look back at those teams, what are the memories that come back to mind all those years later? There's a time to spend together, I think, off the court more than anything.

Just talks in the locker room and some of those downtime moments, the playing rides. Those are the things that, even then, it was actually something Spul would talk to us about. These are the things you're always going to remember. We're going to look back on these things and definitely appreciate it so much more. Even then, we knew how special that was. We knew how special those times were and we never took it for granted. I think that was something that was extremely important. We were fortunate to play on such a good team, but it was also such a close team as well.

Those are the things that we probably look back and appreciate more than anything. Joel Anthony, the night where LeBron James elected to take his talent to South Beach, what do you remember about that evening? I remember being at home and at first wondering why I opted out of my contract at that time.

This was a huge mistake for me and there wasn't any room for me. I wanted to be back, but not being too sure how the business of basketball was going to be. Miami was obviously where I always wanted to return to because of the opportunity. But obviously with LeBron signing, that really changed it because of the expectations that everyone had.

My agent eventually explained to me and calmed me down and told me that there's still going to be an opportunity. I was very excited that there was a possibility for me to sign with them and to be a part of that, for them to want me to be a part of that. When he made that announcement, it was extremely exciting for me to see that. Just like everyone else, I remember looking outside my condo and seeing fireworks right after he said that he was taking his talent to South Beach. I saw all the fireworks outside downtown Miami. People were excited from day one, obviously.

I was definitely the same way. And now LeBron just wrapped up year 20 in the association after getting swept out of the conference finals by the Nuggets. He talked about how much he has to contemplate his future and it starts all the retirement speculation. Were you surprised when you heard that from LeBron last night or not so much?

A little bit, just because no one is thinking too much of it. Obviously it was something down the line, but everything with him, you're thinking of at least a couple more years, which is still a lot. That would put him at 22, maybe just a couple more and at his age, but he's obviously held off father time for an extremely long time and has played at a high level even up to this year. He was still able to play at an extremely high level, so it was a little surprising to hear that, but it's hard for people to realize that he is human even though he obviously does extraordinary things on the court. This is something that all basketball players, even someone as great as him, have to think about and have to contemplate. I'm sure he'll take the time to get away from the game a little bit and just go over things with himself and with his family and think about what he wants to do next. I gotta think he'll be returning for a 21st season, right?

I would assume so. I would definitely assume so, but obviously he said this right after losing in the conference finals and getting swept. The emotions and everything else, those things are still raw and new and it's very difficult to deal with losing in the playoffs, especially when you get that far. I'm sure after he takes some time, like I said, he'll be able to come to a more sound decision, but the talk about it isn't something that's too out of the ordinary. You never really heard it from him, which I think is what people are really surprised about. Joel Anthony, in this next great chapter of Heat Basketball, you see the greatness of Jimmy Butler. I've been talking about he has a killer instinct like Michael Jordan and also the late great Kobe Bryant.

He had these playoff heroics like Kawhi Leonard as well as we've seen throughout the years. What do you see when you watch Jimmy Butler play? One is his toughness.

I see the toughness in that will. He likes to say he's just out there hooping. His ability to be able to stay within that moment and play extremely high level basketball, but also on both ends of the court, which is what's extremely impressive as well. He's really just built for that organization. It's great to see him have success there, but he's a really tough-minded player that is obviously leading his team to what appears to be an eventual Finals appearance again.

You've got to feel good for Bam too because he's been up and down as well. He's really started to come together these last few games and he's been a huge key for Miami to be able to go on a run like this. He's someone else that fits very well into the Heat culture. He's a tough player that plays both sides of the ball.

He's more of a prototype, big for this generation of the NBA. It's all about his steady improvement. He's still learning and nothing is going to get you more prepared to have success in this league than going through these battles in the playoffs. He's been able to take this time to continue to improve. From the Heat standpoint, as long as he's trending at the right time, you couldn't be happier. It's definitely great for him to have this success now at the highest level when his team needs it the most.

Put on your basketball cap here, Joel Anthony. When you go out to the Western Conference, we know the great career so far. The Koli Jokic and Jamal Murray being back and at this level for the Denver Nuggets is so big. What stands out to you about what you've been seeing so far when you watch Denver?

One, how balanced they are. They share the ball really well. To have a player like Jokic who's so unselfish and the ball runs through him as much as it does, he's always able to make the right plays for them.

