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00:00Let's reach out to the people that we do every single time in hour number three in the first
00:04segment. We like to see if we can fade the public or not fade the public with our polls here.
00:09Sports Grid, at Sports Grid on X, which underdog is more likely to win outright again in game
00:15number two? Those two choices tonight, obviously, would be the New York Knicks and would be the
00:20Denver Nuggets. Is it any surprise tonight that close to 80% of the public has chimed in and said
00:28it's going to be the Nuggets? And by the way, I'm not fading the public, Joe Ranieri. I agree with
00:33the public. You know, I faded him on Monday when I was here, and I believe for both of these games
00:40where they went chalk, and I said, if there's going to be upsets, it's going to be in game one
00:47in the series. And we saw it on Monday. Now, I think it's adjustment time, and I think it'd be
00:54hard to look at the Knicks endeavor. Now, this isn't covering. We're talking about winning outright
00:59here. I don't see either of those two teams going 2-0 on the road, so I would have to back
01:09the public here tonight in this spot. Yeah, you know what? I think it makes some sense.
01:14And by the way, those price points, plus 400, ooh, nice and juicy. And then for the Nuggets,
01:17plus 420, even juicier there. But I do agree with that sentiment. For the Knicks, it was like,
01:22yes, they got the victory. Everybody should be happy that they did that. If you're Knicks
01:25back, you have a Knicks ticket, or just a Knicks fan. But it took, hey, this team did something
01:30that no other NBA team is going to do, miss this amount of three-point shots and wide-open
01:33three-point shots. We didn't really get that from the Nuggets. Like, they charged and came
01:37back in the fourth quarter and deserved that victory. I think that's playing off a little
01:41bit of those price points. So, I do think the public is correct tonight. But, Joe, the problems
01:46that always we get in trouble is that heavy public underdog favorite, which the Nuggets
01:52are close to eight out of every 10 votes coming in the direction. Does that scare you just
01:56a little bit tonight that the public is really charged up over the Nuggets more than the Knicks?
02:01Yeah, listen, they should be. But, again, we saw two underdogs winning games, not mostly
02:10because they dominated those games, Donnie, but both of the favorites on Monday shot themselves
02:16in the foot in a big way. I don't think we're going to see that for a second consecutive
02:22game. So, the public could, the public's not always wrong. I don't think they're wrong
02:26here tonight.
02:28No, and we take a look at the updated odds market here at the FanDuel Sportsbook for those
02:32two games tonight. 7 p.m. in the TD Garden, not Madison Square Garden, we're still playing
02:37in Boston. That line opened up as a 10-point favorite. It's now 10.5 at the FanDuel Sportsbook,
02:42and 10.5 at just about every outlet. 2.5 as, excuse me, 2.11.5 as the total, slightly up from
02:492.10.5. The Knicks and the Celtics game number two. We'll handicap this all throughout these
02:54segments here in hour number three, but looking at that line, heavy favorite anticipation. They're
02:59not as bad as they played in game number one, and they should be able to roll in game number two.
03:04Yeah, but I'm not, again, the same reason that I took the Knicks on Monday, Donnie, holds true
03:13here. Forget about the recency bias and watching them chuck up and miss, what, 45 threes there?
03:21Forget about that. The reality is the Boston Celtics have not covered double-digit spreads
03:28at home all year long. That's not going to change because they lost game one. I would only look to
03:35take the points in this spot with the Knicks. I mean, how in the world are we expecting them to
03:41all of a sudden, now they're worth laying 10.5 points? I, not for me. It's, uh, I'll take the
03:47points. They don't have to cover this in order to win. They just got to win. So I don't think we're
03:53getting over 10.5 here. Absolutely not. Exactly. Like, the expectations for the win, certainly on
03:58the Celtics side, they're a heavy favorite double-digit, so the better basketball team
04:01overall. But also understand, like, the Knicks understand they got away with winning game number
04:05one and won. I don't think their game plan is like, hey, you know what? Celtics gonna get us
04:10tonight, so let's just roll over and go back one-to-one. You want to take a look at some other
04:13organizations, like the Indiana Pacers, that go, we could have rolled over in game number two.
