Nightcap - Hour 1: Clippers beat Nuggets, Pistons beat Knicks on the road + NBA Award finalists announced!

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Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us for another episode of Nightcap. What an exciting ballgame as the Clippers go into Denver and they win 105-102 thanks to Kawhi Leonard's Virtuoso, 15-19 from the floor, 4-7 from three.
Perfect from the free throw line. 39 big points, and he was as good as I've ever seen him in the playoffs.
Y'all know me. I'm your favorite unk.
My co-host is your favorite number 85, the Liberty City legend, the Bengal Ring of Fame honoree, the Pro Bowl, the All-Pro. That's Chad Ocho Cinco Johnson.
Also, our contributor for all things basketball in the playoffs is, y'all know him, the Arkansas native. Now, Phoenix, you know him a little bit from Phoenix, but you really know him as a Hulk and a Net.
Here he is, ISO Joe, Joe Johnson. Guys, let's get right into this ball game.
Got a lot to talk about tonight. The Clippers win 105-102.
As I said, thanks to Kawhi Leonard and a big, big three from Norman Powell who struggled all night long with his shot, but he found it when he needed to find it. Yes, Jokic had a triple-double, but he did not play well.
Seven turnovers, four missed free throws, and I think that was the difference in the ball game, Joe, that all those free throws, they make one, miss one. Make one, miss one.
It came back to bite them. What did you like about what you saw from the Clippers? After a tough loss on Saturday, they come back and get a tough win on Monday.
Well, you knew Team Blue was going to have those guys ready. They was going to regroup.
I didn't think they played bad, you know, game one. I thought they played.

You're right.

You know, probably down to the end.

But, man, they can say what they want to say about Kawhi Ojo.

That boy out there doing the playoffs, he make it happen, man.

He does.

Hey, the mid-range assassin.

Hey, analytics trying to take the media out of the game.

Hey, man.

That man getting to his spot every time, raising up, shooting. And it's Cash.
He look good tonight. For me, I like how his body looks.
He don't look like he out of shape. He looks like a guy who's in elite shape, and he's ready to go.
He gave them everything they was looking for tonight, man. You didn't need James to be special tonight.
He was solid throughout the whole game.

I like Zubac competing against Big Yoke.

That's a great matchup, man.

That's a great matchup.

But all in all, the Clippers did what they wanted.

They came down there to get one.

Got one.

And they was able to do that in game two, man.

They look good.

Yeah.

When you look at Kawhi, I think the thing is that Zubac makes Yoke,

which works on the other end.

He had enough of the double-double.

It's like... man, they look good.
Yeah. When you look at Kawhi, I think the thing is that Zubats makes, Jokic works on the other end.
He had another double-double, 16-12. You can live with that.
As you said, James Harden didn't need to be spectacular tonight, but it was Kawhi. And I thought it was very interesting, Joe.
Kawhi had it going, but Ty Lou gave him a six-minute break in the third quarter, knowing this game's going to be close close I need him to close it out I need him for the entirety I'm not bringing him off the court and you saw him at the end of the game slumped over he was dog tired because he played 39 minutes and they needed all 39 minutes from him but I thought T Lue stole some time and when the Nuggets couldn't get any separation with Kawhi off the floor, you knew, okay, this game's going to come down to the end.

Michael Porter Jr. played extremely well.

He had six offensive rebounds.

They needed a call or action, and he answered that call.

But that turnover after he got that rebound where he threw it away and led to a Norman Pyle three, that was really the difference in the ballgame.

Ocho, what'd you like about what you saw tonight?

Listen, Ty Lue had them boys ready to play. He had them ready to play.
Kawhi, I'm not sure what Kawhi did, what his routine was before this game. I'm not sure what he ate.
I don't know how he stretched. Whatever he did before this game today, he need to repeat it.
Every game from this point on. The Kawhi I saw tonight, Unc, he was special.
We've talked about his injuries. We talked about him not playing games and missing games, but I don't know who that was tonight.
We've seen it before, but I've never seen it to this magnitude. I've never seen him this efficient like this tonight.
Obviously, you had Norman Powell who contributed to coming off the bench. James Harden did what James Harden does.
Obviously, he didn't need to be special like you guys mentioned earlier.

I think one of the main factors

in why the Clippers were able to win this game

is I think about not what the Clippers did,

but what the Nuggets did

in turning the ball over 20 times

as opposed to the Clippers only turning over 11.

Obviously, Joker having a triple-double,

he didn't play well.

He missed some shots late in the game

down the stretch from the free-throw line, which also contributed to them losing tonight. But the Clippers did well.
Ty Lue did what he needed to do from a coaching standpoint in making sure they were prepared to come out and get a steal and steal a win. Because when you look at it, Joe, as Ocho mentioned, 20 turnovers, it was just the opposite.
What did the Clippers do that cost them the game? Turn the ball over on Saturday. Yep.
Now, the Nuggets repaid the favor. Kind of like in the championship game, we saw Houston force Duke to turn it over.
And then what did they do? They turned around against Florida in the national championship game. They turned it over.
The Nuggets crushed them. Plus 18 in rebound margin.

Plus eight offensive rebound margin.

But when you plus nine in the turnover and you minus six,

you shot 10 more free throws, but you missed eight of them. Yeah.

You turn over, missed free throws.

There is your ball game right there.

Joe, if you're the Nuggets, if you're Dave Adleman, what are you telling your team? Man, we got to continue to fight. We got to go to L.A.
and try to get us one. You know, we got to dig down deep and find something within us, man.
They got guys. I don't think they guys play terrible.
I thought they played pretty good, considering the big guns, the Joker, Gordon Porter. You know, I thought they played solid.
I thought they played pretty good considering the big guns, the

Joker, Gordon, Porter.

I thought they played solid.

I thought Murray played good enough for them to win,

honestly.

They got to keep working.

