Game 7 Flowers & Semifinal Previews For Knicks-Sixers, Spurs-Wolves

Summary

No Dunks Podcast Summary

Episode: Game 7 Flowers & Semifinal Previews For Knicks-Sixers, Spurs-Wolves

Date: May 4, 2026

Hosts: Jay “Skeets” Skeets, Tas Melis, Trey Kirby, JD

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Overview

This energetic episode of No Dunks digs into a wild NBA playoff weekend featuring three dramatic Game 7s, significant first-round eliminations, and sets the table with deep-dive previews for the Eastern and Western Conference Semifinals: Knicks vs. Sixers and Spurs vs. Wolves. The crew dishes their signature mix of humor, passionate fandom, and sharp analysis while swapping predictions, X-factors, and memorable playoff moments.

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Game 7 Reactions & Recaps

Cavaliers Defeat Raptors in Game 7

[03:02–15:10]

- Jared Allen Breaks Through

• Big Third Quarter: Cavaliers took control with a massive run to start the second half.
• Jared Allen’s Resurgence: After a rough start, Allen dominated with rebounds, blocks, and energy.
  • "Jared Allen really showed me something in the second half...had a double double, blocked a couple shots on the same possession." – Tas Melis [06:46]
• Team Rebounding: Cavs out-rebounded the Raptors 60–33, especially in decisive moments.
• Cavs Win Without Stars: Neither Donovan Mitchell nor James Harden needed to score big; Cavs found enough elsewhere.

- Raptors’ Effort & Future

• Scotty Barnes Shines: Embraced the #1 role and played with relentless pace.
• Breakout Role Players: Praise for Jacoby Walter and Jamal Shed stepping up.
• Defending Mitchell: Raptors held Mitchell to 20 PPG from Games 3–7 (well below regular season).
  • "The way he was defended by the Raptors... that was fantastic." – Skeets [06:03]
• Roster Questions: Brandon Ingram’s tough fit, Quickley’s injury, Pöltl’s struggles. Offseason focus on shooting and potential Sabonis trade rumors.

- Notable Moments

• Jared Allen’s physical play, Max Strus embracing his “irritant” defender role, and Donovan Mitchell’s reckless dives into the crowd.
  • "Mitchell came over and gave [the fan] a high five afterwards. He's like, you did help my foot out there." – Tas [15:28]
• The episode of buying a mug commemorating an iconic Raptors shot, showing how fandom latches onto special playoff moments.

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Pistons Rout Magic, Complete Another 3–1 Comeback

[16:29–22:47]

- Tobias Harris Steps Up

• Career Quarter: 17 points in the second (30 for the game), including signature celebrations.
  • "Do we need to fill out the Tobias Harris apology form? This guy played the best quarter of his career." – Taz [16:55]

- Cade Cunningham’s Ascendance

• Averaged 36+ PPG over final three games after Franz Wagner’s injury.
• Historic 30-10 line in Game 7; paired with Harris for a rare teammate double-30 performance.
  • "He became the seventh player in NBA history to have a 30, 10 game in a Game 7." – Trey [20:38]

- Magic Collapse & Mosley Fired

• Offensive woes: 19, 49, 45 points in final three halves.
• No help for Paolo as Suggs played poorly, and injuries mounted.
• Orlando fires coach Jamal Mosley after failing to unlock the offense for years.
  • "Changing the coach is pretty easy. They say, see you later, Jamal Mosley." – Tas [27:51]

- Big Offseason Questions

• How to build around Paolo and Franz? Do you move Bane, Suggs? Lack of shooting and a static offense need urgent attention.

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Sixers Stun Celtics With Historic 3–1 Comeback

[31:52–46:44]

- Missoula’s Bizarre Lineup

• Celtics started Luca Garza, Ron Harper Jr., Baylor Scheierman in Game 7; all were ineffective.
  • "Joe Missoula galaxy brained his team out of a chance to compete..." – Trey [32:08]
• Jalen Brown (-19 in the first half minutes) struggled, compounded by Tatum’s late injury absence.

- Embiid & Maxey Carry Philly

• Embiid returns from injury halfway through the series, dominates late.
  • “What a gutsy performance from this guy. He got to have one bad game, knock off the rust, and then he dominated.” – Taz [36:29]
• Maxey shines in minutes, especially in crunch time with key buckets.
  • "He just hit the timely buckets. He was the closer." – Skeets [38:13]
• Rookie Vijay Edgecombe praised for poise and production.

- Celtics: Three-Point Reliance & Offseason Questions

• Shooting woes: 27% from deep in losses, often the bellwether with this team’s system.
• Jalen Brown’s post-loss Twitch comments: calls Embiid a “huge flopper,” says this was his best season since he became the #1 guy (drawing headlines).
  • “He also called out three referees specifically that are out to get him.” – Skeets [40:37]

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East Semifinal Preview: 76ers vs. Knicks

[49:44–64:22]

• Historical Context: Rematch of a classic series two seasons prior; both teams have evolved.
• Key Matchup: Joel Embiid vs. Karl-Anthony Towns (“Cat”)
  • "Embiid draws a lot of fouls. Cat loves to foul... the big boys are really drawing me in for this one." – Tas [51:41]
• X-factor Debates:
  • What will Towns’ expanded playmaking role look like against the Sixers’ size?
  • Brunson vs. Maxey as dueling offensive point guards—can either team slow the other’s star?
    • "I don't know who has a better chance of stopping the other one... it feels like you can almost put those guys in every night for 25 to 30 points." – Trey [55:09]
  • Bench depth seems to favor the Knicks; can Philly get more than spotty bench minutes?
• Swing Players: OG Anunoby and Paul George’s two-way impact (who “regresses” first).
• Crucial Role Guys: Grimes and Oubre Jr. (Philly badly needs shooting from Oubre to keep pace).

- Predictions

• Tas: Sixers in 7 (“First time Embiid to the conference finals!”) [61:13]
• Skeets: Knicks in 7, citing offense and depth
• Trey: Knicks in 6 (“OG leveling up, depth matters”)

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West Semifinal Preview: Spurs vs. Timberwolves

[67:24–81:47]

• Big Storylines:
  • Anthony Edwards’ status is crucial (questionable for Game 1, but hype video suggests return soon).
    • “Ant man is coming. Believe that.” – Tas [70:09]
  • Wolves’ injury woes (no DiVincenzo, IO possibly out) vs. Spurs healthy and hot after dispatching Blazers.
• Frontcourt Battle: Gobert, Randle, McDaniels vs. Wemby & the thin Spurs bigs
  • Wolves will try to exploit size around the perimeter, not just inside.
  • Wemby vs. Gobert = mentor-protege showdown (French connection).
• Spurs Perimeter Power: Guards Fox, Castle, and Harper, plus Champagne—different threats from Blazers series, but a much more physical and athletic Wolves group awaits.
  • Spurs shot 42% from deep as a team vs. Portland; Wolves praying that cools off.
• X-factors:
  • Secondary Wolves’ bigs (Randle, McDaniels, Reed) defending Wemby.
  • Who steps up for Spurs when Wemby sits? Fox/Harper/Castle have to lead those minutes.
  • Three-point regression or not?
• Prediction Panel:
  • Tas & Skeets: Spurs in 6 (“Hard to pick Wolves without Edwards/IO healthy”)
  • Trey: Wolves in 7 (“They thrive as underdogs. If Ant comes back… they can do it.”)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Mitchell came over and gave [the fan] a high five afterwards. He's like, you did help my foot out there.” – Tas [15:28]
• “I mean, Mosley got so desperate. ‘Well, you're his brother. You get in there.’” – Trey, on Orlando’s rotations [22:08]
• “Why was Luca Garza playing meaningful minutes let alone starting a Game 7? Joe Missoula galaxy brained his team…” – Trey [32:08]
• “He [Embiid] became the first player in NBA history to miss 3 games of a series and still score 100 points.” – Trey [37:22]
• “OG Anunoby turned the ball over twice in 214 minutes versus the Hawks... 21 and 9, two steals, a block. His shooting splits were 61, 57 and 77.” – Trey [59:08]
• “The Spurs will enter the game… and then they're like, okay, which one of our three guards is going to be the unstoppable second star tonight alongside Wemby? Fox, Harper or Castle? They literally just take turns.” – Trey [77:18]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:02 – Cavs-Raptors Game 7 breakdown and Raptors’ offseason
• 16:55 – Pistons-Magic Game 7, Tobias Harris explosion, Magic’s future
• 27:51 – Magic fire Jamal Mosley (coaching/carousel debate)
• 31:52 – Sixers rally from 3–1, Celtics’ collapse, Embiid/Maxey heroics, Jalen Brown comments
• 49:44 – Knicks-Sixers Semifinal Preview: matchups, X-factors, predictions
• 67:24 – Spurs-Wolves Semifinal Preview: injuries, size battle, Wemby vs. Gobert, predictions

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Closing Notes

• The hosts’ chemistry shines, blending diehard analysis, rapid-fire humor, and classic sports banter.
• Multiple reminders that depth, role players, and health loom as the swing factors for both semifinals.
• The show wraps with shoutouts to fans, continuing sponsor gags, and playful jabs at NBA scheduling.

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This episode is a must-listen for fans craving context, personality, and passionate playoff breakdowns with a heavy dose of NBA nerdery and fun.

Transcript

[Jay Skeets]

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[Taz Melis]

Hi Ma.

[Jay Skeets]

Thanks for your unfiltered advice.

[Trey Kirby]

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[Jay Skeets]

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[Trey Kirby]

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[Trey Kirby]

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[Trey Kirby]

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[Taz Melis]

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[Trey Kirby]

Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks podcast, presented by FanDuel. It's Monday, May 4th 4th, 2026. May the 4th be with you. I'm Jay Skeets here in the classic factory. And alongside me, as always, Tas Melis.

[Jay Skeets]

Podcast listeners, this is for you.

[Trey Kirby]

Next to him, it's my top shot, hot boy, Trey Kirby. And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer jd.

[Taz Melis]

Hello.

[Trey Kirby]

There he is. Here we are. Hello to everybody on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners, five star ratings and reviews on today's pod. We're going to preview both semifinal matchups that tip tonight. We're right into the second round here. We got Sixers, Knicks and Wolves Spurs. We'll break those down a little bit later, but first we got some game sevens to dig our teeth into. And we'll start with the Cavaliers beating our Raptors. Oh, Sunday night, Jared Allen. The lights weren't too bright this time for Jared Allen.

[Taz Melis]

Sunglasses game for Jared Allen.

