Nightcap Hour 1: Wemby Turns Into An ALIEN & DOMINATES Timberwolves + Knicks BOUNCE BACK vs Sixers in Game 2

18:04Chad Johnson:Yeah.

18:04Shannon Sharpe:Other guy come in looking to get to the rim. They put a lot of pressure on you. You got to be constantly. You got to be on high alert. How did they get beat The first game How did San Antonio They shot the ball They shot terrible They shot real bad

18:25Chad Johnson:And I don't think they were desperate neither I don't think they were desperate in game one They came out just playing Like young guys do We just going to come out here and hoop I thought tonight They put their stamp on the game From the first quarter Meaning playing with aggression playing like they didn't want to lose. That's how, so for me, the first game, that's how they lost. Whether they took the Timberwolves for granted or not. But when you think about it, Cornette may not go at you, but in 13 minutes, you give me three blocks? Oh, yeah. Hey, he ain't no slouch out there now. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

19:01Chad Johnson:Hey, he's a vital part to what they do, too, because when Wimby goes out and he's in, yeah, he ain't no damn Wimby, but he'll rim protect the back there. He's the one-trend protector, and he is the scorer. He played with the Celtics a couple years ago, and I got a chance to see him, talk to him. That's exactly what – he just wants to play his role. And, Shannon, you say that about him. When he came to the league, he was a three-point threat. But now he knows his damn job. He's like, he ain't coming. Nope, I ain't shooting. I'll pass it over you. Hard to roll to the basket and protect it real. Know your damn role.

19:37So when guys know their roles in this league, that to me is so important. When you think about who you are as a player, if you are a scorer, you got to be a scorer. If you're a defender, you got to defend the basketball. But when you start varying out of the do shit that you ain't normally doing, then you, yeah. Oh, Trevor, you're just out there, you know. Damn, they say you probably making pancakes. Next thing I know, you damn making hot dogs. I want some damn pancakes. I don't need you doing that.

20:06Shannon Sharpe:Brad you said something very interesting you say know your role knowing your role is one thing Accepting your role is something entirely different. There are a lot of guys That you know all of a sudden behind cashier than tellers and that guy want to be the CEO He want to be the chief loan officer. Yeah, that ain't what we hired you to do We got people for those roles. We need you to feel So knowing your role and let me ask you this I'm gonna ask Ocho this Ocho know who is it is it more the players that get a guy in this role or is it the coach which one would you say i say it's more it's more the players i mean it's more the players the player define whatever role they they they can do you know once you once you show that in practice you know then therefore the coach has no no choice but to put you at said role unless the person in front of you is that much better like that much special that is different but you set the role on what you can and can't do and that all start in practice but you know sometimes you coming at yeah hey excuse me if i'm wrong but you can come in there thinking you know i'm scoring 20 30 tonight and you get in practice and and you you look like dog water i mean it is what it is but bread you know the thing is is that everybody we've seen guys in practice like damn and then he get to the game I want you to do what you was doing in practice.

21:31Shannon Sharpe:That's what I need you to do right now But they can't yeah, you put it on a one-two and you to the basket. Yeah one to pull up Whatever you did in practice whatever you ate that morning before you came to practice it did that But that's why they call some of those guys practice players You see a guy you play against all the time Larry Bird all the guys I knew back then we have someone behind you and this guy's scored like here and then you look at him going, I know goddamn well you ain't going to shoot it in the game. You're going to pass the damn ball. You ain't even looking. You scared to pee out there.

22:06You don't know what you got to do. So I think that's the difference when you think about players and who they are and what they do, you know, of knowing roles. I think players sometimes define their roles, their fellow players' roles better than them because players, Joe, you've gone to players before and said, man, you need to give me damn 10 rebounds tonight. You need to box this motherfucker out right now. I think it runs, especially if you have veteran players, and that's why I think De 'Aaron Fox is so smart. That's the guy I think to me is the key because he's a veteran player who is holding the ball and is commanding their attention.

22:47Chad Johnson:Right, and he don't overexert himself neither. You know what I mean? Meaning, And then, excuse me, he could come out and probably, you know, go at his man a lot more than what he's doing. But he plays great within that system, keeping everybody involved. Because there's one thing that we know, young guys, when they feel involved and feel a part of it, they play a little extra harder, man. You know what I mean? Now, there will be games and there will be times coming down the stretch where Fox is going to have to come through, especially on the road, because he's been in those situations. and that's why I say he's the second most valuable guy for the Spurs.

23:22Chad Johnson:If he plays well, because they're going to need his ass on the road to come through late game. Watch. Didn't Michael do that, though? Didn't Michael Jordan do that? He made sure that everybody else was involved in the game early so that you know later in the game that now I'm not afraid to touch the ball. And that's one of the things I look at different. I didn't see that when Kobe played. Kobe was like, shit, it's about me. What you got? Follow me here. Don't be trying to do nothing else. But Michael said.

