Hour 2: Are the Knicks on Upset Alert?

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The Raptors clinched the five seed in the East with a 25 point win over the Nets. This is their first playoff appearance since 2022. The Raptors will take on the Cavaliers. The Hawks are the sixth seed. They'll play the Knicks in the first round. Familiar matchup in the playoffs. Most recently the Hawks completed a gentleman's sweep four to one in their last meeting in the 2021 first round of the playoffs. And so we focus in on that one a little bit. Knicks and Hawks recently played that game had to go to overtime. The Knicks did come away victorious but these two neck and neck the Knicks are they on upset alert against the Hawks here in the first round of the playoffs. Stephen A. They could be but I'm not going to pick that. I mean listen I'm a New York Knick fan. It's the playoffs and I'll be damned if I think we're going to go down at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks. It better not happen. I'm just going to say that it better not happen. It bet it better not happen. I'm going to say that right now. Okay. The Atlanta Hawks are an up and coming team. No disrespect or shade whatsoever to Trey Young but they look a lot better without them. Obviously they placed it in the hands of Josh Johnson who's a you know a virgin star in this league. The brother can play and I got that part. You see some of the talent that they have on their squad. You can't ignore it. I get it. They've got size. They've got athleticism and most importantly they have absolutely positively nothing to lose. Plus they've been formidable this since the All-Star break as well so we can't ignore all of that. But the New York Knicks who've been in Game 7 of the conference semifinals two years ago. Game 6 of the conference finals last year predicted to be in the finals this year. Listen, we understand if Detroit shall lacks you. We understand if Boston gets the better of you and in Avengers what happened to them last year. But you talk about an epic failure. It would be if the New York Knicks lost to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the playoffs. You cannot go home for the season because the Atlanta Hawks sent you there. After the job Tom Thibodeau did, we might brown now in as the head coach. We might not like it but damn we can kind of understand if you end up falling to a Boston, a Detroit who obviously wants vengeance themselves and is beating the hell out of Knicks this year or even to a lesser degree Cleveland who suspect defensively but offensively they're prolific. We can somewhat understand it. Nobody wants to hear nor see that the New York Knicks were sent home in the first round by the Atlanta Hawks. If that happens I believe heads are going to roll. I believe trades are going to take place and I believe I wouldn't put it past James Dolan to make a change with the head coaching spot. I'm not saying that Mike Brown deserves that. I like Mike Brown and I know he can coach. I'm saying you can't lose to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round. Oh hell no. That cannot happen. That happens I think heads are going to roll and they should. No way in hell that should happen and I don't believe it will. Stephen A. I have to uncomfortably report that the Knicks have drawn the toughest pathway in the Eastern Conference. The way this all fell it just didn't fall in their way. They could have had the Raptors who a team who they have crushed. They played the Raptors five times this year because of the play in or the end season tournament. They beat them by 108 points in those five games. They just played them on Friday. All the players play the Knicks one by 17. That would have been a much more comfortable first round opponent than the Hawks. Then it's the Celtics and look the Knicks were three and one against the Celtics. They can look you square in the eye and tell you that they can beat them. They beat them in the playoffs last year but that is a harder draw than Detroit even though I know Detroit has dominated them in the regular season. It would just be it's a tougher mountain decline. Atlanta is a formidable team. They are better than the six seed because they were really like an 11 seed for the first two months of the season and since then they've played like a top four seed. So they're sort of masquerading as a six. That makes it a little tougher. They have some perimeter size Shea. Dyson Daniels has some size which is what you want against Jalen Brunson. He was just 11 of 26 on Friday. But overall he's you know Jalen Brunson is a is a is a load to stop in the postseason. But you know they do have perimeter size that will be a good matchup. I think this is probably headed for a six ish game series and as long as the Knicks don't give a game away I think that I would say about the Knicks and six but it's not going to be a simple series and frankly a three six matchup shouldn't be a simple series. So I favor the Knicks but they have to be on point from moment one in this series. They can't let a game slip through their fingers. We