Nightcap - Hour 1: Celtics blow out Warriors, LeBron gets 40K, Nuggets dominance

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Number zero Wizard Legend Habachi Man himself, Gil Arenas, please please make sure y'all hit that light button. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. We're now at one million, one hundred and nineteen thousand subs. Thank you so much for helping us get to that number. O Cho had I think, if I'm not mistaken, I think he's doing the break the Breakfast Club tomorrow, and so we were able to contact Gill Gifts that absolutely I'll feel in So Gil, I really appreciate you taking time out of

Come for six kick China's cloud Sky.

You'll know all those coverages and he's like, you know what, man, he got to throw that ball, hot man. He got to get rid of that ball, and he didn't do that. So that's why he got hit in his mouth. So, Gila, person, we're not gonna waste any time. Let's get into it. Our first segment of the night is a news cap whoo and boys of the joosy.

Man.

I don't know what they got going on in Boston, but it's something good. They opened up the tea party on the Warriors. The Celtics beat the Warriors bout fifty two. The Celtics become the first team in NBA history to win at least three games by fifty plus points in a calendar season. Let that sink here for a second. In one season, they've already beaten three teams by at least fifty points. The Warriors have won thirteen of their last sixteen games, eleven straight. And that comes with no

It showed exactly why it's.

Hard to guard people in today's game, Right, there's so much offense on the court that when you tried to let someone shoot, like today, they went into the game letting Jalen Brown shoot the ball.

Yeah, right, the guy.

Who makes two hundred and fifty seven million dollars.

He's the guy three hundred. Yeah, three hundred and four.

We're gonna let We're gonna let mister three hundred shoot those shots. And he had nineteen points. The score was nineteen to twenty one. He had nineteen points in the first quarter, which they finished forty four to twenty two.

Yikes, Like they got outscored when it was.

Twenty one twenty one and they got to go out score twenty eighty three and then they finished they finished a quarter forty four to twenty two. It just shows you how much scoring powers is in the game now.

It is, and it's tough, like you said, but Harr's the thing when you let a professional, I mean, just think about what you're saying. You're letting a professional do something uninhibited. Oh, he's not the best receiver, so we're not gonna guard him.

That's basically what you're saying.

Well, he's not there, he's not their best shooter, so we're not gonna guard him. So you're gonna I mean a guy within you know, there's nobody within six feet of it. So he's basically this is a walk through for him, just a shoot around practice for him.

He's gonna knock that more time than not. Give a guy of that caliber.

You make it seem like you you you, you you leaving together the twelfth guy on the bench open. He's a starter, he's an All Star, and you're gonna show him. You're gonna basically, and he said, you know he's Uh. Steve Kurk said, our strategy, that was our strategy going to the game with the sag off someone Okay, Jaylen Brown says, oh, I hope other teams use that strategy. That's disrespectful that a man of his caliber that you say, you know what, We're not gonna even guard you.

It's embarrassing.

I remember, uh when I used to play and you know, we had Jared Jefferies, you know, in the court and they'll double off him and I'll pass it and he wouldn't shoot the ball. And you know, when you get frustrated, you you say some things you don't supposed to say. And you know I yelled at him, you daphing Baum like yo, you you are NBA player and you letting them come off you to come double me. Oh come on, man, you gotta take some pride.

I don't give a shit if you kick the ball in the stand. At this point, you better do something because it's just this.

You are a NBA player and they doubling off you. Ain't no way you gonna go leave me as an NBA player to go double another NBA player.

I'm gonna feel disrespected. Yeah, And that's how everybody should take this.

Ben Simmons, Ain't no way You're gonna sit at the free throw line on me.

I'm a run jump, I'm a you gonna.

You better take a charge of the free thrown because I'm coming right and I I don't think enough players take fright into shooting right.

Yes, the fact that.

You can just leave your man and go we're gonna sag off him like he ain't that dude?

Right? And I'm glad Jaylen Brown all right, I got you gonna you're gonna sag He's gonna yeah this nineteen make you pay?

Yeah, he got He's got to make him pay. I think the thing is gil the biggest problem with say Ben Simmons, it's not that Ben Simmons can't shoot. He's afraid to shoot. And see, if you're afraid to do something, I can't teach you how to do it. You see if I'm if you're afraid of the water, I can't teach you how to swim. If you afraid of animals, you can't be a veterinarian. If you're afraid of blood, how you become a doctor?

Ben?

I don't know how Ben Simmons, because he was so great at everything else that Oh and see, I thought every coach he's had, because they kicked it down the road. His middle school coaching that kicked out and said, when you get to high school, they'll teach him how to shoot. And when he an AAU, when he gets to college, they'll teach him how to shoot. And when they got to hell, we only got him a year. Hell, they're gonna have him for ten fifteen years in the NBA.

Down the road. And here we are.

We got an NBA player that was an All Star, that was a Rookie of the Year, that was an All Defensive player, who was a budget and Defensive Player of the Year. And he can't shoot no better than I can't not hating shout of basketball in thirty years because he's afraid kill.

I've watched him three summers on he can shoot the ball like he can shoot the ball, like.

The mechanics is good.

Feet his feet placement is good, especially for a left handed guy.

