 What's the word, y'all? It's play and tournament time. Ladies and gentlemen, some of our favorite teams still have a chance to lose in the first round. That's what we fighting for today. Sometimes, I don't know. Maybe one of these teams do wanna run. I'm not completely sure. I'm gonna give my opinions, my predictions, my X factors, and so on and so forth about every single one of these games. And you let me know in the comment section what you agree a disagree with. Leave a like, subscribe, let's get into it. Pelicans hosting the Lakers. This is kind of the worst case scenario for the Pelicans because they were playing at such a basketball pre-injury to Brandon Ingram. He just came back in that last game. We'll talk about that last game. But they proceeded after Brandon Ingram went down to lose four strict games. They were the five seed at one point. They finished all the way down to seventh and they had an opportunity to control their own destiny a little bit in that last game versus the Lakers. And the Lakers did what they have done to the Pelicans pretty much all season long. They took care of business. This man LeBron's been in the league for over 20 seasons. Anytime he breaks his own record on anything, it's a surprise. The most assist he's ever had in a single half came against the Pelicans team. He also had a game earlier in the season where he had 15 assists. It's something about the Pelicans defense that he's dissecting time in and time out. This is worst case scenario because they have not played the Lakers very good. They skidded to the finish line. Of course, misson Brandon Ingram who's back but the Lakers are playing some of their best basketball going into this. It's just, it's a tough time. Now, so one game is a one game situation. So anything could really happen. But in that four game sample size the scene of Zion Williams versus Lakers. He's only had one of those games that made me feel really good about his chances in this one. He had like a 30 piece. But all the other times because of Lakers are such a physical defensive team and Zion is such a physical player. They're like clashing and clashing and clashing and the defense of Anthony Davis and the others seem to be winning time in and time out. And as good as we have Herb Jones as Herb Jones is one of my favorite players of basketball. I want you to misunderstand me. As much as we like Herb Jones, as much as we like Brandon Ingram and Dyson Daniels, they do not have anybody on the roster physically that can mess with LeBron James. And the other guy that could potentially do that, Zion Williamson, that's not his cup of tea, being the stopper. And LeBron has walked through these teams time and time again. The most interesting part about their last game in a season is that Willie Green was like, hell, Valentino is you cannot play in this game against them. They're taking advantage of you time in and time out because Anthony Davis and LeBron James and Picker Rowe is one of the best in basketball. And Jonas Valentino, even though there's a team that has been top 10 in defense all season long, Val is not the center that you want to be guarding of Picker Rowe, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. So Val, you come sit next to me, Larry Nance, Jr., with your nimble self, go out there and do the thing. And Larry Nance is a good option. He ain't good enough option to stop that two-man duo. And I feel like that's gonna happen again in this one. Pelicans, I wish you nothing but the best, but if I had to make a prediction, I'm taking the Lakers. Man, there's been some conversations about this, right? Should the Lakers try to lose in the first playing game so they can avoid the different nuggets? That is the most dangerous thing you could potentially do. Nobody should ever try to lose a game if the next game means that you out. It just doesn't make, it doesn't impute to me. I don't think you mess with the basketball gods by intentionally losing at any time, unless you're trying to get women young and then you can intentionally lose all you want. The Lakers should go out there and try to win this game because if they lose on purpose and see Steph Curry potentially who can go for 50, and you miss the playoffs completely because of that, it's not worth it. Get the playoffs. Whether you're gonna be the eighth seed of the seventh seed, you're gonna either have to go through the different nuggets anyway or a team that beat the different nuggets anyway. So go out there and hoop, man. Go out there and hoop. I'm sorry, Pails. I feel like this is a game for the Lake Show, but the best thing about it, the loser of this game obviously gets to play for that eighth seed in another game. So that's the redemption time. Another