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For some of us, personal finances aren't just personal. They include a lot more people than ourselves. Loved ones, neighbors, the communities we call home, and the causes we hold in our hearts. At Thrivent, we help plan your financial picture with the bigger picture in mind. Because even though our business is helping guide your finances, our ambition is to make it mean so much more. Thrivent, where money means more. Connect with us@thrivent.com pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon.
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Cornhizer ran out of gas, so we're going to the pen to bring in the close out.
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I'm feeling Frank, let's do this.
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I'm ready. Huh? Are you as good as Danny Fencia as a closer? Are you that good?
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Not yet.
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Okay. He's been hurt, but he came in to get one important out last night. But we'll get to that, see what
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he does against the Jenkins. Yeah, and I told you.
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Welcome to pti. The old grump has a day off, so I am joined by our great friend, the host of starting lineup on SiriusXM radio, Mr. Frank Isola.
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Wow,
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that's a lot of energy for a Monday.
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They must have.
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I'm just saying they must have. Man.
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Let's start.
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It's Friday. It's my Monday. Hey, you know what I'm saying? All over the world the last few days, we're going to start with the Lakers criticizing the officials after last night's loss to the Thunder. That leaves them in a 02 hole. JJ Redick said LeBron got clobbered all night and that the Thunder has players who fall on every possession. And Austin Reeves said he felt disrespected by crew chief John Goble. Frank, do the Lakers make any legit points about the officiating?
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You know what, Mike? I think they did. It's not the reason they lost last night. The reason they lost last night. Shakeless Alexander goes to the bench with about 10 and a half minutes to go in the third quarter. And you. And they get outscored 32 to 17.
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Yep.
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You cannot lose the minutes when he's off the court, is on the bench. Okay, now for their complaints. And this is something a lot of teams complain about that out on the perimeter. Oklahoma City gets away with a lot. Right. So they're a very physical team.
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Not just complain. The whole league is complaining about that. Yep, exactly.
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And you wonder how that could keep impacting them. You know, Sam Presti, their president, is saying this isn't good, that everyone's constantly complaining on this. But, Mike, you know, this Everything that JJ Redick said last night, everything he'll probably say today and shoot around tomorrow, is all about Game 3 because that's the season for the Lakers.
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It is.
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You've covered a million of these series with Pat Riley, coach of the Knicks, Phil Jackson with the Bulls going back and forth through the media all the time. This is old school playoff basketball. It was a well planned gamesmanship by J.J. redick. It was smart. He has to do it, Mike. They're playing for their season again.
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Smart and necessary.
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Yes.
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I mean JJ said exactly what he needed to say. Doesn't mean I'm buying it. I mean I understand why he's doing it. And by the way, actually I'm buying some of it because LeBron gets hit a bit, okay? He gets hit a lot. He gets hit too much. As big and strong as he is. And JJ's point about smaller players being theatric. Nobody's as theatrical as the Lakers. No one in the history of basketball. Nobody's gotten the long end of the whistle like the Lakers, okay? Going back to when they ho Sacramento to get the Lakers into the finals.
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Luca LeBron's an actor and we can bring him into movies.
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Modern day Luka has done it and he seems to have rubbed off on LeBron who did not do that the first 15, 18 years of his career. It's only lately. I get that. But it's not one of the top five reasons the Lakers in a whole Lakers aren't good enough. Yeah, they're not nearly as good as Oklahoma City. Neither is almost anybody else. And I don't know what they're going to do. Shai Gilgeous Alexander is capable of of a 38, 42 point blow up explosion and he hasn't even done that yet. LeBron has been terrific and they can't cash in on it. Austin Reeves had a great game last night. Didn't matter. Yep, we know who the better team is. And now the Lakers are fighting that uphill battle to try to figure out how to win one game.