sometimes see higher seeds let game one or two slip through. It's not that big of a deal. The Knicks can't afford to kick a game. If they make a mistake and hand the Hawks a game they'll be in big trouble in this series. Let me say this to you. I said Josh Johnson. I met Jalen Johnson my bad brother can play. I like his game. I can't say enough about Alexander Walker coming over from Minnesota and the job that he has done. I think he's been a welcome addition to their squad. Deserves a lot of credit. Good kid. Think Shade Gilgis is his cousin if I remember correctly. I mean the bottom line is that I got a lot of I like what I'm seeing from them. You see experience like the McCullums of the World and others. You like what you're seeing. I get all of that. I don't give a damn. You're the New York Knicks. You had championship expectations. They can't go down the toilet via a first round loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Okay. It cannot happen. If that happens heads are going to roll. I mean a couple of cats expect to be traded. Head coach Mike Brown. There might be a conversation. Say what? What'd you say? I think you're right. And I honestly I think that they don't get to the conference finals. That could be the case. Yeah. But it's certainly going to be the case if they don't get out of the first round. Shade, I'm going to emphasize it one more time. Albeit redundantly. You cannot get sent home by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round where you walked into the season with championship aspirations. If they were facing Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum and somehow some way this was a first round series, as bad as that would be, it would also be understandable. It's the Boston Celtics. It's Jason Tatum. It's Jaylen Brown. Makes perfect sense. You understand Cleveland, you got Hardin and Donovan Mitchell and Mobley and Allen and those boys. Detroit up and coming number one seed throughout the year. Bone rush three times. We got it. The Atlanta Hawks. The Atlanta good team. Nice young talent. So Smith, you cannot be sent home by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round. If that happens, expect trades in the off season and expect a new head coach to be coaching New York Knicks next season. Ooh, okay. Yes, I agree. Technically, the Knicks seem to be more deep. They seem to be better defensively. However, you never know when it comes to the Atlanta Hawks. They are 29 and 15 since January 7th. That's when they traded away Trey Young. That's the seventh best record in that span in the entire NBA. Let's stay in the East now because yesterday the spread between the magic and the Celtics was enormous and yet still the Celtics found a way to win. How bad was the magic lost to the Celtics yesterday? What do you think, Wendy? This was a freaking disaster. This was a freaking disaster. Let me tell you, Stephen, what actually happened in this game. So Boston was sitting its top seven-ish guys, eight-ish guys. So in an honoring of how well he played this year and was full of injuries, Desmond Bain, who was traded for in the preseason, they played him the first six minutes of this game. It was his 82nd start. He started every game. There was less than 20 players in the whole league that played all 82. Only a handful started all 82. McHale Bridges started all 82 for the Knicks. They played him for six minutes. They pulled him out. And that was it. That was supposed to be it. He didn't play the rest of the first half. Didn't start the second half. The magic just believed they were going to win this game. And they actually could have gotten into the playoffs, into the sixth seed. It wasn't likely to happen, but technically it was on the table. They could have gotten as high as the sixth seed. And if they win this game against the Celtics who are on one knee here, they at least get home court in the play-in. And then the Celtics showed why they have become the favorite in the Eastern Conference. Because throughout this season, Joe Missoula has put responsibility onto role players and held them accountable. And they have accepted that accountability and played like they had big roles. And that's what happened in this game. Their role players, Luca Garza, Ron Harper Jr., Baylor Scheierman, who is going to have a significant role for the Celtics in the playoffs, Garza started playing and started hitting threes. Garza was incredible in this game. And they brought the magic to their knees, Scheierman, to the point where they had to call Jalen Suggs back into the game in the fourth quarter. And they, after the game, had some explanation that maybe this is always going to happen. No way. There's no way they thought he was ever going to have to play. Their game plan reflected it. Their mindset reflected it. And look, they ended up coming back on and in Boston at the end of the game. Joe Missoula is in like a, he's like a football player on the sidelines. Even like in a three point stance. He's chewing glass over there, coaching every second. And you got to respect the way the Celtics approached