STOP BLAMING JOKIĆ?! Murray Takes Heat, Pistons BULLY Orlando & Lakers in Trouble!

This episode gets REAL about what’s actually happening in the playoffs. No narratives, just real hoops.

We’re breaking down:
 Why Jamal Murray deserves more blame than Nikola Jokić
 How the Pistons bullied the Magic and took control
 Why the Lakers can’t win if LeBron keeps turning the ball over
 What EVERY team must fix right now to advance

This is playoff basketball. Adjust or go home.

Drop your takes in the comments. Who are you blaming? Who’s actually built to advance?

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#ScorersSociety #RealHooperShow #NBAPlayoffs #JamalMurray #NikolaJokic #LeBron #Lakers #Pistons #Magic #NBATalk #BasketballIQ #PlayoffBasketball #AreYouACasual

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The Sixers, we did it, baby. The Sixers fans. Come back 3-1. I told you. I told you the Sixers are gonna be top three in the East. Top three in the East. It wasn't top three in the East, but we here now. We here now. Lakers fans, LeBron put it, put you guys on his back again. Y'all already know how I'm rocking. I'm always rocking with Brian, bro. We go on to the second round. Detroit, I rock with y'all, but y'all got lucky. Y'all got lucky. Orlando took y'all to game seven. Same thing with Cleveland. I got love for my Cleveland. I got love for my Cleveland friends. Shout out my guys. You know who you are, but y'all got lucky. Orlando almost had y'all packing. And we're gonna talk about it today on a real hooper show. I'm your boy, Sean Sugamus. I got my guy here, E. What's good, my boy?

SPEAKER_01 0:50

What's good, bro?

SPEAKER_00 0:51

I know you see them Lakers. Yes, yeah, my boy E, a Lakers fan. You know, I like what the Lakers did. They stepped it up. They had me a little nervous. E, they had me a little nervous a little bit, bro. That's crazy. And Brian, we trust, bro. No, listen, and Brian, we definitely gotta trust, but once they lost those two games, I'm like, yo, what's going on here? Then I didn't like the way Brian was playing. I'm not gonna lie, I ain't like the way Brian was playing. Brian, them turnovers, bro. What are we doing, bro? What are we doing with these turnovers? Game one, you was chilling, you had two turnovers. Game two, you was chilling, you had three turnovers. Then game three, you had eight turnovers. You still we still won. Still won, but then at the end of the game, you just throwing these little small bounce passes, soft ass bounce passes to Marcus Smart for an inbound play. Sloppy. Sloppy. We're not gonna win like that, bro. We're not gonna win like that. Game four, eight turnovers again. Lost. Game five, still chilling. Can't burn it down, two turnovers, but damn, bro, where were the points at? Where the points at? Game six, came back, chilled. Three turnovers, eight assists, 28 points, seven rebounds, man. You got a chance to check out that game, bro? In game six. Game six.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Yeah, I watched it, bro.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Okay, all right. You're who how you feel about your boy Austin Reeves? Did he come back shining?

SPEAKER_01 2:23

I think he did pretty good, game six. I ain't gonna lie. Game five, you lose losing kind of, you know, so you know what, bro?

SPEAKER_00 2:29

I don't like you, bro. Why not, bro? Listen, y'all always give these players a pass. He had 15 points on 14 shots.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Man, come on, bro. But he was aggressive.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

He the second leading score. We let him rest. But he's come off back from injury, bro.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Oh, here we go. It was LeBron. But Brian coming back from 41. But he got scored 28 points. But you know who I do like, though? I'm not gonna lie to you. I like Hachimur. Rudy Hansemurra is doing a great job. He had 21 points, 8 for 15. He was 5 for 7 from 3. He's shooting, I believe, 58% from uh the three-point line. Rudy Hansimur is shooting 58% from the three, but he's shooting 50% from the free throw line. Now that sounds wild, but as you probably can imagine, he's not shooting a lot of free throws. He's shooting in this series, he's only been to the line one time. No, twice, and that's in the same game. No, my fault. Yes, twice in the same game. Right? Two for four. Two for four never goes to the line. We gotta get you going to the line, bro. You 6'8. These Gonzaga players. Gonzaga players never go to the basket, bro. I don't know what they teach you guys over there, but y'all gotta get to the Baja, bro. Too sophisticated on the court. They need 21 points in this game, on the game six, and you shoot no free throws. Imagine if you just went to the line six times. Austin Reeves don't got that much pressure now. Now I gotta butcher Austin Reeves in this. Because Austin Reeves, he's your second-lean scorer. He should come in playing like a second-lean scorer. But you got Rudy Hachimura, who should be in your, it should be in your top three scores. But then he don't shoot free throws. Come on, bro. Come on, bro. And then DeAndre Aiden. How you feel about DeAndre Aiden right now, E? I feel good about him, but I ain't gonna lie to you, bro. DeAndre Aiden, man, I call him ham no burger. You know what I mean? Uh Kool-Aid, no sugar. You feel me? He always missing something. I mean, he had some good games in there. Uh the first game, I believe he had what, seven? No, my fault. This game, he had 16 rebounds, right? My boy has 16. Uh let me make sure I'm double checking this. He had 16 rebounds. He has 16 rebounds. But seven points? Come on, bro. Seven points? Can you put it all together? Yeah, play 28 minutes. Then we go to then we go to his other games, right? He has some he has a few good games. The game five, he had 18 points, 17 rebounds, but they didn't win. 19 points, 10 rebounds. Great game. Game four. Didn't win. 2.6 rebounds in game three. Played 33 minutes. 6 points, 5 rebounds in game two. Come on, bro. They won? But come on, bro. 19 rebounds, excuse me, 19 points, 11 rebounds. The first game. And they win. We need more than 19 points, 11 rebounds. Shoot. You saw what Jaron Allen did. 22 points, 19 rebounds tonight. Come on, man. DeAndre, we need you, bro. Lucas out. Rudy, we need you getting to the basket. Austin Reeves, I'm gonna give you a pass. I'm gonna give you grace. My man, he told me to give you grace, so that's what I'm gonna give you. 15 points ain't gonna cut it next series, though. And then Lou Kennard. Come on, Lou. We gotta be more consistent, my boy. Game six, three points in 29 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

