The Blucifer Brothers
The Blucifer Brothers
Nuggets vs. Lakers Round One Matchup
After dunking on the Rockies, the guys tell us what they think the Broncos should do in the upcoming draft and what would be a mistake. They dive into the Nuggets' upcoming matchup with the Lakers in the first round of the NBA playoffs and give us their picks for the rest of the Western Conference.
Threads @blucifer_brothers
YouTube @BluciferBros
TikTok @bluciferbrothers
Welcome in, to the most important episode of the year. The Denver Nuggets have their playoff opponent. The Denver Broncos are going to follow my draft plan, and still be pretty bad next year, but be better overall for it. It's exciting times here. Damn. Play that funky music. I was like, I really hope he's doing the intro right now, because this is a great intro. Welcome in to another episode of Blucifer Brothers Kyle Poland. Here with my brother Ryan Poland. We're here to break down the Nuggets, to break down what the Broncos should do, and We're gonna hear from Dan at the end of the podcast all about the Rockies and How much he loved the fight that they showed tonight To get back to only lose by one run. He was Electrified out there, maybe we'll leave that last part of the podcast out for next time We'll see if we have time for it. Honestly, we want to give the time that it deserves And so we'll see if we have time at the end I know you're joking and I don't know if dan has a mic right now So I don't know that he can but i've actually watched probably 75 of the rockies games at this point and i mean fully including this whole philly series outside of Today And I gotta say, everybody's getting after Buck Black for pinch running the best pitcher that we have in the franchise in the 9th inning and him almost getting his shoulder, uh, destroyed by the catchers going home. You literally pitched ahead of all the third base. It was truly one of the most baffling decisions you could ever make. If you're a traditional baseball fan, as I'm watching the team. I'm looking at it going, this guy, like, the cojones you have to have in your job security. You have to be so sure that those owners are dumb that they're not even watching the game. Oh, so sure. I think you can be pretty sure that if Montford's alive, he is, uh, What was your uh, you have more wrinkles on your face than he has on his brain. I think that applies in this section as well Um, so yeah, I I think he might be trying to entertain himself like at this point like hey You think they'll fire me if I do this? Hey, kyle, get out of here. You're not gonna believe this but i'm gonna have you pitch run Yeah, I mean They their excuse was they literally didn't have anybody Am I The thought is, okay, don't, honestly, don't shrug her on third. Who cares? Like just Don't have anybody out there. It doesn't matter. It's fine, but it's uh Yeah, I think we could lose 100. How many games are there before the all star break? Could we lose 100 before the all star break? I don't think so. I think it's pretty dead center. Yeah. Well You can always dare to dream rocky. Yeah dare to get to 90 losses before we're not even the worst team the white socks are Truly embarrassing right now Um, but yeah, it's pretty it's pretty great and we won on opening day. So it's pretty funny Um, all right though, uh, so before we get into Um this nuggets episode we wanted to get into the broncos draft I think we kind of teased it at the end of last one Uh, I think we're thinking different things ryan So, um, we, obviously we're going to be spending a lot of time on the Western Conference Playoffs, Nuggets, all that. But we did want to get on the record because we'll be coming to you, um, Friday. So we'll have some round one, um, probably round two will probably be done, um, as well Friday night. Um, and so we'll have the first two rounds reactions. So, but, so I figured we don't need to go into a seven round mock draft. Um, but I do have a two round draft plan And I think it's just a beautiful thing. I'm ready to hear it Okay, you were very upset with my first round pick But if Brock Bowers is there he's coming. Come on home, baby Come on home. I know it shouldn't matter You But I saw him do a standing backflip today, where he was like, on TikTok, where it was I mean, it was like Calvin Ridley in, uh, training camp with the Jaguars out there. Oh, you were bought all the way. Oh, right. Even if we don't draft him, I promise you Mr. Bowers will be on a Kyle Poland fantasy team. I can't wait to welcome him aboard. I can't wait to bet him up. I can Or bid him up. Listen, as much as I win at fantasy, you can't make the price high enough. Alright? I'm not going to win anyway. So, if you want to dance with me for 70 for Brock Bowers, dance I shall, Ryan. You are. Alright. We just have a dedicated episode breaking down how bad you are at fantasy football. Oh my gosh. I don't even, like, I'm always like middle of the road. Like in the worst place like you're not just like like last year I was like Technically had a chance for the playoffs, but everything has to break just right And it wasn't like my team was getting insanely hot at the right time We were like, dude, if I sneak in here, I might win this league. I was like, oh, I will absolutely get eliminated Like I just have been happening to have some good matchups weirdly like it was Yeah, it's a depressing thing, but it's fun. It's fun But I got Brock Bowers. Uh, I think that he'll be the best player left at this. Um, if he's gone and I've seen some mocks where he's gone, um, I'm just taking the corner out of Alabama or I'm trading back, um, to like 17. I saw a mock where if, uh, the corner from Iowa is available, then I'll just trade back again. Um, and try to get some more assets because like we talked about this. Broncos team just does have tons of needs. So if you can pick up even an extra fifth round pick That guy has a chance to make this roster and make an impact It's like the the i'm really throwing it back here, but it's like the simpsons episode It's like one of the first seasons And they go to canada for some reason and lisa's playing basketball with the canadian basketball team And this is back when they were bad before they were going to beat us in the bears olympics And she just like throws the basketball at the And it hits the backboard and they go, wow, you could hit the backboard. You're going to start. And that's sort of like, uh, anybody we drafted this draft. Yeah. Oh, wow. You're young and fast and have athleticism. Like, Oh, great. You're, you're going to be a star. How about this? You don't have this stink of losing, covering your entire body. That'd be great. Um, yeah, no, no, no. Uh, Brock is the dream. And then, round two, uh, Welcome Welcome home, uh, Mr. Penix. Oof. I want Penix. Penix round two is You are cookie. Do you think he's gonna fall? