NBA Playoff Chaos: Missed Call Sparks Outrage, Game 7 Preview & Bold Finals Picks

Jose: ​[00:00:00] All right, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, editor at thePeachBasket.net. He is Steve Purciello, a longtime educator, vice principal, high school basketball coach, athletic director, and he's also the host of Celtic Chalk Talk. Celtic Chalk Talk is a pod dedicated to the latest news and opinions surrounding the Boston Celtics from a lifelong fan, Steve. That pod will drop new episodes every Monday, but this is the Shot Clock pod, the best 24 minutes of random NBA thoughts online anywhere. This podcast was born out of the content in Steve's 13 Rules, random NBA thoughts articles which he publishes weekly. Steve and I have exactly 24 minutes to discuss what's on his mind around the NBA. Today, we'll discuss his latest 13 Rules random NBA thoughts article, where he shares his random thoughts as we are this close to the conference finals in the NBA Final Four in the 2025-26 NBA playoffs. Now, if you're listening to this, thank you. We are one of many independent fan-driven shows on the Peach [00:01:00] Basket Podcast Network. We're not owned by a big me- by a big media company, which means what you hear comes straight from real fans like Steve and I, who live the game every day. If you believe voices like this should be heard, the best way to support us is simple. Keep listening, tell a friend, comment subscribe. And when this episode ends, head down to the PeachBasketPodcastNetwork.com and/or thePeachBasket.net. Check out more fan-run podcasts and help this independent network grow the way it started organically, one hoops fan at a time. We appreciate the support, and we're glad you're here. Steve, are you ready? Steve: I'm ready. Jose: Clock is going. All right. We're gonna start with a little bit of controversy. I didn't watch the game live, but after I, I heard so much about this particular game and I read what you wrote I had to go and look at it, so I have some thoughts. But obviously, we're talking about the Cavs versus the Pistons. Tight game, a [00:02:00] closeout game for the Pistons, but the Cavs pulled it out. Now, if the Pistons lose Game 7, which as we record, this is a couple of hours away, that's gonna be a topic of conversation for a while, that particular play. What did you see at the end of regulation in Game 5? Steve: I thought Thompson was fouled. There would've been 1.5 seconds left. He's not a good foul shooter, so it would've been interesting about that. Cleveland had two timeouts. They could have... let me go backwards. The NBA puts out their last two minutes for every game. If it's within a certain five points, I think with, inside five, whatever. But it, the NBA said there was no foul and they both hit, it was nothing. didn't quite think that, Jose: Yep. Steve: but the point being that was the first thing. So the NVA-- NBA avoided controversy Although J.B. Bickerstaff, when he saw that, said, "That's bullshit," or something along that line. but [00:03:00] if he would've gone to the line, 1.5 seconds left, he's a 54% foul shooter. That- that's, guys miss two. Better foul shooters miss two like Jose: Yeah. Yeah. Steve: whatever the case. But Cleveland had their two timeouts, so they would've used a timeout immediately and taken the ball out at the other end. And when you have Donovan Mitchell on your team, never over till it's over. Jose: Yeah. Steve: a really... I don't know what you wanna say, but it really was interesting. Now Detroit, they did show a lot of courage coming back against the other night and beating Cleveland in Cleveland. So it opens it Jose: Sure. Steve: some people that aren't gonna forget that Jose: Yeah. Steve: if they lose the series. Jose: Yeah. So I'm West Coast. We've brought this up before, Steve's East Coast. I didn't watch the game live but I heard a lot of the controversy, and then I read, again, like I said, what Steve wrote, so I went to go look at it. So I'm watching the game that, the highlight, and I see the last play, [00:04:00] and I immediately say, "Okay, he was fouled. We're going to the line." Steve: That's... Jose: no foul called, and then they went on to overtime. And I'm like, "Wait, what happened? Where's this play that everybody's talking about?" Because in my mind, I was thinking it was egregious. I thought it was a... Everybody talks about, he pulled his leg out, he kicked him. It wasn't like that. It was definitely incidental contact, but watching it live, that's a foul, and I immediately thought it was a foul. And then hearing Tony Brothers say, the way he explained it is it was just incidental. They bumped into each other and they knocked legs. I think nine out of 10 times, though, that's a foul. Steve: There's a couple things on this. One of the things, and I really don't like when people say you don't make a call like that at the end of a game." Jose: Yeah, Steve: a