the season. The TD Garden crowd, they probably were really bummed that they weren't going to have a full game. And then they get this and they're on their feet, down the stretch, rooting for their team. It was exactly why the Celtics are where they're at and exactly why the magic are where they're at. And it was a huge disembarrassment for Orlando to have it go down this way. Yeah, absolutely right. I watched the entire second half of this game. I was going back and forth between that and that. I'm sitting there watching this man and I'm going like this, what the hell is going on here? How in the hell are you losing this game if you're the Orlando Magic when you consider you know that Boston sat damn near everybody. You know, you're supposed, I mean, Paulo Ben Kiro, I mean, I'm a huge fan of his. Love this guy. But I'm like this, could you get him some help? You know, our sore sucks hit a big time three point in late in the game, but the point is this. You're looking at the Orlando Magic. By the way, a team that was riding a five game win streak and remember this shade and Wendy biggest reason for it is their performances in the third quarter. In the third quarter, you're shooting like 55% from the field. You're averaging over 34 points over the five game stretch. You're doing your thing. And what happens yesterday? Yesterday in Boston, they get outscored in the third quarter coming out of the locker room at halftime. They get outscored 42 to 20, 42 to 20. Now you have an opportunity to avoid being an eighth seed and potentially avoid it being a plan. And this is what you do. So it just reminded you why we've been talking about Detroit and why we've been talking about Cleveland. We've been talking about Boston and New York and to a lesser degree, even Atlanta, but barely a peep has been mentioned about the Orlando Magic. Why? Because of performances like yesterday. Just when you've got a shred of belief in them, just a speck of belief in them, something like that happens. It was an inexcusable loss without question. And I like the coach. I like Mosley and what have you, but yesterday was not their finest day. And then you're talking after the game about how, you know what? They hit some tough shots and we've got to clean up our communication and pick and roll coverages. Who the hell wants to hear that in game 82 of the regular season? We got to pick up our communication and pick and roll situations. Wendy, how you feel about hearing that on the final game of the regular season? This is a December. This is April. What the hell are you talking about? We got to pick up our communication. That stuff was supposed to be worked out months ago. So I'm like, this is not good. It's not good at all. And I don't know. Listen, right now, looking at the Orlando Magic, chances are they might not even make the playoffs. Chances are, I mean, they could be Philadelphia, but I've seen Joel and B average 35 in a series against the Knicks on one leg. We know what Paul George can do if he gets going. We know what Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecomb can do. I mean, yo, I'm just looking at the team overall, no matter who plays for Philadelphia, because you never know what the infirmary they are. I don't even know who's going to be available for them. But the point is, damn, you find yourself looking at the Orlando Magic and asking yourself, when the hell are y'all going to get over the hump? Especially when you sent all of those picks to Memphis to get Desmond Bain, you were supposed to be better than this as a team. And it's just disappointing. Meanwhile, Joe Mozula has led the Celtics now to a top two finish in each of his first four seasons as the head coach of Boston, which is pretty remarkable. Coming up here on first take, are the Thunder or Celtics speaking of more likely not to get to the NBA finals? Someone here has to take that you obviously don't want to miss. Unless it is WrestleMania week here on first take. And look who's in the building. Joe Tessator. He's going to break down everything we need to know. He's running away from me. He runs away from all of us. I come in here for one day and the guys know where to be found. That's right. We don't know where he is. Come on, Joe. Just saw me last week. At EDF, we don't just encourage you to use less electricity. We actually reward you for it. That's why when you use less during peak times on weekdays, we give you free electricity on Sundays. How you use it is up to you. EDF. Change is in our power. Households to ship weekday peak usage by 40% for earn up to 16 hours of free electricity per week subject to fair usage care for all two seasons. Visit edfenergy.com forward slash high high power. Are your ad campaigns lighting up the dashboard? But not the pipeline. That's bull spend. And marketers are calling it out in dashboard confessions. My boss asked for results. So we opened my dashboard for the only positive sounding metric I had. Impressions. Cut the bull spend. See revenue, not just reach. LinkedIn delivers the highest return on ad spend of major ad networks. Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend £200 on your first campaign and get a £200 credit. Visit LinkedIn.com slash lead. Terms and conditions apply. Welcome to Russell Mania. The world is watching and peaceful fighting. And Russell Mania is going to be the best day of my life because in the main event, you will acknowledge me. Your body is built for show. While mine is built for fighting. The business that you're leading is terrible and he is going to save the business. Now, here's the big thing though. Shays first, wrestle Mania. This is true. This is true. I'm learning the ropes here with the wrestle Mania land. But I'm getting caught up quick, Stephen A. You know that. So Joe, let's catch everyone else up. Preview for us, please. The two main events. Well, two main events. Listen, championship level stuff. You got pure good old fashioned hate. You know about that, Stephen A. with C and punk against Roman Reigns. I mean, this is true hate. But this is legacy stuff. This rivalry has been going on for about 10, 15 years and we've been watching the build for this, which is punch after punch. It's going to define each man's legacy at the top with the heavyweight world championship. Then the other one is the undisputed championship with QB one, Cody Rhodes against Randy Orton. But in the last two weeks, our colleague, Pat McAfee has inserted himself here. And what he's done is he has put fuel on a fire that has enraged the industry. He has taken a blowtorch and a steamroller onto the WWE, onto Cody Rhodes. Fans the other night were sitting back when we were out in California live on air chanting go home Pat. There are different levels of heat in the business of how much there is a negative reaction from fans and sports entertainment. There's cheap heat. You get that. You get some heel heat. You get go away. Then there is nuclear heat where they truly despise you and don't want to see you there because of what you're doing. Pat has reached that level in two weeks and Steve and I, it's going to play a big role in Vegas. I love it. I love it. And I want to applaud Pat McAfee for that because let me tell you something. They would talk. Listen, I go back to the old days, the Bobby, the brain, he needs it. Oh yeah. People like that. I love, I love cast of the heels. Okay. The difference between, and I actually wanted to do that. You know what your man, Nick Khan talked to me about that. See the difference is I'm not as courageous as Pat McAfee. I ain't trying to get hit by one of them big boys at all. I don't want no parts of it, but I love that stuff because I think the sport needs it. Let's go back to CM Punk. All right, Roman Reigns. When we talk about this rivalry, when you look at the history of the WWE, where does a rivalry like that rank in your estimation, sir? Oh, it's very high up there, Stephen A. I mean, these two guys obviously have been at the top of the industry for so many years and there's really bad blood there because CM Punk considers himself a self-made guy, a man of the people, a guy who's part of that indie scene and the pure hardcore wrestling scene. And he frames Roman Reigns as a guy that management made, as a guy who gets to pick and choose his spots and be a little bit of a privileged part timer. So they don't like each other. As I like to say, it's WWE's version of goal fashion hate, Stephen A. Yeah. Here on First Take, Joe, as you might know, we're big fan of lists, okay? Yeah. Who doesn't like a list? Well, who doesn't like a list? So, the floor is yours. Let's do a list of your favorite breakout stars that could have a breakout moment maybe at WrestleMania. Here's the good news about the WWE and where it is because we're talking about some of the older stars. The younger generation is about to take over and have this ride of their ascent, rocket ride of their careers on ESPN. So let's give you the rising stars who you need to know and we will start with number five. And it's a guy who really is young, but he's already a superstar and that is Dominic Mysterio with the bad stash, the bad mullet, the legacy. He's going up against Finn Balor. Number four, I'm going to put Lash Legend. Number four, the former SEC Hoopster WNBA player who's been on the main roster now for just a short time. She's already a tag team champion. Number three, only 21 years old. He's bouncy. He's a high flyer as Javon Evans. Number two, whoop that trick. Tricky two times. Trick Daddy. Trick Willie. Trick Williams. Former SEC football player. Dynamic. He's fighting for the US championship and the rising star of stars and you will find out this weekend is Oba Femi. Oba Femi. I'm, Steven A. Look at this guy willing to step to Brock Lesnar. Who in their right mind is willing to step to Brock Lesnar and take it to him? Oba Femi fears no man. I understand that, but I'm trying to figure out how are you putting him ahead of Trick Williams. I mean, explain the two. I will tell you this. I love both guys, but this weekend with the spot that Oba Femi's in, he has the opportunity to be the breakout star of WrestleMania because of who he's up against. He's up