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I literally was just looking at a draft that had him in the top eight. Or had the Raiders drafting him for him. Yeah, I, I, I, okay. So let me, let me just, let me, let me try to respond to a little bit here. I think if you can get panics in the second round, then I'm okay with you. I don't like bowers. I, I'm not okay with you taking bowers. I understand your point here. Like, it felt like you came to the podcast. You were saying there wasn't as much impact in that position. Talk to me about why there's not. Well, he's I mean, you can I don't know enough about his game to really say, like, he doesn't block well enough or, like, all of that. Yeah, he's big. You just have to be, like, sort of a transcendent tight end for me to want you with this shitty of a roster. You Like that I think is my point. It's not that he's bad. It's the opportunity cost of not drafting a team that, or a player that has potentially more impact on the game than, uh, a tight end. Alright, even if you're going edge rusher, I'd rather get a really solid edge rusher or an offensive lineman and just almost reach for that and get them on a rookie contract than get a Brock Bowers type of talent. Yeah, I think, so my counter to that is, I kind of think that, um, tight end is the most undervalued. Position in terms of they're still like even still undervalued. Can it be if you're drafting top 10 or 12, but that's what I'm saying. I think the league undervalues it, how important it is because it's not a coincidence that we had Kittle and we had, um, Kelsey's there. So I think that he has to be for you too. Like what, what in your. View is his floor Because to me if you're drafting somebody in the top 15 That floor has to be extremely high Yeah, you can't have somebody suck that you drafted 12th. Like you literally can't do that Be a successful franchise look at the broncos so like I think his floor is jeremy shockey okay, like Um, and shockey was transcendentally talented You Dealt with some injury stuff. So like I'm not, maybe not saying like prime shocky is his floor. Cause that's kind of, I think that gets a bit, um, undersell shocking because like how good he was when he was healthy, it was could be shocking. Yes. Yeah. That's the floor three years of really, and, and I didn't, he has like kiddling. Where you just go, like, thinking about how defense is played, you're playing too high. And also, I think our coach has to play into it in terms of, there's no one he uses running backs and tight ends better. Taysom Hill got paid huge off of Sean Payne. Taysom Hill is still productive though. He's still okay. I mean, he was a member of my, their good fantasy team. He didn't win. You're not first, you're last, David. You're not first, you're last. In a fortunate way for Kyle, he was actually last. So that's a good argument for him to have. If you're in the middle of the pack, you're not last. That's uh, it all depends on where your goals are, you know? Uh, but yeah. Uh, I think that, so I think that, I think that's With the too high safety with more speed out on the field If you have a physical player a player who's strong can sit down in zones It takes out playoff football. There's going to be some bad weather games for if you just have speed all over the place It's not as effective. You need a guy who can sit down get in seams. You saw kelsey do it. I'm gonna go playoffs Well, that's where you're talking about. What what do you never want to make them again? You have to have a quarterback You can't have somebody who can't throw to the middle of the field. And we're going to be bad this year, no matter what. So, I don't want to play a quarterback. Even if we got drafted up and got Caleb Williams, I don't want him to play. For this bum team, it ruined his confidence. We are thinking about two, three years from now. That's the only way you can think with this many holes. And I just think Bowers is the most sure thing that you can get at 12. If you want to trade up your, and in your mock, if you want to, that's fine. You're acting like development. You're acting like Brock Bowers being on a team with a quarterback, even if we draft a quarterback who can't throw him the ball and wide receivers that can't get open. So he gets double and offensive line that can't block. So he can't do it. Like, You're acting like that isn't frustrating or going to impact brock bower's development and now you're taking a tight end It's not talking about the kansas city chiefs like that. All right Uh some of those guys the old stone hands All right, if he would have figured out how to catch the ball, he could have been dangerous out there, right? All right. I just don't think you can I think you can scheme the tight end the ball easier Because you can put them in weird spots. You can put him. Um You know Like in the backfield you line up, you know Like you can put them in places where it's harder to just take a tight end out of the game Like it's not like in the playoffs people didn't know the ball was going to kelsey Like everyone knew but I you couldn't you couldn't scheme them out enough And that was that I do think that uh It should be taken under advisement that we spent about three minutes talking about how bad you are at fantasy football And one of the keys of fantasy football is drafting well You So let's just take that under advisement, you know, for the remainder. Some of them veterans are a little old for me, right? It's really the 22 year olds. I'm strong. Sorry, I don't want to watch 40 year old men, right? I haven't seen them, wasn't familiar with their games. But these young guys. No. Um, it's, I, like I said, it's just my, my take. You, while having been critical, have not given out a first round pick. Or a plan. I mean, if you don't have, like, a specific player, but you're like, I want us to trade back, or I want us to, um, you know. So, I think, if, um, well, yeah. I, I think that if New England is taking offers. I think if Sutton really wants out, and you could give up two first and trade up for Drake May, I would do that tomorrow. I think Drake May is really good. Uh, I don't think that we're going to do that, and I'm not sure New England would take the deal. So I'm going to take that off the table. Like, that to me is my dream situation, is that we trade up for Drake May. I don't think we're gonna do that. Now, there is no way after all this Robert Kraft stuff has leaked about him shanking Belichick in the back, um, with two knives that they are doing anything but taking Jaden Daniels or Drake May. Well, Jaden Daniels, it seems like it's gonna go Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels, and Drake May. One, two, three. Yeah. That's what I mean. They don't get a choice in it, like, but if for some reason the commanders commander extra hard, which we can't rule out, they've been known to