NBA Playoffs -Recap

Haven't been on in a minute but giving my recap of what's going on so far in the playoffs,,, and who can stop OKC?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Oh, yeah, here we go again. Hello, and welcome into Ray on Sports. I am your host, Johnny Ray. In this podcast, we talk all things sports from my own opinion. You may agree or you may disagree, but all I do is ask that you listen. So come on in, buckle up, and let's take this ride. All right, all right. Once again, here we go. Johnny Ray, Ray On Sports, coming to you live from the KJ Ray Studios. Um, this week's episode, I'm doing some new stuff around here. What is that? I hear a phone going off. Oh, I see what it is.

unknown 0:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Um, coming in live from a new studio. We've got some new things going on, got some old things going on. But today we're gonna talk a little bit playoffs, not too much, but a lot, yeah. Because it's been a stressful week, especially for my Lakers. Oh my god. So um NBA playoffs, what's going on? NBA playoffs, what we're going on. So, yeah, um, in the playoffs, you know, the the the seating and the brackets. I haven't been on here for a while, you know, I've been doing some things, taking care of some business, taking care of some personal business, taking care of some other stuff, trying to get my head right. Um, been watching the playoffs, watching the um the brackets. Oh my god, it's been something. So um let's look at the first round. What's the first round? Yeah, okay. So when the first round, and I'm looking at you know some of the recaps because I haven't seen you guys in a while. I haven't talked to you guys in a while. So Philly won the first series against the Boston Celtics, and the reason that happened because Joel M B came back, came back at the end. Um Celtics, which is a true testament to the Celtics, and not a true testament, but actually what they do. They cannot win unless they shoot threes for some reason. I don't know. And they had a stat on how many threes they shoot per game, and that's what helps them win. And the averages are like 50 to 60 threes per game. So the 76ers outplayed them. Um Joel M B was a big part of it. He came back, um, forced the game seven in Boston, and 76ers won that series. You didn't have too much, you got a lot from Tyreeks Maxie, you got a lot from um VJ Edgecomb, Paul George, you know, they all contributed to that win. So the Celtics moved on and knocked out. I mean, the 76ers moved on and knocked off the Celtics. The next series in the first round was the Nick, this is the Eastern Conference I'm looking at. I'm just giving you the um crit a preview because I watched the majority of the games. I tried to watch you know all of them, but I can't. You know, I see what I can, I get insert and insights on come of them. Me being a sports um podcaster that I am, that I love doing. Um sometimes I sit up at night and watch the re highlights and the replays on uh YouTube and ESPN and see you know what happened in different series. Second series that happened over there was the Knicks versus the Hawks. And that series, I thought the Hawks had them. I really did, because the Hawks were up two games and nothing, and the Knicks came back and won us to believe Wolf 4 straight or something like that. But yeah, it was interesting. That series was interesting. I thought the Hawks had enough to take the Knicks out, but the Knicks showed their their matter or their value or their playoff experience against the Hawks because the Hawks is a young team. Only person with them that most experience in the playoffs was CJ McCullum because he's played for the Portland Trail Blackers. And I believe he was in the uh playoffs with them when they had Dame Letter, him and Dame together. You know, he was Dame was um Batman and CJ was Robin. And CJ's been bouncing around the league and he found the home in um Atlanta, and he's been like their leader. So he um, but the Knicks end up winning series four games or two. The last game was 140-89, which was a blowout. And it was crazy because it looked like the Hawks just gave up. I saw that game. I saw the majority of the game. And you know, at one point you see teams just like, you know what, we ain't got it. We can't, it's nothing we can do. We're trying everything we can. And keep that in mind that I said we're trying everything we can, we we ain't got it. Because it's gonna come up in when I talk about the next the uh next round. Next round was the uh Cavs versus the Raptors. Um everybody picked Cleveland and won that series, but uh, Raptors did take it to seven