0:13

Welcome in! What's Right with Nick

0:15

Wright, Episode 231, after one of

0:17

the best nights of basketball in

0:20

recent NBA history. Also,

0:23

you know, not shockingly probably, I

0:26

was, you know, feeling some type of way this

0:28

morning. I had a gut-wrenching loss.

0:30

There are two teams in the NBA that

0:33

I have a personal

0:35

connection to. The

0:37

Sixers and the Lakers, where

0:39

I have a real personal

0:42

relationship to either people on

0:45

the team or running the team or involved

0:47

in the team. And

0:49

they both lost last night in

0:53

excruciating fashion. So, not

0:56

shockingly, if you know me, Little

0:59

Trouble Sleeping had those

1:01

dreams that you have

1:03

typically when like, you're kind

1:05

of, at least for me, when you're, you

1:08

know, you're making bad decisions in life or

1:10

your life is like spiraling out of control

1:12

or you're worried it might be, like you're

1:14

driving a car and you don't have control

1:17

of the car and it just keeps accelerating.

1:19

I used to have those dreams all the

1:21

time when I was a maniac. I

1:25

didn't have those exact dreams. Instead, I

1:27

had like the adult version of like

1:30

super angsty, hard

1:32

to sleep dreams because

1:35

I love sports. There are a

1:38

couple teams I really root for on a personal

1:40

and professional level and they both had their guts

1:42

ripped out last night. So we'll

1:44

get into all of that. But

1:47

I want to say something to you, the listeners,

1:49

because I got a smile this morning when I

1:52

walked in to Trentage

1:54

where we do the podcast and

1:56

someone had slipped through the grate of the,

1:58

you know, the gate a letter

2:04

And I thought it was a letter it says I'll

2:06

hold it up right here. It says

2:08

Nick right Trentage

2:10

with the address of the store, and

2:12

it's a letter from Dallas from

2:16

I I guess I'm not gonna give their last

2:19

name, but tray and Dailin

2:21

or Dylan I apologize. I think

2:24

it's dailin and what it

2:26

is and I'll cover up the important info is Is

2:29

a wedding invitation? to

2:32

a wedding in Dallas that is

2:34

in a few weeks that they know I

2:36

can't go to because I said Months

2:40

ago. I'm the best type

2:42

of person to invite to your wedding because

2:44

I won't go, but I'll send a gift

2:46

So tray and dailin when you

2:48

get those air tags that were on your

2:51

registry. They're from your buddy Nick, right? I

2:54

saw the nice little four-pack of air

2:56

tags They actually

2:58

I even did same-day delivery. They're

3:00

getting you'll get them today and

3:04

pro tip if When

3:07

I don't know tray and dailin because I don't

3:09

know you people if you have

3:11

a dog or a pet get

3:14

before their collar an air tag holder

3:16

and Put the air

3:18

tag on it because micro chipping dogs

3:20

is not GPS in dogs. It's just micro

3:22

chipping them Someone's still got to find the

3:24

dog So you don't ever afterwards

3:27

so if you ever years from now

3:29

your dog runs away and you're able

3:31

to find him It'll be because you

3:33

listened to my advice for months ago,

3:35

which was hey invite me to a

3:37

wedding if I'm you know in

3:39

a good mood or even just you know feeling

3:41

like I want to do something nice or Lost

3:45

enough money betting on the Lakers money line

3:47

last night my first bet since the Super

3:49

Bowl that I'm like Yeah, what's another hundred

3:52

bucks go ahead and do

3:54

it. I was so confident the Lakers

3:56

are gonna win I'm out here buying

3:58

demands a great seats to tonight's Clippers

4:00

Mavs game. Wish I could rescind that

4:02

transaction. I'm feeling they're up 20. I'm

4:05

like I got this at plus 280.

4:08

Oh my god. I don't need the

4:10

points. The Lakers got this and it

4:12

was all going according to plan until

4:15

of course it wasn't. So we'll

4:17

get to that. We'll get to the Sixers and

4:20

we'll get to what is a

4:22

legitimate changing of

4:25

the guard in the NBA

4:27

which I think is actually the

4:29

most interesting thing happening in this

4:31

postseason and I don't

4:33

think anyone has quite explained

4:36

how stark it is. We'll

4:38

do that here in the

4:40

next 20 minutes or so but first here's

4:42

what missed the cut. Ben

4:45

Stiller dresses as Kelly

4:47

Hubre. Tom Brady's getting

4:49

roasted on Netflix and

4:51

Travis Kelsey evidently has

4:53

two songs on the New

4:55

Taylor Swift album. Listen

4:57

I love Travis. I'm happy for him and

4:59

Taylor. I don't know enough about music to

5:02

know anything about Taylor Swift's new album but

5:04

that's fine. DeMonte let's get to the actual

5:07

events that matter here. Yes

5:10

the Lakers threw everything that they had at

5:12

the Nuggets. You got great minutes from Anthony

5:14

Davis and LeBron James. DeAngelo Russell started off

5:16

the game five for five from the three

5:19

point but still came

5:21

down to a final shot from Jamal Murray

5:23

unfortunately. With all the premature

5:25

gloating that you did that you feel

5:27

partly responsible for their loss. No so

5:30

before we get to anything else let's

5:32

talk about why the Lakers lost. So

5:35

let me on the front end say

5:38

the biggest reason the Lakers lost. The

5:41

biggest reason the Lakers lost

5:44

is because and I understand

5:46

some folks now get get no

5:49

listen Rui had a rough game that's not it though I'm not

5:51

gonna do that. Um and

5:55

I know some folks feel like I'm

5:57

not even like allowed to have this

5:59

opinion because my previous opinions

6:01

but if you can't

6:03

be presented with mountains of

6:06

new evidence and then change how

6:08

you feel about things then why

6:10

exist in the world then why

6:13

you know to watch things read

6:15

things learn things whatever the

6:18

biggest reason the Lakers lost that

6:20

game is

6:23

because yokic is that

6:25

dude man I

6:28

thought Anthony Davis played an

6:30

awesome game and

6:32

Joker damn near had a 30

6:35

20 and 10 you

6:38

look disconcerted by what I said to

6:40

Monza the or I mean definitely

6:42

he definitely is and he just does some

6:44

some stuff that that

6:46

you've never seen before there is

6:48

no and right because I was

6:50

like oh a D's it's

6:53

not going down the dude threw it off the glass like

6:55

to his team and I think it was what

6:58

we plan I don't know so

7:00

I don't that part I don't think was planned but I think

7:02

he was smart enough to know I've got to

7:04

just get it up and see

7:06

what happens like nothing worse

7:08

is gonna happen so there

7:10

there are so the a

7:12

one reason is right now

7:15

the like the nuggets

7:17

have the guy and

7:20

when you have the guy even

7:23

when Jamal Murray going into that final shot

7:25

is eight of 23 even

7:27

when D low is cooking even

7:30

when ad is having a

7:32

great game and LeBron is

7:34

having an old-school

7:36

uh and

7:40

old-school and by the way I

7:42

evidently texted I sent the wrong

7:44

text to I sent a

7:46

text to the group chat that I

7:49

didn't oh that oh never mind I didn't

7:51

send her text a group chat our group

7:53

chat found the wedding website for the people

7:55

I sent not the registry we'll keep

7:57

that private Um,

8:01

the, so as I was saying, even

8:03

when LeBron, I thought had

8:06

a great game and

8:08

paced himself well, like

8:10

to where he was just distributing early.