23:54Shannon Sharpe:But you need veteran players for that, though, Brad. Because if you think about who hit the big shot, Steve Kerr, John Paxson. Now you're asking young players, Joe, coming in first, second year in the league, and LeBron passed him the ball. Steph Curry passed him the ball. Or one of these proven veteran players, they're like, no, bro. I thought I was just wanting to be on the team with you. You're supposed to shoot that shot. Don't give me that ball. No, that ain't what I asked for. That ball. It's like that in football. More times than not, the quarterback's going to go to the pool. That ball comes back to you faster than you pass it to them.

24:28They catch it, and they throw it back to you before they get it. Whoa, wait.

24:32Chad Johnson:Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. When they get late game, it'll show who won it and who don't. Hey, hey, hey. You got guys, they try to get as far as hell is away from that ball as they can. Yeah, I'm going to go way over here in the corner.

24:46Shannon Sharpe:Oh, I've been in the huddle. Hey, you open? No, I ain't open. Go watch the film. He wide-ass open. Bro, I thought you said you wasn't open. Bro, you was open. We could have threw you the ball. What you mean you wasn't open? Because everybody thinks they want that pressure. They want the pressure if they make the play. But if they don't make the play, that criticism that's going to come from the fans, the criticism of your teammates looking at you sideways, knowing you had an opportunity. everybody can't handle a drop pass that change of possession or a drop pass and all of a sudden you don't convert and now all of a sudden you lose the ball game.

25:22Shannon Sharpe:You don't, everybody can't handle that. Everybody thinks they can handle it. Oh man, I've been a big time player all my life. Yeah, but you've made those plays. Now you get on the biggest of stages and you don't make that play. Do you still have the wherewithal? Do you still have the intestinal fortitude to overcome a drop, overcome a misdassignment in the most crucial of situations? everybody can't handle those situations. Here's the thing that really happens in a basketball game and a football game and all these games. In a basketball game in particular, if you're a player, you can hide from the ball.

25:55If you're an offensive player, you can grab the guy and say, I'm being covered. Some guys do that. I've seen it on the tape. You're supposed to be done? No. He can grab the other guy and ran behind him. He can't get the ball. So you can be on the floor. Greatness to me is, I saw it with Larry Bird, the greatness that he wanted the ball. Magic wanted the ball. Jordan, them dudes won't run away from the ball. But I've seen a lot of times in games where I've seen great players get in position where they're, man, I don't want that ball, man. Don't give me the ball. I know I'm getting paid to get it, but I don't want that damn ball.

26:33Shannon Sharpe:Not right now. But can you be great when greatness is required? Because we've seen guys hit shots. joe ocho we've seen guys but look at the guys making one head catches in the first quarter like oh boy yeah right there oh good god he's doing like this here taking off his shoe tops now we get in the fourth quarter we need it ball hit him

26:56Shannon Sharpe:bro you just took one of your shoe tops from 25 yards away not about 10 yards away and you damn you throw the ball up wait wait what are you doing are you a juggler are you a juggler in the damn sir that's what they be doing i'm like bro hey hey brad and joe i used to tell them you still only get one catch i don't give a damn how many times you bobbled and catch it that's still one catch yeah so you bobbled it three four five times that ain't five catches bro that's one catch yeah

27:24Chad Johnson:hey hey look at it when you think about it hell them first three damn quarters there ain't no damn pressure out there at all exactly their pressure their pressure coming in four quarter under five minutes a minute left on the clock it's a neck and neck game and we need a big play Big shot. Your ass is scary. I know exactly what you're talking about. Hey, Uncle Joe and Brad, it's only a select few that are built mentally for those moments. I mean, every sport, basketball, baseball, football, it doesn't matter what it is. It's all about moments. And there are a select few of certain players that can live with having wins and losses on their shoulders.

28:00You know, I'm going to name a player. And this is pretty good. I'm going to name a player because he's one of my favorite teammates. It was Kevin McHale. Kevin McHale, one of the greatest players ever to play the game. We were watching a tape one time after the game was over, and he had missed some free throws. We looked at his damn knees, and his knees stuck buck him, and we didn't even get ready to shoot the free throw. We were like, what the hell? And you can ask him today. He'll laugh if you ever see him anytime. But that day, he didn't want it. He didn't want it. He's one of the greatest players ever to play the game.

28:37So I don't care who you are. I always say this. Pressure bust pipes, buddy. I don't care who you are. You can think that you want it. You can act like you want it. But when the time comes, buddy, as Ochoa is saying, only a few select players and women, men, whatever it is, boxers, whatever, want to step up and take that position.