To be fair though. No. To be fair. Go ahead, talk to me. We're not expecting Lou Connard to have crazy scoring games. Game one, game two, those were like outliers, bro.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Nah, see, that's what I'm saying. To be very, to be fair, once you show us what you can do, you can't go back. You can't go, you can't go back to this. Three points is kind of crazy, though. Three points is wild, bro. Three points. I'm looking at it right. I'm I'm looking at them right now, bro. Three points is insane for a person to have who scored 20. Then he scored 27 the first 27 the first the first game?

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Yup.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Come on, bro. That's that's insane. Then we go, then I'm looking at some of these games here. Game five, he had one point in 33 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Are you still being fair? But we're not expecting him to go crazy. And and look, what's the name? Austin Reese came back. So he might not be getting the same shots he usually gets. Oh, he got away.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

One point? Come on, bro. Now I got look, now you're gonna make me go to the game.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Bro, we don't gotta go to the game. We won't go to uh deep deep into his catalog. He'll do better.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

All right, how about game four? Seven points in 32 minutes. We still, we he still we still letting we saw we still trying to give him a pass. You can give him a pass, bro. Hell no, not seven points, bro. Not seven points. That's just that's just disrespectful. But hit one or two threes, bro. That's not even one or two threes when you get the one point. That's not even one three. Well, you cool, bro. You cool, man. Nah, see, that's what I'm saying. You always try to invite people to the cookout. That's your thing. You want he trying to invite Luke to the cookout, y'all. Come on, man. But the good thing is, like you said, and Brian, we trust. He had 28 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, three, uh, three turnovers. That's when he's playing at his best when he had very turnover under four turnovers is when he's playing at his best. Um, and then, you know, as far as the team goes, far as the team goes, they out rebound the out rebound the Rockets. They played great defense. Out rebound the Rockets 54 to 45. They passed the ball very well, 19 assists to the Rockets, 13 assists, and they took care of the basketball, relatively speaking. 11 turnovers in the game. The Rockets had 14 turnovers. Um, they played well in the paint, outscored the Rockets in the paint, 46 to 44. I mean, listen, man, it was a great game from these for these guys. Their biggest lead was 29 points. 29 points. The rest was history, man. The rest is history. So shout out to the Lakers. Um, before we go into the second round, talk about the Lakers, I want to I do want to talk about what the Rockets need moving forward. The Rockets, I had them as my sleeper team this year. I thought they would probably sneak in there and get to at least the Western Conference Finals. Uh, but I'm not gonna lie to you. Once that Kevin Durant burner phone came out, they never been the same. They wasn't the same after that. I mean, you could tell the chemistry is off. KD, he's my guy. I like KD, but you could tell KD, he here's my thing with KD, right? He he's been on, you know, the platform to, you know, he's talking to the guy, you know, just just talking about his career and his legacy. Uh, he's been the comments, going back and forth with some of the some of the guys. And um and my thing with KD is that he's a hooper. He's a hooper. He just wanna hoop, right? We putting the expectations on him. We want him to be a leader, we want him to be equivalent to Jordan. He just wanna hoop. And you can tell that. You can tell. You can tell he wants a hoop. He he's I said this before. I don't think you need KD being your only option when it comes to scoring. That's what the Rockets was. The Rockets brought KD over there to replace Jalen Green, but Jalen Green kind of fit in the flow and just happened to be the better scorer of the flow, right? KD comes with a high expectation. Two-time MVP, two-time champion, been averaging 27 points for the vast majority of part of his career. We want you to do that. And we want to give you the ball, but we're forgetting that you're in year 18. We're forgetting you're the oldest guy on the team. So therefore, now we're expecting a Katie in year 18 to be this leader who leads the pack to win a championship. Nah, I think KD needs another score. He needs a Bradley Bill, or he needs a point guard. The Rockets need a point guard more than anything. And when they get a point guard, they need diversity in the point guard position. There's too many small guards. Too many small guards, man. I mean, yes, you bring back um, what's my man named? Van Fleet. You bring back Van Fleet, but he's a small guard. It's about 5'9, 5'10. Okay, who's it? Who's his backup? Reed Shepard. Small guard. They was picking on him the whole series. He got hot some series, I mean some games, but they was picking on him. He had a terrible game for games uh for game six. 10 points on 19 shots. Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are? 19 shots is crazy.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Who's supposed to be taking those shots, then?