8:12

So he had more in the tank

8:14

late, uh, did all

8:17

of that when the nuggets cut it to

8:19

two LeBron hit back to back threes, then

8:21

had those big time drives at the end

8:23

of the game. And it

8:25

wasn't enough because Yokich

8:28

is greatness kept Denver in

8:30

the game. And

8:32

then the, so the first reason is something

8:34

the nuggets did employ.

8:36

Nikoli, Yokich. The

8:38

second reason is, and

8:41

this is, this is

8:44

when, if you

8:46

had bet on the Lakers, if you're rooting for the Lakers,

8:48

if you were being honest, you were nervous. That

8:53

second half of the third quarter was

8:56

utterly disastrous again. Second

8:59

straight game. They

9:02

got annihilated in the second half of

9:04

the third quarter, stopped running offense after

9:07

it seemed like that LeBron, AD high

9:10

pick and roll. There was no answer

9:12

for it. They went away

9:14

from it. And after the Lakers went up

9:16

74 65 at the seven 15 Mark. Here

9:22

are the Lakers offensive possessions. Rui

9:25

missed three, AD missed

9:28

three, AD

9:30

turnover, Rui missed

9:32

dunk, AD missed

9:34

putback, D-Lo missed

9:36

three, LeBron

9:39

missed two, AD

9:42

turnover, Gabe

9:44

Vincent missed three, AD

9:47

missed jumper, AD

9:50

offensive foul turnover, which was the

9:54

key moment. So from

9:56

that seven minute mark to two 40 Mark,

9:58

the Lakers. had 8 possessions,

10:02

maybe 9 there, got

10:04

0 points and at the end

10:07

of it Anthony Davis picked up his

10:09

4th foul which then

10:11

made AD have to go to the bench

10:14

and then Jokic did literally

10:17

whatever he wanted and

10:19

so even then the Lakers were able

10:21

to score at the end of that

10:23

quarter because LeBron came back in, D-Lo

10:26

hit a 3, LeBron made some free

10:28

throws, every possession the Nuggets

10:30

had they were scoring because

10:32

when AD went to the bench Joker

10:34

was unstoppable. So

10:37

instead of it being a 16 or

10:40

18 point lead at the end of the

10:42

3rd it's only 10 and then one

10:46

other sequence and then

10:48

we'll get to LeBron's complaints about the officiating,

10:51

one other sequence that is

10:54

you know it's just what basketball is but

10:56

man oh man it can be painful. LeBron

11:01

has the steel burst

11:04

dunk which is

11:06

one of the dopest plays an old

11:08

guy in sports has ever made. A

11:11

guy his age at that point in

11:13

the game, one point game,

11:15

minute and a half left, snip

11:18

out the pass, have the burst, get there,

11:20

I thought he might be going to be

11:22

getting hung on the rim. This

11:24

guy is 39 year 21 and was on fumes,

11:26

got it. And

11:33

then I tweeted out this clip, Joker

11:36

then the game

11:38

footage doesn't get you right back in the play

11:41

but by the time you see back in the

11:43

play Joker is trying to draw

11:45

a 3 point

11:48

a 3 shot foul and

11:50

just kind of chucks it at the rim, doesn't

11:53

get the call and the

11:55

ball is careening out of bounds. Aaron

12:00

Gordon saves it,

12:03

falling out of bounds, and

12:05

hits MPJ. And

12:08

MPJ hits the three, and all

12:10

of a sudden it's a tie game. So

12:14

that, you know, that

12:16

sequence right there, it

12:19

just, that

12:21

ball goes out of bounds. The

12:23

Lakers win the game. If

12:27

they only get a two instead of

12:29

a three, everything's different. So

12:31

I understand, yes, LeBron missed the

12:33

three to go up three. If

12:36

anybody on television,

12:38

radio, podcast, anything is

12:41

taking anything away from that game in relation

12:43

to LeBron's play, we can talk about his

12:45

comments in a moment. That's like, oh, didn't

12:48

come through. Then

12:50

you either don't understand the game of

12:53

basketball or you're actively trolling. You can

12:55

pick which side you want to be

12:57

on, but that's, that's not a viable

12:59

opinion. You can't watch that game be

13:01

like, oh, LeBron blew it. LeBron was

13:03

great in the fourth thing is the

13:05

Nuggets are better. And what's

13:07

frustrating for me is people are like, oh, Nick,

13:09

you picked the Lakers win. I picked the Lakers

13:11

to win the series because

13:13

a lot of my series

13:16

analysis actually was correct. And

13:18

it just hasn't mattered yet. I

13:21

said that LeBron would be better in fourth

13:23

quarters than he was in

13:25

the first series. Just that one

13:28

fourth quarter last night alone was

13:30

better than all his fourth quarters combined.

13:32

I said Jamal Murray was not going

13:34

to average 30 to a

13:36

night on 55 40 splits. Jamal

13:39

has had his struggles. I

13:41

said that D-Lo was not going to

13:44

be 13% from three. He

13:47

hit seven last night and

13:49

it didn't matter. I mean, it mattered,

13:51

but it didn't matter. And so it

13:53

is, it

13:55

is a painful

13:58

loss. of

14:00

the Lakers and

14:02

it is really interesting to

14:05

see what their mind frame

14:07

is going back to LA because

14:09

had they won it they

14:12

are now like don't have to win there again. Win

14:16

our two at home, punt game

14:18

five, go win game six. Now

14:21

the path is either and

14:24

it is a winnowing path. Beat

14:27

the Nuggets who have beaten you ten times in a

14:29

row, four straight games or

14:33

beat the Nuggets four

14:36

out of five including a game

14:38

seven in Denver when games five,

14:41

six and seven I'm sorry game

14:43

six and seven are one day

14:45

apart. That's

14:47

a very very thin path.