[Trey Kirby]

Perfect, perfect. But they get it done there, you know, End of the second quarter task big third quarter first from Jared Allen from Cleveland. Blew the game open and it was too much for the Raptors to overcome there in the fourth in a series where it was deadlocked, tied through six and a half games because it was tied at half of this. That's how even these two teams had played through the first round. But Cavs take care of business in the third and the second half.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, Jared Allen credited Merrill for the way they ended the second quarter. He said, Sam said, this whole series, we haven't closed out the second quarter. We took all that to heart. We all looked at ourselves and decided that now was the time to do it. And yeah, that's where it stretched out big time at the beginning of this game. I thought, oh, oh, we're getting a bad Jared Allen game. He missed that dunk to start, clunked it, the Evan Mobley turnover. And then he steps out of bounds. What up with that? He misses his shot. The Raps gave it away at the end of the second quarter. And then the way the third quarter went where you get these random things happening, you get a, a Max Schrues dancing with the ball. You get James Harden out in the open with that beautiful steel. You don't see that from James Harden. So they start doing that and then Allen was awesome. The Evan, Evan Mobley to start that third quarter. I think they went to him purposefully after an offensive rebound. Yeah, they just, they took it away from the Toronto Raptors in what's going to be a classic Toronto Raptors first round series. I don't care that it's a first round series. I'm always going to remember this first round series for everything they did. Starting with Scotty Barnes. His breakout series in the playoffs. Looking extremely good. Pushing every single possible ball up the floor. It didn't matter if it was a missed free throw. That guy putting it on his back. In a series where you could say the Raptors are going to lose this thing. Brandon Ingram doesn't look anything like himself. They don't have their starting point guard, Emmanuel quickly. Yaka Purdle didn't play it all that well. So we got three guys, Dropout and Darko Yakovic and the rest of the team absolutely realized, okay, what are we going to do? So the way they acted and threw Jacoby Walter into the starting lineup and you get the heart of a Jamal Shed in this series. Colin Murray Boyle is also his breakout series. So all those things combined, it's easily. It's a classic for the Toronto Raptors. Even though, you know, right now it's bitter, it's tough, but it's one of those first round series that I'm always going to say, whoa, that was a good one.

[Taz Melis]

You're going to be telling your grandkids about losing game seven to the Cavs.

[Jay Skeets]

Not that part. I'm going to tell them about the first seven. Hey, listen, I think Donovan Mitchell and the way he was defended by the Toronto raptors from games three to game seven, he averaged 20 points. A guy who averages 28, almost 29 coming in to the series. That was fantastic. They threw him off all the bodies that they threw around him. So they responded really, really well. They don't have the offensive weapons right now. Let's talk about Demata Sabonis maybe coming to the Toronto Raptors. They don't have all the weapons, but they adapted really, really well.

[Taz Melis]

I thought this was an awesome performance from the Cavs and I think if you're a Cleveland fan, you gotta be super excited. Hey, we just out physical the team in the playoffs, can you believe it?

[Trey Kirby]

We won without Mitchell or Harden carrying us offensively. Even in a Game seven.

[Taz Melis]

Exactly. I mean Jared Allen really showed me something in the second half. He was on my all disappointing team. He was my second draft pick. And then in that third quarter had a double double block, blocked a couple of shots on the same possession. That was awesome. He grabbed his own free throw miss twice in the same quarter, 60 to 33. Rebounding advantage for the Cavaliers. That should have been a strength of theirs the entire series. It wasn't. But in game seven, Jared Allen really got busy and that's just what you need to see from a team like this that has fallen short. Mostly because it feels like they get out efforted in playoff series. They didn't in this one. It was a tough series to win. They came through with a lot of players making plays. I'm with you. Like Max Streuss. The dribbles were cool. That was an awesome shot. But he was making threes. His defense on Scotty Barnes was incredible.

[Jay Skeets]

Took multiple charges.

[Taz Melis]

This was the guy they chose and he's like, guess what, I'm a white guy. I can be an irritant too. And that's what he was playing. He had, but for no reason. Who is this guy? Yeah, Evil Max with the long hair. But he was embracing his role. I thought Jaylon Tyson was pretty solid making three pointers, making plays out of the short rolls. And most importantly in the second half, the Cavs never turned the ball over. They had 13 turnovers in the first half. That's how the Raptors built their lead. Only three in the second half, which made things tougher for Toronto in half court situations. And you know, Mitchell didn't play great, Harden didn't play great. But they also weren't bad, you know. Yeah, Harden didn't have a very good first half, I didn't think. But he didn't turn the ball over 11 times, which has happened in a game seven. Instead he just went to the free throw line time after time after time. Got a steal. Like he was doing little things too. This was a pretty veteran win, I thought, from the Cavs.

[Trey Kirby]

Kenny Atkinson said, that's the best I've ever seen Jared Allen play, especially in that third quarter where he took over. Okay, he was great. Might be true. Exactly. But that run, that 49 to 21 run over the 15 minutes again, end of the second quarter, into the third quarter, they were converting Toronto turnovers. Like you said. You brought up the Harden one. It was like, whoa, James Harden getting his hand on a ball steal, you know, a little sloppy or a little lazy I guess from RJ Barrett because he's not expecting Harden to do that and goes the other way. And then the offensive rebounds, a lot of points there. They figured out they needed to play with a little more pace too, I thought, and started dissecting Toronto's defense, like started using that great defense against them and going through their big. So that was impressive. You brought up Max Stru. Yeah, despite the headbutt, he was really good otherwise. And Sam Merrill too, like gave him some threes, gave him some obviously Stretching the floor a little bit. 13 points. Everybody chipped in there for Cleveland to get it done in the end. I wasn't feeling confident as a Raptors fan despite it being tied at the half because it felt like it was one of those games. You're like, wow, I feel like we have outplayed them for majority of this first half and we're tied. Like, even when they were up there and had a lead, it was like, God, we're only up X points. Feels like we've completely outclassed him here so far. And we came with energy on the road. Scotty Barnes right from the jump, scoring a couple of times, but could never, obviously, you know, increase the lead and gave it all back at the end of the second quarter. And I was like, oh, this will probably be decided here in the first couple minutes of the third quarter because they're just running out of steam here too. And of course, you know, down on a bunch of guys and bodies, but valiant effort. I'm with you, Taz. I don't know if I'll remember it like you're saying you will forever, but if it, if it's the building block to a team that starts to win series and has more success, then maybe with the core like you said. Scotty Barnes proving he's a number one guy. RJ Barrett did have a really good series. Bit of a clunker in game seven, unfortunately, shooting the ball and then all the young guys. I mean, cmb awesome. Shed Walter. So hopefully it's a building block, but the shot was cool on Friday night.

[Taz Melis]

The shot was really.

[Trey Kirby]

That was cool.

[Jay Skeets]

That was a great bounce. That was super cool. I've already bought a mug with the actual shot and how it happened, the design of it, how it happened.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, well, he literally is going to remember this series forever every time he has a coffee.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, I wouldn't usually buy something like that, but Brent Barry actually sent it to me. He sent me the link and I said, all right, I'll pay for that. I'll pay for the shipping. No problem. It's a cool design. And yeah, I'm not just caught in the moment. And Toronto Raptors have played so many bad. Just first round series and, and for this one to stand out as a. As a Toronto Raptors fan. It's. It's that part. It's obviously RJ Barrett hitting in his freaking barn in his hometown. There's that part, but just the effort level like they were doing in the first half of this game. The offensive rebounds, the second chance Points, the just taking every single charge, just that fight level that was happening. And it went away at the end of the second quarter, unfortunately, because the Cavs were ready to respond. So that lead just went poof. But yeah, I think it's more than just even just that one shot and more than just that mug. It's just a lot of six games of playing extremely hard for Dark Rojkovic. I mean, I shouldn't say six games, but they responded to that. Down 2 0. They could have easily faded.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, of course, of course. I mean a playoff series does bring a lot of clarity. Right. In a particular series. And Blake Murphy, our guy, he put it well, this series for the Raptor side of things really affirmed the things you got excited about over the course of the season. Yes. And similarly affirmed the areas that you were concerned about. That's true too. So interesting off season here for the Raptors. Sort of handcuffed in terms of the financials with their books and this team. You know, it's pretty apparent you do you do want shooting around Scotty Barnes, especially if now he's proven, wow, this guy really brings it in a playoff series and it can be the number one guy, but you got the quickly contract of it all. Doesn't play Ingram fit maybe still weird with his contract purdl. Brutal. I mean even in game seven here it was like get him off, man. Yeah. It's like he gave them next to nothing. An entire series. There was maybe a five minute stretch where he played okay.

[Taz Melis]

Yes. So he had some moments in Toronto where he wasn't brutal.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. I think the first and foremost issue is the Ingram issue because they're a different team with three point shooters around them and with Ingram being overtaken by guys who can play defense and are comfortable not just being ISO guys. So this team layout is. It's, it's not so much quickly Ingram and then Pearl. I think it's primarily Ingram and, and then the Pearl and so quickly as a three point shooter would have been fantastic in this series just to see how that would have worked out. But yes, I bring up the sabonist rumors here about the Toronto Raptors being the, the leader if, if the Kings want to move on from him. There's, there's that whole issue with the Kings, but straight up Ingram for Tomato Sabonis. Gotta do it. If you're the Toronto Raptors. I know it's a weird world, but you got to do it probably right. As a guy who's a, you know, we'll get to Previewing to previewing Carl Anthony Towns as sort of this pillar of an offense. You can just dish everywhere. That's what Sabonis would be. In a team that you need that along with a quickly coming in to spread that floor a little bit and hit those threes. That's what you're looking at. But I don't know why the Kings would do something like that. They shouldn't. But you never know what the Sacramento Kings.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah, I mean they might be saying Goodbye to one Demarta Rosen. Maybe they want to get another Demar DeRozan. The thing is it's just going to be hard for the Raptors to improve. This is going to be their team next year. Unless they want to trade RJ Barrett and maybe they could. He was pretty good in the playoffs, I thought.

[Trey Kirby]

Absolutely. I think he shut up some of the hometown boy.

[Jay Skeets]

It's hard to trade him.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah, he had a mug worthy shot.

[Jay Skeets]

You're going to ship him out now. You hope somewhere out there One of those 29 teams will take on Brandon Ingram to be a team that needs a score. But he also makes a lot of money. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

We'll talk more about the Cavs here when we obviously set up their series tomorrow when we get into the Pistons and Cavs. But any other notes from game seven there on Sunday night?

[Taz Melis]

Quite the dive by Donovan Mitchell into probably the third row of the stands. It looked like he left over both the first and second row and then Reggie right on the spot. I saw his foot was stuck so I unstuck his foot.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, that was very kind.

[Taz Melis]

They were talking feet a lot there in the second half after that one. What a hero.

[Jay Skeets]

Donovan Mitchell, the guy who flies into the crowd the most out in the NBA. Right.

[Trey Kirby]

He does a lot.

[Taz Melis]

He does.

[Trey Kirby]

He has for sure.

[Jay Skeets]

Am I misremembering earlier in the series, didn't he do it earlier in the series?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I think you're right.

[Jay Skeets]

That was fantastic. There was that fan in the front row as Scotty Barnes came up to see what's going on there. Grabbed Scotty Barnes hand. I didn't know what he was doing. Was he saying thank you for not diving on me, Scotty Barnes? Because he's literally just standing there or you know, wishing him well. I think it was. Thank God I didn't get dived on because he was. He was right beside everything that happened. Reggie was cool though. Thanks. Thanks, Reg.

