Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Speaker A: All right, welcome back source from the Sofa Sports podcast. I promised you guys on the first pod here. I guess B team that I'm getting the guys back.
One day later, I got the guys back, the OGs, Aaron and Jason joining me.
We're gonna kick things off at least one or two podcasts every single week from here on out because we got a lot of things going on. As I mentioned, we got NBA, NHL playoffs, F1's kicking off pretty soon shortly. So we'll be doing weekly F1 coverage from here on out. We might be able to get Andrew back on as well as well as this F1 girl. We're gonna see if that's happening or not.
[00:00:40] Speaker B: But she talked about a while for coming on Rome, so. Yeah, you know, I don't know if I want her on.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Between her.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Between her and Nick. I got my odds on her coming on first, but we'll see if there's one.
[00:00:52] Speaker C: If there's one guarantee. You have me to talk about F1. And I know Aaron's gonna be up with me early to watch it too, but, you know, we skipped the, you know, the 5:00am Saudi Arabian and Bahrain start times. We're go straight to an afternoon Miami start.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: You know, I love it.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: You know, we were up till 2am watching the Chinese Grand Prix or whatever. It was kind of like half falling asleep there. Like lap 46 1.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: I was recovering from the bar that night.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: You sent the photo out late. Yeah. That's fair.
[00:01:18] Speaker C: I mean, I was. I was up till 2. 3am watching the Japanese Grand P in Milwaukee at an Airbnb. So.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: Dude, it's been good races. Really good races.
Fun. I'm digging it so far.
[00:01:30] Speaker C: We'll have more to talk about that because they've already made some changes to some of the regulation stuff going to Miami.
Yeah. Some minor adjustments. Obviously there's teams left behind in the dust right now, but we can get into that before the Miami kickoff.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: Well, then we have so many to
[00:01:47] Speaker B: finish a race without, you know, losing your hands. That's the real question going into Miami.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: 100.
[00:01:53] Speaker C: Yeah, Verstappen, you mentioned him. A little bit of drama there, man. I'm just gonna quit because the. The cars stink. I don't like Queen.
[00:02:00] Speaker A: He's a drama queen.
All right, we'll start with this game because it's happening on right now. We're recording Thursday night. I'm here in San Francisco. The two.
Both these guys are in Southern California Timberwolves putting on a clinic on the Denver Nuggets Anthony Edwards, MJ's unclaimed son, looking every bit of the part. Smoothest J in the association.
I know he's a little hurt right now, but looking really nice. Randall with some beautiful spin moves, breaking down the defense, taking it to the paint. Big defensive plays, they look really good, man. Game one, they looked a little slow, but game two, they woke up in the second half, came back from 20 points down, and then game three. Now, I think this is my dark horse championship contending team. I think they got all the players that they got that they need to make a championship run. They're tall, lengthy, athletic. They got some seasoned veterans. They got Randle, they got their league guy, they got Gobert, who's feeling slighted for not getting defensive. The player of the year or not even top three at that.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: Number four.
[00:03:04] Speaker A: Yeah, DiVincenzo.
Some guys from the, you know, from the warriors dynasty. So lots of seasoned veterans. I like them to make some noise and they're, they're making it tough for Denver right now. Daniels was talking that Denver cannot play defense. And I thought, man, this is some, that's tough to talk after one victory, but they're putting it up tonight. So I want to recap that game. We can recap the other two games.
Atlanta making New York Knickerbocker fans really nervous.
[00:03:35] Speaker C: I got lost at the beginning. You said, you said, you said MJ, MJ centers. You're talking about 2311, first place NASCAR owner Michael Jordan.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: That's who you're talking about. Yeah, yeah, that one, that 100.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: We don't talk about the Bulls. I don't even think they have a front office or an organization anymore.
[00:03:53] Speaker C: I just want to talk about successful owner Michael Jordan in nascar. That's, that's, he's killing it.
[00:03:57] Speaker A: He's killing it. Ever since he changed the rules, now he's winning. He just wins and everything.
[00:04:03] Speaker C: Just want to make sure I got lost. You're going on this whole thing, Timberwolves, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They're gonna lose like in the second round. But. Well, we'll listen to your take again about how that other one step away.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: I think they're there, man. I think they got enough pieces to make a run.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: Finals.
[00:04:19] Speaker C: Yeah. You're the only person saying that. Isn't it just like. It's just going to be like Spurs, Thunder is like, is, is where we're going to Western Conference finals, right?
[00:04:27] Speaker A: I, I, I, I just think spurs are a little too young. They're going to get
[00:04:32] Speaker B: or how long Is he out?
[00:04:33] Speaker A: I don't know. It's a 48 hour concussion protocol and he might miss game three if he missed the series. This game's, you know, the series is done. Spurs are not moving on. I think Portland's really tough matchup for them. They don't really have like a number one score, but they have enough. And their coach Thiago, who's getting slighted by the rich billionaire owner.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Dude, I saw the, I saw the owner for the Blazers only wants to pay head coach a million dollars.
[00:04:55] Speaker A: A million dollars. This guy's a cheap son of a. Plus he's making all the head coaches check out early.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: Hey, you know what? I'm glad we are doing spot because the Bulls have an opening. Thiago Splitter can go to Chicago for like 2 million. I will take them right now.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: Dude, that'd be good higher.
[00:05:08] Speaker C: Actually.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: It might be really, it would be a great hire.
[00:05:09] Speaker C: I think, I think there was some with the Blazers owner too. Like he's the only owner that didn't have like the two A player as like go to like
[00:05:18] Speaker A: actual hotel feel like, oh, you didn't want to pay extra 200 bucks for your two A guys. You're like decimated in players. Guy's a piece of already.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: It's, that's, it's a bad look, man.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: It's a bad overpaid for a franchise. And now he's cutting back like, oh, he also fired one of the mascots. Saved 50 grand in that process.
