 What's the word y'all? Ladies and gentlemen, we are getting more basketball and that's all I really want in this world. If you did not know if the Suns would have won today or the Heat would have won today, they had a real possibility of closing out this series on Sunday. It feels like the second round just started and I was not here for no sweeps. So the bare minimum, we're going to five. And no, I'm not saying I was rooting against the Suns because Chris Paul is my favorite of all time and I want to see him get a ring one day. No, I wasn't rooting against Miami because I got a love for Jimmy Butler for what he did for Chicago. When Duncan Robson is the homie, even though he don't play, I wasn't rooting against these teams, but I was rooting for more basketball and at the bare minimum, we're getting five. And I'm excited about that, man. I did not want any sweeps. I want as much basketball, as much competitive basketball as we could get. And well, we're getting at least five and I'm excited about that. Let's start off where things started off with the 76ers winning against the Miami Heat. There's an old saying that that ranged true. I think even James Harden said this after game two that a series does not start until a role team wins. And basically, neither of these two series have started as the case. The Suns to care business on their home court. Then the Mavericks did the exact same thing. Miami took care of business and now the 76ers did. So, I mean, it's still up in the air. I'm just happy to be not getting no sweep. So yesterday, there's a tweet from whoa, from Soms. There's there's no way that Joel and B plays. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but they did say that Joel and B was listed as out. And I was listening to a podcast. I don't remember exactly which one because I subscribed to so many sports, but more specifically NBA podcast. And they were saying it took Joel and B four days after he got hit by Pascal Saka for him to even look at his phone. If you didn't know, he had an orbit fractured and he had a mild concussion. And though I've never had a concussion to my knowledge, you know, no, no. Okay, let's just go with no because I've never been diagnosed. I don't want to be self diagnosed. I did take a big hit of football back in the day and it made me never want to put on pads again because I had blurred vision for some time. But Joel and B couldn't look at his phone because the light from his phone was hurting his brain. It was hurting his brain. So the fact that bro went from out yesterday to playing today is amazing. And you know what? It didn't give the Miami Heat much time to prepare because they thought that they was about to do the same thing. They didn't gain one in game two in a game one in game two. I was Yon Fest for the first two games because it didn't feel like a playoff series. I think it was my guy, J.E. Skeets that tweeted this and he got some heat. And I don't mean that in the sense that the Miami Heat fans didn't make it feel. It just, there was no reason to go ballistic because the Heat were taking care of business. And today, even though Joel and B had only finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds and this wasn't an MVP performance like you're expected from him. His presence was all you really needed. I'm going to show you a possession from game two and you go see how much just Joel and B existence on the court matters. This is game two. And this type of defense work wonders on the 76ers in game one and game two. B ball Paul going to come up. Freeze Frank. That's three bodies on James Harden because if you're the Miami Heat, George Neane just went 1-0 for seven in game one. We all live with it. Whatever shot he get. Is that four con corgmas? He basically was the least valuable player in all of NBA last of this season. And Tobias Harris has been good, but he's definitely more of a rhythm shooter. So we're okay. We're sending three bodies to James. Cause even if we don't believe James is still the MVP player that he was two, three years ago, we still know that he can do his thing. So three bodies on him and James made the right play. He found an open Neane and it went exactly as you expect. You know, that's the type of defense that they were running at James Harden for two straight games. And today I don't have the stats to prove this, but it felt like James Harden had way more opportunities to do one on one basketball and not one on three. If you did not watch this game and you were a stat sheet watcher, you just saw James Harden in with 17 points, four from 11 from the field, one for seven for three, seven turned over six assists. You'd be like, man, James Harden hit a whack game. He did it. Now, like I said, I do believe I said this a couple of videos ago. I do believe that James Harden, the average 30 plus points per game is gone. He does not have that quick first step that he used to hell. He not even shooting the ball nearly as efficient as he did in those years either. Um, but I'm trying to figure out how do I change my expectations on an all time great because it eventually has to happen. Right? We did the same