commander for a while. I actually, I think them taking Jaden, Jaden Daniels is commandering. Uh, I don't know. I believe in drills, but that's maybe something for a different podcast. I think they're both going to be really good to be fair, but I don't think, uh, anyways, I, you have to get out of this with the quarterback. And I don't disagree with you that it could, maybe should be, uh, Penex. If you think that somebody is going to get aggressive and trade up into the top 15, then I'm perfectly happy taking Penex with 12. Just do it. Who gives a shit? Like, I think we get so, I think we get so enamored with the like, Oh, you can't take them before the value and all of this stuff and all these things and like At a certain point if you like the player and you're okay with the position just do it Like it obviously if you could trade back two spots and get another pick later in the like yeah, then you have to take those calls and you have to be but I would rather Just take pennex if we like it At 12 and get a quarterback that we like as opposed to trying to get cute trading back into this trading out of the spot You Get picking up a fifth and a second and whatever and assuming that somebody's gonna fall to us like I don't think that's a strategy. I just don't and I think uh So all of that to say my strategy would be if we can't get a quarterback that we Love in the first round. I would rather use that pick on Um, anything that's pretty much a sure thing. How do you feel about both names? I noticed neither one of us has brought his name up. He's the odds on favorite to go to the Broncos. Um, we're the betting favorites. It's minus 150. It's not, you know, crazy juice or anything, but Minus 150? Yeah. We are Well, that's pretty crazy juice. Yeah. We arefavorite. Uh, cause last time I looked at it, it was still plus odds. So that's like Yeah, that's, that's smoke. And probably a relatively large sign of a fire there. So, let's talk about it. I hate it. Yeah. Uh, I Yeah, I The last thing I want to do is cheer for a fucking duck. I'm gonna have to be a Dolphins fan for the rest of my life, man. This franchise might just leave me behind. Alright. You can't choose You can't switch because it's an Oregon Duck. He's not an Oregon Duck. He sucked in the SEC for many a year. Alright, he's an Auburn Tiger. He has a duck right now. And they didn't win anything. Who cares? Um, If he does the O one time, at all, if I ever see that again, I'm out. I don't think he's gonna throw the O up. That'd be so lame. Incredibly lame. He went to Oregon. Did you miss the part where he went to Oregon? Yeah, I didn't miss it. But, him as a football player, I also just I'm not in love with. I think this was a guy. I lost a fair amount of money on him at Auburn. Just like I'm a halfway college football better slash consumer of the product. So usually I just go and I look and he would be talking about all these athletes that Auburn has and this stout defense. And then I just watch him poop his pants on live TV whenever they played anyone remotely legit. I just don't think that this is a guy that when the game speed keeps going quicker, he's going to be able to keep up with that. Whereas Penix, I think he has insane ball placement, I think he's processing is better. I don't hate what you're saying about, um, just drafting Penix and I agree that, If you're not confident he's going to fall and if there are, you know, rumors that the Raiders are going to go after him or someone else says, of course, like if you hit on a quarterback, that's the biggest cheat code in the game. And if you think he's going to be gone and you don't like any of your other options, it doesn't matter that it's early. You just do it and you're happy Here's, I think the thing that we might be able to just agree on and potentially move on. Is that Bonix is not fun. Bonix is not a fun player to root for. We have cheered for so many Bonixes in Broncos history. Like, I remember Jake Plummer. Oh, that's an insult to Jake Plummer. Well, I just mean, that's his ceiling. Like, that's, like He's Brock Osweiler. Well, Jake, this thing was fun as hell. Yeah, he's Osweiler. Yeah, yeah. He's, uh Greasy. Yep, uh, he's um, Oh the trevor simian like it's like oh it gets to a point where the game's a little quick for you, man Like or you don't quite have it in these moments. Okay Yeah, well, I think there might be a random sunday where you tear it up and get yourself another backup quarterback contract But I to me it's not going to be consistent. So god bonick's depressing. I don't want All we want is a fun product to root for. It's not that hard. Like, if you can't draft somebody good, draft somebody fun. And to me, MicroPenX is way more fun than Phonix. And, so And just the ceiling of it is Well I think it's higher. Yeah, I think it's higher too, but I'm not a quarterback expert, so I'll No, I'm just saying, like Those throws that we watched him make against texas There is I have never seen bonics make a throw like that in his life So I think so Everybody's scared about the injuries and the age with panics, right? Yeah, which Is fine and like you said we're not in those conversations. So yes, of course if the broncos have some terrible Beat on it or some terrible news that they know that we don't Of course, do not take panics. Um, I, then I think then to me, if you don't, it does have a good history of drafting people who were red flagged by almost everybody in the league. That's what you're saying. I like what you're saying. Panics could be hosting a podcast with porn stars tomorrow. Yeah. I, I don't refer to Kronky that way. Um, but. He, uh, could you imagine? Well, he's been effing over RADS for quite some time now. Um, he's effed over way more people than Lana Rhodes has, uh, ever had sexual intercourse, but yeah, that's true. I mean, just sheer numbers if Yeah. Be able to watch, watch their home team on altitude. Yeah. Uh, alone. It's outrageous. Um, but let's get in. I think the point here is. We want him to come away with a quarterback. We would like that quarterback to be exciting. If possible. Yes. I'm just saying, if there were red flags that I, that we didn't know about. You could talk me into late round Spencer Rattler. You could talk me into it, Ryan. Now, I've watched that man poop his pants many a time in primetime as well. Um, but. The pure arm talent Oh, man, he is an ugly fella um, and not very nice, uh, at least in high school, but I don't I don't want spencer rather he's short, isn't he? He's pretty sure. Yeah If we if if we're going to trade somebody with questionable character Who's short and just draft somebody with questionable character that's short. I mean, well, we didn't even try to Released but I I want somebody who I can picture starting in an NFL game And being excited about it for 16 games straight. So I have 18 games straight. Let's say 16 because nobody does 18 anymore Yeah, you had a good you had a good season if you made it to 16, yeah I I just don't need anybody who I want somebody who in training camp We, as fans, are pushing for them to start it. They shouldn't do it, and I think Sean Payton, to your point, is smart enough not to do it with a shitty team. But I want that like trained camp buzz of like, oh, you should have seen the throws the paddocks was making a practice today Like yeah, whatever veteran he signed is shitting his pants in front of him Yeah, he's not he's not keeping that job through the wall over his own head. Yeah, exactly Yeah I hope we start stinting for all the games. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, yeah, put him out in front. We should uh, What do you what is the over under for the broncos? I think those got released Yeah, i'm not confident producer dan will look it up for us here real quick. Um, but I guess you're more of a tackle slash defensive end guy As far as impact there. Um, I just don't trust anyone After Garrett Bowles Um, if we get another just clearly nerdy not fun to hang around guy like Garrett Bowles again You Garrett Bowles is the worst. I mean, yeah, we've talked about it on the podcast. the train, but that's what I'm, but I'm just saying not fun to root for once again. If you're going to hold, I want to cheer for someone who I'm like, dude, that guy's awesome. He is out there cheating because he's a fun guy. I've been listening to quite a few draft podcasts, just trying to like catch up. Honestly, I've been so engrossed in the nugget season that I haven't really, I And there's this, um, Offensive lineman that just seems like a freak. Who just has short arms, and it seems like the only reason that he's gonna drop. And that's the guy I want. Like, I want the freak. I want to watch somebody on the field who's like, Holy shit, what did we just see? Like, I don't know if this quarterback that you're talking about is sort of a certain height. But It'd be emphasis on light. I mean, it surtains a once in a generation for us. But that's what I mean. Why are we taking somebody who's Because they're not available at 12. Yeah, but then, I I mean, I guess they are, because I mean, Mahomes was taken after 12, whatever. But like Why not clean house? Like I know all these Broncos fans are losing their minds about Sutton potentially leaving and his cryptic RNG man. I'm like, trade him now. Like this is, this is Jerry Judy stuff. Like let's get rid of him now so that, and he might be good somewhere else. Like I don't want to ruin these people's careers. So yeah. No, I agree with that. I, um, so it'll be interesting to see, um, what the Broncos do here. Um, but I pray to God that Vegas is wrong. Uh, that we don't. Oh, we are going to be really bad. Um, yeah, pretty insanely bad I think. We'll have a last place schedule though. Yeah, that last year. Five and a half with a last place schedule is a wild over under time total. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, it's, it's going to be interesting to see with this team. But. Um, I'll tell ya, if we have my boy Bowers, I'll be placing a bet on the over. Alright. The tight end is gonna win us a game. He's gonna backflip his way right into my heart. I'm gonna be in here, I'm gonna be like, Did you see when Bowers took the belt from Kelsey? My lord, he walked into Arrowhead. When we draft Bo Nix, you can just Oh, my. What if we draft Bo Nix and Bowers goes to Miami? Will you become a Dolphins fan? No, but I will be very sad. You just like the pain, I think. No, no, it's just I've had great times. Um, and speaking of great times, the Denver Nuggets are NBA champions and they get a chance to defend this as the second seed. Um, they got the Los Angeles Lakers who were, uh, got out in front of the Pelicans while the Pelicans did baffling Pelicans things. Um, not appearing to exploit mismatches in any way, shape, or form. Um, taking contested mid range shots when they have Zion Williamson. And then Zion Williamson in the second half was just like, Hey, I'm just going to get the ball every time or I'm going to eat every single one of you. Um, and, so, that was an inspired halftime speech. Um, And that looks pretty unstoppable until he hurt himself. Um, so first starting where I was cheering, I was cheering for the Pelicans cause I don't like the Lakers just by default. So I'm just in my body. It's just used to seeing the Lakers and being like, I don't want you to lose. And I. Then as Zion was coming through that defense over and over and over, I was like, you know what? Maybe I do want the Lakers to win. Uh, this looks pretty hard to stop because of Anthony Davis and LeBron James and the fact that they're allowed to foul the hell out of him, uh, which we would not be allowed to do without consequence. Uh, this looks hard and I'm not sure we have as good of athletes as they have. Uh, so. Did you have that moment while you were watching the game where you were like, I think maybe we don't want this team. Well, I did. They're so stupid sometimes, but when you watch Zion, it is terrifying. I had that thought honestly, like, a couple of times potentially throughout, uh, where, before the game, I wanted the Lakers to win. Like, I think, I didn't want to see the Pelicans. And then as I watched their offense. So I was like, ah, I think I kind of do want to see the pelicans actually. Like, I love these shots from 15 feet. Like if they take one, we are going to just murder them. It's going to be impossible. Look, great. This is awesome. And then to your point, uh, Zion started doing Zion things and he was literally just knifing through the lane, which by the way, zero credit to Willie Green. It was just pass the ball to Zion. He did everything. There were no sets. There were no like they were running. Oh, he got an easy one there. They were running college. Like Willie Green got inspired by March Madness was like this three man weave at the top of the key is cool. Yeah. Wow. What a good idea that I was like, I'm gonna three man leave it. And then when I get the ball and go the direct line of the basket, take it to Anthony Davis' chest and somehow finish Oh my like, ah. He was really good. So yeah. I am, I am on the same wavelength as you. I, I don't think we're going to sweep the Lakers. No, no, no, no, no, no. I think the refs are going to take one of these games from us. Um, I'm really hoping that it's not game one. Yep. I think game one is very important for the Nuggets to win. And I think That was going to be my next question, so let's just get into it. It feels like right now, I don't know. The lakers have a little bit of a nobody believe us a little bit of that chip Which is such bullshit steve a smith literally on the sports center today is talking about how? Oh the nuggets have embarrassed the lakers throughout this season. They