04:18No, we wanted to drive that dagger in, then go back home and finish the job off where we don't even have
04:23to return back to the other city at that point. Game number two tonight, the Denver Nuggets,
04:27who are holding that 80% advantage in our public poll today. Going up against the Thunder, also
04:33line open up at 11, still sits at 11. 10.5s are starting to crack through here with a little bit
04:38more money coming in on the Nuggets tonight, but a heavy public dog tonight, getting a lot of the votes,
04:43getting 11 points, Joe. Again, the same situation here. I mean, your Oklahoma City did themselves
04:52no favors in that first game, but the difference in that game, Donnie, was Oklahoma City has basically
05:00coasted for the most part over the last couple of months here. They've had no challenges. They
05:06haven't had their back up against the wall in any way, shape, or form, and all of a sudden,
05:11when they were finally pushed, they folded, and that's the problem with OKC, which is why
05:16it's hard for me to go out and lay double digits with a team that has already proven not all that
05:23experience in these kinds of spots. What are they going to do tonight, Donnie, when Denver punches
05:28back at them again and may have the lead there in the fourth quarter? What are we going to get from
05:33them? Not 11-point win, I don't think. That's for sure. Yeah, you're looking at two desperate teams,
05:40which usually the desperate team is the lower seed, it's either the higher seeded team,
05:43just looking to get a win, saying we got to enter into the equation, but now you take a look at the
05:47Celtics and the Thunder, saying we're supposed to be two of the best teams in the NBA, and according
05:51to the FanDuel Sportsbook, the odds market, we're supposed to win these championship games,
05:55not lose in a round number two. We'll find out if they're tough for the test, and also some
06:00different angles that we can play into, because we do look at, let's just say, the totals themselves
06:05and the sides. Is that a pretty good way to look at this Celtics game? We'll talk about that more
06:08next. It's Joe and Donnie in the Morning on a Wednesday. Right back at it tonight, talking
06:13some NBA action. There is a doubleheader tonight, and it's massive. It's not for the lower-seeded
06:18teams here to say, hey, guess what? We're going to enter the series. The higher-seeded team,
06:23come on, man, play up. Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder, you need wins? You're getting priced
06:27as if you're supposed to get wins tonight, both of these at double digits. If we start with the
06:31Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks, as I teased before the break, you see the price point,
06:35minus 10.5 as a favorite towards the Boston Celtics, and a total of 2.11.5. I don't
06:40necessarily, Joe Ranieri, want to take this game full game and say, Boston should win this going
06:45away. If they're mediocre from three-point range, maybe they do win by 10 to 15 points
06:49and cover that spread. The one thing I need to know, though, and I need to see for the Boston
06:53Celtics, we can't leave any doubt. And I don't mean by winning the third quarter and winning the
06:57fourth quarter. I mean the first quarter and the second quarter. On the FanDuel Sportsbook,
07:01minus six and a half earlier today was the price point for the first half spread between the Celtics
07:07and the Knicks. If I'm putting my money on a game tonight and I want to center it on the Boston
07:12Celtics, I expect dominance in the first half and maybe you cruise in the second half. I don't want
07:17to be left where a Carl Anthony Towns three goes down when they're down 11 points to make it eight
07:21points at that point. I want to make sure my team is engaged off the bat, and I believe they will
07:26because they understand the task is you can't go down 0-2, but you can dig yourself a grave in the
07:32first half that could be hard to dig out of in the second. Give me minus six and a half in the first
07:37half for the Boston Celtics against the New York Knicks. How are you playing this game tonight, Joe?