foul, it's a Jose: It's a foul. Boom. Steve: it broke that rule, it's a foul. Jose: Yeah. Steve: you do it, I don't care when it happens, what is... Don't tell me you'd call that in the first quarter, but not at the end. Don't say that. Jose: Yeah. Steve: first. [00:05:00] interesting thing is Tony Brothers considered probably one of the four or five best officials in the NBA. He was the guy that was closest to the play. Jose: Yeah. Steve: call, and he passed on it. I understand that. And I don't like it, but I understand it. And I will give Tony Brothers the benefit of the doubt because he's a very good official. And so that, that's what I look at. In the NBA, Jose: Oh, Steve: week, the NBA, the officials came out that The officials. There's three different tiers One, tier two, Jose: yeah. Yeah Steve: Tony Brothers usually gets a finals game or two, and he's the lead ref. So it tells you everything you want to know. and in fact, every day you can check who the referees are just by watching a game, you can see. You'll see Tony Brothers a couple times in the next couple weeks in the semifinals. Jose: Sure. Steve: so you're talking about one of the better officials, and he's not one who's known for shenanigans Jose: yeah. Steve: Lack of a [00:06:00] better word. There's some officials that are known to bring teams home when they're f- you know, when they have to win and so on. And if you look up their percentage at home home teams winning is high. So there's all different things, but Brothers is considered legit and fair. So I'll give him that, but that's a tough way to lose a game. Jose: Yeah. No, undeniable. And we'll get we get game seven tonight, and so we'll see who who the final team, which-- who the final team is in the Final Four, which is pretty exciting. I'm gonna go down a little bit of a rabbit hole. I don't wanna-- I don't normally do this 'cause we only have 24 minutes, but I like what you said, right? A foul is a foul. It doesn't matter whether it comes in two seconds left or two minutes in. But what do you think about the superstar call? LeBron drives to the hoop, he's called a foul. Rookie drives to the hoop, same exact situation, he's called for a foul, right? In other words, excuse Steve: Yeah. Jose: get the calls that the rookies don't. What do you think about that? Steve: I think [00:07:00] if you think about it, throughout life, the people that are known and trusted Jose: Yeah. Steve: than the people who aren't. It's just a fact of life on the job everywhere we go. you are a good employee who's worked for many years, gonna get away with a little more than the new guy. Y- you really think about it, it's the way, it's just the way it is. The Jose: Okay. All Steve: I will Jose: right. Steve: NBA has got to do something about... I know the NBA tried years ago, they said, "We're gonna, referees are gonna be more friendly. And after a call, guys will run over while the guy's shooting foul shots, and they'll talk about it." The NBA's got to clean that up because what's happening is every time there's contact and a guy shoots, you see him throw his arms up. You'll see the sh- you know, the shooter get... It's got to stop. And at some point, I don't know what the NBA does. Start teeing up everybody? I don't know. But play the [00:08:00] game. Play the game and stop it. Stop Jose: right. NBA is life. It's just a little microcosm of life. That was deep, Steve. Thank you. I appreciate that Steve: You, you're not talking to a deep guy, but go ahead. Jose: All right, let's go on. Let's see, who, what else did you write about? Such great content this week, as always. All right. Let's talk about the team that either the N-- pardon me, I just gave it away, right? The Cavs or the Pistons are gonna play. That's the New York Knicks. They haven't played in a while after dispatching the Sixers in four. Which team, the Cavs or the Pistons, gives the Knicks the most trouble, and can either one of those two teams beat them? Steve: I don't think so, but the Pist- Pistons give them trouble. They smoked them a couple times this year. I-- If the Knicks continue to play they w- the way they are, they got a shot at the whole thing. They're playing basketball at a level that's really not been seen. [00:09:00] And what's incredible is even from three, they're shooting real well. And that's gotta... it's just the law of averages. People come back to where they were. But they're way above what they should be. And it just, it has to change. I know they're making a big thing about Towns playing like a point center up on top of the key, Jose: Yeah. Steve: that's an interesting thing, and people are cutting and he's finding them. That, that's a very interesting thing. I, I go back and forth. What I will say is they played the Pistons. I'm not saying he's as good as him, but Towns is gonna have a physically tough time against Dort Stewart. Those guys are pretty strong, and they're