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It's hard to win when your best player isn't playing. Luka hasn't played yet. Oklahoma City is 6 and 0. And you mentioned about SGA. He's only scored 40 points thus far in the series. He is capable of a 35 point game easily. And when you talk about free throws, Mike LeBron averaged 5.3 free throw attempts during the regular season. He's taken five in the series. But guess what? SGA's taken 12 and he sounded like
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he's whistled for his fourth foul last night. While that wasn't the case with the Lakers, Let me just say this about Luka and I'm going to be a little bit outrageous here. Luka Doncic wouldn't be the answer in this series because Luka's doing this from the floor. He's doing this all the time while the action goes the other way. That ain't going to help the Lakers. So at some point they're going to have to forget about this, even though once again, JJ Redick did the right thing. Yeah, they're going to have to forget about that and play tomorrow, don't you think?
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Also Oklahoma City, the way they're viewed now, it was the little, you know, the little engine that could the small market team. Now they've become the evil Empire. Everybody complains about that.
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Everybody complains about the championship team, everybody. And so now it's Oklahoma City's turn
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and you know, Sam Preci is going to have some kind of response. He doesn't like this.
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I know what that is.
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All right, Mike, let's move to the east where the Pistons are now up two games to none on the Cavs after winning by 10 last night. Kate Cunningham, 25 points for him. Tobias Harris added 21 for Detroit. As for the Cavs, oh, boy. James Harden struggled again, shooting just 3 of 13 from the field, missing all four of his three point attempts and committing four turnovers. Mike, are you more focused on what's going right for the Pistons or what's going wrong for James Harden and the Cavs?
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I'm going to play nice. Let me give the Pistons some credit because we know they've been looking for that second score and a third score all season long. And I know I was one of the people who was critical of them for not making a move to bring in some more scoring the trade deadline. And they didn't. And it looked like they were suffering. They could have been and probably should have been out of the series against Orlando, except Franz Wagner gets hurt. But Tobias Harris is averaging 20 and a half points, seven and a half rebounds, shooting 50%. Right. And more importantly, perhaps Duncan Robinson is shooting 59% from three and averaging 18 points a game through the two games. Both those guys through the two games in this series, yes, Harden and Mitchell, their turnovers, I don't know if they're going to be able to pull that together because they give up too many easy points to a Detroit team that has struggles to score. But when you turn 20 turnovers into 31 points, as the Pistons did in one game in this series. You. You're helping them so that you throw that back. And it's in the lap of Harden and Mitchell.
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Donovan, Mitchell. So I think you look at Detroit, their season was hanging on by a thread. And then Kate Cunningham put together a spectacular performance in Game 5 against Orlando. Saved their season. They got lucky in game six. Orlando scores 19 points. They blow them out now. They won five in a row. And it seems like maybe they got over the little mental hurdle of the pressure of being the number one seed. They just look a lot better now. As for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and I like James Harden. I like the trade because to me, he plays all the time. Darius Garland, injury prone, a little undersized. But it's not just the performance that's been shocking by Harden. I just don't think he's competing hard enough. I'm not saying he's not trying. I think everyone else is at a playoff level. Mike, the turnover with 33 seconds to go. James, you're dribbling the ball in front of Tobias Harris like it's a preseason game in October. I mean, you have to be. I mean, how about a football term, a little ball security? I mean, it was terrible. And he didn't score in the fourth quarter. One other thing. Kate Cunningham, in the fourth, 12 points. Mobley, Donovan, Mitchell, Harden, 10. He outscored them by himself.
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Let me go back to Harden for a second, because he's worth. Harden's always. He's a fascinating person. You and I have seen his whole career. The result don't necessarily reveal intent. You know what I mean?
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Yeah.
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James Harden wants this badly. He does. I mean, I've been around him in locker rooms after games and multiple teams. He wants to be great in May. It's just not there. A lot of people try to scale the mountain and they don't make it to the top. And maybe that's just James Harden's cross to bear. I feel for him a little bit. The other night he was really critical of himself.
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Yes, I know.
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After the game, he took the whole loss. No, no, no, no, no. You have people on that team. You average 20 getting two. So we're not going to put that on James Harden. I just don't know if they can do anything about it. You know what I mean? Is Harden going to suddenly, after all these years of playoff results, become a spectacular fourth quarter player in May? I'm not anticipating that.