Get back to the drawing board and look forward

to game three. But what I will

say is, when you look at the

Clippers, I think when they get home

they'll be a lot better than them other guys around them. Will play a lot better.
Role players normally play better at home. Normally play better at home.
So this is going to be a long series for the Nuggets, man. They already lost home court advantage.
You got to steal one, too. So now it's on LA to take care of home court.
Go ahead, Ocho. I would get ready to say, obviously, you know, in games like this, obviously, playoffs atmosphere is completely different.
You know much more about playoff experience than I do, but I know that feeling and what it's like to be there because on video games, sometimes, you know, everything gets tight and it gets very difficult when it comes to being in the playoffs. So I think about when it comes to this time, not only for the Knuckles, but for the Clippers as well, you got to minimize mistakes.
You got to minimize errors and you got to be efficient and you got to be consistent the best way you can. People coming off the bench, the role players, they have to be on point.
They got to be fine on all cylinders for each team to have a chance to win and advance to the next round. And that's really it.
I ain't really got no better talk about anything. Playoffs, being that I ain't really been in them as opposed to you two.
But I know what it feel like because I just explained why. You didn't play a lot of accounts in your career, Ochoa? Hey, man, don't do that.
Ochoa, come on, don't act like... Don't do me like that.
That's true. That's why I led with I don't do me like that that's true that's why I live with I don't know what it's like to be in the playoffs but I've done it on video games and even I get nervous and I get tight so that's the only experience I got when it comes to playoffs y'all done that Aaron Gordon missed a wide open dunk it hit the back of the rim Oh, y'all done that.
Aaron Gordon missed a wide-open dunk. It hit the back of the rim, huh? Oh, Joe, you can't miss that.
Yeah, you can't miss that, bro. Hey, I got a question.
Hey, Joe, I got a question. For something like that that happens when you miss a dunk, obviously you think it's going in.
Hey, Uncle, do you think it's the same as a ball hitting you right in the hands and you dropping it because you take your eyes off the ball? Do you think you take his eye off the rim? He tried to dunk it so hard and it hit the back of the rim. Yeah.
Okay, okay, okay, okay. So it had nothing to do with hand and eye? No.
Okay, okay, okay, okay. I just, because you see what he did.
I mean, he was going to mock. Yeah.
I thought he was two-handed, Joe. Yeah.
Because that's normally how he dunks the ball, especially in close like that. He normally makes sure he finishes.
But I was surprised that he went up with one hand. And you could see things like that happening.
Misses a dunk. Michael Porter Jr.
gets the defensive rebound and throws it away, which leads into a walk-in three by Norman Powell because Christian Brown was caught in between. Do I go over here or do I stay? He, you know, Powell fakes it and then he pulls up.
Boom. In situations like that, that's normally what happens.
You pay an ultimate price with turnovers. You turn the ball over in football.
You pay double in the playoffs. You turn it on the basketball, the same thing.
You commit an error in baseball in the playoffs. It normally, you extend the ending.
You extended it. You extend things.
So that's a tough way to lose for the Nuggets. But you got to give the Clippers credit.
After a very difficult loss on Saturday to come in and play as well as they did tonight and to steal home court, now somehow the Nuggets are going to have to find a way to steal home court back. Because I don believe if Clippers win you know, the Clippers win their two games I don't see how they win, you know, three in a row I don't see that You see that, Joe? You don't think the Clippers can win three in a row? No, I don't This is a different team than the bubble Yes, I know they did in the bubble, but this is a different team.
They didn't have a James Harden. Kawhi had some quiet times in the fourth quarter with some sixes and some twos.
And that guy that I see now, he ain't going to have no games like that. Yeah.
Man, listen, I like what I've seen from the Clippers. Scrappy, got a bunch of life-size guys, play multiple positions and cause a lot of havoc and penetrate and kick it out for three and just scrambling.
You know, it's just backyard basketball. Man, it's playoff basketball at its finest.
Look, the Clippers know what Denver's going to run. Denver know what the Clippers going to run.
Y'all can't show us nothing new under the sun. We know what y'all now.
It's your will versus my will. And that's what's so special about the playoffs, man.
It's like, who wants it the most? And right now, man, the Clippers got a hold of it. Hey, Young.
Yeah. Hey, did you just say you don't think Kawhi can have another game like this? No, no, no.
I've said I don't think if the Nuggets go down 3-1, I don't think they can come back like they did in the bubble because I don't believe Kawhi will play as poorly as he did in the fourth quarter in the bubble. He's playing extremely well right now.
As Joe said earlier, he's locked in. Yeah.
Now, you let him get that mid-range going early. Now you're at his mercy because if he backs out past that three-point line and he sees a couple of those go in, you do you hug up on him he can go by you or you think he's gonna go by you and then he stops on the dime he just raises up over you he had it going tonight because he made some very difficult shots over two defenders yeah give him his dude give him his credit he played well tonight he was one of the main reasons why they won zoo boxubats is doing what Zubats does.
Zubats, just give

us 16 and 12. Give us your average.

Make it work on the offensive end.

I was surprised. I don't think

Jokic was aggressive enough.

You got Ben Simmons on you, and you out there

bull-jiving around the three-point line.

Nah, that ain't where you need to be, bro.

Take his ass down to the paint.

Get up on eight. Go to the

pick and roll or Murray. They may come.
Hey, clear out of the side, go, hey, get away and let me go to work on Ben, ain't no way you supposed to be out of the top of the key with Ben Simmons on you if you're Nicola Jokic. They had Jokic jumping and puffing out there, man, they do what they work early on, they catch him at the three-point line, body banging him all the way to the paint, so by the time he gets to the paint, he'll look tired and exhausted.
It's hard for him to kind of get into his mojo like he normally would because it's a different setting. We're in the playoffs now.
Nothing's easy. They're not just going to let him walk down to that post and think he's just going to turn around and shoot jump hooks all night.
Now, we ain't going for that. You got to work today, big fella.
Yeah. Yeah.

They're doing a great job.

They let Murray handle the ball.

They let Brown handle the ball.

Russ handled the ball from some sort.

But he's not handling the ball.

But you could tell, you know, they're wearing on him.

Zubox is banging on him.

But like I said, you get a reprieve.

Once they take Zubox out of the game, big Zubox,

you got to wear Ben Simmons' light ass out. Because I understand he's 16, but he ain't a big body like Zoobz.
Yeah. Now, he's not a big body like Zoobz.
But look, Yoak was playing a great game. He still had a nice, beastie triple-double.
Yeah, those seven turnovers don't hurt him, though, Joe. Those seven turnovers hurt him, but he was four for eight from the three.
I like that. It's like whenever he wants to shoot the three balls, he's very efficient when he shoots it.
But he was pretty good, man. He just need other guys to step up.
Maybe I'll probably say Gordon or Porter. They got to play a little bigger than what they're playing right now, especially points-wise because he's slim.
Yeah, Porter played good. He just had three turnovers.
Gordon has got to be a little bit more aggressive, a little bit more efficient. He was 5 of 13, 1 of 3, but he was 3 of 3 from the three-point line, excuse me, from the free-throw line, but I think this was more had to do with what the Clippers did do as opposed to what the Nuggets didn't do.
I think we need to tip our hats off, especially to Kawhi Leonard because he was sensational tonight along with Avic Zubats, but Norman Powell hit the shot, heard around the world. I didn't get a chance to read.
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The Pistons

snapped their 15-game playoff

losing streak. It was the longest

such streak in NFL

NBA history. It's

their first playoff win since

2008.

Cade Cunningham, we said that

he needed to bounce back and play better.

He absolutely bounced back and he played sensational.

33 points, 12 rebounds.

He's the first Piston since Chauncey Billups in 2004

with a 30-10 playoff game.