rough. Embiid was Embiid he's beat up and, hurting. So that's gonna... And then, Okongwu is 6'9" and when he, when they played Atlanta. So that might be an interesting situation that you have to watch. But the Knicks are playing so well. I... If the Pistons-- I-- If they play the Pistons, I think the Knicks will win in six. If they [00:10:00] play Cleveland, I think it'll be five. thing I will say, first game, is Tuesday night, generally everybody thinks the team that played on Sunday has got to come back on Tuesday. Oh, God, trouble. No. The Knicks are the team that's gonna struggle. I believe because they haven't played in over a week, and usually teams come out a little flat to start a game when they haven't played in real competition in over a week. Jose: Yeah, that's always the, the danger of sweeping is, if you wanna call it that. It's the one downside, right? Is you do potentially lose a little bit of that competitive edge. Which, which might mean you're in the hole, right? 0-1 at the start which would be interesting to see. In 1991, the Chicago Bulls lost t- game one to the Los Angeles Lakers, and that just got them mad, and then they just swept the next four. Steve: There's not many Michael Jordans walking around for the Knicks, so Jose: This is true. This is true. All right, so let's before we move to the West, 'cause we've got a [00:11:00] lot more to talk about we talked about the Cavs, we talked about the Pistons, we talked about the Knicks. Time to call it. Who's winning game seven tonight? Steve: I, I think the Pistons will win. I think the one thing I fear if I'm a Piston is that Donovan Mitchell goes off. If he doesn't go off, you're okay. You're always afraid though 'cause he's such a good scorer that he can do something. But the game comes down to this. Cleveland can score, and they can play at a good pace. Detroit has Cade Cunningham and a group of guys. If the game is mucked up with a lot of whistles Jose: Yeah. Steve: Just s- a sludge, Detroit wins. If the game is an up and down, wins. Jose: Okay. Steve: defense wins in these kind of games, Jose: Yeah. Steve: and Detroit is a very good defensive Jose: Yeah. Steve: Ausar Thompson, what a great defensive [00:12:00] player he is. Jose: Yeah. Steve: It just-- He, him and his brother are just... Ball, on the ball, they're as good as anybody. not Wembanyama, but he's not on the ball. He's by the basket. Jose: Yeah. Steve: they are just so good. Jose: Yeah, great shout-out. Okay. You heard it here first Detroit versus the Knicks. We'll see how that plays out. Let's go to the West now. You just mentioned Wemby. Now the Spurs are the only team in the NBA this season to have a winning record against the Thunder in their head-to-head matchup. Other t- they, they've gone one and one with te- some teams two and two, but no other team has beaten them, and the Spurs did it four times. It wasn't even close. And I have a, a very clear recall, I forget who the player was though, "Why do you guys struggle against the Spurs?" And he just said, "The guy's 7'6". What do you want us to do?" 'Cause there's no answer for Victor Wembanyama. So the Spurs are 4-1 against the OKC [00:13:00] Thunder in the regular season, the only team with a winning record. Who do you like in this series between the Spurs and the Thunder, and why? Steve: First of all, I'll say to you, who do you like first? Jose: I called it out, right? I the Spurs are my pick. The Spurs are my championship pick. I'm gonna r- I'm gonna clip that somewhere and I'll post it. Maybe I'll post it right here or something when we do this video. But yeah I pick the Spurs. There's something about Wemby's attitude, right? He just You know, we saw how he single-handedly beat the Timberwolves, really. And I shouldn't say single-handedly because Castle has been phenomenal, Dillon Harper has been phenomenal. Their supporting cast is just so good. But it's Wemby's team, right? It all revolves around Wemby, and there's just something about this guy that just, you know he just exudes this confidence, right? That we haven't seen in the NBA in a while. He's got a little bit of that, dare I say, Mamba mentality going on. And I just think that [00:14:00] he-- you know, they're gonna have to be phenomenal. They're gonna have to be great because the Thunder are the defending champs. They've got the two-time MVP now in SGA. But I just think there's something about this team and I think they're gonna win it all. Steve: I like Oklahoma. However, would understand if San Antonio pulls it off. I wouldn't be shocked. Look at San Antonio as almost ready for primetime. Jose: Yeah. Steve: it's a meteoric rise, and maybe there's a step in Jose: Yeah. Steve: So that was one of the things, and I just think Oklahoma just keeps coming at you. They have so many guys that can score and so many guys who can play that, that they're just so deep and so good. Be stunned if San Antonio wins, but I just