14:50

Now do I think that

14:54

were the Lakers to get past Denver they

14:57

could win the title? I actually do. If

15:00

Denver is the best team the

15:03

Lakers are going blow for blow with

15:05

them but sometimes that

15:07

happens man and

15:09

I was

15:14

incredibly and I still am

15:16

retroactively as a

15:19

sports fan incredibly frustrated

15:21

by the existence of

15:24

the KD Warriors because

15:27

there were a lot of things

15:29

I thought that kind of robbed

15:33

from sports fans. I think Lebron

15:35

versus Steph going

15:37

toe to toe in those finals year

15:40

after year should have been

15:42

kind of the story of that

15:44

little mini basketball era and

15:47

there is a lot of part

15:50

of it and I also think

15:52

Steph versus Durant I think those

15:54

three guys and aging Lebron a

15:57

peaking Steph and at his apex

15:59

Durant those three. superheroes all

16:01

kind of leading their own crews should

16:04

have been the story of the NBA. It

16:07

didn't and it to me made

16:09

the league less exciting for a few

16:12

years. I don't feel

16:14

that way at all about Denver because

16:16

Denver doesn't feel

16:19

unfair. Denver

16:21

doesn't feel like ah you had a

16:23

salary cap spike and you you you

16:25

game the system and no. Denver

16:29

did it the

16:32

way it's been done in NBA history

16:34

which is guess what we

16:37

got we were fortunate enough to either

16:39

win a draft lottery or in their

16:41

case have one of

16:44

the greatest developmental stories in sports

16:46

history. This mid

16:48

second round pick turn into this

16:50

Goliath we were smart and

16:52

how we filled the team out around him

16:56

and he's the apex predator of the league right

16:58

now. Come get him

17:01

and I and folks can say

17:03

that I make

17:06

too many things or

17:08

focus too much on

17:10

LeBron. I

17:12

think that what LeBron is doing right now

17:15

is one of the most remarkable things

17:17

any of us will ever see in

17:19

sports and we'll talk about why

17:22

that is when we get into the passing

17:24

of the torch but

17:26

this guy at this age

17:29

in the biggest game of

17:31

the year saying alright I'm

17:34

gonna go vintage LeBron run

17:36

point control every aspect of

17:39

the game like

17:41

great defense in the there was a

17:43

spot at the end of the first

17:46

half when AD had two fouls and

17:48

the Lakers didn't want to risk AD

17:51

picking up his third and

17:53

LeBron for four straight possessions just said

17:55

all guard Joker. The

17:58

fact that that guy is guarding that guy

18:00

at this stage of his career we've never

18:02

seen anything like it we won't ever see

18:04

anything like it again and yeah

18:06

I would have liked if they had

18:08

gotten the win last night but it's

18:10

sports man it doesn't

18:13

always like there's the

18:15

story line you think you deserve and then

18:17

there's the one you get and

18:19

such is life and ties typically

18:22

go to the

18:24

team with that dude for

18:27

a long time that meant they went to

18:29

LeBron's team not anymore

18:32

ties now go to Joker's team because he's that guy

18:35

and he's just he deserves it all

18:37

right now the Monday we can get to the

18:39

officiating yes so

18:41

yesterday no LeBron basically said

18:44

that he didn't like the officiating in this game

18:46

or the last one that they played in do

18:48

you think he's being a sore loser is there

18:50

actually something there well

18:52

so let's listen to LeBron soundbite and he also

18:54

talks about the Philly game I think not his

18:57

last game but the preview the game earlier in

18:59

the night let's hear it D-Lo

19:02

clearly gets hit in the face on the drive do

19:06

we have a replacement of this is gonna

19:08

go that doesn't it doesn't make sense it

19:11

makes no sense to me and then I just

19:13

saw what happened with the Sixers

19:16

Nick came to what are we are

19:19

we doing okay

19:24

so here's the deal there's gonna be

19:26

a lot of tweets

19:28

about oh my gosh the LeBron

19:30

complaining about the officiating here's a

19:32

graph that shows you free throw

19:35

differential the last two years and

19:38

the lake okay just some pure

19:40

facts the Lakers did not

19:43

lead the NBA in free-throw attempts this

19:45

year they didn't okay Orlando

19:48

did I think let me check to make

19:51

sure yeah Orlando did the

19:54

reason the Lakers have a massive

19:56

free-throw differential is they defend

19:58

without fouling better than every any team

20:00

in the league but Boston. Okay?

20:03

So they get a bunch of free throws because they

20:05

don't shoot a ton of threes. They

20:08

don't foul a lot because of

20:10

their style of defense and because

20:12

to be honest LeBron

20:14

is still to this day either really

20:16

not defending or just a smart defender

20:18

and AD in my opinion is the

20:20

best defensive player in the league. So

20:22

that leads to the discrepancy. When

20:25

you actually look at LeBron, when

20:27

you look at the facts on players

20:30

who get you know X amount

20:32

of points in the paint or have

20:34

X amount of drives per game, LeBron

20:36

by that metric gets one of the

20:38

worst whistles in the league. Now

20:41

is Austin Reeves a bit of a foul merchant? Do

20:43

the Lakers have guys that know how to game it?

20:46

Sure. But LeBron has not

20:49

gotten the benefit of a whistle

20:51

at least according to the data. Ever

20:55

since he's been with the Lakers. So

20:58

what is LeBron's frustration? So

21:02

I'm going to give you the micro and then

21:04

I'm going to give you the macro and I

21:06

promise you no one else in the world is

21:08

going to bring up the macro thing but

21:13

I have, should I say this?

21:16

Yeah okay I'll say this. I

21:18

have in the last six

21:23

months talked

21:26

with LeBron personally

21:28

about the specific play that I'm going to

21:31

bring up here in a moment. That's

21:33

the macro. But the micro is

21:36

this. I didn't understand

21:38

those reviews either to be totally clear.

21:42

The first review LeBron was daring them

21:44

to review it. He's like yeah review

21:46

it. And I tweeted like well okay

21:48

you're going to lose this review. I was shocked they

21:51

won it. The second review,

21:53

DeAngelo Russell does get hit in the face. That's

21:56

undeniable. Now what they said is he got hit

21:58

in the face after the shoot. shot had been

22:00

released, that is flatly

22:03

right or wrong, an adjustment in

22:05

how they have been calling that

22:08

then over the course of the year.

22:12

You can argue that it should be the

22:14

landing space, right? Like

22:16

after the shot. That's

22:18

after the shot, but that's like to protect your

22:20

ankles. But the point that I'm making is this,

22:22

DeMonday, neither of those

22:24

reviews have any chance of

22:27

being successful during the regular season. Another

22:30

one. Now during the playoffs they are like the

22:32

refs, so be it. LeBron's

22:35

real frustration, and he didn't mention it was,

22:38

on not on the dunk, but on

22:41

the layup he hit to give

22:43

the Lakers the final basket of the game

22:45

for the Lakers, I think. Then

22:47

was that, let me look at it,

22:50

what was the final basket of the game for the

22:52

Lakers? Was it the DeAngelo bucket

22:54

or was it LeBron's layup? No,

22:57

it was the LeBron's layup. He gets

23:00

hit in the head, and

23:02

he is screaming demanding an and

23:04

one. He gets hit in the head

23:06

and doesn't get it. So

23:08

he's pissed, and yet all of

23:10

that matters. All of it

23:13

matters because if going into the

23:15

final possession, instead of it being

23:17

tied the Lakers are up one,

23:19

they do everything different. So I

23:21

understand the general frustration, but calls

23:23

do tend to even out,

23:25

right? The Sixers are going to

23:27

say they don't because of how the game ended, I

23:30

understand that. But

23:32

let me talk to you about the replay

23:34

center thing for a moment. This is the

23:36

macro. What

23:39

is, let me ask the room, I don't

23:41

want to put, I want to ask

23:43

the production room. Not

23:46

the most important, the most

23:48

important game LeBron's ever played

23:50

is the 45, 15

23:52

and 5

23:54

game six before he'd won a title

23:57

down three, two, the blueprint game in

23:59

Boston. He had 30 in the

24:01

first half. They had just lost three

24:03

straight. It was coming off the MAB

24:06

series from that moment That is the

24:08

line of demarcation of Lebron's career. It

24:10

could have gone one way He played

24:12

one of the greatest games

24:14

ever played and the

24:16

most important game of his career came

24:18

through and from that moment forward He

24:20

went title title 36

24:23

13 and I'm sorry title title finals loss of

24:25

the Spurs 36 13 and 9 in the finals loss

24:27

31 comeback Finals

24:31

finals against Katie's Warriors injured title. That's

24:33

what he did after the 45 15

24:35

and 9 What

24:40

is the best game LeBron

24:42

has ever played in his career Anyone

24:44

want to grab a mic and say what it is? Because

24:47

one game should stand out above all

24:49

else any if anyone wants to guess

24:52

and I'll give context on why I'm saying this In a moment

24:55

Daniel you're that I know

24:57

you're reveling in the Nuggets fandom. I'm putting you on

24:59

the spot. Do you have a guess? Honestly,

25:03

I mean I'm hearing different things in here But

25:05

game four when he had 40 points last year

25:07

as old man LeBron is most impressive I've seen

25:09

Yeah, I know that's not what you're looking for

25:11

that. Okay, that's not what I'm looking

25:14

for. It was go it Matt Do you have a guess?

