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In episode one fifty six, What's Right with Nick Right? Game one of the NBA Finals is upon us and one of my weaknesses as a talk show host, and let's be honest, they're not many, but one of them is I don't love the game preview. I love the recap, I love the big picture stuff. But when we are on the day of a game, the what we especially before a series even starts, and we don't have any real data to go off of aside from what they've done against other teams, I don't It's not my favorite.
I don't think it's what I'm actually the best at and I just really want to get to the game. So with that in mind, I am going to try something today that I don't know that I've tried in a year, Diora. I'm gonna hit the clock today. We're gonna have a nice, sharp, Okay, we're gonna have a nice, crisp, thirty five minute episode.
Absolutely, no way.
You don't think I can do it.
No, I don't.
You're doubting my ability. It's going to be concise to the point. We're gonna get right to it. We're gonna move, move, move. So with that in mind, yes, you can't ask questions in the chat. We will get to those in about twenty five minutes, which will be the time we get to the CEA block. Here is what missed the cut
for today's show. Jimmy Butler has trademarked Jimmy Buckets. A nineteen year old wins that Silly Cheese race in Great Britain while unconscious, and Josh Hart tweeted about tasting breast milk. Steven A was very bothered by this. I don't really have a take on it. His tweet was, have y'all ever tasted y'all significant other breast milk asking for a friend. I think he didn't followed up. Somebody said it tastes like almond milk, and he said it tastes better at
least to see. C. J. McCollums says, sick conversation heard it goes down like almond milk, and I do believe he said it actually tastes better. However, we're trying to hit the clock. We're trying to be concise today, Deora, what are we leading off with?
So the Heat a coming off a grueling seven game series. Now they are traveling to the Mile High City on on little rest. Even Lebron says the altitude is no joke. In the finals, if the home team wins Game one, they win the series seventy five percent of the time. So are the Heat drawing dead in game one and therefore the series.
I do not believe the Heater drawing dead in game one. I certainly don't believe they're drawing dead in this series. And I think there are some factors that work in the very short term in the Heat favor here. So I think the fact that the Heat have played so many more playoff games than Denver has well. I shouldn't say so many more, but they have played more three more games than Denver has, and the fact that they just played US seven game series could hurt Miami later
in the finals. I don't think they are going to be fatigued in game one of the finals. I listen. I've talked a lot about the altitude and the altitude being a problem for Denver's opponents, but that's most notable when you're playing a team with Chris Paul till he got hurt, and Kevin Durant and then Lebron James, older guys, then playing a team that has Jimmy Butler and a bunch of young guys, and I guess Kevin loves an
older guys well, but he doesn't play much. So I don't think the altitude is gonna be as much of a factor for Miami in Game one. What a legitimate, tangible advantage that I believe Miami has is they have been there before. Jimmy Bam Heroes obviously not playing, He'll be there eventually. Hell, even Gabe Vincent, Kevin Love who we mentioned Spoe. They have all played except for Love with the heat in the finals. Love played in four finals with the Calves, this is not the biggest game
of their lives. For everyone that matters on Denver except for KCP, this is the biggest game of their life. I think that experience edge and whether or not the opening moments of the game are a little overwhelming mitigates somewhat the edge Denver has from what will be an insane home crowd in the opening minutes of the game. If you remember Game one of the Conference Finals, they won that game based on the first quarter and the crowd was absolutely electric. I expect the crowd to be
absolutely electric again. But I do wonder if for really everyone butt Jokic. I don't think it'll be too much for Jokic at all, but for Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Junior, Aaron Gordon, if there's gonna be a bit of holy we're in the finals, and how much that will impact them. I also think to get back to the rest edge. Now, I get it, teams with this type of rest edge are I think eight and one in the last nine NBA Finals in the series, eight and one in game one,
so this is butt would be bucking that trend. I also think that Miami rolling the way they've been rolling. Denver was playing better than any team in the league this postseason, but because of the sweep, now is it a week and a half of not playing, And I know this is the old rest versus rust. I think the rest edge will help Denver more as the series drags on than it will help them in Game one.