Not looking good.
Not looking good. Who knows though?
Yeah. Thoughts so far on this Timberwolves Denver Nuggets team? Really quick. Give me like three little Nuggets, then we'll move on to the series that just happened previously with a game earlier on Prime.
[00:05:51] Speaker C: I don't know if I got three nuggets for you for the Denver Nuggets, but I.
Out of, out of the MVP conversation. As we talked throughout the season, I think you had Wemby, you had, you had, you had Jokic and well, I want to say svg, but I'm not talking about Stan Van Gundy, but you
[00:06:08] Speaker A: know, I'm talking about sga.
[00:06:11] Speaker C: Sga. Too many acronyms right here now. But yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, I mean, but I think you looked at the Thunder and the spurs. Like, I, I think they have a definite superstars that are MVP caliber, but they have good teams around them. For the Nuggets, it's, it's like, it's just the Joker show. I, I don't know how much behind beyond him. He's really going. So you're talking about this matchup against the Timberwolves. He's pretty much got to carry the entire team on his back versus maybe a deeper T walls team that you just drive the breakdown first. So I mean I think their only chance in the series right now is I mean was he's got 27 and 15 right now as we're watching this game right towards the end. I mean he's really on. If they're going to make any sort of this series competitive, it's all going to be out of him. I think you're your take right now in the Timberwolves is like they're probably going to dominate this series just because the Timberwolves got a little more than just Anthony Edwards.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: You know what's weird? They were talking about like turning on the switch and they look pretty awful in parts of the regular season. I didn't. This is probably the least amount of basketball I've seen in the regular season. It just wasn't good this year. You guys.
What you guys have been saying finally caught up. I just could not.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: It's a poor. It's a poor regular season.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: Bad dude. It was really bad. Too much tanking. Even the good teams, it was just a lot of injuries. But they were talking shit how like they're gonna turn on the switch and you know we only hear that from championship caliber teams or teams that already won the chip. But I think this team might have it. You know, they got the swagger, they got a good coach.
They got a couple of the best players in the NBA.
I don't know. I give up fighting a chance.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: It's matchups, Rome. I mean, look, personally I know we weren't doing a pot at the time, but if I was the Nuggets, you. You're talking about tanking. I would have tanked the last game of the year. I would have fell back four spot and played the Rockets and let the. And let the T wolves take care of the Lakers again because they obviously with the Lakers being banged up, they would. The Lakers got the perfect matchup. We'll get into it with Houston because Houston can't score, which is great for a Lakers team that can't defend that well anyways but.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: Well, they got better down the street.
Is coaching out of his mind right now?
[00:08:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean he should be in consideration for coach of the year. But look it Minnesota back to back Western Conference finals.
They're probably going to get past this first round. We're not Even talking about Aaron Gordon not playing in this game. He's got a calf strain, so who knows what that looks like.
Obviously when he's been down in playoff games in series before has kind of come back to bite him. And Edwards banged up with the knee. They looked rusty in game one like you said Rome. But here in game two or two and three, they've gotten better.
Gobert, he's really stepped up defensively. I mean he, he's really taking that, not getting defensive player of the year, which look, Wimby should have won that no matter what.
He's playing him tough. But yeah, I think Minnesota, we know they can beat these guys. They beat them when the Nuggets were defending their back to back, really trying to go for back to back NBA titles. They came back in game seven down 20 points at Denver. They just came back. Rummy mentioned 20 points down in game two. They don't fear them.
And it's just one of those things where you're a team, whether it's, you know, basketball, football, baseball, whatever sport, they just match up and want to play against an opponent. Minnesota wants to play against Denver. And Denver won 13 straight if you count game one about to lose two in a row here against Minnesota. And they're in real trouble there. And Gordon being out.
[00:09:25] Speaker A: Yeah, the game I was watching previously was Raptors Cavs.
I thought Raptors would at least win game three. They dominated down the stretch.
Kind of surprising. I think the casual rebound. Fine. And still finish this in five or six games. Thoughts on that one?
[00:09:41] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't, I don't disagree with you on that. I mean, I think just overall what you're looking for, the, in.
In that conference where things are at, I, I don't think much from the Cavs that we wouldn't see that. At least we got some competitive. After the first day or two of games it was like everything going to be. Is everything going to be blowouts? What's going to come after. So at least we've had some of these series tied it to after game two because I think we, Aaron and I have given our long NBA takes, but the past couple of years, playoffs too has been the first rounds basically been a. Okay, whatever. Let's move on to really what the final four in each conference is going to be because you know, the bottom half of the conference, we're not matching the top and I. Little more parody probably. What's going on this year?
[00:10:22] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean outside of really Phoenix, okc. I mean that series I think is pretty Much done. I mean, I know, I know Williams is out again with the hamstring. Grade one. Whatever he's got.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: It's week to week, so he'll probably be out to the second season.
[00:10:36] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, he'll be out, but I mean, look, it's been a concerning issue all season for them. So can you count on his availability going forward in the playoffs? That's, that's something to really question here. But yeah, I mean, I agree with you, Rome. I thought Toronto would bounce back, get a win here. They kind of were overmatched in the first two games. Let's see if Cleveland can kind of right the ship, get game four and then get rid of them in game five. Because I don't see Toronto going out on the road and winning a game in the series.
I mean, the real series right now is really Atlanta, New York. I mean, we talked about it last year, Tom Thibodeau being let go. Terrible move there. I think it's showing up in the playoffs. Mike Brown's about to get eliminated here in the first round. I hope he does. I hope Atlanta's able.
I hope Atlanta is able to get rid of them. But that series looks like it's probably going to go six or seven games. Kind of similar to last year. Detroit, New York, where it went, what, six, seven games and was kind of the same where Detroit let him off the hook.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: You know what's crazy, I wasn't really familiar with Jalen Johnson's game. I know I've seen clips here and there, but just watching the last few games, he just did a great job breaking down the defense, driving down the hole. He had like this nice little stutter, step behind the back, reverse layup when he was, when he was getting fouled.
