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00:00Things about to get wild this weekend as the NBA playoffs truly begin.
00:04The play-in tournament officially ends tonight.
00:06So let's bring in Carlin Gay of Sporting News to get the final word
00:09on who he thinks will be in and who he thinks will be out.
00:11Carlin, great to catch up with you here on Newswire.
00:13Let's update everybody as to where we stand.
00:16Philadelphia won, so they're the seventh seed.
00:18They're in.
00:19They've moved on to the weekend.
00:20Golden State will play Phoenix tonight for the West eighth seed.
00:24And then Orlando, who lost, is going to play Charlotte tonight for the East eighth seed.
00:29So let's start there.
00:31Tonight, the Magic can do something that can put all this complaining to rest for the season.
00:38But I got to tell you, Carlin, Jamal Mosley is not feeling good.
00:41That seed is red hot.
00:43Charlotte's going to have LaMelo Ball, so that's good news for him,
00:46even though he, you know, got Bam Adebayo out of that game.
00:49That wasn't very nice.
00:50Charlotte, three-point favorites tonight in Orlando.
00:53They make these spreads for a reason, Carlin.
00:56No one is backing the Magic, but, but they have shown a propensity to win when the chips are down.
01:03Is this that time tonight?
01:06Yeah, it's funny.
01:07You know, you said that Jamal Mosley's seat is red hot.
01:10I don't know if you have a report before the season even ends that you're about to lose your job,
01:15regardless of what happens in the postseason, whether or not your seat's hot,
01:18or you just don't even have a seat to sit in.
01:20I think Jamal Mosley is going to be standing on the sideline until the season ends right now for the
01:25Orlando Magic.
01:26And that team is clearly not playing for him because we noticed that last week when the Boston Celtics
01:32and a cast of, you know, guys that they maybe picked up at the rec center on the way into
01:36the game
01:36beat the Orlando Magic to put them in this position.
01:40They should have been playing in the first play-in game and had home court advantage in that game
01:45instead of playing in this one.
01:46And they lost their opportunity there.
01:48They showed up in Philly.
01:50They kind of gave Philly a little bit of a fight, but they ultimately lost the game.
01:53And I think the same thing is going to happen tonight.
01:55Yes, they'll have the home court advantage, but when push comes to shove,
01:59if you look into the huddle and you know that your head coach isn't going to be your head coach,
02:03regardless of what happens, win, lose, or draw, and you go on to the playoffs,
02:08you really don't have that oomph.
02:09You don't have that extra, you know, go out there and run through the wall mentality.
02:13On the flip side, the Hornets absolutely have that.
02:16And I think Charles Lee, he won't win Coach of the Year, but he should get some votes
02:20because what he's done with this young Hornets team in the back half of the season
02:23has been incredible, and he should be rewarded with a playoff opportunity.
02:27Put the Hornets in the playoffs, and that Detroit Hornets matchup in that 1-8
02:31is going to be pretty fun.
02:33Yeah, I do think so.
02:34Interesting to me, though, again, I'm staring at the line thinking to myself,
02:38the Hornets were going to win.
02:39It wouldn't be that easy to make that line three, but I don't know.
02:42Something tells me the magic at least keeps this game close tonight, but we will see.
02:45All right, your old buddy Gilbert McGregor is freaking out here a little bit.
02:49He's covering the Suns, and he thought, oh, yeah, I'm just going to be covering a team
02:52that's going to be in the playoffs, but I'm not so sure.
02:56Steph Curry has decided to put this team on his back again,
02:59and the Warriors are three-and-a-half-point dogs tonight in Phoenix, total 219-and-a-half.
03:04It feels like Golden State playing with a little bit of house money
03:07and now some pressure on Devin Booker and Phoenix tonight.
03:10You think there's an upset in store here, Carlin,
03:12or do you think the Suns inevitably come away with this win?
03:16Listen, if you're on the East Coast and you can try to stay up and watch this entire game,
03:21I encourage you to do so because there is no one like watching Steph Curry when he has it going.
03:28When he is on a roll, he's as much fun across any sport, really.
03:33You know, Steph Curry is must-see TV, and we saw that, you know, against the Blazers.
03:37He kind of got hot, got rolling a little bit, and even in his advanced age,
03:41it's just fun to watch him go out there and just take over a basketball game,
03:44and he's going to have that same opportunity here against Phoenix tonight on the road.
03:48As you said, you know, if they lose this game, it's a ho-hum.
03:51You know, like, you know, Steph Curry has a bunch of championships.
03:54He's going to waltz into the Hall of Fame.
03:55This is not going to put anything, you know, as negative on his resume.
03:58So he's going into a game without a ton of pressure in an elimination game,
04:02and normally when Steph Curry has those opportunities, he performs to the highest level
04:06because he always wants to remind you, hey, I'm still one of the greatest players
04:10that ever played this basketball game.