07:42You know what, Donnie? I don't hate that look. Also, you know what? I wouldn't mind taking a first
07:48quarter shot with the with Boston Celtics laying what it probably two and a half, maybe three points
07:54in that spot there. This is a team that will come out and will continue. Anybody thinking they ain't
08:00gonna, you know, they missed 45. They attempted 63s in game one. They're not going to change the way
08:08they play. They're too good a shooting team. The percentage of threes they make will go up. It'll
08:14probably happen early. So I like that play. And by the same time, if I'm expecting the percentage of
08:21made threes to go up, not a whole lot of less volume, then we're going way over this total of
08:28two, 11 and a half. I would even take it further to say, I'll take the Celtics team total up and over
08:34one 10 and a half here tonight, Donnie. Because if what we both know to be true, if there's going to
08:40be some positive regression here, I don't see how they're not scoring close to in the, you know,
08:47of the one 15 closer to one 20 here, because those threes will fly here tonight again for the
08:54Celtics. And you take a look at the betting markets here, specifically the family sports book. If you
08:59click the stats button here, percentage of bets against the spread 75% going with the New York
09:05Knicks tonight. So most people want to take those points and rightfully so. If you're just watching
09:09the past couple of games, particularly in round number two, the dogs have had such a decisive
09:13advantage. It's hard to buck that trend. We'll see how it points out. But if I'm looking at
09:17nade three point shots tonight, which did not go down for the Boston Celtics in the last game,
09:22Tatum over three and a half at plus 124. Jalen Brown over one and a half at a minus 114. Derek
09:28White over three and a half at a minus 102. Drew Holiday one and a half and Peyton Pritchard one and
09:32a half. If we're looking from three point shots here, because I always like like the comeback,
09:36right? We know that the Boston Celtics, no matter what you're near are going to shoot three point
09:41shots and shoot them at volume. Didn't work out in their favor. Is there a guy you're looking at
09:45tonight if it was just the Boston Celtics lineup to say, you know what? This guy could have a bounce
09:49back. Who would be the bounce back guy from three point range for you? Well, it's going to be it's
09:55ball. When you look at how absolutely terrible Tatum and Brown were in that game shooting the three and
10:02the fact that all but one of their shots in the third quarter, I think 19 or 20 of the shots in the
10:08third quarter, a lot from those two guys were threes and nothing else. I do think I think Tatum
10:15and Brown are the guys that you have to look at. There are still some questions about whether
10:19Porzingis, he was sick. Is he going to be available? Is he not a hundred percent? But also give credit
10:26to the Knicks perimeter defense. They know how to play the Celtics and they know that the threes are
10:32coming and they did a great job of contesting many of those and making life miserable for him. So
10:38if they do that again, it'll be interesting. But if not, I think Brown and Tatum are the guys that
10:43are going to make up the difference from what we saw in game one. If we keep it simple from a Knicks
10:50perspective tonight, because we know once Jalen Brunson gets to the playoffs, it's basically Jalen's
10:54team and it all runs through him. Is there a guy outside of Jalen Brown that you need to step up for
10:59the New York Knicks if they want to leave Boston with a 2-0 series lead?
11:05It's listen, of course it's Brunson, but Kat's got to stay out of foul trouble.
11:09Like you can't have three fouls in the first, you know, halfway through the second quarter.
11:13They are going to have to figure something out there, but you also got to take a look at a guy
11:19like Josh Hart here. And I think his numbers are a little bit undervalued right now. I think his PRA
11:25is points, rebounds, and assists at 25 and a half. This was a guy that played 45 minutes
11:31in that game in the overtime game one. He had 28 combined points, rebounds, and assists.
11:38This is the guy averages at least 26, 27 in the playoffs. I think Josh Hart is another guy
11:45that you can expect consistency from in this game, especially since all eyes are going to be on
11:51stopping Brunson. And game number two tonight, 9 30 p.m. Eastern. That is the Oklahoma City Thunder
11:57is an 11 point favorite here at the FanDuel Sportsbook going up against the Denver Nuggets
12:00in a total of 229 and a half. And once again, if you're looking at the betting statistics
12:05on the FanDuel Sportsbook, Joe, everybody loves the Nuggets. And I mean, everybody,
12:10how about 85% of the tickets? That's 85 out of every 100 tickets on the spread tonight
12:17coming in on the Denver Nuggets. Does that send shivers down your spine, Joe?
12:23I'll tell you what, if they may love the Nuggets, you know what I love?
