Nightcap Hour 1: SGA Leads Thunder PAST Knicks + Short-HANDED Celtics BEAT Hornets + UCONN STUNS Duke in COMEBACK

18:54Chad Johnson:We're going to wear him down. You need in the post season. Y 'all know the game slows down. You need to be able to throw it down at a cat. He either can get us a bucket or a foul. Playing himself. Easy points on, Joe. Yeah, you got to have that, man. You got to have a difference. I mean, if you got a difference make on your team in the post, why not exploit it and use it to your advantage? I've seen a lot of times, man, OKC had them little bitty dudes guarding him. I'm like, hold on. And where was he at? Man, I know he got their strength along the three. But it was a couple times he caught it in the post and he made some strong moves.

19:27Chad Johnson:Yes. I'm like, why not do that? almost every trip down court, if they're going to try to W with these little bitty dudes, man, please, I'm punishing them.

19:35Shannon Sharpe:Yeah, I've always felt the cat let them off the hook. He let teams off the hook. Ain't no way you should be that big, that skilled, seven foot tall. And just because you can shoot threes, and he shoots a pretty good percent from the three, that doesn't mean – let that be an extension. I can do this. Okay, y 'all don't – hey, I'm posting. I'm playing with my back to the basket. I'm going to get to my spot. I'm going to get some easy. But just know, I got this three ball in my bag. Yeah. It's almost like I want to shoot the three. Oh, man, it ain't fault. Let me go down here now. Bro, it's kind of you done got out of a rhythm.

20:11Shannon Sharpe:Get to a rhythm first. Yeah. And you watch him. Like you said, Joe, he can give two or three bumps. He can up and under. He can throw the jump hook or shoot the turnaround, the fadeaway. Yeah. But he's just so in love. and I think he's created this thing in his head that I want to be the best shooting big man of all time. But, bro, they don't get no trophies for that, bro. I'm sorry. No, I want to see more of a two-man game,

20:40Chad Johnson:Cat and Brunson. Yes. And Cat not always popping to the three. Man. Yes. Pick sometimes, short roll. Set that pick sometime, roll all the way to the basket. Yes. So you got to mix up your looks, bro. You can't keep giving me a steady diet and ain't thinking I'm going to pick up on it. I'm going to pick up on it. You know what I mean? That's why we're going to be able to switch these little bitty dudes out on you when you set a pick and roll. Because we know you ain't going to be demonstrative down there in the post and demand. Punish. Yeah, man. Hey, look. If I'm cat. Punish him. If I'm cat. Okay, Ocho, I'm running down court.

21:14Chad Johnson:I'm sitting in the paint. Big, wide. Look, I'm going to get a three-second call if Brunson don't throw it to me. Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to get three seconds in the key. I'm going to let y 'all know. I'm here, man. I just feel like he's so talented. He can do that. And then once you kind of catch a little rhythm in the post, make a few easy ones, all right, then you pick and pop them with the three. Pump fake. Get to the basket. I just feel like he has all those tools. And in order for the Knicks to be successful, man, we already know what kind of year there's got to be for them. They got to at least make it to the finals.

21:45Chad Johnson:Right. You know what I mean?

21:47Shannon Sharpe:I don't – they can, but I don't see them beating. Me personally, I don't see them beating Boston or Detroit. And I think sometimes an asset of yours can be a curse. I think his ability to shoot the ball is a curse to him because he don't rely on his height and his size to go down low because he'll let that three ball bail him out. And like you said, he's looking to pick and pop to the three. Look and pick to pop for a 12-footer. Look and roll to the basket. Put pressure on him. Man, I wish they – the thing I love about Shaq.

22:18Chad Johnson:Yeah.

22:19Shannon Sharpe:Shaq, I wish you would put a little guy on Shaq. Shaq going to the front of the rim, and he's going to bring the house down if you got a little guy on him. He might get a charge, but guess what? He's not going to let you dictate to him, oh, I got to throw a 14-foot jump hook. Obviously, Shaq doesn't have the shooting skills of Kat, but I'm saying Shaq was big. He understood he was big. He understood that his size was his advantage. So if you let me take – if you let me – if his size, Cat's size can be his advantage. But he allowed it to be a disadvantage because he got them shooting three down to threes.

22:55But hold on, Unc and Joe. This is the same conversation we have every time towards the postseason about the Knicks, about Cat. Obviously, having the tools is one thing to have the tools in your bag and not use them. Last year, you were saying the same thing about him running to the goddamn three-point line, not being aggressive, not using everything he has in his toolbox to not only help himself but help his team as well. Take some of that goddamn pressure off Brunson. What happens if the other three players aren't playing well? We got to be able to lean on you when it comes to playing the better teams in the league like your OKCs like your Pistons whoever else coming out the goddamn East Austin I'm sure we always have this conversation for the Knicks every time when it gets close to the postseason and he's still not doing it, then it's just not in him.