29:00Chad Johnson:Hey, hey, Brad, yeah, pressure does bust pipes. but it also make diamonds, baby. And you got some cats that'll look that moment right in the eye and be ready for it, whether we can practice it a thousand damn times in the backyard of our house as kids, you know, count it down, five, four, three, putting yourself under that type of pressure. Yeah, it's different when you got 30 ,000, 40 ,000 fans screaming, but some guys, man, they're very comfortable in those situations. And you can tell, for instance, when I watch the Pistons play, you go look at K, bro. Hey, hey, when he gets thick, he can't run into the ball.

29:36Chad Johnson:Hey, give me the ball. Get your ass out the way it happens. You know what I mean? I enjoy watching stuff like that because you see so many guys who are great and they will run from that moment. You know what I mean? So I understand what you're saying.

29:49Shannon Sharpe:But you know sometimes what we think of diamonds is just broken glass that's been buried for about 20 years. And when you get up and you wash all that dirt off your bread, guys, there ain't nothing but a piece of broken damn glass that's been buried for 20 to 30 years. That's all it is. We understand that pressure make diamonds, but sometimes you ain't dug up nothing but a piece of broken glass, and you have to see it for your damn self. There was nothing but a Pepsi bottle down there with broken all of us. That's all it was, fellas. That's all it was. And I think the thing is that in pro sports, especially like basketball and football, you're so wide open.

30:26Shannon Sharpe:It's there for everybody to see. So if I throw you the ball and you drop it in a crucial situation, who we blaming it on. The ball hit you in the hands. Brad, you got the shot right there and you go into the basket and then you dribble the ball out of bounds. You do something crazy with it. Everybody don't want to take that shot. They want to take it if it goes in. Yes, they hold it up there. But that ball come up short or you airball it. Now all of a sudden people looking at you crazy. I saw my man, a guy I went against and loved him to death. Well, I hate him, actually. James Worthy. James Worthy threw the ball.

31:09The Lakers were in two games, one game to nothing. They had the ball. They gave it to James in the backcourt, and he didn't want to get fouled. So he threw the ball up. Gerald Henderson stole it. James Worthy later on said, hey, I didn't want that ball. I didn't want to get fouled. James Worthy is one of the top players that ever played a game. So, you know, as much as I hate him, but I still got to give him his credit although he played with the Bakers. I still got to give him his credit as, you know, he was. But that particular time, he didn't want that ball. He did not want it. And that's the thing about great players' greatness.

31:45Moments will always elevate, and you will know who you are as a player.

31:50Chad Johnson:Yes, sir.

31:52Shannon Sharpe:So who you like, Joe? Who you like for game three? You like the Timberwolves going back home to be in their building? Crowd's going to be crazy. They did what they wanted to do. It had to have been great to get two games, but you got one. You stole, you snatched home court. Now can you consolidate it, game three, to really put the pressure on this young Spurs team?

32:11Chad Johnson:Yeah, I like the Timberwolves going back home, game three. Man, like I always tell y 'all, and Bridge, you know this, in the NBA, bro, it's a fine line between winning and losing, especially in the postseason. One minute you can feel like you got it under control, the next damn minute you're like, damn, it's hard for us to even get a win. We got to try to find a way to get a win. So I'm not going to put too much on this win from the Spurs. I just thought they were the more desperate team. But I think it's going to be some trying times going to Minnesota trying to get a win. It's hard playing in that arena, bro.

32:41Chad Johnson:And if Minnesota can some way, somehow, miraculously get a little more healthier before game three, because that's the biggest thing for Minnesota. Ant-Man ain't healthy here. You can see that. Ayo tried to get it. He gave it a go. But, man, you got to get these guys. They got to get healthy. But I think regardless of that, it's going to be hard for them Spurs to win. I go. I'm going the opposite way. I'm thinking the Spurs go in that game and they win that game by 20 in their third game. And the reason I say that is because I just don't believe in Minnesota. I don't think they believe in themselves enough right now at the end of the day.

33:22when you're playing games and that you keep them close, that to me is a sign of who you are. But when you let go of the rope and you're just happy to get back home, and I think Ant-Man is one of the greatest players out there. He got a nice, important cast, some of the guys out there. But I just think that when he comes in, he's going to shut that arena down, especially for that third game. And it's critical that Minnesota gets out early and gets that crowd involved. If they don't get that crowd involved, and we saw that. You saw that when Luka went there and took the heart and soul out of that building.

33:59He just, I mean, who was that? I think it was Snoop Dogg sitting on the front row. He was, Luka was talking shit to Snoop, talking shit to anybody around there and took the heart and soul. And Minnesota sometimes doesn't fight like that, and they're going to have to do that this time. Yeah.

