0:00

Welcome to This League Uncut

0:03

rule of.

0:04

Twenty four hour NBA News. This's

0:06

hell, Chris

0:08

Haynes, it's no time, Mark

0:11

Stein.

0:11

It's so time.

0:17

This league and cut is underway inod

0:19

on fire. This

0:21

should be a good one.

0:24

Here we go.

0:25

Everyone, Welcome in at

0:27

last to the

0:29

first of this week's

0:31

episodes of This

0:33

League Uncut. Mark Stein, still

0:36

in La Chris Haynes

0:39

en route to Miami. We've had some travel

0:42

challenges this week with both of us on

0:44

the road covering different

0:47

first round matchups. We've had some

0:49

technical snaffoos that we had.

0:51

To work through.

0:52

We actually started recording the

0:55

other day and had to abandon it because

0:58

my hotel room was just not cooperating.

1:00

But we've worked through it all. We are finally together

1:03

again.

1:03

And it's perfect timing now because

1:06

last night Chris Haynes was in Boston

1:09

to see the Mighty Celtics,

1:12

who everyone thought were gonna absolutely

1:14

roll through the short headed

1:17

Miami Heat but oh

1:19

no, heat culture goes

1:22

wild from three twenty

1:24

three threes from the Heat

1:27

and Chris Haynes was there.

1:29

What did it look like? What was it like to be in Boston

1:31

last night?

1:32

Boston's always won, I will say top

1:34

three most rowdy

1:37

crowds environments in the league, especially

1:39

in the playoffs. But I love Boston

1:41

Celtics fans. But I will say, you

1:44

know, you can't tell an awful lot

1:47

about a team's demeanor, especially

1:50

how they're going to play, by

1:52

just looking at a team before the

1:54

game. But I

1:57

saw the Miami Heat walk into the arena.

2:00

They were laser focused, like there

2:02

was just a seriousness about them

2:05

that it just caught.

2:07

My attention right away. And again

2:09

I'm not I'm still not.

2:11

Thinking like, damn, okay, they gonna they gonna come up

2:13

here and put on the show.

2:14

But it just caught my attention.

2:17

Coach Spode, everybody, everybody,

2:20

pat Riley, everybody's walking.

2:23

They're laser focused.

2:25

And they came out and

2:28

put together a game plan and a performance

2:30

that many didn't expect.

2:33

I did predict that they would

2:35

win yesterday.

2:36

Didn't war. Where was that? Where was that prediction

2:38

registered?

2:42

I didn't predict the publicly? Is that okay?

2:45

Start? Do I have Do I have to predictable thing?

2:47

Publicly?

2:47

I did, hold on, I will bring

2:50

listen, I would bring Actually I did,

2:52

I did publicly. I did do it public but it

2:54

wasn't on any airways or on any podcasts.

2:57

But Stan Van Gundy can vouch because

3:00

before the game, Stan said he

3:02

had Boston blowing him out, and I

3:04

said, no, I think Miami is going to get this

3:06

game. We're going to bring Stan on at

3:09

some point, and he could vouch for me that

3:11

I did say that Miami is

3:13

going to get it.

3:13

I'm going to ask him because listen, you

3:16

you don't have to publicly make your predictions,

3:18

but if you're going to take a victory lap, you have to

3:20

have made it.

3:22

Doesn't knows about it, so that that

3:25

should officially count. They had

3:27

the Garden quiet, and I'm not talking about Madison

3:29

Square Guarden. I'm talking about TV Garden. They had

3:32

them quiet, especially the

3:34

latter part of that fourth quarter. Miami

3:36

was just making plays down the stretch. Tyler

3:38

Hero was phenomenal. Bam

3:41

out of Bio. He was hitting that mid

3:43

range jump shot with so much consistency,

3:46

the three point ball like they were

3:49

flying on defense. They executed

3:51

a game plan to perfection. So

3:54

now off to Miami, where where

3:57

things really get interested start Miami

4:00

for games three or four.

4:01

Well, look, I'm not gonna take too much of

4:03

a victory lap. But I do feel somewhat

4:06

vindicated because I did in

4:09

France.

4:09

I can send you the link if you need proof.

4:12

I did say this series with those six

4:14

games, and I think people thought I

4:16

was a little crazy. But such

4:19

is my respect for

4:21

the Miami Heat. And you know what it isn't It

4:23

isn't even just about these

4:26

last few years, with three trips

4:28

to the finals in a very short span. And

4:31

last season, of course, we all remember Miami

4:33

as an eight seed, looking so

4:36

bad in the play in they lost to Atlanta,

4:39

they barely squeaked past Chicago,

4:41

and then they go on this magical run, starting

4:43

with the first round upset of Milwaukee.

4:46

It's not even just because that is so fresh

4:48

in the memory. I have lived

4:51

in fear of the Miami Heat

4:53

since two thousand and six, when

4:55

I watched them go down two zero in the finals.

4:58

I was critical of that team all

5:00

season.

5:02

Dan Lebattard used to bring

5:04

me on his radio show in those days, billing

5:07

me as the Heat hater. I didn't

5:09

like the construction of that team. I thought

5:11

they overdid it by bringing in all the veteran

5:14

stars. I never thought that

5:16

group was going to flourish and man

5:18

did they teach me a lesson? Down

5:21

two Oho? In the six finals, they

5:23

come back beat Dallas

5:25

four in a row. It was the first comeback

5:28

from two to down the finals

5:30

that we had seen since the seventies

5:33

and ever since then, since two thousand

5:36

and six, I said,

5:38

I am never writing off the Miami Heat again.

5:41

So almost twenty years later,

5:44

my respect for this franchise is still

5:47

so strong that I said,

5:49

even without Jimmy Butler, they're going to win at least

5:51

two games in this series,

5:53

and I'm sure they will be insulted even by

5:56

that. Knowing the Heat,

5:58

they probably think that they can this series

6:01

without Jimmy, even against

6:03

the mighty Celtics.

6:04

It's funny that you say that, Stein, because I

6:06

spoke to Bam right before the game.

6:09

I didn't get to use this during the broadcast,

6:12

but I asked him. I said, you guys

6:14

are shorthanded, you're missing

6:16

your best player, and you're missing

6:18

your starting point guard tiros Year. What

6:22

makes y'all think that y'all could come

6:24

in here in TV Garden and

6:26

do what most people think

6:29

can't be done?

6:31

He said.

6:32

My whole tenure with the Miami Heat, we've

6:35

been doubted and We've

6:37

been to multiple NBA finals.