ruined all of their moments and they're gonna win like No, you know, they're they're coming after the nuggets and this is a you know, it's personal It might be personal it might be but you don't have enough talent Like you just don't so and that's my point is that The nobody believed in us thing is great if you steal game one Because then you're in that locker room and you're like, yeah, you know what? We are we are this great. We are this unbelievable team You know what boom we you know, you get some of those role players going a little bit, right? but then The moment it switches around And if you kind of have that, like, Oh, we went toe to toe. We gave him everything. We got a good Anthony Davis game. We got LeBron cooking. We went after him and we still lost by eight. Now the nobody believes in us turns into one, two, three. Can't come. Uh, is that, is that, you know what I mean? If, if you have both of them go off and they lose by eight, it might be a sweep. Because that's essentially what happened last year. They came out, they gave us everything they had, and then it was like kind of a I mean, all those games were tight. They were moral victories, a lot of them. And honestly, they've carried that into this season. They've had a lot of moral victories against us this year. Yeah. Um, but Not the actual ones, but some very good moral ones. Well, nobody's looking at wins and losses. You know, nobody's looking at that. They're looking at those a lot about feelings. Yes. And how does it, how does something make you feel? Does it make you feel good? Does it make you feel bad? And they felt good. No, these Lakers fans. Um, all right, let's get into the actual matchup here. Um, the Lakers have looked more dangerous down the stretch offensively, and they played against the Pelicans. a lot of D'Angelo Russell. D'Angelo Russell famously got absolutely flambéed at midcourt throughout the whole series by like Bruce Brown, Jamal Murray, Jeff Green, DeAndre Jordan, Vladko. Mike Malone took him one time. Um, it was a really, really bad series for D'Lo. And yet, the Lakers, you need his offense. You can't play, um, the other thing they can't do is even though, um, I saw like Gabe Vincent taking some charges and some stuff and I was like, you little mother, you know, like, he's, he is, but against the Nuggets, we saw with Miami, it's a bad thing. They will find him. And they'll get him cross switched. Onto aaron gordon or onto porter and they will just shoot over him and the problem for the lakers is that you can't not play Yeah, you have to play d lo and you kind of have to play austin reeves And both of them have been Uh, very bad, uh defensively and so the bad news is You can like you're already putting anthony davis on aaron gordon Because we don't, he doesn't want, yeah, because you have Rui. So now, so, but then that means that, okay, does, so then LeBron's chasing Porter around. Okay, now you have Murray against D'Lo or Austin Reeves, or Austin Rivers. Reeves. Reeves. We will exist. They wish they had Austin Rivers. We would just sit, pick and roll, and say, switch one of those guys onto Jokic, and then come help with AD. Or, we are going to take a guy who cannot play defense and give him a disadvantage versus Jamal Murray. You just can't do that. I mean, it's the reason why I think this is over in five. This Nuggets team is just too hard to beat. They're too, they have too many ways to beat you. They're too talented. They just don't have, uh, There are too many easy mismatches. And if you want to, like, try to expose somebody, They'll just figure out what you're doing. Like, Jokic is a mastermind, man. He's just, he is going to, uh, figure out whatever you're doing. Especially over a 7 game series. And that I think is what's giving me the most confidence especially going into like what Could potentially be like our most shaky matchup wise because I Well the timberwolves but they're going to be in round one and we're going to play that team in round two And I think that son's team can score with us giving a break I'm nervous about it, but I'm nervous about this. I, it feels good that I was worried that maybe my like nugs life had fully left me and it hasn't, right? I'm terrified around one. I'm, you know, I, I agree with your analysis. Um, and on the other side, I think if you're the Lakers, you have to try to have Anthony Davis. In the post against Jokic and try to hope that he can face up and hit jumpers and Because if you don't get bubble Anthony Davis, you're cooked anyway And I just don't see enough advantage at this stage in his career and you can't ask LeBron to carry the load. I Just think that's the only way I'm just saying if I was if I was carving ham, I would say You Listen, the I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just saying that there's literally nothing in the Lakers season this year or the Lakers previous three years. In the entire situation in the Lakers, he's essentially rigged it so that he doesn't have to play the 5. Like, he doesn't want that smoke. I know that darvin ham was smoking a lot in that That locker room talking about how they weren't ducking and dodging anybody I think you know davis is not going to be that player. He is he is going to want to stay on the perimeter He's gonna want to if he takes well He can't that's where the nugs life can can rest because he's gonna do that. So I I think that there is potential here like Something weird happens in the first round of every NBA playoffs. Yep. And you just really have to hope that it's not us. And LeBron can make teams question themselves. Just, oh, okay, it's a LeBron game. You know, like, and it's, he doesn't quite have the, the Steph, like, factor of Steph when he would hit like threes on you and go on a flurry where you'd just be like, oh, well, we were playing a good game and we're down six now. Um, speaking of the death of a darkness. Um, but, they, he's welcome to come here on a Vat Minimum, um, he can absolutely get a million. Um, yeah, for no money, we would never get him, cause he'll get money, so, um, but, it just makes sense. But I do think that if you're the Lakers, you have to hope that you don't get a locked in Denver defensive performance because the thing that Denver showed was maybe the reason why teams weren't as eager to match Austin Reeves money. is the Nuggets made it pretty hard on old Austin to make the impact on the offensive end necessary to justify playing Austin Reeves on the defensive end and same thing with Delo and I haven't seen anything this year and Reeves is coming in on a worse rhythm, um, that makes me think. Because you have to consistently be able to score 120 to beat the Nuggets. Doesn't mean you'll score 120 every game and you might win games where you don't score 120, but like you have to have the offensive capability to say, hey, when this Nuggets team gets