I think Miami being in a rhythm and feeling a little rested in that going from playing every other day as they were in the Eastern Conference Finals to having a few days off, So I don't think Denver's rest edge will be massive here. I also, as I talked about last week, recognize that Denver is on paper, the better team, and Yokich is in route to being recognized, if he's not already by most as the best player in the league. From a pure x's and oh's standpoint,
Denver should win the series. But it sure as hell to me feels like there is something special about this Miami team. They have been banging on the door for four years. I don't think this is their last shot, but it is definitely their best shot. And while I think Michael Malone is a good coach, I think Eric Spolstra is the best coach in basketball, and I think Jimmy Butler is going to rise to the occasion. And lastly, the Nuggets this year are unbeatable when Yokich has ninth
biggest basically double digit assists and a losing record. When he doesn't, jokicch is basically making all the same passes every year. The question what that really is an indication of If the others are hitting shots, Denver is almost impossible to beat. Are the others going to be overwhelmed
by the finals? And is Jamal Murray going to build on the best playoff series of his career the Western Conference Finals sweep against the Lakers, or is Jamal Murray going to regress to the mean a bit in the NBA Finals Because I don't this is a this is not a I don't think Jokic is gonna show up. I think he's gonna run out of gas. That's why I'm picking Miami. It's a I like Miami's coach more, even though they're undrafted guys, because of the rhythm that
they're in. I like what I think Miami's others can do more in this series. I like Miami's defense more.
I like the fact that Miami is going to be able to add midway through the series, one of the most dynamic scorers on their team, and a little bit of the as Bruce said on the TV show Pixie Dust, of the sports gods and Miami's time being now and Denver's time maybe being next year, the year after coming so close, losing a finals, coming back better, and then breaking the door down, similar to what Miami would have gone through making the finals a few years ago, making
Game seven the Conference finals last year. I'm going with Miami tonight, and I'm going with Miami in the series next.
Okay, playoff. Jimmy has been a different beast this year. He even predicted the future, offering finals tickets to Cook Cook Golf during the season. If the Heat win, they'd cap off perhaps the best four year stretch in the league. Yeah, is it possible the time after KD and the Warriors will be the Jimmy Butler era.
No, I don't think it's gonna Listen, I don't think we're about to have a Jimmy Butler era. I also don't think the.
League is.
Leaning towards eras right now. I think that we're about to have for the first time in more than forty years, five different champions in five years, it's going to have been the Warriors, the Raptors, the Lakers. I'm sorry for starting with the Raptors, the Raptors, the Lakers, the Bucks, the Warriors, and now either the Heat or the Nuggets. So I don't think Miami is about to pop off some dynasty, but I do think we have to acknowledge that since Jimmy Butler has been there, if they win
this title, no one has been more successful. And in fact, if we just go to I mean in the last five years, the year before Jimmy Butler got there, if they win this title, no one has been more successful. If they win the title, they will have one championship, two finals appearances, and three Conference finals appearances in the last five years. The Warriors in that stretch have won title,
two finals appearances, two Conference finals appearances. The Lakers have one title, one finals appearance, two conference finals appearances, the Bucks one title, one finals appearance, two Conference finals appearances. The Celtics would have zero titles, one finals appearance, and I think four conference finals appearances. The Heat will have been the most successful team in the league over the last half decade. They already and this is remarkable since
Jimmy got there. The Miami Heat lead the NBA in playoff victories. They're at thirty seven. The Celtics are at thirty six, The Lakers and Nuggets are at twenty six. I think the Warriors are at like thirty two, and that is based on the culture of the organization, their ability to find talent where others can't, exceptional coaching, and one of the very best playoffs for from in the world. And Jimmy Butler next.
Okay, and you said on TV that Jimmy has more to gain than Jokic if he wins a ring. But throughout the year you've said Jokic has the pressure, the most pressure to win a ring. How can Jimmy have more to game gain if Yokic has more to lose.
Well, here's the thing. I actually don't think Jokic has more to lose. Uh. I think that Jokic has won everyone over. I think that it is to me not realistic that Jokic is going to just be awful in these finals. He's going to be somewhere from good to extraordinary, and if the Nuggets don't win, it's going to be more about what the heat did or what Jokic's teammates
didn't do, than about Jokic failing. So there was to me, there was massive, massive pressure on Jokic this year to make the finals, and he did it, and he went for Durant and Booker and then Katie and then uh Lebron and Ad and he did it in spectacular fashion. So yes, there will be a if they lose. All right, Jokic at some point needs to win a ring, but I think everyone will believe that he will at some point.
The reason so, the reason that Jimmy has more to gain is because there are still people I said on TV yesterday, Jimmy Butler is a top five playoff performer, and people argued with me about it. Nobody thinks he's a top five overall player in the league. But the results in the postseason are undeniable. And if they win the championship, it's an all time championship. Because he doesn't
have any other great players, they worthy a seed. And while I won't call him the best player in the world, there are two guys at this point that everyone thinks are the best players in the world, Jannis and Jokic. If they win the title, Jimmy would have beaten both of them with inferior teammates. And so I just think that what he has to gain is a legendary status and there is no comp for this career. The guy's second round picker, the last pick of the first round.