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And let's not let everybody off the hook here. Evan Mobley, all that talent 36 minutes, one rebound. Come on now.
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No. Jared Allen the previous game. What? Two points, three boards, you're that tough. Those two guys, Twin towers. What?
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Mike, you're that athletic by accident, you should grab five.
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Going hard, not letting it.
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One rebound.
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Let's move to tonight's games. Knicks, Sixers, Spurs, Wolves. The Knicks are up to nothing. And while forward Og Anunoby is listed as questionable, so is Phillies Joel Embiid. In the west, the 1 and 1 series moves to Minneapolis after the Spurs 38 point beatdown of the Wolves Wednesday. Frank of the Knicks or the spurs more likely to win on the road tonight.
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All right, so you mentioned O.J. anunoby and it's like the NBA. It's either a calf injury or a hamstring. And I think of Jalen Williams and Santa Clara. Jalen Williams, think about how much time he's missed. Luka tore his hamstring or grade two strain on April 2nd. We haven't seen him since then. So I'm a little worried because OG Anunoby.
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There's no way OG Anunoby should be allowed to play tonight. For my view right now is going to play tonight. No way.
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He's played like a superstar.
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He's been the best all around player on the Knicks in the program.
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He's a shutdown defender. By the way, the Knicks have won five in a row. You talk about a team that's caught it. So the Knicks were good enough to win 62 games during the regular season. The Knicks like bicker a lot internally, but when the playoffs roll around, they seem to have figured it out. I just wonder about tonight for Philadelphia. I feel bad for the Sixers from this standpoint. They post one of the greatest victories in franchise history in Boston and the
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next time the fans get to see
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them, you're down 02. It's like they're already, they're still, you know, they're fighting that uphill battle. I think Maxu will play much better. They were terrible in the fourth and he was the key in that fourth quarter of, of game two at the Garden. That was their game and they missed open shots.
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Should have won that game.
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But you know what? They also needed an inside presence.
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Will they get that if Joel play? Okay, here's the deal. I was in Madison Square Garden two nights ago. I know that the Philly people, all of them as a traveling party, they were trying to figure out what's the best course of action here. And I think there was some regret, understandably and second guessing of self that they didn't hold him beat out in game one.
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Yeah.
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On Monday.
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I know.
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And then you get to Wednesday because the Sixers should have won that game, but they went so cold with, with, with three point shooting at the end of that game. They didn't have enough energy to get through it. So if Joel Embiid is out there tonight, and I fully expect him to play just as much as I expect an Anoby will not play, I expect Embiid to be out there. I know he wants to be out there. Philly can get this game tonight, which would mean I'm, I'm not betting on the Knicks to win. The Spurs, I think Minneapolis, you talk about a team with a chip on their shoulder all the time. You know, they, they are. And they got the personalities to do this. They, they, they are not backing down from WIMA or San Antonio. So I expect Minnesota to win at home. I still think the spurs can get that series, but I think Minnesota wins Game 3. But I think Philly wins a game tonight. And then let's see where we are. How long do the Knicks stay hot? Particularly if Anunoby has to miss both games?
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And I'll tell you what, Minnesota, what they've done, give Chris Finch a lot of credit. Give those players credit. You got to knock off Jokic in the first round. And just to get to a conference finals, you have to beat the Spurs. They take on the personality of Anthony
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Edwards, by the way. So give me an over under tonight. Anthony Edwards, how many points?
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I think because they're home. I think he knows they need to win. I'm going to give him 25. And Mike think. And I'm not saying guys aren't hurt.
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Right.
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But we got guys sitting out game seven elimination games. Yeah. Anthea was just coming back. He could have said, you know what? I'll see you guys in game three. They take on his personality.
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Anthea was tonight 30 plus.
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All right. I got. Well, 25 is pretty good.
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Yeah, 30 is better.
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How's the game?
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I got Minnesota winning the game.
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How many goal tens for.