12:27Russell Westbrook's point total over 12 and a half here. And I am going to play it up
12:33until the market adjusts because he is the only guy coming off that bench that we know that we can
12:39rely upon. And he's playing some great basketball with them right now. So you want to keep giving me
12:45low point totals for Westbrook. I'm good to go. I'll keep betting it up and over here tonight.
12:52By the way, Nicole Jokic to get a triple-double tonight, Joe Ranieri,
12:56minus 1050. Not like plus 100, not minus two, minus 1050. Not a double-double. You heard me right.
13:03A triple-double for Jokic is minus 1050. But if you want to go down a little bit farther on that
13:09Nugget side, how about your boy Russ in OKC? Triple-double. Used to do it all the time.
13:1420-to-1 price point there. Fun stuff tonight between these two games. Much more NBA to talk
13:19about in just a few more segments here when J.Y. joins. The NBA is hot right now. Hot with
13:24underdogs. Will that trend continue? My goodness. Will the fandom creep in from certain people that
13:30absolutely love those New York Knicks? We'll find out next. It's Donnie Wright's out of
13:34Joe Ranieri. And the coach, James Young, joins us. Oh, he's feeling good. Oh, he's loving life.
13:40Bing-bong. New York Knicks. Go, New York. Go, New York. Go. Let's start there. How are the
13:45vibes today? Game day, coach. You know, it's great to be all with you guys. Listen, at the end of the
13:51day, the worst it's going to be, it's 1-1. But not all wins are equal. I'm very concerned about this
13:59game. But I will say this. If the Knicks go up 2-0, good luck being around New York City sometime
14:08around 3-30, you know, on Saturday. They may be more fired up than the St. Paddy's Day parade.
14:15That's how crazy those fan bases are going to be. But let's pump our brakes because we have some
14:19games to talk about last night first. Oh, we certainly do. Pacers and the Cavaliers,
14:24120-119 final. A 2-0. Coach, 2-0 series lead heading back to Indy. Like, yeah, of course,
14:29Cavaliers are up 2-0. Let's see what the Pacers got. No, no, no, no, no. 2-0 series lead
14:34for the Pacers. Before we even get to the game itself here, the way it finished for me,
14:39Halliburton gets that rebound. I'm winning this myself. Watch me take this step back.
14:43Dagger, coach. You got to love as a coach to see your players say, this is my game. This is my team.
14:49This is my show. You had to love to see that. You know what's really amazing? And we'll get to the
14:54late game last night. Is the coaching malpractice and the executing malpractice by three of the top
15:06teams in the NBA, right? You look at the fact of OKC obviously fouling, right? When Nikola Jokic on
15:16the sideline. And then obviously the fact of giving up a transition three off of missed free throw,
15:23which is something I don't think I've ever seen in my entire life. You have the Boston Celtics
15:27shooting like, what, 70% of their shots from the three-point line when they couldn't hit the broad
15:32side of the barn. And then you get to Cleveland, who was undermanned. Donovan Mitchell puts the whole
15:39team on his back. Max Struis is making plays. They're winning the whole game. And you can't get a
15:47rebound off of miss free throw like that. This is how wild this kind of stuff guys happens in the
15:56NCAA tournament, right? Like wild finishes, like can't get the ball. All right. Now, how about this?
16:01I forget the fact that it shouldn't even have been that point because you can't even get the ball in
16:07bounds on the sideline out of bounds. Like the things that went on and are going on in the playoffs is
16:15absolutely maddening. And everybody wants to talk about teams winning it and stealing it. Yes. But
16:22there's gotta be so much more blame on the lack of execution by the three biggest favorites on the
16:29FanDuel sports book to win the title. The three biggest favorites and not even close in the numbers.
16:34The fact that those three teams lost like that, when you gotta wonder, is it going to come back to bite
16:40them over the course of their whole series? Hmm. You also gotta wonder coach,
16:47home court advantage does not mean what it used to. We haven't had a home team win yet. And yet we keep
16:54the market keeps rolling out these double digit spreads all over the place. It's the second round of the
17:00playoffs. These all these teams are very experienced. It feels like the numbers are all out of whack here as well.
17:07Wow. And I think the one thing people have to understand this, just so people know this.