[Taz Melis]

Mitchell came over and like gave him a high five afterwards. He's like, you did help my foot out there. I also Liked Jared Allen got filed really hard in the first half. Was that A.J. lawson maybe hit him up around the shoulders or something like that. Jared Allen popped up so fast. Everybody runs to the skirmish, but Jared Allen just like went to the free throw line. They're like, oh, yeah, I guess we're not fighting now.

[Trey Kirby]

But Jared Allen did play with, for him, an edge. He played with an edge absolutely in this game. And I guess they were even talking about it in his like pre game sort of warmups and how he was approaching like the starting lineups. It was like, oh, Allen's locked in here today. You know, he's. He doesn't sort of carry himself like that sort of that alpha dog.

[Taz Melis]

That was rare.

[Trey Kirby]

But he came obviously and brought it. And he was huge. He was really, really huge. The 22, 19 rebounds nearly had the big beef there in a game seven, that is not nothing in a series at a time. So it was a goddamn dog fight and like dragged into the mud. And that's like the Raptors best chance to win the game.

[Jay Skeets]

In a series where he struggled in all honesty, until game seven, he was not. He was not himself.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay, so let's keep it going. Cause we got lots to talk about here. And again we'll talk Cavs Pistons tomorrow. But Pistons are there in the second round. They finish the comeback coming back from three one hole against the Orlando Magic with the game seven route. So they advanced to the east semifinals for the first time since 08. And yeah, it was done in dramatic fashion in totality for sure. Coming back. TK what do you think of game seven, Pistons Magic?

[Taz Melis]

Do we need to fill out the Tobias Harris apology form? This guy played the best quarter of his career in the second quarter of Game 7, going for 17 points on 6 of 8 shooting. He played pretty well for the entirety of the game too. Finish him with 30. Doing his three to the ear celebration quite a few times. Like he did it so many times that even at the end he was like, all right. I mean, I've been playing so well, I gotta keep doing it. The first one he was like strutting down the court and stuff. And it just kind of like, okay, okay, okay.

[Trey Kirby]

You gotta keep doing it. Yeah.

[Taz Melis]

When you're having that kind of game. That's 17 points though, in the third quarter. To the point where Cade Cunningham at the end of the quarter was like, just you ISO, man. Go do something. He missed, but still the confidence was there and it really flipped the script in the game. The second half turned into a blowout. Because nobody on the Magic could score outside Apollo Bonchero. The Magic are the weirdest eighth seed that we've seen through the first four games. We're like, this isn't a normal eight seed. They could have been a five seed. And then in the last three halves of this series, they scored 19 points, 49 points and 45 points.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, that's bad.

[Taz Melis]

That's really bad. That's like so bad that you would maybe fire your coach after losing this series.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, breaking news. Jamal Mosley is gone.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah, he gone. He gone. But at least the Magic fought in this one. Probably the series turns out differently if Franz Wagner is able to keep playing. Yeah, because in the last three games, Cade Cunningham went for 36 points per game, five rebounds, seven assists on 68% true shooting. They had no matchup for him once Franz went out. So Cade took over, Tobias did his thing. We got the best Jaylen Duran game of the series in this one, which has to be at least a little encouraging going up against the Cavs in the next one. Danis Jenkins had a good game. Like the Pistons showed up in game seven.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, absolutely. Dennis Jenkins best game too. He was coming into this series shooting 26% from the floor, 14% from three, and more than doubled. His game high in this game was 16 points. He was feeling it. That was the Jenkins that we saw during the regular season. So everything that, you know, we expected, it all culminated in game seven. I wonder. It seems to be a. A storyline here. Guys perform in game seven at home, even though they haven't performing all series. Listen, Tobias Harris was good and we all, we all need to respect him. He was good for most of this series. Although the threes were not falling for this guy throughout this series. And it turned when it was 45. 45 late second quarter 240 when Tobias Harris stepped in to a three with all of his body for an above the break three. Something he does not. He hit all that often. He only hit two of them in this game. But when it was a zone being run by Orlando, he got a bit of a. A back pick from Duran to just get all of his body steamrolled into it. And from then on, they didn't let go of the lead. And that's when. That's when the thing went from. Yeah, he was, you know, only had eight points to that point, but then scored 11 for the rest of the quarter to get to 19 for him.

[Trey Kirby]

He was doing it not just with the three ball, obviously working in the, in the post. There Using his size, he shoots so high, so he hit a couple post jumpers and then he scored inside. Even a couple nice tough finishes at the rim.

[Taz Melis]

He got the ball stripped to by some parishion and still somehow made the jumper. That was unbelievable.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, right.

[Trey Kirby]

And so this guy that's been kicked around the league a couple times now, this is his. Was this his fourth Game 7 for him as well? He was 03 in Game 7, but comes through and like the whole sort of takeaway from the series, it felt like, well, it's Cade versus Paolo. These guys are stars. They brought it. Paolo Monster, game seven. Right. I mean, put up their first 11 points, finished with 38, 96. But it's like Cade had help and Paolo did not. Over this last couple of games, a big part of that. Franz, you're right. Franz's defense on Cade would have slowed that down. And offensively, I think you just trust him more than anything else you were getting from any other Magic player. I mean, Bane, pretty reserved game. I know he got some points at the end. It was all sort of too late. Suggs, brutal series. Brutal, brutal series shooting the ball. So, yeah, nobody to help Paolo. Where Cade, as we went through, got a lot of help. Like, he also led them there. Don't get me wrong. I mean, game five alone with the 45, game six bringing the team back from 24 down, which is still crazy. Like, this was the Magic series. Yeah. Jamal Mosley is still coaching into the second round if they win that game. And then Obviously in game seven, Cade with another what, 32 and 12. Incredible. He became the seventh player, I guess, in game seven in NBA history to have a 30, 10 game. 30 points, 10 assists at least. So not a lot of guys have done that. He was great.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. And Kaden Tobias, the 10th pair of teammates in NBA history to have 30 points in a game seven. You know, didn't think you'd pair Cade.

[Trey Kirby]

No.

[Jay Skeets]

And Tobias Harris. Yeah, in the same sentence. But yeah, I thought after the way they lost Game 1, when Cade was cooking himself with 39 points and the guys didn't come along, that this was over. But they did it enough to overcome the lack of support for the Magic. You mentioned Franz, Trey, Jalen, Suggs, obviously very bad. Just not. Not been able to splash anything. Twos and threes everywhere. Everywhere on the floor. The guy shot 12 and a half shots per game and he averaged 11 points because both twos and threes, he couldn't hit a thing.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

So that was the unfortunate part.

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, Mosley Got so desperate. He's like, all right, we got no fronds. Well, you're his brother. You get in there. Come on, Mo. Hey. Gave him a bit of a sp. He played Mo Wagner type. Basil, like, obviously getting into it. And did hit a three, right?

[Jay Skeets]

He hits one shot and he is talking trash. One shot for Mo. Yeah, I wanted. Unfortunately, we're all hoping for somebody to contribute. And, yeah, it was mocking. I thought Tristan da Silva maybe would have been that guy because he did do that during the regular season. He's kind of like that. You know that Swiss army knife that kind of did everything. And when Franz went out, I thought it'd be him. Didn't happen. But we got a great Jamal Kane dunk in this series. So they got some stuff.

[Taz Melis]

I remember that.

[Jay Skeets]

That was a good dunk. What was it? 121.5 on the dunk.

[Taz Melis]

Highest dunk score we've ever seen in our lives.

[Trey Kirby]

It was big.

[Jay Skeets]

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[Trey Kirby]

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[Trey Kirby]

So let's just quickly go to the news here from the morning and that is that the Magic did indeed fire Jamal Mosley. This was, this was expected. It was just we thought it was maybe gonna happen a little quicker than it did. We didn't think they were gonna even make the playoffs. And then they beat the Hornets in that crazy game and then take a 31 lead and it's like, oh, this guy okay? I guess he's okay. But then they blow it and he is gone after five seasons. So they will now try and replace a head coach. And like that was sort of their only move it feels like they can make with this roster currently constructed. Unless they like really move off of one of their core pieces. It's like, hey, new coach, see if you can figure this out. And also can you try and keep all of us healthy at the same time? Because that's the other thing with this team.

[Taz Melis]

They're just hire a new training staff.

[Trey Kirby]

They're never healthy altogether. They're their main pieces. But yeah, anything to add to Jamal Mosley out after five seasons?

[Jay Skeets]

Well, you can see what's happening in the modern NBA. They're demanding their coach to have ball movement and player movement and that's what's not happening with this offense. And you could see it in a J. Redick. Even if you're injured, guys will come out and do what they need to do. Quinn Snyder in Atlanta, where Everybody is just all bought in. And you see this magic offense, even though Paolo was awesome in game seven, just not bought into moving bodies, moving the ball enough.

[Taz Melis]

There's.

[Jay Skeets]

It's a little too static.

[Trey Kirby]

It's like four seasons running now of being unable to unlock their offense. Right?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. And I know that injuries are all part of it. It is. But still, as I said, the guys that I brought up like a JJ Redick, you're seeing what in currently in the playoffs, we're plucking guys off the bench and they're still doing it extremely well. I don't know if it's the training staff, I don't know if they can't solve their oblique injuries or what, but yeah, the ball ain't moving, players ain't moving. And in the modern NBA, you got to cover the floor way better.

[Taz Melis]

Changing the coach is pretty easy. They say, see you later. Jamal Mosley. Thanks for giving us our basement. We know how to play defense now. We're a respectable team. Then you got to get the coach that takes you over the top. Apparently they are interested in the University of Michigan national championship winning coach Dusty May. I don't know what he brings offensively, but he was in Florida for a little bit there. But I wonder if there are additional changes to come from this magic team. They made the big bane move last season, so they don't have a ton of assets to try and improve the team. But things need to change. You heard Paulo in his postgame press conference. They asked him, do you think you have enough to win? And he's like, I'd like to say yes, but we lost in the first round three straight years. So the answer is no. Yeah, they don't.

[Trey Kirby]

We're not close to competing.

[Taz Melis]

They're not even close. Haven't won a playoff series yet. I think it would be foolish probably to trade Franz Wagner. I don't think they'll trade Paolo. I think when you see the way he plays in these big games, you can see he's actually their number one guy. But if they want to make any sort of changes to their roster, they're going to have to move off of Franz or Suggs or something like that. Like, they're going to have to make a move of a piece of their core to try and get different, like Lego blocks that they can ship here and there. So I don't know. The Celtics were in a similar position with Brown and Tatum for a long time. It's like, do these guys really fit? Do they fit? Do they fit? Let's try everything around them to maximize the window that we're given here. They eventually got a title out of it and now, oddly enough, it's going to be a question again for them. But still you think the Magic will probably do the same thing. Keep Paulo and Franz together, try everything they can around it. But that means somebody else has to go.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. And I mean, I don't think he gone. Yeah, probably. Yes.