23:45Shannon Sharpe:We have this conversation with him, not just the postseason. We have this conversation about him all the time. That's really the knock that we have forecast.

23:53Chad Johnson:Yeah. Yeah. I just think, you know, scoring 100 points these days, that's very low, fellas. You know what I mean? And with OG and Bridges, you know, they definitely have to pick it up. One of them have to play probably above their head. I like the additions that they made with Alvarado and Clarkson. They give them great, great scoring punch off the bench. So I think they can score the ball. They just have to be willing to do the small things, whether it's Cat. I seen how he was getting double teamed tonight, making the right play. But sometimes, man, you're going to kind of have to force the issue.

24:26Chad Johnson:You know what I mean? You're going to have to be aggressive. You're going to have to assert yourself. So that way you can put your stamp on the game and they know you out here. You know what I mean? We game planning for Cat. We don't want to get him going. Man, you punted some of them dudes down there in that post and then get that media and that three going. I promise you, bro, the Knicks, they'll probably look a lot better, more competitive, especially going into the playoffs. So in order for them to have success, man, he's going to have to be a new player, bro. Yeah. Hey, Joe, if he ain't done it by now, he ain't going to do it.

24:59He's making himself one-dimensional. It's easy when you're one-dimensional and you do the same thing every goddamn time and don't take advantage of your size.

25:05Chad Johnson:He gonna have to, Ojo. He gonna have to. He gotta be a post presence, bro. They gonna need that, I promise you. Anybody other than Wemby that guards Cat, he should view it as disrespect. Man.

25:18Shannon Sharpe:That's how skilled he is.

25:21Chad Johnson:Yeah.

25:21Shannon Sharpe:Those big... Joe, you remember back in the day, Shaq was looking at it, boy, if you don't give me Elijah Wan, if you don't give me David Robinson, if you don't give me one of these elite big man, you... What are you doing?

25:33Chad Johnson:I'm gonna punish you, yeah.

25:36Shannon Sharpe:That's how I catch you look at it. If you didn't give me your best cover guy, oh, so really, so y 'all got a linebacker, that's what y 'all think of me, huh? Yeah. Oh, Joe, I mean, what they look like, they not giving you the number one corner. They got their number two, number three on you. So that's what you think of me right now.

25:54Chad Johnson:Right. Hey, and that's why Shaq always talking about the bigs nowadays, you know, not demanding that ball in the post, not being a post presence, not taking advantage of the barbecue chicken that you got on you. You understand? That's why he always be on him, bro, because when you watch the game, you can already see, you know, where guys can be effective. And for me, with Cat, OKC, they play a lot small, and it was too many times, bro, he let a little guy guard him. He got Caruso.

26:26Shannon Sharpe:How you let Caruso guard you? Or they put that, they switch. I'm like, come on, not Caruso, man. I know these guys. I understand Chet. I understand Hartenstein, they're bigs, but bro, look here. Give me, let me get that, let me get that right here, Joe. This Chet Legs. That Chet Legs right there. And you got that man, you let that man root you up out of there. Hold on. Hey, what if the problem is, what you guys see, hey, Joe, what you see with Cat, and Uncle, what you see with Cat and saying some of the things that he should do, maybe he can't do it.

26:59Chad Johnson:No, he can't.

27:00Shannon Sharpe:He can do it. Because we've seen it. Ocho, you realize Cattis scored 60 points in a game. Yeah. He's had multiple games in the 40s. If I'm not mistaken, I could be wrong, but I think he has a 40-20 game. Man, Cattis skill. You don't find very many seven-footers that is agile that can move like he can.

27:18Chad Johnson:Yeah. I'm confused. Then what's the issue? Why not? If you're skilled, if he's as skilled as he is, is he not confident in his postgame? Is he not confident in his mid-range? It has to be something. My thing is we've seen him, you know, over the years, even this season, we've seen him put up 20, 20, 20 games, you know. So we know he can rebound, and we also know he can score. That's my thing. I don't ever think it should be, you know, a time where he's in single digits. That's in points. That should never happen.

27:49Shannon Sharpe:Or rebounds.

27:50Chad Johnson:Yeah, or rebounds. You should never be – Joe, you seven foot tall.

27:53Shannon Sharpe:How the hell you get single-digit rebounds at seven foot?

27:56Chad Johnson:Yeah, he should always – but it's because he floats around in the three a lot, so he ain't able to get, you know, down there and get rebounds to come out as well. But I think he's the big difference maker for the Knicks for me, man. He has probably the best upside, especially in the postseason when it comes to a guy who you can really play through. Because I just feel like Brunson, at some point, you know, he going to wear that out. Yeah, he going to play great. He going to have some good numbers, but he going to need some help, bro. He going to need some help.