25:17

Go ahead game one of the 18 finals 50

25:19

points. That is correct It's

25:22

not only the greatest game LeBron's ever played.

25:25

It's arguably the greatest game anyone's ever played

25:27

in NBA history It was

25:29

LeBron JR Smith Injured

25:33

Kevin Love against

25:35

the apex Golden State

25:37

Warriors LeBron

25:39

in that playoffs prior

25:42

to that game had 740

25:45

point games in the playoff run Had

25:47

just come off back-to-back 48

25:50

minute games against Boston down 3-2 He

25:54

had two buzzer beaters in those

25:56

that postseason took one to beat

25:58

the Pacers one to beat the Raptors.

26:01

It was Apex somehow

26:03

LeBron in 2018, so in

26:06

year 14 or 15, whatever it was,

26:13

had channeled something he had never channeled before.

26:16

And that game against Golden State,

26:18

which is forever remembered as what?

26:21

The J.R. Smith game. He

26:24

had controlled every aspect of the game. So

26:27

why am I bringing it up? And

26:30

again, I'm not trying to betray confidence,

26:33

but this is something and I

26:35

never talk about this on

26:38

the show. I think it's the first

26:40

time I've ever even acknowledged this, but

26:42

it is something that I actually discussed

26:45

this play with LeBron personally. And

26:47

don't, by the way, social media folks, don't

26:49

clip out this certain moment. If somebody else

26:51

aggregated, that's fine. I'm not trying to like

26:53

clout chase off that. I just want to

26:55

give you, I want to give the audience.

26:59

And the play and the play is this.

27:02

Okay. There

27:04

is, and I'm trying

27:06

to find the exact moment

27:09

in it, but anyone

27:11

that saw the, the

27:15

game, the

27:17

situation is this, that warriors are up one

27:20

with a minute left. LeBron

27:23

drives to the basket, gets

27:26

fouled by two people, makes

27:29

the layup, makes the free throw.

27:32

And all of a sudden the

27:35

Cavs have the lead with

27:37

30 with 45

27:40

seconds left and

27:42

they just got a hold on. And

27:45

LeBron takes a

27:48

charge on Kevin Durant.

27:51

They call it a charge and

27:54

it is going to be Cavs ball, 36 seconds

27:57

left up one. of

28:00

LeBron's career, the best playoff

28:02

run of LeBron's career against

28:04

arguably the greatest team ever, he's

28:07

going to steal home court. And

28:11

the referees go to

28:14

the review center to see if

28:17

LeBron was in the restricted

28:19

area. He

28:21

was not and they

28:24

verify that he was not. But

28:27

because they went to the review

28:29

center to review that, they

28:32

then opened up the Pandora's

28:36

box to review anything

28:39

and they said, oh he

28:42

was moving slightly, which

28:44

was not a challengeable play and was

28:47

not an auto review. But

28:49

because they went to review something

28:51

erroneously, they then were

28:53

like well let's look at this

28:56

and they switched charge to block.

29:00

And Katie hits both free throws and

29:03

then by the way, you know, then

29:05

LeBron makes a layup, Steph gets an

29:07

and-one, George Hill makes a free throw,

29:09

missed a free throw, JR timeout, whatever,

29:11

overtime loss. That

29:14

was right when the NBA was

29:16

really embracing replay and

29:20

that is a six-year

29:22

burr in this guy's saddle. So

29:26

now, once

29:28

again, replay is being

29:30

he feels used improperly,

29:33

it's driving him crazy. And

29:36

so say what you

29:38

will about that game. I don't think

29:41

I'm blaming the refs. I actually don't

29:43

think LeBron is specifically blaming the refs.

29:45

Embiid was very mad at the refs

29:47

and was obviously. But

29:49

that is the

29:52

context for

29:55

that conversation there. And

29:59

so You know the

30:01

short version of this, DeManse, I said Lakers

30:03

in six and in order for the Lakers

30:05

in six they got to lose twice. So

30:07

I'm halfway to a correct prediction. Let's get

30:09

to the next game. Alright,

30:12

so any other day that the Lakers weren't playing the Nuggets

30:14

in their first round of the playoffs, this would have

30:16

been the first topic. But

30:18

here we are. The Sixers are struggling

30:20

with the Knicks. It came

30:22

down to a final shot by Brunson or

30:24

a final shot by David Cenzo and

30:27

they obviously have been dealing with injuries.

30:30

So is it time to finally listen to

30:32

the Bodega man and believe in the scrappy

30:34

Knicks team or is this more of a

30:36

six-week problem? Oh,

30:38

listen, that was a...

30:42

That's a great Photoshop. This is why people should watch on

30:44

YouTube. That was

30:46

actually... I'm

30:49

more worried about the Sixers recovering emotionally

30:51

than I am the Lakers for two

30:53

reasons. One is, the

30:57

Lakers at

31:00

no point did

31:02

it feel like that Lakers game was

31:04

over. Even up 20, it

31:06

was too early. You know what I mean? Any

31:09

NBA game these days, up 20, you know,

31:11

up 20 in the fourth, you know it's

31:13

over. But up

31:15

20 with a quarter, you know, early

31:19

in the third, that game is not over. And

31:22

at the end of the Lakers game, it

31:24

was clearly in the balance, right? It was

31:26

back and forth, back and forth. I did

31:28

think when LeBron hit those back-to-back threes to

31:30

go up eight, that they were in real

31:32

good shape. But at no point were the

31:34

Lakers certain they won. When

31:36

you're Philly and you're up

31:39

five and the ball

31:41

is loose on the ground and there's less

31:43

than 30 seconds remaining, you feel like you've

31:45

won the game. And

31:47

then the confluence of events of Brunson,

31:51

front rims a three, and

31:54

it goes in. That is, you know,

31:57

and this is where sports can be cruel and this

31:59

is where I feel. Sick for

32:01

my pal Daryl Morey the

32:03

last Big-time playoff

32:05

shot that I saw get

32:07

front-rimmed and bounce in was

32:10

Kawhi game

32:12

winner against the Sixers and Daryl

32:15

and now Brunson hits that but

32:17

even there Okay,

32:19

you're up to you're okay and

32:23

I I Know

32:25

Nick nurse was like I called timeout man.

32:28

I've watched the tape Nick nurse

32:30

does this thing the old do

32:33

I want it do I want it

32:35

and then pulls it back when he

32:37

thinks it's getting In bounded and then

32:39

when he does start definitely calling timeout

32:41

the balls loose now Did

32:43

maxi get his jersey pulled did he

32:45

get held should there have been a

32:47

foul sure? but that

32:49

happens and It

32:53

was not say that's a 5050 call, right? You

32:56

got to not look well and get the ball

32:58

to your teammate instead of looking for the foul

33:00

there, huh? So

33:02

here's the thing. He was trying to he didn't

33:05

I'm dumb out before they in bounded it When

33:08

they're passing it to him he gets his

33:10

jersey pulled so he's not looking you know

33:12

What I mean, like he gets his jersey

33:14

pulled Which is just

33:16

you know that can happen though, but that's

33:19

also why You probably

33:21

just call timeout right after they make the shot

33:24

Calm everything down. We're up to we

33:27

can inbound from half court We

33:30

we can all you can always get it in bounded

33:32

from half court. You can go in the back court.