[Taz Melis]

What's the point? Yeah, let's get, let's get a real point guard. Let's get somebody who can really shoot.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I think you're right there. And I was going to say I don't see a scenario where like the Hawks traded for Dejounte Murray and then turned around and basically traded them out as soon as they could with Bane. I guess it could happen, but what was it? Four first round picks for Bane. So you would just like literally be saying, okay, we're not getting that in return. But you're whatever, you get one or two and you're like, we move on. I don't see that happening. This is like, this is like a, a front, a front office and ownership here too that like they slow play it in Orlando. I mean, they do. And, and that's okay. I mean you can build some continuity and obviously get the base and set it all in. You don't overreact. But. So I don't think the Bane part moving him would be an equation. Part of the equation, but other pieces. Yes, yes. And they have to. And we'll see what a new coach can do and maybe unlock some offense in them. Yeah. Like you said, Tass some, some movement. But you need shooting to make that happen too.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

And they just don't have it.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. The question is what team would take on Jalen Suggs right now? A lot of years left at declining a descending contract. Sure. But it's 32, 29 and 26 for the next three seasons. And what are you getting back for that or are you just hoping you get a. A rotation in the roster essentially, because we're seeing what's happening to point guards who can't be. Can't be their lead guys. We saw what you got for Trey Young. I. I don't know if they're. You're really getting a lot back for Jalen. Sucks. You're just hoping that someone takes him essentially. Simple as that.

[Trey Kirby]

Jalen Suggs needs to take a page out of the Marcus Smart playbook and like take complete two years off or something like that, and then hopefully come back and get your body back. Yeah. And be able. But he's like.

[Jay Skeets]

There was that one year. He could shoot.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. One year.

[Jay Skeets]

Unfortunately. Yeah. It's.

[Taz Melis]

Who says no?

[Jay Skeets]

The Raptors.

[Trey Kirby]

Orlando Quickly for Suggs.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

What a trade. I mean, that's almost a realistic trade.

[Jay Skeets]

Why would the Raptors do that?

[Taz Melis]

To get off Quickly's contract.

[Jay Skeets]

It's literally trading for a similar contract.

[Taz Melis]

Shorter.

[Jay Skeets]

One year. Shorter.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Quickly is a capable shooter.

[Trey Kirby]

Suggs plays too.

[Taz Melis]

He played this one, you know.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Taz Melis]

Seven playoff games.

[Trey Kirby]

Let's go to heart. That's for sure. Saturday night, guys. Philadelphia wins their first round series versus the Celtics. They come back from a 3:1 deficit. We had two of them happen this weekend. How many times did it happen in NBA history? Like what was it? 13 times up until this weekend. And we had the 14th time and the 15th time. Teams coming back down three 1.76ers stunned the Celtics on Saturday night there to take game seven. Let's start with a Paul Flannery quote here. Why was Luca Garza playing meaningful minutes let alone starting a game seven? Joe Missoula galaxy brained his team out of a chance to compete by giving one of the worst defensive centers in the NBA the starting nod in the most important game of the season. End quote. That's Paul Flannery. It wasn't just Garza. It was. It was Harper Jr. It was Sherman. Like Joe went nuts there with the starting lineup and it didn't work. Tass those guys, they didn't even score. I don't think the three guys that got the start there and some of them obviously yanked for other guys. It was a Missoula Galaxy braid. I do believe that. But Embiid had it going from the start and he's a huge reason why they got back in the series and won the damn thing. The guy returned halfway through and completely changed the tenure of the series.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, you can easily say that those starting lineup changes cost them the game in that they got down double digits right from the get go. Was it Lucas fault or Ron Harper junior's fault? Nah, but they were just sort of out of sync. I mean, Jalen Brown as. As good as he was. He throws a pass literally to the bench. Literally. He throws it on to the. What up with that? He lost one out of bounds as well. So that starts which was also the. The Paul George spin on Derek White. That was some nasty stuff. So they got up double digits and when Jalen Brown went to the bench, those Celtics guys came back without him. That was impressive stuff from Their bench guys, no Garza, No Ron Harper Jr. But Jalen Brown was -19 in his first in his first half minutes while the team won the without him by 14. And so that got us to the fourth quarter with Jalen Brown versus Joel Embiid. Oh, that's. That was theater, man. Oh yeah, that was so good seeing both those guys go at it and be taken a body to one leg and another body to the other leg. It looked like you could have hyper extended both legs but just hobbling down the court over and over and over again. They had the effort. Paul George had an illness to start this day. Apparently he fought through. He looked really, really good a lot of the time.

[Trey Kirby]

And no Jason Tatum obviously finding out what was it like? I don't know, a couple hours before the game. But he wasn't playing.

[Jay Skeets]

Yep.

[Trey Kirby]

So that was a huge, huge blow to Celtics and maybe why Missoula got crazy with the starting lineup. But look, the Sixers really did win this series and when Embiid returned and, and he was awesome. So was Maxi. So was Paul George. Vijay Edgecombe as a rookie in game seven. Guy's a stud. Yep. Like I love him. Absolutely love him. Not shook at all. And they got it done. It was close game though. Trey down the stretch. I guess those two maxi buckets were the difference makers at the end.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah. Celtics were down one with like three and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter. They got three pretty much wide open. Looks couldn't make any of them final five minutes. They went 1 for 12, had 10 straight misses. Tough to play when you're coming back from behind the entire game. And they basically had to play two comebacks because it was a 9, 0 start for Philadelphia. Unbelievable that he would start those three guys in this situation. They hadn't played together a minute during the regular season. None of them scored.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, I guess the idea with Luca Garza starting over Nish K was that guy just gets into foul trouble. Let's play him as few minutes as

[Trey Kirby]

possible, see if he can hit a three. Yeah, exactly. Well, that's the thing.

[Taz Melis]

K started the second half, fouled immediately, but then for some reason went back to Garza. Yeah, and guess what? Philadelphia put him in pick and roll twice. Maxi got two wide open jumpers. Suddenly a five point game is a ten point game. We don't see Garza again. So they had to pull off two comebacks in Game 7. It just doesn't make sense. Just exhausting. So this one to me is on presumed coach of the year, Joe Missoula and maybe a little bit on executive of the Year, Brad Stevens, because all of these guys who were so good in the regular season couldn't play. Vuch didn't even get off the floor or didn't even get off the bench. No, not a surprise to me. But Embiid, what a gutsy performance from this guy. And what a win in Game 2 that the Sixers had. That's the only reason this went to game seven was because they extended it long enough for Embiid to come back in game four and look terrible. He got to have one bad game, knock off the rust, and then he dominated the rest of the series in 5, 6 and 7. Then of course, Maxi slammed the door in the fourth quarter. Great performance by Philadelphia. Had to feel good for them to like, finally get over the Boston hump.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. In four games, Embiid average, 28.7 board, seven assists, and probably even more impressive, he played nearly 37 minutes per game when he returned.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

And in game seven, I thought he got injured about eight different times. Oh, man. There's a point in the game where they're literally stretching this guy out. Like, there's like a. A guy on every part of his body pulling it. What the hell?

[Jay Skeets]

It looks insane. So three trainers. There's literally three trainers stretching, stretching out the surgery scar or from his appendicitis. I was like pulling it from the top, pulling from the bottom and pulling from the knee. I don't know. Yeah, those are three man crew. It's like a pit crew.

[Trey Kirby]

It was. But I mean, he obviously continued to play. And he became the first player in NBA history to miss three games of a seven game series and still go for more than 100 total points because he put up numbers when he got back in there. But man, Maxi like, Embiid spectacular in game seven. And all series, 30 points, 11 boards, seven assists for Maxi. And he closed the door. Like in a game seven where everybody is absolutely gassed. Everybody looks like they are playing basketball underwater the way they're moving this guy. Goddamn Roadrunner at the end of a game, blue by Kato on the left and then sort of sliced in front of him for the reverse layup. And then on the next possession, here comes Kelly Uber Junior. He flipped the screen, little handoff action with him. He saw Kate up, boom. By. Got to. Got by him on the right side this time and then squeezed past a couple of help. Defenders scored. He just, he just hit the timely buckets. When it looked like, as you said, Trey, the Celtics did get generated good looks. That place was ready. It was exploding. It was ready to pop off if they could just hit one of those. That Pritchard one in particular was like, oh, my God, how did he miss that? Yeah, it was almost too open, but Maxi just closed it. He was the closer. He was like this. You know the guy, he went to the bullpen there at the end. But Embiid got them there too.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah, absolutely. Maxi leading the league in minutes played in the playoffs and just looks like he's never going to get tired.

[Trey Kirby]

No, exactly. He's moving at the same speed in minute 47 as he is in minute one. It is crazy.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, this is the. The Nick Nurse technique that get always gets insulted. But all those guys in. In game seven, 45 for Maxey, 44 minutes play for Edgecombe, 42 for Paul George and Joel Embiid, a 39 rounded up to 40 because they got three bench points. Yeah, they don't trust their guys off the bench in General 3. That'll be interesting against the Knickerbockers. Grimes, he definitely trusts. Otherwise. Yeah, otherwise, you know, it depends on the matchups. Drummond versus Mitchell, Robinson, we'll see some of that. But either way, yeah, all those guys played damn well. But that Jalen Brown fun against Joel Embiid in the fourth quarter was so, so good.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, have you seen all the comments Jalen Brown has had since.

[Taz Melis]

Yes.

[Trey Kirby]

On a Twitch stream that he had.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

The main one being Embiid is a huge flopper. I guess is was getting some headlines. There was a lot more too. He said a lot.

[Taz Melis]

I think him saying that this was his favorite season of his career is getting the most headlines.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes.

[Taz Melis]

Pretty weird

[Trey Kirby]

being because Tatum was not there.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah, I got to be the number one guy. It was awesome.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

And you won.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, you were the number one guy in game seven. It wasn't that awesome.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah. You got lit up by Joel Embiid.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Taz Melis]

And Bron didn't have a good series. Not at all. And the regular season, from 3 to 10ft, he shot 48%, 45% from 10 to 16. That's awesome. He was Dirk Nowitzki. He could not miss in the mid range. And then in this series he went 32% from 3 to 10ft, 39% from 10 to 16 and didn't have very good efficiency. 10 offensive fouls in this series. He's complaining about that on Twitch as well, saying he's the only guy who gets called for the push off the Shale, Gilgis, Alexander, Arm extension. He's showing Paul George clips. And why didn't they call that on Paul George if they call that on me? You know why? Because you're the one on Twitch complaining about it.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, it's difficult to debate which headline gets the most or is the biggest out of that Twitch stream. Because he also called out three referees specifically that are out to get him. And this is the same night as he just lost like literally like showered and then got on Twitch. I mean, right after it feels like it was same night. It was really weird. But yeah, also I, I would go biggest headline just picking this as your best season. I think that's the biggest. You know, you want a ship not too long ago.

[Taz Melis]

Well, the final mvp when you won a championship.

