All right, everybody. Welcome in Season 2, Episode 18 of the Switchless Podcast. The playoffs are in full effect and boy do we have so much to talk about. From the Lakers getting a gentleman's sweep, Jamal Murray sending them home yet again, this time to end the series. The Timberwolves. What are the Phoenix Suns do now? That's next up. It's Wolves Nuggets, right? How do we feel about it? We need to talk about some of the series that have not ended, right? What are we going to see out of the 76ers? Do they show any signs of life? And does anyone care about the rest of the series outside of Mavs Clippers? Because it doesn't feel like it. Feels like there's really four games you have to watch, and the rest, uh, don't even make it on TNT. They're like NBA TV games. So I literally looked at the games tomorrow and I was like, no way. Orlando got a primetime slot. And then I realized it was NBA TV. And I was like, ah, you fooled me. So let's start by talking about the Lakers, uh, Roman with about three minutes left in the game when it was tied, I knew the Lakers couldn't win it. It was so good. It was just, we had the back and forth, you know, Casey P hitting the clutch three, Austin reason the clutch three, like it was just a good back and forth. But when I saw Jamal Murray. the possibility for a las Marie top of the key. We For some reason, this man turning a switch, Jamal M be one of the best, one o comes to that. Like he kn So well, and yeah, he just knows how to beat the Lakers. He just, he knows how to beat the Lakers. He's playoff Jamal Murray. I don't know if I've ever seen a player take their game to the, to a level like this to go from not an all star, which debatable whether or not you think he should be or not based on regular season numbers, but to go from that to this, like he was injured. When he does this, he looks like a, like a top three point guard in the league. Like, like he, he, he sometimes, he has moments where he looks more dangerous than Jalen Brunson. Okay. I, when he shoots it, you just, you just think it's going in. You just don't even question it. I have an issue. If you're going to sub D low out of the game and bring in Tarian Prince, why would you even have Austin Reeves defending Jamal Murray in that? Situation. That's what I don't understand is why would we even have Austin Reeves in the game playing defense on Jamal Murray? If you wanted to switch him and put him starting out on like KCP, Michael Porter Jr. Maybe. But why was he put in the action? Because he, he's not athletic enough. He's not strong enough. He doesn't become a factor. Like no one's not worried about him at all. And there's moments where he plays good defense. Like sure. He keeps this guy in front of him and people are like, maybe AR can really play defense, but I'm. Austin Reeves and D'Angelo Russell are not out there to play defense and it shows up in the playoffs when they get switched off and Austin Reeves is guarding Aaron Gordon in the playoffs. I mean, in the post, like, yeah, it's not gonna work. It's not how it works in my opinion. The Lakers game came down to a few major moments. One spread out across the entire game is poor free throw shooting. Outside of LeBron hitting those last two, they missed a lot of free throws. And you knew the Lakers were going to get a bunch of free throws. Oh, for sure. You have to be able to knock them down. But they missed a ton. We saw classic Anthony Davis, who was Cancun ready, go down with a stinger. That mattered. That was a factor. And I just think that there are moments where the Lakers, they just Don't show the level of effort where they deserve to win that game. There was like LeBron James is in the key with Aaron. Aaron Gordon doesn't box out, gets out, rebounded, and then it's hoping that the wide open three that they get inevitably off of the offensive rebound just doesn't go in. Like he doesn't rebound and like, they'll call out like, Oh, it was a great box out on Joker. He does. On occasion, but for the most part, like he's not trying to rebound. He's not boxing out. He's not doing the extra things. He, he went to push the ball to his left hand and let you, and Yokage was right next to him. Like there's just the Lakers make these plays. Having Spencer Dinwiddie in the game, and he's, and for some reason, they still let him shoot the basketball. Like, there's just, they, they make, they, Spencer Dinwiddie misses two free throws, turns around, gets beat on defense, and Jamal Murray hits a three, a five point swing. Like, there were just these plays that the Lakers make, that they don't deserve to be there. They didn't deserve to win that game, and the Nuggets don't do that. The nuggets don't do it. And you, you could even make the argument. The only reason that the nuggets even had to play that game is because somebody, some equipment manager forgot to put their shoes on the right bus. It's arguments there. It's there. I don't know how valid it is, but it's, I mean, it's there, but I agree with you. I mean, we saw the point differential third quarters when basketball games, especially in this playoffs, just like you're talking about, it seems like You know, halfway through the third quarter, like you played a half of basketball, you coming out in the second half, you're already a bit tired. Uh, LeBron makes a stupid play. Uh, Boxing out doesn't happen. The defensive lapses that the Lakers go through, like they just, there's parts where you can tell that they're like, Oh, this isn't going to matter. It's the middle of the third quarter. Like it's going to matter when there's five minutes left in the fourth. And yes, they give great effort the last few minutes of the game, but y'all had. I took that plus 10 point lead in the first three games of the series. Like what, what happened even, even in game four, like they blew a lead and barely won the game. So it's, it's almost like it was bound to happen that they were going to get swept or gentlemen swept. It's it's, it's a complete game and they don't play a complete game. Michael Porter jr. Also was lights out tonight. Lights out. And he has the whole series. He just, he just was drilling three pointers. It felt like every game he was getting two wide open threes at the top of the key off the pick and roll like wide open. And I don't, I don't even know if I saw him miss one of those. Like his three point shooting was awesome. on point. He was scoring 20 plus jamal murray was scoring 20 plus yokich 20 plus aaron gordon was getting solid offensive rebounds, solid put back points kcp. He was doing his thing and tonight reggie reggie reggie