17:12Seven out of the eight teams to make the Eastern or Western Conference finals or semifinals are the
17:18same as last year. All you've done is I think you've swapped out Dallas for I forget who they swapped out
17:24for Golden State, who has championship pedigree themselves. So guys, we're not talking about teams
17:29have not been in a spot before in the second round of playoffs. You've got seasoned teams. You've got damn
17:36good coaches and you look at it. It's like, oh, well, you know, Indiana, you know, they're terrible.
17:41Indiana had 50 wins this year. Nixon had 51 wins this year. The only team you're looking at and saying,
17:49oh, well, maybe they don't belong. Well, Minnesota and Golden State had 49 and 48 wins and a loaded
17:55Western Conference in which, you know, eight, all eight seats had 48 wins or higher. We're not
18:01talking about like, you know, FDU, you know, versus Purdue here. Like we're talking about,
18:08you know, St. Peter's. We're talking about teams that can play. And that's why it's so
18:13wild that the point spreads are so nuts that it's almost like the odds makers are daring us
18:21to say, don't take the underdog again, because they don't think it's going to happen. Be careful,
18:27folks. Just because lines go up doesn't mean you got to bite and take them. Yeah, it's it'll be fun
18:33to watch it play. And if we re-rack that series price between the Cavaliers and the Pacers now that
18:37the Cavs are down 0-2 in the series, it's a minus 198 price point here for the Pacers, the Cavs at a plus
18:43166, which can feed off these last two games, coach. Number one, do you think that this series is
18:49still salvageable for the Cavaliers? And number two, what's the health status that we're looking
18:53forward to for the Cavaliers? Because if they're not healthy, they're not winning this series.
18:57No, because what happens, Donny, is because Indiana has now become the sum of their parts,
19:02right? It's deeper than Halliburton. Halliburton, Turner, Nemburt, who I loved going into game two,
19:08was that like five and a half to one to lead the series in threes. I'm like, wait,
19:12why are people not betting this? Well, he's now jumped out to it. No, I think he had four or five last
19:17night. You know, you look at Mathering, you look at even Toppin, you look at McConnell,
19:23they got a number of guys, right, that can score the ball. And Cleveland is about the sum of their
19:30parts. So when you take away their starting point guard, when you take away their starting power forward
19:34defensive player of the year, when you take away arguably the second best six man of the year
19:40or probably behind Peyton Pritchard, now your strength is now becoming your weakness versus
19:48the team that literally can just keep rolling out lineups and repeat the process. It's about that.
19:55So now the question is, is the series over? I don't think it's over, but that series spread of
20:02Indiana minus one and a half games and minus 124 is really enticing because I just got to get two.
20:10I just got to get two and I got it in my own building. Can I see there being a split and it
20:17being three one? Yes. But then I don't see, you know, boom, boom, boom, lose five, six, seven,
20:23including six at home minus one and a half games at minus 124 for Indiana Pacers. Seems like a pretty
20:29good bet the way they're playing and the lack of depth right now. And by the way, shout out to
20:36Indiana. Like, I want to know what kind of rabbit foot or four leaf clover, what they got, because
20:41every team they play the playoffs last two years, everybody seems to get hurt right when they get
20:47to play that. Kind of amazing though, coach. I mean, what, one other thing here, how it, to me, it's
20:55amazing. It's just, maybe it's a generational thing here, but the idea that not one, not two, but three
21:02of your main guys in game two of a play in the second round of the playoffs didn't even give it
21:08a go is just absolutely mind-blowing to me here, coach. And now they're down two games to none.
21:13It just thinks about what, what kind of maybe toughness or lack thereof. You look at last year
21:20when the Knicks had game seven, everybody knew OG couldn't go. What? OG just gives it a go.
21:28Brunson, banged up. Like, to me, that's when you start to question a little bit about the mental
21:33toughness. Now listen, at the end of the year, we know, you know what it is, guys. Are you hurt?
21:39Are you injured? Right? There's a difference. Everybody's hurt. You play through being hurt.