6:40

He said, why would I think otherwise

6:43

now that we can't do it.

6:45

We've never been the favorites.

6:48

So what he said, this is all we know. He

6:50

said, So we're comfortable being in

6:52

this position. And he said,

6:54

and I'm confident and my guys can't

6:57

come away with the win. I didn't get to use

6:59

that. He said, they're comfortable in this

7:01

position. I have to think about that. They're

7:04

comfortable in this position.

7:06

You buying that though you really think they are?

7:09

Yes, I mean, look with the results shoot

7:13

multiple.

7:13

NBA Finals appearances over the last three

7:15

four years, like they're accustomed

7:18

to this. Whether it's the coaching

7:20

staff or it's up from pat

7:22

Riley on down. They

7:25

get off of being

7:27

discounted, like it motivates

7:29

them. And some people can't

7:32

function that way, but for some reason,

7:34

this team does. And I'm not going

7:36

I'm not going as far as said they're going to

7:40

take down the Celtics in this entire series,

7:42

but yeah, I do. I do believe

7:45

that they feel comfortable like this is there

7:47

used to being in this situation?

7:49

Well, because the skeptic would say, okay,

7:51

they made twenty three threes three

7:54

point variants. There's no way

7:56

they're going to shoot the ball that well

8:00

more times to win this series.

8:02

So I think

8:04

there is still a healthy dose

8:06

of skepticism that the Heat

8:09

can actually find a way

8:11

to the finish line in

8:13

this series without Jimmy Butler, because we know

8:16

we're not going to see Jimmy Butler in this series.

8:18

Yeah, and again, I'm sure just me even saying

8:20

that would insult Spoe

8:23

and various members of the team and

8:26

anyone else who hears it, because they are

8:29

I mean, you might not like

8:31

hearing about Heat culture, you might not like

8:34

seeing it on their court, but

8:37

they are stubborn and like you say, they

8:39

believe it.

8:41

Mm hmm.

8:42

Stian, let me tell you this after

8:44

the game me, stan Van

8:46

Gundy, Brian Anderson, we're getting

8:49

chauffeur back to our hotel.

8:52

And this is why we got to bring him

8:54

on.

8:54

He made a very astute point and

8:57

something that I didn't even recognize

8:59

throughout the course of the game. He

9:02

said the Miami he put Tyler Hero on

9:04

Jalen Brown, and

9:07

we all know Jalen Brown.

9:08

Loves to post up.

9:09

He's a He's an excellent post

9:11

up player for a guard.

9:15

But by them making

9:17

that switch. Boston

9:20

started feeding Jayden Jalen Brown in

9:22

the post. Okay, he

9:24

had some success, but that there's some times he didn't,

9:27

you know, forced up some shots. But

9:29

that played into Miami's

9:31

hands of getting Boston off of

9:33

that three point line to where

9:36

Boston will see, oh, we have an advantage

9:39

over there.

9:39

Let's go over there.

9:40

Let's go over there, completely

9:42

taking Boston out of what got

9:45

them the one O League, which

9:47

was the threat of the three point ball. That's

9:49

what Miami, he kept saying before the

9:51

game. We got eliminated three point shooting.

9:53

We got to close out, liminate three point shooting, close

9:56

out. And so just

9:58

like one little tactic like that where people,

10:01

uh, you might miss, even hardcore

10:04

basketball fans you might miss. But

10:06

a little tactic like that kind

10:09

of went, you know, went away

10:11

from what Boston did to get in, you know,

10:13

getting to put themselves.

10:15

In a bition to go up one.

10:15

Oh and I'll say this before we transitioned

10:18

out before game one, the day

10:20

before Game one, the day before Game

10:22

two, I should say I had

10:24

dinner with the Stan van Gundy,

10:27

Jeff van Gundy, Brian Anderson, and myself

10:30

Stein. Hearing those two

10:32

talk and When I say talk,

10:35

I probably mean argue, you

10:37

know, because that's just how they communicate. They

10:40

communicate, might argue it having differences

10:42

of opinions, but then they come back,

10:45

you know, past that meat over there, stand past

10:47

pass Negric over there, you know, get right back to

10:49

that. It's very hilarious. Just

10:51

watching those two interact, you can tell that really

10:53

closed. So that was a good time to have.

10:58

I told them that. I told them get they shout

11:00

their own podcasts. They

11:02

are very hilarious.

11:03

The world according to the Van Gundies.

11:06

And Jeff of course now working as a consultant

11:09

to the Celtics, so he has a

11:11

vested interest in this series. And

11:13

yeah, that would I'm guessing that would be

11:15

a rather entertaining evening.

11:18

You're on this series.

11:19

You got both the games in Miami, you

11:21

just did game two in Boston.

11:23

Yes, it's a little usual.

11:26

Isn't it for you to have an extended run

11:28

on the same first round series, isn't it?

11:31

Yes? It is?

11:32

But TNT has TNT

11:35

has those games. So I

11:37

think I think the higher ups Obviously

11:39

I don't have a say on where I go, but I believe the higher

11:42

ups felt like, okay, since we

11:44

have all these games. We have these we

11:46

have four. They actually have two, three,

11:49

four and five. So I guess

11:51

they figure just keep you know, just

11:53

keep the same crew on those games, because usually

11:56

you'll have TNT for game three,

11:59

ESPN or ab SEE for game four.

12:00

Five.

12:01

It just happens that TNT has three

12:04

through five, two through five, I should

12:06

say. And so yeah, they're keeping

12:08

me on. And I don't know if they

12:10

know that I would love to be in Miami.

12:13

I don't know if they listened to this podcast,

12:16

but there was no complaints at all

12:18

once I got my schedule.

12:20

No, I have to think for you to be able to lock

12:22

into one series, it

12:25

has to be easier and give you a

12:27

chance to really dig in. And these

12:31

guys see you every day, makes the reporting

12:33

better. So well, you tell me

12:35

how is the Celtics mood before we move on

12:37

to the other seven first

12:39

round matchups? How did the Celtic I mean, again,

12:42

with no Jimmy Butler, the Celtics were widely

12:44

expected to just roll

12:46

in this series, maybe win a game, maybe

12:49

it's a gentleman sweep in five, but to

12:51

be one one going to

12:53

Miami, I

12:56

don't know how many people really expected

12:58

that So how shaken were the Celtics

13:00

by this turn of events.

13:03

Yeah, it was a

13:06

shake for sure. I would say.