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, you can also twist that around though. Like it was supposed to be a gap year and you know, a lot of us, myself included, did not have the Celtics winning as many games as they did and being as high a seat as they were and all that. Like so, like in a, in a way it's like. Well, we were underdogs all year. I mean, for his entire run as a Celtics with Tatum and Brown, I mean they're one of the favorites. They have been and rightfully so for like a dec. Almost a decade running. So, you know, you're the underdog this year. But I hear what you're saying. He was the lead guy and he was an MVP flirting top five MVP candidate for a bit.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, yeah. There's that whole championship thing, you know.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, yeah, yeah, which he got his flowers by the way too, as finals mvp. Yeah. So just weird. Weird all around. Weird series and, and the Celtics too. I want to, you know, point this out. You know, in their four losses, they shot 49 of 179 from deep. That's 27%. And yeah, they missed wide open looks, but this is the way they play. They're just like, they generally lose when they can't hit threes and they didn't hit enough of them. Pritchard, I thought was pretty bad in this series too. He had one good moment, that was it. I thought, we thought, we thought he would have much more of a bigger impact. Obviously Derek White struggled for a majority of the series. He had his moments too, but yeah, there's that games too. And then the. Wasn't it game 5 too where they came. Sixers got back into that game and it looked like the Celtics were going to maybe close it out. I think they trailed by like 13 in that game in game five. So good fight from them. And they now go into take on the Knicks here tonight. Quick turn right.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah, tonight.

[Jay Skeets]

So you should jail brush. I got Joe Missoula on the twitch. That's. That's what I wanted to hear about the starters and how they got off to that huge double digit deficit to start this game. Because home court, you turn things around. As we saw with Detroit, as we saw with Cleveland, and they almost did with Boston, but that was too big a hole to recover because, yeah, the Sixers were absolutely cooking.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Tatum out. Kata out. Sam Houser out. In their place, Baylor Scheireman, Luca Garza and Ron Harper Jr. Starting alongside Brown and White, as Celtics blog put it. Joe heard the calls for adjustments and went full Michael Keaton. You want to get nuts? Fine, let's get nuts. Smashing the thing behind him on the fireplace with the Joker there. Great timely reference for this Batman.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

But anyway, it was spot on. He wanted to get nuts. He got nuts.

[Taz Melis]

He played himself.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Taz Melis]

That was too much.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Taz Melis]

Literally too much.

[Trey Kirby]

Like one of those is like, okay. Yeah. Well, obviously Tatum is out, so you got to find some, you know, maybe a chairman. Nobody blinks, you know, whatever. Or Walsh or even. Even Harper Jr. I guess, like. Yeah. The guards of it all is mind boggling. I'm sorry, I. I know what you're thinking. Oh, yeah, like, he'll get a couple fouls. That's fine. We'll burn those fouls on Embiid and maybe he hits a three, but he's just. He just got exposed.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. In a regular season game. Sure. Throw him up against Joel Embiid. Bang, bang, bang.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

They're gonna bank somebody seven. Not.

[Taz Melis]

Not game seven. Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

No, not to the nurse, man. The nurse just got him moving and it's over. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Anything else on six or. Celtics here.

[Taz Melis]

A lot of buzz for inside the NBA. Putting Diana Rossini and Mike Vrabel on the Celtics. Gone fishing.

[Trey Kirby]

Titanic style.

[Taz Melis]

Titanic style.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

And Billy boy was there.

[Taz Melis]

And Billy boy was there.

[Jay Skeets]

Mark Wahlberg's there.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

But they'd never addressed their names. Did not say their names. Yeah. Barkley wanted to. I think he was looking up what's. What's their names?

[Trey Kirby]

He didn't know their names.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, yeah. He had to look it up. And Ernie's like, let's get out of here. I thought Derek White with that cut he had on his hand was like semi blister. Yeah. Sort of on the heel of his hand and he was blowing it, but he also put a finger on it like Literally, like looked like he was trying to stop that thing just fighting through it. I don't know if I've ever seen. Seen that. I mean, that was just. I guess it was a floor burn. Yeah. And then just trying to like stop it with. With his thumb was pretty. Pretty funny otherwise.

[Trey Kirby]

That's in a tough spot to bandage up. Was that Reggie? Was Reggie on that call too? Did they do a back to back? Was he on Saturday?

[Taz Melis]

I don't. I don't remember.

[Trey Kirby]

I remember. Anyway, whoever was on the call there, yeah, they're like, that's gonna be a tough one to manage. Up.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

But, you know, he. He did have a decent game. Derrick White, right?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. For.

[Trey Kirby]

In terms of shooting it at least finished nine to 26, but hit five threes. Actually did hit some threes because he had a bad series too. He had a bad regular season. And Vijay Edgecombe just go to back him back to him. He averaged 23, 6 and 4. He's 20 years old.

[Taz Melis]

Pretty good.

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, yeah. Like, he basically did what Tatum did in a game seven. Like Tatum when he was 21 years old at that age, young guy had some big game sevens, I remember. And that's what Vijay Edgecombe just did. And like, I know in terms of the storylines, he's like third or fourth and that's completely fine because it is Embiid and then it's Maxi and then it is Paul George playing sort of two all NBA All Stars on the other side to a wash at least. And then it's Edgecombe. So it's like low down. But I don't want to gloss over it because Guy is a goddamn superstar in the making too. Great game, great series from him. And now we'll see if he can continue to do it in Madison Square Garden. Because if you have a couple of those monster games in Madison Square Garden, you skyrocket your popularity in a heartbeat.

[Jay Skeets]

Mm.

[Trey Kirby]

And we'll get into that series in a second. Let's take a quick break, hear from our sponsor.

[Jay Skeets]

Amazon Health. AI presents Painful thoughts. I. I can't stop scratching my downtown. Mm. Yeah, but I'm not itching to go downtown and tell a receptionist I'm here to talk about my downtown. Some things you'd rather type than say out loud. There's no question too embarrassing for Amazon Health. AI. Chat your symptoms and get virtual care 24. 7 Healthcare just got less painful.

[Trey Kirby]

Support from this show comes from Quince. I'm way overdue for a wardrobe refresh. I'm a podcast host that is very important. I drive a Chevy Trax. I'm a man. I'm 45. Clothes shopping in person is simply not a priority for me, so I usually wear the same stuff till my wife calls me out. For these reasons, I'm pumped to say that Quint has been my new go to. I asked Nora to help me pick out a couple of items and it turns out she already had a cart ready of things she was planning on getting me from Quints. So I picked up two of the 100% European linen shirts. One striped, one solid. The material feels light and breathable and the stitching looks really well done. They're the perfect type of pieces that feel easy and comfortable but still look put together. And the best part is I didn't break the bank. In fact, everything I purchased was priced 50 to 80% less than what you'd find at similar brands. Why? Because Quince works directly with the ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen. So you're getting premium materials without the markup. Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to Quince.com nodunks for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com nodunks for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com nodunks got a big boy points

[Taz Melis]

parlay for you on a Monday night. Big boy points Big boy points parlay Indeed. Towns Wemby 20 or more points and Rudy Goberta score 10 or more.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh okay.

[Taz Melis]

And I'm gonna give you odds on 20 or more. No way they'll do that.

[Jay Skeets]

Don't do that.

[Trey Kirby]

That's too many.

[Taz Melis]

Plus 501 on the duel. Okay embiid towns wemby 20 or more Rudy 10 or more where am I? Where am I going wrong there? Probably one of the embeider towns.

[Trey Kirby]

I think so too.

[Taz Melis]

One of them will do well against each other.

[Trey Kirby]

You could see like an 1819 point game from one of them. Yeah, you know, but I don't mind

[Taz Melis]

it when every possession matters in the playoffs. FanDuel makes it easy to get closer to the action from player props on your favorite stars to all the tools you need to back them up on your big boy points parlay. FanDuel puts player research right at your fingertips so you can check stats, trends and matchups all in one place and make your picks with confidence with everything you need all in one app. So don't miss your shot head to FanDuel.com to get started. FanDuel. Play your game.

[Trey Kirby]

Play your game indeed. Okay, we're down to the final eight in the NBA playoffs. Just like that. Eight teams left. One of these eight teams can win the NBA championship. Two series tip tonight, two more on Tuesday. I think we have the bracket. We can throw it up there for everybody on YouTube. At the very least, check some logos, check some numbers. Look at that nice shiny lob right in the middle. So let's get to previewing and predicting these suckers. We're going to start in the East. Sixers and Knicks will meet in the second round of the playoffs. Hella quick turnaround for Philly after taking down the Celtics on Saturday. No rest for the wicked. Case you forgot, these two saw each other two years ago in what I remember as a classic first round series that the Knicks eventually won in six. There was a lot going on in that series, so the Sixers haven't forgotten about that. The Knicks don't care. Here we go. One thing to watch for. I'm going to start with you, Trey, in the Knicks Sixers second round matchup.

[Taz Melis]

Well, part of my big boy points parlay. Carl Anthony Towns versus Joel Embiid. I can't wait to see these guys go against each other. And beads playing pretty well right now. Cat played three great games against the Atlanta Hawks and was really. I don't know. I mean, maybe OG Anunoby's the MVP of that series, but maybe it was Carl Anthony Towns. Either way, Cats playing well. Embiid is playing well. These guys have had spicy battles in the past. They've gone at each other on Instagram in the past as well. I got a little concern for Embiid's health. They're going to be playing every other day. I forget who it was. Tried to take a charge at the end of Game 7. Fell right into Embiid's leg.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Taz Melis]

Was it Grimes? Maybe. I don't know. And it was like, oh my goodness.

[Trey Kirby]

I know.

[Taz Melis]

Embiid just plays this awesome series, drags the team back. They win three. One comeback and now he's gonna be out for the next series. I've looked at Joel Embiid status a lot of times since then. Nothing yet. Nothing yet. All good. All good. But I think that'll be fun to watch those two going against each other since I imagine they'll guard each other for the most part since it'll be weird to put in Bede like a lot of teams like to put a wing on Karl Anthony Towns and say center, go guard Josh Hart.

[Trey Kirby]

Right.

[Taz Melis]

That's weirder. Within beat. That dude don't move very well, and you don't want him trying to chase Hart all over the place. Also a big series where Carl Anthony Towns could get in foul trouble. We know that.

[Trey Kirby]

Of course, Embiid draws a lot of fouls.