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Who's counting?
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Chris Finch is counting. Let's take a break in game one.
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But coming up, my Cubbies and the Rays are off to fast starts. But which is more likely to keep it up?
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Speaking of the umpire and the Hurricanes and the Avalanche have yet to lose in the playoffs. Whose start is more auspicious?
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I am fired up for the Cubs. Fired up.
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Should be. I don't lose anymore.
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And I try not to pay attention to baseball till Mid June.
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Now? Nobody.
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Now I'm a month too early.
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Time to bank Frank and toss up. What's first?
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Toss up. More likely to keep their fast start going. The Cubs or the Rays?
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All right, to channel my inner courtheiser, I gotta go to the glasses. The Cubs are in a phenomenal place. Yep, having won 19 of 22, a 10 game winning streak, followed by, currently going into Texas tonight, a nine game winning streak, 19 to 22. Frank. The last time the Cubs did that, 1945, which was a rare World Series year. The problem Is we got 10 pitchers, 10 on the injured list, including Matthew Boyd, Justin Steele, Kate Horton, the starters, Porter Hodge and Caleb Thielbar. We got guys on the injured list. The thing is though, we got the best defense. The best defense in baseball. And guys are hitting. And I'm so glad we did not pay $65 million a year for Kyle Tucker. Yeah, I'm just glad we did. We don't need that. This lineup, everybody pitches in. Even when we got off to a slow start, somebody was hitting. Now everybody's hitting. That can't go forever, but I'm going to take them. I'll leave Tampa to you.
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How about 15 straight home wins? Really impressive.
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Yes.
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First time. What is that, 91 years? They've done that. All right, so as for Tampa, you talk about pitching 4th best ERA in the majors, but their pitching staff is all banged up and give them a lot of credit. You, you have, you know, Wrigley Field and you're, you know, you're doing a little meet and greet over at the Cubby Bear Lounge. The whole thing. They play, they play at the trophy, which is. There's nothing charming about the Trop, but guess what?
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It's remodeled.
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But it's home sweet home for them. And they're back there 14 and four there. So the Rays right now. And you look and Mike, Cubs and
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Rays have played a lot of home
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games, 100%, but it's Tropicana Field. And last year they played at the Yankees spring training facility, the George Steinbrenner Field. And they didn't win a lot of games, you know, for the Rays right now you look at their record, they're only a half game behind the Yankees. Do you know that there's only three or four teams in the American League that are, that are first 500 is dreadful.
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It really is. It's dreadful.
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Cleveland, the Athletics, the Yankees in the Rays. You know, there are 11 teams within three games of the wild card. So the Rays right now, the pitching staff is held up, but they got a lot of guys hurt. Hopefully it works out for them because with their payroll, how can you not root for the race?
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By the way, the Cubs are playing in sub zero temperatures almost all of April and May. And Chicago's cold. The high Tomorrow is like 50 I once covered. So we hadn't even gotten hot yet. And the bats are hot.
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I once covered. Met's opening day in Chicago. It was about 32 degrees. Brutal. Froze in that press box. Poor old me, drinking hot.
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Oh, wait, we got another toss up. What's next?
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All right, toss up. More auspicious playoffs start. The Hurricanes or the Avalanche?
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You know what? I think if you're looking at entertainment value, and I think entertainment value should be weighed in, you gotta be looking at the Avalanche, all right, who are scoring goals like crazy. 6 and 0 with 27 goals. A better pace even than when they won the cup five years ago when they were at 4.1 a game. You got McKinnon, you've got Landiscog, you got McCann, you got those guys scoring just incredibly. And so when you can score like that, you don't have to have great goaltending, although they're getting better goaltending. I mean, I understand, you know, that this offensive pace like the Cubs probably will not continue forever straight through the Stanley cup playoffs. But it's pretty exciting to watch. And I'll go with the Avalanche. Yeah.