He doesn't have that. We'll go to the side shot like that. Yet.

I think it's his depth perception. I think it's off because you know, in a smaller gym, so that happened.

That happened.

I don't know if that's a football thing, but in the NBA, yeah, some players are excellent shooters in small gym. When you put him in an arena, for some reason, they can't gauge that that basket no more right when they get into the game.

It's too far for them, so they.

Don't know how to gauge, which I tell I tell guys, yo, as much as you practice in the gym, the practice gym, you need to go into the arena too. You can you can see how be large and feel the space, because that's a real thing.

And I think that's actually his problem because when it.

Comes to shooting, I'm sitting there, I'm like, the boy can shoot the ball like he can shoot the ball.

But when any game, I'm like, what's going on here?

I think I think some of the things that well considering that because like outdoors, everything is outdoors, so the space is the same outdoors, and maybe it's a little different than the dome. Sometimes you can lose the ball up in the lights, and especially at night, the ball gets you know, and so that's why we did a

And plus it's dark.

It's you know, just like anything it's it gets up on you, so you you you know, your vision has to be really you have to be really focused to play at night because the ball is still the same size.

They don't inflake the ball to the ball get bigger so you can.

See it at night, and so you have to like hone in I really tried to pick the ball up coming out of the quarterback's hand. Now that wasn't always the case because sometimes I had defenders into in front of me, and a lot of times the ball was coming over my shoulder so I had to track it and look it in. But I just think the thing you have to deal with him is that maybe he and I've seen him in open runs too, and he's

He can handle the ball, he could defend.

He had decent post up game, not great, but I mean, when you're sixteen, it shouldn't be that hard to post up, especially guys that you're gonna be posting up because most of them are going to be smaller than you. But he lost it somewhere. But the Golden State they got issues because really they are are two. You know, I look at Kaminga, Kmminga's really coming into his own and step and step So we don't need to offer an explanation for Steph.

He had one of those games and he hadn't had you know.

Guys don't have like him, don't have guys to have games like that.

Often kaminga.

I love his game, but when you look at it, what are we really talking about? Draymond is not the offensive threat. Looney plays limited minutes. Moody still is searching, that's still looking for him to find his game. What's the young guy pause? I forget his name, but anyway, but what are we really talking about? I mean, they seem like, oh, if they get this scribe, they're not gonna get this scride. They are what they are. They got one superstar and that's stuff.

Moody's looking for his game like Yo Chat, looking for Oho.

He ain't coming. He ain't coming, y'all.

This is what just stuck with right here right the Golden State Warriors. The only reason we say they have a chance is because of Curry, right.

That see it?

Because Perky brings it out of us to always give them a shot. But for the part, Play is not himself anymore. He got put to the bench. Wiggins don't know if he wants to be America or if he want to go back to Canada, because for the most part he's there half the season.

With whatever he got some personal that he got some going Gill, we don't know what he got going on.

He got going on.

Maybe most likely if it's if it has to do because this happened last year. Maybe Pops is in trouble again. So you know, I'm uh, you know, I do you know, pray for you know, uh Wiggins. But before this even happened, he wasn't doing shit anyway.

This is right.

So but for the most part, the team is done right. You don't as we know it, Clay.

Clay could have a game here up there, and every time he has one of that game, oh here comes Clay. If he consummoners this, if he can do this, say for the next thirty games. Hell, if he could, we wouldn't be asking him to do it for the next thirty game. It would be a given. When do we ever before, when would we ever question Clay? We never questioned Clay because we know what he was. We know what he was gonna give us. He was gonna give

There on a hope and a prayer that he has a great game.

There's a reason why he got He's a four time NBA champion, he's an All Star and he's been relegated to the bench because of it inconsistent play. And so now you're gonna ask him to win. He gave you thirty or he gives you thirty five. Man, if he can just do it. If he could, he wouldn't be on the bench. He wouldn't be coming off the bitch.

Gil. Now, I think it shows, you know, just for just for just hoop fans out there, it.

Shows how fast you can lose confidence in yourself.

It's not like he does not shoot the same amount of shocks.

To put in extra words saying it's the same routine, same thing, the mental has changed. He's questioned his ability, right if we don't know if it was a move, something happened on the floor, something happened in the media, something happened now. But he questioned his greatness, and you can see the reflection, and you can see that it hasn't came back.

Same thing that happened to Russ.

Russ went from averaging a triple double, came here, god booed, and we never.

Seen in the same rust again. Right right, Yeah, you get people we lose it, you know what I mean? It does.

But I think the thing is people like, well, hey, you see how Russ is playing. Well, look, Russ is playing on a minimum contract. The numbers he's given you on a minimum contract is fine. But when a guy's making forty plus million dollars the number that he's given you, that wasn't acceptable. I don't know why people don't understand that. It's not like and Russ what Russ is a top seventy five player, He's an All star, two time All Star MVP, he's a League MVP.

His resume is complete. But let's not kid ourselves.

Because and he was willing to accept the role in Click for the Clippers that he was never willing to accept for the Laker. Hey on, they tried it. They tried to get him to come off the bench, and he was unaccepting up that role. But I guess because he looked at him says, the guys that you want me to come off the bench for aren't better than me, That are starting fact, And so I guess he looked at it, and so I guess he's looking at it like, Okay, James Harden is better at this point in time.