And when he has to, for himself as well. This is similar to someone like Bron who's obviously been able to play amazing unselfish basketball. They're extremely well coached as well. Mike Malone, I'm actually a fan of his. He was with the Canadian national team years ago, but has always been a really good coach and it's great to see him have success. Like I said, the balance and the confidence that that team is playing with right now.

They have an absolute star, a superstar in Jokic. It's a lot of really good basketball that we're able to see. Before we let your own Joel Anthony, this new chapter for you as the GM of the Montreal Lions, what have you learned about yourself and how you've been enjoying the opportunity as a late? It's been great for me to be able to transition into something else within the game, something else that I love. The foot office side has been a lot of fun for me. It's been a lot of work. I have a new appreciation for some of the executives that I've been able to know throughout my time of playing just because of everything that I've done.

A great learning experience and time for me to be able to help out my basketball community back home in Canada as a whole, but more importantly for the city I was born and raised in in Montreal. Well thanks so much for doing this. Good luck the rest of the way and we'll talk to you again soon. Alright, thanks a lot for having me. I appreciate you.

Alrighty, news brief time. The Denver Nuggets are off to the NBA Finals. They sweep the Lakers.

The brooms are out. Mike Malone says Nicole Jokic sent a message to any doubters. I think he's shown other people nationally that he's real. What he's doing is real. The MVPs are real. The triple doubles are real. All the silly narratives this year are just that. Silly and somewhat ignorant. And I think Nicole has gone through three rounds now where he's averaging a triple double in the playoffs.

Have you seen any stat padding out there? I'm serious. Enough of the silliness. The guy is a great player. Give him his damn respect.

That's a heck of a job, Hickey, by Coach Mike Malone. I absolutely love that answer because it has been Jackassery this entire year over this stinking MVP. You want to tell me Embiid deservingly won the MVP?

That's fine. You could have told me Embiid. You could have told me Joker.

You could have told me Jana Santo da Cumpa. But how people were trying to just kind of undermine what Nicole Jokic does and how Mark Jackson, oh, I made a mistake, left him out of the top five of the MVP. And I love Kendrick Perkins, but what Kendrick Perkins said about Nicole Jokic in the voting process was an absolute disgrace. It was just so much verbal diarrhea where people are trying to take away from this guy's game or find flaws with this guy's game. The only thing they can say is this guy's won a championship.

Well, yeah. The last two years, his vice president pretty much and Jamal Murray has been out with an injury. I just don't understand all the negativity from some about Nicole Jokic, why some had a problem in embracing his greatness on the basketball court, Hickey.

I would agree. It's perfectly said by Michael Malone. Obviously, you can also hear and sense the frustration because he's been living it, especially this entire year, because this year is really where I don't know why this word, by the way, has gotten popular this year. But at least for me, I've been hearing a lot more the discourse. So if you want to use it here, this year is especially where the Nicole Jokic MVP discourse really got off the rails and really went so far beyond anything on the basketball court.

Again, as Michael Malone says, just ridiculous and ignorant. And you could tell he's been sitting on that for a while, sitting on that for a while, and this is kind of the opportunity and the stage. Now, you are going to the NBA finals.

You've been to a place now you haven't gotten before. He's starting to let it unleash. If they win the finals, win four more games, I think Michael Malone is going to have a lot of, as they would say, the WWE promo cutting going forward. All I would do is just keep on cutting those promos with the Jokic brothers, with the Joker brothers, because did you see those two big guys last day?

We know how intimidating they are. They look like fat kids in a candy store. And they were, you know, when you go to a trampoline as a kid and you play the game popcorn, where you jump up and down on the trampoline and you have someone else that's sitting kind of cross leg and they just go right off the trampoline all the way up into the air? That's what Nicole Jokic's brothers were doing last night with Mike Malone. They were throwing him up in the air last night. That was crazy. They made that look too easy. Michael Malone's not a small guy and they made that look like he was throwing, well, like they made him look like he was eight years old. Like, okay, this is your toddler of a son who's going to throw him up and down and have a little fun here.

That was just, I mean, they made that look like I saw a lot of people say a rag doll. Those brothers got to be what, 6'10"? 7'4"? And they are massive. Mike Malone's 6'2"?

He's not like a string bean, I get that, but compared to those guys, he's like a grape. But he's still, 6'2 is big enough where you should not be throwing a grown man up in the air that easily. How tall are you? 5'11". And you're very lengthy, let's just say, like you're a lengthy 5'11". 170". Yeah.