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Not him. But look, but that's where they go wrong, right? Because now you got Amon Thompson, bro. I rock with your game. He doesn't rock with your game, but I rock with your game. Right? But we got to get that jump shot, bro. When you come to LA, holler at me, man. I got gems. I'm I trained. Holler at me, bro. You talking about you had 18 points and is off a seven seven for 14. That's 50%. Great job. No three-pointers. Didn't even shoot a three. Didn't even attempt a three. That hurts the team. Because now what happens is Sangoon, Alfred Sangoon, who shoots 12 shots, scores 17 points. They can just double him. And then he'll have nobody to pass to. You got a Cole Reed Shepard. Reed Shepard goes one for 10. One for 10 from the three. 10% in this game. Then you got somebody else on the wing. Ahmed Thompson, no threes, right? Then we go uh Jabari Smith, nine points off 11 shots. Who's gonna score the buckets? Ahmed Thompson, we gotta get you in the gym. We gotta get you in. Listen, bro. Not both the twins. Both the twins can't. One of y'all gotta be able to shoot. Like, y'all got a twin everything. Like, you feel what I'm saying? So at the end of the day, uh, that's what the Rockets need to improve over the over the summer. Um, KD, great score. Doesn't need to be your primary score every night. Amad Thompson, let's get you in the gym. Diversify that point guard position. Let's get some big point guards in there. Let's get some taller point guards. I don't know who y'all are going to look for. Maybe an athletic point guard. Uh they say John Morant, he likes Houston. Let's just figure out how to get him over there. And just get a solid traditional point guard to back him up. Um then we go, then Singoon. Singoon is not your first option. Singoon is not your first option score. He takes too long to score. He's not he's not hot every night. He's not consistent every night. I say he's your second score. I say he's your third score. Third score would be a great team. If you can get Sangoon to be your third score, great team. That's a great team.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

So if you the Rockies, you moving away from KD or you keeping him KD?

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Keep KD, but you gotta give him more complimentary pieces. Okay. You can't, a man Thompson got to be able to shoot. You got because they got to respect the guys around them so they don't double him. That's what KD had his biggest struggles with. With got with the double team. The double team, the last game he played against the Lakers, they doubled him every time he caught the ball. He had nine turnovers.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

So you you are you banking on internal development and a man's house to be able to shoot Jabbar Smith? That's what development is. We got to develop them. So you're gonna develop the players instead of going out and trading to.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Ah well, it depends on who's on the board. Okay? If I can give me a knockdown shooter, I'm gonna give me a knockdown shooter. But uh Ahmed Thompson, he's young, he has a lot of upside. I will keep him. I would keep the team. I just think we gotta move some pieces around, right? Um Reed, I would give rid of Reed. Reed Shepard.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

That's just third overall draft pick, though. Shit.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

I forgot what draft pick.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

I forgot who was.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

If I can get a veteran right away and I can keep KD for one more year, I keep KD for one more year. I get a veteran point guard with some size, with some size or understanding the game, or maybe athletic. Then we I met Thompson develop his shot, Jabari Smith, develop his ball handling skills. I get ready to read.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

You don't like Reed? This is his second year in the past. No, he was one for ten. Bro, you keep it on his one game.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

It's not even a one game.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

But I'm saying he had other games where he performed pretty well too, though.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

So you can't like Bro, he shot 29% from the three. He averaged 12, he averaged 12 points. He averaged 12 points in the series. He shooting 30% from the field. This is your third pick, and when the lights is on, he's trembling. He had four assists. Four assists, and he averaged two turnovers.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

See, I'm giving him room for no.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

You got KD right now, though. It's only way I give Ree Shepard the room, if I say, okay, I'm gonna move away from KD. That's the only way I'm I'm I'm I'm giving him some room. Now, if we say, okay, I don't want KD because KD messed up the chemistry on the team, cool, we keep Ree Shepherd. We keep him. You know what I mean? Because, alright, fine. We're now a team that's developing. I'm with it. Right? But, you know, we'll see what the Rockers do over the summer. Game six, the Nuggets, come on, bro. Now, let me let me guess. I'm not gonna say this. I want to ask you guys, put it in the comments. But do we give the same criticism to Nicola Jokic as we do everyone else? Or does it only matter if you lose in the final? I'm just curious. Because he just lost in the first round. Everybody was arguing that he's the MVP. I'm a Nicola Jokic fan, by the way, but the defense is atrocious. Is atrocious. And y'all keep blitz comparing him to Shaq. You think Shaq was having that? Come on, bro. Shaq was throwing Shaq Shaq was throwing punches. Go look up Shaq fights. He was getting in rumbles. Nikoleokich, he was trying. He was trying to run down on McDaniels, but you grabbing jerseys. Shaq, that was when he ran down on McDaniel's, that was the fastest he ran all night. That was the fastest he ran all night. I'm like, yo, what is this? But you know what though? I'm not gonna lie to you. It ain't all it ain't it's not all Nicola Jokic's fault. You know who I blame? Who you blame, bro? I blame Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray, he a thief in the night. He's a thief in the night. Nobody never blames Jamal Murray. That bothers me. Jamal Murray was four for 17. He's your all-star. Jamal Murray was four for 17, had six rebounds. Forrest says didn't turn the ball over. And that wasn't his only bad game, E. That was not his only bad game. I know you like to be like, oh, this is only one game. There's only one game. No, bro. He shot 35% from the field this entire series. 26 from the uh three-point line. He averaged 23 points, but all but look, listen to those percentages. Those 23 points are forced. Those 23 points are forced. Those are struggle 23 points. Those 23 points are points that somebody got to get since we're running the offense through you, since you're getting more opportunities than anyone else. Since you are an all-star, we gotta go through, right? Right? So when we look at this man, I'm not impressed. I'm not I'm not impressed. And he's also, in addition to that game, shit, you look at the look, I'm looking at the game. Uh, what's what game is this? Game five. Game five, he had 24 points. Sounds good, huh? You like that? Sounds good, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:58

24 points sounds pretty good, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

