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00:00If you've got a problem with Draymond Green saying that he has a hard time getting up for games in
00:05March,
00:06or if you've got a problem with Draymond Green kind of having this reputation of tapping out a little bit
00:14when Steph's not playing.
00:15You remember the year Steph gets hurt.
00:17Oh yeah, he missed a whole bunch.
00:19And he missed a whole bunch, and so it's sort of like, why would I play?
00:22And you had an issue with that to a degree.
00:24I find this odd, because in those cases, you're having an issue with a situation that does not lead directly
00:34to the playoffs.
00:36And this one does.
00:38This one leads.
00:39Kind of.
00:39No, like there is a path.
00:41I mean, it can, but the 10 only has done it once.
00:44I understand that.
00:45And the 9 rarely has done it as well.
00:47Even you would agree this is a different kind of 10.
00:50Like, this is a 10 that was built largely on Steph Curry not being available.
00:56This was a 10 that was built on Kristaps not being on the team.
01:00Like, the team that is showing up next week potentially as the 10 is way better than the team that
01:07kind of earned the 10.
01:08They're a little better.
01:09I wouldn't say they're way better.
01:11Okay, but they're better.
01:11Sure.
01:12I mean, you don't have Jimmy.
01:13You don't have Moses.
01:14You've got Steph working his way back.
01:16You've got parts of Kristaps, Porzingis, and a bunch of guys who have never been deep into any sort of
01:23a playoff.
01:23I'm with you that they're probably not going to make it out of it, but they've got a shot.
01:27And again, I just find this statement that I'm about to play for you odd in that the organization has
01:34gone to great lengths over the last month and a half.
01:39I mean, Steve Kerr is like angry on the radio at the mere sort of suggestion that they don't still
01:47have a path to the playoffs.
01:49And damn it, this is what we are here to do in meaningful basketball.
01:53Like, that has been the rallying cry of the organization.
01:57And now we get to where we're like a week away from it happening.
02:02And Draymond says this.
02:04It's not exciting.
02:05It's not.
02:06But, you know, I'm a competitor.
02:07So, going to the game, I'm going to do all I can to win.
02:10But it's not that exciting.
02:12Do you think you'll be excited next week when you have two do-or-die road games that, you know,
02:15they'll be on big stages?
02:17Well, listen, you go on the road in a game that you need to win, I think, you know, as
02:22a competitor, you're going to rise to the challenge, you know.
02:25But I'm not going to sleep tomorrow night like, man, we got to play in next week.
02:29Got to get my rest.
02:30Like, no, it ain't that exciting.
02:32Yeah.
02:32I mean, I'll say it again.
02:34Yeah, no, I mean, I'm not.
02:35Like, no lies told, I understand his perspective.
02:39I really do.
02:41I just wouldn't say that to the fans.
02:45I wouldn't say that to the fans who, by the way, this week were, like, they were so much more
02:49activated.
02:51Because Steph was back.
02:52Right.
02:52And that's what Steph is back here to do.
02:55That's what they've been telling us, isn't it?
02:57Yeah, he's back there to, you know, try like heck to get a series.
03:01Yeah.
03:02And I think when you get to Tuesday or Wednesday when the Warriors play, that Draymond's excitement level will go
03:06up.
03:07And I'm just not putting that much weight into the comment.
03:10And, yeah, in the past when he said, I can't get up for Orlando in February, then that tells me
03:16that the season's too long if you can't get up for it.
03:18And what we've seen since those comments, which were a couple years ago, nobody gets up for anybody.
03:23Anybody, other than the really big games, nobody gets up for all 82, except one guy who will remain nameless
03:31as he tries to play all 82.
03:33Probably not.
03:34That guy gets, he gets up for all of them.
03:36So, there's that.
03:38And, yeah, that comment bothered me more than this one.
03:41I just take it in the context, especially where he clearly is tired after a game.
03:46Yeah.