He had, he had some nice timely threes, got some nice assists, like he's like their go to guy. And then you got a seasoned guy like McCollum, which if you guys remember, there was like trade rumors of him possibly going to the Houston Rockets because they don't have a point guard. And that's showing up now against the Lakers. He's being like, he's been like an afterthought and now he's big. He's playing a big part and making Atlanta look really, really nice right now.
[00:12:11] Speaker C: Yeah, the McColum you're talking about going to a different team or a contender. I mean, a guy that almost pretty much was kind of an afterthought after being, you know, I guess part of a one, two punch, you know, a Couple years ago. Traded off, floated around. Yeah, in Portland, you know, before. Before they blew everything up. But, I mean, he was kind of the story in the series. But, I mean, great point about Jalen Johnson. I think just the balance, if you're looking him, you know, double double with the 10 rebounds. Had eight assists in this game. Last game versus the Knicks, too. So I think, I mean, just balance across the board.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: He's good. I didn't realize how good he was.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I haven't really watched him roam until now, too. But, yeah, he's athletic. He can handle the ball. He's pretty long. He can defend. I mean, give Atlanta a ton of credit because they started the season off really, really bad. You know, they moved off Trae Young because he got hurt. And then all of a sudden, their defensive numbers got way better, improved. And then offensively, the ball got moved around a lot more. They put together a nice team. I mean, Quinn Snyder's always been considered a really good coach. Remember Rome? He was like the number one free agent on the market. Three years ago, he went to Atlanta. That was before, I think, like Philadelphia and a couple other jobs, maybe even Boston, even opened up a little too early.
[00:13:22] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, we talked about it.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: Did he make them? You know, he got paid pretty handsome. It's been a rough start, but now Atlanta, you know, Quincy is kind of looking like that guy we thought was like, hey, he's kind of a genius. Young coach, still winning games here. Atlanta's exciting team. They are an exciting team and they're fun to watch. And CJ McCollum, you know, he went to the Pelicans, got lost there, and makes his way to Atlanta. And he's playing. He's playing good ball right now. He's, he's. He's pinned him on his back these last two games.
[00:13:53] Speaker A: At the down the stretch, Atlanta kind of reminds me. Oh, I'll go ahead.
[00:13:56] Speaker C: Jason, obviously say everyone really gets lost with the Pelicans. You know, you're just kind of just there playing.
[00:14:02] Speaker A: I don't know what happened, but is Jumar still run running that?
[00:14:08] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: Once they get close to their 80s, like, they start just losing their mind.
[00:14:13] Speaker B: 50s, right?
Yeah, it's gonna be 60s.
[00:14:17] Speaker C: He got lost there, too. Rome, just nobody knows.
Go back to the Hawks, though, Aaron. We didn't really get to lament. You mentioned the Bulls already. I mean, the biggest story going to these playoffs, we didn't get to talk about it. Man, we really broke up the trio of the Hawks, Heat, Bulls Playing, you know, thank God. Traditional play. Attorney man.
[00:14:33] Speaker A: Thank God.
[00:14:34] Speaker C: I mean, just wasn't there.
[00:14:38] Speaker A: They could have got rid of it. We. We really didn't need it this year. Not at all.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: I mean, the only good player, really, was the Warriors Clippers that night.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: Good.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: That was good. That was good. But, yeah, I agree.
[00:14:48] Speaker C: Rome, you're gonna want. You're gonna want the plan when they add two more teams here, coming up with already a third of the league tanking.
[00:14:54] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Yeah, you're right. Actually, one thing about the Hawks, they kind of remind me of the Brooklyn Nets a while back, where they had, like, a fun, exciting team. They got good chemistry. That might be an exciting landing piece for, like, a free agent, a big star this summer or. Or the summer to come. That might be a fun team to
[00:15:11] Speaker B: watch because they're not paying anybody, are they?
[00:15:13] Speaker A: Nobody. Nobody. McCollum's the biggest contract they got, I think.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: Is he a free agent?
[00:15:19] Speaker A: I don't know. I haven't looked that deep into it, but that's gonna be a fun team to look out for.
Knicks are in trouble, though. I think they're and deep shit. And they have one of the biggest weapons. Cat. Nobody on Atlanta can actually body him up. And they're just having Cat hang out the perimeter, shooting threes. Like, that's not what you need them to do. You need, like, to toughen up and drive it down the hole.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: So we'll see what Mike Brown.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: Mike Brown.
[00:15:41] Speaker B: Does Mike Brown get fired if they don't get out of the first round? I think he does.
[00:15:46] Speaker A: I think so, too.
I think so, too.
[00:15:50] Speaker B: Previous game, Billy Donovan sneaks into New York.
Is that what he's waiting for?
[00:15:55] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:15:56] Speaker C: That was weird to me. Billy Donovan, man. So much talk about the North Carolina job and everything like that, and just bounce.
Well, then they, you know, they fill the job and then. Then he quits the Bulls job. It was almost like. I don't know.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: Yeah, it was weird because I. North Carolina could have been his, like Jason just said. And they wanted to wait till, like, April 14, but obviously with the, you know, transfer portal and all that opening up, like, North Carolina need to get a coach in right away, and they get Malone there, who kind of goes from NBA circles to college. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, the Bulls, everything they said is they wanted to keep Billy Donovan. It seems like they wanted to build the organization around him.
[00:16:34] Speaker A: He's a good coach, but, yeah, he didn't want to deal with the anymore. Can't blame him.