James Hard is better than I am.

But I think Terrence Man, Terrence man ain't better than is Terrence Man. I mean, he gives you more. He can rebound, he could defend better than Russ. But Russ didn't give the Lakers what he gave. But maybe it's price. Maybe because we looked at what he's making forty plus million dollars a year, you expected him to give you.

Twenty ten and eight.

But how are you gonna give you that because he's not gonna get those shots because Lebron and Ad are first and second option.

Na see. I think the problem when it came to Russ is this.

You know, when he came here, right, he was expected to be the third option, right, Lebron and Ad was heard for most of that year. He played seventy seven games. He was the only star out of the three that really played and held the healthy tam up. And because of that, he got the backlash because we wasn't gonna say that about Lebron or Andy Davis because they were champions.

So we said, all right, we're gonna give it to you. Russ. Him getting well what at home, the kind of really was unfair to him.

But what if he'd gave us okay, he used to be what if he'd gave us what he gave the Thunder give us thirty a knight? Because you said he's the number one option, so there's no Lebron, there's no ad on most nights. How about he give us what he gave Okac, Now there's your opportunity to give us twenty eight thirty a night.

Yeah, but that playbook is made That playbook was made for him.

This playbook is not made for him.

Right, There's a lot of factors that factored in. And you know, so the following year, he's the only one that played seventy.

Seven, played well, played well. And then he said come off the bench. And he's like to who, right, who?

Like?

Who you want me? I think that's the hardest thing in the locker room that I don't know about. But I'm not coming off the bench of these guys right.

Here, you know, so you know, coming to the Clippers, it's not him or Terrence Man, it's him. And James Harden's like, all right, with all of us out here.

We're a little too small. We need more movement. Okay, okay, I do it? Take the back seat fellas he and he did it. I mean, you know, it's like.

Hey, I don't know if tyl lu because of his accomplishments, it's hard to let me thinking about it. Now, we're talking about a guy that's the top seventy five. We talk about a guy that's an MVP on an All Star Game with all NBA player multiple times and you said, nah, bro, you going to the bench?

He had you.

And I think the thing is he embraced the role. He accepted the role. Give him credit. I wanted i'd be the first because I did a good job of beating him up because I didn't think he played well. I thought he played okay. Everybody said eighteen seven and seven, but for that's not I don't think the Lakers would look out. I thought there was I think the Lakers thought they were gonna get twenty plus. I think that's what they thought they were gonna get.

No, you know what I mean.

It's one of those things where I don't think they came into the season really normal that I knew it was gonna be a clash because him and Bron played the same stock.

I knew it wouldn't work. Oh, Jill I said, Jill.

I went on there and said, look, I'm sorry. You know, guys, y'all know I feel about the Lakers, but it ain't gonna work.

Yeah, it ain't. Yeah, you can.

Both guys need the ball in their hand to be who they are, their absolute best. Both guys need the ball in their hands. And you tell me the team that Lebron James been on, and he ain't got the ball in his hands eighty five ninety percent of the time.

And then that's why I always say he's the point guard. You know, we we didn't to pretend that he's a small ford. No, he's a point guard. He always yes, the two guards with him is the two and the three.

Yeah, that road right?

So yeah, you know, Russell couldn't play traditional too, so it kind of messed his game up, right, because in order to play with Lebron, you're gonna have to be able to shoot the ball because he's gonna have the ball.

So you making all the plays and doing what he did. And let's just say and ok se, obviously it was he and KD, but he was the playmaker. KD leaves He's he's outstanding. He takes his game to another level. Even with James Harden, he still found the way that the average twenty five, twenty five and seven. It wasn't like it wasn't like he was slouch in there and James needed a ball And that was when James was going crazy. That was that was James. That was James

A lot of gills.

Everybody can't do that. See everybody, you know this gill. Everybody like, I just want to win, Yeah, but I want to win my weight. I want to win it my weight.

So that's so that's a caveat. I ain't gonna tell you that. Man. I just want to be somewhere I can win, yes, but I need to I.

Think that's between it, like where Russ is and where Clay is is.

I think Clay.

Is where Russ was last year, or to okay with the Lakers coming off the bench wasn't his idea, right, This wasn't his idea. Oh I need to come. This was the team's idea. So now he has to try to try to accept this role. Right if I'm if I'm the coach those last fifteen games, I really need to sit back and think about the chess move here, and the chess move here is do I shut Curry down? Give him at sixty five games, but for the most part shut him down.

Draymond shut down.

Claye Comminger, though, cause I need if I'm gonna bring Clay back, I need Clay mentally focused, mentally prepared and ready for next season.

I ain't bringing it back at twenty four million. Yeil what two year? Twenty four yoh? Yeah, know what I'm saying. No, not twenty four a year. I got myself. Come on, come on, already paid it. Already gave twenty million. I gave, I gave, I paid it for what he did. Now I gotta pay it for what I believe you're gonna do.