30 points, 10 rebounds.

Cade Cunningham had 33 points, 12 rebounds.

He was the difference tonight.

And Dennis Schroeder, the one thing about Schroeder,

hey, he's been in the moments.

The moments.

He's not afraid of the moments.

He's not afraid to take the big shots.

I've seen him take so many big shots when he was playing for the Lakers.

They trust him, and I don't see any reason why they shouldn't trust him. Tobias Harris was great.
Again, he played 43 minutes, had 15 points, 13 big rebounds. Cade, 33-12, but it was Shruder off the bench that gave you 20 big points was the difference in the ballgame, and they were able to overcome a sensational game by Jalen Brunson, who had 37 points.
But they didn't get nearly enough from Carl Anthony Towns. He only had 10 points on five of the level shooting.
Foul trouble was the big reason why. But Mikael Bridges had 19.
OG had 10. Cat had 10.
Josh Hart had 10. But it wasn't enough.
Jalen Brunson had 37, but it was the 33 points from Cade Cunningham, 12 points, 13 rebounds from Durant, and 13 rebounds from Tobias Harris, and they beat the Knicks on the glass. 48-34.
I was surprised at how they dominated the glass, you know, considering you got Cat, considering you got Mitchell Robinson, considering you got OG Alanova, and they dominated the glass. And I think that was one of the reasons why they won the ball game, even though they had more turnovers.
But they took the ball to the crank. 34 free throw tails, Joe.
34 to 19. We were getting where we couldn't pay the bill.
PG&E asked customers about their biggest concerns so we could address them one by one. That's terrifying.
That's fair. Joe, Regional Vice President, PG&E.
We have to run the business in a way that keeps people safe, but it starts driving costs down. I would love to see that.
We're on our way. I hope so.
PG&E electricity rates are now lower than they were last year. Hear what other customers have to say and what PG&E is doing about it at pge.com slash open dash lines.
Hey, aren't you? Yes. I mean, listen, I think the difference is tonight's game.
Jalen Brunson had 34 last game. Tonight, he had 37.
But nobody else. Nobody else for the Knicks contributed or didn't contribute enough to kind of balance and man the encounter with the Pistons were able to do.
If Cade had, what, 33? He had 33. 33 and 12.
11, 21 from shooting. You know, he had 12 rebounds.
But then you also have Shooter contributing. Then you had Tobias Harris contributing as well then you look at the Knicks you got 37 from Jalen Brunson Carl Anthony Towns I mean he doesn't show up like the Carl Anthony Towns that we're used to seeing Josh Hart there was nobody else so it was just it was a one man show as opposed to three on the other end therefore that's why the results were what they were and why they were able to bounce back.
That goddamn K. Cunningham, boy, he's special, boy.
He is. Boy, he's special, boy.
He's something nice. Now, you remind me of myself in high school.
Alright, alright. Go ahead.
Go ahead. Hey, Joe, don't do that.
Don't do that. Because before it was ISO Joe, you know what they call me in high school, right? They call you.
What do they call you in high school, bro? ISO Ocho? Actually, I wasn't an Ocho yet. I was ISO Pepe back then.
Hey, hold on, hold on, hold on. We're going to get back to this game.
But I did some digging, and I found some footage on you in that T-Mac game. You on T-Mac? Yeah.

You on T-Mac play?

I seen that footage of you on T-Mac?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Garbage.

That was garbage, Ocho.

Garbage.

Wait a minute.

Hold on, hold on.

Time on, time on, time on.

You look like you've been walking to Bubblegum, man.

I said, man, what am I trying to do? You can't make a layup, none of that.

Oh, hold on.

Time on.

This is after I had already dropped 20.

I already dropped 20 on T-Mac head. That's why you pushed me out of power i had him frustrated i told you nba players only know how to play in a structured environment oh you know you're running plays and all that when it comes to getting it off the muscle and you got somebody that's athletic and skilled with lateral movement and quickness like me you don't know what to do that's why i say I say you can't beat me, bro.
What you talk about? I don't care about nobody

calling you ISO nothing.

Because there ain't going to be nothing when it's one-on-one. It's just me

and you. You ain't built

like this. You ain't built like this.

Say it with your chest.

Got it.

You got my voice cracking. That's how you know

I'm serious, man. I'm a competitor, man.

I don't care what it is.

I'm serious, boy.

I'm telling you,

when I face you up like this,

I hit you with that jab,

left, right,

and then I come back

and I hit you.

I ain't going.

I ain't going.

I ain't going.

I ain't going.

Hey.

Man, stop playing, man.

Listen, man.

Hey, let's get back to the playoffs

because that, like, I apologize. I ain't mean to get off.
Like, let's get back to the playoffs. I apologize.

I ain't mean to get off.

He kind of triggered me real quick.

Like I'm not him.

You feel me?

Stop playing.

Boy, I'm from Liberty City, boy.

We do everything.

You hear me?

It don't matter swimming,

swimming, track, basketball, football.

Big ball.

It don't matter.

Big ball, shooting pool.

Yeah, yeah.

Whatever.

It's who and whatever against whoever.

Man, what you got?

I apologize, my man.

Look, look, look.

Let's get back to the playoffs.

All right, back to the playoffs.

I want to get out of my assessment on this.

For some reason, Carl Anthony Towns, he look a little slow out the break, man.

Like, he don't got no energy.

It's like, you know, he ain't giving them what they need. You know they bench ain't going to give them, man, because Thibodeau ain't going to play them enough.
No. You need Cat.
Cat got to have, he got to be anywhere from about 20, 25 a night, man. 11 shot attempts, that ain't going to get it for the Knicks to be no pass.
Not playing against these dogs in Detroit. I told you, you on Ocho, you said who I like in the playoffs this year.
And I told you, okay, Cunningham, he got it. He the total package.
He showed that guy. He's very poised and patient on offense, creating for himself.
He didn't have a lot of assists tonight. They made him score.
He scored the ball. He had 12 rebounds.
He was huge for them. They had that.
Look, they would have won game one as well as game two, but they had that low in game one, that 21-0 run the Knicks made. Yep.
Off the pitch of the game. Now, they had another low tonight, about four, four and a half minutes, where they couldn't score, and then they end up closing out the game.

But Detroit, for real, they letting y'all know they for real.

Now, what I don't expect, I don't expect Tim Hardaway to go 0 for 8.

No more.

I think he's going to play great at home.

Him and Beasley.

They're going to shoot the ball well,

and they're going to be the others who's going to help them, you know,

probably advance in this series, especially at home anyway.

Well, I don't get tears.

Campaign gave you 14 big points.

I think, yeah, you're. I don't get tells.
Cam Payne gave you 14 big points. He gave you 11 in the fourth and 9 in that 9-0 run and you play in four minutes.
What's that about? It needs to be reversed. Mikael Bridges need 11 shots.
Cat needs 18. Well, that's on Cat.
Cat needs to demand the ball and become more aggressive once he gets the ball.