[00:16:40] Speaker C: I don't blame him. It's the, it's. The Bulls are, I mean there's a lot of bad NBA franchises, but they're, they're the, probably the, one of the worst, especially for a big market. You're in the number three media market in the United States. You have sad. You have basically, you basically have a international brand recognition for the Bulls and you operate like a low market team, you know, and just have no top to bottom, like leadership approach. The sad thing for the Bulls is this is always going to be the Bulls going forward because you. I've given plenty of takes in this podcast about the Reinsdorf family. They're eventually going to sell the White Sox. Thank God. To Ish. To Justin Ishbia. But the Bulls because Michael. I think it's Michael Reinstorf. Yeah, whatever Jerry sun is that really runs the organization. Like they're keep. He's going to keep the Bulls. Whenever Jerry passes away, he's not going to keep the White Sox. So the Bulls are just going to be sitting like this forever. Like it's just, I mean, I'm going to be honest, Aaron, I haven't thrown away because I, I, I'm, I'm too old to be switching teams.
But you know, I watched WrestleMania 42 this last weekend. Tyrese Halliburton's there having a good time. I might just be a, I might, I just might be a Pacers fan. You know, just be, you know, he just lives it up. You know, that's, that's a guy to root for right there.
[00:17:48] Speaker A: I feel bad for him. He's put on a lot of weight trying to get from that. Yeah. Shingles. Yeah. The medications fucking him up. All right, let's do some quick takes because it's going to go out before the weekend. Any takes for the rest of the NBA playoff games going out. We got Thunder, Suns. We already kind of touched on that. That's pretty pretty much over. Rockets, Lakers. I talked about it on yesterday with the sniper West. Really surprised LeBron James turning back the clock. Didn't have a great game number wise, but really had his handprints fingerprints all over that game in Game 2. And Marcus Smart's making great moves. You, you got the white guys playing balls out in Laker land. And, and J.J. redick's looking like one of the best coaches, one of the better coaches in the, in the NBA right now. Ume Udoka. Rumors are if they don't make it out of the first round, he, it's a talented Ladden team. Does he get fired? He turned them around in year one. Year two, the chemistry, the vibes are just off.
That might be something to look out for. Then you got Spurs Trailblazers.
Trailblazers are surprisingly a really competitive team, but the spurs should take care of them in six games. Thoughts on all those?
[00:18:54] Speaker C: I guess the Lakers have been, I mean, you've watched probably more Lakers games than any thing Roman out of Easter throughout this season.
[00:19:00] Speaker A: To be honest with you, I just started watching in the playoffs. Okay.
[00:19:04] Speaker C: I was trying to give you, I'm trying to.
[00:19:05] Speaker B: Just kidding.
[00:19:06] Speaker C: I was trying to give you some credit for it, but I appreciate it. I, I, you know, LeBron, I think there's out the season, you said, turning back the clock. I mean, why, why Aaron and I are so passionate about the regular season being mum is because, hey, we're, we're gearing up for this run, you know, of two months where it's going to be at, and, and LeBron's only got, you know, I don't know how many of these runs he's going to have left in him.
So. Yeah, I'm not really surprised. The Rockets, the Durant ad was okay. We're adding a star. I think we talked about this in the offseason stuff, but how did that mesh with the rest of the infrastructure they had from a solid Rockets team? That was the year prior, so I don't know. I, I don't think either of those teams are really a threat. The Thunder, I just, it's tough to say. I mean, Aaron and I were talking about the beginning of the season. You mocked us about the Thunder breaking the, the wins record. They obviously, they didn't do that, but it's still a team that's like insanely deep.
[00:19:56] Speaker A: I did, I did.
[00:19:58] Speaker C: You did mine.
[00:19:58] Speaker B: It's okay.
[00:19:59] Speaker C: They did not.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: Because you guys said something like everyone was talking about. I was like, oh, yeah, groundbreaking. I remember that.
[00:20:04] Speaker C: Well, I, I didn't see that room because all on my Twitter feed is F1 embarrassment coverage. So I don't, I don't know. I don't know.
[00:20:11] Speaker B: I think, you know, a lot of people jumped on after like 15, 16, 17 games. I was already when they were like seven and, oh, seven and one sneaking, they could get to 70 wins.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: Oh, 100.
[00:20:20] Speaker B: We just, we just, I don't think we were on the camera or doing much NBA talk, but.
[00:20:24] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I, I just think it's gonna be tough. Like, the spurs are kind of like their, their kryptonite. I think throughout the season they may need. If you look at NBA history, the spurs first year in the playoff, so, you know, they may need that loss. You know, you gotta. You gotta get your calluses going through the. Through the playoffs.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: It's.
[00:20:41] Speaker C: Generally with these superstars, it'd be kind of. It'd be. It'd be bad for the league. Honestly, if Wemby just comes in here, his first year in the playoffs and just wrecks you. Because I don't go to a ton of basketball, but in my little trip to Milwaukee, I reference. I saw Wemby play the Bucks while I was out there. And, you know, in person, that guy's inexperienced, and I don't understand anyone stopping him. Oh, yeah, it's crazy watching him, like, handle the ball.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: No, I've heard that, but at the
[00:21:05] Speaker C: same time, I'm worried about his legs every time he's moving around, too, because it just looks like.
[00:21:09] Speaker A: Dude, he has.
He looks like a giraffe. Like, long ass fell down. Oh, my God. It was a knockout punch. Me and Wes talked about that yesterday. Look like Mike Tyson beat the. Out of him.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:21:25] Speaker C: I don't. I. And if he takes it in year one, it'd be. I don't know if it's unprecedented, but generally in the NBA, you got to work your way to getting your title.
And Duncan did it, but it was more.
[00:21:37] Speaker B: David Robinson had a really veteran team.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: That group, I didn't like that year.
[00:21:43] Speaker C: Yeah, well, he was getting. He was getting added. I was like, hey, we have the bad year. We got the first overall pick. We had a good team already, and we just added it.