[Taz Melis]

Cat loves to foul. You can even throw in Mitchell Robinson here with the bit of a skirmish he had with Mitchell Robinson during this playoff series where Mitch yanked his leg, etc. Etc. So I think the big boys are really drawing me in for this one.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah. Even if Cat goes to the bench, here comes Mitchie. Because in that series, yeah, he yanked cats, or Embiid's foot, I should say. But also, Embiid was banging Mitchell Robinson hardcore. Hit him with an elbow. I think it was game. Game 5, where the Knicks were up 6 with 28 points or 28 seconds left, and they went to overtime. It was super fun. Lots of elbows will be thrown. But it is interesting to see how Embiid will guard Cat, because if we get Mike Brown putting Cat way on the perimeter just to get Embiid out there, number one, to see those cuts being cut well behind Joel Embiid. But also they're sure you're gonna see lots of Jalen Brunson being able to go at Joel Embiid. So they're gonna try and get him moving as much as possible. And whether Cat can be that sort of that pillar, just finding guys out there like he did in Games 4, 5 and 6 against the Atlanta Hawks. 10 assists, 6 assists, 10 assists, most of them to. To OGN and Obi. Game 4, 60% of his assists to OG, and they kept going up. So there's that matchup. But then here comes Mitchell, which you can play against, or, excuse me, alongside Carl. Anthony Towns, too, in those matchups, because you saw Mike Brown sprinkling them in a little bit as the series went on. Now, you can't have him guard like a Carlton Jones, guard Paul George, and that ain't gonna happen. That's too much. But I think there's gonna be some of those matchups. So there's lots of bodies. And the good thing for Mike Brown, multiple bodies you can throw at Joel Emb to try and wear him down. But, yeah, we all question his legs. I just hate talking about it because maybe it was Quentin Grimes hit one leg, but another guy hit another leg. Both his knees could have easily been hyperextended in that game. So, yeah, it is. It is. That matchup to start for sure.

[Trey Kirby]

I am excited to see how much whether the Knicks continue to have get towns the ball more and just have them operate sort of in the middle of the court. As we saw up top, Zach Cram had the percentages. His on ball percentage in those three wins versus Atlanta ranked third, fourth and six out of 170 games Cat has played as a nick. So just like getting the ball, the on ball percentage and having them find all these cutters and just getting them touches and involved in the action, you would think they'd continue with this game plan. It looked great. Now Atlanta, they were small and obviously the Sixers have a lot more size. You've got Embiid, you do have Drummond going to get some minutes off the bench. I'm sure either against Mitchell Robinson or in other matchups. Maybe even Barlow plays more in this one for Philadelphia. Just size wise but a little bona

[Jay Skeets]

on the side, you know.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. And then, you know, we're looking at the bigs but then we do have an awesome point guard matchup and two all NBA guys in Maxine Brunson and you know the impact they can have or are they just going to sort of wash each other out here? And it feels like you can almost put those guys in every night for 25 to 30 points. They go about it differently, but sort of the outcome is usually the same for them.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah. I don't know who has a better chance of stopping the other one. Like the Knicks trying to stop Maxi seems kind of tough to me. They don't really have a super quick like.

[Trey Kirby]

Like Bridges will probably.

[Taz Melis]

Bridges will be the guy I think that gets the first shot at him. I'm sure they'll try Josh Hart as well from like an effort and physicality standpoint. But Maxi's quickness is probably a little too much for heart. So I think they would try Bridges, but I mean maybe that means Jose Alvarado becomes important in this series. Just a guy to chase him around on the other side. Like Uber. If I'm recalling correctly, in this was 2024. Right. They played again the first time. Like Uber did a good job on Jaylen Brown through three games. And then Jaylen Brown had 40 straight.

[Trey Kirby]

That's right.

[Taz Melis]

And three straight games to close it out. So, you know, I think Vijay Edgecombe's

[Trey Kirby]

going to get a lot of shots in matchup.

[Taz Melis]

He absolutely should.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep.

[Taz Melis]

But still that's. I'm with you. I think they probably actually end up kind of canceling each other out.

[Trey Kirby]

Right.

[Taz Melis]

Like they're probably both average 30 a game because there's not a good matchup on either side. But I don't know. I, for whatever reason, I give the 76ers a better chance of stopping Brunson than the other way around. Who knows? Literally, who knows.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, you'll see some deuce. I think on maxi, too. Deuce McBride was good off the bench.

[Trey Kirby]

He was.

[Jay Skeets]

He was the C.J. mcCollum stopper that didn't work out when he came off the bench. So, yeah, the bench is super fun and I, I know everybody just starts with the embiid injury side of things, but I think it is important with the Sixers because I think the Knicks bench is just a better bench. Yeah. Up and down.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, God.

[Jay Skeets]

So, yeah, that's. That's the.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Depth could play a part here for sure. Well, it sounds like there's a lot of X factors then in this series. If we're saying the star sort of maybe potentially cancel each other out, it's, you know, in the margins where maybe this will be decided. Let's start with you, tk who's your big X factor from either side?

[Taz Melis]

I think there's two swing matchups because I'm with you. I think Brunson and Maxi cancel each other out and Beat and Towns cancel each other out. So OG versus pg. That's huge. They were both key to them winning in the first round two way play. You know, I don't think OG Anunoby is going to get as many back cuts as he got against the Atlanta Hawks. Like Paul George will be on that for sure. And then the other swing matchup has got to be. I don't necessarily know if they're going to be matched up all the time, but same positions. Bridges and Vijay Edgecombe. Bridges disappears, man. Like, he just does. He had an awesome game 6 in that monster blowout against the Hawks. So maybe he's got a little bit of confidence back. But they need him to be aggressive looking to score because you know Edgecombe's going to be aggressive looking to score. He has a weird series too. Like, what'd you say? Averaged in wins, he was like 25 a game. But he averaged 15 a game for the series because he had a couple of 10 points. A single digit game as well. The guy's a rookie, so we don't expect the consistency the way you should expect it from a Mikhail Bridges. But they both raised the ceilings of their teams. They both make a lot of plays defensively. So I think whoever comes out on Top between OG and PG and then Bridges and VJ kind of is going to swing the series. Like if both of those tilt to the Sixers. If both of those tilt towards the Knicks, that's the team that wins.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. That's why I worry about what Quentin Grimes can do for the Philadelphia 76ers because you get some VJ games. But Grimes has to be really, really big off the bench. Because if you match up, look at the matchups. Bench to bench. The Knicks kicked ass and it was the Atlanta Hawks in the first round. But they did it in so many different ways. Was Deuce Alvarado, Mitchell Robinson's going to be big. Jordan Clarkson while the Sixers beyond Grimes. Are you going to get a good Justin Edwards or Adam Boner or Andre Drummond or Dominic Barlo?

[Taz Melis]

That's a huge question mark.

[Jay Skeets]

So Grimes I think is very, very, very important as to being super steady throughout this series to fill in for a potential injury or just somebody who's not having a great game. BJ PG's is absolutely cooking, so I don't want to question him, but will he wear down at some point? I guess not. I guess those 25 games off really, really helped him. So it's up to Quentin Grimes, I think, just to fill in really well.

[Trey Kirby]

I do like wondering which G falls back to earth, OG or PG because these guys were like lights out in the first round. OG and Anobi turned the ball over twice in 214 minutes versus the Hawks. Average 21 and 9. Two steals a block. His shooting splits were 61, 57 and 77. So. And he was doing obviously all this stuff defensively too. So he is on another level right now to the point where like if OG plays like that, I don't see the Knicks losing four out of seven times because like those are superstar sort of numbers what he's doing. But can he keep it up? And then, you know, PG sort of same thing. Awesome elite series. He got to keep going, but he had a bunch of time off this year, so that maybe works in his favor. But for me, the ultimate X factor and I look at it from the Sixer side of things because the Knicks are the favorites here. Kelly Oubre Jr. Has to hit some shots, I think for them to pull out four or seven games because he did not have a great shooting. Series versus Boston and they still won. Shot 40% from the floor and he only had 4, 25, 3 points. They're going to 3 point attempts, like they're going to be there. He's got to keep shooting them. He will. You know, he's a confident guy. It's got to be a bit better than that for them to get by this team in New York. But he'll have some big games, I think, and could still have some big games. So I'll go him as the next factor here for the Sixers side of things. Yeah, because he's got to play, too. Defense. I mean, he's got to play because they don't have a lot of guys. One, and he's been great defensively and effort wise and all that. He's got to give him a little. He got a game or two where Kelly Oubrey Jr. Hits some threes. Would be huge for Philly to pull off this upset. Let's get to predictions. TK Is this a long series, short series, and who wins?

[Taz Melis]

I think it's going to be a long series. And I think it's pretty funny that Joel Embiid was begging Sixers fans, do not sell your tickets to anybody from New York. Sixers came out and are putting restrictions on the tickets. Orders by residents outside the greater Philadelphia area will be canceled without notice and refunds given. They said, do not bring Madison Square Garden here.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah. It's an Amtrak right away.

[Taz Melis]

Exactly. Knicks fans are going to sneak in, though. They're going to find a way. It's going to still be heavy. Knicks, Absolutely.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Taz Melis]

62% of the stream team is saying Knicks, and I'm saying Sixers and seven. Joel Embiid to the conference finals for the first time.

[Trey Kirby]

Wow.

[Taz Melis]

This will be the first time a team actually gets healthy at the right time. It's their peak.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, God.

[Taz Melis]

I'm counting on.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, God. Again, this guy nearly got injured eight times in game seven. Okay.

[Taz Melis]

But he did it, too.

[Trey Kirby]

He did. I mean, it's so bad with Joel Embiid. His kid is losing teeth. I mean, like, everybody's injury prone on this in this family. I'm kidding, of course.

[Jay Skeets]

What do you mean, his kid?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, his kid lost a tooth because he's getting older, I guess. I don't know. He said, hey, Dad, I lost the tooth when he was holding him there.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, I didn't see.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah. All right. You got Sixers in seven.

[Taz Melis]

Yep.

[Trey Kirby]

He's taking the upset.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. I can't do that. Okay. I'm just buying the Knicks in this new revitalized offense with Carl Anthony Towns being utilized and getting a lot out of him. Whether or not they go to that immediately, I. I don't. I don't know if that's the exact same thing because you can just sort of rely on Jaylen Bronz. But Carlton Downs has to be more of that. It is a monstrous guy that he'll be playing against, so maybe that will be reduced a little bit. That being said, can't bet against him. I just can't. But I'll go seven. I'll go seven. Maybe I'm just high on the seven game series that we just watched. And I think that's respect enough to the Philadelphia 76ers.

[Trey Kirby]

You're going Knicks and seven.

[Jay Skeets]

Yep.

[Trey Kirby]

Go in the distance, Madison Square Garden. What would that be soon? That'll be on a weekend when we get to a game seven, right?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Taz Melis]

I mean, they're. They're out there.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm going Knicks as well, but Knicks and six is the picks for me. But a very competitive series. I got New York winning this little. And I'll go in six instead of seven, but man, you know, I'm hoping for seven instead. I just think the way they're playing right now and just the OG leveling up and the depth is going to play a part here because, like the Sixers are playing six half guys. I mean, again, I'm saying Drummond's going to play, but like that's like 10 minutes maybe. You know what I mean?

[Taz Melis]

And maybe shooting on the court.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, those threes from the corner. I just think there's more likely like even like Landry Shammit might. Might get dusted off to like pick up Maxi and hound him a little bit and try and see if he can hit three, like just more pieces that Brown can go to. To see. To get a little jolt as the game goes on or that second quarter stretch or whatever. So I'll go Nixon six, Nixon seven. TK swerving. I love it. Sixers and seven to the conference finals, man. Look, if he stays healthy, a huge part of this. I mean, yes, it's every other night, like you said, by God.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

And he's battling some big dudes and obviously in. In a competitive environment. Hopefully, knock on wood that he does because we'd want to see a competitive series. I hope he can play the whole thing.