34:18Shannon Sharpe:The Knicks take a 2-0 lead over the Boston. I don't think that. Oh, of course. Thanks to a 108-102 victory. Jalen Brunson was Jalen Brunson when he needed to be Jalen Brunson. They had three guys with at least 20 points. O.G. Adonovia still playing unbelievable basketball. He had 24 points. Cat had 12, was a double-double, 20 and 10. Mikael Bridges had 18, 9 of 13 from the floor. And Jalen Brunson struggled with his shot, but when he needed to be great, when he needed to make shot after shot after shot, in the last two minutes, they put the ball in his hand and he delivered. Ocho. Yeah. Hold on.

35:00Shannon Sharpe:Let's see. Paul George, Andrew Drummond, Kelly Oubre, Tyrese Maxey, Edgecombe. I'm listening to somebody. Who are you missing? Paul George, Andrew Drummond. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And B was hurt. His knee. Whoa. Oh, yeah. He wasn't available.

35:21Hey, listen. I know. I know we talked about that. We talked about that. We know. I understand. I told you how special he was when he did play. That was my feedback, right? We played nine games.

35:34Shannon Sharpe:The 76ers played nine games. He's missed four. Okay.

35:38Chad Johnson:In the postseason. Hey, hold on. Let's stay on track and let's focus. Go ahead. We got to be exact. Go ahead. Let me get you together. Hey Joe You was with Unk too Talk about Cat couldn't do nothing with goddamn Andre Drummond And goddamn Embiid So he gave Embiid that worked the first game And then he had Drummond this game Boy what Cat looked like tonight Joe He looked good Ocho I can't hear you say it one time for me Matter of fact he didn't live by the three He had one of them he was one for one from three But where he got his points at Joe in the what In free throws Nine free throws Yeah, I had to get to the free throw line by doing what he's being aggressive.

36:16Thank you Huh, I told you I talked the cat before this goddamn series I told him you heard what Uncle Joe said go ahead and show them boys you could do it, right? Yeah, me don't let him make it one dimensional and he's showing you he could do it You guys you guys forget something here Mr. Mr. Big had himself a guy. I hate to buy him a hat but Brunson that damn he come and he start throwing that head around and hitting you. You know, they always get people with throwing their elbows and stuff. That boy's leaning his head into more people than I've seen, you know, in a long time. But he gets it done.

36:54And I'm just, I'm amazed. You know, you think about Trey's, how Dallas missed out, and they had him and Luka in the backcourt together and decided to make a decision and let that boy go to New York. and he's exactly what he has the spirit in him. That dude right there is a leader. That's the leader. And when he plays that way, everybody else follows suit, man. We can talk about Cat. Cat can do what he wants to do. But I really picked Philly. I thought Philly would play much better because I thought Embiid, the way they played against the Celtics and the way Paul George got back in that machine and went back about 10 years, I thought that the 76ers don't give them a fit.

37:40Hold on, Brett. Don't feel bad because them two right there, right there by your side, they pick Philly too.

37:46Chad Johnson:They pick Philly too. When you look at it, they are a way different team when they play without Embiid. There's more space, the pace is a lot faster, and they're less predictable. Yes, Maxie is the head of the snake by him putting pressure on that defense, attacking in the pick and roll. See, when Embiid is there, the lane is always clogged because his big ass ain't really, he ain't leaving the paint unless he's sitting in the pick and roll because he want the ball every time. Y 'all know it? Yes, sir. Y 'all know it. So he ain't sacrificing just to be on the three to where Max can have these lanes, where Edge can have these lanes.

38:24Chad Johnson:And I also think without Embiid playing, the psyche of the guys, especially Paul George, you know, they know they have to assert themselves a lot earlier in the game. If you see, Paul George came out cooking with grease. He wasn't playing tonight. You know what I mean? Like, he was getting right to it. I just think they're less predictable like this. They're a lot faster, and the game seems a lot more fun for those guys without Embiid. Now, I'm not saying they better without Embiid, but I'm just saying they play games to where they look pretty damn good. Look, I mean, hell, they ain't lose by 30.

38:55Chad Johnson:They were winning at the end of the third quarter, fellas, going into the fourth quarter. Yeah.