don't... I don't see it, and how many times we've watched sports where teams own another team in the regular season, then when the playoffs come, it, it changes. Jose: Sure. Yeah. Steve: I... my, and Jose: [00:15:00] Sure. Yeah. Steve: Oklahoma, meaning teams don't rise that quickly like that. The only thing I can think of that is when Larry Bird came to the Celtics, and they won 50 games, 40 games more the next year. And, the year after, I think they won a title. But, it takes a little step or two before you, you get there. So I don't... i, I think it'll be a good series. I like Oklahoma in six, but I could see it going seven and coming down to... and I do believe Wembanyama is just-- I thought he should have been the MVP. I just think he's... Once he wins the MVP, they might as well close the award 'cause he's gonna win it every year, unless he's hurt. he's in a different place. But you're missing something else. Stephan Jose: Yeah. Steve: Harper, they're just gonna get better and better. So San Antonio, if they pay these people, they are go- they're all young. And no injuries? That's gonna be the champion for quite a while. Jose: [00:16:00] Yeah. It's funny, we were having the same conversation along the same lines last year with the Thunder, right? We were saying the same things. They're young, they're healthy. They're-- If they pay them, they're, if they keep this team together. And now it's another team. It's it's kinda wild. And I think we haven't talked about De'Aaron Fox, who's 28, just entering his prime, and he's the old guy. Steve: Let me Jose: It's... Steve: this. If they traded him, would they be much-- would they miss much? Would Jose: If they traded De'Aaron Fox? Nah. Steve: Harper having in... That's right. Jose: Yeah. Steve: right. Those two guys with Wembanyama, Harper and Castle, with Wembanyama, what a threesome. Jose: Yeah. Steve: you can piece in people around that because that's... And Vassell's not bad, and Keldon Johnson. They got some Jose: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Steve: So Fox almost becomes, in a year or two, he's got a big contract, he almost becomes a pawn you can Jose: Yeah, Steve: else you want. They're that, that good. And I think [00:17:00] it, it will be their turn soon. Jose: 22 games. Last year, they won 34, and then this year they won 62. Huge jump, mediocre... mediocre. Meteoric jump. And yeah, we'll see. But I love the way you c- categorize them, this close. And so because they're that close to being championship-ready, it wouldn't surprise you if they were to win. Steve: if you follow the game and over the years and think like these things that happen and you should follow them. And I'm gonna give you a couple things. year's a little different. Not many teams have a shot at a title that went through a season losing nine out of 12 or whatever it was the Knicks lost. And right now, that's unusual. You can't think of a team that won a title that played that Jose: Yeah. Steve: So the normal patterns of the NBA are out. Generally, a team, wins 60 games and at least 60 and doesn't [00:18:00] have bad stretches. So that you put aside and say wow, this is different." Now you talk about San Antonio and how quickly they've g- maybe it's a different time, and maybe Jose: Yeah. Steve: aren't following the way they usually do. Jose: Yeah, or maybe this guy, Victor Wembanyama, is as impactful, and I know y- you were talking about the Knicks. I'm back to the Spurs. But this guy is as impactful to the Spurs as Larry Bird was to the Celtics, as Magic Johnson was to the Lakers, as the trade for Kevin Garnett was to the Celtics. That turned a team... That was a 180-degree turn one season to the next. Now Wemby's been there for, I think, four seasons, so this isn't overnight. Three. Steve: Yeah. Jose: so listen, I- when I look at Wemby, I see a guy, and I'm not putting him up with Magic and Bird yet, but I'm saying he's in that [00:19:00] trajectory, man. And if he wins this championship with this team, th- that's a title, that's a more viable conversation, don't you think? Steve: I, first of all, if he doesn't get hurt, and I keep saying that because his body is Jose: Yeah. Steve: But if he doesn't get hurt, you're going to be looking at other players and comparing them to Wembanyama, not Jose: Sure. Yeah. Steve: or Larry Bird. You're not gonna compare that. He's going to be the person that everybody compares to, and I don't think you'll ever see another basketball player that can do the things he can Jose: Yeah. Steve: He's got the whole thing. He can block shots, he can handle the ball, he can shoot threes. What can't he do on a Jose: Yeah. Yeah. No. Steve: gonna see that, I don't think-- you know maybe in the future there'll be more seven foot five guys or seven foot four guys that can do this, but I don't... I haven't seen many of them walking around. Jose: No, that's, that... Steve: the [00:20:00] one negative