SPEAKER_00 0:01

Alright, you were listening to the Max Vert pod. Bear bear with me now. Bear with me. I I missed out last week. I missed out last week's pod. But I'm still here. I'm still here. And I got something special for you guys today. So thank you for your patience. It's been a little hectic right now in my life. It's good, it's good, it's good busyness that I have going on. But uh the reason for some of my delays on these uploads are uh just getting ready for the wedding. So wedding is May 15th. We're less than 60 days away, and uh I got a lot going on with that. Uh so you know, and I've been golfing, trying to do all my hobbies, on my sneaker podcast, on my sneakers Instagram, and on my sneakers YouTube, doing that uh as well. So if you could, if you're listening, please give me a follow on YouTube for my sneakers page. It's easy underscore e underscore eighty. Give me a subscribe. I'm sorry. Subscribe, that would go a long way. I'm closing in on a hundred subscribers, and it's been uh about a few months now. So I'm having fun doing that. Come listen to me and and and check me out on YouTube. And then if you don't follow my Instagram sneakers account, it's uh same thing, easy underscore E underscore 80. Okay. Staying busy, got lots of hobbies, it's good for me, good for good for my health. So back to basketball. So last time we left off, the last pod, I said, you know, paraphrasing, but I I said, you know, historically speaking, you have to be the one or two seed to win the NBA championship. Uh and uh those thoughts are still there. I don't think that that changes anything. But uh as we enter the final stretch of the NBA season, uh there's about ten games left. You know, so I was looking at the Magic schedule, because you know, obviously that's my favorite team. There's about ten games left for the Magic, so uh I'm sure it's roughly give or take, plus or minus one or two games for every uh all the other teams. So um with all that being said, Detroit and Boston are still the number one and number two teams in the East. And then in the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs are still the number one and two teams in the West. So nothing has changed as far as the one or two seeds since the last podcast, and essentially those are the four teams that are contenders, and nothing has changed as far as contenders go and the NBA since the last time we had this podcast. So take that for what you will, but in my opinion, those are the contenders, and the contenders haven't changed. Now, the Knicks are um essentially tied with Boston. Uh they're the the Knicks are the three seed right now, but Boston has 47 wins and 24 losses, and the Knicks have 48 wins and 25 losses. So the Knicks have one more win, but they also have one more loss. So um Boston's just barely holding on to that that two seed. Now, now if that changes up and the Knicks end up getting the number two seed with these ten games left, you know, Wix the Knicks are on a seven-game winning streak. Uh one of the hottest teams in basketball right now, outside of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have a 12-game win streak, uh, the Knicks could, you know, they could end up being contenders, which would be all, you know, I would welcome that. I would welcome that as an NBA fan. I would welcome seeing the Knicks being a contender along with the Detroit Pistons because, you know, neither one of those teams have won in a long time. Now the Pistons were pretty good with Chauncey Bills back in the day when I was uh a young kid, uh, but the Knicks haven't been good pretty much my entire life. So I would welcome seeing something different and seeing the Knicks jump up to that two seed. And the way they are currently playing, I could see that happening. So we got to keep an eye out for the Knicks jumping up to that two seed. Now the Cavs are in the four seed. Uh they have 45 wins and 27 losses. They're playing pretty well. They won last night against the Orlando Magic. We'll talk about that one here in a second. Um, but I think they're, you know, they only have two l two less losses or I'm sorry, wins than the Celtics, but uh I I'm gonna count the Cavs out on jumping both the Knicks and the Celtics and getting that two seed. Okay, I think the Cavs are playing well right now with Harden, and I think they're a pretty good team, but I don't think that they're gonna jump up to the two seed. I could be wrong, but that's just my personal opinion. And no bad blood uh to the Cavs, you know. Uh, you know, as a Magic fan, you know, Cavs, and um let's just go into it now, honestly. Let's go into it now. So last night was really good. It was an enjoyable game. Um it it could just be me, but the Cavs versus Magic is just always cinema. Always a good game, always a good playoff series. It's kind of like a little rivalry, and I love it. They're always good games. Now, I think the first two matchups this year, Cleveland won pretty handedly. Uh, but that last matchup about a week ago, um in Orlando. Um, in Orlando, the the Magic won that game, and that was a good game too. And then last night, Magic and Cavs, they were going back and forth, and uh Orlando almost came back and almost came back and won that game without starters, Anthony Black, who um is up for most improved player of the year. He's probably missed a little bit too much time to get that award. Uh and then you got uh Nikhil Alexander Walker. Uh he you know he's probably gonna get that most improved player. But all that's to say, Anthony Black is in the conversation for most improved player, and I love A B, man. So him not playing, and then Suggs not playing and Franz Wagner not playing. You know, I thought the Magic put up a good fight. You know, I thought they showed a lot of heart out there for a team that's without three starters, and you probably have to be a Magic fan to realize uh how big those three players are for the team. Um, you know, the casual fan watching that game yesterday probably they probably just say, oh, they got Paolo out there, you know, that you know they should be able, you know, they got Paolo out there, like this is no different than if they have the the guys that I mentioned. But in my opinion, at this present moment in time, Franz is actually the better overall player than Paulo Bencaro. Now, Paulo has the higher ceiling. Uh and