38:59Shannon Sharpe:They were winning late in the ballgame until I thought they started taking some ill-advised threes. I didn't think those threes that they were taking, Joe, I didn't think they were necessary. I thought they could have got a better shot than what they were getting. You're right because the Knicks didn't have any rim protectors. There's nobody at the rim. So you should have been attacking if you were the 76ers attacking the rim and they didn't do it. You played into the hands of what the Knicks are. And now that the Knicks have got you down 2-0 and they're going to your building, man it's gonna be rough because you're gonna have you're gonna have ocho and everybody else gonna be sitting in the damn front row and really yelling damn nick fans well i mean some of the most arrogant asses i've done seen they could they come to your building man and they're gonna turn your building now so if you're the 76ers you better make sure mb is there you get him on the box and let him be and we can talk about it but when he's dominant he's the horse in there then everything else to me you might not get as many shots but boy he was so dominant against the Celtics that it out I had damn nightmares over there I wanted to come I wanted to come off the damn bench and guard him and I ain't played in a damn 30 years let me at him bread what if you had what if you only got an opportunity to eat if Joel Embiid played in an NBA game.

40:27Shannon Sharpe:People are going to thank you on that Zempick. You'll be skinning in the mood. Hey, but even with that, right? Even, Joe, if you look at the 76ers today and you look at them offensively and how free-flowing everybody was. Free-flowing, up and down, in transition, not having to wait, lane not clogged up, Maxie and PG willing to assert themselves whenever they wanted to because they didn't have to facilitate to Embiid. But then look about it when Embiid does play and how he can dominate the game down in the paint. You can pick and choose when you want to go as far as PG and goddamn Maxie goes. But then today, you got no presence down there.

41:07You have no offense to threaten Drummond because that's not what he does.

41:11Shannon Sharpe:I think the thing is, though, Ocho, if you look at game one, Joe and I thought they went to Embiid too early too often. and it threw everybody off kilter. Now, yeah, it would have been great to have him in a situation tonight, so now we don't have to force threes. We got a big guy down on the box, and now if you have to come help, he can kick and get you a wide-open three. I thought they were taking threes with hands in their face. Yeah, Paul George had it going, and I think the thing is what happens is sometimes is that you make a couple of threes early, Joe and Brad, is that you think the three are going to be there late in the ballgame, and so you take some unnecessarily.

41:47Shannon Sharpe:Yeah, that's that's the problem. And see, my thing is, and I've never said that Joel Embiid wasn't great, but it's going to be hard to win a championship with him because you don't know how available he's going to be and how often he'll be available. Because here it is again tonight. You're like, oh, man, we got an opportunity to get this back. Joel Embiid is out with multiple injuries. Yeah.

42:06Chad Johnson:Yeah.

42:07Shannon Sharpe:OG left this game late in the ball game, Joe. Brett, OG left. He going to be huge if he can't play. Now that swings back because he's been unbelievable. He's been their second best player.

42:21Chad Johnson:Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Hey, hey, and then when you think about it, I think if Embiid is going to be out, you know, these guys, I'm not sure if he's going to come back for game three or not. But I like drumming. I love Bono coming off the bench, fellas, the energy and effort that he plays with. Yes. You know, even if a few times he got beat, he had two blocks. He coming from behind, fly swatting that thing. You hear me? Yep. Throwing the fast break. I love the high pace that Philly plays with. My only problem is I think they got it going so good the first three quarters that when they got late in the stretch, they were tired, you know, Ojo and Bree.

43:01Chad Johnson:I thought they all got a little tired and fatigued, which is why they settled for a lot of them bad shots that ultimately, you know, got them. See, that's what Joel Embiid gives you the ability that when you need a basket, he can get his big ass on that damn post. And now he draws attention against the Celtics during this series. He played, he, he, they were going to him. He was making correct reads. He was passing off who Bray had dunks. He played like a master in that. And maybe because the Celtics weren't competing that way. But I thought, and we talk about the game. See, if you are a coach and you just beat the Celtics the way you did by Joel Embiid, you ain't changing what you did.

43:46You're going to go and see if you can put Embiid on the box and see if he can get going. But we know in the NBA and also football, all these other sports, the series change from game to game because it's all about matchups. If you don't change your matchups, if they don't win this third game, go get your damn broom someplace, Ocho. We'll be down there sweeping because that's going to be over quick.

44:16Chad Johnson:Think about this, though. When you think about NB, can he play the role Ant-Man's playing? Do y 'all think he can play that role coming well coming off the bench yeah come listen listen ocho i mean damn you already hurt you know you you only gonna give us real limited minutes i'm talking about effective minutes come out play limited minutes off the bench and in the fourth when we really need you maybe you got a little something in the tank it takes a different type of guy a different type of star bro to be able to do what ant-man is doing coming off that bench accepting that role and not overdoing it Yeah, but the thing about when you get a Joel Embiid, when he warms up, you guys know right now if you warm up with a damn horse and you let him go over there and sit down, he's going to be cold as hell.