flowing, we're going to be able to answer and we're going to be able to survive this and only lose those minutes by a little and then we'll kill them in the bench minutes, right? Like that's the formula and I don't think the Lakers have enough offense. I think they can put lineups out there to ugly up the game, but then they can't score. And they let Jokic rest, essentially, down there. And if you let Jokic rest, no matter how ugly you try to make it, by the fourth quarter, the computer will have downloaded it, and it will print out AL. For you to take on your way home That's better over a seven game series It's that is that I think is the reason why i'm so confident always in a playoff series because jokic is a Cheat code always. I mean he is the highest basketball iq player i've ever seen him play but he when you give him seven games of data like I think that this team is just too good to get beat in four out of seven So, I think, but the one question that I will, or the, it's an interesting thought experiment. So I think the, um, who do you think is the biggest impact Nuggets player outside of For this series or for the playoffs? This series. Because I have sort of a sneaky answer. I could give you mine, but it's kind of a hot take. So I kind of want you to go first. It feels like you, I mean, I think it's a boring answer, but I think the answer is Aaron Gordon. Um, in terms of, if Aaron Gordon hits any threes, you're cooked. And defensively, um, I think eventually they will, in closing time, I think they are not going to play Rui and they are going to play Davis at the five. And I think that then you have Aaron Gordon who is playing against LeBron. And so we saw him, uh, with the help of Murray, stop LeBron with the game on the line and let us walk out of LA with, uh, with our brooms held high. And so I get it. It's boring, but. I think that's my answer. I think it's Peyton Watson. I thought about him long and hard. Yeah, I think I think those bench minutes are going to be huge and I think his defensive capability is big for this series Because he is so switchable And they are going to try to exploit Jokic like they always try to And it's just how can we hide him best, right? Well, it depends on how they're attacking, right? Like that's the that's why I say I think the way to attack yo pitch is to say You cannot jump with Anthony Davis We are going to post it or we're gonna get Anthony Davis mid post touches But like not at the free throw line where it's easier to pinch in or bother We want a wing post up and we are gonna go to that and we're gonna just if he is knocking down 15 footers, which will never be able to block, then you're going to have to start doing something about this. And that's what we do right now against this big lineups. We've sometimes played ad against Anthony Davis, AG, sorry. Um, and, and corners guarded LeBron or, you know, and it's been been okay. Um, so there's, there's not there's no counterplay for the Nuggets. But, to me, I think A. G. could guard the two best players for them. Well, A. G., A. G. is almost volunteer. Like, that's almost the bare minimum. But my point was, I think Jokic, you don't need to hide him if it's high pick and roll. You need to hide Jokic on open, you know, big open floor, um, like, guy coming downhill with nobody. Like, you You're dead in those situations as the Nuggets in which other teams aren't necessarily dead, right? I think Peyton Watson is going to have a monster block on LeBron James at some point in the series and I think those sort of things I think Make a big difference in the You know microcosms of games, right? Like if he has a chance to be the energizer bunny in some games where the You Ball reading and him and Bruce have been buzzing. Yeah, like they are they've been playing An entirely different type of basketball than they were playing early in the season. So I think they uh They have the potential together I think to take that role of bruce brown that we had in that first series that really made us sweep them Yeah, and just say like no actually we're taking this a little bit personally and The other thing that I will say that I can't remember who I was listening to yesterday, uh, but They were it was a Nuggets insider person and they were just talking about like this team actually does not like The Lakers like it's actually it is kind of personal to them Like they they don't like it. They don't like that. They get all the buzz. They don't like that They get all the attention and Oh, it was Katie Lynch. She was on the DMVR podcast, and she was talking about how she thinks that this is actually potentially the best matchup for them in the first round because it'll make them get into that playoff mode earlier than they would have if this was the Pelicans or, or even if it was, you know. You don't think Jokic was, uh. Sipping racha and looking at those 15 footers off of one pass and being like fellas Pour another shot. We must be fine. We must get ready for Jose Alvarado. Yeah Well, he should be saying that that guy always gives us the business. It's really annoying but um, I wanted to Something that hasn't been talked about because the lakers won the game There were reports leaked that Darvin Ham, players wanted him fired. Not that long ago. Yeah. So, that's the other reason why to me, if this series gets off to a Nuggets win both games at home, Don't be shocked if there's some 1 2 3 Cancun stuff here. And some stuff where, once again, it won't be about the Victory it will be about Why was lebron sitting out the last five minutes? Where who will draft brawny and could that potentially signal that the king's time that la has come to an end? lebron Looking at houses in sacramento. Yeah, all options are on the table, you know, like I I that's why to me. This is a You If you can steal hope, and that's true of any team, but the difference is young teams, they can get a rah rah speech from a coach and still give you hell at home. This Lakers team is old and they've been through it and LeBron knows when his teams don't have it. And if he sees that they don't have it, there is absolutely a way that this guy will be like, You know what i'm just gonna uh, we're gonna do two podcasts a week jj All right, uh pencil me in for the second round there, buddy And uh, i'm gonna do a manning cast type thing with you, too Uh, espn if you could give me the rest of my money, I would have won for winning a championship. That'd be great right like there's I just they're more likely to lie down this is my the the lakers team is not good enough Shouldn't be They might be good enough to beat the Nuggets. But they're not good enough to go four rounds. No. This team is not winning a championship. So, to your point, it's like, go out, step on their throats, get two decisive victories at home, and then, if you drop game three, win game four, win game five at