28:24Shannon Sharpe:Well, the help is, look, if you look at what they gave up to get Mikel Bridges. And Mikel Bridges, they gave up all these draft picks, these first-round draft picks. Joe, he's still a miss. He's still a miss with him. I don't know. I really don't know. I mean, he had 15 points. This is one of his better games. But he has not played well this year.

28:48Chad Johnson:Yeah, yeah.

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32:56Shannon Sharpe:I think they gave up three, four first-round draft picks. Man, you're supposed to be, boy, look here. Hey, Joe, where was Mikael Bridges before he came to the Knicks? He was at the Knicks. He was playing really well when he was there. Well, they got him from the Phoenix. And he was on that team with Book, them, and Chris Paul. They went to the NBA Finals. They ended up losing. They won the first two, and then they lost four straight to the Bucs.

33:21Chad Johnson:The problem is, in Brooklyn, he wasn't playing no meaningful basketball. So he may have had decent numbers at 17, 18 a game, something like that. Ah, so it wasn't no pressure. Right. Yes, when you play it on U.S. It's different pressure over there in the Garden.

33:36Shannon Sharpe:No, he's playing on a losing team. It's easy to get numbers when you're playing on a losing team and nobody gives an ish about you. Now you're in a situation where there, like you said, Ocho, expectations. Now, getting 20 points on a losing team is a whole different ballgame than getting 17 on a winning team. Because you just arbitrarily jacking up shots. Don't nobody care. Don't nobody care. So then people are like, oh man, yeah, man, he averaged 25. Yeah, but they won 23 games.

34:14Chad Johnson:Right, fake, fake.

34:16Shannon Sharpe:So those numbers, get me good numbers that equate to winning. I don't care nothing about no 25 points and you lose a damn near every, what, four out of six games. They don't do nothing for me.

34:31Chad Johnson:Right. You got low efficiency.

34:33Shannon Sharpe:Yeah.

34:34Chad Johnson:Yeah.

34:34Shannon Sharpe:And like I said, this was one of his better games. He was 6 of 11, 2 for 5 from the 3.

34:39Chad Johnson:Yeah.

34:41Shannon Sharpe:Me personally, I think some of his defenses slipped as well. You think so? I do.

34:46Chad Johnson:Yeah. I think they can be better all around. They're going to have to. They can be better all around. I mean, that was a good test for them tonight. You know, playing at OKC. You know, just keeping the game close at the end and kind of got away from them because OKC got the MVP in shape, bro. You can't stop that. You ain't. I don't care what you do, Ocho. Now, if you run two at me, you know I already know I got snipers on the backside out there. Oh, yeah. They're ready to take you up. So, y 'all, you don't even want to get into them problems. So, you're going to have to deal with this. You're going to have to deal with it.

35:19Shannon Sharpe:They got it. Like I said, I don't know. I don't know if they can beat Boston. I don't know if they can beat Detroit. I think Detroit, I mean, look, we'll see what K's situation is. How soon can he get back? Obviously, they're not going to play them in the first round. but I would not put any amount of money that meant anything to me of them beating Boston in a seven-game series. Not with Tatum rounding back in because he's going to have probably 15, 18 games up under his belt by the time they hit the playoffs. So by the time they would have to face the Knicks, probably would be the second round.

35:51Chad Johnson:Yeah, I wouldn't have had them beating Boston either. But Detroit's scary too. They've been playing well. Yes. No K been out. That little Jenkins kid who been starting at the point. He's been playing well. I don't even know where he come from, Ocho. I don't either. Hey, but when you put him in, he – He cutting up? Hey, if you blink, if you squint your eyes a little bit, you might see John Moran out there. You're like, hold on. Who is that? Yeah. Yeah.

36:15Shannon Sharpe:Well, he showed me something when he played the Lakers. He showed me something because they put the ball in his hands. Yeah. And he went and got to his spot. And I understand Cade wasn't there, but they didn't play through Durant. Hey, they didn't try to run nothing for Horder. They didn't try to run anything for Robinson. Nah. with the ball in this kid's hand, and he went at Austin Reeves. But I think overall, look, I'm not concerned about Jalen Brunson. I'm never going to be concerned about him because he's always going to play well. If he's on the court and he's going to play well, I worry about the other guys.

36:47Shannon Sharpe:They got to come along with him. I'm not worried about Brunson. The other guys, OG and Cat and Hart and Bridges, they're going to have to come with him. And when one of these guys go to the bench, they're going to need Jordan Clarkson to step up because they got him for bench production. Coming off the bench, we know he can go on a heater. He can score 10, 15 points in a quarter easy.

37:07Chad Johnson:Yes, sir.