[Jay Skeets]

The Sixers should just steal Landry Shammit for like a game. See if anyone notices he's played for the Sixers. Got a shame at Jersey. Will anyone notice if he's playing 10 minutes

[Taz Melis]

out there and play?

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, he would get some minutes for sure.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Oh, Jared McCain. Bring Jeremy McCain back.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, wow.

[Jay Skeets]

See if he can sneak in.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay, so let's hear from you guys. You said what, like 62?

[Taz Melis]

You said 62 on the Knicks.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay. On YouTube live there. All right. Love it.

[Jay Skeets]

Amazon Health AI presents painful thoughts I I can't stop scratching my downtown. Yeah, but I'm not itching to go downtown and tell a receptionist I'm here to talk about my downtown. Some things you'd rather type than say out loud. There's no question too embarrassing For Amazon Health AI chat your symptoms and get virtual care 24. 7 Healthcare just got less painful.

[Trey Kirby]

Support from this show comes from Quince. I'm way overdue for a wardrobe refresh. I'm a podcast host. That is very important. I drive a Chevy Trax. I'm a man. I'm 45. Clothes shopping in person is simply not a priority for me. So I usually wear the same stuff till my wife calls me out. For the these reasons, I'm pumped to say that Quint has been my new go to. I asked Nora to help me pick out a couple of items and it turns out she already had a cart ready of things she was planning on getting me from Quints. So I picked up two of the 100% European linen shirts. One striped, one solid. The material feels light and breathable and the stitching looks really well done. They're the perfect type of pieces that feel easy and comfortable but still look put together. And the best part is, I didn't break the bank. In fact, everything I purchased was priced 50 to 80% less than what you'd find at similar brands. Why? Because Quint's works directly with the ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen. So you're getting premium materials without the markup. Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to quint.com nodunks for free shipping on your order and free 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U I N C-E.com nodunks for free shipping and 365 day returns quint.com nodunks if data management is slowing down

[Taz Melis]

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[Jay Skeets]

At vuse, we're vapor. Done right? Always simple, always in your pocket so you can focus on what really matters. Like getting back to your podcast. Find out [e-mail] that's V U-S-E.com underage still prohibited.

[Taz Melis]

Views is a vapor product website restricted to age 21 plus tobacco consumers. Copyright 2026 RJRVC.

[Trey Kirby]

Let's move to the Western Conference semifinals. Gonna feature a battle of the French bigs. Look at that on the graphic from espn. Go bear. Wow. Wemby crouch mode, Baron. That's right. Yeah. There's a third one.

[Taz Melis]

Next one.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. The Wolves enter the series banged up after losing Anthony Edwards and Dante DiVincenzo in round one. While the spurs, after a Wemby concussion scare, beat the Blazers relatively easy in five games. So Minnesota trying to reach the Western Conference finals for the third consecutive season. San Antonio is bidding for its first trip there since 2017. You gotta go pretty far back. One thing to watch for here in Spurs, Timberwolves, and I will say Anthony Edwards is questionable for game one.

[Jay Skeets]

That's the thing to watch.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Okay.

[Jay Skeets]

Sorry.

[Trey Kirby]

Step on it.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, no. Will he come back? Label this questionable? The day before. It's only nine days ago that he suffered that hyperextension bone bruise in his knee. But we've seen other guys come back from hyperextensions. This ain't quite the Finals. When Giannis came back from that hyper extension, that was only seven days. So this bodes well for Anthony Edwards. I will say he needs to come in and whether he's a decoy in the first game and not playing extremely well, like yanis only had 20 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, but then turned it on. I think that's important because Julius Randall and Jaden McDaniels, they've got a size advantage, which is. Which is fantastic. Against Champagne, against probably Stefan Castle, who's really physically tough and will get out there against them. That being said, it's hard to buy into those guys as number one and number two options in taking down the San Antonio Spurs. As good as Jane McCanley's was to finish that series in round one against Denver. This is different. It's San Antonio Spurs. Yeah, it's a fantastic defense Overall, but Jane McDaniels got height. Like he can literally go up against either of those guys into that mid range. If he's gonna be a number one option, 30 point per game score like he was to end the series, he could do that physically. But I don't know if he's going to be able to do that just as a. A steady dose of an option on an offense. So I, I need Ant to come back to give this a series now. He. He can come back again, decoy game one and then turn it on. He had that. He had a 55 against San Antonio spurs this year in that one game. So he feels comfortable at going absolutely right at Victor Wembanyama. But it all depends on the leg. So, you know, it's nine days. I guess that's good.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah. I mean, he's questionable, so at least that's good.

[Trey Kirby]

I think he's going to return this series whether he's gonna say or not. Yeah.

[Taz Melis]

I watched the video on his YouTube channel. It ends with Ant man is coming. Believe that.

[Trey Kirby]

I do believe. Okay. I believe that he will be back.

[Jay Skeets]

A hype video.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah. Like he's got like a, like a Derrick Rose the return style video coming back.

[Trey Kirby]

Quick turnaround by the production team.

[Taz Melis]

It's very well done. A lot of elements good. A lot of unlicensed footage. I wonder if they're going to be able to monetize that. But it was good. Recommended. But that is something that I think is super important. Is like the Timberwolves stealing one of these first two games in San Antonio is big. I don't know if that means a McDaniels carry job or a Randall carry job. I feel like it's got to be one of those two guys just stealing a game. Biting time for Anthony Edwards to get healthy. Similar to like Embiid coming back. Right. Like the Sixers winning that game two made it so that when Embiid came back in Game 4, even if he was bad, which he was, it wasn't the end of the series. That wasn't like, we need you to be perfect or else we're getting swept here. Knock off the rust. Give it a shot. Game four is this Sunday. That'll be 15 days since Anthony Edwards injury. Seems reasonable to me for a guy that they all called Wolverine in this video because he heals so quickly. Haven't heard anything about IO Dasumu. They say he's day to day. Ant is considered week to week. Getting him back would be big as well. Just from a body standpoint because I don't know if you can rely on Terrence Shannon Jr. I think Mike Conley is going to probably have some trouble going against a very physical, athletic spurs backcourt as well. So Ant status looms large over this series.

[Jay Skeets]

It does a Hype video for a game four return. That's weird.

[Taz Melis]

He's coming.

[Jay Skeets]

Why would they do that? Why would they do it so early? That's kind of weird. Don't you think? Maybe he'll play game one. Yeah, I feel like that's happening. Just feels right. I mean, to be dropping that video. I didn't even know that was coming. And then he again, he was so good. Especially with IO out. You need Anthony Edwards. I was out. I should shouldn't say out, but questionable. You need Anthony Edwards in this series.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes, they definitely. I think most people would agree they need ant at some point to return to the series to probably beat the spurs in a seven game series. Yeah, I don't think they could win four or seven without them entirely. I don't think so. But. And this is ironic because WEMB 7:5, the one thing the spurs lack is sort of size outside of center, right. Again outside of Wemby and Luke Cornett. And that I'm fascinated to see or watch. Like how much mileage I guess the Wolves get out of their big boys that we saw especially in games in the Last game, Game 6 against the Nuggets of Randall Reed Gobert, then you've got McDaniels still. He's a big dude for his position. And then even Shannon Jr being slotted in there, that's a big lineup. And the Wolves have to obviously take advantage of that. Randall's probably the COVID on Wemby. He's done it before. It's like it's not going to be Gobert. A lot like it. Like there'll be times. But those guys I don't think will be matched up like every possession against each other. Quite the contrary. I think Wemby roaming on other guys and obviously I think Randall might get a lot of minutes on Wemby and you know, he's physical and it's sort of at times can be the right strategy, but when he's so cerebral, he'll start to unlock it and obviously can stretch the floor. But I'm watching that. I'm watching that for sure. The Wolves taking advantage of their size across all the other positions here.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah, the Blazers tried that. They put Clingan on Castle and as soon as Castle realized what was going on, it was just an alley OOP to Wemby every single play. So I'm with you. I do think they'll try Wham. Randall Wamble. Randall on Wemby, Gobert on Castle. But I think it ultimately will come down to Wemby vs. Gobert for the big man matchup. Pretty cool, like, mentor, protege relationship. Gobert apparently met Wemby when he was 13 years old. He's like, oh, he's just a Shorty. He's only 5ft 11. But then he found out he was 13 years old.

[Trey Kirby]

Like, what, what, what?

[Taz Melis]

Wait a second here. Gobert is also coming off like the best defensive series of his life.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Taz Melis]

Totally different player.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Taz Melis]

Wemby versus Jokic. Just the way they attack and the sizes of their bodies and the way they want to get things done. So that should be pretty sweet to watch.

[Trey Kirby]

Absolutely. X factors. Let's start with you here. Spurs Wolves.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, I'll just extend on what you just said. I think the other guys, other than Rudy Gobert guarding Wemby is important because these guys played at one back watch their first or their only game, I should say, this season. And Wemby was dancing around Rudy, you know, he's too quick for him. And so he was able to score in that first half they played. I think he scored 16. And then they sat Rudy in the fourth quarter when they needed to come back, and they threw out the Reed, the Randall and the McDaniels against him. And they did really well. They came back, they won. And Victor Wembanya was 0 for 4 in the fourth quarter with those bodies of Reed, McDaniels and Randall big guys. And it was a very different, different game out there. So those guys, they do like to fight, they do like to scrap. And so Wemmy's going to see that. And they'll. They just have a little bit more agility than Rudy Gobert. But that, that matchup is going to be the whole thing when it comes down to it. And I, I imagine, you know, the Timberwolves are going to want to get Rudy out of the paint. Excuse me, Wemby out of the paint as much as possible. And so I think we will see a lot of guys not named Rudy just to get some space out there to be able to get to the rim as much as possible.

[Trey Kirby]

Who do you have as an X factor?