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And you know, physically, both the Hurricanes and the Avalanche, that's how they win these games. Like Matt Boldy of the Wild, you know, he had six goals, 33 shots against Dallas. He's got zero goals and only four shots on net against the Avalanche. But one thing about Carolina, I love this stat, Mike. They've only trailed in one game. They're seven. And, oh, they've only trailed once and that was in game two against the Flyers.
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And looking forward to a little collision course.
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Well, they were the two best teams
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during the were the two best by a large margin. The Avalanche when it came to goal differential. Yeah. Was huge over the entire league, including Carolina.
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And you're giving goals Carolina in the playoffs, 21 goals, eight against.
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I mean, so we could get the perfect the styles make the matchup. If Colorado can continue scoring like this, which is not.
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Yeah. And the cute story of the Flyers making the playoffs now down 03 in the series, 14 penalties.
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At least the Flyers knock the Penguins out. They're good for something. That's it for toss up. Let's take one last break. But still to come, a former player criticizes Bill Belichick's program in North Carolina.
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And Darren Peterson says he's figured out what caused his cramping issues at Kansas with his agent. Just in time for the draft.
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Yeah, how about that? I ain't taking him. I'm not taking him. I need to see more. He didn't show it to me. Not taking him. Too many other players to choose from.
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For some of us, personal finances aren't just personal. They include a lot more people than ourselves, loved ones, neighbors, the communities we call home, and the causes we hold in our hearts. At Thrivent, we help plan your financial picture with the bigger picture in mind. Because even though our business is helping guide your finances, our ambition is to make it mean so much more. Thrivent, where money means more. Connect with us@thrivent.com
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Oh, oh, oh. O'Reilly Auto Parts. Time to get happy, people. Happy 67th birthday, Ronnie Lottie. As much as Joe Montana and Steve Young led the legendary Niners offense and Jerry Rice. Lott held down that great defense first as a corner and most famously as a safety. Lott was a 10 time Pro Bowler, six times First Team All Pro, four times Super bowl champ and a first ballot hall of Famer. He once demanded the tip of an injured finger be cut off during a game rather than miss playing time. Niners tight end Jamie Williams told me in 1990 quote Ronnie is silent most of the time. When he wakes up, it's like a massive storm rising across the Plains states in the middle of a sunny day. The timing is always great. He's like a soft spoken Lawrence Taylor.
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Close quote I don't think of anything soft about Ronnie Lott.
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Nothing.
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You're quoting from your story. The staff here at PTI provided me with your story. You referred to him and Joe Montana. At the time they were locks for the hall of Fame. You were right about that. How about in the same era, Mike? Ronnie Lotto hit like a linebacker. Mike Singletary and Lawrence Taylor.
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Amazing.
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All played in the same conference.
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Same conference, right? Happy anniversary Jadevi and Clowney on this day 12 years ago, the South Carolina defensive end was chosen by the Texans with the first pick in the NFL draft. This after a decorated career that featured his iconic backfield slam on Michigan's Vincent San Smith in the Outback Bowl. In the NFL, Clowney's made three Pro Bowls over a career in which he's played for seven different teams, though has never posted double digit sacks in a single season. But he did have eight and a half in 13 games for the Cowboys last season and is currently Ryan Poles a free agent.
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How about that hit that has to rank one of the biggest hits in college football history. But for a guy that was the number one pick and I think he'll he will end up on a team. It'll be his eighth team. Is that a little odd to you?
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It's a lot. You know, regardless that talent people want stand up pass rushing. You know, eight and a half sackside too. Happy trails to the WNBA offseason. The league opens a regular season play tonight. Storylines include the Connecticut Suns last opener before becoming the Houston Comets Part 2 Next season, the Toronto Tempos franchise opener and Flauj Johnson and the Storm taking on the team that traded her Draft night the Valkyries Saturday features Paige Beckers and Az Fudd and the Wings taking on Caitlin Clark in the Fever and a finals rematch of the Mercury and Aces.
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Good job by the WNBA to schedule the last three number one picks. Caitlin Clark, Paige Beckers, Az Fudd. For opening day, opening night, I interviewed Kiki Rice of ucla. Are you aware that she's from this area?