thing for Carmelo Anthony. Now I'm not saying that what James Harden is doing it right now in 32 is the same as what Carmelo Anthony is doing right now. Like 36. I'm not saying that, but we eventually had to subvert the expectations that we have from Carmelo Anthony from a this is all NBA player to okay, good role player or okay above average starter or whatever. And now I'm trying to I'm trying to subvert my expectations from the 35 point per game guy that we got three, four seasons ago. And I don't know what that is just yet. But if you were just watching the box score, it wouldn't tell you that James Harden was good today. I know 36% from his field with seven turnovers. Kenny that was good. It was good today. If you were watching this game because the game opened up so much more for him in the first quarter, he was aggressive. He was aggressive. He's getting to the basket. And like I said, he was four, four, 11. So he wasn't hitting, but he was getting to a basket. And one thing you could say, even though he ended again with seven turnovers, his playmaking is still at an elite level. And he gets a ton of hockey assists in this game. So again, it wasn't the all NBA performance that were used for James Harden, but it was enough for them to take care of business. And right now that's all I need from James Harden. If they want to win this series, I guess maybe not. I mean, Grant scheme, you probably need him to at least have one 30 point game mate. Maybe I saw a stat that James Harden has an attempt at 20 shots in the game since he got traded to Philly, which again is something. And I know we already had the conversation about the max contract or whatever he should be getting paid. And I just feel like that's going to be the conversation revolving around Philly and James Harden until whatever deal is being made. If he takes his player option or they give him X amount of money or whatever the hell happens, that's going to be the conversation revolving around it. I'm done having a conversation. I'm just going to look at it face value right now and say that James Harden today had an impactful game. The big impact though came in that fourth quarter. Terry's Maxi went into the end of the third quarter basically with zero points and he ended with 21. Maybe not zero points, zero field goals made. He ended with 21. He only needed to see that first one fall and after that it was wraps. Bro saved the ball over his head and it ended in a basket. He hit in his threes. He shot out of a cannon every time, every chance he get and he was the X factor to close. Ah, him and Danny Green were the X factors to close out this game and give them one on the board. Danny Green shot seven for nine from three. Now I did not expect Danny Green to continue to shoot as bad as he had in the first two games because I know Danny Green. I know he could be a streaky shooter and I remember back in 2013. I don't remember where year was with the Spurs where he damn near one finals MVP. I remember that but they lost that series. I remember that. I know it's almost a decade ago but I remember that. So I knew that he wasn't going to shoot as bad as he shot in game one and game two and he did it. He came out hit seven threes matching his career high and they needed pretty much. I won't say every single one of those because once they went on that little run it was over with for Miami but a big time when Joellenby being there just opens up the game so much and it closes up the game for other people because in game number one, a game number two, Bama DiBio was one of the best players on the court and today he shot two for nine from the field and had five fouls. He ended with nine to the points. I just my biggest gripe with with Bama DiBio has been the same for like two and a half seasons now. I know all the talent that is in their Bama DiBio. I know that he's one of the greatest defenders in all NBA because of his rich ability. He even talked about on the broadcast. JJ Reddy was talking about how he switched amongst guards the most in the entire NBA. He didn't just say bigs. He said the entire NBA and he did a damn good job at it. Bama DiBio goes through this peers of time where bro would not look at the rim whatsoever and game one and game two was licking his fingers. Bobby Q chicken because it was DeAndre DeAndre Jordan and B-Ball Paul and now I felt like cause it was Jorlin beat who's obviously significantly better defender than those two dudes. He didn't even look at the basket and when he did it was like floater. It was he wasn't as aggressive in this game and I didn't need him to put up 20 something points like he did a game one a game two but feel like a threat look like a threat today. Nobody did that other than Jimmy Butler for the Miami Heat. Nobody only got you know Tyler hero go get double digit points because he gon shoot double digit shots but everybody else Cal Lari camp coming back from his hamstring 0 points 0 for 4 from the field. Max Drew said a couple early in the third quarter but other than that nothing I already talked about bam PJ Tucker's out there pushing people in the back and trying to be a nuisance pretty