I just wanna add though is when Krist- when you saw Kristaps Porziņģis, Jose: Sure. Yeah. Steve: he's big and he's undefend- defendable. If he gets the ball in the post, he just shoots over people Jose: Yeah. Steve: a three. You thought, but then when you look at his career, it's been marred by Jose: Yeah. Yeah. Steve: doesn't happen because they have similar bodies, Porziņģis and Wembanyama, so you hope it doesn't happen to this guy. Jose: No, same. And again, when I look at Wemby I think of Kareem. Different players, but same body type, right? And Kareem never really had that kind of, i- injury problems, right? He w- he was out, and of course, when he got older, he, he would take his days off. But he ne- he di- he wasn't injury prone. Steve: When you're that big and he, was a couple inches bigger than centers on other teams, the physical physicality in the post wouldn't be [00:21:00] as much because you can literally give room and still block shots. So for Kareem, I don't know if he got pounded like that, and that was in a game when it was a post-up game. Now the game is shooting Jose: Yeah. Steve: so for Wembanyama it's a little, it's a lot different. It's a lot different. Jose: Kent Benson tried to be a little aggressive with Kareem, and that didn't work out too well if you remember. Steve: you know who was Ken Benson? He won a championship at Indiana. That was his big moment. And by the way, the old story is Larry Bird didn't like him Jose: Really? Steve: they were in college together at Indiana and Bird transferred, Benson made his life horrible. So whenever he played against he went off Jose: Interesting. Okay. Steve: yeah. It's an old story. Jose: I hadn't heard that. Steve: Yeah. Jose: Let's kinda move off of the playoffs and start talking [00:22:00] off-season, Steve: Yeah. Jose: the couple minutes we have left. 'Cause you called out some interesting off-season possibilities with some pretty big names. Probably the biggest name in the NBA is LeBron James. He might move, and then Giannis. What do you see for these two stars during this off-season and into next year? Steve: The Lakers are in an interesting situation. If they sign him, they lose the ability to go out, and let's face it, if you look at the Laker team, they're three or four deep with LeBron. If they sign him, they're still gonna-- they're not gonna have the money to go out and get people, and they're gonna have to pony up money for Reeves. Jose: Yep. Steve: But I think sentimentality, and I think LeBron wants to stay in LA because he is, his family's there and, it's, it's-- he's happy there and he likes it. He's got some business things he does out of LA. So I don't think he wants to go anywhere. I look at the Lakers him, as long as they don't embarrass him and offer him $10 [00:23:00] million or something. If he gets a dec- $30 million offer, I think he'd be, wanting to stay. You're out there. What do you know about that? Jose: I know nothing. I do feel like even 30 million just handcuffs the Lakers and puts them in a position where they can't really move forward. This team needs to move forward. They need to move on from LeBron. And I think from a basketball, purely basketball perspective, they are better off just moving on from him. I get LeBron wanting to stay, but I also know, and you know this and we've talked about it, LeBron is not gonna take a pay cut, right? He's not gonna join for the minimum. He's not gonna give the the team a hometown discount. He's g- doing what Kobe Bryant did the last two years. I think he took 50 million over two years, which was a, big number and again, he handcuffed the Lakers, but they're like, "That's Kobe Bryant. Of course we're gonna pay you." I don't think they make the same mistake twice. I think they let LeBron walk. What we're hearing out here is that a third time [00:24:00] the charm with the Cavs is the highest possibility. But if I'm the Cavs, I don't... aside from the sentimentality of it, I don't know why I would want LeBron James with what is a already a pretty good team. But that's what I think. Steve: The, because of the CBA, the Collective Bargaining Agreement, guys like Le-- well, LeBron played with a bunch of teams, but any Steph Car- Curry or anybody, guys like him, and he's still compliant, but he's hurt a lot. They're getting Jose: Sure. Steve: you're not getting the old Curry. You're gonna get him for 50 or 60 games, not for 80. So you're hurting your team. And so guys... It's more difficult for guys to finish their career with the same Jose: Yeah. Steve: and getting you that playing for that 70 million. And then we can segue to Giannis. How'd you like that segue? But when you talk about Giannis, he's up for another contract and big [00:25:00] money. And you know what? He didn't play a lot of games this year. You're gambling here. And think about the last couple years with the playoffs, he hasn't played. So when they did make the