13:07

I went to Celtics shoot around the

13:09

morning of the game and

13:12

Jalen Brown was the last player to leave,

13:15

and I actually talked to him

13:18

before I left that shoot around session, but he was

13:20

the last player to leave. He

13:22

was working on his free throws,

13:25

and it was this free throw drill that

13:28

they had where they were trying to cause all type

13:30

of confusion, and there was an

13:32

assistant coach behind him,

13:34

like throwing a basketball in his

13:36

direction as he's shooting a free throw. They're

13:39

making a lot of noise, so they're trying to simulate

13:42

just a Rockets environment.

13:45

And I

13:47

was wonder because I've never seen that before. And I started

13:49

asking people around, like does he do

13:52

this like this? They're like, no, this is not his

13:54

routine.

13:54

I'm like, huh.

13:56

And I found out he missed like consecutive

13:58

free throws in game one, but

14:01

he ended up shooting pretty poorly

14:04

from the free throw line in game two.

14:05

You know, even after having that.

14:07

Me see free throws, he was three

14:09

or six from the free throw line

14:12

in game two.

14:14

So yeah, I guess they'll gotta keep doing

14:16

those drills.

14:17

But I was in there time

14:19

out huddles a lot

14:21

that night, and a

14:24

lot of heads were down.

14:25

A lot of heads were down.

14:26

Our Horford was trying to keep them, keep those

14:28

guys encouraged. I saw Horford

14:31

on multiple occasions trying to like

14:34

pep talk Christats Porzingis

14:37

who had a horrible shooting night.

14:39

He shot. Let me see, he scored six points.

14:41

He was one of nine from the field, and.

14:44

There were a couple of times I believe Christah

14:47

Perzinger forced some shots. And

14:49

I went into the timeout hull the very next

14:52

break and Horford

14:55

was telling Pazingis, like, when you get

14:57

the ball, fake the pass this way

15:00

to get the defense to shift, then

15:02

shoot your jump shot. And so they was trying

15:05

to help them and motivate them and encouraging them. You

15:07

could tell they were rattled. They were shot. You

15:09

know, you don't you don't expect Miami to come out and

15:11

hit twenty three threes and take

15:14

They made twenty.

15:14

Three out of forty three, Lee

15:17

shot.

15:17

Fifty three percent doing

15:19

so that was they didn't

15:21

expect that. So, yeah, a little bit

15:24

shaken for sure.

15:25

Last night I was talking to one of

15:27

my most trusted league

15:30

observers, someone who I

15:33

love to consult in situations

15:36

like this, And the

15:38

reaction that

15:40

was shared with me was, you watch, this will be a great

15:42

This will end up being a great thing for Boston.

15:45

They rolled during the regular season,

15:48

and this

15:50

will snap them back into focus. They

15:52

were probably feeling themselves too much. They probably

15:55

didn't take Miami as seriously

15:57

as they should have without Butler. But man, I

15:59

am struggling to co

16:01

sign on that one, to lose

16:04

this early and

16:07

give Miami even

16:09

more belief than it already

16:11

had. You know, again,

16:14

I'm not trying to do too much of a victory lap,

16:16

but I felt like I was somewhat

16:21

in the minority to say that this thing

16:23

could go at least six, and

16:26

I think now will for sure go at least

16:28

six, given that Miami

16:31

already got that.

16:32

Split in Boston.

16:35

But I mean, man,

16:38

I think the Celtics have been rocked here and it's

16:40

going to be really interesting to see how they

16:43

respond.

16:44

Stein about two weeks.

16:47

Should I even say this? Let Mestak, Should I

16:49

say it?

16:51

It's funny whenever you say should I say it? You

16:53

usually go ahead and say it. I usually

16:56

don't.

16:56

You usually can I

16:59

think I can. I think I can. So.

17:01

About two weeks ago, I

17:04

got a text message from

17:06

a random number. It

17:08

said, this is JT new

17:11

number. Lock me in. And

17:13

you know, during playoffs or whatever time it is,

17:15

even like playing even in some of the last

17:18

games of the season, light there. It's such

17:20

a frenzy, like you're doing so

17:22

much when you're covering this league, and so I

17:24

didn't have time to investigate it, look

17:27

into it or anything. And so

17:29

during the broadcast yesterday, we

17:31

are highlighting a player's

17:33

shoes. His new colorways

17:36

dropped yesterday on the day

17:38

of the game, so we were going to highlight.

17:40

So I got I got the shoes, and

17:43

so we're highlighting during

17:46

the game.

17:48

Yeah, it ended up. So that's why

17:50

I'm getting to So the

17:52

selfiess come out into the to

17:55

do their warm up, to do their layup drills,

17:57

you know. Fifteen minutes before the game, Tatum

18:00

sees me on the sideline, comes over, gives me that

18:03

he said, Hey, you didn't respond back. I'm

18:05

like, respond back to what? He's like, I

18:07

got a new number. I text you. I'm

18:10

like, you text me?

18:11

What, Like, what are.

18:11

You talking about? He said, Yeah, I text

18:13

you JT. I was like, man,

18:16

I said, Bro, you gonna give me a little bit more information

18:18

than that. Man, Come on, you know what I mean? JT's

18:20

I know, like every people

18:23

don't I told people don't refer to you as j T

18:25

that much.

18:25

I'm like, God, come on, man,

18:28

Like all.

18:28

You got to say this is Jason and spell your name

18:30

that way JY, because you the only

18:33

person I know spells the name j Y s

18:35

O N.

18:36

Yeah.

18:37

So I say you would think commercial

18:40

thing he would know about confusion over his

18:42

name. I amazingly did Notaly

18:45

did not get the same text.

18:46

I did not get the hey, here's my number, lock it

18:48

in.

18:50

Hold on, what what ESPN

18:53

commercial? What you're talking about?

18:54

You haven't seen that ESPN commercial When Jason

18:56

Tatum is like there on you know,

18:58

it's one of those Sports Center comercials and he's

19:00

there getting his ID and he has

19:02

to give you know that. He sits down to take

19:05

his picture and the guy's asking for his name, and

19:07

he goes through all his nicknames and finally

19:09

says Jason with a Y.

19:10

You haven't seen that one?

19:12

No, I don't think. No, what

19:15

else I forgot?

19:16

Or maybe you just don't watch ESPN anymore.

19:18

That's that's true, too cold blooded?

19:21

That's true. Who watch games?

19:23

You're even more cold blooded than me? I love it.

19:25

Yeah, I'll watch games.

19:37

All right, Well, we will continue.

