On this episode of the Eat Check.
It's a Sunday night, that's when we're recording it. The playoffs are here. The first weekend of the NBA Playoffs are in the books.
Let's just say overall, not counting what we just saw yawn.
Other than a couple of games on Saturday and the game with OKC and the Pelicans, it was blowout city favorite teams aka the home teams dominated and there were a few surprises.
Looking at you, Milwaukee Bucks.
Let's get right into an Anthony drop O, motherfucking beat the should be Rihanna, Okay.
All boots. I have four or five top.
Live story that we'll dig into before talking about the other four series. Let's open up this episode with the Sixers versus the knickt series that opened up on three thirty Saturday, probably the biggest news of the playoffs so far, because Joel Embiid started the game dominated said game looked like.
The Sixers were going to roll Knicks. Fans online were shaking in their fucking boots. Oh yeah, what the fuck is going on?
Oh my god, Madison Square Garden celebrity rote everyone is shook. And then and then the dumbest.
Thing I think I've seen happened.
Joel Embiid decided to dunk for the first time since his knee injury. And not just dunk like nobody's around in a lob. No, he dunked like that drunk uncle does in his fucking slides at the barbecue, trying to dunk on his little nephew's only to stumble and ball into the smoker and ruin the whole fucking shindig because you gotta take unk, drunk unk to the hospital, to the er.
That's what he did. I'm not joking.
He locked the ball off the backboard to himself and dunked into a crowded area, knowing that that knee was not stable, came down on his knee badly, tough, like a hard hard landing, goes to the ground immediately, his eyes rolling into the back of his head, glazing over. It might have been the dumbest thing I've seen anyone with the nagging injury do. Like, what the fuck, dude, This isn't November one, this is postseason hoops. People were like on Twitter, Oh, the Sixers shouldn't have let Joel
and be play. They should have protected him.
From himself is what you're supposed to do with your players. Blah blah, blah blah blah. What are we talking about here? He was out eight weeks, He was out.
The extended amount of period of time he was supposed to be after the surgery to get right, and if he wasn't right, then certainly it was not the Sixers call for him to try that fucking move. If you feel froggy enough to attempt that dunk, you gotta be one and ten percent, brother, because if you're not, I mean, Joel and B could legitimately.
Every play of every game.
He's on the k of never returning to a basketball game ever again. Like I am constantly afraid we will never see him play another minute. This is the type of dunk you see in a high school McDonald's All American game, and that was what Joel ANDB decided to do.
I just can't believe it.
I'm still thinking about it, as you can tell no idea by the way he left the game. Of course, what kind of drugs they gave him because they were shooting him up with something. Because he didn't even look like he was cognizant of his surroundings.
He could have been at Ruyer Park.
He could have been like in his middle school game, like he had no idea what time in space he was at. All I know is he was just hitting free throw after free throw, still putting his body on the line, and was faded the rest of the game. But even zombie Joel Embiid was unguardable. Thirty six minutes thirty three seconds on the floor, Sixers out scored in New York by fourteen. When he was off the floor, they were minus twenty one. What is the.
Status going forward? I don't know. I have no.
Idea, but the truth is, let's be honest, feels like the Sixers are dead.
I don't want to say that, but.
Did you see him? He doesn't look anywhere close to right. That is how much air was taken out of this team when he hit the ground.
Went back to the locker room. And another thing, by the way, where the fuck, where the fuck is buddy healed at? Excuse me?
Where did you go? You left Indiana and you came to this team, your very first playoff appearance in your life, and you acted like you've never played basketball before. He just acted like it was me out there, like.
Don't give me the ball. I don't want to shoot it at all. He was over two two two shot attemps.
Dog Yo, Buddy Healed shoots like seven seventeen times a game, recklessly contested, open, off the dribble, catch and shoot doesn't matter, Buddy Heal. That's all he does is chuck. No, sir, Nick Nurse was going out of his mind, like that's the whole reason we brought you here. Here's what he said about Buddy after the game. Listen, Buddy didn't get much of a chance last night. He didn't have a
couple of plays there. He didn't play good. It's a game where you can't extend minutes when a guy has three or four mistakes.
By the way, Nick.
If you're not gonna give Buddy Healed rope when he makes mistakes, then Buddy Heel is not gonna be out there because Buddy Healed one thing we know, outside of the fact that he loves the chuck, Buddy Healed makes a.
Lot of fucking dumb mistakes.
If you keep passing up threes, Buddy Heeld, and keep making dumb decisions, you might just not see yourself on the court.
No mo As for the Knicks, whoo.
They they were getting their asses saved by the others. Josh Hart was getting sagged off of and hit.