For, you know, height and weight scale. If I threw you up in the air, it'd be very similar to the Jokic brothers. 100% bro.

Bro, I'm telling you. You are not like the Jokic brothers and I am not like Michael Malone. Yes, I have a Perloff. Did you see what I did to Perloff a few weeks ago when he tried to go up against me in those drills? He's like, I didn't realize your strength in that moment and Perloff is bigger than you.

That was pathetic. He actually confused me because he went the wrong way and I had a slow first step just because I was so confused he started running the other direction. He was the only man, I think, in the history of Oklahoma drills to drop back in pass coverage as their first reaction. I'm trying to think when I was going to Sunday Night Baseball. I saw two people coming back from the Mets game into the city on the LIRR, the Long Island Railroad. They did an Oklahoma drill in the middle of the Long Island Railroad. Like on the train? On the train, just out of nowhere while I was moving.

It wasn't a packed train. Wow. And they go, Oklahoma drill! And they were lying down, they jumped up and they both engaged and tried to tackle one another. Wow. And they were friendly, like afterwards they were like, I love you bro, I love you bro!

That's a Sunday Funday right there. Stop it! I'm sitting there going, what a bunch of morons! First off, who lies down on the floor of a train? Like on the train? That's disgusting!

Sounds like common sense there has been long gone. Mike Malone says Nicole Yochta's rise to greatness has been nothing short of incredible. I always think about this and laugh because that first summer league in Vegas, you know, 300 pounds, out of shape. He's a nice player, you know, he's a nice player. No one, and if anybody tells you different, they're full of s**t. No one ever could have seen that he'd be a two-time MVP, passing Will Chamberlain, it seems like every other night. And that speaks to his dedication to his craft, getting in great shape, and understanding for him to fulfill his potential, he had to work harder. And he's done that. You heard the Queens boy come out in him right there, Mike Malone, with how he was speaking to the media right there.

He's been incredible. And you know, it reminds me so much, Hickey, of the Bucks when they won their championship. Because it was the same thing. Giannis won two championships, but people didn't want to give him his due. They were trying to take away from Giannis on to the Kumpo. And the moment when Giannis won that championship and put up that 50 Burger up against the Phoenix Suns, it was all of a sudden, oh, Giannis on to the Kumpo is the best player in the league. Like, Nicole Jokic has been this great the last two years, now they're in the NBA Finals, and if he gets four more wins, without a doubt everyone's going to say he's the best player in basketball. It's the same thing.

This is a stupid question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Does he have to win the Finals to get the respect he deserves, or do you think yesterday was enough to at least have people go into next year and not have a stupid MVP argument? And basically knock his game for whatever reasons that they want to do? That three last night was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. He had like won a game in the series where it's just falling back 30 feet over the head, hand in the face. And we're supposed to get Mike Breen on at some point this week. I want to ask him about that because the bank call, I know that's the signature Mike Breen call, it was just perfect for that one. And at first they thought it was a two and then they reversed it and made it a three. That was just crazy. To answer your question, he shouldn't need to win the next four games, but you know the dopey minuscule amount of people will then turn out to be like the loudest in that.

And they'll try to take victory laps because people just don't like to admit when they're wrong. That's how I would say to that. But if you can't watch basketball right now and understand how great Nicole Jokic is, I just don't want to hear from you. I don't even want to watch the game with you. Jamal Murray, who I love, I've been a big fan of Jamal Murray for a while, and what changed for the Nuggets in the second half. I thought I was going to be A-OK for my trip to Denver, go watch the game, game five, Hickey was getting off the hook. He was celebratory texting me throughout the game last night, thinking it was over, it was done, it was a lock. Fifteen point lead for the Lakers at halftime and then at the end of the third quarter it was Denver by five.

Here's Jamal Murray. We knew that they were going to come out aggressive though. It's less about that and more about us weathering the storm and staying with each other. We were down 15 and a half and then we came in the third quarter ready to play and ready to take the lead I think. It was just a great team effort all around.

Everybody came in and stepped out. He's so special and he's awesome. I know people don't love when I say this, but I say Nicole Jokic is the best player on the Nuggets. But for them to win a championship, Jamal Murray is the most valuable. And that's not taking away from the Joker. You saw Joker take over the game last night. But having Jamal Murray back and Jamal Murray being a lethal threat for them, it just makes that team a championship team.