03:47And he's super annoyed at what just took place.
03:49He is a competitor.
03:50I get it.
03:51And that was not competition down the stretch, where you're intentionally fouling a guy, and Seth Curry is No. 2
03:58among Currys in career free throw.
04:00Oh, he's had a Dell.
04:0086.
04:01What was Dell?
04:0284.
04:03Okay.
04:03They can flat out shoot the free throw, although he went 2 for 4 in that spot last night.
04:08So, that to me, I'm hearing Draymond, and I'm thinking, he's frustrated.
04:12He's obviously tired after, you know, the year.
04:15Here we are in April, and you're not really playing for anything right now, other than, you know, can we
04:20get Steph in some sort of a rhythm?
04:22And so, it's frustrating.
04:24I don't take much heft in his comments.
04:27And, you know, I'm not going to go to sleep tonight and say, oh, boy, I got to stay fresh
04:31for the play-in.
04:32And, yeah, I mean, it's in six days, so hopefully you'll go to sleep Monday and say, you know, think,
04:38hey, I got to be fresh for tomorrow's play-in.
04:40That's a different story.
04:42Well, it's not about, I got to be fresh.
04:44Like, that's his job.
04:45That's his job.
04:46But, again, I totally understand where he's coming from.
04:52I really do.
04:53But, when Steph Curry works for two months to get back for a tournament, and the fans are all in
05:00the process of kind of going, okay, like, this isn't much, but, right, shoot your shot, it's all you got,
05:06and this is all we got.
05:07So, let's see.
05:09Let's see if they can earn a series.
05:10I'm not talking about are they going to go on a run or anything like that, but let's see that
05:15the Warriors can get into the playoffs.
05:17The rest of the organization has trumpeted for weeks that this matters to them.
05:20And I felt like that came off a little dismissive of the process that's about to unfold.
05:27That's all.
05:28I get it.
05:29I understand where he's coming from.
05:31Once you fly first class, it's really hard to go back to coach.
05:35Yep.
05:35I get it.
05:36Once you compete for the Larry six times, it's hard to be the 10 and get excited for the 10
05:42-9 on a Tuesday or a Wednesday.
05:43I get it, but this is what we're doing.
05:45And I do believe that it is sort of incumbent upon people, especially when you are in a performance-based
05:53industry and people are paying to come see you, I do think it is incumbent upon you to express excitement
06:04about what you're doing.
06:05He's not going to be inauthentic, and you always talk about authenticity, and the first day we ever had a
06:09show, you promised me that you would be authentic, and that's what our show would be, and this is as
06:15authentic as it gets.
06:16There's two things here.
06:17He's not going to go out there and just go like, you know, playing, guys.
06:20I can't even sleep.
06:21I'm so excited.
06:22Nobody's asking for that.
06:24Right.
06:24Nobody's asking for that.
06:25There's somewhere in between where you're looking for him to be, and he's not going to do that.
06:28He just interrupted a reporter to tell him that it wasn't exciting.
06:33Right.
06:34That, like, sure.
06:35That was his moment.
06:37He did a four-minute speech.
06:39There's a big difference between authenticity and, like, asking for inauthenticity.
06:46I'm not asking for fake.
06:48I'm just saying that I don't think that as a Warrior fan that felt very good.
06:53I don't think it felt very good.
06:54And if I were Steph Curry, I would probably be like, okay.
06:59Like, I don't think they're so used to Draymond saying stuff that I'm sure it just is totally water off
07:06a duck's back.
07:07And I hope I'm making that point correctly.
07:09This is not a big deal.
07:12I'm not asking for anything inauthentic.
07:15But just because something is authentic doesn't mean you have to trumpet it.
07:19There's not, like, a rule that every thought that you say has to be said.
07:23And it's no rule, but he is the spokesman for keeping it real.
07:28And when he gets a chance to express how he feels, especially in something like this.
07:34And Nick Friedle, actually, it was Friedle and Slates who were asking him the questions.