37:09Shannon Sharpe:Alvarado needs to be that pest and knock down open shots when given the opportunity. But they're going to have to play better collectively if they want to go further than what they went last year.

37:19Chad Johnson:I agree. I agree. They got the personnel. They got the tools, bro. They just have to put the attitude with it. I'm really speaking on Cat. You know, I like Clarkson and Alvarado coming off the bench, and I know in a playoff series, I know one of them going to win me at least a game or two.

37:38Shannon Sharpe:Yeah.

37:39Chad Johnson:I think they'll win you a game or two. But if I got Cat playing the right way, being demonstrative down there in that post, bro, and working the perimeter when need be, he can be unstoppable, bro. He can make the game easier for everybody. And I think that's another – I think that's why, you know, you don't see – I think you see Bridges and OG kind of struggle a little bit. because they need somebody who can demand a double team, bro, so you can get them guys some open shots, some backdoor cuts. You know they cut us, Uncle Ocho. Yes. Instead of leaving it all on Brunson to play, make, and score, we got to get this ball to catch a few times.

38:14Chad Johnson:Hey, big fella, we need you to get to that bump, bump, jump, hook, pump, fake. We need you to do something so these dudes will start doubling you, and now you can start to spray out. Now we can backdoor cut and get some easy.

38:25Shannon Sharpe:I ain't doubling this big ass from the three-point line. get his big ass down on the block, I might consider W. That's all I'm saying. So until he get his ass down there, or Joe, and then like you said, now one of those guys, because like you said, they're slashers, Mikael Bridges, slasher, cutter, he can dive to the basket, he and OG get some easy buckets. But when you out there where they at, I ain't doubling you, I pack the paint. Hey, Alka and Joe, when it come to creating their own shot, getting it off the muscle without any help, I'm not saying really calling plays and calling the ice. So Bridges, Bridges and OG not good at that, huh?

38:59Chad Johnson:They can do it, Ocho. But, you know, that ain't they strong part. They ain't they strong part. You know, they'll give you flashes. They'll have games to where they go off the dribble a few times, get by they man, you know, pull up for a jump or get to the bucket, dunk on you or something. But for the most part, them guys going to be space and they going to be cutting, they catch and shoot. They're D guys. They going to defend, play the pass the same. They got to make it tough for your top scorers on the other team. That's really what you need them for. Because you brought them really to the Knicks because of Tatum and Brown.

39:29Chad Johnson:If we just want to keep them 100. You know what I'm saying? You want to be able to match up with them two wing guys if you ever meet them in the postseason. Until then, that's when they going to need to show up, bro. Yeah.

39:42Shannon Sharpe:But the problem is, today, OG is not quick enough to stay in front of Shea. That matchup, that's McKell Bridges. This is what we got you for. Yeah. This is what we got you for. OG is a better matchup for a big body guy, a bigger guy, a three or four. He ain't dealing with no point or no two that can take it off the bounce. That's not him. His lateral is not good enough. Hell, who can't guard Shea? Nobody. But he definitely not. He too big. He too big.

40:17Chad Johnson:Did you see how easy Shea was getting on the edges of him? man, listen, once he get lower than you, it's just for me, when I watch Shea Ocho, it's like he look at the defender not necessarily even looking at the guy who guard him, bro. He looking at where the help is possibly going to be coming from. Soon as I blow by this man right here. You know what I'm saying? He already two, three steps ahead of the game. Great scores, they never worried about the guy who's in front of them. They just want to know, okay, when I beat him, who going to step up and try to stop me next? Okay, boom. If he do, then I'm going to spray out for three or I'm going to throw the lob or I'm going to yam this thing or get to my floater.

40:56Chad Johnson:I just feel like he's so great at that, anticipating, you know what I mean? Getting by his man, luring him to sleep, going from slow to fast to when he hit them brakes. All he need is a split second. He's going to get two, three seconds when he hit them brakes on you and hit you with that snatch back. And you now almost told you I ain't going to touch earth. It's a wrap. He got too much in his bag, bro. Bro, he got too much in his bag.

41:21Shannon Sharpe:And the thing is, he shoot the three well enough that you can't go under. There you go. Because he's going to call for that. He's going to call for the pick with Hardenstein. He's going to call for the pick with Chet. And what you going to do?

41:32Chad Johnson:Nothing.

41:34Shannon Sharpe:Nothing. The only thing you probably can do, Joe, is probably trap him to get the ball out of his hands. But like you said, he ain't got guys that can shoot the ball well enough. And at some point in time, I'm going to say, you know what, Chet, Hardenstein, Lou, you got to beat me. Chad has proven it. Chad can beat you. I mean, excuse me. Shea has proven. I got to take my chance with somebody else, Joe.