23 shots.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Nine for 23. Forced. So before y'all get in the comments, oh, he averaged 23. Before the stat geeks get in the comments and say, you don't know ball. He has 23 points. Not bro, 23 shots. 23 shots. That's not good basketball, brother. That's not good basketball. Seven assists, four turnovers. Not good basketball. That's game five for you. But luckily for them, they won. I wonder how they won. I wonder who helped them win. I wonder who carried it. Was it could it be the guy who averaged who had 27 points, 12 rebounds, and 16 assists? See, this is my problem what I have with today's uh fans, casual fans, stat geek fans, even sometimes the real Hooper fans. We gotta get out of this idea that, oh, he had 27 points, 12 rebounds, 16 assists. He didn't get the job done. He's a loser. Huh? Huh? Are you forgetting that he had another all-star on his team who also shoots 23 shots? I mean, like I said, they won that game, but look, you go back to game six, right? We go back to game six, where Nicole Jokic had 20, what, 28 points? Nicole Jokic has 28 points, nine rebounds, ten assists. Oh, he's a loser. I mean, shoot, what do you want him to do? 40 points, 17 assists, 19 rebounds? Who's scoring that? There's no more Will Chamberlain. Jamal Murray had 12 points. Listen, point the finger at Chris Christian Baron. Three points, three points, one rebound. He didn't pay five, excuse me, 125 million over the next five years. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Then we're gonna look back and forget about Aaron Gordon. Aaron Gordon, then he Even play. Aaron Gordon was their X Factor. Aaron Gordon was the reason they beat the Spurs that last or was it the game before last in the regular season? Aaron Gordon is the guy who's gonna hit them clutch baskets. He's gonna play that tough defense. Not healthy again. But then you're gonna look back at Nicole Hilkins and say, oh man, he's a loser. He lost first round. No, bro. The stats have a story. The stats have a story. And part of the story is this. He don't play no defense. Ain't no way. Ain't no way that you're gonna let Jaden McDaniels come out and say, I'm gonna just go at all these bad defenders and none of them can defend it. And then y'all come out and not defend. Like what? You can't, you be, you gotta be so for real, man. Ain't no way you doing that, bro. Ain't no way. Then not only did Jaden McDaniels prove that y'all can't defend, he wanna give y'all 32 points, 10 assists, no turnovers, and a closeout game, and nobody put him on his ass. You wanna grab, you wanna run over and run grab jerseys. See, this is the part where I understand what people say the NBA is soft sometimes. Because when I was growing up, they wouldn't have put you on your ass at the end of the game that you lost. They wouldn't have done that. Alright, you alright, bet. Okay, you're gonna dunk it, bet. Alright. We see you next game, bro. Every time. Every time you go to the lane, bang! Bang! You won't you're gonna think about it now. All that energy you had at the end of the game should have been the the should have set the tone at the beginning of the next game. Set the tone. You let him get 32 points, 10 rebounds. All right, bet he a great scorer. You ain't even gonna let him turn the ball over, you ain't push him out of bounds, nothing. You ain't nothing? No, no type of aggressive defense. Then you let him harass Jamal Murray the entire time? You know what we used to do back in the day? When a dude, when it was, we had a pesky guard, guarding our best point guard or our best player run into a blind side screen, put him on the ground. Now I see why people say the NBA soft. It ain't always the players, sometimes the ref, but in this case, it's you, Nicole Yokes. You gotta put guys on your ass. Your brother do MMA. I know you know something. You know something. Then uh you let Rudy Gobert treat you. Rudy Gobert had 10 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists. Somebody say it out there, that's nothing. Nicole Jokic had 28. How do you all play him? You gotta understand that Rudy Gobert, his his his role is not to score. So if he did a if he did almost at a triple double, he almost had a triple double. He treated you. He treated you. Then hold up. Anthony Edwards goes down, Anthony Edwards goes down, and y'all let somebody come off the bench and drop 43. Then he gets hurt. He don't play. Y'all let somebody else come off the bench and took him up 24. Like what? Like what are we really doing here? What are we doing?

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Yo, I ain't gonna lie when you put it like that.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

Sounds crazy. It's crazy. The fact that people were in my comments all year, the nuggets might be winning. How? These dudes sold, man. And it's time to break them up. It's time to let it go, bro. It's time to break the nuggets up, bro.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Nah, bro.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

And listen, what's my man's name? What's my man? MPJ?

SPEAKER_01 25:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

He was right. I saw the clip where he said they should have kept me. He's right. You you right. Cause I'm pretty sure you would have had more than goddamn three points and one rebound, like Christian Baron. I'm pretty sure you would have more points than that and more rebounds. When I was on prospect, bro, I used to bet on the rebounds of the points when it came to him. One every time. I won every time. So he was right. The Denver Nuggets, man. Let's blow them up.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Hold on, hold on. You blow another Denver Nuggets, bro.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Let's blow them up, gang.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

So you talking about get ready, get rid of uh Jamal Murray?

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Get him out of there, bro. Get him out of there. Get Timmy, get Tim Hardaway Jr. out of there. Listen, I listen. You keep Yokish? You keep Jokic? You keep Jokic. We gotta keep Jokic. You can keep Jamal Murray, but let's get Christian Baron out of there. I like the one guy. He was still kind of streaky.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Cam.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

Cam Johnson.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Listen, bro. See, this is my thing, right? He had 27 points.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

And you have to give up MPJ for Cam Johnson.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