07:39And it was kind of a three-person back and forth.
07:42And so, you know, Friedle, actually, a guy who also doesn't like the play-in tournament,
07:46kind of led him into, you know, the play-in and all the other comments that he made.
07:51And so, yeah, Draymond's going to speak his mind.
07:54I get it.
07:54He's not just going to think, you know what, I should probably say what the Warriors want me to say
08:00here
08:00because, you know, that's the right thing to do.
08:03This argument is a little—not that it's an argument.
08:06No, it is.
08:07I'm tired of being told that I agree with you all the time.
08:09Well, and now you're over here agreeing with Draymond, which you never do.
08:14Because he's right this time.
08:15And I'm going to keep it real and recognize when he's right.
08:18Right, but this is where you're being a little bit disingenuous.
08:21That's not true.
08:22No, here's why.
08:23That's not true.
08:23No, you're saying that he's right because Draymond's authentic
08:27and he's the king of keeping it real.
08:30But the only reason you like it in this case is because you agree
08:33because he's talking about something that you also don't like.
08:36Confirmation bias.
08:37Right.
08:37Absolutely.
08:38But if he was keeping it real about something else,
08:40what if he kept it real about how much the refs suck?
08:43Then you would be like, this is out of line.
08:45Depends on if he had a case.
08:47Not really.
08:48You wouldn't like it.
08:49Depending on how it went.
08:51But, yeah, I generally defend the refs more than probably any other human being.
08:55I get what he's saying and I get what you're saying,
08:57but there's a confluence here that for me doesn't work.
09:00You're giving him credit for authenticity and keeping it real,
09:03which he always does, and you often don't like it.
09:06Well, I like it this time because he's on the right side of the topic.
09:09And that's my opinion.
09:11And that's fine.
09:12And you and I disagree on that.
09:14And I love that he called it out.
09:15And Nick Friedle joined us yesterday, and he also called it out.
09:19And I think more people who feel that way should speak on it.
09:22Yeah, that's great.
09:23Because this year is a great example of why it doesn't work
09:25because there was no race for the 10 seed.
09:28Both 11 seeds packed it in around the all-star break.
09:32But it's not just about that.
09:34It was created to try to have the 11 and the 12 seeds actually try.
09:38So you would limit the tanking teams.
09:41It sounds like it was created to get Zion in the playoffs.
09:43According to Mark Spears earlier, and that was a bubble thing.
09:46I don't think there's one reason why it was created.
09:49I don't think there's one reason why.
09:51Like, I equally, like, I'll accept your reason, but there are more.
09:55It also creates urgency basketball.
09:58It also creates a scenario where at the back end of the playoffs,
10:02which, by the way, we collectively ripped for years.
10:05Oh, the 7 and the 8 seed.
10:07Well, who the hell out here, 500 basketball, and you get to make the playoffs?
10:11And now, for those teams at the back end, we've made it harder.
10:15We've created an extra step for you to even be allowed in the playoffs.
10:18I like that.
10:20It's not just the anti-tanking measure.
10:22Yes, that's part of it, but that's not the only thing.
10:25And by the way, in this particular moment, you can say it didn't work
10:29because the Warriors have been the 10 for weeks and there was never going to change.
10:33That's true.
10:33Here's how it did work.
10:35The Warriors are definitely going home without it, and now they might make the playoffs.
10:40I like that.
10:41I don't.
10:42Okay, fine.
10:43They deserve to be going home.
10:45You're the 10 seed.
10:46You deserve to be going home.
10:48And that's a fair opinion.
10:49I don't share it, but it's a fair opinion.
10:50The 10 seed in the play in advancing is 1-9 in the five years they've done it.
10:55The 9 seed is 3-7.
10:58Right.
10:58So 4-16, the teams that don't belong, four times out of 20, they've been able to survive.
11:04But that's data, and this is Steph Curry, and those are very different things.