No, no, no, that's not how I work on No, this ain't no hell no, hell no you paying me? You paying me for what I did. That's how the NBA works, damn. So when I get when I get drafted, when I get drafted the number one pick, that's not what I'm doing. That's what I did, what I did from elementary, junior, high, high school, college, That's what I was rewarded for.

What I do. The next four years, I'm gonna get the next deal.

So my contract right here is I got a championship, then I twenty so I got hurt a couple of times.

So forty eight million is cool.

I think we get confused, somebody. It ain't about what I'm gonna do. Got damn because whatever I do moving forward, my contract is.

Gonna reflunck it that.

Well I should have played I should I should have played basketball in that damn she ain't had working football football. Say look here, we already paid you. We paid you for those Pro Bowls on All Pros or Super Bowl down. What do I think you can give me over the next two to three years that's going to jump justify the compensation that you're seeking.

But back to the Celtics.

The Celtics have won their last five games by an average of thirty point two points a game. And we talked about last last week on First Take, and I said.

The Celtics are in a class by of their own and Steven A. Perk Off.

Perk quick to say, man, you need to watch more games. Well, I don't know what TV you got, but I want to know who you think like right now, the way they're playing. I'm talking about right now now when it gets to the playoffs, all best of off. But the question was right now.

And they are.

They're the only team right now playing like an NBA champion. Yes, I mean from you know how Denver looked last year, that's how That's how Boston looks right now.

Their c never looked like that last night against Lakers, though they were looked like that last night against the Lakers, especially in the thirty fourth quarter.

Yeah.

So Boston's been playing fair, very very consistent, very dominant, right they have.

They've been dominating teams.

Yes, so they're already in championship stride right Uh. The rest of the field needs to catch up behind them, will probably be Denver, you know, because champion and they know when to turn it on and turn it off and then from there.

To be honest, it's a roll of dice and gil. That's why I say the Lakers, and look, I don't. I don't feel that.

I don't.

I haven't seen anything from the Lakers that convinced me they can beat Denver in a seven game series. But everybody else in the West, the Lakers can be the seven game series.

And that's what I'm saying, the seven game series.

Yes, the West is open that like you.

As a Laker fan, we don't want Denver. No, we do not want no, hell no, not hell no.

No.

We gotta we gotta looking see okay dinner. They're in the third part right now. So I actually I don't want to be in the sixth spot.

I don't WoT that. Nah, you know you, somebody somebody else left, somebody else deal with them. We want to get Denver in the same place we got them last in Western Conference.

Final, and hopefully that happened before we get to them. Other than that, it's all placing right. Everyone's beatable in the West besides Denver. You know, when when the way the offense runs, the way they click as a unit.

You know, it clutched onbelieve they know what they're doing.

How many times, yo, did you with the clock running down, go hit the shot?

He shooting from back here? How many times he gonna do that?

We saw that three or four times last year in the Western Conference Finals gainst the Lakers.

But he gil, you got to explain to him, Look, this is what we know.

And maybe there's some a little correlation, a little carryover between the NBA and in an NFL. If you give a quarterback a steady diet of anything, he'll eat it up. Yeah, I don't know why. Okay, you said, you know what,

Left or right? You know what makes you know? What makes your kidch good?

And because one, he's a team he's a team guy. Yes, So the fact that he's a team guy, his first instinct is the past. Yeah, because he is a dominant big down low with the posts moves. He can be selfish too, So if he if he wanted to score fifty, there's no one really gonna stop him.

No, no one's gonna stop him from scoring fifty.

So when we're looking at his stats, and he is really playing games with everybody, and that's the thing that because he is smart enough to understand, I'm gonna throw some passes here, I'm gonna do a little bit of scoring here, it's really hard to figure out which mode is. You're gonna really have to go to analytics to see what time he tries to score when he likes to pass. Other than that, if you're just playing him naturally, you're you're just You're just He's just a puppet master with you.

One hundred percent. Hue free throws and shoot one hundred percent.

He's the first guy in NBA history to have that stat line.

That's impressive. That's very impressive. Uh. The most impressive thing from Michael porter Drew.

He had four a sis stop he passed he had four this yes, no, what what he passed us? That's one man that you know. Once it touched his hands and was going up. So when I looked at the state line, I said, Forward says, oh man, he was on fire.

He was on fire and U And the thing was is that when the Lakers had a run was going in the first, he kept him close because he was just coming down, letting them threes go where the Lakers could have probably built a fifteen to twenty point lead. Every time they got double digits, he boomed back to eight. They get up to fourteen, boom, boom, boom, and now he hit five quick points and now he's back down to a nine point game.

So he kept them attacked.

And then in the third he picked right up where he left off in the first half. Now yo gets it go and now he says, okay, now it's time for me to cert myself and then in the fourth you get Murray. Now they go to the two man game. Now they're about to pick and roll you. Now Murray's from the dragon pull you. He fin the go and come bobo bop.

And now all of a sudden, he come yo doing all this and he goes.

He lobbed at the Gordon and then Gordon hits a three, and then Murray and then a porter hits another three. That they execute so well because down down the stretch there is nothing that they can't get because of yoke.

You come with the double team. He sees it.