They shouldn't have given up MPJ for Cam Johnson. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. Cam Johnson used to ball for Brooklyn Nets. And this is what I always tell people. Just because you have a player who scored a lot of points somewhere on another team, don't mean he's going to do it on this team. Why? Because it's a system that is in play. You score a lot of points for the Brooklyn Nets. Don't mean you're going to come in as the third or fourth option for a potential championship team and do the same thing. It don't work like that. That's not a professional sports work. He averaged 12 points this year. 12. Is that his fault? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. It's not his fault. However, you can't expect the same thing. Averaged 18 points with the Brooklyn Nets, 12 points with the Nuggets. Do you keep them? I'd say you get maybe. You know what? Because of this performance, this last game performance, you might got your job. You might keep your job over here, bro. You might keep your job. But Chris Baron, Tim Hardaway, you dudes gotta go. And that dude with the funny mustache gotta go too. He gotta go too, bro. What's bro dad? That's Bruce Brown, bro. Yeah, he gotta go too. He gotta go too. You you coming to work with this funny mustache and ain't kid and ain't winning, bro. I I don't I just don't like it. Now for the coach, you keeping the coach? Get rid of the coach. You might have see, I don't, I don't, look, he like Bruce Brown, he had 14 play 14 minutes, one point. Gotta get ripped. Yeah, see, I mean, this is what I'm talking about. The coach, you uh see, here's the problem, right? They got rid of the coach. Uh, who's the coach? Nick Nurse? Last year? Mike Malone. Mike Malone last year in the middle of the season. Um they got rid of Mike Malone, middle of the season. He stepped up. He stepped up. So you I so that's what I'm saying. I'm not, I understand as a coach, when you change in rosters, you might have to develop more, right? I'm not gonna put it on. I think I say you give him another year with new players.

SPEAKER_01 29:19

But he wasn't, we I believe he's once you get a fire coach, you get an interim coach, right? That's that that that's what he was the interim coach coming in. But he they never you're gonna think. That's what I'm saying. Go get a real coach. Not real. I mean he's a coach, but get it, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 29:33

I I but but he was they were successful this year.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Okay, fair enough.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

They were successful this year. They they they didn't, they they was right where Mike Mike Malone left them. You know, they were it ain't like they dropped from one to six, like they was right where they was they was left off at. Yeah, yeah. So they just dropped the ball. I I don't think this is not a coach's problem to me. Okay, this is a team problem. This is a heart problem. Okay. Somebody say you can't defend and you go out and not defend is wild. That's your that's heart. That's hard. Jaden McDaniels averaged 15 points. Closeout game, he scored 32. That's hard. 10 rebounds, no turnovers. Rudy Goldberg is not an offensive threat. You almost a triple double. That's hard.

unknown 30:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

You shot the ball 23 times to get 24 points. That's just not being prepared. That's all that is. So when we look at this now, I don't think it's the coach's fault. I think it's the coach's fault when they play their best game and they still lose. That's why I started thinking it's the coach's fault. But nonetheless, pack these boys up, man. Pack these boys up. You already know what y'all need to do over the summer, man. Get rid of Tim Hardaway immediately. Um, if you can't, listen, bro, you gotta be able to guard. Chris Braun, come on, bro. One rebound is insane. I give you a pass on some points, but one rebound is insane. Um we but we gotta get these guys out of here, bro. We gotta get these guys out of here. Uh the next series. I like this series. Orlando Magic versus Detroit. That was a tough one. That was a tough one. Orlando, I thought they was gonna take it home. They blew game six, 24-point lead, bro. 24-point lead. That's just disrespectful, man. I thought these guys were gonna take it, but pause. But uh, but you know, they they play like an eight seed. But they they play like Paulo Benchero's the head of the guy.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

