Controversial & Chaotic Play-In Games - The Full LaMelo Experience

Thrive and believes money is more than numbers. It's a way to care for the people, causes, and community you love. That's why Thrive and brings together a unique combination of financial services and generosity programs, offering advice, investments, and insurance to help you plan your finances while creating opportunities to give back along the way. Through generosity programs that offer resources to fund service projects or to direct charitable funds, Thrive makes it easier to turn your values into action and support what matters to you. With more than 120 years of experience and as a Fortune 500 company, Thrive continues to serve individuals, families, and communities across the country. To learn more, visit Thrive.com. Thrive and, where money means more. Hello and welcome to the Hoop Collective Podcast. We talk about the NBA, which you're doing after midnight on Wednesday morning in the wake of two highly entertaining and mildly controversial play-in games to kick off the NBA postseason asterisks. These games don't count for history. You want to find out about these games? You're going through the corners of the internet. All right. I guess we'll start in Charlotte, where the Hornets won their biggest game in... Doing intros, bro? Nobody gets introduced. You're right. I'm sorry. This is the window pod and people are chiming in. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I guess it's not even really that late. I don't even have a really good excuse. Playing stats don't count. The pod doesn't count. Joining us, that right there from New York City, Tim Bonteps. Everybody, what a fun start to the postseason. And joining us from Los Angeles, California is Bad McMahon. Howdy, partners. No TNT, but we love drama. And we got plenty of it tonight on Amazon Prime. Okay. So biggest Hornets win in a decade, Bonteps? Yes. I mean, it's a competition. I mean, Brian and Brian are on a text chain with a couple of Hornets fans who are at the game. And Brian asks if it was the biggest win and the this iteration of the franchise's history. I mean, they did win three playoff games in 2016. So with Kemba Walker, who's now on the bench with the Hornets, so I think you at least have to have it in discussion with them. But when you combine the way the Hornets played over the back half of the year and all the excitement that there's been around the team with just this absolutely balkers game that had crazy comebacks and collapses and drama and non-calls and just all the crazy and controversy. And that's what I mean. That's what I mean. Right. So yeah. Yeah. All right. We got McMahon doing puns at 1am. It's the game had everything you could ask for. So yeah, I mean, it's it's certainly, I would say it's already the most memorable. It's probably probably are going to be the most memorable Charlotte Hornets game, which is a perfect, perfect way to sum up a game. If it doesn't exist, they're record books. Yeah. So look, I think we should start with the way the game ended before we get into the controversy because I don't think that should be wiped out. First off, Kobe White with an absolutely jaw. You are tourist. By the way, like I don't want to this Bulls trade deadline. Dance on the grave. Dance on the grave. Oh my gosh. I mean, it's a little bit. Let me just say so you guys realize that the Bulls ended up with Jayne Ivey, which was a disaster. We don't have to read. We do. We do realize that. Okay. We do. They traded Kobe White. They got Mike Conley. They traded Io Dosamu. I always screw up his last name. Io, just Io. They traded Io for Mike Conley. Okay. And Io's been a hoop in Minnesota, by the way. Absolutely. Io's been really good for that. They got seconds in deals. Okay. Then they take Conley, put him with Kobe White, and they trade him for Usman Jang and Collins Sexton. Okay. There were two second round picks, I think, in that deal. But the Bulls. Well, there were three. And then they went down to two after there was some debate about the medics. It was three second round picks. The Bulls did not know that Kobe White was injured. They also apparently didn't know Jayne Ivey was injured because they said A-okay on that trade and then realized he was actually hurt. Well, the knee was the least of the concerns. But we probably shouldn't spend this much time on the Bulls right now. You're right. Anyway. Bulls stank. They ended up releasing Usman Jang. And Usman Jang went on and Lexi was pretty good for the Bucks. Okay. Forget about all that. Kobe White hits this shot, which is a jaw dropping shot. There were less than 10 seconds left. There was a decent chance the heat were going to foul because they were up by three at the end of regulation. And Kobe White gets to his spot and gets squared up. And by the way, it was he had a huge second half in this game. He had a whole bunch of shots to help the Hornets come back. Wait. He comes off the bench and shard it. Why was he in the game? Oh, we'll get to that later. We'll get to that later. Yeah. Anyway, Kobe White. Mr. Dallas Pom-Poms over here. I forgot it briefly. I'm questioning. Yeah. You know what I'm just questioning. And meanwhile, so what did he finish with? He finished with 19. Boy, it felt like more. He would five of eight. I think he had most of those in the second half. Basically all in the second half. Had a huge third quarter. Plus 21 in the game. So Kobe White plays a huge role. The heat had built up pretty, you know, a lead. And Davion Mitchell was playing an absolutely terrific game for them. Andrew Wiggins playing one of his best games, most consequential games in a heat uniform. Again, making very big baskets, big three-pointers. You know, the heat, you know, Tyler Hero didn't have his best shooting night, but he made some couple of hugely clutch plays in overtime. Three clutch free throws. I know that. Okay. So, Conn Canipple is he had been struggling. He had, you know, the Hornets had lost a series of, you know, big games down the stretch of the season and Canipple struggled in those games, particularly his shooting. And, you know, he came into this game and he was just not effective. I think he went 0 of five on three is just in the first half. And then the second half, he