It's tough in the. In the NBA. You think about, like, these, you know, these dynasty runs and where things are at, and with the Thunder, as many assets and everything they have going on with their team, it's. It's kind of tough to dismiss where they're at right now. It's like they get. They got a deep team and everyone else kind of looking around. It's a chalk prediction, but I still think that'd be where my pick goes if we're going into the. Into deeper to the playoffs.
[00:22:14] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I mean, I think we kind of touched on early health.
[00:22:18] Speaker A: Right?
[00:22:18] Speaker B: I mean, Wimby's out. Concussion, Rome. I agree. I think if he does not come back in the series, Portland's got a really good chance to win it. I mean, obviously, the spurs have played without him in years past, and they got a pretty good team. They probably should have still won game to give Portland a ton of credit for coming back and winning that one. But it's gonna be tough. I mean, if you're, if you're the spurs, you're happy getting in the split in these next games three and four in Portland. It's gonna be tough to win both for either team.
Yeah, the Thunder, obviously this team to beat in the West. I mean Minnesota, we know they've gotten back to back Western Conference finals, but they don't match up very well against the Thunder. Thunder. What got rid of them in five last year pretty, pretty handily.
So the Lakers obviously got kind of the first round perfect matchup. I mean, they got lucky. Katie getting hurt not playing game one. Kind of the perfect storm. Imi Udoka, offensively, they got no point guard. You guys touched on that before. Their only point guard they do have is Reed Shepherd. They don't play him game too. I just don't know what their decision making is there in Houston. So yeah, I think it's going to be a hard look. If they don't get out of the first round again, what happens? Because they were the biggest first round favorite, I think minus 7, 800 to win this series.
[00:23:26] Speaker A: And they had a good run last year and we were thinking like this team is really close to doing a championship run. If they got added a guy like KD and then now I, I really think Fred Van Fleet was like the glue of that team. Without him, they just haven't looked the same at all this year. I think Ume maybe.
I don't know what that'll happen. They needed a point guard. They could have got anybody. Anybody. Hell, they could have got Bronnie James on there and that would have been like an upgrade, whatever they got going on.
[00:23:51] Speaker B: But Romero. Come on, man. Go to go. I don't know what you're drinking back there, but Bronnie James is not solid. He's not, he's not an upgrade, man. He's not enough solid.
[00:24:01] Speaker A: All right.
Do you think Lakers move on?
[00:24:05] Speaker C: Yes, I think the Lakers move on. Yes.
[00:24:06] Speaker A: Great.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: I thought the Lakers are going to move on before the series started. Surprisingly.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: Really? Yes. Oh, wow. Damn. I wish I had that on tape.
All right, you have it now.
Now we do do Thunder sweep.
[00:24:19] Speaker C: I think the Thunder sweep.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: I will say no, just for entertainment purposes, but it will be a gentleman sweep five games.
[00:24:25] Speaker C: All right.
[00:24:25] Speaker A: We didn't touch on Celtics 76ers. Are the Celtics in trouble?
[00:24:29] Speaker C: I don't think so. I mean that last what, six weeks
[00:24:34] Speaker A: whenever,
[00:24:38] Speaker C: you know, when they got the kind of the full complement of the team back?
[00:24:42] Speaker A: Yeah,
[00:24:45] Speaker C: I think they're still finding a little bit. I mean, the 76ers aren't, aren't terrible, but I, I, I don't know. It's weird with the Celtics because you feel like over the last couple years, they should have ran away with things,
[00:24:55] Speaker A: and at home,
[00:24:59] Speaker B: it's always game two. What are they, eight and five in their last game? Twos at home or something?
[00:25:03] Speaker A: Five and five or something?
[00:25:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: 500. Yeah.
All right, let's switch some gears then. Unless you guys have one last comment for the NBA.
[00:25:11] Speaker C: Negative.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: No, I'm not, I'm not worried about the Celtics. I think they're gonna, I mean, Joe and Bead's not gonna play in the series, right? I don't, I don't think he's coming back. I was surprised that they lost game two. They'll rebound and win game three. I think the real big series shocker is I'm gonna go on the record now. I think Orlando's gonna get by Detroit. I think Orlando's gonna win that series. I know it's 1:1 now, but I think Orlando.
[00:25:33] Speaker A: Right. We didn't talk about that one.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: Detroit?
[00:25:35] Speaker A: I don't think so. Like, well, like, Orlando looked really nice. We've seen so many 1 seeds come in kind of like, lack of days ago. It's a young Pistons team still. They don't have a hardcore veteran on that team. They, they looked flat in game one. Game two.
They pumped it up. But if there's a team that could do an upset there, it's them or the Hawks.
That's it.
You got Orlando winning, though, huh?
[00:26:01] Speaker B: I think Orlando can win that series. I do. I mean, that was a tie game. That was a tie game. Going in the game and going in the second half last game, and then
[00:26:09] Speaker A: it was, it was a tight game.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: It was a 27 to 3 run by Detroit. Orlando missed a ton of shots. They're killing them on the boards. It's going to be a tough series, man. I mean, Orlando is one of those teams we talked about in the off season. Probably should have been a top four or five, given where the east was at.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: They should have been another coach that's
[00:26:28] Speaker B: on the hot seat as well. That team now kind of getting healthy. They got Wagner stuff back.
I, I think Orlando can pull the upset.
[00:26:35] Speaker A: In all reality, Raptors should be the eight seed. Magic should be five minimum. This is like a weird seating in the, in the Eastern Conference. Bizarre how it ended like that.
All right, switch gears to the NHL and then we'll just kind of wrap this up, guys.
A lot of fun games, man. We've had a couple double overtimes, late night hockey's heating up. There's a. I gotta be honest with you, man. I totally forgot some of these teams were actually in the NHL and they're making their first appearance in like in 20 years.