playoffs. So you're playing here with something. You want him, y- have at him, but you better keep him healthy. And if you're going to keep him healthy, you have to resign your team to be a fourth-place team or lower, and you have to win some games on the road in the Jose: Yeah. Steve: those are the factors that go into Giannis 'cause he's not-- I don't think he'll play back-to-backs, and he'll play, all those type of situ- those things. So you're not gonna win as many games. And if he gets hurt, there we go. He's out for weeks and then you're really in trouble. So that, that's the problem with the older people and with Giannis. And then there's one more thing. LeBron's different. is a trade. If you're going to trade for Giannis, unless you're who? Oklahoma City or... I don't know. But [00:26:00] my point being, you're gonna tear up your team. So you wanna come out of the trade with a chance to win the title. But when you give away two, two of your better players, gonna have a little bit of a problem here. So Jose: Yep. Yeah. Steve: And they're interesting. As a Boston fan, I hope they don't do it, but they're interesting rumors. And then if they do it, you just have to hope he stays healthy. And I'll just bring back something. Garnett came to Boston in 2008, they won a title. Jose: Yep. Yep Steve: year, Boston got off to a 40 and 10 type start, ridiculous start, and Garnett got hurt, and they didn't-- he didn't play for the rest of the year, Boston didn't win it. And then the next year, they that whole Laker game, that game seven was a disaster. But The point being, that's what happens when you take somebody who's got a lot of wear and tear on their body, [00:27:00] and that's my point. Jose: Fair enough. And the buzzer went off and so I hesitate to say, but w- we left out one big name. We talked about Wim-- pardon, we talked about Giannis, we talked about Bron, but Kawhi Leonard might be on the trading block. So I gotta ask you, Steve, you brought up Giannis. If you're a team and you're interested, and you've got those two players that you're willing to give up for Giannis, but you've also got Kawhi, who do you take? Do you pick Giannis or do you pick Kawhi? Steve: I think Giannis Jose: Really, Kawhi had one of the best seasons of his career coming off Steve: And Jose: in the playoffs. Steve: And Jose: All right. Steve: Kawhi is a real good player. He's great. And I'm just gonna play the other side to it. If the Clippers were to trade him, what would they want? Just gener- I don't want players' names, but generalities. Draft picks? What? Jose: Yeah, I think they need draft picks, but they need an impactful player. Steve: Just stop right there. If they're gonna get draft picks, [00:28:00] they're getting them from a team that expects to compete for a title. Am I Jose: Sure. Yeah. Steve: So what are you getting? The 25th pick in the draft? Jose: Yeah. Steve: Y- my point, again, Jose: Sure. Steve: If you're going to do that, and whatever team you trade him to, you wanna get picks are in five years, because then you're hoping they're not good anymore. you're getting picks for next year and you're trading Kawhi, what are you Jose: Yeah. Steve: You're gonna get the 25th pick. Jose: Yeah. Steve: If I'm the Detroit Pistons, yeah, I'll take him. I'll give you a bunch of first rounds for next year, two year, this year, two years from now, and so on. But you know what? Detroit is gonna probably be in the middle of it for the next couple years. So what are you getting? So that, that's the point. So now, are you gonna trade Kawhi to the Utah Jazz? don't think, I don't think that, I don't think that kinda,[00:29:00] Jose: Right. Steve: what's he gonna do? He don't wanna play there and they're not gonna be a champion. Jose: Yeah. Steve: that's my thinking on that. Jose: Fair. Steve: and similarly with Giannis, but I believe Kawhi makes 40 million. Giannis makes about 60-something. There's a little difference there. So you can find a package to get the 40 million a lot easier than you can find a package that'll get the 60. Jose: Yeah. Yeah, a-a-and Kawhi remains a very good defensive player where Giannis never really was. Steve: He just is big, and Jose: he's being... He, yeah that probably not fair. I think he's a disruptor. He can be good, but that's not what he's known for. But all right you heard the shot clock go off. We just went right through it. It's what we do. Our time is up. That is it. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. As always, make sure to read Steve's entire 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts article. We will link it below wherever you are listening or watching to this, you're watching this now. And join us next week for more [00:30:00] Random NBA Thoughts as we recap the start of the conference finals. Looking forward to that, a-and looking forward to game seven tonight. We'll talk then, Steve. Thanks. Steve: Take care