The team that drafts him is like, Oh, he's better than we thought, but he's not worth the max. They trade him away. He goes to Minnesota. Minnesota has their only postseason success of this entire town Zra with him. They then get sick of him. He goes to Philly. Philly has the best playoffs they have had in any year with him Beid. With him, they come within a buzzer beater in Game seven of Round two of maybe going to the NBA Finals, certainly going to the conference finals.
He then goes to Miami. They instantly make a finals. People call it a fluke. Two years later they're the one seed and come within a shot of making another finals. And then this year they're in there for a guy who in the regular season is a good but not a great player. There is no comp for it. That's why he has the most to gain. I actually think neither one of these teams has much to lose here because you might say there's pressure on Denver because they're
such heavy favorites. But if Miami beats them, no one is going to be able to deny anymore that Miami is a special group and a special team.
Next, if you look at these teams in the finals, they don't look like the other recent finals teams. The Nuggets have a homegrown roster and the Heat are full of undrafted players. Is this the finals evidence that super teams are dead?
Well? I talked super teams a few weeks ago on the show.
And.
The fact of the matter is the just create a super team out of thin air. It works for Lebron and Lebron only. The other champions are homegrown teams that added a piece. The Warriors were already a champion. Well, the Warriors were a homegrown team that then added Andrea I Guidala as the final piece, and then they added Kevin Durant as an embarrassment of riches. The Bucks were
a homegrown team that added Drew Holliday. The Raptors were a homegrown core of everything that then added the superstarring Kawhi Leonard. The Nuggets a homegrown team that added a minor piece in Aaron Gordon. The Heat are a homegrown team that added the important piece in Jimmy Butler. The just created team. Thing that works for Lebron that hasn't worked for anybody else, and that Diora is our first segment. Right on the Dot, Quick break, Right back, b block, What's right.
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Welcome Back, Episode one Fix. So now we're gonna start with financial gambling.
There are a million financial gambling finals, finals gambling. Fine. See, I just don't know if you're quite ready to bring us back into this. I messed up once. Well, you know got you.
Mess up every day you come to work, you know, by not letting me be the.
Main Oh okay, sorry, go ahead.
There are a million ways to bet on the finals. It feels like a good time to bring back the offer. But Demante's in LA and I'm too young to gamble, so we're gonna make our own.
Okay, all right, So you guys are gonna put up and I'll read through them for the audio audience. The potential picks that I can have to make this parlay. So the heat specials are Caleb Martin to score third plus in any game is plus five point fifty. Jimmy Butler ten or more assists in any game is plus one fifty. And Bam out of bio to average ten plus rebounds that's plus two hundred. So of those three options, the only one that's attractive to me at all is
the Jimmy Butler one. And I'm gonna break out my parlay calculator here. So Jimmy Butler to have a ten plus assist game I think is likely. I think it's better than fifty percent. I'm getting plus one fifty. I don't think Caleb Martin even at five point fifty to one or fifty five and a half to one. Pardon me, thirty points is rich and averaging ten rebounds is very difficult. It takes one bad rebounding game to ruin that, and Jokers such a great rebounder. I don't like that, all right.
Let me see the Nuggets specials and see Jokics to average a triple double is minus one twenty five. Jamal Murray to have the highest scoring game for the Nuggets is plus two hundred. Michael Porter Junior to average fifteen and a half points is minus one fifteen. So I will take Michael Porter Junior average because that's just an over under. Because it's minus one fifteen on both. I will take Michael Porter Junior to average under one fifteen
or fifteen and a half points per game in the series. Yo, the yogis triple double. I'm just not gonna lay minus money on something that only has been done once in finals history, was done by Lebron. Jamal Murray having the highest scoring game on its face looks good, particularly at plus two hundred, But I think the Heat's game plan is gonna be let Yokic score forty if he wants and try to take away everything else. So I'll go Michael Porter Junior averaging under fifteen and a half points
per game at minus one fifteen. And then there are some championship specials yo Kics Finals MVP minus three sixty, Butler Finals MVP plus three thirty, and the finals to end in six at plus two forty. So I'm gonna go Butler Finals MVP at plus three thirty. Let me just see if we I my pick is heat in six. So let me just see if I added in the finals to end in six. So we would have plus one fifty on Jimmy to have a ten plus assist game, minus one fifteen on Michael Porter Junior fifty and a
half points per game. Butler Finals MVP in the finals end in six. Put all that together, that's sixty seven to one. So one thousand bucks you would win sixty seven thousand. If we take out the finals to end in six, it's nineteen to one. And that's actually the one I'm gonna roll with. So Butler Finals MVP, Porter Junior under fifteen and a half points per game, Jimmy ten plus assists, roll it in one game or more, roll it all together, it's nineteen to one. We're gonna
make that bet. I accept that offer that I just gave myself. Matt's putting it into the rundown. Greatly appreciated DIORA time now for our game.