19:39

I suspect to be talking more about

19:42

Celtic's heat than we ever imagined,

19:45

especially with Chris

19:47

Haynes on the sidelines upcoming

19:49

in his beloved South Beach for games

19:51

three and four of

19:55

that series.

19:55

And you said you might even end up on five. Yes,

19:58

back in Boston.

19:59

Yes, that's TNT game as well, So I

20:02

predict that I'll be there for.

20:03

Five and you're with Stan the whole

20:05

time.

20:06

Stan and Bia with them the whole way through

20:09

up until the Eastern Conference Finals, and

20:11

then Stan Stan for

20:13

the Western Conference Finals. Stan will join

20:16

Reggie and Kevin Harlan

20:18

for the Western Conference Finals.

20:21

We need to get Stan on the podcast.

20:23

It's don Dale, just lea, let me win,

20:25

yes, Dundale. All right.

20:27

So look, there are seven other first

20:30

round series that we could be diving

20:32

into.

20:33

I have been covering Mavericks

20:35

Clippers. I was at the two games in La.

20:37

I'm actually still in La as we

20:39

record this, because before I

20:42

fly back to Dallas for Game

20:44

three of MAV's Clippers, and that's Friday

20:46

night. I'm gonna at least drop

20:48

in on Lakers Nuggets. I'm

20:51

not going to be able to stay for the actual

20:53

game, but I wanted to at least go to pregame

20:56

later today after we finish this recording,

20:58

so I can see the Lakes,

21:00

see the Nuggets a little bit, see some people

21:02

before again getting back on a plane, getting

21:05

back to Dallas and resuming my coverage

21:07

of Mavericks Clippers,

21:09

which is another one to one series. We finally

21:12

had some road teams win some games here,

21:14

with the Heat winning in Boston, with

21:16

Indiana winning in Milwaukee, with

21:19

Dallas winning here in LA against

21:21

the Clippers in Game two. But

21:23

instead of and again, we're also recording

21:26

this on Thursday

21:28

afternoon, so by

21:30

the time this drops Thursday

21:33

early evening, there won't be much

21:35

time before some pretty huge

21:38

game threes Philadelphia

21:40

and New York. That series moves

21:42

to Philly now, but the Sixers are down two

21:44

to oho to the Knicks. Of course, Game

21:47

two hugely contentious circumstances.

21:49

We'll get into that here shortly. The

21:51

Lakers playing host to the defending

21:54

champions from Denver. The Nuggets

21:56

have a two to oh lead in that series,

21:59

and now Cleveland and Orlando,

22:01

that series moves to the Magic Kingdom.

22:04

The Magic Kingdom also down two

22:07

to oh. And of course NBA historians

22:10

and I think fans are pretty well versed

22:12

in this stat because it gets circulated

22:14

so often. When you go down

22:16

two to oh in a best of

22:18

seven series in the NBA, history

22:21

tells us that nearly ninety three

22:23

percent of the time you go on to

22:25

lose. There have only been thirty three

22:28

teams in nearly

22:30

five hundred best of seven series

22:32

with a two oho deficit, only thirty

22:34

three that have managed to find their way back.

22:36

It's really right around four hundred and fifty

22:39

in league history. So I think the way

22:41

we're going to try to laser in here instead of trying

22:43

to deal with three

22:45

of these other seven first round matchups

22:48

that we haven't talked about three of them with games

22:50

tonight shortly after we finish recording.

22:52

So instead of doing a series by

22:54

series breakdown, let's try this. I

22:56

just did this on my

22:59

sub stack as well. Our

23:01

old friend Royce Webb, who has a substack

23:04

of his own. He loves to curate

23:06

these surveys where he talks to a bunch

23:08

of different voices from all around NBA

23:11

sub stack, and he

23:14

posed the question this week. So, like I said, I

23:17

just wrote my answers, but I'm going to give you the floor

23:19

first. What team or player

23:22

has impressed you most to

23:24

this point of

23:27

the playoffs basically five six days in.

23:30

I'm going to go with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

23:33

I believe that going into the

23:35

playoffs, I believe

23:37

a team like the OKC Thunder,

23:39

Minnesota Timbols, teams

23:42

like that with little experience, I

23:46

thought they could be rattled.

23:49

I thought they can be taking advantage

23:51

of And I know it's still halfway

23:53

through the series.

23:54

Anything can happen.

23:55

But the way they're winning

23:58

games, the win that they're playing with so much comm for

24:00

this and swag, I am very impressed.

24:02

Even though the New Orleans Pelicans

24:05

are playing without Zion Willimson, I

24:07

still thought New Orleans would put up a better fight. Yes,

24:10

okay, see as a great home court advantage,

24:13

but man Sga Jalen

24:18

Check like they are playing

24:21

together. They have so much energy,

24:23

they're playing with so much confidence. They're playing

24:25

with nothing to lose. You know, that's

24:27

exactly the situation for them. They

24:30

have nothing to lose.

24:31

Period.

24:32

They're number one seed, but they have nothing

24:34

to lose. Their future looks

24:37

bright, and so I'm

24:39

very impressed with what they've been

24:41

able to do thus far. And

24:44

that looks like a series that can very

24:47

well end up in a suite. Don't know going

24:50

back to New Orleans now, but they're playing some

24:52

really good ball. I'm very impressed.

24:54

Well, let's be honest.

24:55

I mean, I think the thunder were rattled

24:57

in the first game of that series. They were not

25:00

convincing and crunch time and found a way

25:02

to escape with a win. But we saw turnovers

25:06

from Shay gild just Alexander that are uncharacteristic.

25:08

I mean, they did not look super

25:12

comfortable in their first.

25:15

Taste of playoff basketball

25:17

for this group.

25:17

But then Game two, they

25:19

couldn't have been more impressive last night, just blowing

25:22

New Orleans.

25:23

Off the floor. And that's why I said stuff.

25:25

I didn't expect them to come back like that after

25:28

that game won. You know, CJ McCullum hiss

25:30

the three at the end of game one. It's a different

25:32

story. So I expected, you know,

25:34

Okay, maybe that was a gut punch

25:36

they took. Let's see how they bounced backward or

25:39

if they even do bounce back. In the game two, they

25:41

definitely did bounce back.