For the last two years you could tell how much they were missing him. Like Hickey, last night was his worst game in the series. He still won 10 of 18 from the field, Jamal Murray, and had 25 points. He had 31, 37, 37, and 25 in that series. That was good enough to win the Western Conference Finals MVP.

I know it ended up going to Nicole Jokic. If you look at those stats, if it wasn't for you having the best player in the league on your team, he would have maybe on any other team won that award. It's crazy. He was tremendous, and they both, Jokic and Murray, complement each other so well where Murray feeds off of Jokic, they feed each other obviously. It's impossible for defenses to try to double cover both.

As soon as you double cover one, the others open. It's a really deadly duo. And Murray, I know he's performed really well in the postseason before, but you saw how Chris Middleton had that coming out party also when the Bucks won the championship. Now a lot more people are starting to realize how great Jamal Murray is.

It is just phenomenal. He goes on these runs, man, where there's just no way to stop him. He just goes off. You take the fourth quarter of game two, the first half of game three, three quarters, you have 53 points. If you're the Lakers, you can't do anything to stop that.

Not even going to church would even help you in that case. There's no way to slow this guy down. LeBron James says he will mull his retirement and future this offseason. We'll see what happens going forward. I don't know.

I don't know. I have a lot to think about, to be honest. I have a lot to think about, to be honest. Just for me personally, going forward with the game of basketball, I have a lot to think about. Yeah, you can think about it. You're 38.

You just wrapped up year 20. I get it's the heat of the moment, but I just don't see how LeBron James walks away with no fanfare and not having a year-long sendoff or at least a month sendoff as well. I think he'll definitely be coming back.

I think that's more so either it being used as a distraction so people don't talk about this sweep or he's trying to use that as leverage to go out there and get this team to seriously improve the roster in the offseason. Even though I thought Polenka did a good job at the situation that was at hand for this year. Rob Polenka, this is from today, says he hopes to keep this team together next season. Keeping that continuity is going to be very important. We ultimately got knocked out by a team that has great continuity. They've got a group of players that have been together for several seasons and it shows in the way they play. But that's a high priority for us. We feel like we've got a group of special players in the locker room.

They enjoy playing with each other. Darvin enjoys coaching them. We know there's more growth and improvement in that group, especially if we get a training camp together. I would say that's a high priority to keep our core players together. Obviously it all starts with LeBron James. Rob Polenka says he hopes LeBron is back next year. LeBron has given as much to the game of basketball as anyone who's ever played.

When you do that, you earn a right to decide whether you're going to give more. I think sometimes we put athletes, entertainers on a pedestal, but they're humans. Just like us, they have inflection points in their career. Our job as a Lakers organization is to support any player on our team if they reach a career inflection point. Obviously our hope would be that his career continues, but we want to give him the time to have that inflection point and support him along the way in everything he does. He's saying all the right things, Hickey, and ultimately it's not his decision. LeBron doesn't need the help of the Lakers to really make this decision. He could use his leverage to get more players. I don't think he's actually going to walk away. It does not seem just by hearing those two clips, Hickey, that Rob Polenka isn't all nervous that LeBron's going to retire after this year. No.

No. And again, everyone's been talking about it today. No one really believes the words he's saying in terms of him actually retiring after this season.

So you can say what you want. We'll support him. It's his time. He deserves to make this decision, which he absolutely does. But when push comes to shove, everyone expects him to be in the NBA next year. Now let me ask you this, because I think last night, just following you on Twitter, Ryan underscore Hickey three, did I get that right?

Yes, sir. That you were actually kind of like believe in some of this noise last night. Now that was in the moment, so I'm not going to hold that against you. But what changed from last night where I think you were believing more in the retirement than where you are now, where it's like, okay, you think he's just going to be playing on a different team next season? I mean, you're watching that press conference. He sounded like someone I've never heard before. He was very cryptic. He was very like evasive in anything about the future. You never hear LeBron talk about retirement.

He never flirts with when he's going to retire. He's always talking about playing longer and longer, not shorter and shorter. But that seemed like a lot of athletes speak. That's what it did.