He's gonna kick the open guy. Now it's just a matter of they knock it down or not. Now Murray says, okay, you and I go to the pick and roll the dribble handoff you know, uh he yoke roll to the basket or Murray Keasey goes all the way to the basket. Yo, can pomp? I mean, so you're kind of at the mercy. It's just like man, I sure hope they off the night and they're missing shot because they're not. With the way he's playing and the way he can pass the ball and see the floor.

What you gonna do? You know?

When when when you're talking about the last four or five minutes with them, and that's where the.

Lakers lost it.

They lost it in the last yes, because they're playing team basketball in the last three minutes, right, they're picking the bat. We know what the Laker's gonna do. Lebron's gonna come. He gonna set a pick and roll, try to get the ISO. Maybe look at his hand a couple of.

Times, hit the Michael Jackson glove and then he gonna shoot the three or try to move off that. Now Lebron himself has to play perfect.

You have to make yes, yes, seventy percent of your shots in the last five minutes. Well, when it comes to Denver, Jokis can go one for one but have five assists.

Correct in that last five minutes, Murray can be four for five.

You got we got three offensive rebounds and putbacks. So when it comes to the last five minutes, they're all playing together and doing what they do best, crashing the boards, diving, slashing, popping, rolling, hosting up, getting to the free throw line, and it's it's.

Really beautiful basketball. I'm not even gonna lie. When it comes to you have to think Calvin booth like he was on my team.

We used to talk basketball, we used to talk strategy, and when you look at the lineup.

It is how he thought the game. He thought the game.

From this aspect, and you can't see it play out very well.

Right, it's just uh. And the guy that guys played played very very well.

Uh.

They needed a little bit more from a d Ad only had seventeen points. He missed some easy he missed some easy with last night. But I can't even beat a d up because AD has been playing unbelievable. I just didn't like Darvin Ham's rotation last night. I don't know why you benched d Low. The man has he had a little offshooting night, So now you're gonna send him to the bench.

Yeah damn.

I mean what about all all the night that he been averaging like twenty five.

And so now he has one.

He had a little stretch, He goes like five minutes, he doesn't hit any three. He had a couple of lipouts, Like come on, bro, this is the problem.

You put him on the bench for who cam the nineteen minutes three shots?

Come on, I might as well put de Loo in. But right, and and it wasn't like he was stopping Murray. So I can I can leave you in. I could take d Low out if you're got a neutralized Murray. But if Murray's getting whatever you want, hell, I can

And that's all that. When I'm playing Denver, that's all I'm thinking. See, I think they get wrapped up into we have to stop them. Well, the problem with this is this is not an individual stop.

This is team defense.

So that means Cam Prince, they have no they have no skin in this part of the game. Right, So Denver's thinking offense, right, you have to think matching it because who's a great defensive player on On Denver, no one ever talks about their defense.

Yeah, I mean kcp is they're really their guy, and bron the guy out of Kansas. But they play. Yeah, but they don't have Jok is not a shop blocker. He's a deflector. He's gonna use his hands. He's gonna kick a lot of balls. He gonna get his hand and deflect some balls. But other than that, they don't have guys that can guard they don't have perimeter defenders like a like a PG in his prime or like a Kawhi. They don't have those type of guys Lebron Kobe God that could sit sit in the chair.

They don't have They don't have guys like that.

But but they got guys that say, you know what, we'll take our offensive guys, Yoke Murray, uh Porter Junior, we'll take our big three and although we might give up something as far as lateral quickness, we're gonna punish you on the offensive end.

So you bet not miss Yeah. And that's a thing.

They're going offense, which they know, well, you're gonna go defense, so you're gonna take away half of.

Your points anyway, right, you know.

And that's the thing I've been trying to preach to some of these guys, like those days of having that offensive that defensive guy in that can't score is really a liability.

Right. Look at look at what Goden State tried.

They tried to sag and sit back on three hundred and fifty million.

What the hell you?

Then they're gonna do the Prince and what's the name they gonna they're not gonna respect them. So the fact that they tried it with Jalen Brown. You need to put offense in the tax to tax these butts out here.

Yeah. Uh.

Perkins demands that the Lakers build a statue for Lebron. I mean, get ready to start scooping the statue for Lebron outside Crypto dot com.

Marena, that's what, okay, forty.

Thousand points done in the Laker uniform, passing Marene, when he passed him up in the Lakers uniform, winning an NBA championship in the Lakers uniform?

What else can I say about the man?

Lebron also admits that the Lakers the Nuggets have their number and are the So I'm gonna ask you, do you believe the Nuggets are the first of all, let's get to what Perk said. Do you believe the Lakers will build a statue for Lebron if.

His career started right now? Hell on now?

No, he don't have enough. He don't have enough accolades in the Laker uniform right this ain't this needs another title? Yeah, you need years. He's only played six years. The closest, the closest statue we have with that was with Shack Shack eight years was that four rings, no, three ring, three years, thirteen thousand points.

That's the bottom. That's our worst.

That's the worst when it comes to real accolades with that statue.

So you know, everybody else thirteen fourteen.

Something years, right, you know, So it's gonna be hard to put him in there with six years, eight thousand points, one championship, I mean six, six All Stars, five All NBA because we ain't finished this season.