Okay, So we're gonna start a new game today called nick GPT. So there's a lot of confusing sports news out there, and I can't wrap my head around all of it. So I decided to enlist the help of a new and maybe dangerous AI program called nick GPT.
Oh, it's a cool graphic they put up there. Okay, go ahead.
We don't know how powerful it is yet, but let's see if it can help us translate what some of the people in sports in the sports world are saying. Okay, general manager one general manager Bob Myers has left the Warriors, saying this job requires complete engagement, complete effort, and if I can't do it, and if you can't do it, you shouldn't do it at all. Basically, And that's what he said. But what did he mean, Nick GPT translate this statement?
Man, have you seen the new collective bargaining agreement? My owner said he doesn't want to pay four hundred million in luxury tax. That's what we're gonna have to do. The only way not to is to trade away Jordan Bull, who I foolishly signed to one hundred and twenty eight million bucks. But my hand was kind of forced because he had just gotten his jaw cracked by Draymond Green. Draymond's about to come to me and ask me for more money. Clay won't you know, doesn't seem to want
to acknowledge you. The shell of his former self. He's gonna want an extension. I ain't got time for all this. I don't want to deal with it. I got my four championships, my six finals appearances. I'm a legend in the Bay. I love Steph, but I'm out of here. That's what he That's what he actually meant. Next.
Okay, Bengals receiver Tyler Boyce.
You're skipping the Bills one. I think it was my bad.
That's right after offseason practice. After off season practices began, Bill's coach Sean McDermott said, I've seen a different Josh Allen this offseason. Not that it was bad before, but he's got a new sense of focus and determination, which is good. Nick Gpt translate this statement.
Man. So far this offseason, Josh isn't fumbling the ball in the red zone, throwing head scratching picks, recognizing he's a quarterback not a fullback, not trying to run people over, and hopefully we get for the first time in the last three years, a full season of Josh Allen playing
smart quarterback instead of trying to play superman quarterback. He's got as much talent as everyone as anyone in the league aside from Patrick Mahomes, and he has none of the awards, none of the consistency, none of the success because at times he thinks he's back at Wyoming trying to throw the ball out of the stadium or trying to just run everyone over. And that's not what we need. We love Josh, but we need him to settle down and be a little less of a roller coaster if
we're ever gonna get over the hump. That's what he means next. Okay, so now to the band. Okay.
Mangles receiver Tyler Boyd said that he believes that he wasn't If he wasn't hurt and played the whole game, they would have beat your Chiefs in the AFC Championship. He said he was the key factor. Nick gpt trump translate this statement.
My AI technology is not sophisticated enough to translate either just a bold faced lie or this level of delusion. The idea that Tyler Boyd was the key to the Bengals who have Jamar, Chase t Higgins, Joe Mixon, it's just delusion, and I you know, I respect the confidence,
but there's nothing to translate here. It's just nonsense. And the idea that if they had Tyler Boyd they would have been able to stop Patrick Mahomes on the final drive of the game is vexing considering the fact that it's that he plays offense, not defense.
Next, we talked Tuesday about Aaron Rodgers at the Taylor Shift concert. Now we have a video of him dancing and the confetti screaming the Jets win the Super Bowl. Nick's GPT translate this statement.
Ayahuasca is a hell of a drug. To misquote Rick James, I mean, I get it. You're at MetLife, it's where the Jets play. They're dropping confetti, you're having a good time. You may or may not be on hallucinogens, but give me a break and The more interesting Aaron Rodgers' story is the interview or in the article in The Athletic where he just doubles down on the I wasn't ducking anyone's phone calls. I just have bad service in my house.
You have to FaceTime me nonsense, and it says he's listen, sorry, not sorry about not talking to Brian go quote. I talk to people I like into quote. That's to me the more interesting Rogers story. But I'm kind of sick of the Rogers stories at this point. And by the way, he just missed his fourth rate practice with an injured calf, which is at least at this point moderately concerning next.
Tom Brady was asked if he was coming back. He said, I'm certain I'm not playing again. Nick Chpt translates this statement.
I believe that Tom Brady believes that right now. That's what I believe. I believe that right now, Tom Brady believes.
You believe that he's wrong.
I'm not saying that, I'm saying that right now. I believe that Tom Brady believes that.
