0:00

So I want to do

0:02

something a little different today, and I

0:05

hope it's fun for you. You'll be

0:07

able to immediately check and see how

0:09

I did like the second you're

0:12

done listening to this. The

0:15

if you're not a big

0:17

sports fan, the NBA postseason

0:19

starts tonight. Today is Tuesday,

0:21

April 16th, that I am

0:24

recording this. The the

0:26

playoffs themselves don't technically start

0:29

till the weekend, I believe the 20th. Yeah,

0:32

so but the play in

0:34

tournament starts tonight. And if that

0:36

doesn't make any sense to you, I can

0:39

explain it very easily and very quickly. And if it does make

0:41

sense to you, I'll explain it very quickly and very easily so

0:43

I don't bore you. The way

0:45

the playoffs work in basketball, you

0:47

have an Eastern Division and

0:49

a Western Division. They each have 15 teams for a

0:52

total of 30 teams. Historically,

0:54

the top eight teams on the West

0:56

and the top eight teams on the

0:58

East enter into a playoff

1:02

bracket where the

1:04

the top eight teams on the East play each other to

1:06

they whittle down to the best team. And then the same

1:08

thing happens on the West. And then the best team on

1:10

the West plays the best team on the East for

1:13

the NBA Championship. That still happens. But

1:17

there was a lot of stuff that had had

1:20

been kind of affecting. I

1:23

guess people's enjoyment of the season in

1:25

the playoffs, the NBA season's 82 games

1:28

long. And what was happening

1:30

was a lot of teams were

1:33

not competing as hard as

1:35

they could during the regular season. They were

1:37

resting their star players because they knew half

1:39

of the teams in their division are going

1:41

to advance into the playoffs. So as long

1:43

as they're in the top eight of 15

1:45

teams, they're going to get to the playoffs.

1:47

And if you're LeBron James, you really don't

1:49

give a shit if you're the seventh team

1:51

or the first team. Home

1:54

court advantage matters. And the higher you

1:56

see the more home court advantage you

1:58

get in the playoffs. The other

2:00

day you just wanna if you're supremely confident

2:02

like a Steve Kerr and the a Steph

2:04

Curry or a Le Bron James, you just

2:07

want to get into the playoffs because once

2:09

you're there you're pretty confident that you can

2:11

rise to education and dominate the other teams.

2:13

So what was has been kind of happening

2:15

or years and years and years is than

2:18

regular season has been mattering. less and less

2:20

in Be a did a lot of stuff

2:22

to try to combat that some of that

2:24

has works. A lot of that hasn't This

2:26

is worth the play in tournament has worked

2:28

and so here's what. Happens. Instead

2:31

of the top eight teams automatically

2:33

advancing on each side, now only

2:35

the top six teams are going

2:38

to automatically this the playoffs and

2:40

then the seventh, eighth, ninth and

2:42

tenth place teams all entered into

2:44

what's called the play in tournaments

2:46

Ah which begins tonight. What happens

2:48

is the seventh place team plays

2:50

the eighth place team. And

2:53

the winner of that game? Boom there.

2:55

Now in the playoffs is the seventh

2:57

seed. The loser of that game? They

3:01

just hang tight for a second because the

3:03

ninth place team and the tenth place team

3:05

plates other the loser of that game. They

3:08

go to Disney World. The winner then

3:10

gets to play the loser of that

3:13

seven a game and the winner of

3:15

that game. Becomes. The

3:17

eighth seed and the loser goes

3:19

into answer friends. At Disneyworld.