games, and the same thing happened. The playoff experience is a different thing. The playoff basketball is a different monster if you don't know, if you don't understand, playoff basketball is a different monster. It's not the regular season. The regular season, you know, guys play, but then they get to a point where they're like, yeah, let's play hard, but we got another game tomorrow night, or we got a back-to-back. In the playoffs, it's win or go home. And if you don't have that playoff mentality, you don't have that playoff grit, that playoff gusto, whatever you want to call it, if you don't have it, you're not gonna move on. And the Cavs showed that they can win. Plus, they had a monkey on their back that, you know, ever since Donovan Mitchell's been there, I believe, that they said that they've made it to the playoffs, but they haven't done anything. They've been knocked out. I think last year they were knocked out in the conference final by the Indiana Pacers. I believe that was last year, yes. So they constructed this Cleveland team to uh be ready for the playoffs, and that's when they made that big trade to get James Harden from the LA Clippers. So they traded James Harden and Ivacha Zubak, I believe, for Darius Garland and a first-round draft pick, I believe. Yes, because I heard I saw the picture, the draft yesterday. That's coming up too as well. So the Clippers ended up getting a draft pick out of that. And it paid off for the Clippers because now they have a I think they picked number four in this year's draft, I believe. But to get back to what I was saying, Cavs, so they picked, they traded for James Harden and they're using James Harden in moments like this for the playoffs for him to carry move to hump. Because I'm I'm I'm thinking they're saying, well, Donovan can't do it by itself and Darius not doing the job they need him to do. So we need somebody with experience to get in here and help. So they picked up James Harden. And for the first series, I don't think he maybe averaged maybe 20 points a game, maybe 15. I'm not sure. I wasn't really following the series like that, but I know they beat the Raptors. But the Raptors took him to seven games as well. The next series was the Pistons versus the Magic. Now, this one's the same thing, seven-game series. Magic came out there gangbusters and was killing it, killing the Pistons. And everybody starts saying, Oh, what a Pistons. Here we go. Here we go. And see, Pistons is the number one seed. And usually in the playoffs, in the past, when the number one seed goes with the eighth seed, it's usually not a contest. It's usually, you know, it's a sweep. Or it's more than that, it's like maybe four games, four games. I mean, sorry, maybe they'll get one game, the eighth seed will get one game, but the number one seed should get all the games, and that's what it should have been. But Magic came out there with some grit. Heck, got some got some dogs over there, got Ben Carroll over there, got um they got some guys over there. And um they did pretty good, but they took them to, like I said, they took them to get seven games. You got Ben Carroll. Uh, I'm looking at the the lineup real quick. I'm trying to trying to uh pull the box scores up. Okay, yeah. So yeah, they got Jalen Suggs, you got Desmond Bain, they got Wendell Carter Jr., Pablo Bancaro. So those guys, um in game seven, let's see, nobody, you know, Desmond Bain, they brought him over for his playoff experience, you know, they helped get him over that, huh? Jalen Suggs only had six points, paid 36 minutes, only had six points, shot two for nine from the field and zero from four from three point. So that won't get it done in the in the playoffs. And also, but the thing about it was uh what's his name? Wagner. Vaughn Hans, I'm gonna say Hans. I don't think I know it's not Hans. Wagner. Wagner didn't play. I think he got hurt. So he really didn't play. And that was a big hit for them because I believe he was the one that helped them, you know, get to where they were. And if he would have stayed in, I think Detroit would have got swept. But when he got hurt, um the whole series changed once he got hurt. So they were trying to, you know, they were trying to do the best because they put Jared Kane in there to take his spot, but he only had five points in 24 minutes. Power Bukara played uh 42 minutes, had 38 points, 14 from 25 from the field, and four from seven from three, uh along with nine rebounds and six assists. So it was, like I said, it was a good game seven. But the Pistons did, you know, they pulled it out. They pulled it out, yeah. So yeah, it was good. But like I