really didn't even shoot that much. He was trigger shy. Let's like, listen, I looked it up. He is Conn Canipple the second. He does not have a middle name. It certainly is not. That's a race. Because the guy is lacking confidence. Well, he, he right now. He's not on that one. It's proof. He doesn't have a middle name. He's got all sorts of likes. So, I will just say, you know, ultimately the Hornets won this game, but Charles Lee, their head coach, he's coaching in his first postseason game as a head coach. He was a little bit, there was a lot of stuff coming in and out of the game. He was, you know, it was a lot of emotion. Look, he's got a chaotic team. Obviously, you're going to have a chaotic team with the both the way they play. And when the ball is your, your lead ball handler. And I thought, look, it takes, it takes some guts to, to sit Conn in the whole second half or the whole fourth quarter and overtime of this game. Guys leading the league in three point shooting this year. He had a dreadful game. You know, I would have maybe had him out there and set a, set a sign James to some of these late game situations, but Charles Lee went to Kobe white, Kobe white delivered, Kobe white. The Hornets have not been in the playing game. You know, who's been in the playing games, Kobe white with the bulls. Bulls, eight bulls, love to play in. All rows lead to 39 until this year. Kobe white's got some playing experience. That's right. And he's got playing experience, playing against the heat. And he, you know, he looked like a guy who had been in that situation and was comfortable. And like, you know, that, that's why they won the game. He had 17 of his like McBan said, he had 17 of his 19 points in the second half and overtime and like, but it's still for as good as Kobe white is, he's a really good player. It's not an easy thing to sit con in that spot. And so he, so it was the right call by Charles Lee. Yeah. Cons off, you know, normally you would want, you know, we'll talk about Lamello in a minute. Normally you would want con to take the shot because the guy led the league. And you need three points inside. They got a lot of good three point shooters. I mean, Brandon Miller's a great shooter. I agree. But in the regulation, they're down three. They needed three and cons on the bench. But like con is in a funk right now. Yeah. He was in the 12, oh, of six. Yeah. And it's not like, listen, con can nipple is had a hell of a rookie here. He's going to have one hell of a career. He will probably be a multi-time all star. If you have an NBA awards ballot, this game is not supposed to count. Having said that, if it, if you got that ballot and you can't vote yet, because you're waiting on the extenuating circumstances, appeals, if your argument for rookie of the year was this guy impacts winning and Cooper flag didn't tonight, didn't exactly back that argument. Well, Oh, we talked on Sunday. Tonight was not supposed to count in your It wasn't supposed to count. But like we talked about on Sunday night for the Monday pod, this was an opportunity for con to, you know, be on a big stage. And if he showed out, it could maybe help him. I certainly don't think today helped them. Agreed. And the ballots haven't even gone out yet. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. I mean, it's not supposed to count, but like Friday, right. But I'm just saying one thing at the ballots, it's one thing that the ballots had gone out and you're not supposed to vote until you hear back from Luca. We don't even have the ballots yet. Okay. So get into overtime, Hornets build a lead, heat make a tremendous comeback. Tyler Hero hits a huge clutch shot from the corner. And then the Hornets are on the verge of absolute catastrophe when they are up by three with the ball. And there's only 18 seconds left. And I'm saying, well, Miami's got a foul, got a foul. Miami doesn't foul. Lamello had just made a nice play. Get a bucket. And then what happens? Lamello turns the ball over. Miami very smartly said the Hornets are a bunch of chaos agents. So let's try to speed them up and see what happens. And now at the end of games in defensive situations, Charles Lee takes Lamello out of the game. This has been happening for years. As you shut. By the way, Dave Vio Mitchell had a big game being guarded by Lamello tonight. That's true. And there was one play in overtime. And you were going after Lamello the whole game. That's right. Well, there's one play in overtime where Lamello literally fell asleep on defense and got beat for a back cut. And like, that's just hard to do in an elimination overtime situation. But he did it. The concerns about Lamello, and he ended up having like counting stats big night. The concerns about Lamello reared their heads night, and then he still somehow was the hero. So I mean, he got there yet, really. Right. That's right. Exactly. I mean, this game was the entire Lamello ball experience. So, all right. So Lamello is now all of a sudden, because of the turnover, he is now in on defense on a critical possession, which is what you do not want. And the granted, it was a transition, you know, scramble situation. It wasn't like everybody was calm. But there's a reason why they take him out of the game. And that reason reared its head, because he fouled Tyler Hero on a three. Now, I got to tell you. Hands smack the sides of the head at that point. He must have thought he actually fouled them. I didn't get, I didn't think that there was great reviews on that play. It was a little bit unclear, but his reaction, including in the post-game interview, where he said I effed up on that play. We didn't say effed. He effed up on the turnover, and then he effed up on the foul. He clipped them. No question. So, Hero is a 90% free throw shirt. He hits all three. They have handed, they rescue themselves from, you know, the jaws of defeat in regulation. And then they hand the game back to the heat. Now, this is kind of what happens between, frankly, two non-elite teams. Although you can see this happened with elite teams, but you can, the errors and the imperfections with these two teams, while it was great theater, did show up. And the clue to the fact that Lamello was at this point two of 16 from three-point range in