But, you know,

Cat has that propensity

to sometimes drift through the game.

Bro, did you forget

you're seven foot tall?

Did you forget that you were

the number one overall pick

in the draft?

Did you forget that you are

an all-star many times?

Sometimes I think Cat forget

just how good he can be. Cat, do you realize that you once scored six in a game? Cat, you special.
But sometimes I think he forgets, man, I'm Cat. I'm him.
Man, look here. All I know is if I was a basketball player with my mentality, I'm seven foot tall.
I'm putting up, hey, I'm Shaq. Shaq never forgot he was big.
Shaq always played big. Shaq never played small.
That's what I like about Shaq. He's like, man, I'm 7'1", 325.
Damn it, I'm going to play 7' play 71325. I'm going to boom the China shop.

That's an it factor.

That comes from within.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Hey, you talk about the young bull from the Lakers, right?

How tall you say he is?

Oh, you talk about Jackson Hayes?

No, not the other one you don't like.

Alex Lin?

Yeah, man.

Man.

Yeah, see?

That's you. That it factor, that mentality.
I don't want to say mama mentality, but just that mean spirit when it comes to being out there and understanding I'm seven feet tall, I'm finna dog whoever you put in front of me. You finna get this work.
Does Kat have that it factor? Think about the mentality and the way John Moran plays or the way Anthony Edwards plays.

Imagine if Cat had that mentality or that kind of dog eating.

What do you think he would be?

But you know what Cat's problem is, Jordan?

I'm going to let you go.

Cat's problem.

Cat want to be the best shooting big man.

Cat don't like the bangs.

He's already said that.

And that's what got him in trouble last year in the Western Conference Finals. He was selling too much.
He was selling for the three. He was selling for the jumper.
And they ain't got nobody that can deal with Cat when Cat want to play and becomes aggressive and put his back to the basket. I get it.
You can shoot. But at some point, and sometimes the game doesn't call for that.
You need to dictate that. Hey, I'm going to go down the block.
Give it it to me. Give it to me, man.
Let me have that. Go ahead, Joe.
Hey, but you got to give the big fella for Detroit some credit, Durant, too. Because he playing, man.
Hey, he's a monster down there, Ocho. You know, he's good.
So, Keck definitely ain't muscling him. So, it's almost like he kind of taking him out the game to some degree.
But yeah, I'm like, oh don't want him settling for jumpers I want him down there in the paint causing havoc making them dudes double team so we can create these yes kids I do think he's just kind of floating around three point line too much and yeah the Knicks they gotta have at least two guys explode you know in their starting five in order for them to win. Because like I say, they barely play any guy coming off the bench.
Hey, Joe, hey, Joe, I mean, listen, I'm going to ask this real quick. Do you think because Cat knows he can't do nothing with young Bull down there in the paint that he's going to settle for mid-range and being out there by the three instead of going down and banging because you know you ain't going to post him up and you know you're not going to back him down.
Nah, I think, you know, he's probably going to look at this footage. You know, he's going to look at the tape, if you know what I'm saying.
He's going to be like, okay, cool. You know, hopefully somebody on their coaching staff tell me, look, big fella, we got to have you down there on that paint.
Yeah, no matter what. Being big, being a huge presence.
Remember, when we throw you the ball, it's a bucket foul or you kick it out, spray out the three and somebody got a wide open shot. But right now what he's giving, yeah, this is going to be a long series for them, man.
This is a young, scary Detroit team who've, you know, had to learn by experience, you know, throughout the playoffs. Like Duran and Cade Cunningham, they had never been in a postseason.
So they learned from game one, came back in game two, duplicated pretty much the same performance, but closed the deal at the end. And, hey man, Detroit basketball at its finest, baby.
Yeah. I look at it like this, Joe.
I'm a veteran player. I'm a pro bowler.
I'm an all pro. Ain't no young lad doing nothing with me.
I know too much. I understand the moment.
Right. He ain't going to see me.
They better double. Yeah.
They better come double. Right.
Because if you don't, I'm going to punish you. And Cat has to have, but look, Cat is who he, at this point in time, Joe, Cat is who he is.
I like Cat a lot. But Cat needs to be more aggressive.
Yeah, we know Cat can shoot the three. We know that.
He won it. I say I'm putting it with a three-point contest.
He did it. Yeah.
Yeah. I think, hey, look, he just gotta serve himself a little more, especially in the start.
You start you know look I love big body bronson it just seemed like when he get into the paint he turned into a straight five man he go to pivoting yeah I'm like bro bro you six foot tall how the hell you talking about you how you gonna put your shoulder in somebody's chest to get separation and shoot a turnaround they making it Schroeder credit. He didn't just play great offensively.
I thought defensively, he was a pass. He was a pass on Brunson.
He made him work, picked him up full court, made him go into that Magic Johnson bag down. It's just Schroeder just ain't got enough bricks in his back pocket to stop him once he get in that.
No, no, no, no. And Seward Thompson, when he got in foul trouble, he got in foul trouble.
Yeah. And so that was there because he's a long-ranging guy.
Yeah. You know, he can play out.
He can contest. If he shoots the step back, I can contest it.
I'm long and rangy enough. I don't have to worry about you beating me around the edge.
None of these other guys possess that because he's going to bully, like you said, he'll bully a shooter. And shooter is not a bad defender, but he's just lighting the back pocket.
And Tim Hardaway Jr., the same thing. And so once Thompson got in trouble, you saw Brunson get super aggressive.
Yeah, he did. Super aggressive.
He turned it tough matchup for Breslin because he's so much, he's so long and athletic. All he got to do is stay disciplined.
He's playing great defense. The one thing I love about Thompson is he knows his role, man.
He ain't out there to do nothing. He ain't going to be out there just jacking up no wild shots.
I'm out here to hustle. Play defense.
Cause havoc. Get steals.
Be on the break. Like, he's playing his job to the T.
Keep your head up, young fella. He going hard out there.
Yeah. And that's what, look.
But the thing is, you got to play smart because Brunson is caging. Now, he'll pump fake you, and when you jump, he'll jump into you.
So, hey, you got to be on your best behavior when you guarding a guy like Brunson. I don't know what it is.
Joe, what is it about them left-handed guys that's always crafty? You see,

Armando was like that.

You see, Marcellonas was like that. All these left-handed

guys, they be crafty

as ish. Hey, hey, it seems like

they got an advantage from the job.

You know, you're just not really

used to playing against lefties, so you gotta

know your whole game plan when you

play against a lefty, you know what I mean?

And it just seems like they always got

an advantage. I don't know, but it's been some crafty

lefties. Obviously, what I mean? And it just seems like they always got an advantage.

I don't know.