[00:27:06] Speaker C: It seems like the Buffalo Sabers, I mean that's, yeah.
[00:27:10] Speaker A: Brought out Josh Allen. I'm like, hell yeah. I'm like, wait a minute. There might be a curse on Josh Allen and bigger than. They lay a big egg in that game when Josh Allen is banging the drum. So Buffalo, man, just tough in the playoffs. Either way, football or hockey, it's a good thing they don't have a baseball team. Could probably have the same thing.
[00:27:28] Speaker B: Too cold to play baseball out there, Rome. Too fucking cold, man.
[00:27:31] Speaker A: Yeah, they adopted Toronto Blue Jays, but thoughts on the NHL? Jason, give us your hockey sticks. I know what's a good hockey analogy for that?
You can't say too.
[00:27:43] Speaker C: My puck knowledge. I don't know.
[00:27:46] Speaker A: All right, yeah, let's go with that. Yeah.
[00:27:49] Speaker C: Well, I mean, start with the blowouts, Ron. We're talking pre pod. You know, you talked about watching your Penguins not looking great here versus the cross state rivals in Philadelphia. So Flyers putting that away. I think the other team, Carolina, up three nothing too. I mean, Carolina's a good team. They have been a good team. But when he gets into the playoffs, they have, you know, they've had Florida in their way or whatever would be so Florida. Carolina has.
They're not there. And so I mean this could be a time for Carolina to, you know, they have the bumps and bruises of the playoffs and had all the disappointment the past couple years. You know, getting to the Senators, you know, fairly easy right now. Likely sweep. If not, gentlemen, sweep here to get some rest going into the next round. So. But you'll have a good clash. You'll have Carolina, Philadelphia here and that next round. But I mean, I.
Carolina's gonna be tough to beat.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: I.
[00:28:39] Speaker C: It's a, it's a.
Oh, Kings are
[00:28:41] Speaker A: down right now, huh?
[00:28:43] Speaker C: Kings are down. Yep. Three one. So tough.
[00:28:46] Speaker A: That's tough.
[00:28:47] Speaker B: But about to be down with.
[00:28:48] Speaker C: I mean, the series.
Yeah, that one's about to be over.
[00:28:52] Speaker A: Sniper said that at the Amalanch is the best team in the NHL this year.
[00:28:57] Speaker C: Yeah, I agree with you.
[00:28:58] Speaker B: I agree.
[00:28:58] Speaker C: I mean you look at Carolina coming off that cup, it wasn't there, but man, they've been stacked throughout this season. The Golden Knights, you Know, we weren't talking about going the Everest and they fire their coach. You know, it's in the playoffs, you know, bring in John Tortorella after, you know, this was a Stanley cup winning team a few years ago and they get rid of their coach. Yeah. So I mean, you know, you're, you're panicking there. The Mammoth. The Mammoth. They're playing Utah. They're a good team. I still think the Golden Knights win that series, but. Yeah, I mean, Utah is going to make it probably more competitive than you would have thought, you know, at the beginning of the season on what that series could be. Yep. Yeah, probably six. I still think, you know, the Golden Knights have the talent there. Where they should win the series.
Yeah, the Avalanche series over. I agree with sniper West.
[00:29:38] Speaker B: Eu.
[00:29:39] Speaker C: Oilers, Ducks. Sneaky.
[00:29:40] Speaker B: Good.
It's entertaining, that series. A lot of scoring.
[00:29:43] Speaker C: It's a lot of scoring.
You know, the Oilers, man, I just, I, I want it so bad for Connor McDavid. You just, you talk about the greats in the game.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:55] Speaker C: And like that's, it's really what you're going to this playoffs. You want to see the great ones win. He's gone to the cup two times in a row. Lost to Florida. They're not here.
But, man, he's gonna have to go through somewhat of a gauntlet. I mean, this Duck series isn't easy. Even though the first time the Ducks have been in the playoffs a little bit. But.
[00:30:12] Speaker A: Long time. I got us eight years.
[00:30:13] Speaker C: Long time.
[00:30:14] Speaker B: And 10 years.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: When do they bring back the Mighty Ducks logo? I like it.
[00:30:20] Speaker C: I mean, they've had this one for a little bit, but it wasn't the pure jerseys. It was like they had the extra orange stuff and everything. But you know, they got, they got Quinville, former Blackhawks, Stanley cup winning coach, you know, so he's got the, he's got the pedigree for winning. So it's going to be a tough Oilers matchup. Oilers pull that off and they're probably playing the Golden Knights in the second round, which won't be easy. And then I think, yeah, if you're going to the Western Conference finals, I'm thinking Oilers, Avalanche likely, which is a really tough for Connor McDavid there. So it'd be fun. The thing with hockey, though, I mean, this isn't as much as you see in basketball, but deep playoff run teams in hockey where they keep a lot of the core together, man, it is tough to go make those runs all the way till to, you know, May and June and so you see, you know, the Panthers so beat up, they just didn't even get the season off the ground for how injured they were. You know, Edmonton's been back. They had questions on defense and goaltending and what they can do and then their biggest player showing at the biggest moments. I think it's just a story to watch because I think if you're the NHL, your best player winning a championship, that's just the era we're in. And now he's lost twice in the Stanley cup final.
[00:31:29] Speaker B: That.
[00:31:29] Speaker C: I think that's one of the big stories, at least for me, that I'm going to be paying attention here during the playoffs.
[00:31:34] Speaker A: That's tough.
[00:31:35] Speaker B: Yeah, man. I mean, we all like Edmonton, but look, their goaltending has not been great. They made a trade during. They made a trade during the season. It's been poor here in the playoffs. The Ducks really should be up 2 0. I think the Ducks are actually going to win this series. I, I hate, I hate to say it, I mean, I like the Ducks. We go to a couple games, roam here and there. I'm rooting for Edmonton, but I think the Ducks. Fresher legs Quinnville, like Jason mentioned, I think they're going to upset Edmonton. Edmonton just doesn't look as quick right now. I'm going to take the Ducks to win the series. I agree. Golden Knights, I think they beat the Mammoth. But a tough series.