the game, and a 30 questionable. Well, he has questionable shots in almost every game. Correct. There were heat checks on him. He did have ten assists. He did have ten assists. He was, you know, but okay. The other thing that should be mentioned, when the Amazon feed, I guess, cut out, it didn't cut out for me. But when it cut out for everybody, one of the critical plays of the game, he pretty clearly traveled, made a crazy shot, but like hopped and traveled. And yes. I never saw it live. So I saw a replay, but I saw a replay and I did, did that, he definitely slow stepped and looked awkward. Did that last foot come down? He was on his foot and then he like hopped as he turned. I mean, there's a crazy shot. I mean, Stan Van Goethe was over it on the broadcast. I experienced technical difficulties. Yeah. So did most of the country, but. Well, Stan Van Goethe went on the broadcast for you, BonTaps. You were using some illegal stream. So the official streams went out. But anyway, so he did make that basket to give him the three-point lead before the hero, or maybe was even. And didn't tie the hero, tied it up, and what happens? Yeah, he saves today. He, they call time out. It was before the, it was, it was, that was when Lamello, it was before the first Tyler hero shot in the corner. Remember when I told you somebody within the Mavericks orbit referred to Mark Cuban as an arsonist and a firefighter? That was Lamello Ball tonight. He was an arsonist and he was a firefighter. So Lamello, they, they called time out their last time out, set up a play for Lamello in a tie game. He gets isolated on Jaime Haca's. I watched the replay about four times. I don't think he commits a foul. He creates a little bit of separation, but I do not think he commits a foul. I do think Jaime Haca's hacked him on the arm, which was not called, but the bottom line is Lamello gets the corner turned, makes a tough basket in traffic. Great play. The referee has let it play. It's a terrific play. While he's getting fouled, regardless of what you want to say about anything else in the game, Haca has hit him square on the arm. It was not called and he was still able to finish in a very, very clutch moment. There is no, I think heat fans felt a lot of sympathy that Lamello didn't get a whistle there. That's true, which was all about in a minute. And so the heat, despite it saying on the Amazon broadcast ahead of time out, they did not have a timeout, which Dan Van Gundy said during the broadcast. The inbound, uh, Davey on Mitchell goes length of the court. Miles Bridges makes a great defensive play to block it. And he got like, he got in, he got to the bucket and it was blocked. But, and he, you know, he had a land. I mean, it was a pretty rough shot, but I, I thought they had a timeout because I was watching and it was on there. So I feel better that that was the shot they got when they didn't have a timeout. I was wondering why they called. You're right, McMahon. He gets all the way to the basket and gets the shot off. And, um, and he had also made a couple of very hard shots in traffic. And, you know, he's not a big guy. He has a lot of expertise. He's not a tall guy. Correct. I want to clarify. He's a very strong guy. And, you know, he's much bigger than me, but, um, uh, he's not tall by NBA standards. He has a lot of experience finishing. He had a good game. He has a lot of experience finishing below the rim. So like the shot that goes up, it's at a weird angle, but you know what? It might have gone in. And it was like, that was a great hustle, athletic defensive play to swap that away by. And clean, clean block. Yeah. Totally clean. He's a, he's a, Bridges is an incredible athlete and made it an incredibly athletic play there. If you're looking to bring a little celebration into the every day, confetti craze, five hour energy tastes just like birthday cake. Think rich vanilla, buttery, fun, fatty flavor, basically a party and a bottle. And here's what makes it even better. It's all the delicious cake flavor you're craving with none of the sugar to worry about. And the small portable bottles let you bring your favorite flavor with you to take a fire day with a tasty caffeine boost wherever you are with confetti craze. You get to enjoy your cake. No fork required. The fun, fety flavor is back on five hour energy.com or Amazon. Crack open confetti craze, five hour energy shot today. Thrive and believes money is more than numbers. It's a way to care for the people, causes and community you love. That's why Thrive and brings together a unique combination of financial services and generosity programs, offering advice, investments and insurance to help you plan your finances while creating opportunities to give back along the way through generosity programs that offer resources to fund service projects or to direct charitable funds. Thrive makes it easier to turn your values into action and support what matters to you. With more than 120 years of experience and as a Fortune 500 company, Thrive continues to serve individuals, families and communities across the country. To learn more, visit Thrive.com. Thrive and where money means more. Good front offices don't just react. They make moves that simplify things that set themselves up better long term. On a personal level, consolidating high interest debt is that same kind of decision. Fewer moving pieces, more clarity. That's where a SOFI personal loan fits in. 