said, uh the Orlando took game one, and then you know, Detroit came back in game two, but Orlando took two games in a row, three and four. So everybody's like, oh, it's three games and one. Orlando might win. They were you know down the pistons, but Pistons came back and won five, six, and seven. So that was good. That's good for the Pistons. Um, but it's also it's good, but it's also bad because that's showing me that you can't take out a number eight seed, and you shouldn't be able to take out that number eight seed. So that was that. Um in the West, oh my lord. So in the Western conference, after we got the Eastern Conference, Western Conference, Spurs took out Trailblazers, which was Trailblazers were okay, but Spurs were just too much. When Banama was too much, so San Antonio ended up beating them four games to one. The big thing for me was the Timberwolves took out the Nuggets without Anthony Edwards. If Anthony Edwards got hurt in game five, I want to say, or game four, game three or four, and the Nuggets end up, and the Timberwolves ended up winning the entire series, yeah. So the Nuggets took game one, but then the Timberwolves came back and took three games in a row. They took game two, three, and four. And I think Anthony Edwards got hurt in game four. So he wasn't there for game five, and he came back for game six, and they beat him in game six. So the Nuggets might have some rebuilding to do. They had Jokic, the MVP of the league, missed a triple-double, they had Jamal Murray, but for some reason they couldn't get over the hump. Um, I think uh God, what's his name? I'll think of his name, didn't play for them. He was out uh for the game as well. Uh Aaron Gordon. Aaron Gordon didn't play in game six, so he was hurting. And it was good because um Rudy Garbera uh guarded Jokic. So that was good for him. And that that that was that was cool. So we don't know what's going on. And yeah, so that's what's going on with that series. Uh um, as I'm talking right now, I just got an alert from Shamsaran, ESPN, and NBA Insider says the Milwaukee Bucks are open for business on trade calls and offers for a two-time MVP Giannis Antecupo, entering the NBA combine over six weeks away from the draft sources told ESPN. That's huge. That is huge. But here's the thing a lot of teams are gonna ask for him, but I'm sure Milwaukee is gonna ask a lot back from a lot of teams on Giannis. That's huge. That's you, if you don't know, that's huge. But I think what it is, in my personal opinion, is that Giannis is tired. He's tired of being there, they're not doing anything. Uh management is not getting the people he needs. And here's a I think I've talked about this before in one of my podcasts, where you got to have a winning attitude as a as a whole, whole team, not just the players, excuse me, not as just players, coaches, but also your front office has to have a winning attitude. And sometimes the front office doesn't have that winning attitude, they just have that attitude of looking at their book and saying, well, we need to save some money here, we need to do this, we need to do that. And they think of other things besides winning, they don't understand. Winning brings money. When it brings revenue, I'm sorry, not money, revenue, profit, players, when you win. But when you start, when you when teams and when people, when players see and coaches see that you're not having a winning attitude, they don't want to come there. And they say, well, it's Milwaukee, it's a small market. It's not just that. Because um OKC did it. OKC's got a got a championship to show for it and might be having another second championship to show for it. It's what the owner wants to do to win, and what kind of you know, what attitude they have about winning. Ownership in OKC has an attitude that we're gonna win. And so they went out and did what they had to do to get people to win, and they have the right group. And that's you know, I'm getting to that. Lord, it's hard to talk about that because they play on my Lakers, but um, that's what winning attitude is. So Milwaukee, I don't know. Well, we'll keep tracks on that story. I'm sure, like I said, I'm sure Milwaukee, I'm sure it's gonna be on ESPN and Fox Sports and all these other and ESPN radio and everybody else gonna have their own opinion about you know what to do with it, with Giannis and who can afford them and who wants them and who wants to trade for him. I'm sure people keep saying that the Lakers are maybe one of the people in it, but I'm sure Milwaukee's gonna want a lot. Like if the if the Lakers got in talks with them about Giannis, they would probably want Austin