45:01You can't expect him to start going well in the third and fourth quarter. So when a guy like that warms up, it's like they were saying to me, oh, well, do you think that when Jason Tatum comes back, you're going to bring him off the bench? I said, no. He done warmed up. He warmed up and did all these drills and all this stuff. Yeah, you put him in the game and let him play. Joel Embiid is the same way. Now, what you can do, Joe, I think you start him, and then you start limiting those minutes, and you take him down some, and then you have him more fresh for the fourth quarter. I would like to do that, but I don't think he's going to be able to get started, be cold, and then come off, and then get some things going in the fourth quarter.

45:43I don't think he can do that.

45:45Shannon Sharpe:No. I mean, you look at Philly, they only played eight guys. PG played 43 minutes. Oubre, 40 minutes. Maxey, 47 minutes. Edgecombe, 40 minutes. So I can see, Joe, at the end of the game, them legs heavy. Yeah. The game was played. At first, the game was up and down. Mm-hmm. And then it kind of slowed down. But the problem is, if we get in B, y 'all know the first four or five touches, y 'all know where the ball's going. He's going to touch it. Yeah. Yeah. But are you going to stop him, though? That's the thing. Are you going to stop him?

46:18Chad Johnson:Well, the thing, Britt, it ain't even about stopping him because it's just going to kind of – it's going to clog up the paint or it's going to have everybody else around them kind of stale. They don't play with that same type of enthusiasm. It ain't going like that. Hey, when the coach draw the players up in the hood, the first three, four players going to MB. Hey, guys just out there. They ain't even – you know what I mean? It's a big difference, bro. Hey, but look, I like the kid Barlow who came off the bench for Philly. The big guy, I thought he played great. And I like Boner. It ain't like they ain't got bigs.

46:50Chad Johnson:Hell, you got drumming too. But I just think with Embiid, man, you can't bog him down with 35. Yeah, that's really the key, that you cannot make him play for you. If you can make him play someplace around 25 minutes, 28 minutes, I think that's when you get the maximum from him. anything over that I think Joel Embiid and because look he's been out of basketball he's been away for for a long time I'm shocked that he came back and was able to play because we've all had I had a hernia operation they told me not to laugh not to move don't do shit for it too much and I'm like he had this operation and he's playing the NBA game I was shocked to see him out there And to be as effective as he was, I was shocked.

47:41I was shocked.

47:43Shannon Sharpe:And think about how many minutes he had to play in that Celtics game. They redlined him. He played 40-plus because they didn't have no choice. And then to flip it around a day later, when you've been out the amount of time that he's been out, and you know his conditioning. And see, that's when guys get hurt. When you get fatigued, that's when guys get hurt.

48:05Chad Johnson:Yeah. Yeah, that's why I say you got to find a way. to kind of minimize his minutes. Now, his ass ain't going to be happy because y 'all know the stars in this league. They don't like sitting down. You know, they don't like when you cut their minutes, especially if they kind of got a little back and forth with somebody on the other team. You know what I mean? So he ain't going to be fine with just playing in three, four minutes first here. He's going to be pissed off. But you're going to need that, bro, to keep him fresh in that fourth quarter versus, you know, bogging him down. And then when you get to the fourth, you wonder why he tired, while he walking down the court.

48:39Chad Johnson:I just think without him on the floor, man, the energy and the pace is so much more faster for the Sixers. And you can tell the guys really enjoy playing that way. Hell, the game fun. We all touching the ball, penetrate, kick, pop, pop, pop, and hopping around the horn. We all shooting three. Hell, it's fun like that. Burch is coming down every damn trip, Brie, you know. Damn, we just throwing it down at a big fella. Hope he pass it out at me. Hey, man, damn. I mean, I'll ask you guys a question. And Jalen Brown talked about it. He put it on his podcast. He said, Joel Embiid is one of the best players in the NBA.

49:14He said he's a damn flopper. And I was like, yeah. Because every time he gets around the hole, I ain't never seen a big guy go down that many times. I ain't never seen him. I mean, a guy who weighed half his weight, he come and bump into Joel Embiid. Joel Embiid just go flying backwards, man. so they need and the nba already said hey we're gonna find you for flopping they ain't planning oh wow thank you shannon thank you thank you so you said the refereeing changes during the playoffs yeah they they let him play it ain't happening

49:57Shannon Sharpe:oh yeah but i thought i thought the nicks look when og was great all night uh mikhail bridges made some big shots, but you know what it is. It's Brunson. And I thought Edgecombe did a great job. He had 26 points, Joe, but it took him 21 shots. 21 shots to get him. I can live with Joe. I can live with that. I can live with that. Man taking 21 shots to get 26 points. Now, you would like to see him, okay, you're going to get 26. Let's get to 26 before the last two minutes because I don't need you to get six of those points in the last two minutes of the ball game because that's when he kills you.