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In case people didn't see it because they're getting up this morning, I'm sure if you're watching on ESPN2, you've seen it, but Lamello misses a layup. He feels like he got fouled on his way down. He got hit in the head. I think he might have got hit in the head by his own player, Ryan Colkbrenner, but it wasn't like egregious. And as bam out of bio was turning to go back up the court, he grabbed. No, no, his bam was turning to save the ball and bounce. Oh, okay. So he was on one foot to save the ball and bounce. Okay. That's right. He puts his hand on bam's heel and pushes, taking bam's feet out from under him. He swiped that thing. Swiped his legs out from under him and he landed hard on his back. And bam, you could very clearly, it was swiped because bam was completely off balance. If bam was not had his leg taken out, he probably would have been more on balance. And instead, lands very hard on his tailbone, has to leave the game. The ball had gone out of bounds, by the way, they probably can review it, but... Oh, they would have reviewed it. Because the play continues for the fast break, they don't call a foul on the play. And it's not reviewable. After the game, the referees made a statement, Zach Sarba, the career chief makes a statement that it's not a reviewable play because the review window would close because the game had gone on. Spolsters incensed after the game says basically there's no place, that calls it shenanigans, hat tip Jackie Mack. There's no, he said there's no place in the game for it. Repeatedly said, he did not think that was why they lost the game. However, they lost their best player. He said Lamello should have been kicked out of the game. He should have been kicked out and he said he should have lost. Can I read that quote? Yes. So, well, first off, read what Lamello said as his explanation for what happened there. Okay. Let me read this Spolster thing first just because we just talked about it. So, Spolster said, I didn't see the play, but I don't think it's cute. I don't think it's funny. I think it's a stupid play. It's a dangerous play. Obviously, our best player was out. I'm not making an excuse. The Hornets played great. Made those plays down the stretch. We had opportunities to win. But that's a shame. You should be penalized for it. I don't think that belongs in the game. Tripping guys, shenanigans. Curtis Blair is the one referee. Curtis Blair was there. It's his responsibility to see that. If it's not his responsibility, then Zach's are, but you just mentioned, then Zach's got to see it. If somebody has got to see that, and he should have been thrown out of the game for that. There's no place in the game for that. So then later, Lamello Ball gets asked about what happened. Let me scroll down to this quote. Okay. Well, Lamello's asked for an explanation of what happened on the play. Oh yeah. I apologize on that one. I mean, I got hit in the head. I didn't really know where I was, but I'm going to check on him and see if he's okay and everything. He didn't know where he was, but he knew where Bayman out of bio's ankle was. So then there's a clarification of this, and he said, quote, I haven't even seen. Like I said, I got hit in the head. I didn't even know where I was, but yeah, just playing basketball. But like I said, sorry, and I'm going to check on him. So then he got asked, well, did you get evaluated for a concussion? Well, yeah. I mean, I don't think I ever had a concussion or I might have. I don't know. I don't even know how the concussions were. Well, I'll say this. If you had a concussion that definitely explains the turnover and foul in the last minute of overtime, but that smells like manure from Lamello. It was like, there's no way to look at that and say it's anything but a dirty play kicked out of the game because Bam was hurt. I don't know if there was a review that would have been considered. To me, if I'm reviewing that, it's a flagrant one. I don't know if it's getting kicked out of the game, but it was a flag and foul. It was a non-basketball play to swipe at a guy's ankle who was off balance. The only reason it would be considered potentially a flagrant two is because Bam got hurt on the play. But there's no question it was like, there's no way you look at that and say it's anything but a dirty play. I think there's going to be real debate over the next 48 hours about whether Lamello Ball is suspended for Friday's game. There's going to be debate in the media. I don't know if there's going to be much debate. I had a GM text me tonight and not related to any of this and asked because they saw the play later and said, this guy's got to get suspended. I think that's a reaction to the result and not the play. Could be. It's a tough one to swallow because you did knock out the Heat's best player. You boys know I've been talking about the curse 83 and making fun of the Heat, but there's nothing funny about this. It was a dirty play that caused Bam to have a dangerous point. The most important game of the Heat season. He played, what was it, like six minutes? It doesn't, nothing about it sits right. So yeah, so I will say Heat fans unearthed a play from a couple of years ago where a similar thing happened where Lamello felt that he got fouled against the Heat. I believe the game was in Miami and it was on Heat Twitter tonight and our Heat X, whatever you want to call it. And he did a similar thing where after he felt like he got fouled, he reached out and tripped Bam. Now this play Bam was much more on balance and it just sort of was a nuisance. But it was, you know, when you saw this two plays side by side, you're like, this has happened before. This is what he does. So I don't know if that doesn't really matter to the League, but that should be considered. And here's the thing, I do not believe at all that Lamello intended to injure Bam out of bio, but what he did was reckless. It was a dirty play. And so the other thing I would say, the only thing I can compare it to in recent times and Bon Temps, you have a good memory for this, you probably covered this game, was the play in the playoffs two years ago. Mitchell Robinson and Joel Embiid. Mitchell Robinson and Joel Embiid, where Embiid, where Mitchell Robinson, like Embiid sort of takes him out in a similar play. They call that one and they upgrade it to a Flagrin one. Recall in that play, we'll get the Knicks fans' bloods boiling because that hit on Robinson's foot essentially took him out for the rest of the playoffs. He played a couple more games after that, but it was a rearrangement. He wasn't right the rest of the time. He was not a factor basically. So I will just say in a similar situation, that was a Flagrin one. And by the way, Zack Zarbha was on that crew. Zack Zarbha reviewed that play. I forgot about that part that Zack was doing the game. And like I don't want to put words into Zack's mouth. I'm just saying that in a somewhat similar situation, Zack Zarbha looked at it and ruled Flagrin once. And Zack is part of the pool report just because you