Reeves, Rui Hachimura, um, and a draft pick or something, a first-round draft pick. They're gonna want something back. They're not just gonna give them up for nothing, unless they just, you know, that's silly enough, unless they're Dallas. And you know what I'm talking about about Dallas, about Dallas giving up Luca for Anthony Edwards. I mean for Anthony Davis, I'm sorry, Anthony Davis and uh um Max Christie. I mean draft pick, and it didn't really pan out for them because Anthony Davis is no longer there. But that's what Milwaukee's gonna do. They're gonna ask for a lot for Giannis. Because Giannis is a um once a lifetime talent. So they're gonna ask for a lot for him. I'm sorry, I'm looking around because I keep hearing noises and it's freaking me out. But I know what it is. Um, so that's what they're um that's what they're gonna want. So anyway, back to the playoffs. So, like I said, um Minnesota beat Denver in the first round. And then now we're on to the second round. I think that's all the teams I had yet. Oh, and then then I'm sorry, then my Lakers, they did, they beat the Houston Rockets, and they did it the majority of the time. They they did it without Austin Reeves, and they did it without Luca Doncic because Luca is not scheduled to come back at all. I don't think he's coming back at all. And that'll lead me to the second round who the Lakers play in the second round. But in the first round, they had the Houston Rockets, and nobody picked the Lakers to win that series. They picked, they said, Oh, the Rockets are younger, the Rockets are more defensive-minded, the Lakers don't have Austin, they don't have Luca, they only got LeBron and some role players, and they might they're not gonna get out of the first round. And Houston has um um what's his name? Kevin Durant. And he said that's who's gonna get out the first round. But that didn't happen. Lakers played well, they played defense, they actually played better defense on KD because KD has a young team. He's another team, another uh team with um Houston's an I'm sorry, Houston is another team with a superstar and a bunch of role players. They're gonna be stars one day, but right now they don't have that playoff mentality. So KD has that playoff mentality. He knew what it took. And so the Lakers knew that. So they crowded KD and made made somebody else beat him. And it worked for a couple of games, but the Lakers ended up blowing him out the last game. They beat him 98-78 in the final game. And uh Austin came back, played a decent game, but he wasn't Austin Reeves to Austin Reeves, we know he only had 15 points in that last game. Uh LeBron had 28 points, seven rebounds, eight assists. Ruihatchamora is the one that's been killing it in the postseason. Um, from his mid-range to his his um three-point percentage. I think he's like at 53% from three-pointers in the playoffs. He's killing it. But DeAndre Aiden ain't showing up. And Marcus Martin is being a defensive-minded player that he should be. But nobody else on the Lakers is stepping up. Luke Kennard had one good game, but the last game, I don't think they really need him because they they blew him out of the water. But Luke Connard stepped up. So that was that for the first round. So after the first round, you had um the Knicks against so going to the second round, the Knicks, look what's the 76ers, the Pistons and the Cavs, Timberwolves and the Spurs, and the Thunder and the Lakers. So let's go with the I don't. I'm trying to keep the Lakers to the last. But Knicks, um, just just yesterday, the Knicks beat the 76ers. I mean, sorry, not yesterday, Saturday. No, it was yesterday. Yes, the game was yesterday. Knicks took out the 76ers. Knicks swept that series four four games and none. Um, 76ers, everybody picked the Knicks to win this series. They said, yeah, even if Joel comes back, they think the Knicks should have should beat him because they had um more, you know, not better players, but more gritty players than the 76ers have. So they and even with Joel coming back, it didn't make a difference. They still beat him. The Pistons and the Cavs series. Um, Detroit is up on that series two games to one. I think Cavs had a chance to win that second game and blew it. So they haven't game three as tonight, actually. And tonight, today is on for those when I'm saying tonight, today is Monday, May 11th, um about 9 48 a.m. right now. I'm looking at my clock. Um, so that game is tonight at five o'clock. Um, the next series is Tim Boys and the Spurs. And that series is tied up because uh Victor Weminyama got kicked out of the game last night. I saw that alert and says, I think I