41:58Chad Johnson:But my thing is, those guys, when I'm talking about Chad and Hardenstein, they've already showed that. They know, okay, boom, if the defense change the coverage and they go to a trap on Shea, and I'm the man that's open, as soon as I catch it, I'm looking right to the rim because I know I got Chad under the goal or Hardenstein on the goal. but we going to play the two-man. Or if the wing drop in, I'm spraying out the three. They play that three-man, that three-on-two so well, it's hard to trap him. That's why y 'all don't never see teams trapping him. You know what I mean? Because they going to make you pay.

42:31Chad Johnson:And they playing that three - And then you got those big-ass guys. You got seven-footers at the dunker spot. Yeah, and they make great decisions when they're handling the ball. That's the biggest difference. They can play make. And they going to make you that three-on-two, you ain't going to be able to do nothing. two seven-footers and a guy out there shooting the leather off that thing, boy, you in trouble.

42:52Shannon Sharpe:The Celtics are headed to the playoffs after beating the Hornets today. That's 12th straight season in which the Celtics has made the playoffs. That's the longest active streak in the NBA. Jason Tatum today, 32 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, 12 of 23 from the floor, 5 of 10 from the 3. He was plus 15 in 31 minutes. Jalen Brown didn't play, but in his absence, Peyton Pritchard, 28 points, 10 of 18 from the floor, two of six from the three-point line, a six of six from the free-throw line, and a plus 12. And, you know, hey, you know, you got 32 from Tatum, you got 17 for Quetta, you got but it was Peyton Pritchett, and that guy, man, look.

43:33Shannon Sharpe:Man, he gotta be the sixth man of the year. Why you bull-jibbing? Who, Pritchett?

43:38Chad Johnson:Yeah. Hey, hey. Hey, he nice, boy. He definitely, he definitely gotta be the sixth man of the year. Hey, and if you a young hoop out there, man, just watch this dude, man. Watch Peyton Pritchett, bro. It don't matter if he start, if he come off the bench, attitude the same, game still the same. You know what I mean? It don't matter who out there with him, whether it's JB, Jason Tatum, or he out there by himself. That man going for yard. You hear me? Yeah, he gonna do his thing regardless. I love watching him play, and he compete on both ends, bro. I love it. And love it. Compete on both ends. I'm trying to understand how young Bull, I think maybe it's week three for him.

44:20Goddamn Jason Tatum. He coming off ACL. He started out 14. Then he got by 18. But we about in week three right now, JB don't play, and Tatum done took over. 32 tonight?

44:36Chad Johnson:Yeah. Yeah. In 30 minutes.

44:40Shannon Sharpe:Man, buddy nice, boy.

44:42Chad Johnson:Yeah.

44:43Shannon Sharpe:his efficiency is coming back. You know, it was going to take him a couple of weeks. I understand that he's been, you know, in the tub and getting up shots and everything. But it ain't the same as when body's banging on you and you're running into people and you're getting up and you're coming off picks and you're doing all this stuff and you got to slide your feet and guard people. So you got to get your conditioning because the hardest thing to do, everybody can shoot the ball when they rested. Yeah.

45:04Chad Johnson:Yeah.

45:06Shannon Sharpe:That's what separates the good ones and the great ones is being able to shoot the ball when you're fatigued. Tell everybody run fast in the first quarter. How fast you running in the fourth quarter? Oh, yeah. You know what else, too, Unk? Not only that, your conditioning, but having your legs up underneath you, too. Yes. Once you get your legs up underneath you, and the only way to do that is by actually playing the game. I don't care how much you practice.

45:30Chad Johnson:Yeah. Go ahead, Joe. Go ahead. Basketball is a rhythm and timing game, fellas. You know what I mean? And the layoff that Jason Tatum has had, it's going to affect you. I don't care who you are. You know what I'm saying? When you come back, especially late in the season like this, yeah, it's going to take you a few weeks to kind of get your bounce back, get that swag back. But he was willing to do that to try and gain momentum and confidence and rhythm before the postseason gets here because he knows how important and he knows the chances they got, the opportunity they have to get back to the finals.

46:04Chad Johnson:And, man, he looked good, bro. He looked good. He don't look like he's lost a step. He just looked like he's a bit rusty. his timing has been off. But for the most part, he hadn't really outside of that, man it wouldn't look like he right back on track.

46:20Shannon Sharpe:And like anytime you can have like you said, you put Preyton Pritchett in the starting lineup, you bring him off the bench you know what he's going to give you. He's going to give you great effort on both ends. Probably going to get you somewhere between 12 and 20 points on a given night. And can give you as many as 540 if you're not careful.

46:39Chad Johnson:L.O.