stat, even though this is very early in the playing's existence, the seventh seed has always made it. Always, and the Pelicans are the seventh seed. So even if that means they lose game one history, the three years of history, will say that that team is gonna get in. That's all I'm saying. Then we get Kings versus Warriors. The Kings, man. The Kings are beat up. And I remember when the season started last year, they were my darlings. I watched so much. They were my league past MVP team. I watched so much Sacramento Kings going into the season. My thing for them is because they basically side of a continuity, which is not a bad thing. A lot of teams go with continuity and it works out, especially the year after the big year. But last year they were the healthiest team in basketball. And this year, they did not have that luxury. Dear Fox went down with his injury and when he came back, he couldn't hit jump shot again. And now they're going into this playing game without potentially the sixth man a year in my league, Monk. And also without Kevin Herder, who wasn't having an amazing season, but hell, he's better than nothing. And the Warriors are playing something that's way better. They found themselves a front court and Trace Jackson, Dave is starting alongside Draymond Green. That two-man lineup has been phenomenal since they started together. And of course, the Kings with the match to bonus the team is trying to get hella physical with you. Draymond Green is one of the dudes that welcomed that physicality. And Kevon Looney hasn't played much since January. He hasn't, but I wouldn't be surprised if things aren't going well for the Warriors. Steve Kerr said, Loondog is your time to run because in that seven game series last year, Looney gave some bonus to works. He made it really difficult for all NBA player. Again, I don't know if that's what they're gonna do, but if it's not going perfectly. Remember, whoever loses this game, their season is over. It is wraps. So yeah, you're gonna try every single thing of you, Steve Kerr. And that might mean playing Kevon Looney. Now the X factor in this one, if you're the Sacramento Kings is Keon Ellis. These two teams have played all their games, but all of their games they played was at the first part of the season. So that was basically before Trace Jackson, Dave was a big part of the rotation. That was before Keon Ellis was a big part of the rotation. And Keon's gonna have the assignment of chasing around Wardale, Steph and Curry for 48 minutes. That's big. Now Keon has had a huge season. I've enjoyed every single moment of it, but guarding Steph Curry full-time is a chore. And not many people have completely figured that thing out. Clay Thompson is back to playing really good basketball over the last month and a half, two months or so. If I had to make a prediction, I'm predicting that the Warriors will take care of business. But the Kings obviously have the monster bonus in D.R. Fox, who in themselves are one of the best two man duos. But I'm gonna side with the history and the history of Golden State. Let's talk about 76ers versus the Miami Heat. Two teams that, I guess I wouldn't be able to predict that these two teams are both gonna end up into playing it. But here they are. The 76ers are playing the ball. And of the seven games, right? The Jordan Beatsman back, I think he missed one of the last eight games. He's a good, he hasn't looked perfect. He hasn't moved exactly the same way, but he's still been able to be super impactful, still getting his numbers, still playing great defense and so on. So I'm gonna say that they're playing at close to 100% value. And when it is Joe L and B and Tavis Maxi on the court together in the 37 games, they are 37. That is not even a stack that makes sense in my mind, but it's a fact. And everything from, okay, just looking at the 82 game sample size that I've watched both of these teams. Everything in my mind is saying this is 76ers for sure. This is 76ers for sure. But I have to give the respect to the sleeping giant that is the Miami Heat. Last year, this team actually lost the first play game. Yes, they did. They actually lost the first play game. So maybe it's cool to say 76ers easily because the heats do have a chance to beat the Bulls and the Hawks, which I think most people pick anyway. The 76ers will be muppet. And you know what? I was just trying to think about Joe L and B versus Bayum Slash, Eric Sposter Slash, whatever, whatever, and how Joe L and B has performed against them. Regular season wise, he's been the normal player that we expect from Joe L and B, but we did have that playoff series two years ago. Now granted, Joe L and B missed two of those games of that series, then came back to play through