saw that alert earlier. I was at church and I got an alert and saying that uh Victor Weminyama just got kicked out of the game. So I went back and looked at it and he threw an elbow. I mean, he threw an elbow. It wasn't like he was trying to do a clear out where you know, just guys put their elbows out and try to clear himself out to get some space. No, he threw the elbow and clocked um the guy right in his chops. God, what's the guy's name? The names are are are skipping me right now. And I think he might get suspended for the next game. So if he gets suspended for the next game and team rules call up three games or two, it's gonna be hard for Minnesota San Antonio to come back. And San Antonio is another one of those teams. This young team doesn't have playoff experience like that. They're they're getting by, but Minnesota, remember last year, Minnesota went to the conference finals last year. And they played, I think they played uh Dallas. No, it wasn't Dallas, I'm sorry. They played OKC in the conference finals. So Minnesota has that experience. But the Spurs did not have that experience, and Victor, you know, getting getting uh because that's a flagrant. That was a flag, I think it was upgraded to a flagrant too, and that's why I get him kicked out the game. And that can warrant a suspension for game five because it's a flagrant foul. And if they look back at it, they can say, yeah, his suspension is a one game. So he could be out for the next game. So that would be a big blow to the uh Spurs if he does not play. I remember that um the everybody picked the Spurs to win the series two as well, but Minnesota, there's there's some tough boys over there. Anthony Edwards has learned how to, Anthony Edwards has learned how to play better. And what I loved about him was what he said after game, I believe it was game one or game two. And he said, Oh, you guys play well. He said, No, I didn't play good at all. He said I had two turnovers. It was like, it was great to hear a player like that, a young player like that to say, to call itself out and say, you know, I didn't play well. I had two turnovers, you know, in the last couple of quarters, last quarter possessions that we could have sealed the game. You know, I think I think it was game two that no, it was game one that they won because they was they they shocked everybody that winning game one. And he was like, No, I didn't play well at all. I had two turnovers in the last couple of possessions. He said, If it wasn't for me, we would say if it was for me, we would have lost that game. So he took account and um he took you know, he took account of what happened, which is good. You know, I love when players take account of their actions and say, Yeah, I need I need to play better. So now we we'll see what happens. Um we'll we'll see how it goes. We'll see how it goes because we'll we gotta see if if they're gonna um suspend um victor for the next game, and that's gonna be huge. Because if they suspend it for the next game and the series is tied 2-2, we don't know what's gonna happen. And now to the painful, painful, painful, painful series that I didn't want to talk about, but I have to talk about it because it's part of sports, and even though I'm um, you know, um, even though I am that person, I still have to talk about it. So they're talking about the Lakers. The Lakers are down 3-0 to the Thunder. And for two games straight, the Lakers have been leading in halftime, and the Thunders have been kicking into another year on the third and fourth quarter and just blowing the Lakers out the water. And this is one of those ones where LeBron knows, Austin knows. You know, we we talk about the refs because the refs do, you know, game two was really horrible, a horrible officiating game. And everybody's talked about it, everybody on every platform has talked about it. I've talked about it, I've watched the game I watched the game. But here's the thing for me, I'm such a diehard fan that the game, the day the game came on, I couldn't watch it because I was bowling at the same time and I don't want to mess up my bowling game. So it's like, nah, I'm not watching this game. This is too much for me. But it was stressful. And the last game, Saturday game, they played, no, it was Thursday. I'm sorry, when they played Thursday. Was it Thursday or Saturday? One game, but I was game one, no, game one was Tuesday. I remember that. Game one was Tuesday. I didn't want to watch it, and the Lakers lost that game. Game two was was Thursday. Um, I was bowling in, and one of the guys had it on. He asked me, Hey, he's they was watching. I remember this clearly. Bear