Believe it or not, there are other series going on, and since the last episode, we've gotten some upstate updates to get to out in Boston. It's done.
I mean it's been done. I told you that's that right.
It just this, it's over. It's done. Trey Young was shut down again.
He hasn't his.
Expected point total, which is a player prop number in seven consecutive playoff games.
Hawks are good in the first quarter, but we knew what time it was. The Celtics were gonna shut these boys down. They put the hammer down, and now the series is halfway done. It's gonna be a sweep. It's done.
That's just what it is. Atlanta has no answers. They are grasping at straws. This series is complete. Derek White ran through Atlanta's tissue paper defense. He put up twenty six in Game two after putting up twenty two in Game one. Tatum went twenty nine and six. Brown had eighteen three. Listen, that's enough. That's enough to put the Hawks asleep. How bad though, is the question? How bad though? Has Trey Young been?
Wow?
Zach Clow said this Trey Young is doing nothing off ball as usual.
When Dejon k Murray has the ball, and.
Of course he's being hunted mercilessly on defense in every possible way. Wherever Trey is find him, he has got one effort in him and after that it just devolves into someone on Boston getting an open shot.
Hole. Shit, thank you, thank you, Zach Low.
Let these boys know. Trey Young's not good. Um, not a lot of negative to say about the Celtics.
They're really good.
It's gonna be an incredible matchup between them and the Sixers because the Sixers series is pretty.
Much over as well.
Speaking of the Sixers, the Nets played a really good.
Game too, still lost pretty handily. Maybe they steal one at home. I don't see it.
I don't see any chance for the Brooklyn Nets to win this series. I don't think anybody does either, and b does. He gets hurt and there was one oh shit moment. They're all kind of always is with Joel right, But barring that, this is this is in early summer for the Nets. It's Celtics versus Sixers, and that's what time it is heat in the Bucks.
Though.
Moving on towards that series, they are locked in a tight one. It depends on who overcomes their injuries quicker. So actually the Heat and the Bucks haven't played Game two yet. Giannice is banged up. As we know, Tyler Hero out for the season. Milwaukee probably a better team than Miami. But here's the deal. How healthy is Yiannis? Is he going to play Game two? We'll have to see, We'll have to see. I'm favoring Milwaukee. Gonna be a
really interesting series. No real update there though, because the last time we talked there's been no game sense. Wolves and the Nuggets. Jokic's actually got a lingering injury, but I don't think it matters much. Go Bear's a negative twenty every game. I don't think it's gonna matter. You put a fork in the Wolves.
They are done.
Memphis versus Lakers. Game two is tonight. It's all gonna depend on whether Jaw plays tonight. He has a bruised hand. We already know what time it is there. Will Jaw risk for their injury by playing A lot to be seen. So no roll update on that. Either Sons and Clippers became a series.
Last night there looked like.
There was some panic. Kawhi was ballin already stole Game one in Phoenix. You go up two oh or you're down oh two going to LA and you're the Phoenix Suns. That is not a good situation for you. But Scott Foster, Scott Foster finally gave Chris Paul a game. Fourteen consecutive games that Scott Foster has officiated that Chris Paul has lost.
This is one of fifty fifteen.
Now. Russell Westbrook also played really well. I think that's deservedly noted. After going three for nineteen, Russell Westbrook put up nearly thirty. So congratulations to Russ. I think the series goes seventh. I think the series goes seven. Kawhi is really good. Get thirty one in game two, thirty eight in Game one. I think he single handedly keeps the Clippers in it. The Suns are in trouble though. Let's be honest, they are really a flawed team. They
need some depth. Their life is gonna come at them fast if they get past the Clippers.
It is Listen, man, I'm just gonna say this.
The Kings might be the best team in the West.
That's just fact.
In terms of depth, in terms of speed, in terms of athleticism. Get on the bandwagon wagon while you can let's move forward.
Out east Calves.
Beat the shit out of the Knicks. Game two, beat the shit out of them. As good as the Knicks looked in game one, they look so bad in game two. Julius Randall look, boo boo. Darius Garland came out, he bawled. They took a page from the King's notebook. They smothered Brunson mostly with Karris Lavert. They made him work hard
and it paid dividends. This is what Darius Garland said. Listen, it's very important for us to have Jalen Brunson play both sides of the floor, not just to have him sit in the corner, just to put him in a couple of actions, so to see if he can move on his feet on the defensive end, because he's gonna
have to work really hard on the offensive end against us. Yeah, I mean, Jalen Brunson's Achilles heel is his defense right now because of his size, and Karris Lavert is six to six, so that's a tough.
Matchup for him.
He went off for twenty four against Brunson who only had twenty on five for seventeen shooting, so it's gonna be really fun series. I think it's gonna be a really really fun series. That was my laptop. I'm sorry. Let's move forward outside of these first round matchups to something I think that's a little bit more evergreen, a little bit more of an overview.
But it's one of my favorite things.
Yeah, it does every single year, which is the twenty twenty three Anonymous NBA Player Poll.
And god damn am I loving it. They pull so this is what they do.
They pull one hundred and two NBA players and they ask them the questions that we all want to know, right Who who you do not want to fight? Who is the most overrated player in the league. The big question, of course, is the MVP. Half of the players they usually get it wrong. Half of the players this time said it's Joel Embiid. I think that's good for him. I'm guessing he'll finally get that coveted MVP. He wants it.
I'm not sure you, NICOLEA. Jokic really does. I'm not sure the media particularly wants to give Jokic three of.
Them in a row.
And one player summed it up best. Definitely Embid because they're winning games. They're one of the best teams. In the East. I think he kind of should have won it last year, but I mean, Jokic is also having a phenomenal season. But I think this year Embiid is the leading scorer. They're about even Really, they're really in a dead heat. It's kind of like the oldest choice whatever you like. Best uh. In the poll for best defender.