11:08The emotion of watching him play more games, I'm into.
11:11Or just the fact that he's probably the best player to ever play on a 10 seed.
11:15Like, this is a, again, this team that has a chance to play next week is factually better
11:23than what they've been for the last two months.
11:26Factually.
11:26It depends on, it's subjectivity.
11:28How so?
11:29It's your subjectivity.
11:31They didn't have Steph for the last two months, and now they do.
11:32They're better.
11:33Right.
11:34So they have a better chance to perform at a higher level.
11:36Well, they have Moses, and now they have Malafi Leons.
11:39He's not playing next week.
11:41I mean, who is playing?
11:42I don't know.
11:43Not him.
11:43Right.
11:44You're listening to 95.7 The Game, KGMZ FM and HC1 San Francisco,
11:48and Odyssey Sports Station, and the home of the Golden State Warriors and Valkyries,
11:51always live on the free Odyssey app, coming to you live from the Laughing Monk Studios.
11:55I guess that's a little bit of what I'm saying.
11:58You can hate to play in tournament, but I think as a Warrior fan,
12:01you should be kind of thankful for it right now because it's your only path.
12:04It's all you got.
12:06Like, let's see it.
12:07This is all we got.
12:08Steph, I mean, it's funny to me.
12:09I'm thankful because I love basketball and I love watching him play.
12:12And that's enough.
12:12It's a little bit, to me, it's undeserved in the reality of an eight-team playoff structure.
12:19And I get that.
12:19It's a little bit like when you have a league and you have first team, second team, third team,
12:25and then everybody gets two honorable mentions.
12:27And so you wind up with 47% of the players in the league getting an award.
12:32Like, it totally waters down the award.
12:35But every sport has this, right?
12:36We let whoever wins the NFC South host playoff games every year.
12:40Which is wrong.
12:41Okay.
12:41And again, I'm not like, I get your opinion.
12:44I don't share it, but I do understand it.
12:46I really do.
12:47But sports is littered with that.
12:49It's because of money.
12:51You want to have money.
12:52And Mark Spears, who joined us earlier from ESPN, said that.
12:54Like, you know, all of their partners, they want to have extra shows and extra gate.
13:00You've been into what's going on with the Sharks.
13:02Do they deserve this?
13:04If they get the eight seed, yes.
13:05But there's no skate-in game.
13:08And I like that.
13:09The skate-in tournament.
13:10That actually sounds kind of fun.
13:11Yeah.
13:12Yeah.
13:13If they get the eight seed, I mean.
13:15Then they've earned it.
13:16There are a lot more teams in hockey that have a better record than the Sharks, then don't.
13:23Like, I'm asking, what's the line of, quote, deserve?
13:26If you're in the top eight in your conference, you go to the playoffs.
13:29Why eight?
13:30Because that's eight.
13:31Then you have four match-ups.
13:32You don't give a team a bye or whatever.
13:35Why don't we stop at four?
13:37Because you want to have eight and you have three divisions.
13:39Why?
13:39You have two divisions because you want more revenue.
13:41Well, but then why not?
13:42Then let them all in.
13:43Let's have a 30-team cockamamie.
13:46You stink NBA tournament.
13:48I'm just asking you, where's the line?
13:50The line is eight.
13:50But that's also because someone told you that.
13:54The world made it eight.
13:56Right.
13:56It's evolved into eight.
13:58The NFL now is seven.
13:59And you know what?
14:00The NFL pretty soon is going to go to eight.
14:02And the NFL should be six still.
14:04You have no problem during this show grabbing pieces of paper and putting all kinds of unbelievable
14:10data down on it.
14:12When they Dayton play in.
14:14Oh, yeah.
14:15Cockamamie from 64 to 68 thing happens.
14:18You have no.
14:19Miami of Ohio.
14:20You have no issue with it.
14:21Because that is, you know, they've had that as a number.
14:24I don't want them to expand to.