No, come on.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

That's that's how they play. No, Paulo Ventrero, I like I I gained a different respect for Paolo Benchero over this um over over this series. You know, I I didn't know if he was ready to be the number one option primarily. Like I know some guys for me is like flow guys. Like if the ball is flowing, they like top of the flow, but you know, there's other guys that's in the lineup that can score. Um Frank Frank losing Franz Wagner really hurt them. Um I'm so I'm I'm being a little more gentle with these guys because they were the eighth seed. And they gave the number one seed a run for their money. Paulo Bentrello in game seven had 38 points, uh, 38 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. I think he did a great job throughout the series. Um he averaged throughout the series, he averaged 24 points. 24 points. Um, could have done with shooting, but nonetheless, you know, I didn't really I wasn't really expecting a lot out of Paulo Bentrell, like I was expecting out of um uh what's my boy's name? Uh Jokic. You know what I mean? Uh but again, Paulo Bentrell played like Paulo Bentrell, right? Like he's going to give you 38 one night and then give you 20 another night. And you know, that's the flow of their offense. That's what they are. But losing a 24 lead, 24-point lead is disrespectful. It's just disrespectful. Then we go to um the thing that I like that Detroit did was they just they were bullies, man. They just was bullies. Like at one point, I was like, okay, Orlando, they standing up for themselves. They fighting back. I I thought Orlando was a very it is a very skilled team. I thought they would beat him with skill, but they also threw some defense in there. They also threw some but they also but they also didn't back down. But Detroit was just a little bit too much. Detroit over time was a stronger team, was the bigger team. And then they had Tobias Harris come out. Tobias Harris came out. He he played well. He played well in game seven. I and listen, I'm not always the biggest Tobias Harris fan when I said when it comes down to it. Just because I remember how he played with the Sixers. Uh, I am from Philly. But he played well. He had his first 30-point game in a game seven. So yeah, it was five for seven from three. Uh made all his free, made all his free throws, 11 from 18 from the field. Probably his best game I've ever seen uh Tobias Harris play. I haven't seen Tobias Harris play like that in forever. Never, actually. Um Kay Cunningham. Kay Cunningham was a dog. Was a dog. You know, I early on in the series, I was a little concerned. At one point of the series, he had 17 turnovers and 15 assists over, I think, over the span of three or four games. And I was a little concerned because he was turning the ball over left and right. He was turning the ball over, and I was I was like, yo, they done. Because Orlando figured them out. They done, they knew to send the double team, then uh then France Wagner got injured. So France Wagner, here's the role that Franz Wagner played in this is that when they had them high screens, them high screens at the top, France Wagner was able to switch off as a bigger guard. It's just a same-size guard on him. But once he went down, now you got Anthony Black switching off. Now, now Kay Cunningham can go to work. Now Kay Cutterham goes to work. And then once he started, and you can see it, real hoopers understand this. When you got that flow on the court, and you sitting there, you going to the, you sit in there and you know no one can guard you, you turn it on at any given time. And it ain't no stopping. And that's how, and that's that's how Kay Cuttahan played once France Wagner went down. So I so I like Detroit. Um, I don't think Detroit will win a championship. If they do get to the promised land, they need another boost of energy. I mean, I'm looking at it first things first. The role players gotta do a better job with controlling their emotions. Isaiah Stewart, great player, but bro, you are not Draymond Green. They are giving you these fouls. They are giving you these techs. You you're you haven't had enough skin in the game to these reps because you're always getting a tech that changing the game around. I mean, he didn't do it this game, but I believe the uh game six was like, yo, come on, bro. Let's be smart. Let's be smart. And then you gotta be smart with the ball. One of the plays in the game, it was clearly it gave they gave him a ball on a drive, and he just charged into a defender. Just do the just just bro, just do a floater, bro. That's just a skill set thing, but you gotta know what shots to take and then things to do and when to do them, because that can change the momentum of a game. Real Hoopers understand a charge can change the momentum of the game, it can get everyone excited. Um, but can Detroit be uh Cleveland Cavaliers? I think they can. I think they I think they can. And we'll talk about in our predictions, but let's move on here. Uh Cleveland, this is for you. Cleveland, this is for you. Listen, man. Y'all got a little lucky. I ain't gonna lie to you, brothers. You got a little lucky. Because you guys went to a game seven without Brandon Ingram in the lineup. Yeah, y'all went to a game seven. RJ Barrett hit a clutch three that yes, it was clutch. We didn't think he would hit it. I didn't because he missed the first. He had three before that that was wide open, he bricked it. So now y'all just let him have practice with the three. I don't think the Cleveland Cavaliers in the in the game six, I don't think y'all stopped a lot of players. I think they were just missing. Uh Jamal Shedd, I like his game. I actually got a chance to see him play over the summer in one of the uh Rico Hines runs. And he's a smart point guard. He's a tough point guard, come from the University of Houston. Um his defensive president on um James Harden was insane. James Harden, at one point, I believe it was the last two minutes of game six, James Harden tried to force a charge, I want to say. No, not a charge, a defensive foul. Jamal Shea was that was gonna be his last foul. He had him review it, stayed on the court, and was giving was giving James Harden fits the entire game. And James Harden was scoring, but he was scoring off the switch with RJ Bear. RJ Bear, we gotta get them, we gotta get James Harden to respect you because every time he was calling for a switch, it was with or calling for a screen, it was the guy you was guarding. And he was right at you, bro. He was right at you. Um Jamal, back to Jamal Shed, though. I like his game. I I think they got I think the Raptors have a really good team. I don't I they we also missing their starting point guard as well. Uh, what's his name? Um I'm I'm bad with names, y'all. I'm bad with names unless you're making a lot of noise. Um wait, I'm I'm looking up. What's his what's my boy's name, bro?

SPEAKER_01 39:29

Cavs.

SPEAKER_00 39:30

Nah, the Raptors. Uh he didn't he didn't, but he didn't play. So I I got it. Uh what's his name? Cooley. What's his name? Cooley?

SPEAKER_01 39:43

I haven't heard of him. I thought Shed was a starting point guard.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

No, they didn't not start. No, Shed not a starting point guard. Keep going. I'll look it up. Oh, Emmanuel Quickly. Yeah, Quickly. That's what I'm talking about. Quickly. Uh couldn't think of his name. He didn't play off series. My bad. Real real Hooper's got bad memories. Uh listen, I got bad, but by the way, I got a bad memory. I got a bad memory. I boxed, so I I forget names a lot, but whatever the case may be. I'm slowing down on a boxer so I can remember all this stuff. But yes, Emmanuel quickly didn't play, neither did Brandon Ingram in the last few games. So at the end of the day, you guys got lucky, man. Y'all went to the wire with this team uh that was short, that was shorthanded, and they and they listen, the Raptors actually exceeded expectations. We didn't think they would get this far. We didn't think they would be, we didn't think they would actually make it, like make it to the playoff. We wasn't thinking about them being a playoff team, but nonetheless, they did. Where was the um seeding in in the playoffs?

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Raptors.