Five crucial threes.
Deuce McBride, oh my god. Both of them combined to carry Jalen Brunson, who was eight for twenty six with five turnovers. Even Josh Hart was like, damn. When they asked him, they said, Hey, did you know Jalen Brunson eight for twenty SIXY goes damn?
My bad.
McBride was five for seven from three put up twenty one and josh Hart had twenty two. Here's the thing, even though.
It feels like the Sixers are cooked, if you look at the box score.
Five Nicks had a negative plus minus rating and the bench Bogdanovich plus twenty seven, Mitchell Robinson plus eighteen, McBride plus thirty seven.
You just cannot count on that every game, or even more than maybe once or twice during a series. So if Joelen beat his banged up, it's not gonna matter.
But there's a whole lot out on the line on Monday night, all right.
The other big story of the weekend. Set your clocks. It's dame time. Oh yeah, Miami heat fans hadn't been fucking sick. They watched whatever Skeleton crew. They just played the Boss and the Celtics. Oh my god, when you're relying.
On Heimi Hawkes and Nikoli Jovich.
And Tyler Hero aka the Dame package, I tell you what, it's not good.
And then on top of that, watch Dame DeWit he did today last night? Oh my god.
Everyone, by the way had given up on Milwaukee, including the entire set of inside the NBA, including all of Twitter, including me, no Joannie, who knows way he's back. Middleton has had a swollen knee since twenty twenty one, has been looking.
Tired, beaten down, sad, tired old.
But you know what, nothing nothing on planet Earth, as I know full well as a Blazer fan, invigorates Dame Willard like meaningful postseason basketball. Now I only know of postseason basketball. You know, the type of occurrence where you know you're not really doing shit, but you're in the postseason. This is like whoa Milwaukee could actually contend for a title? And he went off. He could add sixty, but it
didn't even matter. How good was he. Halfway through the second quarter, Damian Lillard had twenty nine points and the Indiana Pacers at that point had twenty nine points. He was literally outpacing the entire Pacers team ended up with thirty five, but he didn't need to do much more. Really like it at that point was always over. But the shouting Dame defensively was also pretty good, had some deflections.
Who thought Chris Middleton?
He was solid twenty three points nine for fourteen shooting. The team collectively was strapping. Everyone put him in body bags except for Siakam, who had thirty six. Halliburton ooh, Halliburton nine, six and seven. You can't do it. Can't have that from your point guard. And also, by the way, Deeran Fox with never So let's stop with the bullshit of the Halliburton versus Fox comparisons.
So now Milwaukee flips the narrative.
Pressures on Indiana in game two five served for him, and now people are like me, are scratching their heads thinking could potentially this Milwaukee teams, I don't know, compete do some shit even without Yannis.
They take care of business.
Joannis gets to rest for two weeks. Things get very interesting in Milwaukee. But as John Hollin' likes to say a series does not begin until Doc Rivers goes up three to one.
All right, move on.
The third top line story is, oh my god, Aunt Edwards has fucking arrived. In another series that everyone had written off, the home team, the Minnesota Timber was decided, Oh no, we're not about to let you guys come and clown us again.
No. No, Phoenix Suns. No, No, the same.
Team that molly wopped them last game of the season. Just like the last game. People were like, damn, I was not familiar with your game. The Wolves show why they were the best defense in the NBA all season. As Kendrick Perkins says, I know, I cannot believe it either. The Wolves exposed every flaw that the Suns had in
just the first half alone. The Wolves pester Devin Booker, pestered Bradley Beal all game, picking them up three quarter court, making them more to get the ball in their offensive sets, usually operating on sixteen fifteen fourteen tick tick tick, they rushed shots. Booker was awful five for sixteen. Grayson Allen, the best three point shooter in the league, just got paid.
Zero for three. Yuck.
Let me tell you about an X factor player who has been scratching and clawing like his name was Johntay Porter. Try to get some fucking minutes. Niko Alexander Walker was electric factory eighteen points, four for nine from three four fucking steals. But it was the Edwards show. No, no, it was really just him. He took over in the second half and absolutely destroyed the Suns, talking shit to Kevin Durant, his favorite player, saying listen here, I told
you you can't guard me. What the fuck did I tell your old ass?
Yeah, yeah, you can't guard me. It was a moment. It was a moment.
Aunt Edwards said, it was the best moment of his entire life. That's how much he loves Kevin Durant, and that's how much he loves.
Cooking Kevin Durant.
We will see how the Sons respond, because Devin Booker is getting absolutely killed in the Twitter streets right now.
And then fourthly, another shock Clippers. Yeah, yes, yes, the La Clippers.