That's not good. That's not good enough for a statue in Los Angeles? Right? Are the Nuggets no dangerous? They can just put his shoes. They can just start with the shoes out there. They could just start with.

The bronze out there? Are the Nuggets the most dangerous team in the West?

If not? Who is?

Yes, the most thing? Ooh, the most Okay, that's tricky. The most dangerous team is the Clippers because they got they got on two, three, four Hall of famers, four guys who can average or who can score thirty at any moment. They are the most dangerous team. You talk about the Clippers, The Clippers are the most I'm sorry, the Clippers. They are the most dangerous team due to the fact that they have a lot of firepower, not saying they can all fire the weapons at the same time,

See the thing was, I think hurt the Clippers.

Jogics would literally average forty twenty and fifteen because they got nobody can do anything with you.

I'm telling about nothing, plumb le zubox. He's follow them out.

And so now the Nuggets already have competence because they've traced this team down now minus Harden, they've chased this team down from three to one. And Murray, I don't know what it is about the Clippers, but here and no, Porter Junior love playing the Clippers because he said they passed on him. They flunked him because of that back, and he's been punishing them. And I believe he's better now than he was then when he started, when he got hot.

And we know what Murray did. I think the final game he dropped forty on him.

Yeah, in that in that game, in that game seven and so like I said with yok and no, you gotta have somebody. Look, you not gonna stop him, but you damn sure better have Somebody's gonna give you twenty five.

Yeah, you know with them, man, it's it's it's just you have to match the production. Just Yeah.

At this point, like Zubac, like for for the Clippers who win this, Zubach has to be playing at a good level.

Like I'm Zubac has to average fifteen to.

Nineteen points in that series, you average fifty. If Zubac can average fifteen nineteen that series, we know yokis just gonna have anywhere from forty to fifty three all together. So if if the Zuba can get around thirty, Clippers got a really good chance. Yes, And then you throw Plumbly in there. Yeah, if plumbly, because here's the thing. What cost the Lakers. Lakers been getting crushed in the glass. The Nuggets wipe them on the glass.

And for a team that has Anthony Davis and Lebron and some guys can rebound it, they've been getting out rebounded lately. Yeah, and no rings, no rebounds, no rings. That's because now you give teams second chance, You give teams another crack at the basket at you and some a lot of times that might end up in a three.

Yeah.

So you look at Lebron's accomplishments in the Lakers uniform. His forty fivesands point game lost to the Nuggets, the statue and veiling game between two to twenty four game lost to the Nuggets. The game in which he passed Kareem lost to the Thunder. I was at that game. Actually, I was supposed to be at that game Saturday night, but I was in Jersey for the Portie Ain't doing some stuff and they lost to the Sixers. When Lebron passed Kobe most of his points in this game, you.

Try what you're trying to say, Hey, hey, we got no more we ain't got no more comedic g I'm gonna say the next accomplis stream.

I gotta take the other team. So you trying to tell me, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I will break that partly. I mean, there's an outside chance he could get to eleven thousand assists. Uh what did he got like twenty games to go?

Yeah? What do you?

And I think I don't know, he might not get it. I think he's about think he's about one hundred and sixty something. So he was literally after average like eight and a half assist the game, which is popular. You never say what he can't do yeah, because he'll go to the streak and the average ten assist the game.

Yea that he that he's only you know, a certain amount of way he's going to Yes, deemon, time to get that.

Yeah. Uh, Gil, you had.

A hot take this weekend. You were trending you blame the European players for bad defense in the NBA, and it went virals. If you stand by your comments that the European players are the blame for that, because Wemby says, hey, Gill live it, how at your right?

Quick? Listen? Listen, listen.

This is the problem we came out of All Star weekend about we need to fix defense, right, yes, yes, right, we.

Need to fix defense. There's something wrong with the defense.

We need to put in hand checking, we need to do three seconds, we need to do all this. We need to you know, shorten three point line, make the three point line bigger.

So I just threw in my own little thing. Hey, how about this, right, hot fout?

If you really want to go back to the old way of playing basketball, get rid of the people who expanded the offense. See, they don't want they want to think about Oh my god, he wants to get rid of Euro. Think about what the Euro did to the game. All the Yeuro centers besides.

Rudy all can shoot the three.

Yeah, they're not dinosaurs down there, right, So all the Yeuro big men can shoot the three. All the Yuro

Four.

So the Yuro expanded the game outside in offensively, offensively.

Right.

So if you wanted to go back to eighties basketball where you have a whole bunch of dudes that can't shoot the ball, that could jump in, jump.

In, do this, well, then get rid of the year road. See, they hear what I'm saying, but they don't try to put no knowledge into it. Right. But here's the thing, though, gil guys works. The guys are so specific now.

It ain't like for first of all, ain't like no American born player playing now defense either, ain't nobody sitting in a damn chair because even Kawhi and PG don't play defense like they once did once Kawhi got a taste that offensive scoring. Because look at when when Kawhi

First of all.

Yeah, ain't no way to play in defense anymore because ain't nobody making the money.

So no, it didn't even the fact that nobody's playing defense. I think I think the problem is, and where I get frustrated, is give credit to the offense. Why can't we just give credit to something?

Right? Yes, right, we give credit to the offense. The offense is just a lot better.