25:44

And I'm going to keep it in the Northwest Division

25:46

with my nomination because I'm going with Minnesota,

25:49

and it's for a lot of the same reasons. I mean the

25:51

Wolves fifth. It only got

25:53

them the number third seed. They're

25:55

in a matchup as the Phoenix team that

25:58

swept them three to zero during the regular

26:00

season, tough matchup. The Wolves

26:02

are under massive pressure because,

26:05

as we've talked about on this show a bazillion

26:08

times, in the first thirty

26:10

odd years of Wolve's history,

26:13

this team had only won a playoff

26:15

series twice before, both

26:18

in the spring of two thousand and four,

26:20

so twenty years without beating

26:23

anybody in the playoffs. They're

26:25

facing a hot Phoenix

26:27

team all this expectation, and

26:31

they have been sensational.

26:34

They've won the first two games by nearly

26:37

forty points combined. They've held Phoenix

26:39

under one hundred points both

26:41

times. Aunt Edwards was

26:44

mortal offensively in Game

26:46

two and it still didn't matter.

26:49

And again, you don't want to overreact

26:51

too much to a two to zero lead, but again

26:54

history says, history

26:56

tells you that if

26:59

you take a two zero lead in the best of seven,

27:02

nearly ninety three percent of the time you're

27:05

advancing. So it's difficult

27:08

not to be absolutely wowed by

27:10

what we're seeing from the Wolves, who have shown

27:13

us again that

27:15

they are the best defensive team

27:18

in the league.

27:19

That was definitely a choice I

27:21

could have made as well, but I had a feeling you

27:24

a pick Minnesota.

27:25

So I'm glad you made the choice you made

27:27

because I was not expecting you to pick Oklahoma

27:29

Sea.

27:30

That's so, that's good.

27:30

We do want to we don't want to have just the

27:33

same answers, but this will be you

27:35

know, this will be interesting to see if we can come up with a

27:37

difference here, because I'm not sure.

27:39

That we can.

27:40

What team or player

27:42

has most disappointed you through

27:45

the first four or five days?

27:47

The Phoenix Suns disappointment

27:52

disappointment and yes, yeah,

27:55

yeah, I mean I don't this is

27:57

a team that's built or

28:00

should I say, has

28:02

aspiration.

28:03

I'm not aspiration.

28:05

They're supposed to be a championship contending

28:07

team, period. And we can talk about,

28:09

you know, how the team is structured. You

28:12

know, you can we can have complaints

28:14

or have gripes or how they were modeled. But

28:16

point blank, you got Bradley Beal,

28:19

you got Kevin Durant, you got Devin Booker. That

28:21

is a team that is expected to win a championship

28:24

and contend for a championship. They're

28:27

not playing anywhere close to that

28:29

type of a level. And it's

28:31

a disappointment. Disappointment on all fronts

28:34

period. Everybody has to take blame

28:36

in this, from players to coaches,

28:38

to management to ownership. Everybody

28:40

has to take blame in what's going

28:43

on. Have to take a part in

28:45

the shortcomings. Again, don't

28:48

want to overreact. You did

28:50

point out to the stats with the teams that do

28:53

jump out the two O leads, oftentimes

28:56

they're going to move on to the next round.

28:58

But shot, the

29:00

series goes back to Phoenix now. But

29:03

this is a disappointment for sure. This

29:05

team should not be and is not

29:08

expected to be underperforming

29:10

at this level.

29:12

Look, their season was all

29:14

over the place.

29:16

You know, I was constantly

29:19

tracking how many games we

29:21

would actually see Devin

29:23

Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal played

29:26

together. It got so bad that I think

29:28

at some point on our show, I said

29:30

the over under will end up being thirty. Okay,

29:33

they ended up playing forty one games, so they

29:35

went way past my over under.

29:37

My over under was too low. But they only

29:40

played together in forty one games. The

29:42

Sons were twenty six and fifteen in those

29:44

games. But remember the

29:47

Suns lost in San Antonio

29:49

in late March, which just seemed

29:52

like an unforgivable loss.

29:55

They didn't even the Spurs didn't even have.

29:56

Victor Weman Yama that night if I'm remembering

29:59

correctly. And then the last

30:01

ten games on the Suns schedule, we're

30:03

all against teams with winning records.

30:06

After that terrible loss

30:08

in San Antonio, the Suns finished

30:10

seven to three.

30:11

More importantly, it was.

30:13

The best Beal has looked all

30:15

season, and the Suns

30:17

came into the playoffs with real

30:20

momentum. And I

30:22

think we're a pretty popular pick

30:25

to upset Minnesota in first

30:27

round because of the inexperience

30:30

that you mentioned. And now

30:32

look where the Suns are down two to zero.

30:34

They haven't been competitive really in

30:37

either game. Grayson Allen

30:39

is banged up now, and he's been such a huge.

30:41

Part of that team's success.

30:44

This is a team that doesn't have depth,

30:47

It doesn't have a great amount

30:49

of size and so an injury to Grayson

30:51

Allen, if he's compromised in any way

30:53

for the rest of this series, that's a huge

30:56

problem. And they are going to be huge,

30:58

huge, huge question

31:00

marks about

31:03

what this team does in the offseason

31:06

because they they're

31:09

in the second apron and it's not easy

31:11

to make changes. It's

31:14

not easy for them to do

31:16

anything to really change

31:19

this roster.

31:20

And so man, they have gone

31:22

all in on a team that.

31:25

You know, they were to to two with Denver in the playoffs

31:28

last year in the second round. Are they going to see the

31:30

second round this year?

31:31

How?

31:32

How are they going to dig out of a

31:34

two to zero hole against the

31:36

best defense in the league. Can they win four out

31:38

of five from here against

31:42

the Wolves?

31:43

I don't see it. I don't see it.

31:48

And the Suns were clearly

31:50

mine, but since since you

31:53

have nominated them, and I don't want to just repeat

31:55

what you've said, and I think I've pretty much made my

31:58

son's stance pretty clear here. Just

32:01

I'm still just bummed. There's just so many

32:04

injuries. Giannis Antitokumpo.

32:06

Are we gonna see him in this first round series

32:09

against Indiana? Knowing

32:12

Yannis I'm sure he's gonna

32:14

do everything he can to

32:16

try to find a way. A

32:18

calf strain is such a tricky injury.

32:21

It's such a potentially dangerous

32:24

injury in terms of reaggravation

32:26

and what it could lead to. Rushing

32:29

back just does not seem like

32:31

a wise idea. So I think it remains

32:33

fair to question are we gonna see janus

32:36

Antitokunpo in this round? We know

32:38

we're not gonna see Zion Williamson in this

32:40

series. We know we are most

32:42

likely not gonna see Jimmy Butler in

32:45

this series.

32:46

Joel Embiid is playing, but is clearly

32:49

compromised.