SPEAKER_00 40:52

Yeah. But going back to it though, uh I watched the last I watched the last two minutes of the I watched the last two minutes of the Cleveland game and the Raptors game, and I never seen James Harden run from the ball. James Harden was literally passing the ball and just running up the court as like a 3 and D guy. Go back and watch the last two minutes, two minutes and 30 seconds. James Harden was just running. Then when he did get the ball, he tried to flop over the half-court line. Like, what are you doing, bro? It's not the time to flop. But thankfully, thankfully, the game was out of reach. The game was pretty much out of reach. The hero of the night, though, was your boy Jared Allen. Jared Allen stepped up in a major way. Jared Allen, Jared Allen had 22 points and 19 rebounds. 22 points and 19 rebounds. Donovan Mitchell came alive. Donovan Mitchell, I was a little worried about him. I was a little worried about him. In the first half, in that first half, he was barely scoring. He was looking like the Donovan Mitchell I'm scared of. Not scared of as in he's gonna hurt the team and uh hurt the opposing team, he's gonna hurt his team. Donovan Mitchell always played well in the season, but then the playoffs, all of a sudden, his feet get cold. But he stepped up. He stepped up. He still didn't have a good shooting night. He had 22 points on 20 shots. Um James Harden. James Harden, the last two game sevens that James Harden has played, he scored seven. Hold up. I wrote this down somewhere. But yeah, for the Sixers, for the last two games for the for the one for the Sixers, one for the Clippers, the game seven, he plays awful. He plays awful. I got it in here, and I want to I want to share this with you guys. Um I didn't I did I just don't want to share the wrong thing with you guys. But when it comes to James Harden and game sevens, I'm I'm always nervous. I'm always nervous to um James Harden, his game seven, he had nine points three for eleven when he's with the Sixers, and then against Denver, he had seven points to fade. Today he had 18 points, but 18 points and he was three for nine. I don't think that's aggressive enough. I don't think that's aggressive enough. For James Harden, but again, these guys are in a 16th year, man. So we can't inspect a lot. I think his name holds a lot of weight, but I think he's playing like his age. I think he's playing like his age. And he's and but I was surprised to see him running away from the ball with two minutes and something to go. You know what I mean? Uh he also shot terrible from the three. He was one for five, um, but he made up, he made up for it at the uh three point line. I'm excuse me, free throw line. So he made what he was 11 for 13 at the free throw line. So shout out to the Cleveland Cavaliers, man. Cavaliers going to the second round, and then you got the grand finale. Well, close to the grand finale. We have the 76ers and the Boston Celtics. The 76ers and the Boston Celtics. The Sixers took it home. I told dudes. I told guys the Sixers is a real team. I told guys the Sixers was a real team. Am I lying?

SPEAKER_01 44:24

Yes, bro. You never said this, bro.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

Bro, I got go go to Instagram. Go to my Instagram. Scores.society. I posted it. I posted it.

SPEAKER_01 44:35

You did. You did.

SPEAKER_00 44:36

We got one and we listen, we got one in VJ Edgecomb.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:41

We got one.

SPEAKER_01 44:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:42

Right? VJ Edge Comb. Um, in my personal opinion, I think he should have been a rookie of the year. Should have been a rookie of the year. He listened Cooper Flag, shout out to the rookie year, Cooper Flagg. But Cooper Flag was scoring empty points. Dog, Cooper. His team wasn't making the playoffs. His team didn't have the best players on the team. VJ Edgecomb had to play alongside Therese Maxie and still score 18 points. When Paul George, Joel MB got back in the lineup, he still was scoring. Even last night, he had 23 points. He had 23 points in a closeout game against the Celtics with six rebounds, four assists, and three turnovers. You got to improve on that one. Tyrese Maxie, same thing. Tyrese Maxie, 30 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 turnover. And then, of course, Joel MB had 30 points. Excuse me, 34 points. 34 points, 12 rebounds, and sixth assists. And I said this, Paul George, the kids think you would go. You don't need to score 27 points. Just give us 13 to 17 points. And sure enough, he gave us 13 points, three from five from the three, one assist, three turnovers, a chill night for my guy. And the beauty of this team is they can interchange that at any given time. They can change it up at any given time. Some nights it can be Tyrese Maxi being the lead. VJ Edgecomb might be a third leading scorer. Joel MB, the second leading scorer. Maybe Paul George, the first leading scorer, Joel MB, the second, the second, Tyrese Maxi the third, whatever. Because they're all scorers. Now here's what the Sixers play really good at when they're moving the basketball. When the Sixers are moving the basketball, is when they play their best game. When they take turns trying to play ISO ball, that's when they lose. That's when they lose. That's when they lose the game. Tyrese Maxie, he did all his ISO work when Joel M was out of the game. Joel M did his ISO work and everybody played off of him. So that 45-degree cut from the week from the week side was always there when he posted up. He's a willing passer. It made the game fun. The ball movement is what's going to help the Sixers continue their success in this year's tournament. Excuse me, not tournament, playoffs. And another thing that people don't talk about. I said this early on in the year. Kyle Lurie. Kyle Lurie, he's a guy who won a championship. He's not playing any minutes, but his mentorship to Tyrese Maxley and VJ Edgecomb is elite. Every time there's a timeout, dead ball, you see him talking to him. You see him, you stay sitting next to him. They're having a conversation. Gotta love it. Boston Celtics, listen, man, I don't I it's unfortunate that Jason Tatum got injured. I like to see a good game, but hey, it worked in our favor. But Boston Celtics, I really want to know your strategy when it comes to threes. I really just want to know. I I I respect Joe Mazzo. I respect everything he has going on. I respect the team. But I'm really curious to when you guys aren't sh making any threes and you keep shooting it, what are you trying to prove? Because you went 27% from three, 13 for 49. Derek White shot 16 3s and made five. I'm really curious on what you're trying to get to at this point. But nonetheless, another team that needs to figure out a new identity. Because Derek White had 26 points on 26 shots. Listen, people, that's not a good night. That's force. Jalen Green, I'm excuse me, Jalen Brown, 33 points, 27 shots. And here's the thing. He shot three for nine, made six free throws, made six free throws, nine rebounds, four assists. This is not a good night. It's a so-so night. Because I know at least with 33 points, I know Jalen Brown is going to attack. He's going to attack the basket. It's a so-so night. But here's the disrespectful part. You have one, two, three, five guys who played in the game a game seven and scored no points. No points. Luca Garza, nine minutes, no points. Ryan Harper, four, no points. Baylors, what's his name? Shireman. Shireman, 22 minutes, no points. Jordan Walsh, no points. Five minutes though. Hugo Gonzalez, 13 minutes, no points. The guys who had 30 minutes, Sam Hauser, 11 points. What's his name? What's his name? Cada? My boy Cada? Yeah, yeah. He has seven, he has, he has 17 points. He has 17 points. He had a good night, though. He had 17 points, 12 rebounds. But one of the issues that I always had with the Celters this year is Peyton Pritcher. Peyton Pritcher, he's too inconsistent. Now everybody thinks, oh, he's the one who's gonna close out every quarter. He's dangerous. They were shutting that down. Sixers wasn't having that. 13 points on 13 shots. Seven threes. But I think what kills you is these threes, man. These threes kill the Sixers every single. Excuse me, the Celtics every single time. And then you didn't have Jason Tatum. So the Sixers won 109. Those boys and the Knicks. And speaking of the Knicks, last game of the night, we're gonna talk about the Knicks destroyed. They destroyed the Atlanta Hawks, bro. Like, I I don't know, is the Atlanta Hawks I never seen people try to tank during the playoffs? Like, how do you get beat 140 to 89 in a closeout game? Listen, I don't know if y'all was hanging with Lou Williams the night before or what. But no, bro. No, bro. You talking about at one point of this game, at one point of this game, it was 44 to 15. At some point you gotta say, all right, look, let's jump ball again. Let's start over. But the Knicks was too dominant, man. OG and uh OG and the Minobli exploded for 14 points in the first quarter. The Hawks turned the ball over eight times in the first quarter. The Hawks finished with 12 turnovers. Listen, at one point, the Hawks had 12 turnovers and seven field goals made. That's how bad they were playing. And I'm not gonna stay too long on this game because there's not much to talk about. Jalen Brunson, I like Jalen Brunson. He's effective at his best when he's scoring between 17 and 25 points. The team success is tied to their assists and turning the ball over under 12 times. When the in this series, when the Knicks turn the when the Knicks turn over under 12, they won. So if we can get Jalen Brunson to pass the ball, get these guys involved early, take care of the basketball, they have a successful, I think they have a successful second round. I don't want them to have a successful second round, though. Why you ask that? Because I'm from Philly. I'm from Philly. I actually want to see them play their worst basketball. I really, matter of fact, you know what? They need about 15 turnovers, 17 turnovers. You go for it. Go for it. But nonetheless, man, it's been exciting playoffs, man. It's been exciting playoffs, E. How you how you feel about it, man? You think the playoffs is exciting?