33:34

Let's calm down and they

33:37

didn't and that is an

33:39

excruciating loss and The

33:44

Knicks man That

33:48

I that was

33:50

I honestly think That

33:53

might have been the best

33:56

win in the garden since

34:01

Larry Johnson's four-point play

34:05

which by the way believe it or not

34:07

I had a framed Getty image picture of

34:09

that on in my

34:11

house growing up and

34:14

in our first house we ever live together

34:16

the Larry it's like an overhead shot at

34:18

MSG when Larry Johnson has the

34:20

four-point play I think that

34:22

was probably the best moment in Madison

34:25

Square Garden in

34:27

a big spot since then and it

34:29

is you

34:32

feel sick for Philly in

34:34

bead is playing on one leg and

34:37

still I mean I I

34:39

don't even know how to like putting context

34:42

what in beads doing because

34:44

he is clearly injured he

34:46

clearly doesn't trust his leg and

34:49

yet he has the you

34:52

know 34 10 and six and so and

34:58

Max he played out of his mind

35:01

the next man and

35:03

also my way I was head a little

35:05

bit to not take that last shot I

35:07

think given that the turnover the block

35:09

layup I get in beads the

35:12

guy but I kinda feel like Maxi should have

35:14

taken a three there but that's

35:16

just I don't know he gave it to

35:18

me in the kinda nasty spot I think

35:20

he had enough space for created space we

35:22

drove down but but

35:25

I don't I don't I don't disagree with

35:28

you but it was also here's the other

35:30

thing on that there

35:33

is a weird psychological thing going

35:35

on when you're down

35:37

three and you know the

35:39

other team might

35:42

want to foul down three which

35:45

is like you all like

35:48

you I'm not describing this properly

35:50

but you can't run a normal

35:54

frenetic offense because you don't

35:57

you you're

35:59

not totally just focused on let me get

36:01

to the best spot possible because it's almost

36:03

like you're playing a game of tag like

36:05

I need to make sure I don't get

36:07

close enough right for

36:09

someone to foul me and

36:12

so if I take time to try to

36:14

you know get to my spot and gather

36:16

they might foul me so I go and

36:18

then pass it quick like it's a weird

36:20

thing on the up

36:22

three I don't want to get fouled

36:25

I know the other team might want

36:27

to foul so those spots are brutal

36:30

though those spots are absolutely

36:32

brutal where maxi it's

36:34

hard to say he's screwed up but the play he wants

36:36

back is the full

36:38

court layup down one yeah you know

36:41

what I mean when they give it to him he

36:43

has a full burst of speed and Hartenstein do his

36:45

credit track his ass down and great

36:48

play great play

36:50

by Hartenstein and so uh

36:54

I I don't think Philly's

36:56

dead I want to make this clear you're

37:00

never dead the only time

37:02

game two is a

37:05

must-win game is if

37:08

you are the home team and

37:11

you lost game one okay

37:13

you can't go down

37:15

0-2 at home that typically not

37:18

always but typically is a death

37:20

knell in this league down

37:22

0-2 without home court right now we have

37:28

had 11 NBA playoff

37:31

games held home

37:33

teams are 11 and

37:35

up and so if

37:38

you can get over the emotion of

37:41

how you lost game two if

37:43

you're the Lakers or the Sixers you

37:46

go home win game three

37:48

and then with it here's

37:50

what does happen when you fall

37:52

down 0-2 you then

37:54

all of a sudden have back-to-back must-wins Right

37:58

Like you are. You have. Back to

38:00

back must win games which is

38:03

a pillow a smile to deal.

38:06

With. Yeah right or mental know? I

38:09

think that. Here's. What I think.

38:12

I think that we are going to know. From.

38:16

The. Sixers. By.

38:19

The end of the first. Near.

38:23

By. The end of the. Midway. Through the

38:25

second quarter. In. Game Three.

38:28

Whether. Or not this things going to be to do

38:30

going back to Philly or whether or not they're going to get

38:32

swept. If they look

38:34

like a team that is emotionally drained

38:37

and the next punch him in the

38:39

face early. They good photo shop. And

38:42

B lox I dare to the game. A

38:45

year is when pretty He does

38:47

serve as an Ios and listen,

38:49

I think there's a level of

38:51

if you're a bead and you're

38:53

an injured player. Or. Of your

38:55

Le Bron, And you're the oldest guy in the

38:58

league. Of. Man.

39:01

I only have so many. All.

39:04

Out effort, games and me. I.

39:07

Need to steal a game? And

39:09

then give myself a margin of error. You

39:11

know I mean and have of I don't

39:13

was a a coast game but a game

39:15

where. They've we get hop from

39:18

three. awesome. But. If not, I'm

39:20

going to recharge the batteries here,

39:22

you know, and I mean type

39:24

of spider and now they don't

39:26

have it like my gases had.

39:28

The Lakers won. That.

39:30

Game what you would have seen.

39:33

His. Game. Three does he have

39:35

two days of rest. Another all

39:37

out effort: Game three to go

39:39

up to one of your Los

39:41

Angeles and then game for for

39:43

Le Bron. The. Day between a

39:45

little bit of margin of error, a

39:48

big distribution game right. You

39:50

don't wanna be like hey we still we

39:52

still have three. One amazing of not will

39:54

take to to with Denver I'm. In.

39:57

beagle different diseases are orchestrating the

39:59

all fence But I want

40:02

to see how Embiid emotionally recovers because

40:04

he was beside himself. Also,

40:06

you got to keep this in mind for Embiid. I

40:10

mean, the guy's never been passed round two. So

40:13

like, these are... it is

40:16

hard to put in context of like,

40:18

oh, it's only game two of

40:20

round one. Like, he hasn't played a

40:22

ton of games as crazy as this sounds, bigger

40:25

than the one last night. So

40:27

I do worry about Philly

40:29

a bit. All right, let's quickly get to

40:31

Luca, and then we're going to do the...

40:35

We're going to do the

40:37

torch passing stuff. Yep. Yeah,

40:39

so your large Slovenian son filled up the stat sheet, but

40:42

could not get the job done in game one. Also,

40:45

this is a Koalas Clippers team. So

40:48

is Luca as good as you say he is, or

40:51

is there something going on there? He also has Kyrie

40:53

Irving on the team. That was

40:55

a bad game by the Mavs. There's

40:57

no doubt about it. It is amazing to me

41:00

how many folks all of a sudden think

41:03

that the Clippers are dangerous now because they're

41:05

like, oh man, if this

41:07

is the James Harden they get moving forward, it

41:10

won't be, guys. It

41:12

is... James Harden has the playoff reputation he

41:14

has, not because he's bad

41:17

in every playoff game, but because he

41:19

is unspeakably bad in

41:21

the biggest spots. Not

41:24

because he doesn't have a few great

41:26

game ones or where

41:29

he can look great. I don't believe in

41:31

the Clippers. I do believe in the Mavs.