46:40Shannon Sharpe:but their bench you know Shireman look 14 and they shoot the three they shoot the three really well they gonna get up a bunch of them now I mean they only got up 34 they only got up 34 threes they're normally in the 40s you know they're normally in the 40s Missoula try to get up 53 tonight

47:00Chad Johnson:you said only 34 threes yeah only 34 it was just never like this bro when I came into the league it took you 3-4 games to shoot this many threes. Yeah, yeah. They doing this in one game. Yeah, you're right. Typically, it's a lot higher. They in the 40s.

47:17Shannon Sharpe:Right.

47:17Chad Johnson:Yeah. Yeah.

47:18Shannon Sharpe:They got 77 threes between the two teams. Man, you go a week. You go a week. That's why if you go back, go chart it and look at the number of threes that's being taken, and every year it's going up.

47:31Chad Johnson:Yep.

47:31Shannon Sharpe:Every year it goes up. Hell, I remember when they put the three in at 79. Man, the only time you shot the three, 24-second clock about to go off or at the end of a quarter or a half. That's it. Boy, do you shoot a three if you want to. Come here. You want to shoot that shot. Come on over here with me. Come sit down. Yeah, right here. I got a spot for you. Hey, Joe, what you think about how the game was when you played and how the game is now? You think the game has evolved for the better?

48:00Chad Johnson:Yeah, I think it has evolved for the better, Ocho, because what the consumers, meaning the fans, what they want to see is they want to see exciting, high flying, up and down. They want to see a great pace. They want to see high scoring. They want to see lobs. They want to see the threes. Hey, look, the fans are the ones who pay the bills. You know what I mean? So they wanted to speed the game up. They wanted to look better versus just walking the ball up the court, throwing it in the post, and living and dying off that. Now, you know, it's just pick and roll. If you can't run the pick and roll, if you can't catch and shoot the three, if you can't run and rim run and catch a lob, it's hard to play nowadays, bro.

48:42Chad Johnson:It's hard to play.

48:45Shannon Sharpe:It is. And I think the thing else is that when you look at it, Joe, and Jordan said something that today – hold on. Let me pull this quote up because, you know, people – because when I say this, people are like, oh, but you don't know what you're talking about. You don't know what you're talking about. that Jordan said today.

49:03Shannon Sharpe:Jordan said, players 20 years, players 20 years couldn't do the things players can do today. Old concepts don't work against bigger, faster players who can jump higher, players who can create.

49:16Chad Johnson:Yeah.

49:17Shannon Sharpe:They had great shooters. There's just more of them now. Yeah. They had big players back then. There's just more of them now. Yeah. They had fast players back then. There's just more of them now. This thing called evolution. Yeah.

49:30Chad Johnson:Yeah.

49:31Shannon Sharpe:Getting bigger, faster, stronger. They know more. Technology. An ACL would ruin an NFL player's career, Ocho. Now guys coming back in seven months. Achilles was a death sentence for an athlete. Now, Jason Tatum back playing, looking like Jason Tatum. Tommy John surgery. Now look at Tommy John. Look at what they can do. Dr. Neal and all these noted orthopedics. So this notion, I get it. I get this thing called evolution. Guys in the 20s were better than the guys in the 10s. And you got in baseball, you got the 30s, the 40s, the 50s, and 60s. Now, the batting average is because, like Joe said, or you said, what do fans want to see?

50:12Shannon Sharpe:They want to see home run. They don't give them damn few strikeouts 50 times. Just hit two over the fence. Oh, you see that home run? You see how far he hit it? They ain't used to track distance on no damn home run. Now they got exit velocity. He hit the ball out the park at 110 miles an hour. It went 472 feet. In football, now they got all these things. How fast a guy running, Ocho? We ain't have no – they tell you how fast. How you know how fast he running? Hey, they clock everything. They taking all the data. Because what? People, fans like that. Yeah. Man, ooh, but you see how fast Ocho was running?

50:51Shannon Sharpe:they owe your red 22 miles an hour. They like that. So guess what? That's what you like? I'm going to give you that. So guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to change the rules. I don't want you to see – hey, it's still a physical game, but that incidental contact, we don't want you landing on the quarterback because we want Brady and we want these guys to play. We don't want you to – the fans like offense. so every league has created so the offense is in play so you look at basketball look at all these points you look at football you look at all these points man don't nobody want to see no damn 10-7 ball game no 13, no 14 no 17-14 ball game I'm trying to see 31-35 I'm trying to see 45-40 you know what they done Uncle Joe especially I can only speak on the football part of things is they've made playing defense that much difficult for DB, for D-tackles, you know, for linebackers, because now you've got to be cautious and you can't really play the game the way it's supposed to be played.