said that. So we have all the schedules here, so we have to scroll down. So he got asked, I believe by Rod Boone, from the Shroud Observer, should the play have risen to a level of a Flagrin foul if it was reviewed? That at this point, that goes to league operations and they'll make a determination on that in the coming days. So they will make that determination and go from there. I mean, I think it's clearly a Flagrin foul. But like in defense of the refs, the play was bam on one foot so he didn't go out of bounds on the baseline, saving the ball on its transition the other way. And Lamello on his back, reaching out and swiping with his right hand. So like I can understand how they didn't see it because the play was going the other way. I don't even know if they necessarily didn't see it. But like the way this stuff works, just so people, like so fans understand, like basically, so Curtis Blair is there looking at the play, right? Bam throws the ball ahead and the he'd have a fast break. So essentially you decide you're either going to stop the play right then and call a foul and review it, or if you're not sure, you'll let the play go and the he'd have a fast break go in the other way. But when the heat have the fast break and go the other way, once play continues, you can't go back 30 seconds and say, hey, we're going to check this play out from 30 seconds ago. Now, you could argue why is that the case? It was a dirty play. You should be able to do that. As someone who has said, I would like replay to be abolished. I am certainly not going to sit here and say, let's have more reasons to stop games for reviews. But that is like the mechanics of why they couldn't go back and do it. And like you said, big band, it's a split second thing. Play goes the other way. If the ball had gone out of bounds, they probably do review it, but it didn't because then Miami can tell us an ultimate insult to injury. The heat don't score. It ends up transition back the other way for Charlotte and Lamello gets a dunk because it's a five on four with Bam and Agony laid out on the baseline. Right. So I predict it being the middle of a news cycle week, Wednesday morning, NFL draft stuff hasn't started yet. I predict this will be a major talking point. No question. And especially because of, I mean, it's Lamello and it's Bam and it impacted the game and all these things. And Lamello is getting fine. Lamello is getting fine for f-bombing on the walkoff interview. It will be an expensive, yeah. It will be an expensive f-bomb in his post game. He was not ready. It's going to be an expensive 48 hours no matter what for Lamello because there's going to be some, at minimum, some sort of upgrade and he's going to get a hefty fine for the post game comments or their pal Cassidy. My guess is he ends up getting, I mean, I wouldn't be stunned if they give him a Flagret two and don't suspend them, which would sort of be a way to middle middle it and give him two Flagret foul points, which, you know, as we've seen in the past with Drima Green and others, I don't know how long Charlotte will be in the playoffs, but I'm asking, I'm asking seriously, do those count toward a playoff total? I really don't know. I will double check. I assume, I assume maybe a PR is not awake, but I will ask that now and see if we can get an answer for you. The other thing I just want to point out while I really like, I'm going to lay off the whole 83 years angle because this was ad circumstances with Bame going out. The heat absolutely stunk down the stretch of the season. You know, they, they came to play tonight. They couldn't get defensive stops at the end of this game. And that's the thing. If they could just get a couple of stops, they would have won. But fellas, they became a historically horrible defensive team. And I, I'm timing it to Bams 83 point performance. They actually beat the Bucks. The next game would be even worse if I waited the game. After the 83 point performance, they played 16 games, about 20% of a season. Their defensive rating was 123.3. That would be the worst in NBA history. Now, there were two teams that were worse during that stretch. Those were the lizards and the grizzlies. The two tankiest of all tank teams that did not commit any overt behavior because they were not fine. So clearly it wasn't overt, but I'm just guessing they were tanking. But I'm saying like, the heat absolutely fell apart defensively down the stretch of the season. And again, this one, their best defensive players gone, they're whatever, but them not being able to get stops is not like a, oh my gosh, Bams out. They can't get stops. They were awful defensively down the stretch of the season. And Justin, no, I was going to say was the heat have a lot of questions to answer this summer, just in general, they've had the same roster. Well, well, they just had the same basic group for five years now, and they've been treading water over and over again. And I, I, something has to change there. It feels like I don't know what's going to, but if they come back with basically the same team again in the fall, it's, I don't know, I just, something significant needs to shift around. All right. Well, before we move on, I just want to say a couple of things. First off, Musa Diabate, who had an important production tonight at 14 rebounds, he hurt his hip in this game or his side, and he was holding it the entire second half basically. So I don't know what his health status is going to be for when they play again on Thursday. I believe they play on Thursday. And by the way, his insertion in the starting lineup definitely coincides with their massive midseason tryout. So that's one thing. The second thing is, there's going to be some pressure on concanipple to play well in, in the, in the game, you know, for, for the eighth seed. I mean, there was a lot of, he got a lot of camera time while he was standing in front of the bed. He's gotten a lot of attention positively throughout the season for playing. Well, this is what comes with it. You earn a profile player. This is all part of, this is all part of the learning experience in all, 100% serious comment. It's, it's all part of the learning experience for him and for the Hornets, all this stuff. Like this is why this