against Brock Lesnar in the last 20 years. Can he do it first, Joe? This is the way he's going about that first. What if he goes out there and Brock Lesnar handles it and has been to take care of him? I mean, come on, I'm like, could you at least wait until he gets the better of Brock Lesnar in order to give him that title as the number one rising star? I got to go with Trick Williams, man. I'm like, wait a minute. Let's see what he does first. We will see what happens. Six o'clock on Sunday, very first match will be Oba against Brock, Stephen A. Okay, so we're going to set the stage. I'll be there. I will be there. I will be there. We're going to have Trick Williams on on Friday, too, who actually called the upset in women's basketball of South Carolina being, you come, we'll have to ask him up for that as well. Okay. He did. Remember that? Before we go, we like lists. We also like making predictions. Matchmaker, Stephen A, the manager for any wrestler. Oh, first of all, it is a sin that Stephen A hasn't come over full time to WWE to be a manager because his Mike skills are unprecedented. This is a generational all time great on the Mike. If Stephen A was a manager, who would I put him with to manage which WWE superstar? Many would actually probably say currently it could be Trick Williams and it would work out really well. I'm going to go in a different direction because with somebody with a Mike skill of Stephen A, somebody who can take over a room, somebody who changes the air in an arena when he steps into it and steps into the ring. I want to put him with somebody who doesn't care about that at all. Somebody who needs a mouth of the South type, a Bobby the Brain heen and somebody like Gunther, somebody who's just a stone cold vicious killing mauler who can have Stephen A do all the lip service and I will put this out there. He's the only man. Stephen A is the old, there's Gunther right there. Can you imagine Stephen A coming down with this vicious killer who ruined John Cena's career? Put it into John Cena. Stephen A is the only guy who can go toe to toe as a manager on the Mike with Paul Heyman. The WWE needs Stephen A Smith as a manager on the Mike. You know what? I think we could start a heel faction. You and me, I'd be your double agent down on the broadcast desk. Be very sinister behind the scenes for you Stephen A. Let's get this done. Let's get this done. Let's go. Hey listen, listen, I wouldn't mind doing it. I wouldn't mind doing it. I love Nikon. I love Triple H the whole crew. I love them all. You know, but I will say to you that fight, it wouldn't be Gunther. I mean, I look at me as somebody with a Roman reign, somebody like that. That's who I would prefer. Boy, personally, you understand. You and Roman reign. Because he talks just enough, but he knows how to be differential in need be and I have to admit that Paul Heyman is the goat of heel managers. He's the goat. You understand? I get it. All right. But I mean, I would have to be on my A game to go up against the great Paul Heyman. I mean, it don't get much better than Paul Heyman. I got to admit that. So I got to say that. Paul Heyman is the greatest manager that sports entertainment has ever had, but I truly believe if you came into our world and held that mic week after week, we would have a clash of the Titans at WrestleMania 43 a year from right now. Stephen A with his guy, Paul Heyman with his guy, may have had it for Sunday night. Let's do that in 27. I like it. I like the sound of that too. We're giving him another microphone. Give me the contract signing next week. Let's do this right here. Hey, 6 p.m. on the ESPN app, both days, Shay. Are you in with the kids? You got to get the little kids in early here. I'll get them involved. Okay. You got two. I think Luther's the one that I think brought us the gift here on first date. He brought us the ax. Yes, he did. Oh, the sledgehammer. I just saw it back in the green room. It's hanging around like the bottle of wine that a guest brings over and you end up putting under the sink. Exactly. That's what we have. So we got to thank you. And he ended John Cena just like he told us he would. He did. But hey, man, I'll see you in Vegas. Are you ready for this? Are you ready for this? You ready for this today? This is Vegas this weekend? All right. Bring it. Excited, Joe. We will see you in Vegas. All weekend. All weekend. Let's go. I'll be there. All right, Joe, we appreciate it. Safe travels. We will see you in Vegas. Coming up here on first take, who is the biggest ax factor in the NBA playoffs? Of course, we have a take that you might not see coming. Also, the Thunder and the Celtics, they're looking to get back into the NBA finals, which team is more likely to do it. We'll tell you. Don't go anywhere. The ESPN app is home to WrestleMania 42. In every WWE premium live event, you want to be there for the biggest moment. You'll need the ESPN unlimited plan to sign up. You can sign up below or you have ESPN from one of these providers. ESPN unlimited is included at no additional cost. Just head to activate.espn.com. Follow the steps to get set up. Then sign into the ESPN app and you're ready. WrestleMania and the biggest WWE premium live event all in one place. Anytime, anywhere. 