3:22

What? Happens there is. ah it's that's

3:24

team Some doing another thing that was

3:26

happening where say if you're in a

3:29

close race for top three in your

3:31

division. Yes, If

3:33

you finish first, you get ultimate home court advantage,

3:35

which is a big deal, but it's mattered less

3:38

and less over the last few years. What matters

3:40

more is matchups, especially early on the playoffs when

3:42

you're not beat up yet, when he's got full

3:44

energy and you don't want to get beat up

3:47

and you're looking for an opponent you match at

3:49

better with then maybe a different upon it. So

3:51

like, like let's say, you're in a race, you're

3:53

in third place and you could potentially get first

3:55

place, but it looks like the eighth and the

3:58

seventh place teams are kind of rough. Like

4:00

you don't match up well against them. Your

4:02

team is short and fast and they're big

4:04

and strong in there is gonna beat you

4:06

down or vice versa or for whatever reason

4:08

you. you'd rather play the sixth place team

4:10

than the seven. So the eighth place team

4:12

even though they sinister little the better, it

4:15

just feels like you match up with them

4:17

a little bit better and it increases your

4:19

chances of advancing in the playoffs. So maybe

4:21

you don't try as hard and lassie games

4:23

and use your happy getting third place right

4:25

instead of fighting to get second or first

4:27

place. That's it's been happening for years to.

4:30

It. Really kind of just invalidates a lot

4:32

of the regular season and kind of makes

4:34

of boring. What? This new

4:36

Skins season tournaments up sorry. Not.

4:39

In and season tournament. That's something totally

4:41

different. Ignore of. I said that that

4:43

didn't work out so well. Ah, the

4:46

play in tournaments. It's. Confusing

4:48

the play in tournaments. It

4:51

it. Kind of shrouds who the two

4:53

worst teams in the play offs. The

4:55

seventh and eighth seed are gonna be

4:57

a mystery. Could be any of four

4:59

teams and you might be saying yourself

5:01

or yeah, but sit in the seventh

5:04

and eighth team go because the Nathan

5:06

and Ten seen probably aren't as good

5:08

as them. Not really because in it's

5:10

a long season and coaches get fired

5:12

and it's dynamics on teams changed. players

5:14

get hurt, Players. Start

5:17

hurt and come back from injury and

5:19

so. There. Are a lot

5:21

of times when the nine so the tenth

5:23

of the seventh or the eighth best team

5:25

is actually a pretty fucking good seems that

5:27

was riddled with injuries or had some sort

5:29

of a turnover or tumbled that a sec.

5:31

did their ah. Their

5:34

win loss record but isn't reflected how good

5:36

they are right? and so it offers more

5:38

teams a shot to get into the playoffs.

5:40

And it also makes it a little harder

5:42

for the number four in the to number

5:44

two seats to kind of game the system

5:46

to figure out who they're going to go

5:48

up against. So. That starts

5:50

tonight for me. April sixteenth, You're watching

5:52

this, Are listening to this one week

5:55

later. See you can! You can. google.