41:34

The Clippers were the home team. Luca

41:37

was fine, but

41:39

not great, which considering he had

41:41

33, 13, and 6 speaks to

41:43

the player is. Now Kyrie was

41:45

extraordinary, and we got to

41:47

see what level Kyrie can stay at, but I'm

41:49

not worried about the Mavs. All right, that was

41:51

a great 45 minute

41:54

first block. There

41:56

is something that might happen in the

41:59

next 10... days in the NBA

42:02

that I don't think folks have fully

42:04

recognized the gravity of. I

42:07

will explain it and this unlike

42:09

the stories I told this next thing I'm doing

42:11

I do want us to

42:14

push out on social in long form

42:16

because I think it

42:18

could be the story of this postseason. We'll do

42:20

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get back to what you love

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doing this spring with Factor. Welcome

44:06

back in What's Right with

44:08

Nick Wright. Alright, so, Damanze,

44:11

let's get to the changing

44:13

of the guard part of this, because

44:15

I don't think people understand exactly what

44:17

could be happening in these NBA playoffs. Go

44:20

ahead. Yes, I mean, it's

44:22

still early, but the guard is making their mark

44:24

on these playoffs while the older guys are starting

44:26

to show their age. And the younger

44:28

guys have definitely let them know about it. Is

44:30

this the final year where the debate over which group

44:32

of guys runs the NBA is still a thing? Well,

44:37

so here's the thing on that, and

44:39

this is the part that I don't think people have

44:41

fully wrapped their minds around. Damanze,

44:44

what do you consider really old

44:46

in the NBA? What

44:49

do you think is like, wow, that is an old,

44:52

give me an age. It's probably 35, really. What do

44:54

you think really old is? 35

44:56

for NBA? Really old is

44:58

35. That is correct. What

45:02

do you think kind of, so kind of

45:04

old you have, you know, early 30s? 31, 32,

45:06

you're it. Alright,

45:09

you nailed this. So

45:11

I am going to go through every

45:14

single All-Star, either

45:17

this year or previous All-Star, in

45:21

order of descending age, okay? That

45:24

was active in the NBA this year as a

45:26

real big time player, okay? The oldest, 39 year

45:30

old. And

45:33

I'm just going to give you their age. This

45:37

is basketball reference, so I think they sort it

45:39

by their age on January 1. Okay, so

45:42

some of these guys maybe have since

45:44

turned a year older, but their age

45:46

on January 1st is okay. The

45:51

oldest, LeBron James, 39. Well,

45:54

I don't want it to be true, and it's not

45:56

the pick I made. The

45:59

odds... say his season ends in

46:01

10 days, right, or less, okay?

46:05

The next oldest, Chris Paul,

46:09

he's not playing right now. Keep

46:12

going. The next oldest,

46:15

Kevin Durant, he's

46:17

35. He might be 36 now,

46:19

again, they're ages on January 1. Kevin

46:24

Durant, 35, this

46:26

season could be over 10 days. Steph

46:31

Curry, he's not playing

46:33

anymore. Russ,

46:38

maybe his season keeps going, maybe

46:40

not. He is obviously a different

46:42

version of himself. Demar to

46:44

Rosen, 34, not playing. Jimmy

46:48

Butler, 34, not

46:50

gonna play in this post-season. James Harden,

46:52

34, by the way, every single clipper

46:55

is gonna show up on this list,

46:57

we'll see. Dame, 33.

47:02

Paul George, 33. Clay,

47:06

33, outta there. Kawhi

47:11

Leonard, 32, not healthy. CJ

47:18

McCollum, not even All-Star, 32. And

47:24

that's the list, guys. You

47:26

could include Drew Holliday, who's 33, but

47:29

Drew Holliday's also like, you

47:31

know, the fourth or fifth guy on that

47:34

team. Here's the point I'm

47:36

making, if we want to extend it to

47:38

31 or older as of January 1, Kyrie

47:44

Irving would be added to that list. Here's

47:47

my point. If

47:51

the clippers get bounced, we

47:55

are going to be in a spot where every single one of Us.

48:00

Every single. Top.

48:02

Level. Player left in

48:05

the post season. Is

48:09

either a super young guy?

48:12

Prime. of their career guy or

48:14

just turned thirty guy. All.

48:18

Of the Old Guard. Could.

48:21

Be gone. Staff.

48:23

Play Draymond already gone.

48:25

right? The Clippers. Kg

48:28

urged it. sorry P. G

48:31

Y Ross harden. Fighting.

48:34

Are going to lose this route. Le. Bron.

48:36

On. The Brink. The. Sun's

48:39

Kevin Durant's. On.

48:41

The Brink. right? We.

48:44

Are. It. Is. The.

48:46

In be I think is

48:48

done a poor job. Marketing.

48:52

This. Next wave. But.

48:54

The next ways rather hit everybody in the face.

48:57

It. Is about to be. A.

49:00

Anthony Edwards. As

49:02

ga. Nicola your kids

49:04

play offs where. The.

49:07

Old guys in the playoffs

49:09

after round one could be.

49:12

Yannis. Dame.

49:14

Is obviously on that list. and Dame is.

49:16

You know an older guys that he could

49:18

be that the oldest relevant guy remaining would

49:20

be Dame and then after him as would

49:23

be guys as hell of a lot younger

49:25

than him. Like. As

49:27

I don't even have I mentioned

49:29

again age at January One, Le

49:32

Bron, Thirty Nine Down ode to

49:34

First Ball. Thirty eight Didn't make

49:36

the playoffs or didn't make the

49:38

real playoffs. Katie, Thirty five down,

49:41

or one Staff: Thirty five Didn't

49:43

make the playoffs. Ross. Thirty.

49:45

Five will see to Marta Rose and

49:47

Thirty Forty and make the playoffs. Jimmy

49:50

Butler, thirty four injured for the playoffs

49:52

hard and thirty four will see Dame.

49:54

Thirty Three may be the one bastion

49:56

of it's because he's the one guy

49:58

who got attached. right

50:01

one of these younger

50:03

stars Paul George 33 Clay Thompson

50:06

33 didn't make the

50:08

playoffs Kawhi 32 injured

50:12

and then Kyrie Irving 31 on January 1st so think

50:18

about it like that the playoffs are going

50:20

to be where

50:22

Kyrie Irving is

50:25

the elder statesman left and

50:28

Dame and that's it a

50:31

league that has just leaned

50:34

on the lab and I

50:37

was looking at it via draft classes which

50:39

is what's so crazy about this like so

50:42

on this list of old guys so to

50:45

speak are guys

50:47

from the 2012 draft like

50:51

Dame who was the sixth pick of the 2012 draft

50:55

the fact so if you do it by draft

50:57

classes is what you get Dame

50:59

2012 2011 Kyrie and clay and Kawhi 2010

51:01

Paul George

51:09

2009 Harden

51:12

and Stepan DeRozan 2008 Russ 2007 KD

51:14

2006 nobody 2005 nobody 2004

51:30

nobody 2003 LeBron

51:33

and so like their

51:36

LeBron by the way came into the draft

51:39

10 years it came in a league 10 years

51:41

before some of the old guys

51:43

now dames an old guy LeBron

51:45

came in 10 years before dame

51:48

but it is the new

51:51

generation in the NBA here

51:53

man and it's going to be a weird

51:55

playoffs if all these guys are out of there it's

51:58

going to be fun like it is go

52:00

ahead DeMaze. No, I

52:02

don't think any of these guys will

52:04

retire over the next I think there's

52:06

a conversation for two seasons from now

52:10

because I don't see any of them

52:12

I mean you're obviously more savvy with the stuff that I

52:14

am but I don't think this is

52:16

the year I think not next year's playoffs

52:18

or the playoffs after that is

52:21

around time. I don't think they're retiring.

52:23

Oh you're just saying the skill level.