with me. They had the hockey game on, and the hockey game was over, and the guy came to me and said, Hey, I noticed you're watching the Lakers game. You want them to put that on the big on the screen over here? I said, nah. I said, nah, I'm good. I said, I don't need this yet. I said I saw my phone is turned over because I don't want to see the score. I said, because it's gonna throw me off. It's gonna throw me off my game. So I didn't really watch it. So that's um that's how diehard fan it is. It hurts my soul when they lose. So I didn't want to watch it. So now they're down 3-0. So they lost Saturday against the same thing. Okay, against OKC. They're at home. Lakers are at home. Um, they were up at halftime, 59-57, and then OKC just turned to change to another gear and boom out the water again. And once they start doing, once OKC starts rolling, you can't, they're unstoppable. And I have I came to the realization that the Lakers can't even, I don't know if they can even pull out one game, better let alone try to come back and win the series, because OKC is a different beast. Everybody on their roster, everybody from number from the number one guy to the number 12 guy can come in here and and and take over a game. And that's crazy to hear, but it's true. I mean, wow. It's just, you know, it's it's it's too much. It's it it it it's it's it's crazy. It's crazy that they they um they beat him like that. Like first game they they beat him 108-90, second game 25-107, third game 138, 131, I'm sorry, 131 to 108. And like I said, every game, every single game, somebody from the Thunder just has a game, has a has a has a good game. Ansi Mitchell was the guy in the last game. Two for four from three, ten from seventeen from the field, 24 points in 30 minutes. Shea only had 23 points, he was seven to 20, he wasn't even shooting that well. Three from seven from the field. Chet Homer had 18, Hartenstein had 12, and Lou Dortmund only had 10. But Lou Dortmund was, I think we had four fouls too, so he was like not a real factor. But then Isaiah came in and got 12 points. Kasem Wallace came in and got 16 points. It was just every game was somebody who came in for the OKC, Oklahoma City Thunder, and took the Lakers out. And I don't think the Lakers have an answer yet. The answer was, well, let's let's um let's get rid of um Shay. Let's take Shay out the game. But them taking Shay out the game just means somebody else got off. And the uh Lakers does not have enough firepower on offense. They can play good on defense, but they don't have enough firepower on offense to keep up with them. So we they play good defense all the way up. I say we because that's my team, but I'm trying to be optimistic and try to be on the outside looking in. But we have Lakers have the fire, they don't have the firepower they need because they don't have um Luca. Luca's out with a hamstring injury. No telling when he'd come back. But I think at this point of the series, even if he was able to come back, they wouldn't let him come back because they're down 3-0. Why would you let him come back, you know, try to risk him getting further injured with the hamstring just for one game? Now, if they win this game, and the the coach might think, yeah, let's come back to game six. We might have a chance, but I don't know. It'll see it'll see this. We'll see how this game goes. If the Lakers win this game, I think Luka will come back for game six and try to make a series of it. But then the Lakers would have to win three in a row. Yeah, they'll have to win three in a row. They tie the series up. They'll have to win game four, five, and six, and then make a force a game seven. And with that against the OKC, that's hard to do. So I do have OKC. I have them picked to be uh NBA champions again. I have OKC coming out the west, and I have the Knicks coming out the east. And I think it'll be a good series if it'll be Knicks against the Thunder. I think the Knicks are more physical than any other team that the Thunder has played so far. They played Phoenix. Phoenix is not physical. They Phoenix had one guy, which is um what's the guy? I forgot the guy's name. Anyway, but they only had that one guy who played really good defense on them, and he'd be real physical. Lakers only have like one, two guys in there. We're really physical, Marcus Smart and LeBron. Probably only two physical people in there. Um, DeAndre Aiden is getting pushed around in the paint. Horrible. I don't even think he should come back next year. That's just my personal opinion. I don't know what the contract is, I don't know what he signed for. But if I was the Lakers, I