9-1-1, where is the emergency? It's the middle of the night in a small town on the Jersey shore. Someone reports an abandoned car on a bridge. A search gets underway for the missing driver, 19-year-old Sarah Stern. Is it a missing person? Is it a suicide? At this point, nobody knows. Old friendships, buried cash, and a sinister plot that was once pitched as a movie plays out in real life. I'm Juju Chang from 2020 and ABC Audio. Listen now to Bridge of Lies wherever you get your podcasts. Back to the NBA now. The Thunder are still the favorites to win the NBA finals according to DraftKings Sportsbook. But creeping up behind them are the Spurs and the Celtics have the third best odds to win the finals despite being the favorites to come out of the east. So who is more likely to reach the finals? Is it OKC or is it Boston? This is not a simple answer. And first off, to get to the finals, not win the title, because I think those odds kind of mirrors the way I would sort of forecast it. I think the Celtics potentially have easier, more path. I mean, I don't want to say it's easy for anybody. The Celtics to me are the favorite in the east because how it's tightly packed some of these teams are in the addition of Jason Tatum. And I recognize that the Knicks did beat them three out of four and the Knicks beat them in the playoffs last year. But I think the Celtics are the favorite in the east because of how it's tightly packed some of these teams are in the Knicks beat them in the playoffs last year. However, none of those four games in the regular season came with Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown in the lineup. So I kind of want to push that regular season aside a little bit. I think Victor Webin Yama is going to be a load to deal with over the course of a seven game series. We already saw in the games played in the regular season that the Thunder had difficulty managing just what he could do against them. So I think climbing the Spurs Mountain potentially or Denver either or is a little bit harder for Oklahoma City than what the Celtics are potentially facing. And so I say the Celtics by and most. Wendy's so funny. Wendy's so funny. He just makes things unnecessarily complicated sometimes. It's really this simple, Wendy. Call cautious. Do the Celtics have to go up against Victor Webin Yama or Nicola Jokic in the playoffs? The answer is no unless they get to the finals. So on one hand you have a champion who's a walking triple double who led the league. I mean you're talking about a guy in Jokic that's led the league in rebounding. Okay. That's average to triple double and he's a champion. Okay. Or you get to go against this seven foot five freak of nature who's a five inch taller version of Kevin Durant in some people's eyes. It's one of the two. So obviously the road to the finals is going to be tougher for OKC than it would be for the Boston Celtics. Because if you're the Boston Celtics, you got an inexperienced Detroit Pistons team with their star who's been down, who doesn't have a reliable dependent bona fide consistent number two scorer per se, even though Jalen Durant is something special. Or you got a team in Cleveland that is suspect defensively. And we have to see which James Harden is going to show up come play off time. Or you have a New York next team that appears to be a shell of themselves in terms of toughness and grit compared to what these we saw the last two years. Clearly the answer to this question is the Boston Celtics by a mile because in the West is Victor Wimby Yama and it's the Kola Yoke standing in your way. They're not standing in the way of the Boston Celtics in Eastern Conference. That is a simple answer to this question. I can't believe you both said that considering the fact that we have said all season long it feels like the thunder and everyone else. I'm not saying a disagree. I'm just surprised by the answers coming up. We can't say that. We can't say that shape because we've seen the San Antonio Spurs nipping at O.K.C. Heal even when O.K.C. was winning games left and right and having the best record in basketball for a month. The San Antonio Spurs were right there when the 26 to 28 games. So of course we haven't said that recently when the season started off we were of that mindset. We certainly haven't had that mindset recently. Okay we'll see. We also said the San Antonio Spurs don't have the experience and that the thunder haven't been fully healthy for a long time. But yes playoffs are a different ball game. We'll see what happens. There was so much talk about tanking though during the NBA this season since it's over now we have time to reflect. Did it put a stain on it? Wendy is something that he feels like he absolutely needs to say. Plus the stars will be out for the NBA playoffs. Who will prove to be the biggest X factor when the playoffs arrive? Shocking answers on the way. Watch me. Watch me win. Game starts now and I'm