52:25

My point is my point is this

52:31

we have to recognize where we're at right

52:34

now the

52:37

Celtics have a middle

52:40

of his meaty part of his prime

52:42

late 20s superstar

52:44

Tatum great team around

52:46

him with another late 20s wingman

52:49

the Nuggets middle of

52:52

his prime late 20s superhero

52:54

with another middle of his

52:56

prime late 20s guy as

52:58

his wingman the

53:00

two kind of X Factor teams right

53:03

the Sixers and the

53:05

Bucks they're X Factor because they

53:07

have injuries to their superstars late

53:10

20s or in B's case I

53:12

think just turned 30 you know

53:15

prime superstars.

53:20

I'm leaving somebody out that it's

53:22

gonna bother me that I just thought

53:24

of but now I can't the oh

53:27

the Knicks middle of

53:29

it mid 20s entering his prime

53:32

budding star the

53:36

Timberwolves in OKC early

53:38

20s not yet to

53:41

their prime future superstars

53:44

that's who that's who's here

53:46

now and it

53:48

is a miracle that LeBron

53:50

still being here is insane take

53:53

LeBron out of it that my

53:55

the point I almost wanted to make is

53:57

because LeBron 39 it's They've

54:00

skewed everyone thinking that Steph

54:02

and Katie and Kawhi and

54:04

Harden and Russ are younger

54:06

than they are. They aren't. Those

54:09

are the really old guys. He also

54:11

probably is forcing those guys to stay in the

54:13

league a little bit longer than they might have

54:16

intended to. Well, it

54:18

is going to be like there is a

54:20

level of like when you look at it

54:22

when I was going through these draft classes,

54:24

like it is and then we

54:26

can kind of speed run through the rest of the

54:28

show. But it is funny to think

54:30

about like LeBron's

54:33

draft class, which

54:35

was an all-timer, like

54:37

how long has it felt that

54:40

Carmelo, Bosh, and D Wade have

54:43

been gone? Because those were picks

54:45

three, four, and five from Bronz

54:47

class. The class

54:49

after, 0-4, it

54:51

was Dwight and Iguodala

54:54

were the last men standing. I

54:57

mean, but that also, just to give some

54:59

context, you know who also was in that

55:01

draft class? Lewaldang. Like when

55:03

was the last, Lewaldang came

55:05

into the league one year

55:07

after LeBron. The

55:09

0-5 draft class, Chris

55:13

Paul still hanging on for that

55:15

draft class, but the second

55:17

best player in that draft class, second and

55:19

third best players were Darren

55:21

Williams and Andrew Bogut

55:24

and Andrew Bynum. Think of the last time

55:26

you thought of Bogut or Bynum. Darren Williams.

55:29

Oh, I mean, I wasn't typing out of the league. Exactly.

55:32

Darren Williams, who was awesome, has been out

55:34

of the league since 2017. It's

55:38

2024. That's

55:40

the 0-5 draft class. 0-6. The

55:44

best players from the 0-6 draft class.

55:47

All right, so Kyle Lowry hanging on,

55:49

but you know who else was in the 0-6 draft class?

55:51

So, Monza, this will bring a smile to your face, man.

55:56

Your favorite player. My

55:59

favorite player. players. Rondo

56:01

was the 06, Rondo came into the

56:03

league, but he really left a while

56:05

before that.

56:16

You know what I mean? Like Rondo

56:18

technically played for the Cavs in 2022,

56:20

but his last super

56:23

relevant season was

56:26

with the Celtics. I mean he

56:28

did help the Lakers. I mean he did help

56:31

the Lakers, I give him credit, but

56:35

Rondo's three years after Bronn

56:37

and one year before Durant.

56:40

Like Durant's contemporaries are Al

56:43

Horford, who

56:45

is an old man,

56:49

Mike Conley, who's having a nice role, you

56:51

know what I mean, with the Timberwolves. And

56:54

Joe Kim Noah, the

56:56

same draft class as KD. Joe

56:58

Kim Noah. So it's

57:00

just the old guys have held on

57:03

way longer than to be expected. This is

57:05

where I remind everyone Michael Jordan's final playoff

57:08

game with the Chicago Bulls, he was 35

57:11

years old. He

57:13

was younger than Steph is right now, he's

57:15

the same age Durant is right now. Kobe

57:17

Bryant's final playoff game

57:20

with the Lakers, he was 33 years old. This

57:24

is not a mid 30s league man, never has

57:27

been. Alright real quick DeMonday,

57:29

let's talk about this athletic player

57:31

poll and then we'll try

57:33

to do a very fast NFL draft thing. Yeah

57:36

so the athletic did their

57:38

annual and NBA anonymous player poll

57:40

and it was very juicy, so

57:42

a few takeaways. The

57:44

Nuggets and Celtics hold 90% of the votes

57:46

for the team most likely to win the title. Wimpy

57:48

was voted both number one player to build, uh,

57:52

sorry, number one player to build around the best

57:54

defender. LeBron, inch closer to

57:56

stealing the goat crown from MJ

57:58

among active players. What stood

58:00

out to you the most? Okay,

58:03

so that's the answer. So

58:07

this is where I just tell everyone, sorry guys, I

58:09

won. Sorry,

58:13

but I won. And

58:16

by I won, I mean kind

58:19

of the face of the media side

58:21

of this campaign. This

58:24

poll was done five years ago, D'Amante.

58:28

It was 73% Michael, 11% LeBron. Five

58:35

years ago. Poll was

58:37

done last year. 58%

58:39

Michael, 33% LeBron. Massive

58:44

gap. Poll done this year,

58:46

47 to 43. And

58:51

sorry Mike, but you

58:53

know, winning those NASCAR races

58:55

ain't going to spread out

58:57

the gap much. And

59:01

so folks can say

59:03

it's crazy. Count

59:06

the rings. All this time

59:09

marches on. And

59:12

as LeBron keeps writing his story,

59:14

and this is the tweet I

59:16

had this weekend with smart people

59:18

understood what I was doing, which

59:20

was, when

59:23

Michael won his first title, it

59:27

had been 22

59:29

years since

59:32

Russell won his last

59:34

title. Think about that. When

59:36

Michael won his first title, we

59:38

were 22 years removed from Russell

59:40

winning his 11th ring. This

59:44

year, we are

59:46

26 years removed from Michael winning

59:48

his last ring. So

59:52

whatever, whatever, if you're old

59:54

enough to remember the 90s, whatever

59:57

you as a kid thought

59:59

of, the Bill

1:00:01

Russell era of basketball, you

1:00:05

were closer to that than

1:00:08

we are right now to the

1:00:10

Jordan era of basketball. And

1:00:14

while the other guy's still out here

1:00:16

playing and competing, it's

1:00:18

not going to end. Here's the other thing

1:00:20

that's going to end up happening. For

1:00:23

the next 20 years,

1:00:28

every big accomplishment,

1:00:33

every postseason record, every

1:00:36

time a guy has X

1:00:39

amount of anything and

1:00:41

they show the all-time list on

1:00:44

all these categories, it's

1:00:46

going to say number one LeBron James.