This was a good one. It was a runaway.
And I can say one hundred percent these NBA players they know ball.
They are they know ball. They one hundred percent right.
Twenty nine percent of the NBA players picked Drew Holliday. Hell yeah, I think he's the best defender in the league, and Lou Dort coming in second with eleven percent. Players love the versatility that brings on defense, especially since he can and has guarded one through five. I am unabashed Drew stan It's great to see him getting the respect from his peers because goddamn the media won't give it to him.
He needs Defensive Player of the Year. He does, he needs to win one.
Drew also won most Underrated Player with seventeen and a half percent as well, second place with Shay Gelli.
Just Alexander love to see it.
Both those boys are phenomenal on both sides of the court. Here's here's an interesting question, pick one player in the league to build a roster around.
If you were to do that, who would you choose.
NBA players overwhelmingly responded with one.
Dude, who is it? It's be honest, It's fucking yo, honest, not a shock. But here's the thing.
It was like overwhelming fifty two point four percent, with a distant second being Jokic at eight point seven percent.
That's the best compliment you can get. That means he's the best player in the league.
That means that he's the only guy that you want to start a franchise around.
Probably the funniest.
One, though, the funniest topic on this list that the Athletic does is most overrated player.
Uh. The most overrated player, of course is Stray Young.
Yeah, I mean it is, ah, it is by a fucking mile to thirty one point five percent of NBA player players poll, Trey Young is the most overrated player in the NBA. Number two was Julius Randall and number three was Pascal Siakam. They were both tied for second place at seven point four percent.
I just did a TikTok explaining that.
Trey Young is sort of overrated and people were very mad Trey Young's stance came out of the woodwork. But listen, people who are listening to this poll, people who are reading it, they know they destroyed the comment section. No question, Trey Young probably one of the most overrated players in the league in recent memory, not just right now, but in recent memory. Hate to see that, Hate to see people bringing facts to the equation when the stands come
out to play for shits and giggles. Though, I thought what this was also interesting is the goat question. Obviously mj was gonna win it, but what's interesting is that the like the distance between Mike and Braun is closing. At one point it was huge, and now it's fifty eight to thirty three.
Hmm.
I think if Braun wins another one, the gap gets even closer. Other fun polls, Who would you like to least like to fight? James Johnson, thirteen year old journeyman. He's played for eleven teams. I did TikTok on him, check that out, But listen.
He's he's a tough man.
He is apparently twenty to zero in kickboxing apparently all of his siblings he has eight and both of his parents all have black belts in karate, And that's nuts.
That's like, that's just that's it. That's the end.
Yeah, of course I don't want to fight that guy. Steven Adams probably a close second. What arena has the worst fans? I was surprised by this one.
Hornet's won with.
Fifteen point two percent, So I'm not sure. Is it like just the least interested fans. Is it the worst fans if you play for the team, Is it the worst fans for an opposing team. I don't understand it, but I never have considered their fan base to be like particularly bad. I've just never really thought of them at all. Maybe that's why they're the worst. I've never once thought what is it like at a Charlotte Hornets game?
Never one time until right now. Now. I'm like, what is it like? I kind of want to know. Now.
Detroit was second at eleven percent. That's disrespectful. I love watching games in Detroit. I saw the Warriors play the Pistons earlier this year. It was a great vibe the arena with the best fans. This one's gonna be funny for you Boston, Boston. I don't know about that, chief, No, no, no, no, no. So eighteen here's where it's funny. Eighteen percent of the NBA players picked Boston, which is, like I guess, a pretty big coincidence given the NBA. Seventeen percent of the
NBA is white. So where those one percent come from? Where that one percent gap come from? Uh? I don't know if this poll was made up exclusively of NBA players who play or played in Boston, but Sacramento was second at twelve point one percent, which makes more sense. Golden One is a great arena. The coach, there's another interesting category. The coach you'd least like to play for. We have a runaway winner, folks, think about it, think about it, think about it, think about it. Don't you
think too hard? Don't you think too hard? It's Thibodeau.
It is. You knew it was Thibodeau, didn't you.
You mean to tell me that it's not appealing for your coach to make you run wind sprints the day after an overtime loss.
You mean to tell me you don't want to do that. That's exam You mean to tell me that's not like a fun coach to play for. Ah.
I remember meeting him and I'm like, yeah, I've never met a coach where I can like look at a player and say, TIB's guy or no TIBs guy. Like there's no other coach in the league where you're like, Spolstro would never let that guy play for him.
Uh. Steven Silas, who has gone and fired.
He made the list at fourteen and a half percent, which I think probably reflects how many trades Houston has made in the last three years. Like, I think half the league has played for Steven Silas. Finally, current coaches the NBA players would most want to play for? The runaway answer here still pretty surprising. Actually, Greg Popovic. What nearly a quarter of the league would want to play
for Greg Popovic? It must be like a like a like a legacy thing, like oh yeah I played for pop Like oh yeah, I played with Jordan kind of a thing. It seems a little weird until you dig into his background. You read stories about how he changes players' lives. If you look at Demarta Rosen, Demarta Rosen has wildly high praise for Greg Popovich, one of the true OG player coaches and He tears up nearly every time he talks about.
What pop means to him. He's a god. Greg Popovich is a god.
Even at his old age, most players want to play for him, which is crazy amazing. Steve Kerr was second at thirteen point seven, which I think also makes some sense as well. What's it that's all the time that we have for this episode of the heat Check? Check back Monday. I don't even know what day it is for an all new episode. As we break down the playoffs, do not forget to check the feed for past episodes and for bonus episodes that drop inexpectedly throughout the week.
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