14:26Was it 76?
14:27They're going to do.
14:28Or 84.
14:29Did you want them to expand to 68?
14:30No, I didn't.
14:32Do you want it at 64?
14:3364 is a clean number.
14:35It's clean.
14:36Because it allows you to go to Vegas two weeks ahead of time.
14:39You got 16 on a Thursday, 16 games.
14:41There's something that's very clean about it.
14:44Now the NFL, they've gone to seven teams.
14:47And so extra playoff game.
14:49And now we have a Monday.
14:50Okay.
14:51Football.
14:51Like free pizza in the break room.
14:54It can't be bad.
14:55I ate a burger from five hours ago.
14:57And it was a cold, hard burger.
15:00How's it going, by the way?
15:01Great.
15:02Okay, good.
15:02It's working its way down.
15:03Okay.
15:04Heading south.
15:05It's like you on your trip with your daughter tonight.
15:07Slowly heading south.
15:09Won't be slow.
15:10Yes.
15:10Won't be slow.
15:11Hopefully this is, because we don't have a break for a while.
15:13That's where we're going to end up.
15:14But we won't be slow getting there.
15:16Anyway, listen, I'm purposefully kind of pushing it a little bit.
15:20Because I just, like, I'm always sort of perked up when someone goes,
15:25that team doesn't deserve.
15:28It's like, well, but so where's the line?
15:30Eight.
15:31Right.
15:32But it's only eight because you were born in a certain year.
15:35Like, if you had been watching all the way back and all the way back.
15:38Like, there's always, every year, and I have, he's the same uncle,
15:43in the corner of every holiday we go to.
15:45And he's over there in the corner.
15:47Uncle Dips.
15:47It's actually, it's not.
15:49His name's Uncle Lin.
15:50You're not old enough to be Uncle Lin yet.
15:52But I know you're going to get there.
15:54And Uncle Lin will sit down, and there'll be food,
15:57and then the game will be on,
15:58and he can't get out of, like, the second quarter before he pulls out.
16:02You know?
16:03And then it's immediately, let's launch into everything that's wrong with sports
16:08because it's not like it used to be.
16:10Because Lin has been around since, like, I don't know,
16:13the regular season started, and then the next week you have the championship game.
16:17And we had two teams.
16:19Boop, there you go.
16:20You go play.
16:20And then it goes to four.
16:22And then it goes to eight.
16:23And then it goes to ten.
16:24And the NFL goes from four to six.
16:27And now they're at seven.
16:28And it's just like, yes, there's always going to be more.
16:31And when do we decide that, no, now that's enough.
16:35And I don't want more, and this team doesn't deserve it.
16:38Well, you decide when you realize you're letting in crap.
16:41And that's what we have in the play-in.
16:43This year you actually have almost all winning teams.
16:46Yeah.
16:47Gasps.
16:47But you've got a warrior team.
16:49You have a losing record.
16:50And I know you lost your best player for a while.
16:52And you lost your second best player for even longer.
16:54And you lost your sixth best player who was on the come.
16:57And he's gone.
16:59And the guy you acquired wasn't able to play.
17:01And you've got a 40-year-old center.
17:02And darn it, the schedule at the start of the year was really, really rugged.
17:06You have a losing record.
17:07You don't deserve postseason or whatever this is, basketball.
17:11And that's fair, but there are also circumstances, many of which you just detailed.
17:15And they are the only team right now that does not have a winning record that is going to be
17:21in this dance next week.
17:22They're the only one.
17:24Right.
17:24And that's the anomaly because most years there are teams with 32 wins.
17:28A 32-50 team gets in.
17:31But with the circumstances as they are, I'm pretty damn comfortable with the 20 teams that are going to play
17:36basketball beyond this weekend.
17:37I am mostly uncomfortable.
17:39I'm excited that the Warriors will be among them.
17:41It's good for business.
17:42I like watching Steph Curry run around and do impossible things.