1:00:50

Sorry, but MJ's not going

1:00:52

to be on those lists because he didn't

1:00:54

play long enough. And people are going

1:00:56

to see, oh wow, look at Kevin

1:00:59

Durant. He just moved into X place

1:01:01

on the all-time playoff scoring list and

1:01:03

first will be LeBron. It's like, oh wow,

1:01:06

look at Chris Paul. He just moved into X

1:01:08

place on the all-time playoff steals list and it's

1:01:11

going to be first place LeBron. It's going to

1:01:13

be like, oh my goodness, look at Wim B

1:01:16

in 18 years. He just played

1:01:19

his 250th career playoff game

1:01:22

and in first place it's going to

1:01:24

be LeBron. And

1:01:26

so yeah, this is probably the

1:01:28

last poll that we need to have you

1:01:30

in parentheses like Nick Wright on the outside

1:01:32

of the graphic. This

1:01:35

will probably be the last poll that

1:01:37

is taken where

1:01:41

Jordan has

1:01:43

a lead and

1:01:47

them's the breaks, y'all. All right,

1:01:49

I'm going to call an audible. All

1:01:52

of these NFL draft questions, let's

1:01:55

do Thursday morning. Thursday morning

1:01:57

is the draft. You know what I mean? Though

1:02:00

so keep all of this and the

1:02:02

graphics we built for it. We'll do

1:02:04

those Thursday morning Let's take

1:02:07

a quick break come back and answer some listener

1:02:09

questions before I get out of here. What's right?

1:02:17

All right, welcome back in what's right with Nick

1:02:19

right? Uh, let's get to some listener questions the

1:02:21

month before we get out of here Connor

1:02:24

Wolterman said why didn't

1:02:26

Darvin ham use a challenge on the LeBron

1:02:28

foul on Murray Leighton? Why take two timeouts

1:02:31

home with you? I Definitely

1:02:34

would have challenged the foul on Murray if

1:02:36

not To win

1:02:38

the challenge, but because you had two

1:02:40

timeouts and I thought at that point in

1:02:43

the game resting would

1:02:46

Advantage the Lakers and

1:02:50

I felt like it was a questionable call I

1:02:52

also would have taken

1:02:54

a timeout before that final possession just so

1:02:56

LeBron and ad could get a breather I'm

1:02:59

not gonna kill him for it. It seemed

1:03:01

like the Lakers were on board with it

1:03:03

I definitely would have challenged so I agree

1:03:05

with that but because Now

1:03:08

maybe they didn't want to let the Nuggets make a defensive adjustment,

1:03:10

but I don't think they were going to So

1:03:12

I agree with that critique. All right, go ahead

1:03:16

Caleb W asked with the assumption that

1:03:18

yolkage wins this year's MVP Could

1:03:20

you make an argument that he's a top five center of all

1:03:23

time? Got

1:03:25

a photo show. Oh We

1:03:27

have a Photoshop. Okay, um We

1:03:30

you did you definitely can make

1:03:33

the argument so

1:03:36

the That right

1:03:39

now let's say yolkage didn't exist the

1:03:42

five best centers ever are Kareem

1:03:46

Russell Wilt a keem

1:03:48

check and The a

1:03:50

keem shack some people would have shaka keem a

1:03:52

keem shack If

1:03:55

yolk it didn't exist number six on

1:03:57

that list is definitively Moses Malone and

1:04:00

then after that it's kind

1:04:02

of a pick your poison's

1:04:04

the wrong word but pick your favorite you

1:04:06

know David Robinson has a case I don't

1:04:10

really want to do George Mike in but

1:04:12

George Mike and I guess you know we

1:04:14

want to go real old time has a

1:04:16

case how do you can what do you

1:04:18

consider Bill Walton you know those

1:04:20

are the that that's now the waters

1:04:22

you're swimming in then

1:04:24

you get to Ewing and those waters and

1:04:27

things like that uh yoke

1:04:30

it just passed Moses already my

1:04:33

opinion you passed him this year

1:04:38

if I

1:04:40

don't think winning this year's

1:04:42

MVP is enough for

1:04:45

him to pass Shaq or a

1:04:47

keem even though they each only have

1:04:49

one MVP winning

1:04:51

this year's MVP and the

1:04:53

championship you got to start

1:04:55

to have some real conversations about it now

1:04:58

I'm in a keem over Shaq guy I know

1:05:01

a lot of people are Shaq over a

1:05:03

keem guy but yoke it is

1:05:06

now in the in

1:05:09

the discussion oh here's uh here

1:05:12

here's the yoke

1:05:15

it's Photoshop it's

1:05:17

uh it's a you

1:05:19

know I actually think yoke it yeah

1:05:22

I think yoke it should do more media

1:05:24

stuff I think it's funny all right next

1:05:27

uh but uh Blaurin asked what are your

1:05:30

thoughts on late draft on late drafting teams

1:05:32

trading out of the first round of the

1:05:34

NFL Draft Thursday an example on Iners

1:05:37

Kansas City etc I think it depends

1:05:39

on how it falls but yeah there's

1:05:41

almost always value and it's all almost

1:05:43

always smart to trade back if you

1:05:45

can I did my official mock

1:05:47

draft 4.0 uh yesterday

1:05:50

on the show people can check it out

1:05:52

on Fox Sports dot-com all right last

1:05:54

question Austin tap asked does

1:05:56

having a radio background instead of a

1:05:59

print of a print background

1:06:01

make any difference of getting an MVP votes.

1:06:04

Everyone on TV who wants to have a vote

1:06:06

does if they have had a column. Yeah,

1:06:12

so yeah, the print, it is

1:06:14

greatly slanted to like

1:06:17

print journalists were kind of god

1:06:19

fathered into the voting system, which is

1:06:22

fine. Listen I don't, you

1:06:24

know, Fox is not an NBA partner so it's

1:06:26

going to be hard for me to get a vote. Now,

1:06:30

you know, they're the ringer which does

1:06:32

great work. They're not an NBA

1:06:35

partner and they have multiple votes, you know what I

1:06:37

mean for that outlet. So do I think I deserve

1:06:39

a vote? Sure. Do I care

1:06:41

at this point anymore? No, like just is what it is.

1:06:45

And then what's the last question, Damaze? We

1:06:48

just asked with keys keys. I've

1:06:50

been married for two years. Can we still get a

1:06:52

gift? I

1:06:55

don't know. I mean you can

1:06:59

send a request to the store but probably

1:07:01

not. And like this was,

1:07:03

you just caught me on the right day,

1:07:05

Trey and Dailin. I hope you enjoy those

1:07:08

air tags. Alright I got Kylen today, then

1:07:10

I have the TV show Busy

1:07:13

Week. Damaze, you

1:07:15

do have really good, like

1:07:17

not, how do I say this? You

1:07:20

have, if I

1:07:22

were sitting in the seat you're in for

1:07:24

Clippers Mavs, I'd be pissed but I think

1:07:26

you're going to love them. So

1:07:28

they're really there. So

1:07:31

I got you really good seats

1:07:34

given I think different expectations

1:07:36

but your sideline, lower

1:07:42

level, they're good seats. Let's go.

1:07:44

They haven't shown up in my

1:07:46

inbox yet but they're

1:07:49

purchased so you and I will talk

1:07:51

but go enjoy. Who are you rooting

1:07:53

for in Clippers Mavs tonight? Honestly,

1:07:57

I gotta say like I'm

1:07:59

pretty... 5050 or more teams. I like

1:08:02

I don't I don't dislike their team. You're rooting for

1:08:04

the maps Okay, yeah, I'm

1:08:06

rooting for Luca. You're rooting for Luca. Okay. Thank

1:08:08

you. I appreciate that. All right. Talk to you

1:08:10

guys later. What's right? Hey,

1:08:13

thanks for watching. If you're still here Do

1:08:15

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