his injury. So his numbers are not going to be good. I think it was like 19 points per game on 40% shooting, which is not very good. But the Miami Heat just have a way of defending well. Like that's their identity, it's been the identity as long as I've been an adult, right? So they're going to make it really, really tough for Joe L and B, but Terry's Maxi is the X factor for them. Now, this will be the first time we really see Terry's Maxi have that much pressure because last year he was phenomenal in the playoffs, but he was really going into it. It's like the third option in most cases. And of course, Joe L and B missed a few games in that first series too, and James gave him, gave us what, two 40 pieces. So that's when he was the second option. But for the most part, Terry's Maxi's post-season career, he was the third option. Now he is number two, and that is added pressure. I'm starting to think about matchups. I don't know, I don't even know who the Miami Heat are going to start if everybody's healthy. And I think as of right now, Duncan Robinson is questionable, but I'm like, who on a 76 is going to get that Jimmy Butler assignment? And it made me go back and watch their last game from last week. And it was Kyle Lowry last time. So it got us interesting. Will they give Kyle Lowry the Jimmy Butler assignment? Yeah, I don't really know, because Tobias Harris just not fast enough. Kelly Ubrecht's not strong enough. Kyle Lowry kind of give them a decent mixture of both of those things. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't. But Ben Matabayo's got his hands full, and I've said it before, Ben Matabayo's the most versatile defender in all of basketball, so I trust him. But ultimately, I think I'm taking a 76 just to win this game. And lastly, the game that nobody cares about, the Chicago Bulls are hosting the Atlanta Hawks. My team has a winter go home game in Chicago. And guess what I'm doing? Watching it from home. Watching it from home. I gotta invite it. I gotta invite it. But I would rather watch it from home. Is that crazy? Trey Unger's back. Hasn't been beautiful with them both on the court all season long, but since they've been back. Jaylen Johnson's probably not planning this one, which is big. Ayode Sumo's questionable. And Ayode Sumo, this is gonna be crazy for people that ain't been watching the Bulls, which listen, if you ain't been watching the Bulls, I don't blame you one singular bit because that team is not very good. These are two sub 500 teams competing to try to go against them. It doesn't make sense to me. They shouldn't even have this game. Either way, Ayode Sumo's been phenomenal this season. And Ayode Sumo has a record versus the Atlanta Hawks like no other. Here is Ayode Sumo's averages versus every team in his three games versus Atlanta this season. He's averaging 21 points per game. Every other team like Brooklyn 10 points, Boston 12 points, you know, normal Ayode Sumo stuff. He's actually got a 21 piece here, but that's against Houston who they only played against twice. Three times against Atlanta, the man is averaging 21 points per game on 55, 50 shooting split. And against the Bulls, Trey Yunk has really struggled. In this game on February 12th, he put up 19 and 14, but he shot 24% from the field. And then in this game in December, he put up 21 points, six turnovers and he shot 35%. In this game, 21 points, 43%. This game, he put up 34 points, shot 35%. In this game, he put up 19 points and shot 27%. There's like a running meme in Bulls fandom that Ayode Sumo is like Trey Yunk's stopper. I would not go that far because Trey Yunk is so great of a player that it's gonna be hard to call any individual player a stopper of him. But it's just a meme in Bulls fandom. So if Ayode Sumo's not playing, we might see this man Trey Yunk go for 40. We don't really know. But if Ayode's playing, I do like the Bulls as odds. I think Drummond is also questionable going into this one and Drummond has a way of changing a particular game because the Atlanta Hawks are not a ridiculously great rebounded team. Drummond comes in and he gives you 12 offensive rebounds in one possession, you know what I'm saying? But again, this is one of those games that nobody cares about because whoever wins this game, I think most people will assume that they're gonna lose the next game versus the Heat or the 76 or whoever it may be. But the only time will tell. That's the best part about the player. I can make every prediction and all of them predictions could have been wrong. All four of them could have been wrong. We don't know until later tonight and then tomorrow. Let me know what you think. Leave a like, subscribe. Be sure to tune into them games, man. Tune into them games.