much everybody that played for them was a negative except for Jimmy. Jimmy tried to do everything he could including trying to hit some threes and he couldn't he couldn't do that. A lot of credit to the to the Philadelphia 76ers holding a team to 79 points in the playoffs is insane. The the Miami Heat played great defense to prevent them from hitting triple digits but still Philly shut out to you. I let me know in the comment section is a real question and and I think we all have to look look ourselves in the mirror and trying to figure out what the hell our expectations for James are for not just the rest of the series or the rest of the playoff run but for the rest of his career is it is James like this because he's still recovering from his hamstring is this really the version we're going to get like I don't really know and and when the 76ers make this trade which was Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, DeAndre, Andre Drummond and I think two first round picks. I think they were trading for an all NBA player and if this is the version that you're getting from James Harden for the rest of his career I have alone he stays there you didn't get what you were paying for. You know I still believe that James can be an all-star caliber player. Hell he was an all-star caliber this player this year and this is basically what we got from him right. He is still an all-star caliber player at this rate but you traded for him thinking it was going to be all NBA you traded for him thinking that the moments that you got in Brooklyn was just because he was upset with the situation. Well obviously it wasn't that you know it wasn't just because he was upset with the situation. It was maybe this is what we get. So I'm very curious to see. I know I said I didn't want to talk about the off season for the 76ers but I'm very curious to see what Daryl Maury and him decide to do because in my mind I don't think you have an option other than either hopefully he takes his player option right you get one more year trying to figure out what version of him are we going to get or you give him all the money that you you can because alternative to that is like we lose him completely and now we traded Ben Simmons to first round pick Steph Curry and Andrew Drummond for nothing and I guess that if you do that you let him walk and you trade Toby you open a $50 million in cap space but what does that tell to Joel and B? I don't know I don't know I don't know you let me know. What is your expectation for James Harder from here on out and what would you do if you were in the front office? Okay cool let's move on to game number 2 which was I had this theory and I had this theory and I guess it was mostly specific to baseball if you didn't know I have a channel named Kenny baseball go subscribe if you want to if you're a baseball player or baseball fan and my theory in my one and a half years of being back into baseball for oh also baseball Monday I'm throwing out the first pitch for the Chicago White Sox crazy lifelong dream I will say and it's happening on Monday and hopefully I get it over the plate I had this theory and it's based on no science whatsoever because I guess I could go ahead do some research I don't have to have that it was a birthday theory that player AX on their birthday is going to perform better than normal Chris Paul proved that to be cap today because boy oh boy was he asked especially that first half he had seven turnovers he ended with seven so I guess the second half was better but I had never this is the second time in my entire life of watching Chris Paul is a Chris Paul I'm not a Stan because Stan culture is weird and lame to me I'm not a stand I'm a big fan though because Stan means that I can't pull out thoughts or like what Chris Paul is doing that stupid you know thing that he did with Boogie trying to draw charges or him being overly aggressive and being dirty I don't look past those things stands would I just love the way he plays on court that's why I love Chris Paul he's been two times in my my life of watching Chris Paul in playoffs why where he played this bad in a single half and the first one was last year's playoff I guess when he basically was playing on one arm and he would dribble the ball with the arm that was injured and he didn't have enough power in his arm for him to dribble in the ball come up so he's bringing a ball up the court and it was slipping out of his hands it was doing all that and today it wasn't the same because it would never wasn't necessarily slipping at his hands but it was just as bad today it was Dallas's defense from the but the first possession the tip off Reggie Bullock was all in Chris Paul's stuff and my fiance sitting here and baby Avery sitting down here in a rocker and I look at him like you see Reggie Bullock you see how he trying to guard Chris Paul and I said to these are my exact words he gonna still get him get him hell he did not nope it was cap he did not get him hell he played terribly and that set the tone the whole tone for the Dallas Mavericks's defense and set the tone for for everything with Chris Paul going out there and