[Taz Melis]

I don't know who to consider my X factor because it's more of a time frame. Wemby played 28 minutes a game in their first round series. He's probably going to play more than that. This should be a more competitive series than against the Trail Blazers, but still, he's not going to play 40 minutes a game. So those minutes he sits. Who's the man for the San Antonio Spurs? It's going to Come down to Harper and Fox because Castle, I think, is in the mix as well. But he's tied to Wemby quite a bit. Whereas Harper gets a big leash when Castle goes to the bench. Fox obviously can become a go to scorer for them. But the defense gets worse when Wemby sits, obviously because you know Luke Cornett, he's a good backup center, but he ain't Wemby. And it just becomes harder defensively, harder offensively for a Timberwolves team that was super locked in in the series against the Nuggets. The Nuggets had the best offense in the league and they couldn't get looks against this Timberwolves team. The spurs have a lot more athleticism on the perimeter than Denver did. They've got a lot more physicality on the perimeter than Denver did. But this is still an uptick in competition for, for all of these young spurs that we're talking about. Castle, Harper, Fox is going to be. I mean, Fox is different, but still, this is another level of competition for everybody involved. Somebody's going to have to carry the team when Wemby sits for his 15 minutes a game.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep. And the spurs led all teams in the first round. When it came to three point shooting, they were on fire against the blazers. They shot nearly 42% as a team. And it's funny because their one guy that struggled from three was their best three point shooter in the regular season, Devin Vassell. A lot of attempts, but he struggled. He only shot 29% from three. Everybody else though, pretty damn good on a lot of attempts. Fox, Castle, Champagne, Wemby himself, Dylan Harper, Keldon Johnson. So the Wolves are going to pray that three of those guys, half of them like, can't hit at that clip like they did against the Portland Trailblazers. And they're generating good looks and they all are fairly good shooters. I have a lot of confidence in most of those guys, but they need a couple of them to go ice cold here. So that's a big X factor. Like just they got to pray that, you know, when the game's a little tighter or whatever, maybe they're in Minnesota with a great, great crowd. And this is no knock against the Blazers fans, but you know that target center gets damn loud that there's some, some tightening on some of those shots and some rushing on some of those shots and they just don't hit. Because if they hit at that percentage, of course they could beat anybody. When you pair that with Wemby and then Fox in the clutch and Harper And Castle, they get to take turns. This is like such a luxury for them. I've said this before, it's like the spurs enter a game, they got Wemby, they know they're set and they know they're going to fight defensively but then they're like okay, which one of our three guards is going to be the unstoppable second star tonight alongside Wemby, Fox, Harper or Castle? They literally just take turns and some nights it's two of them contributing. So good luck to the wolves in trying to shut that off. But I mean look they're playing as this underdog mentality coming in with all the injuries too. Dante DiVincenza would help a ton in this series to like cancel out some of those three point shooters on spurs side of things but he's not to going coming back so we'll see. Let's get to predictions. Where you going?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, well's injuries suck especially if IO's out with a calf injury. I'm banking on the recoveries of his calf and this hype video for Anthony Edwards for those guys to be at least playing. So I do expend. I expect this to be a long series buying into the the fight of the wolf to make this I. I'll say six. Let's, let's, let's go that far, extend the series. I know it sounds like I'm saying seven but I, I'll, I'll say the spurs and six.

[Taz Melis]

Oh, I thought you were taking wolves.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, no I'm not a crazy man.

[Trey Kirby]

Classic Mel.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, come on. Extend, extent. Listen, the spurs should destroy this series. They should. We don't know if Anthony Edwards going to be healthy. We don't know if IO's going to be healthy.

[Trey Kirby]

So.

[Jay Skeets]

So yeah they should. They should. I don't know what the stream team is saying but I imagine they're going.

[Taz Melis]

They're heavy.

[Jay Skeets]

Spurs.

[Taz Melis]

83% Spurs.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow.

[Taz Melis]

It's hard to pick the Timberwolves without Anthony Edwards. Yeah, like I mean if IO stays out for the whole series and ant plays the whole series like I think you could make a great case for the Timberwolves. But we've seen the spurs defense give good guards trouble and Timberwolves are going to be playing like their third and fourth string as their starters so I find that tough. Give me. I guess I'm spurs in six as well.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay, spurs and six. Wolves in seven, baby. Wolves and seven. Somebody back to the conference finals Ants returning. I don't know when but he's coming

[Taz Melis]

back he's going to play.

[Trey Kirby]

He's going to made a video. No, look, I get every Wolves prediction wrong over the last couple of years. I'm wrong every single time in trying to figure this team out and I'm usually going against them. But the obviously the fight they showed in round one. Losing guys left and right as that series went on, but still taking care of Denver. Now, I know San Antonio is better than Denver. They are, but they are young. And yeah, they had the Blazers, but this is a different. This is a team that's obviously been there, done that. These guys have gone through a lot of wars, been down big in game, Sevens come back, big downs in series come back. And I think they, they almost like flourish under this underdog role of like, oh, okay, let's see the printout. Oh, spurs and five spurs and six spurs and six spurs and five spurs and seven. Like, there's not gonna be a lot of people picking the Wolves, but I think they can do it here because they're going to play, they're going to defend, so they're always going to give themselves a chance and they're going to be competitive that way. But they need to pray and hope that some of those spurs shooters just dry up here. That's why I have to go back to that.

[Taz Melis]

But I'll go.

[Trey Kirby]

Wolves in seven in a very long series. In a competitive series with Ant coming back. I don't know if he comes back tonight, but coming back in the series and having an impact, of course. There we go. We got some different picks for once.

[Taz Melis]

Excellent.

[Trey Kirby]

In the second round. What did I say? I said that would happen. Let's hear from you. You said most of the people picking

[Taz Melis]

the spurs in the stream team, 80 plus percent.

[Trey Kirby]

Unfortunately, it does feel inevitable that the 12 happens in the west. And I know we'll get to the Lakers Thunder series tomorrow and break that one down, but a lot of people going now that could be the NBA Finals. Really. One, two, okc San Antonio. But I'm saying no Wolves in seven. How go Joe Mandy. Do it for Joe Mandy of the night. Sponsored by Young Pep Dash.

[Jay Skeets]

Whoa.

[Trey Kirby]

Young Pep Dash says. I guess I would just like to give a shout out to the whole tweet of the week. Army and Lee Ellis and Russell Westbrook and a special happy wedding anniversary shout out to Matty O. And Jill. What a memory. On Young Pep Dash. Yeah, was the wedding. We were all there ripping up the dance floor screaming our goddamn lungs out.

[Taz Melis]

I lost my voice.

[Trey Kirby]

We all. Yeah, you and I especially Lost our voice. But continuing with Young Pep Dash here. Peace and love to everybody listening. That's very nice. And generally, just generally, thank you for you guys being awesome. Thank you, Young Pep Dash. Thank you for sponsoring Whoa Boy. I was going to give it to Cade, but I said, you know what? Tobias Harris. That's right, Tobias Harris. This call is coming in and you get Whoa Boy. Wow. Where'd you go, Toby? Come on back. Come on back, Toby.

[Taz Melis]

Come on, Toby.

[Trey Kirby]

There he is.

[Jay Skeets]

There he is.

[Trey Kirby]

30 points, 11 of 18 from the floor. Five three pointers, nine boards, three steals, two assists, one block. 36 minutes of action. What a game from Tobias Harris in Game 7 to help his team advance.

[Jay Skeets]

Clutch. Yeah, he looks old in this photo.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, yeah. How many years has this guy played? 14 years.

[Taz Melis]

He was a young guy when he came in. Yeah, he's probably not as old as

[Jay Skeets]

I'm thinking, but he looks like he's

[Taz Melis]

80 in that photo.

[Trey Kirby]

Hold on. Fourteen seasons, I said. Is that right?

[Taz Melis]

He was drafted in 2011.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

15 seasons.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, even that's a lot of years.

[Jay Skeets]

I mean, yeah, I think it's the color of the skin. I think it's the color Skeets chooses.

[Trey Kirby]

What are you talking about? I don't take the photo. I know you don't take the for imagine images. I'm not.

[Jay Skeets]

What I'm saying is you edit the photo. You put your little flare on it,

[Trey Kirby]

you know, a little filter. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a filter. That's a shout out to our guy, Matt Houston. That's a Matt Houston filter.

[Taz Melis]

That's a Houston.

[Trey Kirby]

That's a Houston, baby.

[Taz Melis]

I love his restaurants. And his filters are good too.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. What a game from Toby. Thank you Young Pep Dash for sponsoring Woah Boy. Thank you to everybody for joining us here today. I really appreciate that. Hit the like button. Subscribe five star ratings and reviews. We're back tomorrow to recap game ones of tonight's semifinals. Those two series we just talked about get underway. A lot of people are upset. What's with the time starts? Why aren't these games staggered? We got an 8pm and we got 9:30 and people are like, what up with that, Adam Silver?

[Taz Melis]

What up with that?

[Trey Kirby]

I guess they just want the New York Knicks in prime time, baby. 8:00 clock start there and then you can't go too late for San Antonio. So I think that's the thinking. A little weird. You wish it was maybe 7 and 9:30 or something like that, but it's not.

[Taz Melis]

It's not no, it's not.

[Trey Kirby]

No, it's not.

[Taz Melis]

I haven't even really considered this yet. That the Lakers are the only team that's like really super far west coast.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Taz Melis]

Everything else is.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Taz Melis]

Midwest.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. OKC in Minnesota. The other teams that'll be having it. Yep. So tomorrow we will talk about those game ones, like I said, and we will preview and predict the Thunder Lakers and the Pistons Cavaliers series. So join us then. Till then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys.

[Taz Melis]

Awesome.

[Jay Skeets]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, 8 o' clock Eastern and 9:30 Eastern night.

[Trey Kirby]

You didn't know.

[Jay Skeets]

I know. No, I didn't know that. I'm busy watching NHL right now. They stagger them really well.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, do they?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Taz Melis]

Who's looking good?

[Jay Skeets]

The Hurricanes are always looking good. My Tom. Tom Dundon knows what he's doing. They turn that franchise around.

[Trey Kirby]

I heard they have to share a stick because he's such a cheap skate. When you skate off, you hand it to the next.

[Taz Melis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

No, there's only five sticks.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, you just pass it to the next guy on the ice and just throw it to. Hey, you shoot it.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I like that. All right, go. So what? Who's the good team in the hockey right now?

[Jay Skeets]

It's the hockey. The Carolina Hurricane.

[Trey Kirby]

Didn't the Canadians advance? Lone Canadian team, I think. Yep.

[Jay Skeets]

They're.

[Trey Kirby]

They.

[Taz Melis]

They beat them in game seven.

[Trey Kirby]

There we go. That's huge.

[Taz Melis]

It's really not. There's a 9 to 6 game last night. How about that hockey game?

[Trey Kirby]

Tough for the goalies. Tough for the goalies. All right, guys, we'll see you tomorrow. Brace the day. Support from this show comes from Quince. I'm way overdue for a wardrobe refresh. I'm a podcast host. That is very important. I drive a Chevy Trax. I'm a man. I'm 45. Clothes shopping in person is simply not a priority for me. So I usually wear the same stuff till my wife calls me out. For these reasons, I'm pumped to say that quints has been my new go to. I asked Nora to help me pick out a couple of items, and it turns out she already had a cart ready of things she was planning on getting me from Quints. So I picked up two of the 100% European lady linen shirts. One striped, one solid. The material feels light and breathable, and the stitching looks really well done. They're the perfect type of pieces that feel easy and comfortable, but still look put together. And the best part is I didn't break the bank. In fact, everything I purchased was priced 50 to 80% less than what you'd find at similar brands. Why? Because Quint's works directly with the ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen. So you're getting premium materials without the markup. Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to Quince.com nodunks for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Quince.com nodunks for Free Shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com nodunks if you're chasing data down instead of seeing it in one place, you need the Intuit ERP

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[Jay Skeets]

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[Jay Skeets]

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