was clutch. There was a stretch early in the first half where like KCP goes down with an injury. You don't know how healthy Jamal Murray is. The Lakers might be able to pull away and Reggie just three pointer midi. It was like he did when he was playing for the Clippers. Like, like what he would do to the Lakers when he was playing for the Clippers. Like he just, he, he gave them the timely points that they needed. He really did. Might've been their X factor for the game, for real. Before, before we talk about this Timberwolves Nuggets matchup, we need to have a discussion first around the Phoenix Suns and their series with the Timberwolves, and then we'll kind of get into an analysis of what we can expect in the next round. And let me tell you something right now, if anybody knows me, if you've listened to this podcast, if you followed this journey, you already know what side I'm on, but that's a conversation, you know, for five, 10 minutes from now, Roman, walk me through how the Phoenix Suns. Right. Devin Booker, respectfully. I don't know how teams are going to guard us. How does a team like that get swept chemistry? I remember at the beginning of the season, uh, saying that this son's team does not have a lineup. They, they, they didn't have anybody. I think it was what, three players on their roster when they acquired Kevin Durant. And I think that's what it comes down to. You get a bunch of new players and you build around it and you have to go play a series against one of the top three teams in the West. That's what's going to happen. We know that chemistry is a major thing in the playoffs and this team just didn't have it. It doesn't matter what kind of scores you put together. You're not going to be scared if you can't figure it out. And the whole point guard situation with them, like, yeah, I think it showed up in this series. They don't have a point card. I mean, you had an analyst trying to say that they should just put it in the game and starting a point card. I couldn't believe it when I heard that. Okay. Yeah. Awful. This is a guy who was on a 10 day contract with a bunch of teams. Um, but I think it's just a chemistry thing. And we, this proves that you can't just put three great scores together and think that they can work it out. It's not how it works. Yeah, I, one of the things we also mentioned throughout the season was the, the biggest factor on whether or not this experiment was going to work was how many games those three players were able to play together. And it just, it was a game of musical chairs and one of them wasn't going to, wasn't playing. One of them wasn't ready to play and they just didn't have enough games together. And if anybody thought Bradley Beal was a playoff performer, You must have never heard of the Washington Wizards. He couldn't even make the playoffs. And when he did, he wasn't the first opponent. And when he did, he was not the guy. So, when I look, when I look at the Phoenix Suns, it's a great example that real life is not, it's not NBA 2K GM work. You don't just buy the most expensive players and sim the games, and you automatically win. That's not what happens. And I think there's also this narrative that these 10 seeds had a legitimate chance, 6 seeds, the Phoenix was a 6 seed, that they have a legitimate chance at winning a title. It's just not realistic. Okay? They just, like, go back and look at the Phoenix Suns battling for a playoff versus a play in spot just a few months ago. Like, it, it, it just, it never added up. It never made sense. And so I'm not surprised. And when you transition and look at the Minnesota Timberwolves, right, they are a great example of what the NBA actually is today. People love guards, but this is a game of bigs. You got to have bigs to win in this league right now, especially in the West. And I don't know if you can find very many teams that are better constructed than this Minnesota Timberwolves team. They have a veteran point guard with playoff experience. They have an electrifying shooting guard in Anthony Edwards. Michael Jordan's son, Anthony Edwards. The best scorer in the NBA, Anthony Edwards. Probably the goat of the, probably the face of the league, Anthony Edwards. Anthony Edwards. Did I mention? No. Okay. All right. They have, they have, they have, they have elite defense in Jaden McDaniels at the three. Then they have two seven footers in Carl Anthony Towns who can step out and shoot the three. And both of them have been willing to take the challenge and defend the on ball screens. When they get put in the action, they're willing to step out and defend. and it's an automatic mismatch on the other end. Carl, it has been, he was fantastic shooting the three ball, especially in certain spots. The close out game stands out to me and because of their scoring, it puts Rudy in a position where he's not trash on offense. Uh, and then off the bench, you've got Nas Reed, who's another 6 10 almost like literally borderline 50 40 90 guy. You've got, um, Alexander, uh, what is it? Alexander Nikhil Walker. No, it's Nikhil Alexander, Nikhil Alexander Walker. There it is off the bench who's been, who's been solid as well. So you have, you have these role players that come in. Um, you've got slow mo Kyle Anderson. You've got, you have these solid role players that come in, they get their shots. Uh, this is one of the top defensive teams in the league, like the defensive team. So when you try to match up with these guys, Like they can defend, they can stretch the floor and on offense, they're going to get the looks that they want. And Anthony Edwards, he was a slow burner. Most of the series where he would be non existent in the first half, but they would either be closer, have the lead. And then in the second half, he would explode 31 points in the closeout game, just dominant performance after dominant performance from him, dunking on Kevin Durant, like this is a team that really has. All of the pieces to make a deep run in the postseason, uh, Roman, your thoughts on the series overall and the Minnesota Timberwolves. I think you described it perfectly, uh, the way the team is built with, I think Jaden McDaniels is the biggest piece. Uh, wow. Anthony Edwards, uh, not, not like, I'm not going to say biggest piece, but X factor got it. That's that's that's accurate. Yeah. Yeah. Um, it to be beginning of the series. Uh, I mentioned the thing that Anthony Edwards said about. Well, uh, they have Katie, but we have Jade McDaniels. Uh, they didn't even put him on Kevin Durant. Uh, Kat was guarding Kevin Durant. And I think that shows the versatility of this