32:50

I was there in La for Kawhi Leonard's

32:52

comeback game, and I

32:54

really thought the Clippers were going to wait

32:56

until Friday's Game three to give

32:59

Kawhi some extra time because

33:01

Game one and Game two were in such

33:03

a short span.

33:05

But Kawhi is back, has

33:07

the rust.

33:07

Work through, and like I said, this is just

33:09

it's just a disappointment

33:12

for so many big names to either

33:14

be out or less than full

33:16

strength. And you could throw Karl Anthony

33:18

Towns into this discussion as well, because

33:21

Towns missed only a month

33:24

after a meniscus injury

33:27

and his back very very quickly.

33:29

So it just.

33:31

It's always a downer to see

33:34

so many injury situations

33:36

impacting the playoffs.

33:38

Yeah, and Bee's not looking good.

33:40

I covered that game

33:43

two Nicks Sixers.

33:45

Hey, let's get into that, stime.

33:47

I know you have some news on what

33:49

happened in the aftermath, but you know I was,

33:52

I was working that game, and

33:55

Beid is just not right.

33:56

Man.

33:56

He's hobbling, he's pulling up.

33:59

I feel bad for him. I really feel bad

34:01

for him. The seat that I had in

34:03

Madison Square Garden is a seat

34:05

that's right behind the Sixers bench, and

34:07

when at one point when in Bed got

34:10

pulled out and he sat

34:13

at his seat at the end of the bench, you

34:15

know, probably about eight feet away from

34:17

me. The physical therapist is misogynist,

34:20

knee stretching it out,

34:23

and at one point and b put

34:25

a towel over his head. I

34:27

don't know if he did that to cover up a

34:30

painful expression he might be making, or.

34:32

He was just tired, but it's

34:35

not a good look.

34:36

Man. He You

34:38

can tell he's just trying to be out there

34:40

for his team and give him everything that

34:42

he has.

34:43

But he is.

34:45

Nowhere near himself, and I'm

34:47

hoping that he doesn't get out there and further

34:51

damage, damages anything, because

34:54

he's trying to fight it out.

34:55

But Stan, you.

34:56

Had some news on on what the

34:58

Sixers, the beef that the Sixers had

35:00

with how the ending came

35:03

about, and what happened in the ending of Game two,

35:05

So I'll let you have the floor.

35:07

Yeah, I did a story today earlier

35:09

on Thursday that you know, when look,

35:12

the Sixers were on the wrong end

35:14

of more than one bad

35:17

call in their

35:19

Game two loss and late

35:21

collapse in New York against the Knicks.

35:24

I mean, multiple mistakes

35:26

were cited in the last

35:28

two minute report.

35:29

But there was a lot of reporting after.

35:31

That game that a grievance

35:33

was going to be filed by

35:35

the Sixers in this situation,

35:38

And my story today basically explains

35:42

there is no such thing as a

35:44

general grievance about

35:46

officiating. A team can call the league

35:49

office and register

35:51

complaints that way, and I'm

35:53

told that the Sixers certainly did

35:55

that, but the word grievance

35:58

was widely reported,

36:00

and that suggests that you can officially

36:03

file some grievance document. There's

36:05

no such thing as a general

36:08

grievance that can be filed over officiating.

36:11

Teams have the right to file

36:13

a formal protest, and

36:16

the Sixers, to be fair, never said they were

36:18

going to file a protest over

36:21

Game two, But that was the only official

36:23

measure that the Sixers

36:25

could.

36:26

Have taken, and they did

36:28

not do that.

36:28

And again they never said they were going to file

36:31

a Game two protest. But in

36:33

terms of filing a grievance, I

36:36

just wrote this story to stress

36:38

and explain that there is

36:40

no such thing. Teams call

36:42

the league office all the time, they

36:45

send video clips into the league office

36:47

all the time, but there's no grievance

36:51

language in the league's bylaws

36:53

and constitution that allows a team to

36:57

file a Quotevens.

37:00

And the reason you see so few protests,

37:04

look, there have only been six

37:06

successful protests in

37:08

league history, and this season the

37:10

Knicks actually filed one after a

37:12

loss in Houston, and

37:15

that protest was denied because

37:17

what the league always says in the

37:19

protest situation is they're

37:22

not going to overturn human error

37:25

mistakes. The last protest

37:27

to succeed in the NBA

37:30

was way back in two thousand and seven,

37:32

two thousand and eight.

37:34

When your TNT teammate Shaquille

37:36

O'Neill.

37:39

Playing for the Heat at the time, was

37:42

fouled out of a game against Atlanta. Scorers

37:44

Table said he has six fouls. He actually

37:47

only had five fouls. So that was

37:49

a real misapplication

37:51

of the rules. And that's why

37:54

the last forty odd seconds

37:56

of that game had to be replayed

37:59

because that that wasn't a judgment call,

38:01

that was a scorebook airr and

38:04

that's why that protest was

38:06

upheld. But I'm sure you remember

38:09

in January Portland,

38:11

Chauncey Billups went ballistic,

38:14

calling time out, time out, not

38:16

granted, he ends up getting two texts.

38:18

The Blazers lose a close game. The

38:20

Blazers actually came out and said we're

38:23

going to protest this game, and then

38:25

there's a forty eight hour window to file

38:27

a protest. The Blazers decided

38:29

against it in that instance because

38:32

I think they know you never win these

38:34

protests. The Knicks did go ahead

38:36

and register a protest from that February

38:39

game in Houston, but the

38:41

protest was not successful. And again,

38:43

I just wanted to do this story today to clarify

38:46

there was all this talk that a grievance

38:48

would be forthcoming, and there's

38:51

no such thing as a written grievance

38:55

in the NBA by law, So that was really the

38:57

story.

38:57

Well good, so now people can move on and

39:00

get ready for Game three because

39:04

they spent so much time and

39:07

I understood the

39:09

Sixers point of view, but they spent a

39:11

lot of time faulting

39:13

the officials, which they had a right to, but

39:16

they made costly mistakes. I'm

39:18

telling you throughout that. You know, let's talk

39:20

about Kyle Lowry. And they

39:22

said Nick Nurse, they they acknowledging

39:25

that two Many report that Nick Nurse is trying to get a call

39:27

the time out.

39:28

But you know, Kyle Lowry is right there. He's a veteran.

39:30

You know he should He's supposed

39:32

to have a five second clock in his head.

39:35

On Okay, if I can't get a clean pass

39:37

in, well I got to call it time out.

39:39

He did it, and so he put you put

39:41

the team at risk.