But it's been some crafty lefties.

Obviously, James Harden and Big Body Bronson, man.

Hey, listen.

Ocho.

Hey, hey, hey.

You guarding that, man.

It's a long game, bro.

Yeah, it's going to be a long night.

I know you're a boxer.

You like to box and all that, right?

Yeah, you know, I got nice little footwork. Yeah, nice little footwork.
You might be in a fight with him, but I ain't. When the game over, you gonna be hurting.
You hear me? Yeah. Yeah.
Most definitely. Most definitely.
Oh, Lord, have mercy. Man.
What happened? Nico Harrison held another press conference today and said... He did it again? I didn't know Luka was important to the fan base.
I didn't quite know to what level. Joe, what do you think would have happened if the Lakers would have traded Kobe and Kobe didn't ask to be traded? Cleveland trades LeBron and LeBron doesn't ask to be traded.
What do you mean you didn't know? When you go to there and you see all those 77s who do you think that who do you think that's from that one for tyrant smith that was for luca what the hell are you talking about you're talking about that guy that was a five-time first team all nba selection an all-star rookie of the year. He was an MVP candidate every year.

What do you mean? You didn't

know what he meant to that

base. He was homegrown

like a Kobe,

like a LeBron.

I mean, so what?

If Preston were to trade, so you know what, we're gonna

trade Shea. What do you think, oh, KC

gonna do? Act a fool?

Exactly, bro. Come on,

Niko. Hold on.
You don't think

Niko doing this on purpose or somebody's having him do this on purpose? The fact that all this is back to back, I mean, are they trying to distract us for something else? No. You know good and goddamn well what he meant to the team.
It's your job to actually know the importance of certain players, especially players of that goddamn caliber. So coming out and saying something this asinine and saying something as asinine is what you said last week and you're probably gonna do the same thing this is it's a constant pattern of it going on over and over and over obviously we know you got we know you're being nailed to the cross for the decision of the owners that's your job you got to take that bullet okay we get it but coming out saying things like this now come on

now but see like come on come on now check this out Patrick Dumont is reportedly frustrated with Nico Harrison for not warning him how the fan base would react to Luca trade Luca is the biggest thing in Dallas what do you mean you're on it so you see what happens when you buy something and you don't know what you have.

You see, he bought a team.

His mom, my mother-in-law,

per- What do you mean? You're on it. So you see what happens when you buy something and you don't know what you have? You see, he bought a team.
His mom, my mother-in-law, purchased the team, and they have no idea what they have, Ocho. It's like I buy a store, but I don't know what in the store, so what am I selling? And I say, you know what? I'm going to discontinue my number one selling item.
Why didn't you tell me that was my number one selling item? You bought the damn store. You should have known.
However, those team sources consistently express belief that Dumont no longer sees Harrison as a figure with irreproachable basketball expertise. Most notably, team and league sources say Dumont had frustration with Harrison not warning him or perhaps even moreningly, being unaware of the fandom outrage following the trade.
Those same sources say it's the same influence over Dumont's decision to make Harrison appear last week, closed media event, which Harrison did not want to do. You see what I'm saying? The owner, you see what I'm saying, Ocho? Owner makes the decision.
Why didn't you tell me?

Why didn't you tell me the fans were going to be upset about me trading the most popular player?

Why didn't you tell me that I got rid of the best player in Dallas Maverick history?

I know Dirk Nowitzki won a championship, but Mark Cuban said it.

Dirk can't see Luka.

You traded it.

You're supposed to know that. Normally, when you buy a business, you're supposed to know how to run it.
Right, Ocho? Right, Joe? Yeah. Joe, what do you think about this? What's going on? Luka is a global icon.
Hey, Nico's a good guy, bro. But I know he got to take the fall on this one.
He made that decision. Look, the owners, they ain't going to take the foul.
They're going to blame it on Nico. Yeah, that's what I got to do.
Take the foul. But he's got up there publicly and took the foul himself.
You know, saying that, you know, he's the one. He didn't discuss it with the coaches and things of that sort.
But, man, you got to know how much Luca means to Dallas, man. Everybody knows.
I mean, come on, man. This man this is a global icon this ain't just you know what I mean yes yes you let all craft say you know what I think we gonna trade Michael Jordan well I didn't know Chicago was that rabbit I didn't know they loved the man that much.
Yeah. Really? Luka Doncic.
He just led you. So you're going to trade the guy that just led you to the NBA Finals last year.
Yeah. A guy that was 25 at the time you traded him.
And you had no idea that the fans would be upset. Ocho, what do you think would happen if the Ravens traded Lamar Jackson? Or Kansas City traded Patrick Mahomes? Patrick Mahomes? And the GM said, well, hey.
And the ownership said, GM's like, well, I didn't know Kansas City cared about this man this month. Well, it's kind of common sense too, right? They should have known.
If you're the owners, most of the time, let's say you're not paying attention to the team. Let's say you don't understand the importance of said player and Luka Doncic.
But I know you understand the importance of money. I know you understand the importance of your bottom line and what matters at the end of the day.
And I know you understand that number 77 is the driving force of revenue coming through. I bet you understand that.
So why would you, how would you not know? Let's say if you didn't understand basketball, just say you was only about business and making money at the end of the day. You don't have to get rid of him.
Now you got Nico Collins looking like a fool falling on the goddamn sword. Matter of fact, to the point, I think they forced him to do it because he's saying such ridiculous stuff about them not knowing that they're using this as the ploy to be able to fire him on the back end.
Yeah. Look.
And he take the whole brunt of the issue. Man, listen.
I feel bad for Nico in this situation because you got to know better than that, man. You know, I understand, you know, maybe they know something that we don't know.
Okay, Ocho, they around him every day. You know, they come to work every day.
Maybe they ain't like some of his habits that he had. And they ain't thinking, no, seriously, they were thinking long term, like, hey, this summer coming up, man, we got to come off by three something.
345 to be be exact. $345 to keep around.

Joe, talk to me, Joe.

What's that bad?

What's that bad, Joe? Oh, Joe.

That Lupe can be doing

where we don't want to invest

$345 million

in something like that

where you understand

the product you're getting

long-term on the court.

What's that bad, Joe?

Come on now.

We ain't talking about not going to jail,

not having to worry about anything

concerning the nightlife of Luka.

Luka?

Really?

Beer?

Really?

It's also being reported that the Nuggets

are going to offer Nikola Jokic

three years, $217 million. So he's not going to take the...
Man, you know Jokic is going to take that three years, $217 million for the Nuggets. And that's the max he can get? Yes.
Oh, yeah, yeah. $70 million a year.
So they was like, we give Luka this money. It was going to be five years, $345.
So when his contract up, Luka's going to be $31. He's going to be in line to get four.
He's going to get another five-year, $450. Maybe even $500 at that point in time because this new contract, this new Amazon, ESPN, and I think who else? NBC played $77 billion.
Would it be? But here's the thing if i if i'm nico harrison i tell my owner i'll trade him but we're gonna get a tremendous backlash because luke is um is our best player he's our most important player he's our most beloved player i said i'll do whatever you. I said, I'll do whatever you ask me to do.