home, then you're on to the second round. Yep. That is exactly how I see this series going, I think. These games are going to be butthole clenchers because they're always the Arguably the best player of the well arguably the best player ever. I would put a number two um But he's on the other team. So like yeah They're going to be close like the games are going to be close because lebron james and anthony davis They shouldn't have gotten the eighth seed. This is a disappointing season for them They have sucked for almost the entire year So go out and put them out of their misery and put all these Lakers fans out of their misery, too I don't I i'm so sick of seeing Lakers fans in ball arena that I honestly think that eventually they'll stop coming Like if we just kick their ass enough in denver, eventually, they'll just stop coming How many games do you have to see them lose at in a row before you? Stop spending 170 to sit in my uppers the uh You The answer for Miami Heat fans was, uh, was game five. Was three. Didn't see enough of those. And did not see any Heat fans who were like, eh, we might be making a comeback. Here we come! All it takes is one, boys. Uh, not a lot of that. Um, I guess, wrapping it up, let's just make our official predictions. Um, I'm going to take Nuggets and seven. We'll I don't think we step on the throats. I think this team has had really bad moments. And I think the Bruce Brown veteran on the road part can't be understated. I think Peyton Watson is going to absolutely have moments at ball arena. And he might be the talk of the series and like get a sports center thing after like game two. Like, you know, it might be one of those games where you're like, man, he was unreal. But you're making me go to a game seven. I I, and I will be having a stroke beforehand, so that'll be good. It'll bring me back, um, for me to attend game seven. But yeah, I think, I think this is a war. I think a lot of series in the west are going to be absolute wars. I do agree with that. Um, besides now the 1 8 matchup, because Zion's hurt. I'm going 5. Okay. I do think it's kind of one or the other. I think it goes really long, or I think it's kind of uh It typically is either over at 5 or it's over. And honestly, there could be 7 game series that don't feel that close. Correct. Yeah. I mean, look at The Sun's 6 game series, right? It didn't feel The Nuggets never really worried. Beat the hell out of them. Um, alright. So. Uh, let's go through the Western Conference now, quickly. Um The matchup, the second round matchup, I think we both have the Suns over the Timberwolves. Uh, how many games do you have it in? I do have the Suns over the Timberwolves. I have? Yeah, I do. I think it's gonna be six. Yep, I was gonna say six as well. Uh, it doesn't feel like, uh, they'll get, um, That it feels like that Minnesota crowd and that kind of Anthony Edwards can take them to there, but this is the worst matchup for the Timberwolves. They absolutely screwed themselves. This is going to be awful. I know. I'm going to go five. I'm going to go five. I'll go six still. I think they can get it. Oh, no, no, no, no. Sorry. Yeah. I think the Wolves can get, get one. And then they split. They basically split. I think so. This is also the best thing that KD can do for American basketball. Is knocking Anthony Edwards out of the playoffs early. Yeah. We need him fresh as a daisy for Paris in the summer. We cannot have him making a deep run. We need him rested. We're going to need all of that firepower for Paris. Yeah, that's accurate. Um, okay. Then let's go Mavericks and Clippers. I think this is going to be the most talked about series here. Well, I mean, if Nuggets, Lakers go seven, they'll be close there. Um, this is There's some concern about Kawhi's knee, um, there's still swelling, um, He was just announced to the Paris roster, which I think is maybe the dumbest thing ever. Yeah. I can't imagine the worst type of team chemistry guy. No. But, uh, we do have some concerns there. Um, Luka has been unreal down the stretch. It kind of feels Like the kind of series that the Clippers should be just fine in Because in theory you go. Well, you have Kawhi Leonard for Um and Paul George you have size on Kyrie Irving you have a physical, you know in his prime the best defender perimeter defender in the league and Kawhi He's really smart. He's not gonna get Bullied, but Luka has messed them up and this is the best roster. He's Had to go against them with by far and Dallas couldn't seem happier coming into this and more together and the clippers could not seem more concerned Somebody needs to ask kairi what his thoughts are on palestine Yeah, it's the only way to stop it If if we see them in the second or no, we avoided them. Oh, that's fantastic Yeah, if we see them in the western conference finals, you better believe i'm asking that question though. Yeah You We will get media passes and we will just ask them about controversial topics. I think we'll take it to Kroenke himself. I'll do some research. Yeah, um, but the Uh, so everything points like vibes chemistry towards, um, Dallas Ah Yeah, I think the knee stuff is enough for me. I think I'm gonna take, uh, Dallas here. I'm gonna take Dallas in seven. I'm taking the Clippers. Uh, who else on the court? Uh, Clippers. Then I'll take the Clippers in five. Whoa! In five? Huh, okay. That's a lot of trust in, in playoff pee. But, I, I That'll make our friend Travis very happy to hear you say that. Um, and then i'm just putting I know we don't technically know but i'm putting the thunder through um They are going to beat the kings. Uh, they have all the perfect pieces to bother fox Sabonis isn't a strong enough big enough player to like fully exploit the lack of size to like an effective way Um, they would beat them and the pelicans suck with alzheimer. So So, yeah. Either team that comes out of there, give me the uh, Thunder. Light the beam! I'm taking the, I'm taking the Kings. Right. Okay. I said that the Thunder were going to get upset in the first round. I didn't necessarily think that this was going to be how it broke. No. No. Um, but, I am sticking with it. First round, it couldn't have broken easier for them. I think they might sweep. I, I honestly, that Kings Eh, five. The Kings home court is worth a game. The Kings team is better than I think people are, are giving it credit for and I honestly think that the Thunder are worse. Like, they're, they're a really effective regular season team but I think in a grinded out series, I just don't, I, I don't see it. Yeah, it's a lot of Harrison Barnes for me um with no Malik monk a lot of Is a little bit worrying. Yeah, but keegan murray was unconscious last night. Yeah, i'd like to introduce him to ludor Ludor is not big enough for keegan murray I think he can I think ludor buys a little bit of that michael porter jr stroke to