39:43

And then just even that play, okay,

39:45

even with you still want to talk about that play.

39:48

The Sixers had multiple guys crashing

39:51

offensive rebound, diving on.

39:53

The floor for loose balls.

39:55

But they've been doing that in those

39:57

two games thus far. The Sixers

39:59

are more to on it. But the Knicks have dogs

40:02

who are going to crash boards. Josh hart

40:04

Dante, Isaiah Hartenstein,

40:07

isn't Hartenstein or hartenstein Stein?

40:08

Which one is? And what?

40:10

That's a great question because I've.

40:11

Heard people say different Yeah, people, I've.

40:13

Heard multiple different ways.

40:15

Myself, I've been wanting to ask him

40:18

for his preferred pronunciation because

40:21

that will make it official.

40:23

Harten Stein.

40:25

I mean, yeah,

40:28

it's what.

40:28

But he's a dog, and

40:31

right now he smells blood,

40:33

and the blood he's smelling is coming from Joel and Bid.

40:36

Because he understands that he doesn't have

40:38

he's not fully himself. So

40:40

I'm just gonna I'm just gonna say, Isaiah,

40:42

I don't want to disrespect him by saying the wrong last

40:45

name.

40:45

Offensive rebound or Supreme.

40:47

The offensive rebound and Supreme is crashing,

40:50

which is putting a lot of pressure on Joeln

40:52

Bid to box out, which

40:54

Joel didn't box out, and

40:56

know those last seconds got

40:58

the office rebound, got back to Dante for

41:01

a second three and that three went in. But

41:03

all throughout that series thus

41:06

far, the Knicks have had guys

41:08

that are just willing to do the dirty work. And so

41:11

Philly is going to have to identify

41:13

some guys who are willing to do that, who're gonna have to

41:15

get down and dirty in order

41:17

to make this a series.

41:19

Well, look, multiple things can be true.

41:22

I mean, there is no question that Philly was

41:24

robbed on multiple calls.

41:26

Late Maxi

41:29

had his jersey grabbed. There

41:31

was a foul that landed him on the

41:33

ground. Nick Nurse didn't get the time out. But I

41:35

think what you said is true too.

41:37

The Sixers also participated

41:39

in their own demise.

41:40

There was a Kyle Lowry.

41:41

Miss free throw in there, And there's

41:44

a couple things that work here. With all this talk

41:46

about grievances and

41:49

whether there's an official filing or

41:51

not. Look, on one hand,

41:54

it comes off as excuse

41:56

making, and I don't know that it's healthy for a team.

41:59

But on the other hand, and my sense

42:01

is when it becomes so widely reported

42:04

that a team is going to complain

42:06

to the league about the officiating in the

42:08

first two games, then

42:13

it stays in the headlines, it becomes a story,

42:15

and maybe it puts pressure on

42:17

the game three, Game four referees.

42:21

They know they're going to be watched super

42:23

super closely. So I

42:26

can see why the

42:28

Sixers would also want that story to

42:31

be known for their dismay

42:33

to get more coverage. But we'll

42:36

see what effect it has now, because again

42:39

shortly after this podcast drops

42:41

three.

42:42

Huge game threes in the NBA.

42:44

Tonight before we go. Philly

42:48

down two oh to the Knicks, Lakers

42:50

down two oh to the Nuggets, Magic

42:52

down two oh to the Cavs. Do you think any

42:54

of those three teams can win their series?

42:57

Can they get out of a two to zero

42:59

hole?

43:00

Man, you said win the series? Wow?

43:02

I would probably give Philly the best chance.

43:05

Yeah. Probably.

43:06

Well, if Joel

43:08

is like how he is right now, I don't

43:10

I can't see it.

43:12

I can't see it.

43:13

If Joel if this is how

43:15

he's going to be all season with that knee,

43:18

I don't see it.

43:19

But yeah, it's gonna be tough. Yeah,

43:24

that's a good call. I don't.

43:25

I don't know who out of those other two

43:28

old series leads Lakers.

43:30

Can the Lakers dig out of a

43:33

two to zero hole against the Nuggets,

43:35

against the defending champs? Can they beat

43:39

Nikola Jokic and co. Four times

43:41

out of five? That is a

43:43

hard one to imagine as well.

43:46

Yeah, that's why they played the game, looking

43:49

forward to it.

44:00

All Right, Well, I'm glad we finally connected.

44:03

It has been a circus of a week not

44:05

often that we're both on the

44:07

road. I will not be traveling

44:10

as much for the rest of the playoffs as you,

44:13

so hopefully this was just a

44:15

week one situation for the both

44:17

of us. But I think something

44:19

else happened in New York that you wanted to share with

44:21

us.

44:22

Yes, I did, Stein. This

44:24

is a personal monumental

44:28

feat in the history

44:31

of me. This was something that

44:33

I've always wanted to encounter, never

44:36

had the chance to since I've been covering the NBA.

44:39

My favorite player growing up, favorite

44:42

player of all time growing up was Latrell spree

44:44

Will when he was playing for the Golden State

44:46

Warriors, and he

44:48

was the reason why I really didn't growing

44:51

up, I really didn't have a favorite team baseball.

44:54

I liked the Atlanta Braves. That was

44:56

it.

44:56

But as far as that, like the NBA and

44:58

NFL, I I liked players,

45:01

and so I'm probably the start of the generation

45:04

of fans who follow players

45:06

wherever they go, because that's what I did with the Treil Spriwill.

45:08

But anyways, growing up in Fresno,

45:10

California. We got all the Warrior

45:12

games televised, and this was

45:15

when Michael Jordan had retired

45:17

for the first time. I liked Michael Jordan like everybody

45:19

else, but't I can't say I was in love

45:21

with him, but I liked him like everybody else.

45:23

Then he retired. I was

45:26

looking for who's this next ballhead

45:29

shooting guard type player that

45:31

I can.

45:31

Follow, and I Warriors

45:34

game was on.

45:35

I saw the Treil Spriull, who was probably in

45:37

his second year at the time. He

45:40

was doing these tomahawk dunks. Reminded

45:43

me of Jordan a little bit.

45:45

He was young.

45:46

I'm like, I'm gonna follow him, and so I

45:49

started wearing fifteen. I started

45:51

wearing fifteen like Spree. Well, when

45:54

I was able to dunk. My sophomore

45:56

year in high school, I started doing

45:58

the tomahawk two hand dunk like

46:00

Spree.

46:01

And I remember in junior high. Junior

46:03

high was when I first started following Spreewall.