04:12The other player that has super motivation, Draymond Green,
04:15and he's going to be extra motivated to remind one Dylan Brooks
04:18that he is still the ultimate shut-you-down bad guy in the NBA.
04:23So I do have the Warriors going on the road and surprising the Suns.
04:27The Suns have had an incredible season,
04:28but with the injuries that stacked up in the middle of February into March
04:33put them in this play-in situation.
04:34They should have kind of been a top-six seed.
04:36They were playing that way, and I really believe that they probably would have got in
04:40into the postseason if they were able to stay healthy all season long.
04:45But they're running into a bust on Steph Curry who was on a mission
04:48to get his team into the postseason one more time.
04:51Yeah, it does look like it based on what I saw last game,
04:54but again, we'll see. Tonight should be fun.
04:55Okay, coming up this weekend, we've got some really fun series in the NBA,
04:59but if the league had its choice, this would be the 6 a.m. start game.
05:04Oh, my gosh, Carl.
05:05I mean, no offense to Toronto or Cleveland here,
05:08but this is just like the Houston Texans playing on Saturday afternoon.
05:13I just got to call it what it is because Cleveland is really good,
05:17and unfortunately, I think that there's a chance that they're way better
05:21than even Toronto is in the series.
05:24But I have a feeling in the end Toronto probably wins their home games,
05:27but man, they're up against it in game one.
05:29Cleveland, 8.5-point favorites, total of 2.19.5.
05:32And by the way, Cleveland had a chance to rest some guys at the end of the season too.
05:36Let me help some people out here right now.
05:37If you have a partner who does not like watching basketball with you,
05:41take this game as an opportunity to show them that you can skip a couple playoff games,
05:45and it would be you can win some brownie points in this one.
05:48We can watch this one later on tape.
05:49Don't worry.
05:50We don't have to watch this one live.
05:52This series right now is going to be one of those series that we find out about
05:55who wins next week because everybody will be skipping this one.
05:59But I do have Toronto splitting either game one or game two
06:03and going back home with a 1-1 tie.
06:06It's just not going to be game one.
06:07Cleveland's going to be fired up.
06:08They're going to be jacked up.
06:09Donovan Mitchell is going to have one of those takeover-type games.
06:13Let's see if he can do that in games five, six in this series when it gets there.
06:16But Cleveland should win game one, and they should do it running away.
06:20Okay, so now the most intriguing series because I'm seeing a lot of backing
06:24for the Hawks here, Carl, and I don't know.
06:27Maybe it just doesn't happen here.
06:29But Knicks are five-point favorites, totaled 216.5.
06:32I think if the Knicks come out and smash Atlanta in game one,
06:35all New York fans will just feel, okay,
06:37we'll probably end up winning this series in six or seven.
06:40But what happens here tomorrow in game one?
06:42Yeah, Sighthawk New York is going to have another one of those epic videos that go viral.
06:46All over the internet.
06:49Playoff basketball, regular season basketball.
06:51Two totally different styles of basketball.
06:54Two totally different styles of playing.
06:55The Atlanta Hawks are going to find out exactly what playoff basketball is all about tomorrow night.
07:00On the road, Madison Square Garden, I expect the Knicks to come out swinging
07:03and really put them down here in game one.
07:06All right, we have more to cover here, including some of the West Coast playoff games.
07:10No Luka Doncic for the Lakers, but what are they up against taking on the Rockets?
07:14It's Carlin will tell us if they stand a chance in this series when we come back.
07:19Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
07:21You know, generally speaking, a Denver-Minnesota matchup, we could clown on that,
07:25maybe like we did a little bit with Toronto and Cleveland.
07:28But the truth is, when you got the best player in the world, arguably,
07:31I mean, I guess you could debate this, but when you got that guy right there,
07:34Nikola Jokic, it's must-watch TV.
07:37And Anthony Edwards is not far from it.
07:41You know, we got superstars, Carlin, going in this series.
07:44So, of course, a lot of folks will be locked in.
07:46You know, Denver is a pretty significant favorite in the series, minus 295.
07:49That does make sense.
07:50They've been the better team all season long.
07:52And they are pretty significant favorites to start off game one as well.
07:56Six-point favorites, total 231.5.
07:59But something tells me, Carlin, that this is going to be a long series.
08:02I don't think Denver is going to wipe the floor with Minnesota.
08:06Minnesota has shown a lot of guts this season, a lot of different times.
08:09Yeah, and we've seen in the past, in the past two years,
08:12that this Minnesota team knows how to win playoff series.
08:15They've been in the conference finals each of the last two seasons.
08:17I don't think they get there this year,
08:19but they also know how to just kind of scrap these wins out.