21:45Or are you injured? My thing is, if you're injured, you do everything in your power,
21:51including more months to see if you can give your team any kind of emotional lift. But I guess they
21:56didn't need it. It's not about the lift for Cleveland. It's about the finish because they
22:00started out hotter than fish grease. And then they kind of closed up shop when it got down to the
22:05fourth quarter. Yeah. Of course, fourth quarter, absolute collapse there, but also in the other
22:10series that was taking place there, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Golden State Warriors, we're not a
22:13serious organization for the Timberwolves right now. I just don't feel like we are. You have five
22:17games smashing of the Los Angeles Lakers. You're home against the Warriors. 13 minutes into the
22:22game, you have the superstar in Steph Curry go down. Should be an easy victory for the Timberwolves,
22:28end up losing to the Warriors. We're going to re-rack that series as well with the coach and also
22:32get right into who's going to win game number two in the Real Garden. Yeah, Real Garden's in Boston.
22:38We'll be right back. It's the NBA playoffs and we have to coach James Young with us now to sort of
22:45dive into what actually happened last night and then what's going to happen tonight here. And last
22:49night, the Warriors, 99-88, you might look at them like, yeah, the Warriors won a couple games in
22:53round number one for those similar scores. Makes some sense here. But the Warriors were coming off
22:57of the game number seven. The Timberwolves were rested and ready. The Warriors lost their best player
23:01in franchise history before the game started. It felt like I only played 13 minutes in that game and
23:06they still lost in embarrassing fashion here. Two things going to ask you, coach. What happened
23:11last night? And if Steph's down for any period of time, two, three, four games, the rest of the
23:15series, can the Warriors actually do this without Steph? No, they can't do it without Steph. But I got
23:22to give the Warriors a lot of credit. And listen, people are going on saying Steve Curry is doing a
23:28great coaching job. Ain't that two words. Bad buddy. That bad buddy saved your, you know what, game
23:37seven. And they repeated the process again. So obviously you're getting this out of Buddy Heald,
23:43one of the best shooters of this generation, but a guy that can't guard a cone. So where's the issue?
23:50Go to the other side for the anointed one. The one that could beat anybody in a one-on-one game.
23:58The one that I said could be a top five player in the NBA at the end of the season. And that's
24:05Anthony Edwards. And you have one point at the break. So now you're sitting there and you look
24:12at the end of the game and say, whoops, 23-14. It was great. Oh God, no. He was awful. Awful.
24:20Disengaged. Some of his shots were absolutely out of bounds, particularly shooting from three,
24:27where I think he should have been like, no offense. I'm sorry, Jimmy Butler, you're tough,
24:31but I'm taking you to the rack because I am more physical than you are. I am younger and more athletic.
24:35So to me, it was just an embarrassing performance by a team that should have looked across the way,
24:44saw Steph hurt and say, we got you. Now we're going to close it out. Instead, their immaturity stepped in
24:53and said, Steph's hurt. We're okay. Now it's 1-0. Now you've lost home court. And now you go to game two.
25:02But I do think if I'm Steve Kerr, honestly, I'm holding Steph game two. I'm actually holding him
25:08game three. I'm not bringing him back until I am down in the series. Because you guys know,
25:14you come back too early from a hamstring, those two weeks could turn into two, three months.
25:20Yeah, exactly. You take two steps forward and four steps back in that spot there, coach.
25:26All right. Speaking of game two here tonight, your New York Knicks taking on the Celtics.
25:31Talk about embarrassing. 45 missed threes was embarrassing for the Celtics. However,
25:38I don't see them changing their game plan in any way, shape, or form. They're still going to chuck
25:43it up, coach, because it feels like they got one gear and that's shoot a bunch of threes and the
25:49math will work out. What if it doesn't tonight here, coach?
25:53If they're down 0-2?
25:55I mean, let's be honest, guys. I mean, someone's got to explain to me how the Celtics go from
26:02eight and a half point favorites, lose game one, to ten and a half point favorites in game two.
26:09Okay. Can the Knicks get blown out? Yes. But the sample size of the last two game times that New York
26:19has played Boston with their full roster. Knicks lose by two. Knicks win in overtime by three.