46:06

So it's seventh grade and that was

46:08

around the time where the NBA

46:11

jersey started being popular. And at

46:13

that time, Champion used to make

46:15

the jerseys and they were around

46:17

forty four dollars at that time and

46:19

I couldn't afford when my parents wouldn't give

46:21

me a jersey. And I remember me

46:25

finding a surfing tank

46:28

top around the house. It was like a

46:30

surfboard on the picture on the front of

46:32

this tank, white tank top, but

46:35

it was empty on the back, and

46:37

I wrote spree well on the

46:39

back and put fifteen.

46:41

And I wore that thing to school and

46:44

I.

46:44

Got talked about like crazy,

46:46

but I wore the like I

46:48

was just determined to have Spree wall on the

46:50

back of my jersey.

46:53

So I've always wanted the meat Spree.

46:55

And I followed him when he you know, when he was

46:58

when he went to the Knicks when the temblewles, I

47:00

root it for him.

47:01

Never met Spree will before.

47:02

I've been covering to leave for what thirteen years now,

47:06

running to him at our hotel that was

47:08

staying. That was still at the Renaissance Hotel,

47:11

which is across the street from Masison Square Garden. He

47:13

actually walks out the hotel, so I had a

47:15

chance to just talk to him

47:17

for briefly because he was on the go, and

47:19

I told.

47:20

Him, man, man, Spree, I've been a fan of you. Spree

47:22

for three. Spree for three.

47:23

That was the call the broadcast

47:25

call whenever he was shooting three back

47:27

when he was playing for the Warriors, sprae for three

47:30

and I just told a little bit how I felt

47:32

Man.

47:32

And he took a picture. I sent you.

47:34

I sent you and our producer Tim

47:37

the picture, and I

47:39

was going to post about it. And I posted about

47:42

it today and put on Instagram if anybody

47:44

wants to see it on my Instagram.

47:46

But I also put

47:49

on Instagram like the moment I had

47:51

with Spree. After that next

47:53

game, ended up having a drink with

47:55

Spree. Gave me a drink. You guys know I don't drink,

47:58

but I felt forced to take drink was

48:00

Spree. Chess was burning like crazy.

48:03

Took a little drake. He was like, oh okay, I can see

48:05

you don drake. That's okay, Christy. They gotta take

48:07

no more. But he said this to me, Star, He

48:10

said, listen. He said, I've

48:12

been watching you afar for years and

48:14

I'm a fan of what you do. He said, So

48:16

for you to tell me I was your favorite

48:18

player growing up, he said, Man, that touched

48:21

me. And he said, I never

48:24

knew we had that connection.

48:27

He said, so thank you for telling me.

48:28

Man. That made my day and Stein,

48:32

to this day the house that.

48:34

I grew up in. My parents still live at

48:36

that house. In my room

48:39

I got as I sent you pictures, sent

48:41

you and producer to pictures. That is

48:43

how my room is right now, still

48:45

dirty. But you have three

48:48

spree Well posters. They're really

48:50

not posters. There are pages I took out of a

48:53

magazine of a feature

48:55

that I forgot what magazine was,

48:57

a feature that was done on spree Well. But

49:00

that's the way it looks in my room right now

49:02

with those Spreewel posters. So and

49:05

I showed you guys a high school photo of me

49:07

wearing fifteen as well, so you

49:10

know that was a real special.

49:11

Moment for me to be able to meet him.

49:13

And you know a lot of times

49:15

people have bad experiences when they meet.

49:17

There, that's what they.

49:20

Yeah, yeah, but you had

49:22

a good one, great one. And lastly,

49:24

Stein, I want to say this, I

49:27

was twelve years old when I put these posters

49:30

up on my wall. That you see, Stein,

49:33

go to the picture I showed you is

49:35

go to the picture of the posters. The

49:37

one poster I want you to pay attention

49:40

to is the one where he's wearing

49:42

the blue Warriors Jersey. Go

49:45

to that real quick.

49:46

If you can.

49:47

Okay, I think I found it.

49:48

Reminded everybody.

49:50

I put these posters up when

49:52

I was twelve years old. This poster has

49:54

been in my room ever since. I'm forty two years

49:56

old. Now you see that photo.

49:59

Stein NBA

50:01

on TNT in the corner.

50:03

NBA on TNT on a corner

50:06

of that poster. NBA

50:08

on TNT is on a corner of this

50:11

the Trails Spree World poster, the

50:13

NBA on TNT. I

50:16

would never, in my wildest

50:18

dreams ever would have thought that I

50:21

would be working for TNT

50:24

as an NBA sideline reporter.

50:26

I'm at twelve.

50:27

I'm getting straight fs at this point, so

50:31

I'm just man, that's to me. I

50:33

don't mean to get religious on people, but you know,

50:35

I believe that was God. Man, that was that

50:40

had this in my room the whole time and

50:43

had plans for me and I didn't

50:45

even know it.

50:46

So you know, I'm hopeless on Instagram.

50:48

So did you post all the pictures you posted the

50:50

stuff from your room.

50:51

I post I post all those pictures. I

50:53

posted up the pictures, all the posters and the

50:56

picture of me wearing fifteen in high school.

50:58

The picture of me and Spree, Yeah, I'll

51:01

post it all man just came back

51:03

full circle.

51:03

So I had a.

51:04

Pretty That was a great trip in New York

51:06

Man to get the meat Spree.

51:09

All right.

51:09

On that very warm

51:12

note, we are going to put a bow on

51:14

this edition of This

51:16

League uncut As always, everyone

51:19

please remember to follow us, rate

51:21

the show, review the show.

51:22

We would love to earn a

51:25

five star review.

51:26

And who can resist that heartwarming

51:29

tale that Chris Haynes just shared about

51:31

meeting the favorite player

51:35

of his youth, Latrell Spree will

51:37

Nicks legend. All right, Chris

51:39

and I will get together again very very

51:41

soon for another episode as we both

51:44

continue to cover these playoffs. As

51:47

mentioned, I'm headed back to Dallas to

51:49

pick up mas Clippers Game

51:51

three and Chris

51:54

he's got games three and four in

51:56

Miami and game five in

51:58

Boston three of

52:02

Celtics Heat after doing Game two in

52:04

Boston the Heat's stunning victory.

52:07

So stay tuned.

52:08

We will be back together with you very

52:11

very soon. Thanks everyone

52:13

for listening, and

52:15

that'll do.

52:16

It for us. See you next time. This

52:19

League un Cutters and iHeartRadio production. Chris

52:27

Haines and mark Stein