5:58

right now and learn who won these games either might

6:00

be fun. I've been so busy dealing with the you

6:02

know the end of Roost Teeth and a bunch of

6:04

other personal stuff and a lot of life changes and

6:06

yeah I've been whining about it for weeks. I haven't

6:09

had a lot of chance to pay attention to the

6:11

last few weeks of the NBA. I've kept up with

6:13

it but I haven't really looked at the matchups and

6:15

I haven't sat down with it and thought who who

6:17

I think is gonna win. I

6:20

mean obviously it's the Celtics but I gotta get there I gotta game

6:22

it out right and so I thought it might be fun to do

6:24

it together and then you can immediately go and fact check me right

6:26

now and know if I was right about

6:28

the play-in games right. So here's what we have. I'm

6:31

gonna start with the West and I'm gonna pick the

6:33

winner of the play-in games and then

6:35

I'm gonna take it all the way through and

6:37

give you my reasoning why I think the

6:40

team that's gonna win is going to win. I'll tell you how

6:42

many games I think they're gonna do it in. Give

6:45

you a little bit of maybe a little bullshit

6:48

trivia so that maybe if you're stuck at a party

6:50

and somebody's talking about it you can throw two things

6:52

out there and sound reasonably intelligent and they'll be like

6:54

oh shit I didn't know Steve knew that much about

6:57

the NBA. Okay

7:00

number nine the

7:02

Sacramento Kings are playing number 10

7:04

Golden State Warriors. This

7:06

should be a better game than it's

7:08

gonna be. Unfortunately the Kings

7:11

are missing two important players right now

7:13

Kevin Herder and Malik Monk on

7:16

top of the fact that they have been

7:18

underperforming all

7:20

year and

7:24

it's been kind of a consistent thing. It's unfortunate

7:28

because they have a great rivalry building

7:30

with the Golden State Warriors. I mean

7:32

they're in Sacramento, Golden State's up there

7:34

in San Francisco. They're very close to

7:36

each other and the Kings took

7:38

them to seven games in their

7:40

playoff series last year and really could have won it.

7:42

I think it was only it was

7:45

only the the Acumen and just

7:47

the experience that got Golden State over the

7:49

hump. Golden State is a deprecated team this

7:52

year from where they were last year. They've

7:54

had chemistry issues early on. They riddled with

7:56

the Draymond Green drama.

7:58

However... True

8:00

Golden State form they have pulled it

8:03

together in the last like quarter of

8:05

the season clay is Playing

8:07

less like the ghost of clay and more

8:09

like clay again stuff is stuff Although he's he's

8:12

proven to be human a little bit later in the

8:14

season I think he's getting pretty pretty worn out But

8:16

they have some young good rookie talent and

8:18

I don't think they're a great team and they're not gonna go

8:20

far in the playoffs But I think they're gonna beat the Kings

8:24

Unfortunately for Kings fans because this should

8:27

be This should have

8:29

been a different year for them than they're gonna then they're gonna

8:31

end up with they shouldn't have been the ninth Best team they

8:33

should have probably finished fourth or fifth and

8:35

they should be guaranteed a playoff spot instead I think

8:37

they are gonna lose this game to the Warriors And

8:41

they will unfortunately more fortunately

8:44

get to go on vacation So that

8:46

leaves the Warriors playing the loser of the

8:48

seven eight teams that's gonna

8:50

be the Seventh

8:52

ranked New Orleans Pelicans with

8:54

Zion Williams Son and the number

8:56

eight Los Angeles Lakers with LeBron James Anthony

8:59

Davis Lakers are going to

9:01

beat the Pelicans. This is what LeBron

9:03

James is built for. This is where

9:05

he turns it on I

9:09

love the Pelicans. I think

9:11

they're a fun team They have a lot going

9:13

for him a lot more than just Zion going

9:15

for him Who's actually very quietly become a really

9:18

fucking great player this year? but

9:20

the Lakers have to all NBA players in

9:22

LeBron James and Anthony Davis, so I It's

9:26

hard to bet against that especially in a Inconsistently

9:31

healthy Inconsistent

9:33

season for the Pelicans now, I

9:35

know the Lakers have health issues too But that's

9:38

one of those situations again, where I think I

9:40

think the Lakers are built for the playoffs And

9:42

this is where they turn it on Lakers are

9:44

gonna beat the Pelicans Lakers will become the seventh

9:46

seed in The

9:49

playoffs the Pelicans now

9:51

will compete against Golden State for

9:53

the eighth seed And

9:56

I think the Pelicans are gonna win. I Think

9:59

the Pelicans match up pretty well. Well against.

10:02

Golden State and I think that they are

10:04

gonna be licking their wounds from that L

10:06

A Los and they're gonna be pretty fucking

10:08

mad about it. And so I think the

10:10

Pelicans are going to take the eighth spot

10:12

in the playoffs. Are now let's do

10:15

the east coast held this isn't too boring. Attack

10:17

speed up the east coast East coast we have

10:19

a I was at east coast. East

10:21

Coast. We has the the number

10:24

nine rate bulls versus the number

10:26

ten ranked Hawks. Yawn. Who cares?

10:28

Bulls are going to win that

10:30

game. The Cox Selfless that. The.