We had given up on them, We had left him for dead. No Kawhi and playoff James Harden you dead in the streets versus Luca and Kyrie laid by just a two by four to the don't paste of the Dallas Mavericks and just destroyed them in Game one. They did it as three point underdogs at home.
And the reason.
The reason is James Harden. The reason is James Harden. Wow, can't believe I'm even saying it. He was unstoppable in the first half. He had twenty eight, he.
Had six threes, his number was two and a half.
He blew right back that after the game. He was like, yeah, you guys forgot I was an elite scorer. Huh Yeah, yeah we did, James, Yeah we did. The Clippers held the Mavericks to just eight points total in the second quarter, and after that it was just nine nine sleep mask Kyrie had thirty one.
Luca ended up with thirty.
Three, but it did not matter because the MAVs were fighting upheld all the rest of the way and not even Luca could save them. You want to know how much this changed people's minds, Vegas's minds. The Clippers were three point underdogs at the start of game one. The opening line for Game two is now Clippers minus six. That is a nine point swing. World class beat down. The Clips put on the Mavericks, and it's gonna be a tight series. What the bottom line is anybody.
Counting out the Clippers, even without Kawhi.
Is doing so at their own peril. Steve Barmer, he might just have a heart attack from.
Joy all Right.
The other series, except for one because that game ended late, have a ton of drama out east.
The Magic, we're visiting the Calves.
Cleveland got probably the best half of basketball they could ever get from Evan Mobley. Cleveland rode a twelve point a half point time lead into a never in doubt fourteen point win.
But one thing that this game underscored.
Orlando has one of the best players in the world in Palo put Up twenty four. They have a roster of ten guards surrounding them. None of them can fucking shoot. What is going on with this team? This is one of the worst three point shooting teams I've ever seen. The Magic shot eight for thirty seven from three, eight for thirty seven. I'm shocked they even got eight. Honestly, they shot the guards. The guards shot one for seventeen from three.
Yo.
Your best three point shooter on this team is Jonathan Isaac, who is seven feet tall. He's fifty percent from deep. Again, in this game. You need magic to address this issue. Whenever you get sent home. That needs to be like priority number one.
The Calves, congratulations to you. You showed up. It's very easy to forget. This team went nineteen and one at one point during the season missing multiple players. They are very dangerous and.
If they play like this going forward, team's going to be very toy. The other Eastern series was predictably an absolute dogwalk. The Celtics took a Heat team without Jimmy Butler and took them to the woodshed. The box score shows they won by twenty, but listen, that took a thirty to seven run in order for them to get it to that point. The Celtics led ninety one to fifty nine after three. The Celtics led ninety one to fifty nine after three.
Boston looks very good.
Tatum was getting tripled doubles and six players with double digit points.
That's what we expect from the Boston Celtics.
They were not tested, which is both good and bad. The series is over.
We know this.
The Celtics have way too many guys to score. The Heat have absolutely no one. Now that Jimmy Butler is out, they have no talent in three of the five starting positions they really wish they had. Dame Willard Tyler Hero got played off the court as he could not handle Drew Holliday or Derek White or even Peyton fucking Prichard Go Ducks and got strapped by.
Them to the tune of four for thirteen and eleven points. Gross. All this just goes to show.
You Jimmy Butler's been carrying this team like he makes these bums look good, honestly, like he makes Duncan Robinson look like a star. He got Duncan Robinson paid, he got Tyler Hero paid. himI Hawks is like the.
Only guy they have. I don't even know if BAM's any good, honestly.
I did say that the Heat would be a lottery team and they're not. So Congratulations, Heat team, you have the fifteenth overall pick and you're.
About to get fucking swept. Alright, move on out, West.
We got two series left to talk about, the first being New Orleans versus OKC.
The Pelicans playing without Zion and everybody gave him no chance.
They were the biggest underdogs outside of the Heat, biggest underdogs in the West, and that includes the Nuggets versus the Lakers. Enter Trey Murphy. He is points per game balloons without Zion in the lineup. He had a great game both defensively and offensively to keep the Pelicans very very close pretty much the entire well the entire game.
It was back and forth over forty league changes.
Chet Chet played pretty damn well offensively, had multiple threes.
He's getting bodied.
In the post by Neonis Valentunas, but guess what doesn't really matter when you have like five blocks. That's what he's there for. He's the slim Reaper number two. This was really the only good close.
Game on Sunday.
Every time the Thunder made to run, they had multiple ten point leads in the second half.
The Pelicans answered.
