00:00I mean, it really is the lock of all locks in sports that this guy, when he gets close to
00:06playing in a conference final, is like, I got you guys here.
00:10I'm happy to be here in the playoffs in the second round, and I don't want to play anymore.
00:14You know what I wonder, too, though?
00:15Like, why meet the media then?
00:16Like, why talk to him?
00:17Like, the way he spoke after game one, and he didn't play well.
00:20Nobody really played well in that game for Cleveland.
00:23He spoke as if this was my fault.
00:25Like, he really put all the blame on his shoulders.
00:27I turned the ball over way too much.
00:29I'm going to be better.
00:30It's going to be better.
00:31He's a con artist.
00:32That's what he is.
00:33He's a con artist.
00:33He doesn't care about winning and losing.
00:36But you can be a con artist.
00:37I guess, you know what, maybe that's just part of the charm, go in front of the cameras and claim
00:41you're going to do what you're not going to do, and, you know, then you look the way you look.
00:44It's bizarre, but I do agree.
00:45It's going to be New York.
00:46It's going to be Detroit.
00:47I do think the 76ers have a lot of talent specifically in their top three or four guys, not taking
00:53that away from them.
00:54But I looked at the game two the other night, and I was watching the game with my son, and
00:58I said to him at one point,
00:59and I'm like, this will be the classic.
01:00This team is going to play as well as they possibly can, and it's still not going to be enough.
01:05And I thought, for the most part, they played as well as they possibly could, and it wasn't enough.
01:10Now, I thought, you know, I'm stealing this from Evan.
01:13I thought he made a really good point.
01:14I was talking to him yesterday in the newsroom, and Joel Embiid has had so many injury issues, and he
01:20was able to get himself back, and he helped them win in Boston.
01:23Played great.
01:24Why are you throwing him out there for more than 15 to 18 minutes at this stage?
01:29Meaning, and I agree with Evan when he brought this up, you've got a guy who is, he's compromised health
01:35-wise.
01:35He's just not 100%.
01:37Why not pick your spots more and use him when you need him?
01:41Like, for instance, in Game 2, you could have started him, got him in and out of the lineup, but
01:45I thought they were faster and quicker without him.
01:48But boy, oh boy, when the ball's not going in and you need someone to draw a foul or get
01:52to the rim, maybe that would have been a better spot for him,
01:55and that could have been the way they could have used him throughout the course of the series.
01:58But I just thought they played as well as they possibly could, and the Knicks still figured out a way
02:02to win the game.
02:02Yeah, I think that the answer to that question is because going into this series, they won three straight against
02:08the Boston Celtics and looked great.
02:11And everybody was playing at a high level, so they go into Game 1 against the Knicks, and they get
02:16blown out, and they're running circles around Embiid,
02:18and he ends up getting hurt towards the end of the game and doesn't play in Game 2.
02:21Maybe Nick Nurse's whole theory would have been agreeable to what Evan was saying, and we would have seen more
02:27of that,
02:27and maybe we'll see some of that in Game 3 if he comes back or whenever he comes back.
02:32But the reason why they weren't using him in spots was because they were clicking on all cylinders for three
02:37straight games in the previous round.
02:38Completely agreed, except in that Game 7, he got banged up and banged around like crazy.
02:44And at the end of the game, he hurt himself.
02:45He looked like a mess at the end of the game, and that's more to the point of that idea.
02:49But whatever, they didn't do it, water under the bridge, you move on, and who knows what they get from
02:53him the rest of the series.
02:55Yeah, and I know it's a bold claim to say.
02:57I mean, I don't think that James Harden necessarily is throwing games, but I just think that he gets to
03:02a point where it becomes too hard and he doesn't care and he doesn't try as much.
03:05I mean, how can you explain a guy this talented and can score that much playing 37 minutes last night,
03:10going 3 of 13 from the field, 0 for 4 from 3 point,
03:14and never getting out of the second round, and any time there's a critical game where he can show up
03:19and be great, he ends up being horrible.
03:22I can't.
03:22It happens every year.
03:24I watched him briefly with the Nets on an every-game basis, and he was, I mean, you wanted to
03:30pull the hair out of your head because there are nights he looks like a superstar,
03:33and then there are other nights he looks like the 12th guy on the bench that shouldn't even be on
03:38the floor.
03:38Because whether it's one, two, lack of hustle, just looks lackadaisical, but then can take a game over when he
03:45decides to,
03:46the only answer logically would be what you say all the time, is that he's checked out.
03:51Yeah, I mean, and I'm not saying, like, because I'm not making the claim that he's, like, point-shaving or
03:56trying to lose.
03:57I just think that he gets to a certain point, he doesn't try as hard.
04:00That's really what it comes down to.
04:01I'm tired now.
04:02I've had enough.
04:03I can smell the offseason, and it's enough already.
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