26:25Okay. So when you look at it, people are like, well, Boston missed, you know, 45 threes.
26:31Well, Carl Anthony Towns was in foul trouble. Besides the one, before Mikel Bridges hit the three in the
26:36quarter, put him up six, he was two of 12 from the floor. And they fouled Mitchell Robinson and he looked
26:40like Chris Dudley on the foul line because he couldn't make a free throw shooting three of 10.
26:44The team shot 54%. So now I'm telling you that Boston's going to play better, but I think New
26:49York's going to play better too. And we don't notice that as a poor Zingas, there's another guy just,
26:54you know, you know, is finishing in thin air. So to me, I'm taking the 10 and a half points if I'm New
27:02York, because I think Tipton's going to play this game close to the best again. They're going to find a
27:07way to be in the game. And let's be honest, if the Celtics don't blow out the Knicks, this is a
27:13three, four, five point game down the stretch. With all due respect, folks, who are you trusting?
27:20Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, or Jalen Brunson, who's the best closer in the league?
27:28If we are looking at this game tonight from a player perspective, coach, because it's a lot
27:32of fun total around that two, two, 10 and a half, a lot of three point shots missed here in game
27:36number one. And we were talking earlier here, myself and Joe, who's going to be that three point
27:40guy for the Boston Celtics, but you're a Knicks guy. I need to hear from you tonight. Like what's
27:44the game plan tonight? Is it Jalen going there, take the basketball, dominate the ball? Or who do
27:50you need to step up tonight? Like what has to change? Because the one thing we do know is
27:53if the Celtics made an average amount of three point shots, they would have beat the New York
27:57Knicks. They didn't. Let's just say those shots go down. You have to counter punch outside of
28:01Brunson. Who's your key player on the New York Knicks tonight? It's Kat. It's Kat. I think Kat's
28:09going to have a monster game because if there's no poor Zingas, Al Holford, he's going to be able
28:13to run around with him. And then if Al Holford comes out of the game, then you're putting in Luke
28:18Cornett. So I'm looking at the bigs, I should say plural, Kat and Mitchell Robinson. Mitchell Robinson
28:27with his rebound prop, Kat points plus rebounds prop. I think if I'm New York and I look at
28:32Horford and I look at Cornett, I'm saying that's where my advantage may be. Instead of going outside
28:38and going through Brunson, go inside out, Kat establishes himself early. If Kat is himself
28:44and he should be able to dominate Al Horford, that's another reason why the Knicks stay the
28:49game. It's going to be a big game for Kat tonight. Better be a big game for Kat here tonight.
28:55Kat. Are you leaning over, Coach? Because it feels like the total, if both teams play
29:00better, we're getting more than doing our 11 points, are we not?
29:04Yeah, this game screams over to me because I think you're going to get better offensive
29:08basketball on both sides. You're going to get a better Kat. You may get Bridges hit a couple
29:13of more shots. Brunson will be Brunson. Maybe get a little bit less from OG. But then on
29:17the Boston side, I just don't see them shooting the ball like that. And if they are, if they
29:23are, the bigger question is, and this is the biggest problem with analytics is, take the
29:28analytics and throw it out the window. Put your head down, drive to the basket, get to
29:34the foul line. I'm sick of this analytics. I'm sick of this. Don't take a pull-up jumpers.
29:39It is a farce. It is ruining basketball. If you got to get to the rack, get to the back.
29:44And I'm looking at you out of all people, Jason Tatum, stop the pretty boy ball and play
29:50some big boy ball because it is the playoffs now. Let's see what happens here. The Celtics
29:55are 370 favorites still to win that series. The coach and Joe Renier will close out the
29:59early line next. Stay tuned.
30:02All right. Welcome back in the early line here on the Sports Grid Network. Joe Renier alongside
30:08the coach, James Young, as we're getting ready for the NBA playoffs to continue tonight. We
30:13talked about the Celtics and the Knicks. That'll be your first game up tonight. The next game,
30:19coach, is going to be, of course, Denver taking on OKC. Denver shocking the world by showing
30:26up and winning on the road. And now, well, here we go again. We have 11 points now that
30:33we're laying with OKC to bounce back. And I don't get it, coach. I really don't. Denver
30:38is now proven not only can they go toe-to-toe with them because I believe they went toe-to-toe
30:44during a regular season with them and split both games. What are we going to get here in a
30:49game, too? Is it a blowout to you in this one as well?