Stars versus the Wild. That's been a great three games there, man. That was a double overtime. Rome, you were talking about that one. Stars are a really good team. They've kind of had problems too, running into Edmonton and not be able to get by them, by Edmonton getting knocked out. We'll see the Avalanche. I agree. I like the Carolina Hurricanes. I think Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, that's going to be who I think get to the final. That's what I predicted last year. I think that's what's going to be the final this year. Dallas Stars, Carolina Hurricane.
[00:32:36] Speaker A: It does sound familiar. Yeah.
So no love for the Sabers, Bruins, Lightning, nothing, huh?
[00:32:44] Speaker C: I mean, light lightning are good. I mean it's, it's. They're, they aren't what they were obviously, but they still got a lot of talent.
Kind of took that back seat to Florida here for the last three years for, you know, who was going to be, you know, the top dog. I mean, basically the state of Florida was running hockey here for a little bit between, you know, Kucherev.
No. One of the best scorers in the league right there.
Goaltending for, for Tampa Bay obviously has been one of their biggest strengths and then defensively I think they'll get past Montreal. I mean you could see Tampa, a Tampa Buffalo series is, you know, definitely maybe more advantageous to Tampa with their experience in the playoffs versus Buffalo just getting there. I mean I like Buffalo, good young team, good story. But you're talking about going through the playoffs. I don't know if in year one getting to this place that they're going to be able to translate that beyond probably the second round.
[00:33:38] Speaker A: You gotta get those bruises, man. At least for Friday's game.
[00:33:41] Speaker C: Man.
[00:33:41] Speaker A: We got Golden Knights and Mammoth. We have Oilers and Ducks and Lightning and the Canadians. That's gonna be a fun slate of games tomorrow night.
[00:33:53] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll basically pick them games and looking at the odds here. So.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: Yeah, and any picks here and you want to give a little three pack right now.
[00:34:00] Speaker B: Oh, in hockey or what? NBA?
[00:34:01] Speaker A: Yeah. Wow, man, do it. By the way, Sniper west does want to talk baseball with you guys. So next time we'll get him on. He wants to talk some baseball. I told him about your guys little 10 million dollar fantasy baseball league.
[00:34:16] Speaker B: Might be a spot for him next year if he wants to step up and play with the big boys.
[00:34:23] Speaker C: We didn't get to talk on the pod. You want to talk about who's top dog in the standings,
[00:34:29] Speaker B: you know, it's one of the guys on the screen. I'll let that person take it away.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: All right, go ahead.
[00:34:34] Speaker C: You know we talked a lot about the podcast. You know, our ten million dollar fantasy league, Rome, whatever you're gonna call it. But currently your boy with a 21 and a half game lead over second place.
Dominating the show over here. So Aaron, the, you know he's. He's the herald of the league. No, I mean Aaron's always a threat. He's got a rebuilding year. Last year he traded a bunch of people to get some prospects. Got the young team. I got a lot of young stars that I signed to extensions. O', Neill, Cruz, James Wood, Nico Horner, Drake Baldwin crushing the game. I got Mike Soraka on a cheat deal just or Soroka, whatever it is
[00:35:14] Speaker B: right now he is so Rocca, if
[00:35:15] Speaker C: that's what he's just throwing heaters. Mason Miller, you know, coming out here in San Diego throwing saves. Man, my team's loaded. Rome. All right. I'm just saying we'll monitor. It's still early. You know, I was texting other people, not Aaron, because I don't want to jinx it he was in the league, but my other friends sent him screenshots. I just said, I need the baseball season to end now. Just now. And ended now. I got this big lead, man. I'm not even showing up to the Tuesday calls because my team doesn't even get hurt. I did this without Juan Soto. Rome, I want Soto out for two weeks and my team's still in first place by a million right now.
[00:35:48] Speaker B: Right now. His team's a runaway train. Rome, right now, right now I'm in third, and so I'm just kind of positioning, trying to get on the podium. I'm just trying to stay on the podium. Second, third. I'll be happy there. But yeah, I mean, Jason's team right now is the runaway. They're the runaway favorite right now.
[00:36:05] Speaker A: That's.
[00:36:05] Speaker B: They're the OKC Thunder. And, you know, let's just say I'm the Minnesota Timberwolves. Rome, maybe I can get there if you, if you, if you believe in it.
It's an uphill battle.
[00:36:15] Speaker A: I do believe in it. Well, cool, man. I'm glad you guys. League is doing well. Jason, I'm really happy for you because you were so close to just even, just breaking even last year and then you were kind of bummed out when everything kind of fell apart. All your guys got turned away. So that's awesome. I'm really happy for you.
[00:36:27] Speaker C: It was a bummer, man. I was, I was nervous in the offseason. I'm not going to lie. I'm very happy, very happy right now. I didn't, I didn't have a lot of money to spend going into the draft. I also, I was doing the draft while I was in Milwaukee going to the Bucks burgers game. As I mentioned, the. That was draft day.
[00:36:41] Speaker A: Can I ask you a question?
[00:36:42] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:36:44] Speaker A: Your wedding day or winning this baseball fantasy league. Which one tops the list?
[00:36:50] Speaker B: You get my own pit pause on that real quick.
[00:36:53] Speaker A: You have to answer that. You have to answer that. I already know.
[00:36:57] Speaker C: Let's see.
[00:36:57] Speaker A: I mean, like winning a fantasy league.
[00:36:59] Speaker C: Let me see. Aaron's told me, let's just say the pot of this thing is about 20 grand. Maybe Aaron, if I were to win this.