team defensively is they, they can just be like, we'll, we'll put him on Devin Booker, Kat can take Kevin Durant. Yes. Kevin Durant is going to go for his points. He's going to get his buckets. But like we saw what happened. They got 4 0, they couldn't even win a game. And that's because of this, this, uh, Defensive standard of this team. And for the longest time, I was thinking Mike Conley might be, uh, a factor for them, like defensively, but I mean, they are just holding their own regardless. They're hitting the shots that they need to hit. Like they just four owed a team that there's no reason that team shouldn't have been able to win one game. Like we saw glimpses throughout the regular season of what Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant could have looked like. And the Timberwolves just absolutely destroyed that idea, just demolished it. So, like you said, I think this team has a great fit, but unfortunately, they're going to run into somebody here in the next round. Yeah, so, so, but kind of before we get into this, a couple more things I just wanted to say, and to your credit, saying that Jaden is the X Factor, it's because, like, defense doesn't show up on the stat sheet. No one, no one cares to listen to analytics guy talk about opposing field goal percentage other than like if it's Luka Doncic, because like the belief is that he doesn't defend. Um, there, there was a, and it's not just individual defense. There was a specific possession in the second half of the Timberwolves game where it was a full five man rotation. Where like they send the double to Devin Booker and every single guy rotated and it gave Conley enough time to get to the opposite side corner because Booker was at the wing and then he tipped the ball and they got a turnover like it was, it was literally perfect team defense. And I'm not saying that the Timberwolves play perfect team defense all the time, that's not what I'm saying. But they play team defense at a high level. And Anthony Edwards, he galvanizes that team. They know he's the guy. And he comes to play. He's gonna, he's going to He's going to do the, he's going to do it to the fans. He's going to call out the players and then he backs it up. And so I genuinely think that the best series that we may watch in the post season is going to be Timberwolves versus Denver. And there's no better time to be the Minnesota Timberwolves because the Denver nuggets are not as healthy as they're going to look on paper. They're not as healthy as what you just saw tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, they're not. You don't think Jamal Murray that calf issue is not going to be a thing? Good luck in the action trying to defend Anthony Edwards. KCP already is dealing with stuff. So is Reggie Jackson. He's dealing with stuff. Like, this is the type of team that you do not want to play if you're banged up. I believe, and I know, this is going back on my pick going into the postseason. I'm making a switch. I'm calling something that's never happened before. I have the Minnesota Timberwolves beating the Nuggets. I have them beating the Nuggets in six games. I have the Minnesota Timberwolves going to the finals. I believe that the Minnesota Timberwolves are positioned to win the finals. This series, there's, they match up at every position. They can put a seven footer on Aaron Gordon instead of someone that's about the same size. They can put us to, they can put a seven footer on yoke. Itch. They've got guys who can take the challenge off the bench and they can score the ball at an elite level and really push the Denver Nuggets to their limit. And Denver doesn't have the bench that they did last year. Denver last year beats Denver this year, and Minnesota this year beats Denver this year. No, nope, because you're forgetting one thing. Nikola Jokic owns Rudy Gobert. Absolutely owns the man, he cannot guard him. And if he matches up against him, Jokic is going to average a 40 point triple double. So, I'm with you on six games, but I'm just switching it to nuggets. I'm taking the more experienced team. Sometimes it's hard for me to look at you and like think that we're brothers because you just, you say things that are just so wrong. How is that wrong? I was, I was in person for Rudy Gobert versus Nicola Jokic in a basically deciding game for the one seed. One of those games. And, uh, I remember Nicole Yoic putting up, uh, I think a 40 point almost Triple double, and Rudy Gobert complaining the whole game. I, I remember this, I think, I think that was right. The regular season doesn't matter, Roman. Okay. It does win. Uh, the seeding is on the line. Well, I, I could tell that, that, that, that felt like playoff basketball. I don't know. I don't know. I think, uh, I think, I think the two rules were pretty happy when they swept the Phoenix suns being the three seat. Um, just saying, just saying, I think that they're going to, that the one thing that scares me is the fact that I have to put my faith in Rudy go bear to stop Yokage. That is, that is mortifying. That is mortifying. Um, it, it almost makes me as sick as when people say that Rudy go bear should be a hall of famer. Um, wow. Wow. Well, we have our, we have our predictions for that series. Uh, I feel like Timberwolves deal one of the first two games at home, but then it's just Nicole Okic just takes over the series because he knows how bad Rudy Gobert is. in a half court defense and he can just take advantage of that. Okay. I'm going to call the series right now. Here's how it's going to go. Timberwolves come out and they punch Denver in the mouth early. They're fired up and Denver's a little bit on like not super healthy. Minnesota wins game one and then Denver wins back to back. They win game two and they win game three. Minnesota equalizes game four and then wins game. Well, this is, this is where it like, we're, we're, we're going to have opposite opinions here, but then whoever's winning that series wins games five and six. That's how I, but I, the first four games, I think it's going to be Minnesota, Denver, Denver, Minnesota. That's how I have the first four games going. I say it goes, uh, Denver, Minnesota, Denver. Minnesota, Denver, Denver. Got it. So you've got it just, it's going to be one, one, two, one. It's going to be one, one. It's going to be one, one, two, two, then two, four. That's got it. So we're trading haymakers and then we get late in the game and just they, Minnesota can't contend. And, and this is, this is barring no injury, no major injuries. Okay. For the people that were in our comment section or