I'll do whatever you tell me to do. But I just want you to know what comes along with trading.
Now, hey, you might, the habits that people keep saying about, he likes hookah or he's drinking, whatever the case may be, I will trade it at your bequest, at your request. But I just want you to understand this is going to be met with huge opposition by the fan base.
So I want you to think about it for a day or two before I make any calls, because this is not going to go over well. He comes back.
Trade Luca. I'm not giving him three 45, blah,45 blah blah blah we're not making enough money are you sure once he said hey at a certain point in time when the commander give you that kill switch you gotta go follow through with it Ocho Joe Joe, you know that.
Once they say, hey, have a target

in sight. Right.

Ain't no turn it back.

That's why I say

the Mavericks got cheated,

man, because they weren't thinking Kyrie was

going to be hurt at this point. They

weren't about being no play-in team.

You know, be a top

5-6 seed. Like, they was going to get some teams some problems.
And without Kyrie, who was probably, not probably, but is a major piece to what we're trying to do, because we lacked, what, rim protection or their inside presence. Bro, you got Lively.
You got Gafford. You got Powell.
Those guys, think about it. You got all the way to the NBA Finals last year, and you didn't have Anthony Davis.
Right. You just ran into a better team.
They were deeper than what you were. You had Tatum.
You had Brown. You had White.
You had Prezengas for a couple of games. Al Horford played well.
You had Holiday. You had guys coming in and contributing.
Peyton Pritchard, Sam Hauser. You got that.
That's where Celtics beat you. They're a deep team.
Look at yesterday, that game. Tatum, Nor'Brown played well.
Derrick White was sensational. Peyton Pritchard is going to probably be sixth man of the year.
That's how you win a championship because when your big guns aren't firing it's the small

artillery that gets it done yeah i'm gonna go to my boss i'm gonna say i will do what you ask me to do but i just want you to know i don't think you understand sports is a way of life in texas we're not the cowboys now

we're not

but just know

there's gonna be Sports is a way of life in Texas. We're not the Cowboys now.

We're not.

But just know, there's going to be huge resentment if we follow through with this.

Are you okay with this, sir?

Okay.

Hey.

Yeah, man.

What's going on?

Hey, what's up?

The GM for the Lakers? Rob. Rob Lincoln.
Hey, Rob, what Rob what you doing man I ain't doing nothing man hey just chilling hey what you think about when you be willing to trade me AD for Luca I gotta play it all yeah oh no I don't know about that one now come on now cause we don't want a championship with I mean, he's a guy that gives you 24 and 10, 24 and 11, go block shots. He should have been defensive player of the year.
All the while, I'm like, he gone. I don't know.
Are you sure, Nico? Are you sure? Hey, I want you to think about this. I want you to think about, I'm going to go to the phone.
I'm going to have to run this up the flagpole. I will need to think about it.
I'm going to have it in the fold.

Happy.

I'm going to have to run this up the flagpole.

I'm going to need to talk to Jeannie about this.

Hey, Joe, we about to get there.

We about to get there.

Let me call you.

Hey, let me call you back.

Jeannie, I got me a fish.

What you mean?

What you mean, Rob? Did you know Nico Harrison just called me and asked me, will we trade AD for Luca plus a player that's not named LeBron, Austin Reeves? Are you kidding me? And that first round draft pick in 2028. I hope you told him, yeah.
I was like, nah, I'm just, I'm pretending like I'm not interested, you know. Hey.
Hey, Nico. So what's up? Are you serious? I already got the trade drawn up.
AD. AD, Max Crispy.
Max Crispy, first round draft pick. Listen, listen.
Nico and them thinking about getting that post presence so they can create that mismatch with Kyrie and AD and that pick-up role. That had to be what they was thinking about because my turn, your turn with him and Luka, yeah, it got them to the finals.
But Boston was just too tough for them, man. They had too much.
Yeah. Hell, Boston's going to be too tough for Kyrie and AD.
Because they got Prazingis to throw at him. They got Al Horford to throw at him.
They got another big body. Now what you going to do with JT? What you going to do with JV? What you going to do with Prazingis? What you going to do with Derrick White? What you going to do with Holiday? What you going to do with Pritchard, Hauser? They got so many ways to attack you you only got so much it's not like it's not like the uh the mavericks are breath the breath of talent they're not right they got good role players i mean gafford is okay okay is a great role player lively they do their job but they don't have what the Celtics have.

That's what makes the Celtics so tough. They got

JB and JT

can give you 30-40 in a given game.

Okay, they're off.

Now you get Prazingis or Derek

White or you get Pritchard

or you get Big Al Horford.

So, this

doesn't make sense to me

because it's still a two-man team with not a whole lot of depth right yeah yeah they they gotta figure it out man well they got a choice now yeah they gotta figure out what they gonna do this summer Charles Barkley sends a message to Nico says I consider you my I consider you a friend. I consider you a friend of mine.
Don't do no more press conferences. I don't even know what you're doing.
I got sympathy and love for you, but I have zero idea what you're trying to do. That's his owner sending him out there to follow the sword in front of everybody.
Everybody knows that Nico Harrison didn't initiate this trade. Everybody knows that.
A trade of this magnitude, that's going to the owner. That ain't no trade for some draft picks and some cash.
That's your franchise cornerstone. And you're trading him away before he turns 26.
That's ownership because the owners said, Nico, you ain't the one that got a shell out. $345 million guaranteed in the state of Texas with no state income tax.
Hold on. They think they slick though, huh? You don't think ownership think they slick? Not only are they sending Nico out there to fall on the sword, they sending him out there saying ridiculous things.
Well, you see. So I really think it's a ploy.
I think it's a ploy, honestly, to fire him on the back end and to get the fans of Dallas off their head and really put the whole thing in onus on him by firing Nico later on down the line.

Because

here's the thing. The source, the

league, most notably

team and league sources say

Dumont has had frustration with Harrison

not warning him or

perhaps even more damningly being

unaware of the fandom's

outrage following the trade.

You see?