CJ McCollum was clutch, but it was valanchooting who is a very dominant force. His rebound prop was seven and a half. He had twenty rebounds, nine offensive boards. The game was absolutely bonkers. Came down to the final possession for the Pelicans. And the thing that I loved is that shay Gil Alexander has shown people who have been asking whether he can do this in the regular season and not the playoffs that. Oh boy, he can do this in the postseason as well.
Down down two, No, down one, Yes, down one, Shay.
Gilgess Alexander bait CJ. McCollum into getting into his body, off balance, fade away to the side, floater, splash and one.
Hell yeah, that's what we're talking about. That's what I'm saying. CJ.
McCollum had a three in order to take this thing all the way down to the clock. I think there's fourteen seconds left, get a game winner. No, no, heavily contested hits the rim okac one.
New Orleans zero. And if this is any indication this is going to be like the best series in all of the first round. Oh my god.
Like I said, people have been saying they want to see SGA in a high pressure situation. It doesn't get any more high pressure than that. It came down to SGA making this incredibly tough shot and that being the winning bucket. They had scored. Nobody scored after that. All in all, Oka see has to love winning a game like this.
They played sloppy, They let a lot of shit go and.
They're gonna have to clean some things up because there's really no reason that you should be playing a ninety four to ninety two game, especially when you're the best three point shooting team in the league. A few more games like this, they will all be playoff bets tested, and we end fittingly with the Nuggets. As I've said before, the Nuggets are like danas. They are inevitable. The Lakers may have played the best first half that they have against the Nuggets in two years, and guess what, it
did not matter. They took a three point lead in a halftime at the break, and not a single person in Purple and Gold felt.
Good about it.
They were up by double digits at one point, thirteen points. Nobody felt good about it. Why because these numbers don't matter. The lead doesn't matter if you're up by double digits when Yokich is out on the floor. These are not real minutes. This is not reality. This is a dream for you. This is like a fantasy for you. This is a world where you can compete. The only way you can compete is when Yokich is not there. The inevitable Nuggets run is going to happen, and there is nothing,
not one thing the Lakers can do about it. And there was not one thing that they could do about it. To be fair, no one else can stop them either. So congratulations Nuggets, Uh, you are already NBA champions. But especially the Lakers. The Lakers team is not built to compete with Denver. They don't have enough three points shooting. They don't have enough height to deal with Aaron Gordon
and MPJ and Jamal Murray. Denver's bench is more effective than the Lakers bench, even though they have like two guys Christian Brown and Peyton Watson, like they really have too.
D lo is fucking trashed in the series.
He's gonna get played off the court. I think he had like four points, eleven points. It was.
He was horrible. He was over eight from three.
Lebron was pretty good, twenty seven to six and eight eighty was really good, thirty two and fourteen. It just did not matter. When the Nuggets decided, Okay, it's the third quarter, we're gonna do our thing. The Lakers played ketch up the rest of the way and at no point did it ever feel like they were ever gonna win. Ever, you've got Lakers fans in the streets just like completely despondent, saying I know that I should feel like this was gonna happen.
But I feel worse than I thought I was going to.
Why because they're just there's no answers, there's no answers. You're in this series for no reason, Like this is just it's done.
The series is over.
Denver's the favorite to win this game for a reason, and that reason is Nicol Yogicchi.
What did he do?
Twelve and seven, two steals, played, thirty nine minutes, zero turnovers. He's just fucking insane. There's just I don't even know what to make of him. How incredible were the Nuggets? They went to the line six times total in the game. The Lakers had nineteen free throw attempts for a comparison, and the Nuggets became one of just three teams in NBA history to win a playoff game shooting six or
less free throws. After the game, Michael Malone was asked if the Nuggets needed to get to the line more. He said, why should we we keep winning? We don't need free throws to win. Oh my god, I love him so much. He was also asked pregame, like, hey, how different is this Lakers team than when you played him in the playoffs last year, he was like, I played him in the Raclar season. This year, they don't seem that different to me. Honestly, they seem the same,
which is a loser. Hey, Lakers fans, at least you still have Darvin Ham, A friend of show Jovan Buha, tweeted this gem out.
Darvin Ham says the Lakers have a.
Couple more adjustments that they're going to throw at Nikola Jokic. He added, the Lakers didn't want to use all of their adjustments.
In Game one. Oh my god.
Remember last year when they thought Ruey Hachie Morran, Nicola Yokus was gonna do something.
Remember it was like, oh they figured it out.
They lost, But like the Nuggets should really feel like they lost because Ruey has figured it out. As I said before, I think the Lakers are a worse team than they were last year. So let's not expect anything to be different. Nuggets in four, get the labrum out. That's all the time that we have for this episode of the Heat. Check come back tomorrow for an all new episode as the first round of the playoffs progress.
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