It really seemed like an older athlete. And in the moment, you know, heat of the moment, you really don't want to answer the question. You just go, I have to contemplate a lot of things. That's what I took from it. Finally, Celtics up 5-3, early, early, early stages, 10-22 to go in this first quarter. We'll see if Boston has any heart tonight. Malcolm Brogdon of the Celtics say that the team has lost their identity. Our identity has waned all year long. We've been trying to figure out who we are because we're such a, I think, a great talented scoring team. But when we don't make shots, we've got to rely on our defense, and our defense isn't consistent every night. We haven't been consistently great defensively all year long, and that was the team's identity last year.

I think that slipped away from us. We've had spurts where we've been great defensively, but not consistently. Honestly, we've struggled in every series we've played.

I think we've taken a few steps back. I think in these playoffs overall, I think it's showing because we're playing a very disciplined, consistent, well-coached team. But I think in the Atlanta series, I think in the Philly series, I think we got away with things that now are biting us.

Yeah, you played with fire, now you're getting burned. There's no doubt about it. They got away with so much in those first two series, and this team does not have a killer instinct. And if Imea Doka is this much of a difference, you guys have so much talent, it's like you've got to get over the Imea Doka thing.

And it's surprising throughout this entire year that it appears like they have not gotten over the Imea Doka situation and why he's no longer the coach of the Celtics. So Denver is off to the NBA Finals. They're waiting to see how long it's going to take Miami to join the Miami up 3-0 in this series. Six minutes to go in the first quarter. Miami trying to do what the Nuggets did last night, except this will be on Miami's home court sweep. Their opponent out of the playoffs. Miami just hit a three, so it's 15-12.

We'll see if that will happen tonight. And also, we'll get to the scheduling issue in the NBA in just a second. The NHL, they will adjust.

I don't think the dates are set in stone, at least in hockey from my understanding of the situation. But you have the Florida Panthers, who are up 3-0 in their series. They took a 3-0 series lead last night up against Carolina.

And Bobrovsky has just been sensational for them. We know Kachuk did the first two games of that series being the overtime winner in both of them. The first one went four overtimes and almost went to a fifth.

And the second one was over very quickly. But tonight, I was expecting the Stars to maybe go get a victory here down 2-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights. And Hickey, the Golden Knights with 5-12 left in the first period are up 3-0. So there's a chance that we see a sweep in Florida for the Panthers up against Carolina. Now, let's see how this game ends first, but there's a chance that the Golden Knights can sweep the Stars. We already know the Nuggets did sweep the Los Angeles Lakers. There's a very good chance that the Heat sweep the gutless Boston Celtics tonight.

This is just insanity. And my biggest issue is hockey, I'm pretty sure they will adjust. The NBA doesn't. So if this series is over tonight, the first NBA Finals game, it's set in stone, it's locked in. It's not until June 1st. So if this ends tonight, Hickey, we'll have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine days until we'll get a game. That's ridiculous.

Next Thursday. Very dumb. I don't know why they do that.

I don't know. It hurts not only them not being in the conversation for nine days. It also hurts the product on the court. They're used to playing now every other night. And now you're going to have nine days off. It's kind of like when college football had that huge gap at the BCS where you would play like December 1st and then January 10th is a national title game. You're like 30 days in between. So stupid. But that's a long time to be sitting around and doing nothing.

And I would think you just answered the question there. It's the NBA trying to be the NFL or college football at the time. You have the date set in stone and you make it more of an event and everyone gets their hotels.

And I know it also depends on where the games are being played and if your team's in it. But I got to think it's just from a money standpoint, them locking in those dates and then hoping more and more people make their, you know. I know you got to wait for the game to decide to figure out your travel plans too. So it's a little complicated. But maybe just more so that's like a corporate thing as well where you know people are going anyway. So I guess you want to give people time.

Like it really doesn't even make sense. You can move that up easily. But also too on the flip side, if this went seven, that would be what? Monday night is when the series would end, right? It's today's Tuesday, game four.

So it's end of the day. So it's like there's not even that much of a time gap if there was let's say two game sevens and went the other way. You're talking about a quick turnaround anyway to get the series started.

And the more I think about it, you can't even use trying to become the NFL or college football as an excuse. Because it's not as if you go to a set location. You now know that you're going to Denver for a few of those games.

Right. You don't know when. We still don't know where game one is. And then my end ball, yeah, it's going to be Denver. Well, I'm saying, I mean, sure, but I'm just saying like if you're the NBA and you're like, oh, we're going to have it set in stone. Because like I said, if we want to get people there and aid travel, sure, you can book Denver for games one and two. And assume again, barring history, that they'll be hosting games one and two.