51:54They've handicapped everybody on the defensive end. Hell, they've handicapped the coaches, that coach on the defensive end, because you can't play the game the way it's supposed to be played because now you've got to be careful and weary about everything you do, whether it's tackling, whether it's hitting, the quarterback. Now, you can't even tackle the quarterback and you can't lay on him.

52:15Shannon Sharpe:You got to fall to the side. You want me to hurt myself instead of hurting him.

52:19Chad Johnson:Yeah, it's weird. It's the same thing in basketball, though, Uncle Ocho. You know, you can't hand check. You really can't touch a guy for real. That's another reason why the scoring is up. Yeah, it's more spacing because you don't have the four and fives just clogged up in the paint. Everybody always kind of spaced out. It's like a four-hour one-in. You got one guy who may be posting or picking, rolling and diving. But for the most part, it's the same thing, man. You can't be physical. It's hard to bust through screen. You know what I'm saying? You bust through a screen, that's going to be a foul now.

52:50Chad Johnson:You guard your man, you may give him a little body check. That's a foul. You can't hand check. It's so many different rules to where now you have to, you see guys out there guarding like this. You're like, man, I ain't touching. Hell, I'm going to go for it on you every time you guard me like this with your hands up.

53:06Shannon Sharpe:but also Joe back then in the 80s and 90s it was all about physicality see they thought they were sliding their feet they just want to beat hell out you come down the lane they follow your ass hard they like oh yeah that was great defense now you can't do that now you got to be really skilled you see if you notice most guys that play you just can't be a defense you got to be able to knock down a three you got to be able to do something other than fire hell out of somebody Joe, you know these damn guys, all his sole purpose was to do was to foul, rebound, foul. Play defense, yeah. Boy, you better be able to do something offensively now to get your ass on the court.

53:41Chad Johnson:Oh, yeah. Because, hey, it's going to be hard to play. Because if you're a liability, I don't care what team you play against, they're going to expose you. If you can't shoot, okay, you roaming. You guarding him. I'm guarding Ocho. Ocho can't shoot. I ain't guarding you, Ocho. I'm going to roam around. I'm going to help Unc. I'm going to help Unc. Right, right. You know what I mean? So, therefore, you turn into, I think, the player the most who has been rewarded the most behind it or who uses it the best is Draymond. Because if you don't guard Draymond and he got the ball, he going to a dribble handoff.

54:13Chad Johnson:And then now you got Steph coming out for a three and ain't nobody know where to be found. You feel it, man? And he self-consciously, he knows that when he get the ball, he wish he would be not guarding him. He going straight to Steph. He going to find him. You know what I mean? I think that play is great for them because Steph obviously being the best shooter that God has ever created. And Draymond, you know, being so smart and savvy and high IQ, he's understood how to make himself valuable in that system. You know what I mean? So everybody, I think we take that for granted. Well, a lot of people take it for granted when they watch Draymond.

54:49Chad Johnson:But when I watch him, that's exactly what I see. Boy, I'd love to have somebody like that on my team. You hear me? Hey, so Joe, when you say something like that, when you talk about the system and the system that Draymond is in, obviously there are certain players that play on certain teams and they work well in a certain system, but they go to another team and they don't play as well. They don't adapt as well to another system. So you're saying what Draymond does with the Warriors, if he went to any of the other teams, he would still have the same type of success? No. Based on what he's able to do there?

55:16Chad Johnson:If they implement that system. I think it depends on what team we talking about. Now, if you throw him with the Chicago Bulls, hell no. You know what I'm saying? Right. He probably ain't going to look good in that system. But you put him with a guard that can shoot or actually play because he can play the point guard. And like I said, he knows that teams ain't going to guard him offensively. They don't think he a threat. So what's the next best thing? I'm going into a pick and roll, a dribble handoff. I'm going to always be a playmaker out here. So I think he's been leading the Warriors in assists over the past few years.

55:50Chad Johnson:Okay, Ochoa.

55:51Shannon Sharpe:But it has to be a guy, Joe, but you said it right, though. It's going to have to be a guy that you can hand the ball off to and he can shoot the ball. Now, if he played with Dame Lillard, absolutely. Because that's another guy that can catch the ball out of your hands. And Draymond does a great job. You think he's about to hand it off? He'll keep his dribble alive and go to the basket on it. There you go.

56:10Chad Johnson:There you go.

56:11Shannon Sharpe:So, yes, it better be somebody that can shoot, a guard that can shoot the basketball because he is extremely smart. And he knows he's been in this system so long. Draymond will catch the ball and automatically know, so you know what, Steph in the far corner. And he'll just get the ball and turn.

56:27Chad Johnson:Yeah, yeah.

56:29Shannon Sharpe:And there comes Steph letting it go.

56:30Chad Johnson:Yeah, yeah, very intelligent.