situation is awesome for them. Like it's important to go through this stuff. And it, like I said, it's not a coincidence. The guy that saved them in the second half of this game, I'm not making a joke about it. Like Kobe white has been in the playoffs, has played in the play in a lot. He have played a ton of playing games. Like it is a kind of a, it's a totally different thing than anything else that we really have in the NBA. Like I mean, I guess the NBA cup is like it too, but like this one off, one off NCAA tournament kind of set up. It's just a different environment. And like, you know, it's, it's, it's not a coincidence that the heat looked like a team that had been there plenty and the Hornets were the more talented team that had a kind of a chaotic path to a win. More hoop collective podcast after this. This message is brought to you by Apple pay. Checking out online. Apple pay makes it simple. Apple pay is accepted on millions of websites and apps and counting. Just look for the Apple pay button almost anywhere you do your online shopping. 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And carrying all the groceries in one trip. Try Quaker protein instant oatmeal granola and bars. Great taste and a good source of protein. Quaker, bring out the good. So in the other play in game, the one that guaranteed you a spot, the number seven seed in the West, the right to play the Spurs was won by the Portland Trailblazers who've had a hell of a week won their way into the eighth seed, primarily with a big one over the other clippers on Friday. You know, cemented it with the victory on Sunday and then come back with probably the best performance of Denny Obvia's career. He's had really, I wouldn't say his breakout season was this year. His breakout season was really last year, but he had a whale of a season this year. I was going to say, this has been the breakout season. He had a good year last year. He's rounding up. He's averaging 24 seven and seven. The only guys in the league who average as many points, rebounds and assists him. There's two guys, Nikola Jokic and Luca Donic. Here's Denny's, including the game winning bucket in this game. Here's Denny's line in this game. 41 points, 38 minutes, 41 points, 15 for 22 from the field, 12 for 14 on twos in the game, got the line 13 times, only went eight for 13, seven rebounds, 12 assists and two blocks. You could cut his left hand off and it wouldn't affect his game. He's so dominant, getting to his right hand. Yeah, he's so dominant getting to his right hand and then his, you know what's strong on his left is his shoulder and his elbow. He flings that those appendages and just clears out the way. Not a coincidence Dylan Brooks fouled out. Shay is an expert at using the clearance arm, but Denny is a bulldozer. I mean, it's unbelievable to watch him. And look, I remember when he signed his extension with Washington, I was talking to a GM and I was like, man, I don't know, like, not sure about that deal. And they were like, hey, Denny's got a chance to be pretty good. And I was like, I don't know, really? Like, I don't know. And it's been unbelievable. And I like the trade at the time. Like, I wasn't sure about the value Portland gave up in the trade to get him from Washington and like his development was unbelievable. Wasn't a lottery pick? They gave up the 14th. It was Bob Carrington. It was the 14th pick and they gave up a future first. There's those two picks. And Denny, I mean, he's obviously vastly outperformed that and you watch him play and like you guys both said, the crazy thing about it is it's like, it's like one of those things where everybody in the building knows exactly what he's doing. He's putting his head down, he's going to his right hand, he's going to the rim and nobody could stop him and he gets fouled all the time. And he's finishing in the paint all the time. Like, he's finished in the spring, he's sprinted out to shooters like, dude, yeah, it's, I love watching him play. It's awesome. Well, one thing happened. There's a complaint about the whistly gets, but well, he's getting packed. He is, he's getting back. He made a basket. So first off, Phoenix was behind for much of the first half, all the first half. Basically, it felt like there were 10 different 10 or more runs in this game. It felt like it was the whole game was just each team going fast. Phoenix went on a 24 to 4 run in the second half, which looked like was going to give them separation and they were playing at home. Dylan Brooks was having a good shooting game. Jaylen Green, I wouldn't say it was having a good shooting game, but he threw in some shots. And Booker, you don't think 14 shots is throwing in some shots? I know, I was going to say, I think he had a pretty good shooting game. Well, he was 14 to 29. He 35 points on 29 shots. On the last sun's possession, I felt like he tried to get fouled on a three instead of actually trying to make the three. There was a lot of foul hunting by the sun's late, mostly unsuccessful. But I will say, as Portland was coming back, Denny makes this basket to tie the game at 110. And... Thought he got fouled. Thought he got fouled and probably could have gotten teched there, but Nick Buchert, the veteran referee, didn't tech him. And then Jeremy Grant and Drew Holliday. And by the way, let me just say, there wasn't a lot of understanding as to why the Blazers made the Drew Holliday trade. And then Holliday had a season was injury plagued, because they were sort of in the middle. Holliday has been extremely helpful to them down the stretch since he got healthy. The fourth quarter was Denny Ovidius' quarter. He had 14 points and three assists. Like he won them the game. But Drew Holliday had several big plays at both ends of the court, including keeping Denny from getting the tech there on a tie game. But Drew had a really good year just to be clear. Yeah, but I don't know how many games he played, but... Yeah, I mean, he missed the time with injuries. And also Jeremy Grant, a guy who I didn't like the contract the day they gave it to him. And he's been in and out of trade rooms ever since. Jeremy Grant played a very key role, including stripping, I believe it was Royce O'Neill. I think it was Royce O'Neill. Right at the end