rolling. The 30th annual WNBA draft is tonight on ESPN and the ESPN app. The Dallas Wings have the first pick followed by the Lynx, Storm, Mystics and Sky. The expansion Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire have the sixth and seventh picks. Our coverage begins with the WNBA countdown crew at 630 Eastern, 330 Pacific. It was a historical NBA season but not in the way you may think. Eight teams finished with 55 or more losses this season. It was the first time in NBA history that that has ever happened. We've had many discussions on this show about tanking and the effects that it's had on the game and in the NBA. Do you think now, since the regular season is over, that tanking stained the regular season? Stephen A. what do you think? Of course it has. There's no way around this. If you listen to people around the league, I ran into a couple of executives yesterday while I'm out here in California. People of whore, the NBA regular season. Thank God the playoffs have arrived. They don't expect what they've seen during the regular season to happen during the playoffs. There's no doubt about it. But clearly it was very, very flagrant this year and it almost seemed intentional from the standpoint that you've been hearing noise about how Adam Silver in the league office has to come up with a way to eradicate back to backs. Somehow, some way you're going to have to find a way to eliminate that because that's a profound excuse used to justify some tanking situations. A lot of people's eyes, the load management, the unavailability and stuff like that, tanking is obviously a different issue. But you've got about nine or 10 teams that are unapologetic in doing what they're doing and they don't give a damn what the league says. They don't give a damn how it's viewed upon by the NBA fan base. And then when you take into account that you're fresh off of signing an 11 year, 77 billion dollar deal, you have people who love the game of basketball but feel not just insulted but betrayed by what they've seen transpiring with the NBA product. Defense has been a problem. You've got a situation, Wendy, where you've got some people looking at teams and they're not even trying. They're flagrant and throwing games and what have you. And then on top of it all, and I can't speak for everybody else. Charles Barkley alluded to this. I'm going to support him 1000%. I cover the NBA. I've covered the NBA all of these years. I don't have to cover it as intimately as I once did. Wendy and others are doing that for me and God bless you because I certainly spent my time doing it throughout these years, Wendy. But I got to tell you, you got people looking at the NBA in the new league package. Half the time people don't know where to find the damn games. Is it on Prime? Is it on ESPN? Where the hell is the game? This is the kind of stuff you're hearing people say. And then a lot of times people are not going to make that extra effort because there's a lot of distractions. There's a lot of things going on where in a nanosecond your distraction can be veered away from what you were initially interested in and what have you. All of these things are not serving the game well and they're going to have to figure out a way to fix it. I know that Adam Silver is on the case along with the league office. I know they're trying to address it. I believe they will need strong assistance from ownership in order to alleviate these concerns. But there is no question that even the subject of tanking and the inordinate amount of times and avenues we've spent using talking about it certainly has not helped the NBA product and how the NBA product is looked upon by the viewing public. There is no way around it. It has been frowned upon this year. And I think the popularity of the sport in terms of how people speak about it, maybe the numbers may or may not indicate it to a strong degree. But the manner in which people have spoken about the NBA product, I think it has changed drastically over the last two or three years. Compared to how they're talking about it now compared to how they were talking about it a few years ago. It is not good. It is going in the wrong direction. So Shay, has the tanking stained the NBA regular season without question? This regular season was unlike any season I've ever been a part of over 20 years. Has it stained the entire NBA season? I don't think it will because ultimately the playoffs are restorative. And when you look back on great NBA seasons, yes, occasionally you may remember the Warriors winning 73 or Kobe's last year where that was a coronation for months. But generally the NBA seasoners are defined by the playoffs and the playoffs are very long. They're two plus months long. We have a lot of tremendous basketball with a lot of tremendous players and there's a lot of interest between not a lot of things to attract the eye, not only at the top but even in the middle at the bottom. Like for example, the Charlotte Hornets are playing one of their most impactful games they have in years when they host a play in game. I promise you in Charlotte, for