[00:37:07] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, after you're buy in, you can walk away. You're going to walk away, you know, 10,000 plus.
[00:37:15] Speaker C: Okay. So let's just say it's 20 grand. And my wedding costs more than that.
[00:37:21] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:37:22] Speaker C: So I'm talking about like I would win 20 grand versus losing way more than 20 grand. I mean, have you oh that's how
[00:37:29] Speaker A: you want to put it? That's how you want to put it?
[00:37:30] Speaker C: That's how you're talking about where the, where the, where the net is. Like there might be a, there might be a fifty, sixty thousand dollar swing in this right now.
[00:37:36] Speaker B: So.
[00:37:37] Speaker A: Yeah, weddings are expensive. That's awesome.
[00:37:41] Speaker B: Well did we know Jason didn't go cheap like the Blazers owner on a wedding here? So that's, that's good, that's good to know.
That's why he's still married. I mean it all, it all makes.
[00:37:49] Speaker A: That's why he's still married.
[00:37:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:37:51] Speaker B: Starting to make sense. You know I'm just pitting the notes
[00:37:53] Speaker A: and pieces again and his wife fell in love with a Bears fan and you know they'll, you know, thick and thin, you know he'll stick with you so.
Smart choice. Yeah, I talked about that last year.
[00:38:04] Speaker C: Yeah, well, I mean big. We're talking about the Bears. We'll talk about the draft later. Big pick by the Bears in the draft this year. So you know, just everything's coming up good.
We got, we got the White Sox. They may not be great but we got a guy that hit home hits home runs too. I don't know if you.
[00:38:20] Speaker A: So all right, well when we come back then, whenever you guys want, we'll recap the NFL draft. We'll talk a little more baseball actually get, get into it. Daughter's having a little slump. I got Giants fans text me non stop asking like where they can purchase brooms and Dodgers want to Rome. I know but I was supposed to go to the game today but you
[00:38:39] Speaker B: know it was a pitch pitchers duel. My, my. Both my fantasy pitchers on the mound got a win from the Dodgers guy Glass now so I'm happy. Yeah both pitch well. My earned run average is low in that league.
[00:38:53] Speaker C: I didn't go I only need to hear that your Giants friends talking crap. If I get if. If it Landon ropes on the mount rope is on the mound or I got Rya Walker my clothes are there and the Giants picking up some saves. That's what's value to me for the fantasy league.
[00:39:06] Speaker A: Right.
[00:39:06] Speaker B: That's what we're and I am looking forward to talking baseball because you know anytime we could talk first pace Braves. I'm happy. You know last year Owen seven start it was over before it even got. Before I even got inflated. It was a flat tire before the season even started.
But now a nine game lead over the Mets who can't win and the Phillies can't win. I I'm extreme. I'm extremely happy right now, Rome, you
[00:39:27] Speaker A: guys have a decimated division. You're really lucky this year, man. It's the. Every time the Braves win, it's always because everyone else is. Have you. Have you noticed that I disagree?
[00:39:36] Speaker C: I don't know.
[00:39:36] Speaker B: Phillies been good for a while.
[00:39:38] Speaker A: That's true.
[00:39:38] Speaker B: The Mets are up and down. I'll agree with you on that. But Nationals, you know, outside of 1718, they've been pretty bad for a while here.
[00:39:46] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:39:46] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't know about that, Rome, but some are saying just because Drake Baldwin is on my fantasy team, and then I picked up Dominic Smith from the Braves in the first week of free agency, and he's been on fire since then. So, you know, maybe these guys are just excited to just play for a winner in fantasy and they're going to be winners on the field for the Atlanta Braves, too.
[00:40:03] Speaker B: That is true, Rome. That is True. Ronald Acuna Jr. Never won a World Series without me having on my team, so, you know, I did win three fantasy championships with him. So Michael Harris, he's been balling Matt Olson, so. Yeah, I mean, look it, Jason and I are eating up those Braves guys. That's why we're in the top three right now.
[00:40:18] Speaker A: That's awesome. Final comments for the weekend, and then we'll come back and recap the draft when it's done and talk baseball next time.
[00:40:26] Speaker C: It's good to be back on the podcast.
[00:40:28] Speaker A: Sweet, man.
[00:40:29] Speaker B: Yeah. B squad. I'm happy to be here.
[00:40:32] Speaker C: Sorry.
[00:40:32] Speaker A: You know, just had a chance to jump on. I jumped on it.
[00:40:36] Speaker B: Yeah, well, he sniped us off from the A team, so. Good for you guys.
[00:40:40] Speaker C: Labor negotiations, you know us. You know, the. The union of Aaron and Jason had to negotiate with the management, which is Rome. So, you know, a deal got done late this evening and we're back on the air.
[00:40:50] Speaker A: Yeah. All right, man, I'm happy to have it. I have. I'm happy we got on and happy to put this on early tomorrow morning. So enjoy the games this weekend. We'll talk all that good next time. More NBA, NHL playoffs, the draft. And when and. And when can we start talking F1 again? Like. Like, we got one more or two
[00:41:12] Speaker B: more weeks next weekend kick back off. Right. Miami.
[00:41:16] Speaker C: Yeah, Miami Grand Prix next weekend. So we'll be.
[00:41:19] Speaker A: We can get like a little preview Wednesday or Thursday time. Little F1 session. I dig that.
[00:41:26] Speaker C: We got that coming up. We got the Indianapolis 500, man. It's a big, you know, motorsports month here in May.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: I've actually been watching NASCAR this year. I might be down the jump on it.
[00:41:36] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:41:37] Speaker A: And the Indy.
[00:41:37] Speaker C: So it's all great stuff.
[00:41:39] Speaker A: It's all good stuff. All right, cool, man. I'll do it. Source of the sofa. Catch us every week, follow us on the socials, and hopefully I can get off my ass and send some clips out as well.
I'll do it. We are out.