50:32Shannon Sharpe:you've done a great job on this man the entire night i agree when he got to have a basket when he got to make a play he's gonna draw the contact or get to the line or he's gonna put the ball in the hoop it's really that simple there there's a region uh didn't he win the clutch award this year or did uh shea won it but i think he won it last year i think shea might have won it yeah yeah that's why he's always in the running for clutch clutch player because the last five minutes of the ball game, when the ball game is close,

51:00Chad Johnson:he's going to find a way to get the ball

51:02Shannon Sharpe:in the basket.

51:03Chad Johnson:He's going to accept that challenge, and he's going to take on that challenge. And for me, man, the Knicks, probably obviously, their third most important player or one of the most is OG, bro. Yeah. OG has been playing out of his damn mind. Out of it. This entire postseason. I mean, I'm not going to lie. It seemed like every time he shoot, that shit going in. You know what I mean? And he just make He makes winning plays, bro. He makes winning plays. He plays hard and shit on defense. And offensively, he got enough to where he could get you 25 a night in the postseason, 20 to 25 a night. And he's been doing that on a consistent basis.

51:41Chad Johnson:The way he's been shooting the three-pointer, obviously he was two for seven a night, but he's been shooting over 50 % from three, fellas. Yep. Like the man is playing out of his mind, bro.

51:53Shannon Sharpe:And I thought like when the Sixers had an opportunity to really open it up, he make a three. Yeah. He go into the basket and he finishes at the rim. I was like, well, damn, Philly. I like Philly. Oh, Philly about to go up. They get a basket here. They're going to go up 9, 10, maybe even 11 points. And all of a sudden, OG come down. He hit a three. All of a sudden, he make an outstanding defensive play and they can go down and score on the other end. He's been playing winning basketball. That's what they got him for. They got him in New York because they wanted to deal with those twins up in Boston, JT and JB.

52:24Shannon Sharpe:He said we got to have somebody that has the physicality, has the quickness to stay with him, and can maybe offset. Now, he probably ain't going to outscore JT because we know JT can go get 50. We saw him in a game seven go get 51. So we know he can put the ball in the bucket. And now JB has taken even another step. Probably going to be looking to get his own team, Brad. He might well come on back.

52:50Chad Johnson:He might well come on home then.

52:52Shannon Sharpe:Hey, Brad. Brad, you know how that go? Brad, you know how that go? You get a little taste of playing. It's your team. You get as many shots as you want. You get to shoot it whenever you want. Brad, hey, I've been the MVP running. They ain't never put me no MVP running, Brad. Hey, they say I want the top 10 players. Oh, okay, I like what that sound, Brad. Hold on. Hey, can you still be that if you lead a team that you own? Now, you got to understand, as great as you are, it's because your supporting cast is there too now. Well, he carried these guys. He carried them. He carried them. He is the MVP of finals already.

53:32He was almost one of the top seven guys in the NBA this year. I still think the Celtics are going to want to do that. I keep hearing about, well, maybe they make a trade and they get Giannis, you know, send him to Milwaukee and you get Giannis with JT. Jalen Brown is a beast, man. He is a beast. He's an intellectually smart player. He is probably the best. He said, I'm the best two-way player right now in the game. And when he defends like that, this is how bad it was in Boston. Boston was so bad that they had J.B. guard Embiid on the post.

54:16Chad Johnson:I'm like, what the hell are y 'all doing? I'll weigh you about 75 pounds. So you asked him a lot of that dude, and you wanted him to carry the weight. But I don't know. It's going to be interesting to see what happens with all these teams right now, with all these different players that we talk about. And, I mean, even to the point where I think about the Steph Curry, does he finish right now at Golden State? If you go to the State, we look at all these great players. He ain't got no chance to win it in Golden State right now.

54:45Shannon Sharpe:No, no, they don't win. Do you waste these last three years, three, four years by him staying where he's at? Or do you make a move right now? And Joe, please don't tell me about them Atlanta Hawks down there after what they do.

54:59Chad Johnson:Come on. I ain't never seen a first-grade team play like that. Brad, Brad, Brad. Come on, Brad. Brad, you got to chill. Listen, if you mean to tell me we can go get Jalen Brown and bring him on home, I bet that shit won't happen no more. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, Jay, he going to get you all over the place, huh? Yo, how did they get beat by damn 65 points without somebody fighting? I didn't understand that. Hey, hey, hey, we tried to start a fight. You see, we had Big Robinson. Yeah, they tried to start one. And they had Big Robinson in the full Nelson. We're about to put him to sleep. You can't put nobody in the full Nelson after you down by 60.