All Nico Harrison is doing is echoing what ownership's saying. Nico knew.
Yeah. He's been in this position too long.
He's been around it. He's been at Nike.
Yeah. He's been around it too long for him not to know.
So I've got to go out there and parrot what ownership is saying behind closed doors. That's why he keeps having, remember he had a press conference with no cameras and he said defense win championships.
I ain't trading no Luka. The defensive player I get better be Bill Russell.
Rest his soul. He better be Bill Russell in his pride.
Or Akeem Olajuwon or somebody like that. Come on, man.
A 26-year-old averaging 28 a game? Yeah. Averaging 31 in the postseason? No, I'm not giving that up.
And like I said, he had to send him out there on that mission, basically a suicide mission, to take all that. Because anytime, what they say in the military, Ocho, they have what they call a BR, a blast radius.
Oh, yeah. Okay, if we drop this here, what's the collateral damage? What's the blast radius? What is our time that we need to get up? Yeah.
Get up out of there. Because you knew this.
This fallout is going to be like Chernobyl. And when that contractor went off in Russia, and it destroyed everything for a long, long period of time? Yeah.
That's what this is. They ain't getting over this anytime soon.
They ain't getting over this. I mean, it took Boston 80 years to get over that when they traded Babe Ruth.

Let's see. They ain't getting over this anytime soon.
It ain't another Luka walking through that door. No.
And I think he got about another 10, maybe 20 years to play. So they're going to feel the wrath of this trade for a very long time as long as he is a Laker.
Hey, look. J.J.
Reddick said today was the best practice we've had in months as L.A. prepared for game two.
He admitted that had the Lakers approached the off days leading up to the playoffs with the same vigor, then maybe we wouldn't have appeared as flat as we did in Saturday's 22-point loss. We probably could have done a few more scrimmages.
Joe, do the Lakers rebound and tie it up at 1-1 go to Minnesota? Or does Minnesota take a commanding 2-0 lead? I'm sorry to tell you, brother. Oh, it's over? I ain't saying it's over, man.
I don't know, Joe, but my gut feeling. Yeah.
Hey, hey, hey. Take a probiotic.
That gut, you'll feel better. Hey, hey.
I got the Timberwolves trying to be greedy in game two, knowing what's at stake, knowing that they can, you know, come out and just put their will to the test and try and get this dub and go back to Minnesota, man. Hopefully they don't come back to L.A.
Now, I know, you know, I'm going to L.A. to come out and, you know, they're going to need that third score.
We need Austin Reeves to, you know, give them a spunk, man. They need some.
I think Ant-Man is playing pretty good defense on him, fighting over peaks. Like, I think Ant-Man is doing on both ends.
I know he didn't explode offensively, but defensively he's been great. And, obviously, the guys around him, the others, like we always say, if those guys chip in, McDaniels and Reeves, and they play the way they're playing, now I don't know if they're going to shoot like that in game one.
But I don't know if that man is going to do it. That's the thing.
Do you believe they're going to make 20 plus threes? They may not. But I don't think that man is going to have no 17 points neither.
That's okay. I'll give Ant 40.
As long as they don't make 23 threes because he can't beat us with 40. It's the 23-3 that's going to crush you.
Hey, look. Lakers going to have to step up, man, and protect home.
You know, you're going to need Bron to come out and be aggressive. So what if Luka catch hot? You need to catch hot with him.
But you know the thing, Joe, you know the thing is, player get hot, what you do, you feed the ball, you get out of his way. You feed the ball.
Until he miss a couple, and then you try to get in a rhythm. Yeah.
But in the meantime, because when Luka catch fire, he catch fire. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, he liable to go for 20 in a quarter like that.
It's fun to watch. And you don't want to get in his way.
Go ahead, Joe. I say, yeah, it's fun to watch when he get it going.
But, you know, Bron has a tendency to do that. You know, even if A.R.
gets off to a great start, he'll make sure A.R. gets his touches in that first quarter and he got to find a way to get others going and get himself going in order for them to be effective in this series.
Look, the Temple Wars are young, man. They going to be flying around.
The McDade, the Reeds, and Man, like those guys going to fly around, play hard, cause, cause havoc the Divinchenzos I like the makeup of their team man, they're ready for the postseason like I say, Ed Man he done took some guys out man he done took a few he really good about himself he want that Luka and LeBron pilt on the wall like he got that KD pilt? Yes. Like he got that Nikola Jokic's pilt? Yes.

That'd be big. But I think the thing

is we get this game, the Lakers get this

game here. When is the next game?

You say you think. No, I'm

saying the Lakers get this game here. They're going to

have two, three days off

because you got to travel.

When's the next game? Thursday or Friday?

They got to win in game two.

They got to win game two.

Hey, you got to win game two first, huh?

Think about that, Joe.

We had two days off.

Win that one.

Got two more days off.

Uh-oh.

People trolling.

Hold on, hold on.

We win game three.

You skipping.

You got to win game two first. Got it.
Oh, you got to win game two first. Got it.
You sure? What? You sure? Is there echoing here? I'm just asking because, hold on. Listen, in order for you to win game two, now, listen, I ain't the bookie.

I don't bet and I don't gamble.

But LeBron will have to come out and be, oh, you know what?

I need to get right first.

I need to get right first.

My approach to this game, my approach to game two can't be like the last one.

I can't sit around and facilitate.

I got to have that killer mentality.

He has that a little bit, but he has to come out this game and have it early.

I expect. He got to set the tone.
He got and have it early. I expect...
He gotta set the

tone. He gotta set the intensity.

I expect him to have it.

Okay. Okay.

I'm just making sure now.

Because I would love

to see

Legas in five.

But what I saw game one,

it ain't looking good.

But, JJ, we probably could have done a few more scrimmages. That's on you.
You the coach. You set the itinerary.
You set the practice schedule. Rhythm and timing.
Exactly. We go for that.
Exactly. And it's the playoffs.
I mean, even if I don't tell you, Joe, you know what it is. Yeah.
You know the intensity turns up. Everybody on this roster with the exception of Kinnett has been in the playoffs.
Okay, the young guys, they don't know. But LeBron, Luka, A.R., Finney Smith, Vanderbilt, Jackson Hayes, all those guys have been in the playoffs.
They know Gabe Vinson. They know what's at stake.
So it's your job to pull the young guys along and let them know what's at stake. The intensity.
You're not going to get those ticky-tack foul calls like you would in the regular season. They're going to let you play.
So be prepared. The 2025 NBA Awards finalists were announced.
MVP Nikola Jokica gilgis alexander yanis antetokounmpo defensive player of the year dyson daniels draymond green evan mobley rookie of the year stefan castle zachary richard jalen wells the sixth man of the year malik Beasley, Todd Jerome, and Peyton Pritchett. All right, Joe, who you got? MVP.
I got Shae. I got Shae as MVP.
Go ahead. Defensive player of the year.
I'll run them off again. Defensive players.
Dyson Daniels, Hawks, Draymond Green, Warriors, Evan Mobley, Cavaliers. I got Dyson Daniels.

Okay.

Rookie of the year, Castle, San Antonio, Rashear, Atlanta, Jalen Wells.

I think he plays at Memphis.

I got Castle.

Castle, he's pretty consistent this year.

I agree.

He can play.