of the game, when after Jalen Green missed, Royce O'Neill got the rebound and Jeremy Grant stripped him to secure the win. Well, and you mentioned Jalen Green taking 29 shots. Devin Booker took 17. They'd like to flip that. I know. I didn't love Jalen Green's game. But here's the thing. Devin Booker was being defended for most of the game by Tumani Kamara and by Drew Holliday. I mean, they had elite defenders on him. And Tumani Kamara is the guy that the Suns threw in with the Andre Aten. They attached him to Aten as a sweetener so they could dump Aten to get off him as part of the Dame deal. And Kamara, he didn't have a great shooting night, but he's become the prototypical 3 and D player. A guy who played all 82 for Portland this year. And it's a big reason why the Blazers are now moving on as the 7th seed in the playoffs. On two things. Jeremy Grant hadn't played since March 27th. He'd only played a couple games since March 20th. He'd been out with a calf strain. So he came back and played in this game. And obviously, like you said, had an impact. And Portland is a pretty tough matchup in particular for Phoenix because they've got all these big wings. And you saw that as you guys both just pointed out in this game where between Kamara and Drew Holliday and Denny's a solid defender, like they've got a bunch of big long Matisse Thibaults back and playing. They got a bunch of big long physical wing defenders and they could throw them all at these guys. And yeah, like Jalen Green had a lot of points, but it wasn't super efficient as you pointed out, Brian. And Devin Booker just did not have a great game. And that's a credit to all the really good defenders that the Blazers have. Two things I want to point out about the end of the game. One, you mentioned Kamara, you know, elite defensive player. The last play for the Suns when they were down by two was designed for Booker. And Booker drove in and was trying, I think, to generate a foul, although not terribly. But Kamara, who had five fouls, stayed down, didn't bite on the pump fake, played excellent defense on the last play. He forced the kickouts of Jalen Green, which Jalen tried to get fouled, whatever. Then I want to say on the possession where Denny scored to get the lead, the Suns went up a shop blocker on the court in that spot. They're playing small. And, you know, the Suns have spent a lot of assets on getting bigs, you know, getting a shop blocker. And Jordan, not obviously in that spot, didn't feel confident having them. And they traded multiple firsts for Mark Williams. And I mean, I'm not saying that you'd have, you know, Molly Watch in the game there. No, and the Williams played 22 minutes tonight. Igodaro played 23 minutes tonight. Mayuak was DNPCD. You know, he's a project big. I didn't think he would play. And Igodaro wasn't really a rim protector, to be clear. Mark Williams, I mean, Mark Williams is big. I mean, he had three blocks a day. So it's weird to say this, but he's not a great defensive player. Like he's an offensive big. Like that's who he is. Denny looked at the alignment out there. I mean, he was going to go anyway, but he looked at the alignment out there. The Suns were super small and he just did. It's part of why it's a tough matchup for Phoenix, the combination of they don't have great rim protection and they've got Portland as all these big wings that they could throw at him. And look, Donovan Klingon had six offensive rebounds. There were a couple huge offensive rebounds he had in the fourth quarter, kicked out to Denny for one three. They came out of Drew Holiday for another one and they just couldn't keep them off the glass. You know, by the way, yeah, that's just the way it goes. Portland also went small down a stretch. Klingon was off the floor. I thought it was a good job coaching by a Tiago splitter. I know that, you know, maybe the guy who owns the team doesn't think that he's worth anything close to market value to coach the team. But he's done a great job this year, man. Yeah. Maybe the Blazers can find a coach at like the NAI level who'll take what they're offering. Well, I just say Portland has, they earned their way into this with some big time wins under pressure down the stretch. And by the way, you know what, I'm getting in the playoffs means. I mean, Chicago gets the pick. It's an AK. He just keeps on helping the bulls out, baby. The benefits will keep coming long after he's gone. I guess the bulls could declare victory on Tuesday night, but I would be very careful about leaving that. I'll say this, I think the Spurs are probably happy that the Suns did not win this game and not that the Suns were going to beat them, but, um, Victrus had a little bit of trouble with the Suns. You know, specifically there was one game before Darren Fox got healthy this year that he had a lot of trouble. As he has a tender rib, I'm not sure they really wanted Dylan Brooks anywhere close. Hey, listen, I, I, so I would, I strongly disagree with that. I, I think Portland's a lot more talented team. They've got a lot more size. I think Portland's size makes a chance. Donovan Klingon ain't built to defend Victor Wimmin. Yeah. I'm not going to get an early foul trouble trying to guard him on the grip. I, I, I'm not talking, I'm not saying Donovan Klingon's going to stop him. He's not going to stop him, but when you talk about physicality, like all the, all that the, the Blazers have are just big physical wing players. And they've got, in Donovan Klingon and Robert Williams, two legit seven footers to have out there all the time. Like I just don't think, I just think Victor's going to get banged around playing against a really physical. Well, I promise you this, I will say that Danny will have to deal with the rim protection. Of course. There will be much different. There's no question about that. Michael Corleone, right? We'll get to the Nike employee store between games three and four, because they ain't going to be no fit. Nobody is happier that it's Blazers first than, than our guy Corleone. That's for sure. And me. By the way, there was a group chat after the pod the other night where McMahon was trying to verify that our two coworkers, Vinny Goodwill and Michael Wright, packed as many shoes as he did. And I will just