10:33

Cox. The Hawks have zero chemistry. They

10:35

have two point guards that hate each

10:37

other that can play well together. They

10:40

don't have much of a shots. Hawks are going

10:42

to blow it out next year or at least

10:45

are going to get rid of for young probably.

10:47

It's ah, I think the Bulls advance, but not

10:49

very far. They're going to end up playing the

10:51

winter or as I'm sorry, the loser of the

10:53

seventh and eighth place teams. Now this is again.

10:56

this is a fucking game still.the. seventy sixers are

10:58

in seventh place, Miami Heat, or an eighth place.

11:00

Maybe he are built for the playoffs. When I

11:02

talk about teams that don't care about the regular

11:04

season record, as long as they make it to

11:07

the playoffs, that's all that matters to them. Status

11:09

who I'm talking about. They.

11:12

Are not the team they were last

11:14

year, the year before the of a

11:16

fourth. Neither are the Seventy Sixers. Ah

11:18

Seventy Sixers should win this game with

11:20

Joe Allen bead as just come off

11:22

as injury he is. I

11:25

wouldn't say to a like his prime

11:27

playing form yet but he's gonna get

11:29

their pretty quickly. They made some good

11:31

trade with the A Harrison Barnes in

11:33

the in before the trade deadline. Harrys

11:36

Maxis Plane Like Harrys Maxi I see

11:38

the Seventy Sixes win this game and

11:40

advancing as the seventh seed. The Miami

11:42

Heat will then play the Bulls and

11:44

it will not be close. They will

11:47

destroy the Bulls and the Miami Heat

11:49

of the eighth seed in the playoffs.

11:51

Now we have our playoff picture set

11:53

minute. Take a. Second, to quietly add

11:56

that in. Okay, So

11:58

now we have the number seven Los

12:00

Angeles Lakers going up against the number

12:02

to Denver Nuggets. The Denver Nuggets will

12:05

win that in six games. In

12:07

advance see Timber Wolves and third rank

12:09

Timber Wolves will play the Phoenix Suns

12:12

that they will beat them in six

12:14

games and is gonna be a tough

12:16

series. I can't believe I'm betting against

12:18

Kevin Durant's especially for a Timber Wolves

12:20

that have been consistent. But I just

12:23

think they're to tell that and I

12:25

think this is their time to shine

12:27

and this is their moment and I

12:29

think that they are gonna win. That's

12:31

very difficult series though. We have the

12:33

number five Dallas Mavericks playing the number

12:36

for a Los Angeles Clippers. The Dallas

12:38

Mavericks going to win that in seven

12:40

games on. pretty fucking consonant about that.

12:42

Maybe. Six, but I think it goes seven.

12:44

Nata. not worried about that at all. And

12:47

then you end up with the Oklahoma City

12:49

Thunder, the number one ranked team going up

12:51

against. The. Eighth

12:54

ranked. New. Orleans Pelicans.

12:56

This is can be a

12:58

fun series. Thunder when it

13:00

ends Five. Since.

13:03

Then. You have the Western Conference semifinals.

13:06

We got the Thunder number one

13:08

ranked Thunder going against the number

13:10

Five hour into, and the number

13:12

three ranked Timber Wolves going against

13:14

the number Two Right Nuggets, the

13:16

Mavericks win against the Thunder in

13:18

six games, and the Nuggets win

13:20

against the Timber Wolves in. Seven.

13:23

Games. Western. Conference finals. We

13:25

are then left with the number five

13:27

right Dallas Mavericks versus the number two

13:29

ranked Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets when it

13:31

in six games to go on the

13:34

to repeat to the M B A

13:36

Finals where they will play the winner

13:38

of the East who I'm going to

13:40

calculate for you now. Okay,

13:43

so. We're. Starting

13:45

with see. Number.