55:37You can't. You can't. I've never seen it. I'm looking at the scores going. I saw it's 50-something to 14. Next thing I know, there was 77. And then I looked at the hair. I'm like, they only scored 30. They had 39 points. And the Knicks had them 96. I was like, are they still playing out there? Or is it just, what the hell happened down there? I got to get on Dominique's ass when I see him. He's always talking noise to me. Yeah, these are the hoaxes. Man, them damn hoaxes, man. Them want to know about some scarecrows at the end of the day. Oh, man. Come on. Come on, Britt. Yo, you saw the game.

56:16You saw the game. Am I missing something? Am I telling you something?

56:20Chad Johnson:Nah, we were bad, Brad. We were bad. We were bad.

56:23Shannon Sharpe:We were bad. Brad, you know when that thing go bad, and sometimes, especially in basketball, when that thing start, when that one push and a 10-point lead goes to 25, and the next thing you know, you look up, it's 45. It's over.

56:38Chad Johnson:65. It was that damn 65. It don't go from 10 to 65 like that, Shannon. You go from 20 to 30, but it don't go from damn 10 to 65.

56:52Shannon Sharpe:Brad, the score was 51-19. So what you going to do about that? You think you coming back on 51-19 and scoring 83 to 36 at the half? Man, you might as well get you a hot dog, some popcorn, and just get fooled. And relax. You might as well just get the locker room. I said, hey, man, go get me a couple hot dogs. Man, get my bags right now so we can get on the fire here. That was the most disappointing thing I've seen so far this year. And I thought the Hawks were going to play well against the Knicks and at least push them. But when they lost that game like that, I mean, that was crazy. That was crazy.

57:30Shannon Sharpe:Well, look, I didn't think they'd get beat like that. But if you notice, the games that they won, they were nip and tuck. The games that the Knicks won, they were by 20. You remember when they went back for game five and the Knicks blew them out by 30. They come back home and they get beat by 50. But you remember in game one, they got beat bad. Yeah. I give you that, Shannon, but I'm still trying to do that damn math that you gave me a minute ago. You down by 10 and then you down by 60. You know, math don't work like that, man. But you know what? The thing is, Brad, you know the NBA is about runs.

58:08Shannon Sharpe:And now with that three-point shot, you get down 10, and the next thing you know, you down 19 because they done hit three threes in a row on you. Now you down 10, now you down 19, you look it up. And now you turn the ball over because you're trying to do something, and before you know it, that thing, it don't take long. Brad, you remember these games? And now with the three-point shot, Brad, when y 'all got a team down 20 points, this team wasn't coming back. You get down 20, 25 points in the first quarter, you next thing you know, you tied at the half. These guys shoot that three ball so well, Yeah, if you shooting the three ball well, but if you're not shooting it well and you get down by 1015 You might get blown out.

58:44It's gonna be it's gonna be hell

58:48Shannon Sharpe:And that's what happened to y 'all cuz y 'all I don't understand I'm trying to figure out y 'all had a chance to take the lead with a two Why the hell y 'all shoot five straight six straight threes late in that ball game like that bring well I'll answer that Shannon because that's who they are. That's their identity you don't change you it's like if you go to if you go to the prom shannon and you take this one pretty girl but you see another girl over there and you try to go get her ass and then your girlfriend find out that you you own her then next thing you know you going home you know you going your hand will miss the fist that's where you're going back because you you ain't no more happening but they were but the girl i brought she wasn't acting right no bread what you want The three wasn't falling, so you better go take you some tools.

59:33They are a three-boy shooting team. The only person that they had that could go to the hoop at that particular time was Jalen Brown. When you missed Jason Tatum, Jason Tatum was huge because Jason Tatum had enough size to kind of get to the free throw line. That's why he kept taking the threes. And I was, look, Peyton, would you live? I think I could live with Peyton Pritchard shooting the three all by himself in the corner. and he just missed it. So, it just, I'm dumbfounded because I still think the Celtics should be playing right now in the Knicks. So, I'm really sick about all that.

1:00:11Shannon Sharpe:This game tonight was unbelievable. He had 25 lead changes, the most in a playoff game in 11 years. He had 14 ties and neither team led by more than seven points tonight. It came down to the end and this is what you want to see. Hopefully, we get some games like this tomorrow. Ain't no guarantee. but the Knicks were, and that's what the Knicks does. The Knicks get you in a close ball game and they put the ball in one of the best clutch players that's in the NBA and he finishes. Wait a minute. You think that I got to make sure I get this straight. You think that the Lakers, the Fakers going to get close to OKC tomorrow?

1:00:46Is that what you're saying? Absolutely.

1:00:48Shannon Sharpe:I said I'm going to probably not considering Shea. This was the first game that Shea had. He scored under 20 in a year and they still lost by 18, I'm not the most confident man.

1:01:01Chad Johnson:No.

1:01:04Shannon Sharpe:I'm not the most confident man.