All right, last one, okay, Speaking of washed Patriots quarterbacks, Mac Jones, Mac Jones had this to say, about practice with Bill O'Brien. It's been really good. It's been normal. Nick cheap wow, GPT translate this statement.
I've got an offensive coordinator is offensive coordinator as opposed to that wanna be rocket scientist, defensive coordinator and special teams Coach Belichick saddled me with last year. It's nice to actually have an offensive coordinator as my offensive coordinator. That's what I mean by that. That's ten minutes on the dot. I gotta tell you, do you or I think the audience is probably wanting more today? That's what they say, wanting more. We answer your questions next, What's right?
Welcome back, episode one fifty six. Now we're gonna answer your listener questions. No, Rodrigue Rodriguez says, question for me, since you've started doing the podcast, have you become a fan of a player or a team that you weren't very familiar with before? Honestly, not really.
I mean I was.
Always pretty familiar with basketball, and I always knew.
And Door hasn't been doing the show during football and doesn't like football.
But maybe I don't mind watching football, but we don't really go to football games as a family.
That's right. I don't like going to football games. I love going to basketball game. Yes, but you did during your you know probably you know I've mentioned this a few times on the show, but you goes to a very fancy boogie school with fancy boogie people, and prom weekend. You know, there's the dance, but then of course the post dance multi day event in the Hampton's. And you told me that even while you were at your post dance partying in the Hamptons, you checked in on the NBA score.
Yeah, I did, But that has nothing to do with players, that's just no.
But you are, You've I think you've started to like the sport a little more. Is that fair?
I guess sure.
You're gonna watch the finals Game one with me tonight, at least the first half. You go to bed quite early when you're at home, but.
I go to my room, Acquiere.
Yeah, she yeah, that's right. She goes to her room. It's probably on the phone or whatever for hours on end, but she says, I'm going to bet. I'm like, it's eight thirty.
But she's maybe all right, what's next? Okay, next question joe Ess asked who got in the French? Who you got in the French Open. Now that you're a boy Natal.
Doll allow, it's not in the draw. Oh my gosh.
I don't need this right now.
Did you call him Natal? I did, can't can't come on, diora uh, I don't need this. Listen. I love uh, I do love Nadal. But I'm the and I'll be honest with you. I have not been locked into the French Open yet. But the next guy that I'm gonna love is the guy everyone's gonna love, Alcarez. And so I'll go with Carlos the Spaniard, a different Spaniard after being a Doll guy. I'll go with Carlos Acrez in
the French Hopefully he wins. There was an unbelievable shot he made that a couple matches ago that his opponent almost seemed demoralized by and then just clappedform all right, next, okay.
Supernova twenty two asked does Monty have a chance to build and develop something in Detroit? He secured a huge payout, but the Pistons haven't been a winning franchise in a long time.
So I think MANI with the Pistons works really well. I think it's smart. I think asking him to build a culture and help teach a team learn how to win like he did in Phoenix is the exact right role for him, even if you have issues with him getting a team over the hump to a championship and in Detroit they're just trying to learn how to win. Listen, they paid them a ton of money. I was I mean, six years, seventy eight million dollars for that. I mean, god,
dog man, that's Pat McAfee money. But that is that's a huge, huge contract. But I get it. They want to add credibility to the organization. They have the fourth pick in this year's draft or the fifth pick in this year's draft, and then you add to it that they have Kid Cunningham coming back. I get what they're trying to do. I think that was a smart hire, all right.
Last one, Aurora asks Nick, would the Sixers be chasing their second ring by now if they kept Butler?
I mean, I don't know. So the year after the Raptors won, the Lakers won, then the Bucks, then the Warriors, and I don't know that the Sixers would have won any of those titles. Maybe last year, but they certainly would have made a conference Finals, and I believe would
have made at least a finals. Listen, it's an all time front office gaff that sticking with now, everybody says they picked Tobias Harris over Jimmy Butler, But Jimmy the real problem was Jimmy didn't want to be there because he sniffed out Ben Simmons earlier than everybody else, and the Sixers didn't want to believe him on it. He obviously was proven correct and vindicated, so they went with Tobias Harris because they would have had to essentially move
on from Ben Simmons to keep Jimmy. Credit to Jimmy for seeing that before anybody else saw it, way before anybody else said it. And credit to us Diora. This was a nice, tight, forty minute show. You didn't think I could do it? How about that? There? It is? What's Right? We will talk to you guys on Tuesday morning, Game one of the finals tonight, game two on Sunday. So on Tuesday we'll have a very good idea of what direction these finals are headed in. I will see
you guys at three o'clock today on FS one. What's Right. Bye,