I'm just I'm telling you the year Roses shooting threes from the five men position, right, Yes, so it's a better position in today's game. Right you got guys shooting from damn near half or when some of those players can't.

Even shoot from the free throw line. Right.

So when we talk about what the problem is, there's none.

There's no problem. What. I don't care what you.

Try to do. You want to play put put? No three seconds? What you think that's gonna do? More threes? Yeah, well, who you gonna who are you gonna sit in the lane? With which which guy the center?

Bob?

You have Anti Davis in the three? You're gonna play zone. Then it's all five men shooting threes. Like, there's no there's no thought process in some of the things. So I'm like, well, if you want to just throw out this, if it's a thing, then say all right, well we can take away five man shooting. We can take away all these six ten seven foot shooters if you take away the euros.

But obviously you don't want that to happen, so therefoot shut the shut up, I think, yih, I.

Think also because the game is more open, the players are more skilled, because you got probably one through eight that could all shoot the ball had them.

I'm not saying they. I'm not saying that, Steph Curry, So don't.

But for the most part, as you mentioned, with the exception of Rudy Gobert, name of five, they can't let a three go and shoot it with a level of consistency that no that no five could ever shoot in the eighties, in the nineties.

Even in the even in my ear two. Right.

So now you get guys that are more skilled, that are playing in more space, it's harder to defend them one on one.

And when you bring.

The double, you guys kicking to a guy that could shoot better than anybody could with the exceptional maybe five guys in the eighties and the nineties, in the early two thousand. So what do you expect to happen If you can't stay in front of a guy and I gotta send help, That guy gonna be right wide open, or he's guess what, Gil, he's at the dunker.

Spot and now when you come, I'll blump it off to him. And he dunked the ball on your head.

Now that's the think are you cover with the help and I throw the lobby and then Anthony David boom or somebody booming it on you. Now to think about now, think when we talk about Denver and Murray, right, when Murray does that pick and roll, right, it ain't no picking roll, it's a picking pop with the five man.

Right, So what baby, you're gonna switch out? You're on a hard show. What you're gonna do because he's.

Gonna turn the corner and when he turns the corner and you stay popped to your kid, to yo kich who's protecting the rim?

Nobody? Nobody? And if you think about it, here come cording it and lobs and for the right. It's just a different game.

So if you want to take away, if you want to change it and put more defense in, then you have to take away offense.

And if you're gonna take away offense, you got to take away the people who spread of the floor.

You can't you can't take it away now, No, because now guys who don't care about dunky guys are shooting. And all the guys that you look at, the guys that AAU you don't see no high fly guys are shooting the ball.

Yeah, it used to be guys.

Getting the ball down on the block and they turn around and they you know, now, hey, guys are spacing the floor. Everybody can shoot the ball. So the cats out the bag. Pandora's box has been open. You can't put the toothpaste back into the two. Whatever analogy or phrase or cliche you want to use, this is where we are right now.

You know what the real Okay, so this is how the game looks. American basketball is ISO one on one, yes, right.

The Euro is team movement, spread the fall movement.

So what happens is when the two meet and you put a great combo together, it.

Is hard to stop the American player.

Now because that American player got euro players to pass the two. The euro has athletic guys to throw the ball to right. So it is a great combia nation.

Now.

So when you when you think about Euros taking over the game, they're expanding it.

Right. If you take Luca, If I say.

All right, remove Luca six ' nine point guard Unicorn to that position, who's the second best Euro guard? Who's the best, yeah, yeah, yeah, who's the who's the top two Euro shooting guards?

The threes, right, So.

They're still they're still deficiency in that because those three positions their team style.

Right. So the American is the star of the one on one game and you add team players.

With them, it makes for great, great teams. So now if you're a smart general manager, you have to understand how to put your team together.

Now, like with.

Sun Goon, Jalen and over there, they.

Have a nice little combo. Yes, they need some more team they.

Already have a one on one guy, right, you have Van Fleet. You get a couple more year rolls on that team that can spread the floor and play, or just a bunch of a couple more international players that can spread the floor and move around. They are going to be hard to deal with.

Victor winm Miyama Wimby made history and president feed over the Spurs last two games. After dropping thirty one to twelve and six or sis six blocks against the Pacers, Winby became the first rookie in league history coord consecutive games of twenty five ten rebounds, five or more assists, five plus box. On Thursday, Women had twenty eight points, thirteen rebounds, seven assents and five blocks. Womben Yama seemingly set some sort of history just about every night he

So even though Chet didn't play.

Like you said, Gil, him being in a meeting room, him being on the sideline, him understanding what NBA life is about as opposed to winby it's different.

You can't tell me that didn't help.

Yeah, no, that helped because you you were put into the system. Strength training, eating routines, learning how to sleep, learning when to go, you know, wake up, you know you're you have an NBA routine, right, So mentally, mentally, you're not a rookie. Rightly, you're not a rookie, right, you have established yourself in your room.

He is a full fledged.

Rookie coming from another country, learning it day by day, right, understanding the west coach trip, going to the East coasture.

He's learning that all in real time. You've already been to that, right, So.