example, the basketball hasn't been alive like this in a decade. So in individual markets you're going to see different things. But of course here's the bottom line when you talk about the tanking. If you continue to tell your fans that the regular season doesn't matter, they will continue to believe you. And the NBA's actions have continued to tell the fans that that is the case. First with the load management and now with the tanking. And really it's a multi- from a big, big 50,000 feet view. There's really a two-pronged problem as I see it. One is that science has come into the game so heavily. And I'm not just talking about sports science but the analytics of a team situation that it really does matter. It really does make more sense from a strategic standpoint to shut down for a season or two because that's the best pathway to get a star player. It's completely unattractive night in and night out. But if you looked at it from a total analytical perspective, there's reasons why. Secondly, sports science where they have predictive injuries where they say, listen, this guy has played too many minutes, run up the court too many times. And so we're going to try to predict injuries with all of these electronics and tracking. And so science in a way has worsened the NBA product. Not that it's bad for the humans, not that it's bad for the teams, but the science, how the league has gotten smarter has led to a nightly dilution. The second big thing, Shay, is that the money keeps going up. And in so many walks of society, you look at the return and the money as what you go to. That's what you're incentive is. You lean towards where the money is. And because of the nature of cable and streaming, the NBA is sitting in an environment where they're awash in cash. Not only are they awash in cash from the media partners, but you've got people across the planet trying to buy teams and the teams are coming up. So you look at science and the cash pouring in, you say, what's the problem? The problem is what's happening night in and night out. And ultimately, this is a complex situation that Adam Silver and the owners are trying to figure out. Last night, the Raptors and the Nets played each other and the spread was 23 and a half points. And the Raptors covered and beat the Nets by 35 points. I understand it was the last day of the regular season, but who wants to watch that? And this is the largest spread in Raptors history. It's happened four other times this year. It's just not a good product. It's hard to buckle up and watch an entire game when it's based like that. I'm not going to say it's not a good product. It's not a good, consistent product. Night in, night out, you don't know what the hell to expect. And I will say this, and I will say this last point. The only noise, no matter what, the only noise that's going to really reverberate is if ultimately you look into those stands and you don't see customers in those seats, they'll pay attention then. I can assure you that. Yeah, it's true. Something's got to be fixed. You can't have spreads that large and things just being completely out of hand in the second half for people to stay for the entire game. Okay, but the good news is we have the playoffs starting and we're not going to have this issue, hopefully. We are on the verge of the NBA playoffs starting. Which star will showcase themselves as the X-Factor? Last takes here on First Take are on the way next. Next. Pickleball Slam 4 is Wednesday night in Hollywood, Florida featuring Andre Agassi, James Blake, Jeannie Bouchard and the PPA Tour Number One, Annalie Waters. Coverage begins at 7 Eastern for Pacific on ESPN and the ESPN app. NBA playoffs get underway later this week. We've got the play-in coming up tomorrow night. It'll start. So who's going to be the biggest X-Factor in these NBA playoffs? Stephen A., what do you think? You're talking about amongst the people in the play-in? No, you can play-off. What are we talking about here? Let's go play-offs. Let's go play-off. I think Wimby's going to be obviously, that's an obvious call there. If he continues to look the way he looked throughout the regular season in a best-of-seven series where you get an opportunity to prepare for him and try to figure him out, and somehow, some way you get to stop him from being as extraordinary as he has been, he's going to be effective no matter what. But if he's as dominant as he has been and shows no tailing off, my lord, this could be a problem for everybody. Yeah, I think he's absolutely right. It seems the way that everything looks now that Victor Wimbynjama is going to take over this league. The question is, is he going to take over it now, or are the Thunder, or the Celtics, or the Nuggets going to be able to hold off that impending wave of that incredible, incredible player? Looking forward to the playoffs. Obviously, eyes will be on Wimby later on this week. Again, the play-in starts tomorrow night. We're excited for that. Wendy, have a great rest of your Monday. Steven A., we will catch you later. Goodbye, everybody. See you tomorrow. Same place, same time.