you trying to set charges or trying to do extra stuff and it's a charge on him or he is throwing into double coverage is just like very not Chris Paul like because in baseball try to turn ahead for the cycle in his birthday I feel like if it's somebody's birthday bet the over on whatever but not anymore everybody's ever Chris Paul I guess so the Dallas Mavericks defense was so good in your face we gonna slap you first and we gonna make you pay but deeper than that I hope that these these clips are up let me see if I can find a clip I just want to show you how good of a deep defender Reggie Bullock was today they threw a lot of bodies at Chris Paul whenever he turned his back a second defender was on the way so they get right here they look like an easy pass but no Reggie Bullock get his hands up at the perfect time to get to get a deflection and that's a turnover one of his other turnovers look at Reggie Bullock's is that I call him Reggie Jackson early I don't matter another way where he just put his hands up and with Chris Paul being small with that little wrap around past don't work because Reggie Bullock is taller than you and then this one this was like just Reggie Bullock hounding him ruined his entire birthday so that's not cool Reggie I wouldn't recommend you doing that to somebody on their birthday but he did and something that's even deeper than that's deep deeper than just the turnovers that they force they prevented Devon Booker and Chris Paul from getting to their spots if you like a gang one and game two especially when we get to the fourth go to game two I didn't even get a chance to make a video about that when they were just hounding Luca going at the look going at the look they were getting to their spots whenever they wanted they did not they cut off all avenues and part of it was like whoever was running the big the big for the Dallas Mavericks were playing significantly up and not allowing Chris Paul to get to that mid range area and and again as layman's terms because I'm not a coach or somebody that's super knowledgeable about defensive schemes and stuff but that's the way it felt like in game one and game two it was like isolation Chris Paul's on the island by himself is him and Luca but today it was like him Luca and now Maxi Clea was shading over so that little me range jump shot that Chris Paul normally could get to anytime you want he can't really get to and Devon Booker and Chris Paul combined for a total of 22 shots today huh why don't I feel like it was less than that still the most amount of shots attempted in this game was Mikhail Bridges and the most points scored by the Phoenix Suns today is Jay Crowder you're not going many playoff games of Jay Crowder is your your highest scoring player you know so I got to give a lot of credit to the Dallas Mavericks man Luca was great Jalen Brunson was great today you know when I listen to like I said I listen to a lot of podcasts and everybody almost everybody that I listen to when they were recapping this or just talking about what they want to see I listen I try to listen to in market podcast too because of course I watched a lot of basketball but I didn't watch all 82 games of the Dallas Mavericks in depth so I go find a show that's hosted by some Dallas Mavericks superfans they tell you boom boom boom and a lot of people say hey we need Jalen Brunson to take some pressure off of Luca early because it seems like a game one in game two once we got to that fourth quarter Luca got kind of burned out and in today's game Jalen Brunson did exactly that that length that had caused him problem in game one in game two didn't really matter and he was huge Maxi Cleeper huge today Reggie Bullock ended up hitting four threes and playing elite level defense Doron Finney Smith also hit four threes this was damn near the perfect game for the Dallas Mavericks now that sentence could maybe scare you a little bit if you're Dallas Mavericks fan I don't know how many times J crowd is going to be the lead and score for the Phoenix sons but I will say this is important and you need to you need to win game number game number four and protect your home court to keep this series alive in my personal opinion that goes for the 76ers as well you know you got to make sure that that opposing team don't take one on the road so a lot of love one thing that I didn't expect is like Frank Nielikina getting some early PT in this one no he didn't do nothing but I like to see that these coaches are trying to see what they see what they did incorrectly in game one and game two and in game number three we're going to correct those things and just try something new throw them different looks and I'm excited to see what email you doka decides to do in game number four to change up some of the things I'm excited to see what Eric Sposter does to try to shrink the court I guess so that it's not too many opportunities for the 76ers and you know it's it's all chess it's all chess I love to see those things so let me know what you think about these series you know what are the chances that the Mavericks win it what are the chances that 76ers come back let me know