17:45There you go.
17:46I enjoy watching him.
17:48So you're excited about the play-in tournament?
17:50I'm not excited about the play-in tournament.
17:52No, you enjoy it.
17:52I'm not going to go to bed tonight and say, oh, I'm excited.
17:54I need to rest up for the play-in tournament.
17:56When we get to that day and the game's coming up in two hours.
18:00You're going to be excited.
18:02I'll be looking forward to it, yeah.
18:03Yeah.
18:03I don't know if I'll be excited.
18:05You will be.
18:06I'll be yoked in, no doubt.
18:07By the way, the NCAA tournament went to 64 teams in 1984, I think.
18:13Okay.
18:14So they don't change all the time.
18:16No, it doesn't change all the time.
18:18But everything always expands.
18:20And expansion is not the answer.
18:23Look at the college football playoff cockamamie.
18:26Oh, James Madison, come on in.
18:28I'm not triggered by it.
18:29You played no one and you had a good year.
18:31I think the norm is that as people get older, they get triggered by things because they're new.
18:36This has nothing to do with my age.
18:38This has to do with, I'm older.
18:41I know, but this is not that.
18:42I didn't just say you.
18:44Right.
18:44The norm for human beings is that things always change and change becomes harder as you get older.
18:53Because you think, why?
18:55Why?
18:56Why?
18:56We're fine now.
18:58Right?
18:58My mom still writes checks.
19:00We don't need Venmo.
19:02We don't need Zelle.
19:03I don't need a QR code or Apple Cash.
19:08I know how to write a check.
19:11And the rest of us will look at it and go, I don't understand what the problem is.
19:14This isn't that hard.
19:16Give me your phone for 10 minutes, mom.
19:18I'm going to set all this up for you.
19:19And then life is so much easier.
19:21You don't have to take a stamp out and head down the street and all of these things.
19:26But that's the way.
19:27And I very much feel that in sports a lot.
19:30Yeah, this is not my, this is not where I'm coming from.
19:32That's fine.
19:32It's not where you're coming from.
19:33It's where a lot of people are coming from.
19:35I don't mind expanding.
19:36The NFL expanding to seven, I think it gives incentive to a team to be the one seed because
19:42you're the only one that gets the week off.
19:43So more football, incentivize the one, good expansion.
19:48Basketball going to a 10 team, 20 of the 30 of you get in regardless of how bad you are.
19:54And then you get to slug it out.
19:56That to me, bad expansion.
19:57You like 17 games in the NFL?
19:59I do, yeah.
20:00You ready for 18?
20:01I like 17, but also we're starting to see a little bit of the downside, which is the
20:06last couple of weeks for some of these teams, like, I mean, it's not so much tanking, but
20:12you are incentivized to maybe rest your starting quarterback.
20:15You like Thursday night football?
20:17I do like Thursday night football.
20:18You like Wednesday night football?
20:19I'm not sure yet.
20:21It hasn't happened other than a couple of times.
20:23Yeah, COVID, out of COVID.
20:24The way it is right now is a beautiful rhythm.
20:28You get Thursday, Fridays for the high schools, Saturday if you're into college football, in
20:33December you get NFL, Sunday's your day, and then Monday, I don't love the Monday doubleheader,
20:39two games on at once, or the staggered doubleheader.
20:42I like it because we're on the air and you can watch two games at once.
20:46Look, look, everybody gets to like what they like and not like what they don't like and
20:49whatnot, but I mean, the rule is, and we're sitting here talking about this right now,
20:5510 years from now, there'll be more.
20:57Right, there'll be 18 games in the NFL, and there'll be eight teams in the playoffs.
21:02There will be more.
21:03And then after that, there will be more, and then more, and then more.
21:06I'll say this about baseball, what they've done with the wild card, I like.
21:10You're the higher seed, you get all three at your place, and I think that has been a
21:15good way to evolve the wild card.
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