say they do pack a lot of shoes, but neither of them were verified. Corleone packs as many. Vinny, so does Vinny. Vinny, they stepped back. They did not verify that. Listen, nobody, nobody packs as many though, as are they, Ohm, who is back. Yes. Exactly. Ohm, this, I'm dead serious about this. Ohm has not repeated a pair of kicks for a game in three seasons. Three. He's got, he's got a PJ Tucker level shoe collection. It's the same. Two playing games on Wednesday night. Magic at 76ers, which I think Bontems will be at. I will be. And Warriors in LA against the Clippers. McMahon, are you, uh, dainting to go over there or will you just not do that? I gotta get it. I gotta get it. Will you be lazy? No, I've gotta get, I have no time out. I got a 315 AM alarm set for Thursday morning. I will not be at the end of the day. Okay. I respect it. I guess. Uh, anyway, to me, Bontems, this, this, uh, this thing to me is whether the magic can pick up the emotional pieces and just whatever chemistry issues that exist following that really let down up during the entire last part of the season, but certainly on Sunday in Boston where they completely fell apart. And so I know the 76ers are wounded, um, but they are playing at home and the magic have, uh, have not covered themselves in glory. Sixers will have more town on the court than the Boston Celtics did on Sunday when the magic, well, I'm not a hot take, but it's a hell of a point. Yeah, I mean, it, you know, so, I mean, look, it, that was a pretty desolate performance by Orlando. We talked about it on Sunday night. And, uh, yeah, I, this is a gut check moment for, I would say, the entire magic franchise. Like, because the, the Hornets, we'll see what happens with the middle ball, but the Hornets are going to have an extra day of rest. They're going to be on the road, but because of this weird quirk where the Flyers had a game Tuesday night, that's why the 7-8 game in the east was Wednesday instead of Tuesday. Um, so in a weird quirk, the, they're going to be the less rested team, whoever loses this game. And the Hornets are going to be favored on Friday against either team, either with Philly or Philly without Joel and B, Charles is going to be favored to win. And if Orlando loses to Philly without Embiid after losing to Boston, there's no chance Charles is going to be favored to win or hold on. Orlando has dunked it up for a while now. I know, but it's a home single elimination game. Oh, home for Orlando. Wow. That interesting atmosphere. All right. In LA, you know, we have Kauai and Steph. It's a headliner game. I'm going to be honest with you. I don't think either of these teams is ultimately going anywhere. It's very hard for me. What a controversial take. Well, I just like, these 9-10 teams probably aren't going to win the title. I don't, I don't think they will. Right. Well, one of them, one of them's horizon is Oklahoma City, or at least a chance at Oklahoma City. So I would just say that... They're both beat Phoenix though. What's that? They're both beat Phoenix though. They can. Yes, I agree. Yeah. I mean, Kauai is playing really well. I expect Kauai, you know, it's almost a guarantee that, I mean, the guys have been on a, really a tear, one of the best tears of his career for the last two, three months. And the Warriors lost to the Kings on Friday and their dress rehearsal for the playoffs. Well, not only that, but the Warriors are openly, Steve Kerr is openly saying that, you know, there's going to be minutes caps. I don't know about restriction, but there's going to be minutes caps on, on, on Stefan and, and, and Pozingas and like, you know, I get it, but it's a single elimination game. Also, I'm going to whisper here, it might be better for the Warriors to lose. Because they're just... The Warriors lose. Where will they pick? In the lottery. And we'll see. No, no. Where will they pick? Pick 11th. What happened last year? The 11th team. They wouldn't pick 11th. They'll go to the lottery 11. No, but that's what I'm saying. They're in the lottery. They'll be at 11. That's my point. Sorry. They won't pick at 11. Sorry. They'll be in the lottery at 11. Last year, the team that was in the lottery at 11, lost to the play in Dallas Mavericks went up to number one. The Los Angeles Lakers in 2019 jumped up from 11 to number four, helped them get Anthony Davis. Like, yes, it's not a, it's not an awful outcome for an injury-decimated Warrior Steam to lose this game or lose Friday to Phoenix if they don't make the playoffs and give themselves a real shot in this system at getting into the top. Now, having said that, OK, see, those folks, they'll be at the tips of Tiki, just root, root, rootin' for the Warriors. They want to see the Clippers lose. Because why? They'd like a chance at that lottery. They've got that unprotected Clippers pick. They get two lottery picks. And obviously, the Sixers pick is top four protected. Right. So, no chance to move up. But yeah. But could have two lottery picks. I just want to say that after weeks of trying to hold our nose with the tanking teams, that it is refreshing. And I know that not every play-in game will be as good as the first two. And certainly not every playoff game will be. But we are in for two months of routine games like we saw on the opening play-in night. And so, we've got through the worst of times, and hopefully now the best of times. Should be a great postseason with a bunch of storylines. Some new blood. Victor Wimbenyama in the playoffs for the first time. Thunder trying to break the record-long streak of a lack of defending champ in the league. Just a ton of exciting stuff. Should be awesome. This was a great kickoff to it. Well, also, we are in prime. And I mean prime. Wendy, sleep, update, territory. This is what we live for. Says the guy who's bailing on a playoff game to... It's not a playoff game. It's a play-in game. You can't even find it on the internet. Jackson is the one who's going to stay up all night to put this together. So, thank you to Jackson. He's the real hero. Thank you to McMahon and Bontemps. Thank you for listening and watching The Hoop Collective. We'll talk to you later this week. Hey, it's me, Gose. Activate.espn.com. 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