wouldn't bring him back because he didn't show anything. And the last game, I was watching the game and one, I think it was Reggie Miller or I forgot who was calling the game, but it was a possession where OKC got three offensive rebounds in a row, and DeAndre Ayton was in the paint. And the guy said, that's the turning point right there. That changed the game right there. Because if he would have got those offensive rebounds, I think the Lakers only down by five. Because he couldn't get the offensive rebound with the defensive rebound, and the Thunder got it back. They shot, they hit one three, and it went down the court, and then it came back and hit another one. And Aiden wasn't doing anything in the paint. Anything. It was horrible. Horrible. I've never seen that. And he he's the one who was complaining earlier the season about him getting touches in the paint. But if you don't protect the paint, why are you gonna get touches? Just my personal opinion. So well, here's um, I'm looking at um thing from um ESPN. I think this is Corey Adam's saying, can Lakers still beat the Thunder after going down all three? Let's listen to this. Let's check this out real quick. Oh, sorry. A lot of that. Right now there um that's um uh commercial. So why the commercials going on? I'm sorry. Um we'll wait, wait for it to come on. Um get to ads before the thing. I'm sorry, I don't have the unlimited plan where you can stop. We'll see. Well, let's see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Oh, quite no, I am not saying that right about the most four times. Now you come to the playoffs, and now we're always about almost about nine points per game. So the meeting coming into the thing, there was no chance to be respectful. So they have the line and still the four respect, but I did not think the Lakers had a two opportunity five or two.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

So there you go. Nobody has a chance. I and I agree. I'm not I'm not doubting anything he said, I'm not doubting any anything he he brought up, but he's he's right. The Lakers have zero chance to win the series. I've watched the games and I'm watching, and Lakers are putting everything forward. You know, LeBron's doing what he can do. LeBron's being LeBron. He's 41 years old, he's being LeBron, but he's trying his best. Austin's trying to do his best, but that's it. Between LeBron, Austin, and maybe Rui, Hachamara, that's it. Nobody else is doing nothing. Nobody else is stepping up. Like I said, DeAndre Ayton's not stepping up. Marcus Martin's playing defense, playing excellent defense on Shea Giles Alexander, SGA. Um, he's he's limiting him. When he's on the floor with him, he's limiting his his uh percentage, his field goal percentage. But nobody else from the Lakers is stepping up. And they need that fourth person. They got Rui Rui, but then what like it's like the guy with like Quentin Richard was saying, in the third quarter when the Lakers came out sputtering, that's when OKC took over, said, okay, we got him now. And they just start going up and down the court and they don't stop. They don't stop on misses, on makes, they pushing it. They pushing it on misses, they pushing it on makes. So you miss a shot, they're pushing it down the court. You make a shot, they're pushing it down the court. They still they're pushing down the court. One on one possession, I believe somebody shot, I think it was Austin shot a three, and he missed it. And before he even decided what was going on, I think he was complaining to Russell about the shot or something. Caruso was halfway down the court, and when a thunder got the ball, they just shot it to Caruso. And Caruso made a layup. And I was just like that. Bam, game just changed. And once you give a team, a young team like that, that kind of confidence, they feel like they can beat anybody. So right now, OKC is is playing on adrenaline and confidence and and and I will have to say arrogance because they can believe they can beat anybody at any time. And I don't doubt it. I do not doubt it because they are they are that team. They got a great leader at SGA. He's got a great um team around him. They play hard, they play rough, they play tight, and you gotta come with it 48 minutes, or you're gonna get blown out the water. And that's what they've been doing. So the Lakers have been blowing them out the water. So we'll see what happens. But for right now, this is Johnny Ray for Ray Owned Sports coming to you live from the KJ Ray Studios. Appreciate you guys listening. Thank you guys for listening. Thank you guys for tuning in. Um until next time, take care and God bless.