But it's not like, again, you even know where truly the series starts at this point. So it doesn't make any sense to have nine days potentially if you're the Heat. Ten days if you're the Nuggets in between games.

So stupid. And if there is a game five in this series, that would be Thursday night, right? Yeah, that would be Thursday night because today's Tuesday. It's like if this series wraps up tonight, which your expectation it is and my expectation it is, don't you go. And I know it's a holiday weekend, but I know you want to give a few days for media and all that. Shouldn't there be a game Sunday night or even Memorial Day night? That Monday night, everyone's off or a lot of people are off. You can have Memorial Day evening, everyone coming back from travel plans and everything and you give it a jump start.

If this is sweet, this makes no sense and they're going to wait till Thursday. What the heck are people going to talk about with the NBA with this much of a build up? And you know the other thing that pisses me off too?

All these people. Oh, the ratings are going to be horrible if it's Denver and if it's Miami. Oh, the ratings. The ratings.

I think this is going to be a really good series. So how many people now get caught up in the ratings, Hickey? I feel like when we were growing up and we're not ancient, right? We're younger voices here. I don't think really anyone gave like a rat's ass about the ratings of these games. Well, I was just going to ask who actually cares? Like if you actually care about the ratings, you are a loser. Like who? If you're watching the game and you're enjoying it, you're not enjoying it more because, oh wow, everyone else is watching it.

But the same conversation happened. Remember the Final Four this year? Now I consider you kind of blue blood, but people are like, no blue bloods. The ratings are going to be horrible. And what a year, by the way, for Florida sports, though. You got the Florida Panthers, you have the Miami Heat, and you had Miami and FAU go to the Final Four. Now, Dolphins made the playoffs too. We'll see what the Marlins do.

This is just, this is bonkers, Hickey. Not bad. Good time to be living in Miami. And we didn't mention any of the college football teams. Not really much to mention, but... Well, I was just going to say, yeah, Mario Cristobal right now not doing a good job getting the Hurricane fans riled up.

That's for sure. Have them a reason to believe, but maybe this is, you know, the momentum carries over into this year. And 2023 is the year of Miami.

It really is good. It's crazy what was so far. Now, we'll see if any of those teams can actually win a championship. You know the Heat are going to be as tough as it out as they could be in the NBA Finals. I know you were leaving Denver. I'll leave Denver as well.

I'll leave Denver as well on that one. But this Florida Panthers team, if I had to ask you right now, who do you feel more confident in to go win a championship? Is it Miami with the Heat or is it the Florida Panthers?

I think the answer is the Florida Panthers. Because you look at Florida, first off, they're an excellent team. And I know they had the fewest points entering this postseason, but this team a year ago won the President's Trophy at the most points in the league.

So you know they had the talent and you look at a coaching change, sure. But this team, with the way that they're playing and their goaltender is standing up there like he's a brick wall right now, I would look at the Florida Panthers as having a better chance to win their championship than Miami to go out there and win the NBA Finals. You know what's ironic about both of those teams? Last year, both top seeds in the playoffs bounced, and now Panthers' fewest points in the playoffs. Heat, last team in in the Eastern Conference in the playoffs, now both one win away each from going to the respective finals. Now it's more stunning what Miami is doing compared to the Florida Panthers because this just happens all the time in hockey.

It really does. In the year where the Flyers got the Stanley Cup, finally they had a 7-8. A few years ago you had all four division winners go out in the first round. Remember Tampa Bay a few years ago? They were one of them with having a pretty much like a Boston Bruins kind of season. But you look at both those teams, the Heat and the Panthers, the Heat were down late in the fourth quarter of the second playing game. And people forget about this because everyone talks about the comeback. They were down 3-1, the Florida Panthers, to the Bruins.

Down 3-1 to the team with the most points and the most wins. So it's just been absolute bonkers, but I hate to use the word destiny. It seems like the Florida Panthers throwing the rats and everything are a team of destiny this year. The rats, huh?

That's doing it for you? The destiny is within the rats? It's a long time. Going back to Van Biesbroek, throwing the rats.

It's a great tradition. Even got to see some of those rats go on the road in Carolina, that great home ice advantage. The Panthers said, not so fast. Alright, we'll take a break at the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll talk to LeBron next. Also, you'll hear some comments from DeAndre Hopkins.