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Are you aware of that?
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No.
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No.
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So she family extended.
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Kiki Rice we're rooting for in Toronto.
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That's right. She's on the expansion Toronto tempo. How about all the players from UCLA that got drafted? I interviewed them at the WNBA draft. I said, you know what? I used to think of you guys as an underdog. You're basically the Dodgers. You should have won.
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That's right. And they did. And they did. No errors today. Clean show. We're running out of show. Let's go to the big finish. Former North Carolina quarterback Gio Lopez. There was no air playing for Bill Belichick. And football is fun again now that he's awake. Forrest, your thoughts?
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When do they play North Carolina? A disgruntled employee joined the club. We're all disgruntled. Novak Djokovic lost to a qualifier. How about that? In his opening match in Rome. Is that significant?
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18:1 in those matches, but he's not on form. Before we get to the Roland Garros red Clay, Darren Peterson says there cramping issues at Kansas were due to taking high doses of creatine. Your thoughts?
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I think a lot of teams are gonna be scared off by the fact that he missed a lot of games this year. NBA draft lottery on Sunday. That's gotta be a big deal.
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No, there's no win by yama. There's like 12 or 15 deep. Last one. Canadian Sabres. Golden Knights. Ducks who you got you intrigued?
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Golden Knights. And how about the Buffalo Sabres? Is that a good story?
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Built up the build a great.
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Maybe it'll be the Sabre. We're out of time. Thanks for watching. I'm Frank Isola.
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And I'm Mike Wilbon. Have a great weekend, knuckleheads.
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For some of us, personal finances aren't just personal. They include a lot more people than ourselves. Loved ones, neighbors, the communities we call home, and the causes we hold in our hearts. At Thrivent, we help plan your financial picture with the bigger picture in mind. Because even though our business is helping guide your finances, our ambition is to make it more means so much more. Thrivent, where money means more. Connect with us at thrivent. Com.
Episode Theme: NBA Playoffs Controversy, Key Storylines & More
Hosts: Mike Wilbon (B), Frank Isola (C) [Guest host for Tony Kornheiser]
This PTI episode dives deep into the heated NBA playoff landscape, focusing on the Los Angeles Lakers' public complaints regarding officiating, sparked by comments from JJ Redick. Wilbon and Isola break down whether these grievances are justified, discuss other top playoff storylines in both the NBA and MLB, and touch on major developments across WNBA and NHL. The tone is classic PTI—playful, blunt, with sharp analysis.
Issue Raised: After falling into a 0-2 hole against the Thunder, Lakers players and coach JJ Redick expressed frustration over officiating:
Frank Isola’s Analysis:
“Everything that JJ Redick said last night…is all about Game 3 because that's the season for the Lakers.” (02:16)
Wilbon’s Take:
"Nobody in the history of basketball…gotten the long end of the whistle like the Lakers." (03:03)
Other Key Points:
“JJ said exactly what he needed to say. Doesn't mean I'm buying it...LeBron gets hit too much. As big and strong as he is.” (02:53)
“You know what, Mike? I think they did (make some legit points)...but it's not the reason they lost last night.” (01:46) “This is old school playoff basketball. It was a well planned gamesmanship by JJ Redick. It was smart.” (02:33)
| Topic | Time Range | |---------------------------------------------|---------------| | Lakers/Officiating/JJ Redick Controversy | 01:19–04:54 | | Pistons vs. Cavs: Harden’s Struggles | 05:11–08:53 | | Knicks/Sixers/Spurs/Wolves Previews | 08:54–12:16 | | MLB: Cubs vs. Rays | 14:17–16:38 | | NHL: Avalanche vs. Hurricanes | 16:50–18:28 | | Ronnie Lott & NFL Draft Notes | 19:55–22:01 | | WNBA Opening Highlights | 22:01–23:22 |
Signature PTI banter blends passionate opinions, statistical context, and playful ribbing, making this episode a must-reference for fans seeking insight on NBA narratives and more.