Sixth man of the year, Malik Beasley.

Detroit,

Ty Jerome, Cavaliers,

Peyton Pritchard, Celtics.

I'm going

Peyton Pritchard.

I'm going Peyton.

I can see that.

He's been consistent.

When it's his time to shine

or when his moment

comes, he always shows up. I'm going Pey to pay the purchase.
Who you like, Ocho? Give me, give me, give me, give me my categories and my name. MVP, Nikola Jokic.
Oh, oh, SGA. Okay, you can stop there.
SGA, SGA. That's my MVP.
It's been my MVP for a long time, but go ahead. Defensive player of the year, you got Daniels, Draymond Green, or Evan Mobley.
Ooh. Daniels.
Rookie of the year, Castle, Rashear, Jalen Wells. Castle.
Young boy, young boy. Beasley, Ty Jerome, Peyton Pritchard.
Oh, Pritchard. Pritchard.
Most improved player, Joe, Cade Cunningham

Evita Zubats

Dyson Daniels

that's tough

I'm going Cade

I think they won, how many games they won?

16 last year?

yeah, first of all

you're the number one overall pick, you should be

ineligible for this reward

it should go to it should go to Zubats did he coach it? You're the number one overall pick. You should be ineligible for this reward.

It should go to Zubac.

Did he coach it?

He had high score.

No, I think Zubac's average is double-double,

career high in points and rebounds.

Okay.

Coach of the year, you got Kenny Atkinson,

JB Bickerstaff, or Aimee Udoka?

I'm gonna go I'm gonna

Kenny Aimee.

They're gonna go Atkinson, but I think

Udoka. To be

the sixth seed after winning

like 15,

16 games last year?

Yeah. With a clutch player,

Nikola Jokic, Jalen Brunson, Ant-Man. You said clutch player? Yep.
Jalen Brunson, who else? Jokic. Ant-Man.
Ant-Man. Damn, that's a good one.
Big body Brunson, boy. Big body Brunson, man.
Hey, listen, I'm not going to lie to y'all. He scared me down the stretch when they play in Detroit or just any game.
You know what I mean? Because he going to make a play. He going to either get fouled or he going to score.
I'm going big body Brunson, man. I like that.
They called that timeout and they ran him down the baseline. He went and got that three-pointer.
That was a good call to him out of a timeout. Yeah, great.

Are there any surprises? Are there anybody

that you think should have been on that got

left off?

Nah.

Nah, I don't think so.

Who you got with your clutch

player? Jokic, Brunson, Edwards.

Yeah, I'm going with

Jalen every time. And I

think Jalen's been in more clutch situations to show why he's clutch I'm not saying Ant-Man isn't I'm not saying Joker isn't I'm just saying he's been in more situations to be able to display that clutch gene Coach of the Year got Kenny Atkinson JB Bickerstaff Aime Udoka Aime What you talking about Them boy was sorry last year Wasn't nothing to watch No disrespect Hey that boy Jalen Green He nice though huh I couldn't tell He hadn't played well The last couple games Ocho Last five six games He's been bad Hey Right right They lost game one, too, aren't you, it's going to be hard, man,

playing against the championship pedigree over there.

Hey, them boys balling, man.

And that's what really concerned me about the Rockets, Joe,

is that they don't have a guy they can give the ball to.

Yeah.

They got a collective group of guys.

Right.

But if you think about it, everybody, for the most part,

got a guy you can hand the ball to and he's going to get your bucket.

Yeah.

They're the only team don't.

Even if you look at the Thunder, they got Shea.

If you look at Memphis, they got Ja.

The Lakers got two or three guys.

Yeah.

You look at everybody that's in the West, they got a guy.

Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler.

Yeah.

Everybody, every team has a guy.

You can hand him the ball and he can go get your bucket.

And the Rockets don't have that.

Nope.

This is what the playoffs about, too.

Like I tell you, we know your plays.

We know what you're running.

We're switching everything.

And now you got to get a bucket.

And you're right.

The Rockets haven't had anybody who can efficiently, you know,

be reliable to where down the stretch, we're like, okay, we can get a bucket or a foul, we can get them the ball. And you know, you know what the Warriors got, Steph? Yeah.
Well, listen, you got amazing. Rayvon is starring in his role.
Them other guys, the Moody's, those other guys are playing well, too. They're guarding, they're defending're playing like this is it man.
They know game one is always like the best game to get. Easy to win a steal.
Made a statement earlier. Yeah.
Joe, many think Trey was Ives Trey was snubbed to clutch player. He buried three game winning shots, the most by any player in the NBA this season, the final 10-second sports quarter overtime.
He owned a plus-30 floor in clutch games this season. You're right.
I forgot about Ice Trey. But here's the thing.
Everybody else team in the playoff. I know.
That's the only thing. Outside of that, look, hold up.
Oh, we were fighting the Hawks. We were fighting early in the year.
We get Jalen Johnson go down in January, and it just kind of took our hopes away. He was Mr.
Everything. Yeah, walking double-double.
And at the time, I think we were in the playoffs before he got hurt, and we was playing good basketball. So I'm looking for my Hawks, man, to get healthy.
You know, we got a lot of young guys who gained some great experience, you know, playing in that play-in game and understanding the magnitude of what playoff basketball is like. Man, we just got to stay healthy, come back next year and have a memorable season.
But hopefully we can keep Trey around, man. I've been hearing a lot of rumors, but I want to bet you all Trey around.
Hey, Joe, I got a question for you, Joe. Speaking of that play-in game, y'all played again? And some of those players getting some playoff experience.
Who y'all lost to again? Man, we lost to the Heat, Ochoa. Okay, okay.
I just want to make sure you understood and remembered, that's all. Yeah, we got two of our starters out.
What's my big center name? We got Jay. Oh, Clint Capella was out.
Clint Capella been out. He been out.
Clint been out for a minute. So, Ocho, y'all had y'all way, man.
Y'all had y'all fun. You know, congrats.
Wait, wait, wait. Hold on now.
Now, mind you, now mind you, Jimmy Butler was gone, right? Yeah, Jimmy Vingar. So, so collectively as a team, I'm not, we don't have a guy you can actually go to.
We have Bam. We got Tyler Hero.
You got Tyler Hero. I'm talking about that guy.
I'm talking about that guy. So you putting Tyler Hero in the same conversations with your Ant-Mans and your, and your, and your Steph Currys.
Okay, we got to go to him? Yeah. That's your guy now.
Oh, okay. Okay.
That's what we doing? Is that what we doing? Yeah, but that's your guy. No, I'm not saying he's equivalent to those guys, but he's that guy for that team.
Okay, I understand that, but Jimmy Butler was that guy before. You get get what I'm saying so you lose the guy and then

someone else didn't just become the guy because if you

that guy you that guy regards who's around you

the volume