saying different things, because the bucks, like. more injured than we thought going into the postseason. I just don't want to hear it. Like, go talk about a legitimate series. All right, that's, I'll just say that. I'll just say that. So this is barring health, but, um, and they're going to have a lot of time to rest too now, because we have to watch the rest of these first round series before we can commence the second round. So no, it's true. I have up to a week off. It's true. The Timberwolves needed the Lakers to win and it just, there, there was no way. There, there was, there was literally no way. So you're telling me based on what you've seen Denver do, you have faith in that team? Yes. The champions of the league last year. Yes. Okay. Okay. Yeah. You don't, not, not even a little bit, you don't, not even a piece of you is afraid of Anthony Edwards. Not at all. Not really. I've got KCP. They've got KCP and Jayden McDaniels. I mean, they got, they got KCP and Aaron Gordon. I mean like I like him. I like him. And Michael Porter Jr. is not a bad defender. Like, people want to act like he's a bad defender. But like, everybody in that lineup plays defense. Yeah, but this is Anthony Edwards. I don't deny that. But this is the champions. This is the Nuggets. It's a, it's a new season. All right. It's going to have his points. He might get the same averages that he did last series. But I think it's going to end in an L. I think he's going to drop 36 in game one. Timberwolves win. Okay. Okay. Okay. Let us know in the comment section who you've got winning that series. I want to know, are you backing me? Are you on the money side, the smart side, you know the Timberwolves? Or do you want No, you go side or the Roman side, or do you wanna be on the, which I favor. Do you wanna be on the Roman side picking the Denver nuggets? Just going. Do you wanna be on the side of the, the former champions or the young team who could surprise somebody? I don't know if you're, if you're playing at risky, you might want to go with him. But if you, if you know how the NBA works, you might want to go with the Roman Romans, the S and P 500. And I'm crypto I'm Bitcoin, Minnesota's Bitcoin, right? You might make a lot of money with this guy. This is, this is the first series they've won in 20 years. Okay. This is, this is Bitcoin. On the rise, right? Bitcoin just cleared 40k and like you're hoping it's going to clear 60, and I've been holding Bitcoin forever on those. I've been, I've been, uh, I've, I've, I've, I'm one of the only investors in the Tempered Wolves LLC, and I've got them, I've got them. Cashed out right now. No, no, I'm, I'm, I'm doubling down, double down, triple down, risk it all. Okay. You can't, you can't afford anything in America unless you take major risks that could just make it sure you lose literally everything. And that's what the Timberwolves are. And Switchless podcast is, we do not give out financial advice, but, but I will just say this. But he does, but he does. That is not how I invest in my personal life, but in terms of basketball, there's never been a better time in my adult life to back the Minnesota Timberwolves right now. This is childhood Moses living out his dream. It is. This is the best it's ever been. Okay, so let's let's transition. Let's talk about the Clippers and the Mavericks, where the Clippers look better when Kawhi doesn't play. And Russell Westbrook has been an abject disaster on the basketball court. Uh, the Mavs Kyrie has made some impossible shots. Luca has been okay. I don't, I don't think that Luca's really played to his level personally. I'm not saying he's not showing up for the playoffs. Luca has plenty of playoff moments just up to this point in the series. I believe that Luca has another gear that he could reach. Uh, Paul George. Was insane last game, but the Clippers were up 31 points and literally like almost lost the game So what do we how do we make sense of this series? Like what is going on right now? You can't because at first it was, okay, well Kawhi's out, this doesn't look good. But this just gave the opportunity for James Hartman and Paul George to thrive. I mean, you saw Paul George take over the first half of that game, but then he just kind of went away. But then, do you see how many floaters? James Harden put in at the end of the game. It was like five. It was like, I think it was five straight in the court. Yes. Ten straight. But like, yes, he just left hand forward, left hand forward. It might be the best shot in the game right now. Like it is him and Brunson, dude, him and Brunson. It is unstoppable. He just, he just drops it off, just drops it off. And Won them the game and now the series type. If that doesn't happen, like if he doesn't take over, this is a three one series right now and we're basically saying it's over a hundred percent, but now it's two, two. We're headed back to la. It's very easy for them to just, James Martin just take over and have 25 in the first half, and Paul George goes for 30 in the second half and. It's game over. So this series is just so unpredictable because at the same time, I mean, Kyrie is putting up a 40 point game and it's super quiet because this is basically Lucas team and the role players are working out. So this, this is completely unpredictable. I think I had, I think I said Clippers in seven. So I'm going to stick with it and say that happens. But again, the uncertainty in this series is all over the place. It has been one of the most interesting series because one game you're like, okay, this team has got it. And then the next game you're like, no, they don't. Yeah. And you shouldn't play Kawaii until you need to. Keep them out. The inflammation is always going to be there. It seems like so. Hey, see what, see what happens in game five. Let's roll the freaking dice. Let's roll the dice. Let's roll the dice. Now I do, I do. I do believe that the Mavericks role players are far and away outplaying the Clippers role players. I think Zubox has been good, but PJ Washington has been great. I think Gafford, barring the injuries he's kind of dealing with has been solid. They're back up center. Lively. He, he rook, he plays hard pause. Rook had some very clutch plays. Yeah. He, he takes the challenge and he's not backing down from anybody. The, the, the, the Mavericks are not backing down from anybody. Like this is genuinely a good series. If the Clippers role players, I mean, Norman Powell, he's, he's. He's just a solid bench player. He's a solid player. He's going to hit the three. He's going to, he's going to jump three feet in the air and