56:32Shannon Sharpe:But he's created the system, and it's okay. Had I not gone to a team that didn't have the H-back position, I don't know if I'm the player that I became. I went to a team, one of the three teams in the NFL that had an H-back position. What if I go to a team that they just want to run the football? What good is a 220-pound tight end? What the hell are you doing? Getting in the way? So Draymond was in a situation, and he made the most of the situation. Don't be mad at Draymond. Be mad at other guys that's not as talented that teams are trying to make them shake. that are trying to make them Luka or James Harden.

57:13Shannon Sharpe:Be mad at them. Don't be mad at Draymond because Steve Kerr had a system that says, you know what, you're going to be our Scottie Pippen. We can run the offense through you.

57:22Chad Johnson:Yeah, yeah, you're right. And he took that role and ran with him. I'm talking about starting it, became an all-star in it. Like, he has – man, look, if I'm a dude who can't score, all I'm bringing is energy and effort, and hopefully I can get into a situation to where I'm playing with some good vets. You know what I mean? To where I can put my imprint stamp on the game. Like, it's so many different basketball-type players that you can become nowadays to be effective and make a lot of money, bro. You ain't just got to be a scorer. But whatever it is that you do, you got to be damn good. Yeah, you got to do it well.

57:59Chad Johnson:You got to be damn good. But you know, A, everybody like offense.

58:04Shannon Sharpe:where they said baseball, what do chicks dig, Ocho? The long ball. The long ball.

58:12Shannon Sharpe:Hey, you talk to some girl? You tell her you play football? What you play? What you play? You quarterback? You running back? You wide receiver? Receiver. Nah, you know, they got other positions on the damn field. I'm a DB. I'm a DB. Linebacker. I'm a D-tackle. Oh, you score touchdowns? Nah, I prevent them from scoring touchdowns. So, but no, Draymond, you look at Draymond, ain't a whole, I don't look, and plus, he don't get upset about no shots. I mean, there's sometimes Draymond have two points. Yeah. But he might have nine rebounds, eight assists. There you go. Two steals and two blocks. There you go.

58:49Shannon Sharpe:He good on defense too now. You got to have your role. What is your role? Yeah. And look here, everybody can't beat, everybody can't beat an entree. Somebody got to be the appetizer.

58:59Chad Johnson:Hello.

58:59Shannon Sharpe:There you go. Hey, somebody got to be the bread. Everybody can't be steak, everybody can't be crab leg, lobster. Well, damn, you don't want to be the dinner salad? You a part of the meal?

59:12Chad Johnson:Then we got to all play a role.

59:13Shannon Sharpe:Yeah, we got to play a role in this. But everybody, we got to sell, man. Shh, man, if I can't be the meat and potato, I'll be like, oh, oh, shit. Oh, man. You know, that gets so many guys caught up. Man, they need to give me the rock. In front of Chase? In front of T.O.? In front of Boss? Jerry? Man, man, I'm telling you, bro. Hey, if they give me that rock, bro, you do realize we see you in practice, right? Yeah. It ain't what you think it is. Yeah, yeah, trust me. They ain't ever give you the ball. I promise you. If all four of you receivers get hurt, they're bringing somebody in before they put you out there.

1:00:02Shannon Sharpe:I'm just being honest with you, bro. I'm just being honest with you. You want to go ahead and start? So 36 years after Christian Layton hit the buzzer beater at UConn in the Elite Eight to send Duke to the Final Four, the Huskies got their revenge. UConn freshman Braylon Mullins stole the ball, Buried a three-pointer from 35 feet to cap a remarkable 19-point comeback to give the Huskies the 73-72 victory. Duke has zero titles or title game appearances since 2015-16, despite having – look at these names, Joe and Ocho. Yeah. Brandon Ingram, Luke Kennard, Jason Tatum, Frank Jackson, Marvin Bagley III, Gary Trent Jr., Trayvon Duvall, Wendell Carter Jr., Zion Williamson, R.J.

1:00:51Shannon Sharpe:Barrett, Cam Reddish, Trey Jones, Vernon Carey Jr., Jalen Johnson, Paulo Bencaro, Mark Williams, Kyle Filipowski, Derek Lively, Jerry McClain, Cooper Flagg, Con Caneple, Kaman Malachi, Zion Jones, and Cameron Boozer. Damn, man. Hey, this was an unbelievable game, Uncle Joe. This was an unbelievable game. I mean, for me, I'm sitting there on the edge of my seat. I'm thinking the game was over. hell if they had a 19 point lead I'm sitting here playing the game I'm sitting here playing the game I ain't paying no mind boy I look up and they wait they didn't close the gap by two yup when that dude got that and one I said Duke y 'all in trouble when they got that thing the and when they got when dude got that and one Joe yeah Moto Casino American Social Casino Welcome to Moto Casino, where the excitement never ends.

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