SPEAKER_01 53:45

No, I'm I'm having a good time watching these playoffs.

SPEAKER_00 53:47

No, this is a good, man. This is good basketball. And anybody who says it's not good basketball, you just lying to yourself. You just echoing what everybody else is saying. You late. You still stuck in November and December. You still stuck in January with complaining, listening to people who was complaining about the All-Star game. It's people right now still talking about the All-Star game. We always, we damn near in May. Well, we is in May. We about to hit June. So, nonetheless, man, I like what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 54:15

Yeah, real quick, what's your biggest takeaway from these playoffs this year?

SPEAKER_00 54:19

Um, like I said, man, what I'm saying, like what I'm saying right now, just the discipline, just the style of play, the hunger, the excitement. You talk about two game sevens on a Sunday, uh, one one an eighth seed, taking them to the Y. You see it, my boy LeBron at 41 years old. They say they wouldn't even win a game. They said the Lakers win and win the game. The Lakers end up getting out of there in six games. I don't know what they're gonna do against OKC. Um, I know Jaden McDonald, uh Jaden Williams is Jalen Williams is uh questionable for some of these games because it's an injury. So hopefully, listen, bro, I don't like the injuries on nobody, but you know, maybe SGA be a little questionable a couple times around. You know what I mean? I don't know what you know, but um I don't I don't know personally, I think the OKC just plays too fast for the Lakers in their style. Maybe the Lakers have a strategy where they get everybody get back on each shot. They give up um the rebounds to stop the points. Maybe they strategize in that way. But this this has been a good man. The Sixers come back 3-1, come back from a 3-1, uh um 3-1 down 3-1 in the series. I believe the the Pistons did the same thing. Yep. Um I mean this is a good series. This is good basketball, bro. The the Spurs is chilling, they waiting on, they wait, they well, they they they ready to play the uh they're ready to play the Timberwolves. Timberwolves, Timberwolves shocked everyone by still by still getting past the nuggets without Anthony Edwards.

SPEAKER_01 55:59

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 56:00

Right? Uh, I mean, every every uh outside of OKC beating the Suns, we already knew they was gonna win that, every series got a good story to it. So I'm I'm I'm enjoying it, man. And people are enjoying it as well. Right now, uh, from what I've read, the viewership has been as highest that is that it's been in 33 years. Each game is averaging four million views across all streaming platforms and whatever way people watch sports. So I'm loving it. I'm loving it. And I hope you guys are loving it. I hope you guys are loving the content. I hope you guys are following us on all platforms. Um, we just did a deal with Scott Us College. Make sure y'all go to scholarscollege.com if you are looking or your kid is looking to be recruited. This is the new way to get recruited. They have a platform where you have uh over every what over 300 coaches, I believe. Um I'm I'll confirm it, but hundreds of coaches are on this platform and they're using this platform to recruit athletes. So make sure you guys check it out. Um, they will sponsor our next show, but I just want to put that out there before they sponsor it, um, or before the next show, because I definitely want to make sure I get this information. They have NIL deals, they have, like I said, uh college coaches on there. So if your kid or yourself are struggling to get coaches to see you, or you're tired of paying for the AU tournaments and no one's coming up to you, this is a new way, a new way and an easier way to be seen. So make sure you go to ScottasCollege.com. Um, you want to support the brand, make sure you go to goesactiveware.com and got some merch. Use code RILHOOPers at checkout, receive 15% off the entire store. Outside of that, man, we out of here, man. E, you got something for me? There you go. Make sure y'all lock in. Follow us on all platforms, Score Society, Score.society on Instagram. Everything else is Score Society. We appreciate the love. Until next time, let's continue to think elite and together. Welcome to Score Society.