hit some, hit some big time threes. Like you just know it's going to happen. Uh, but man, it's just, it's just fun to watch. I also have the Clippers in five. I think, or sorry, I have the Clippers in seven. I have them winning game five. That's what I meant to say. I have Clippers in seven. I have them winning game five. Uh, but a great series to watch. You're going to see some great shot making. Uh, I mean the Paul George step back three. Almost looked like it was from the side of the back. Like it went over the backboard. It was just, it was a crazy shot, just a crazy shot. It's must see TV and another series that's must see TV right now is the 76ers Knicks series. Like the three one that we're looking at right now. It doesn't feel like it's three one at all. And it also feels like every game has been a home game for the Knicks. Uh, but Jalen Brunson, ladies and gentlemen, Jalen Brunson is the truth. He's here. He is the life. He might be Luzon Al Gaib. This guy is the savior of the New York Knicks. They finally gave him his own theme. Could you imagine if somebody like him and Luka played together? Oh, dude. Him and Luka? Would have been crazy. No, but, but for real, I mean, it just seems like, When Brunson gets an isolation, it just feels like he's going to score every time. Like if he gets in the paint, whatever he throws up is going in. And again, it definitely feels like this is a two, two series because of how much the 76ers got screwed. Um, and they probably should have won a game and it should be two, two. And again, it's just wild how much one game can affect a series. The difference between two, two and three, I mean, yeah, two, two and three, one is. Unbelievable. But the Knicks players are showing up. Josh Hart is, I mean, he said this in his podcast. He's just there to be in the game and mess everything up. And yeah, he does exactly that. I think he had 15 boards last game. Just all the offensive rebounding for the Knicks has been elite. He gets so many boards. I think was the perfect pickup for this team. He just, he just ties everything together. Just ties everything together. Devin Chenzo is More confident than any role player I've ever seen taking a three point shot. Like they just look good. I mean, Hardenstein's been great too. Yes. Yes. He's been solid. He's been solid. The man had five fouls in one quarter. Yes. Yes. And you, you, you look at that and you, you hate to see it, but I genuinely think the effort's been there and he's had a decent floater that he's been able to hit consistently. I think Mitchell Robinson getting hurt was the best thing that could happen for them because now they have two bigs. Who are experienced playing with this team and, and Mitchell Robinson's not like, he's not a scoring threat outside of like the lob, like the Hartenstein, he's able to hit like that six to eight foot put shot. He's got his pushback. He does like he'll, he'll hit that. I don't think there's a team with more chemistry than this next team in the playoffs, but yeah, sure. But like the, the nuggets, there's like a, there's like a cool factor where they've been here before. Like they're, they, they sit alone as champions of the league where the Knicks in terms of everybody that's fighting to steal the crown, they just are, they did, they move as one dude. And they play hard every, every second of the game. Tobias Harris has been a disaster. He's been awful. He has been garbage and Maxie. I'm not going to say Maxie has been bad, but he just makes foolish plays. He just has moments where I, his decision making is just not there. And I'm like, dude, the ball's in your hand, man. This was his opportunity. Like you, you, you really, he just. He makes plays that you just scratch your head a little bit. And I mean, I don't personally, I've never been a fan of Kyle Lowry. I don't love watching the way that he plays basketball. I, I, I don't like, I don't like when people are like, look at how smart this player is and they're flopping. I just, that's not really something that I can get behind. Um, do I think the Sixers can win a game? Maybe two? Sure. Are the Sixers going to win this series? No. No. Like, Joel Embiid is dealing with Bell's Palsy. The guy can barely blink. Blinking with one eye, guys. And he's, dude, he's a house of cards, dude. Every time he falls, he's grabbing the knee immediately. Also, the Sixers are just, like, they're not And I'm surprised, from a Knick Nurse team. But they just, they're like erratic, overly emotional. They're not like, especially a lot of complaining this year, a lot of from across the board, but also like in bead, he's like, you know, he's hitting people a little bit more than he needs to. He's given a little bit extra on the screens. He's, he's. It just feels like they're out of control. And I, and I genuinely think that's one of the major, uh, reasons why you're going to see the downfall of the 76ers. Well, another thing with them is they do this mid season acquisition to get buddy healed and they haven't used him. Yeah. He basically went out of the rotation and I mean, yeah, he wasn't playing well, but that's a guy, if he gets streaky can basically win you a game. And why, why would you not, especially, especially while I'm bead was out and they were losing games. Figure it out. You got to figure out the, you got to figure out a way to keep this guy involved because now this is where you need the shooting and, and this is not a knock to Kyle Lowry, but you could also use some of the size because you're getting beat on the boards like crazy because you're running double point guards. Campaigns. It's not going to cut it. Campaign of Kyle Lowry is not going to cut it. No, dude. Josh Hart's a dog. Dante DiVincenzo is a dog. Jalen Brunson is a dog. Okay. Like there is a few teams that are just filled with defensive teams and I, the Knicks are one of them. I do still think the Knicks are going to run out of gas because Tom Thibodeau is an idiot in terms of how he manages people's minutes. But uh, but what a time, what a time to be a Knicks fan because you're, you're, you're, you're, you're playing the Pacers next round. Like you feel pretty good. You could make a run and get clubbed by the Celtics. Like you could make a run. It's going to be fun. What a time. Eastern Conference Finals though. I know. You're a top four team in the league at that point. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And, and the Knicks, they're gonna, they're gonna have a whole lot to say. They're gonna have a whole lot to say. Stephen A. Smith will not let that go until this time next year. Stephen A. Smith said today that he, that Devin Booker wants to play for the Knicks. How did you get away with saying that on national television? It's because he can say anything. I hate ESPN, dude. Gosh, they're so bad. It's so awful. And no, JJ, we're not talking about you, we're not talking about Richard Jefferson, but just, ugh. Yes, there's a few bad apples. Yes, and they just, they're like, they really have ruined the barrel. They've ruined it. Like, when I see that it's an ESPN day, or there's like three ESPN games, I'm like, which one's gonna be Hubie? Terrible. Nobody, like, I, I don't, is it Disney? I don't, I don't. How they must have been trying to clean up their image and they had to go for a 95-year-old to do it. They just, like we, you're telling me, we fired Mark Jackson and Van Gundy and we kept that guy. We kept the guy who should have been retired probably 15 years ago. Yeah. Like, it's just, I'm sick of this, just describing like how it feels to be a fan of the team, like commentators supposed to tell me what's, what's going on, you know, go through some facts, some stuff that's been going on during the game, but. It's just Huey Brown's just like, okay, this is what just happened. If a team goes on a run, he likes to talk about it for about 20 minutes. Like he's, and, and it's, and this is an eight to run. And when it's an eight to run, the game is tough. It's so tough to play basketball when you're facing an eight to run. Now, what you have to do when you get the ball is you got to run the pick and roll. This is what he loves to do. If you're a Fox twins. He spins back inside, and if you're a Bucks fan, you've seen this a million times. He's gonna spin back inside and shoot the jump shot. But if he misses, and it's a 10 2 run, then what do you do? Maybe you call a timeout, I'm not sure. That's exactly what it is. If you're a Bucks fan You love this right now because since the first quarter, this team has gone on a 30 to 15 run. And he doesn't, and he doesn't even stop for a made shot. He's like, yeah, and then the Middleton, you made a shot right there. But, uh, anyways, and then Mark tries to bring him back. And he's like, deep in his back, like the fries are at the bottom. Or he wasn't, the bank wasn't open. He was, this was cash app, but I'm sure Hubey's just sitting there like, what are the, what is this guy talking about? And the Clippers are going to set sail like the Clips. They really are. We're going to eclipse the Dallas Mavericks in this game. The scoring has been unstoppable. Next time you watch this guy, I just want you to listen to how hard he pushes his vocabulary. He just. Vernacular on another level. It's, it's unbelievable. Vernacular on another level. We've talked enough about the announcers. Indiana, Indiana Pacers and the Milwaukee Bucks. Uh, who's gonna get blamed for the Bucks falling apart? Like, is anyone to blame? Are we, are, are, is Too many people to blame at this point. Really? Too many? The coaching decision was, was awful. And I'm sure somewhere down the line, we'll learn something that Adrian Griffin had done, or there was a major reason that he got fired. Oh yeah. You know, he said something to Janice, but I need to know what happened. I need to know what happened because the second team, I think they were the second team in the East and they fired their coach. And I mean, Doc Rivers has had a losing record as the coach. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it's just so important. I feel bad for Bucks fans. Your, your franchise player is hurt. I mean, not surprised. This is what happens to Giannis. He plays like a maniac, dude. You go out and get Damien Lillard. injury and you get beat by a young Pacers team. Maybe, maybe Giannis should learn how to shoot the ball so that he doesn't have to play like drive 100%. Yes. And fall all the time and get elbowed and beat up through the season and then complain the postseason. Maybe he should do that in the postseason. And not for 80 games. This is going to be Giannis's thing. It's In the next couple of years, we'll have one more healthy season and they might win a championship. And then it's, it'll be one of those big what ifs, like if Giannis just could have stayed healthy and he'll have two rings and if he'll have some of the craziest stat lines, craziest averages. Just a guy who could never stay healthy. I think at this point though, if you lose this next game, you really got to cycle out some of these guys, like the old, old bench guys, it's over. I don't know if you do the Brooke Lopez, Bobby Portis thing again. I'm not saying you have to get rid of both, but like you're moving on from somebody like they could get a lot for that. They need to, they need to breathe some, some life into this franchise. Uh, they're old. I think they're the oldest, one of the oldest rosters in the league. Uh, and it shows and it shows because all those players aren't playing and Wow. It's what a bummer that the shots that Middleton hit to keep them alive and then to just lose. And I love that it was Pat Bev, Mr. Defense that just got completely exposed, exposed. He got crossed. He jumped. He got classic so bad. He jumped and he fouled him. Game winner. Yes. And then, and then Rand fouled him and pointed to everybody else. Like he wasn't the one that got just cooked. That's what happens when Patrick Beverly is your starting point card. A hundred percent. No. A hundred percent. 100%. So like Bucks fans, it's tough because I, I this, that, that is a team that I genuinely think could give the Celtics a series because Giannis is elite, but. We've seen how this goes when they end up in situations like this. We saw it with Miami. If they bring Giannis back and they win a game, they don't win game six. He can't do it again. He can't do it again. Like he's just not healthy enough. And with the calf strain, you start worrying that you're going to find yourself in a Kevin Durant situation, where he's going to tear his Achilles because you rush him back or something else is going to tear. And for Giannis, who relies on his athleticism, a tear is a much bigger issue compared to a Kevin Durant. Okay, we've got Orlando and the Cavs, which was looking like it was going to be a sweep until the series shifted to Orlando and all of a sudden the kids, the kids are performing. This is a series and it's just, I think half of the games, they just don't televise them because 90 percent of the people listening haven't even seen a minute of the of the series. Nope. But, okay, I, we talked about how the Knicks are one of those teams. I love watching the Magic play. They