30:53Absolutely not. I mean, let's be honest. Denver has won three of the last four matchups
30:58versus OKC. And you just look at the fact of they have the best player in the world.
31:04And I was so impressed by watching that timeout in the second quarter and seeing Nikola Jokic
31:12imploring his guys. And it's something that I've not seen in a while. You saw every player
31:19eyes glued to the Joker. Now, he did turn around and turn the ball over for his possession out of
31:24the timeout. But I saw a team that people forget won an NBA championship not too long ago.
31:33Well, a team that's got the best player in the world, a team that's got, you know, a really good
31:39at times playoff performer and Jamal Murray. And they got two guys that when they play well,
31:48and that's Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. that are flat out dangerous. Do I think Oklahoma
31:55City wins a game? Yes. Do I think Oklahoma City wins it by 12 points? Absolutely not.
32:03They will keep this game close. And I think they will find a way to cover the points.
32:09Give me Denver plus 11.
32:12All right. And let's talk about it, coach, because as long as they keep hanging these
32:16ridiculous numbers on Russell Westbrook, I'm going to keep betting is over points prop.
32:20It was 10 and a half on Monday. I know you sat there. You and I are both in agreement.
32:25We're going up and over. And now it's 12 and a half. And I still not buying it. The guy's going
32:31to play 30 minutes. Russ is cooking, man. What else is there to do here, coach?
32:37And here's the thing that I don't understand, right? Let's just be honest here, folks.
32:42If they're going to hang an over under of 229 and a half, you mean to tell me that Russell
32:51Westbrook can't get 13 of them? They kind of work hand in hand, right? He's going to play starter
32:59minutes. He's going to have an impact. He will be in the game late game situations, right? And he'll
33:08find a way because of the fact that OKC can get up and down the floor. This is the kind of matchup
33:13that benefits Russ. It's like they're playing the Lakers or a team that slows the game down.
33:19They want to get out of the run. And who's the most athletic player on the Denver Nuggets
33:24is Russell Westbrook. You're also looking at the fact that SGA is going to win the MVP.
33:29And people are all of a sudden talking about Russell Westbrook like they put like, you know,
33:36they're putting dirt on his grave already. It's a prideful guy. And he thinks still that he's the
33:42greatest player in the history of that franchise. Probably he is until SGA plays a longer career.
33:49Russell West will find a way. He ain't shooting no four or five shots in this game. He don't get
33:55up 10 shots or one or two of them are going to be bad. Of course they are because that's what he does.
34:01But he'll get enough to go over 12 and a half points tonight. I think he gets 15. Even look at
34:05maybe 15 plus at plus money. And I mean, let's face it. When they won the championship,
34:10they had a pretty good six man coming off the bench there. Bruce Brown, didn't they Denver? And now
34:15Russ, boy, that's starting five with the length of the athleticism, the toughness. You got a reliable
34:22six guy coming off the bench. Denver is dangerous. You think Denver or the Knicks have a better shot
34:28at winning the series out right now, coach?
34:30It's, it's, it's, that's so close because you got to go with the best player in the world and
34:38Nikola Jokic to see what they could do. I just, I don't know. Maybe I've, I, the orange and blue
34:44skies are out here in New Jersey. And now all of a sudden I'm looking at the Knicks and saying,
34:49Hey, they got a shot. Either way, both series are going to be exciting. I said six beforehand
34:57and they both go six. Don't be shocked that one of these teams get picked off because they are
35:03well coached and they have veteran presence. But either way, this is going to be exciting
35:07basketball in the second round of the NBA playoffs.
35:10I'm all for it. Gotta love the playoffs coach, James Young. We appreciate it as always. We'll see
35:16you again throughout the week. You'll have another edition of the early line tomorrow. Enjoy the
35:21games. We'll see you then.