08:23And Anthony Edwards has proven, like, hey, I can be a playoff performer.
08:26I can raise my game to a level that I need to, to get through to another round.
08:31And he's also proven that, hey, when the chips are down,
08:35I can guard your second-best player, Denver, which is Jamal Murray,
08:38and kind of shut him down a little bit.
08:40If you guys remember in the playoff series a year ago,
08:42Jamal Murray was kind of held in check by Anthony Edwards
08:46throughout that playoff series.
08:48And that's where the series kind of lands to me.
08:50We know Nicole Jokic is going to be great.
08:52We know Anthony Edwards is going to be great.
08:54We know people are going to make memes about Rudy Gobert
08:56and how he can't defend in the playoffs.
08:57What we need to find out is if Jamal Murray is going to be able to elevate his game
09:03the way he did in 2022 when they went through and won the NBA championship.
09:06If he can be that Jamal Murray, well, this is going to be a chance consistently
09:11that Minnesota has a sneaky chance to maybe upset the Denver Nuggets.
09:16I do have the Denver Nuggets winning this one in six games,
09:19but I will say Jamal Murray is going to have to show up
09:23in every single one of those six games if they're able to go through.
09:27I think you nailed it.
09:28I think that's exactly what I would say.
09:30Denver probably in six in that series.
09:31All right.
09:32So here's the unfortunate part about Saturday night.
09:36Look, I mean, if Luka Doncic is playing in this series
09:39between the Rockets and Lakers, it's an epic one.
09:41I mean, you've got Hall of Famers all over the place here in this one,
09:43but unfortunately you don't.
09:45And there's been no injury update on Luka whatsoever.
09:48So that tells me the Lakers have to get out of this series
09:52for him to play at all in the playoffs.
09:54So that's a week and a half, two weeks here.
09:56And the oddsmakers are telling us they're not.
09:59Houston is minus 800.
10:00That's one of the biggest favorites in the first round of the playoffs,
10:03even with the one-eighths and the two-sevens.
10:05And the Lakers are also five-point dogs on Saturday night too.
10:09Houston minus five, total of 206 and a half.
10:13So set the table for me, Carlin.
10:15What has to happen, let's just say, to make this a series
10:18and show the oddsmakers they were way off on Houston being this big a favorite?
10:22I can't make a case.
10:23Make a case for it.
10:25The case has to be that you're expecting a 41-year-old LeBron James
10:29to turn into what he was maybe five years ago
10:32and take over this series and kind of carry the Lakers through past the promised land.
10:37I would say, though, there's not a great chance of LeBron turning back the clock
10:41and being what he was five years ago.
10:43But I think LeBron can be good enough to steal you a couple of clutch, close games.
10:47If the Lakers can do their best to keep it close in the last five minutes of a game,
10:52I think that would give LeBron James enough to get you passing over the line
10:56and maybe steal a couple of games here or there.
10:57The other side of things is, let's not forget, Kevin Durant is no spring chicken himself.
11:01He's not buying green bananas in his NBA career either.
11:04So he has to show up and perform at a high level.
11:07And oh, by the way, they're missing some of that playoff experience outside of Kevin Durant.
11:12This is a very young Rockets team who were out quickly in the playoffs last year.
11:16That's the reason why they brought Kevin Durant in.
11:18So, yes, Imi Udoka is a great head coach.
11:20They're going to have a great game plan to kind of throw things at LeBron James.
11:23But he has seen it all.
11:24If you're a Laker fan out there, all you're asking for your team to do is not get blown out.
11:30Give you the last five minutes of a basketball game
11:32and hope the King can be the King once again.
11:35So, Carlin, as we wrap up that series, what's your prediction on that?
11:39Do you have Houston? And if so, how many games?
11:42Depending on Luko's kind of health here,
11:45I'm going to go, if no Luka, I'm going to go Rockets in six.
11:49If there is a Luka, I think we see a seven-game series.
11:52And I think that if Luka is healthy enough to play in the games and be effective,
11:56I think the Lakers have enough to get through.
11:58You're following this closer than I am.
12:00Is there a chance that he comes back?
12:01I haven't seen anything.
12:04There's always a prayer, you know, as long as they haven't ruled him out completely.
12:07So that tells me something that, you know, they're keeping hopes alive.
12:11So, again, a 40% Luka is better than not having him at all, right?
12:15Like, so, yeah, you kind of hope that he can at least step on the floor
12:17and maybe give you something.
12:19Carlin, with the there's always a prayer line,
12:22that gives the Lakers a lot of hope going into this series.
12:24All right, Carlin, we'll go with there's always a prayer.
12:26Thanks for coming on.
12:27Really appreciate it.
12:28Have a good one.
12:29He's not here.
12:30I don't think.
12:31I don't think.
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