This is really not a this is not a debatable conversation. One you're only looking at because his team is good, right, It's not that he is playing like a Rookie of the year. His stats plus his team wins.

Right. What is he the fourth option in that offense? Yeah?

Right, yeah, because we know Shaye is one for sure, and William J.

Williams is two.

Yeah, so he's third at best, third at best. Right, he's third, third at best.

So the Rookie of the Year is for sure, winby But I.

Don't know if I'm the only male out here. Tall girls are starting to look very.

Attractive now, yeah, yes, sir, Hey, so you try to go back to the drawing board to get you a seven eight guy, hot seven eighty.

I listen, I got one six seven.

I'm not even gonna I got I was snipped. I had to refesal what yoh, No, they got Windy's coming in the league. I gotta put my name on one of them. I gotta put my name on seven seven.

Uh, well are you but hey, I don't know you? Better go find you a six four six four woman.

Oh no, Hey, I'm going to the big and Tall store. I know I'm at the Big and tall right there.

Listen, uh a w n b A. I'm looking for the old vets. Uh old vets. You know about body right there?

Thirty eight? Oh? They need you know how much they got paid. They need this sho support they need so they willing to get into the old gilly right.

I'm just saying, hey, I'm the the womby yummies in them chests that looks like the future.

I don't know.

I don't know too old model cars they gonna get you get your spaceship. Hey, hey, Grandy's just say, boy, two dead batteries won't give you a spark.

Now what I've got, what I've gotta be fine, gil.

Hey, Tony Brothers hit de jon Ty Murray with a technical foul after he was ignored, ignored him during the timeout. It looks like they called the timeout. Did jon Tay Murray w to sit on the bench? Tony Brothers went over to talk to him, and did John Ty Murray didn't pay him any attention to ignore it?

TV ted him up. You got the crazy story.

What's the craziest take you ever, goy Gill, because this reminds me of the one that I forget. What was the old guy name that gave Tim Dunkey threw him out the game for laughing. That's Crawford, Yeah, Joey Crawford. Joey Crawford, Yeah, threw Timmy threw Timmy d out of the game for laughing on the sideline.

Yeah.

Uh, all the ones I got I deserved, right, not even gonna lie it, right, I'm not even gonna lie through the head man at the rep ones, right. I got hit NodD threw the head man at him.

Right. I regret that, I.

Mean because you know, I couldn't afford that five thousand at.

The time there was my rookie season. I can afford that five thousand at the time. But for the most part, you know, I gave.

Refs respect because I understood. You know, uh, it is difficult,

Yeah, but it looked like, Hey, you called me over to have me to explain something. I come over, I walked, I walk over here to explain it to you. You ignore me once I got here. But it's gonna be interesting. It would be interesting to see. I don't know if anybody question Tony and ask him why did he give the John Tel tech?

Did he say something?

What caused first of all, what caused him to go over there to carry and have that conversation. And it looks like Murray didn't say anything. And if Murray didn't anything, why would you tee him up? So it'd be interesting if a pool reporter, if somebody asked, why did he get a tech?

I don't know. It hadn't come out yet, so I was just think just the You know, it's it's one of those things where.

Because there's this big old rivalry right now between players, and you know you have to set an example. We know, we know you do penalize the referees. We know you take them off certain games, they lose certain privileges.

We know that, but we don't see it right.

Even if you don't find Tony, say you did. Tony's been fined five thousand for you know, the the unnecessary technical against Murray. That right there lets us know they're being held accountable. If nothing happens and you do something behind the.

Scenes, what do you think we're thinking?

Sometimes you sometimes doing something relieve stress. Right, nothing happens to Tony brothers his manhood by saying, hey, I'm gonna fake like I'm gonna find you for the public, right.

And I don't think the NBA do that enough.

Right because when players criticized the officials, they get fine quick. So if it got me, I mean yeah, when they criticized them in public, they get fined.

So yeah.

Uh.

The crazy I think the craziest penalty that I've ever got is that we're playing the Super Bowl and we called a play and they called me for a holding after TV ran the ball down to the one yard line, and to Mike Shanahan's credit, he told official that wasn't a hole.

He was so confident that that wasn't a hole.

We called the exact same play and I got we got the exact same result and TV ran it back down to the one yard line from five yards for the back. So you should ain't be forgetting five if yards, But I mean it was the Super Bowl, bro, that could have called that could have cost us the game. And now how do I I mean? And you know what today's game, today's time, man sharp, you cast the Broncos the Super Bowl without holding call you wasn't to tell, you know. For the most part, Gil, I kind of

Your team a game. So I feel pretty good about that.

So kudos to mic for believing because I said, Mike, I didn't hold it, and you look at the screen. I didn't hold him. I didn't have my hands outside. My hands was inside. But hey, you know how didn't do They turned to the fisher because they couldn't get off the block, and he did like this, hed the fisher through the flag. Mike called it against him running again.

He so he sold it. Oh he old he did?

Beat on your high Yeah, yeah, that was as a matter of fact. He the next year he became my teammate self joinan her. Oh god, he was in green Bad. He was in green Bad at the time we beat him. He came over there. Uh, he came to us in ninety eight. He went a Super Bowl with us, and I think that was his last year. He retired after that.

Okay,