give so much effort. Like, uh, Gary Harris and Jalen Suggs are like just two of my favorite players right now. They're everywhere on the defensive end. They're energy guys. Uh, Paulo is performing very well. Uh, the Wagner brothers are providing so much energy for this team. Like, this is one of the young teams that is just, they're just playing well. They're just playing well, and they're giving the Cavs a run for their money. The brothers are kind of annoying. I don't need the, like, They're a little extra and they don't, they haven't earned the right to, to kind of do that. Um, they're basing this all of the, all off of their, uh, their feeble in. So, so like that, I'm like, you two are just like annoying, but dude, if Donovan chokes, if he chokes, Oh, Oh, what do the calves do? Oh, they trade Donovan probably. If he can't make it out the first round, but even this is scary to let this team win. Win two games? Yeah. And, and not just win two games, like the convincing fashion, like they, they have beat the tar out of them. Shut them down. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Game, game game five, you gotta have NBA TV to watch it but it's, uh, it's to watch the playoffs. Yeah. To watch the fricking postseason. But it's, it's gonna be a decent watch. So I'm on the Orlando side in that series. You're still on the Cavs, you wanna make a change or you, uh, you stick'em with Cavs? No, I'm still going. Cavs in seven. But it, it hurts me because I really do. You know, Pat Riley said that it's not a series until the team wins on the road. And that's definitely the case for this one. It is not a series yet until we see someone win on the road. Celtics, Celtics are absolutely dominating the Miami Heat. It's no surprise. I think no one's shocked that Miami was able to pick up a game, but it's just not competitive. I mean, when Derek White is doing it, doing what he's doing, um, it's scary. I didn't see if Chris Haps Porzingis came back after his injury. That's probably the only thing that's scary right now was it was a non contact injury. Lower leg is what it seemed for Porzingis. That's a major, major loss for Boston. Well, yeah, huge. I'm putting up almost 20 points a game for them. And as much as Al Horford can help them, he's getting really old. He's been playing backup minutes, which is where he's good now, and they can really hurt them in the long run, like Eastern Conference Finals comes up and they don't have Chris stops. And like you said, it was a non contact injury. This guy might have a Strain, tear, like he could be out for weeks, which could really hurt them. And if nothing else, it hurts their chemistry when he comes back too. So yeah, it's something to keep an eye on. He's, they won't need him to win the East, but if you see Denver without him, Minnesota without him, you're going to be in trouble, dude. You're going to be in trouble. Who's their backup center with taking a spot? Exactly. That's a, that's a little cornet. Yeah. Bad. Mr. Guard, three pointers. He was getting minutes. He was getting minutes. He, he, he was as a backup. The other, uh, the, the last team, Oklahoma city completes the sweep. They, they swept the Pelicans, uh, who get to head their way to what gap, what, what was it? Galveston. There's that's what Charles Barkley was saying. They're going to, they can go swim in that dirty water on the beach, on the beach. Uh, Charles, the national treasure, Oklahoma city. They, they, they really put them away. It was a shame. We didn't get to see Zion Williamson because I really think that would have made it a series. But, uh, at this point, it doesn't feel like Brandon Ingram's game really fits in today's NBA. Uh, and I've, I've kind of been on this for. 45 years. It's not that he's not a solid player. He can't score the ball, but a mid range reliant player similar to phoenix had three mid range reliant players. Uh, I just don't think his game in particular and how slow he plays and just slows down their offense. I don't think it was conducive, um, for putting together a winning formula against a team like OKC. It's good for some regular season takeovers. Yeah, that's, that's about it. But the thing with this series is I'm just confused. Is OKC this good, or were the Pelicans just that bad? Was CJ McCollum just that bad? No, CJ was not good, and I think the Pelicans are just not good. Like, wait till they play the Clippers or the, like, the Clippers or the Mavericks. I think one of those teams is gonna come out and absolutely punch them in the mouth. They're gonna punch them in the freaking face, dude. Early in the series, like they're gonna throw, punch'em, gasping for air. Consistent. Okay. See is, I can't say it enough. They are just consistent around the board. They have great coaching, they have great rim protection. They finish at the rim, they pass the ball, well, they shoot the ball, they get to the line, they, they just. They play so many guys, they just, they know what they're doing and it's, it's interesting to see. And they, they, their rotation is huge. I think they have the deepest rotation of any team in the playoffs. They're still playing. They're like 11 players in the first half. Yes, yes, yes. They're playing, everybody's playing and everybody's contributing. It's not like anybody just fades off in like the sunset. Like everybody shows up, you've got your three point shooters. You've got your guys that are driving to the basket, driving kick. You've got your defensive stoppers, like everybody's showing up, taking the challenge and enjoying it, enjoying every minute of it. And they have some, I guess, a couple of beds to look over. You see Bismarck on the bench. You see Gordon Hayward getting a few minutes of game. Like sure. You've got a couple of older guys like this and they're going to be rested, be a scary team. Yeah. They're going to be rested. If the Maverick series goes seven, that's, that's a lot of rest. It's a lot of rest for a young team. Who has never seen a second round of a playoffs and really has no fear who is going to have home corn advantage, valid, valid. And so that kind of rounds out a lot of what, what the playoffs have been. I think, you know, I think we really covered it where if you've missed any of these series, if you've missed any of these games, our hope is you were able to pick up, pick up on a gem or two that allows you to, to better look at some of these teams as they move on to the second round, uh, or what to look for, for the series that are still going. That's our hope. And we want to know, right? Like, what's your favorite series to watch this year in the postseason? Let us know in the comment section, like who, who do you have going to the finals? Do you believe that Minnesota has the opportunity, has the chance to take down the defending champs? The winners do, me, uh, but like, that's, that's a lot of analysis in terms of kind of where we're at right now. Roman, anything else that you want to break down before we close out? I, I want. To know, does anybody have a chance in the east, especially with the bucks going down? Like, are the Knicks really the closest thing to the Celtics in the east? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Knicks Pacers could be a good series, right? Seeing Brunson playing against, uh, Halliburton, right? Halliburton being the guy who's on team USA against Jalen Brunson, who a lot of people think should have been there. I don't know, man. I don't know. Yeah. The Knicks, uh, the Knicks? If that's the case, like If the Celtics can't run away with this to the finals, this is bad. It's bad. If the Celtics don't go to the finals this year, it is Is it split up time? Is it get a bunch of draft picks for the next 10 years? How If they don't make it to the finals, I don't understand why we're doing the Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum thing again. No, I Yeah, yeah. That's probably what it is. Let's give away everybody, but no, this is, yeah, at least a draft picks. Yeah. It's you're trading Jalen Brown. If you lose and you don't go to the finals, Jalen Brown, you're out of here. Let's get ourselves another Derek White in the starting lineup. I mean, the guy's got like six weeks to win six rings based on his interview with Taylor Rooks. Like it's now, it's now Jalen Brown. This is your opportunity. We can't have a, you scoring 17 points, Derek White outscoring. These two, these two combined. Hey, a win's a win, my boy. A win's a win, my boy. Why is Derek White taking almost 30 shots? What's going on? I don't know. I don't know. Let's close by talking about this. Let's close with this. The Lakers are never going to beat Denver the way that they're currently constructed. There's a million things that they have to do. And I don't know if I have the confidence in the ownership group or the head coach. To do what they need to. Are we gonna see LeBron James in a different uniform next season? It's just, I was just talking to some of my buddies about this, like, is it, is this Lakers thing over, like, what, what, what do, what do we do from here? Um, seeing as how LeBron just entered the transfer portal, I think it's a. One last time. And, but there has to be some changes that you need some different players or, uh, some healthy players, but there's, they could get a lot of, if they did some trades or just move some money around, they could really get some good role players. But at this point, if 80 is not going to stay healthy and take over this team and bronze still has to drop 30 points, triple doubles, You're gonna be a first round exit. Go play with somebody that actually wants the ball in the fourth quarter. If I'm LeBron That doesn't injure themselves late in the third quarter. Yeah, a stinger. Well, what do you, what are your thoughts on Bron? What if he went back to Cleveland? Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, LeBron James, and the Twin Towers. It's just hard because he's already gone back. Yeah, a third time would be kind of crazy. That's like somebody retiring three times. I think that there's two teams he, I think there's two teams that he shouldn't go to. I think he shouldn't go to Cleveland unless he's like, this is literally I'm done with the NBA. Maybe, but I don't like a full on farewell tour. I think he shouldn't go to Golden State. And I think he shouldn't go to Cleveland. I think those are the two that would hurt him the most. And that he really needs to avoid. If he avoids those two teams, he can go to really anybody else from there. The only reason he would go to those is because his son would go to those. Can't go to Denver though. That's another one. Oh yeah. That would be the weirdest thing ever. Yeah. Well, Ron in a lot of teams doesn't seem right. I don't know. Hopefully he can just finish his career as a Laker. To be honest, like I think that would be best. Yeah. People should just stop holding him to an unrealistic standard. And here comes the conversation of, uh, I don't know what my future looks like. I don't, I don't know if I'll be back next year. Yeah. We jumped immediately into the pod. So we haven't gotten to see LeBron's post game interview. It'll be probably one of the first things I do as soon as we jump off. But, um, So we'll see what he says. He was very cryptic last year and that was coming off of a Western Conference Finals appearance. I can only imagine what it's going to be like this year. I'll tell you what he won't, I'll tell you what he won't say. He won't say it's just basketball. Everybody pulling that out of, everyone pulling that completely out of context is ridiculous. Yes, it happens too much. And it's, that's going to be a clip that is around for a long time. Just basketball. It's just basketball. Yeah. Yeah. And with that, that's, that's going to be it for us for season two, episode switchless podcast. We appreciate every single one of you for being willing to go on this journey with us to listen to the pod and please give us a follow rate review, subscribe, share this podcast with somebody that you feel like needs to make better picks going into the second round of the post season. All the degenerate gamblers out there. This is the kind of information that you need when you're, when you're trying to make your picks for the next round, um, we're on, we're on Facebook. Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music. We're on your favorite, we're on your favorite podcasters, favorite platform. Okay. We're everywhere. So please, uh, share this podcast with somebody and let us know what you think. Right. It hit us up in the DMS. Let us know, like, what did you like? What did you not, what stuff do you want us to talk about next week? And with that, Roman, send us off. It's playoff time. Let us know what you want us to talk about. Interact with us. Otherwise, we're just gonna give you our thoughts on the, on the games, on the rounds. What, what the future looks like. This is the best time to talk about this is what we want to talk about. But if you have any other ideas, you just let us know. But like Moses said, we are on everything. So, uh, interact with us, follow us, subscribe, like. We are here. Episode 18 Swishless Podcast, we are out.