him, which I was actually thinking about last night That he, I was thinking about it in bed. Wow, Keegan Marie's stroke is good. No, he's got that, he's long and he's like very, um, He just is very fluid in his movement, and I think that with those types of shooters, it's really hard to bother them. It doesn't really matter how good of a defender you are. If Mike hits a shot I just mean no one's gonna work harder to not give up the kind of looks that Keegan Murray got in the first quarter. But who are you putting on, um, Fox in that case? If you're putting SGA. We're fine there. Oh, really? Yeah. I think SGA's an overrated defender. Sure. I think he's just fine with, uh, Chet back there. I don't know. I think he's just fine. Yeah, I, uh, that's fine. You can have the Kings. I'm Chet, so I have Thunder. Wow, we have a totally, two totally different teams in the top half. Because you have the Clippers coming out. I have the Mavs and, uh, the Thunder. Um, I will take the Mavs in that. Uh, I'll take the Mavs in six. Mavs, I don't, I don't actually disagree with that. If they get past the Clippers, I think they'll beat the Thunder. So I don't, I, I said that with surprise, but I actually agree with it. Um, now you've got Clippers Kings. Tell me we're not putting the Kings through. No, uh, we're not. I'm going to take the Clippers. Okay. Okay, great. And I'm taking the Nuggets on the lower side. I think I'm taking the Suns. Fuck you. I think I'd take the Suns. I think they're quietly unreal. What are you talking about? And I think that the whistle is gonna be Who on their team is unreal? Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and uh, I was watching his stat today. Uh, the last 20 games Bradley would be able to shoot a 66. 3. Oh no! Oh no! 20 games is not a small sample size. Oh yeah, yeah. Is that the last 20 games, like, I If you count all the games he's missed, if they, if they give him a zero Listen, I'm just saying They came in here twice when the Nuggets were trying And waxed that ass And once without, uh, Booker So And we didn't have Jamal Murray Correct, but For either of them, but anyways, it doesn't matter, it's fine You can take the suns, go ahead I'm taking the suns and six This is where I think that's where I think it is I uh, and then i'm i'm endlessly homering this by the way, like i'm not picking against my team Unbelievable that you would It's listen. I have to tell people what I think So I have a uh suns versus mavericks. Uh, i'm taking uh, luca to go to the finals. Wow Uh, it's a lot of trust in kairi um You It's a lot of microphones in front of him for a lot of weeks in a row Um, but I think that pj washed good thing was absolutely highway robbery and I think he's really good for them I think they have a lot of size a lot of uh ways to Play that are really effective and I think luke is at an unreal level right now I think yeah, I think the mavericks go to the finals Wow Uh, yeah, I mean I had to look at speeding the clippers because Yeah. How else is that? Weed play the delivers. James Harden will be a corpse at that point., his conditioning does not allow him to play in the conference finals. Well, so I, so yeah, it it's gonna be really bad. Wow. I can't believe that. You just mentioned PJ Washington in relation to how you're picking the Western Conference Finals. I have a rookie card. I'd like to sell you up to this podcast, PJ W's awesome. Now I have a rookie card I'd like to sell you after this podcast is over. One dollar. Um, so, yeah, I have, that's, that's how I see it breaking down in the West. I have the Celtics coming out and I do have the Celtics winning the title, by the way. I, I think in, in the case that the Nuggets don't make it to the finals, I have a hard time seeing anybody beat the Celtics, so. God, the East is bad. Um, but, that's that. Um, I can't believe we're going to end on that. I feel like we should talk about the Rockies some more just to get the taste out of my mouth. That won't help. Um, what do you, I can't believe that you just did that. I, we'll break it down in depth when that round matchup happens. We both have that matchup coming. Uh, we'll check in on your Sacramento King fiction. Um, uh, next week we'll react to the first round of the Broncos draft. Like I said, I think we'll have had two rounds. So we'll be chillin there. There's gonna be plenty of time, Ryan. And by the time this Suns thing comes around, I may have changed my mind! Alright? This is a rapid reaction. This is just how I feel in my heart of hearts. From the Bradley Beals last 20 games. That's Listen, it's really hard. Name two other players outside of KD, Booker, and Durant on the On their pitch, I really dislike that guy. They also have Grayson Allen, and I really dislike that guy. Um, yeah. You just named arguably the two most hateable players in the NBA. They've been in it for a while. Grayson Allen was the number one three point shooter in the league this year. It's not great, Bob. Because he plays with Booker and KD. Yeah, that's not going to change for the playoffs. They're going to be there, believe it or not. There is change for the playoffs, though. Those threes get a little bit different in the playoffs. I know that. Because we saw Torrey Craig hit a bunch of them in the regular season and then miss a bunch of them in the playoffs. So, you're not wrong. You're not wrong. I just, oh God. I can't believe he did that. Listen, I'm shook right now. I have to tell the people what I think. All right. I mean, I'm glad you did. Geez. But I wish I didn't know.. The people deserve to know though, and I had to tell you to tell the people. Um, all right. Like I said, we'll be back next week. We've got in the FL draft, we'll be in the full swing of NHL playoffs. God seeing the Winnipeg Jets did not make me feel better about that. Uh, we may need to have another therapy session with Dom. Last session did not seem like it helped me that much. No! It was just describing how we were going to get smoked by the It's like you went to the, uh, therapist and they were just like, Life is pain. That's a good point, yeah. Yeah, I mean you're probably not wrong about those anxious feelings you're having Very bad hitting you against each other. Yeah, it's not good. Well, that did seem messed up of him Be honest um Yeah, but we'll have all that and more Next week on the Blucifer brothers. Thanks for listening. Uh, we really do appreciate it like subscribe We got a new subscriber last week. We know because they downloaded every episode Of the podcast what a homie, we appreciate you. Whoever you are leave a review We'll shout you out on the next podcast if you inform us who you are, maybe All right, thanks so much peace bye And i already recorded the intro. You already did the intro? Yeah, remember? Yeah. Ryan was like I couldn't fuck with it Yeah, and then you fucked with the other one