13:48

seven ranked philadelphia phillies going

13:50

up against the new york

13:53

knicks now the knicks are

13:55

with out julius randle analytic

13:58

of can have mattered much

14:00

I think they're gonna beat the Phillies

14:02

in seven games. The number

14:04

three Milwaukee Bucks are gonna

14:06

be going to give it to the number six

14:08

Indiana Pacers. This should be more fun

14:11

than it's gonna be. The Bucks are gonna

14:13

be starting without Giannis. We don't know if he'll

14:15

play at all. He pulled a muscle a couple

14:17

days ago. He's definitely not gonna be starting

14:19

in the first probably two games

14:22

and I hope they take it easy with them

14:24

because we don't want a repeat of what happened

14:26

to Kevin Durant in the playoffs but five years

14:28

ago now six years ago. The Pacers are fully

14:30

healthy except Tyrese Halliburton is not the same player

14:32

he was before his injury and that's a real bummer.

14:34

I think the

14:37

Bucks are gonna win this in six.

14:41

Yeah okay that

14:43

leaves us with the number four ranked Cleveland Cavaliers

14:45

who have a lot of talent but are a

14:48

mess against the number five ranked Orlando Magic. This

14:50

is going to be a really really

14:52

fun series. Orlando Magic take it in

14:55

seven games. Seven games. Palo

14:58

Bank arrow cements himself

15:01

as a star in this playoff series. Okay

15:03

then we have the number one ranked Boston

15:05

Celtics against the number eight

15:07

Miami Heat. God fucking damn it. This

15:09

is what you don't want to see

15:11

if you're a Celtics fan. These

15:13

guys are our fucking nemesis over

15:16

the last five years. You

15:18

know our big enemies are obviously the Philadelphia 76ers

15:20

and then the Lakers but the goddamn heat over

15:23

the last half a decade have just been a

15:26

fucking under my skin under our skin. However

15:29

the heat or not the heat this

15:31

year. Eric Spolstra is I'm sorry sorry Spurs

15:34

fans but Eric Spolstra is the best coach

15:37

in basketball right now but

15:40

the team is just not talented

15:42

or deep enough to beat the

15:44

Celtics. Celtics take it in five.

15:48

Okay now we

15:50

have the Eastern Conference Simme Finals. We

15:52

have the Number

15:54

One Boston Celtics Showing up against the Number

15:56

Five Orlando Magic The Boston Celtics win it

15:59

in. Six. The.

16:02

Milwaukee Bucks are still not fully healthy

16:04

at this point against the is a

16:06

direct x who are still not fully

16:08

healthy at this point. I think the

16:10

next take it from the Bucks in.

16:13

Six. Okay, so

16:15

now we're left with the Eastern

16:17

Conference finals. The number one ranked

16:20

Boston Celtics against the number two

16:22

ranked New York Knicks. The Boston

16:24

Celtics take it in a gentleman

16:26

sweep. Five games are N B

16:28

A Finals are the number two

16:31

ranked Denver Nuggets in the West

16:33

vs the number one ranked Boston

16:35

Celtics in the East. The Boston

16:37

Celtics when he and six games

16:39

they are are champion. Ah has

16:41

rightly so. Banner eighteen is raised

16:44

and I has. Now officially

16:46

cemented this into podcast histories. This

16:48

is my pick for these are

16:50

my picks. The these are my

16:53

opinions. I came up with them

16:55

in front of God and everyone.

16:57

Everyone being you I have to

16:59

stick with this. Feel free to.

17:03

I mean you can immediately go back and

17:05

see how how close I am after of

17:08

you've got a week of playoffs here so

17:10

I'll close to. I get a feeling I'll

17:12

probably get it like it's not one hundred

17:14

percent right. Like ninety six percent, right?

17:16

So fingers crossed, things, cost, or

17:18

it. Oh, wait on on all

17:20

right, So I

17:23

completely forgot and supposed to give

17:25

you a this song of the

17:27

upsets these are the opposite deserve

17:29

and then I'll carry on. By

17:31

Jean and the Team beats from

17:34

the cities of the sixties. it's

17:36

like our bluesy little rock number

17:38

from a really interesting band. You

17:40

should check them out Now it's

17:43

our.