he's, I mean, what he had 30 something last night and then 39 the night before. So he is balling. Don't get me wrong. But Franz, he has he's he has more moves. Um he's I don't want to say he's more versatile on the offensive end of the floor, but um he's he has a little bit more fundamentals on the offensive side of the ball, and he's a better defender. And because of that, defending Franz currently speaking, uh, I think is better. Uh he's the best player for the Orlando Magic, in my opinion. You know, he's been in the league for a year longer. Um and I think Paolo's gonna overtake that soon, but all that's to say is um great game without the with with the Magic not having their best player, and then Suggs, probably their best defender, and then A B up and coming. So I really was hoping that there would be a 4-5 Cleveland Cavaliers versus Magic playoff. Uh the Magic went on a playoff series, I'm sorry. The Magic went on a what was it, a seven-game win streak, and then now they went on a six-game losing streak. So they are currently oh man, they are currently the eight-seed. So now the five seed has 40 wins, and they have the Magic have 38 wins. So they're not out of getting the five seed, but they're not headed in the right direction. Okay, so uh part of the reason why I want that four or five matchup is because like I said, against the Cavs, it's it's just like a rivalry and it's always good basketball. And I live in Ohio, so you know I could go see my boys play in Cleveland and maybe get a win. Uh I would expect Cleveland to win that series because they would have home court advantage, and it's just so important in the NBA. Um, and I'm just being honest, you know, no book, no bad blood. Um, but I'm a realist. You know, I think Orlando would play that series really well. They could surprise me, uh, but I think Cleveland would go on to win. Um so Magic gotta get they gotta stay healthy, man. If if if they were a healthy team all year, um I'm taking them over the calves 100%. But you know, this is like the third year in a row where they're just not healthy. And I think a lot of that has to do with the coaching staff, the GM, the trainers. They're they hold these guys out way longer than they should. You know, they don't want to risk injury for the future, but they're thinking about the future way too much because you got players like Franz and and Paolo, you know, you only got so many years with them before the future doesn't matter because they're gonna go somewhere else. So um I wish they would stop resting these guys so much. I mean, Franz has been out for a long time, a very long time for an ankle injury. You know, they're just you can tell that they're just giving him extra time and and and now we're the eighth seed. You know, you know, I don't want to rush a guy out there to get hurt again, but it's an ankle injury. Come on, like get him out there. We need to seeding matters. Like I said, you got to be a one or two seed to win the NBA championship. Um I don't know. Maybe the front office understands that they're not a one or two seed, so they're not gonna risk further injury. Uh so that's my Cavs magic um uh recap. I'd love to see some more, man. It's it's fun watching those two square up. Moving on, there are only seven teams eliminated from the playoffs. So there's three from the East. You got the Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, and the Indiana Pacers. Wow, what a story for Indiana. 16-56 after being in the NBA Finals less than a year ago. And then in the West, you have the New Orleans Pelicans. Oh, they're extremely underperforming with the talent that they have on that team. Uh Brandon Ingram and Zion alone, just those two. There's no reason they should be 25 and 48. So they're eliminated. The Dallas Mavericks, the Utah Jazz, and the Sacramento Kings are eliminated as well. So a lot of teams still up and working on making at least the play-in. So we'll see, we'll see how it all shakes out. I'm very excited for the playoffs. I just love the NBA playoffs. Um, even though, you know, I know Orlando has no shot. You know, statistically speaking, I just know uh the further you get down on that that seed, you have no shot at winning the NBA championship. So uh even with that, I just love sports, love ball, and uh I'm excited for the NBA playoffs. Um and I'll be honest, I'm not really excited about uh, you know, I guess the teams that are currently contenders, they don't move my needle. Okay. So the Thunder won the uh the NBA title last year, and they just don't move my needle. I could care less if they won again. The Spurs have just always kind of been a boring team to me. Even when they had uh Coach Popovich and you know Manu and Tony Parker, you know, they've just always been a boring team. I don't know. Do you guys have that as well? Like I have that in in in the NFL too. There's just some teams that are just like boring. Like when I hear the team name, I'm like, oh, this is gonna be boring to watch. Like the commanders are one of those teams. Uh Cowboys, you know, there's a certain team names, it's just like, uh. Uh and then the Pistons, uh, you know, again, just seems kind of boring. And then the Celtics won. You know, the Celtics won a couple years ago. Uh so I'm just not really the teams that are in contention don't move my needle. Um, but I'll still watch, I'll still enjoy, I'll still throw a couple $5, $10 bets out there. Um, I'm not a Debbie Downer. I'll I'll enjoy the playoffs, but you know, of the four teams that I think actually have a shot of winning the championship, I could care less. Um who wins. So I don't know. Maybe if the Knicks move up to the two seed, I'll root for them to win. You know, they've gone through a lot as a fan base, uh, a lot of losing. They've been losing my entire life. So maybe I'd root for them to win because I'd be so so big for the city of New York. But we'll see. Ten games left. Ten games left, give or take for all these teams. So we'll see um what happens for this for these playoffs. I think by the time playoffs start, we will get uh Stefan back in here on the pod. So um it'll be good to have him back and and see what he's you know, feeling his thoughts on how the playoffs are going and who he thinks is gonna win. So appreciate the um clicking in and listening. We'll be we'll be back next week. Much love to Deuces