Checking In on East & West Play-In Races

0:00Coming up, on Locked-On NBA Daily, the play in race is heating up, Devon Booker's back, but can step curry, return in time to save the Warriors play off hopes. Meanwhile in the East, teams with high expectations are competing for six plays, but it's the real threat in the play internment, looming lower in the standings. Locked-On NBA Daily starts now. You are Locked-On NBA, your daily NBA podcast. Part of the Locked-On podcast network, your team, every day. Hello and welcome back to Locked-On NBA Daily, part of a Locked-On podcast network. Now the number one sports podcast network, however you're tuning in on YouTube or on your podcast app, thanks for making us your first listen every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Game Time, download the Game Time app, create an account, and use the code Locked-On for $20 off your first purchase. I'm Wes Goldberg, and today we're talking about the middle of both conferences where teams are fighting to escape the play internment.

1:01We're also going to look ahead to an exciting mixed-under matchup later tonight, and we're doing it with the help of Locked-On's local expert, type 2 of the best with me as always. And the Locked-On Nuggets podcast, your senior NBA writer for the action network, is met more, Matt. Do you have platypie glow under UV light? Really? Okay, and not only that, but scientists don't know why. Like, the literal thing is like, yeah, we don't really know why. This just happened. You've been studying platypie for a hundred years, and you haven't figured out why they glow under UV light. I think we've learned a lot about Matt's TikTok algorithm this week, just mostly. Not true. I look at this up independently, thank you. You looked up whether platypie glow under UV light. That's a crazy Google story. No, I looked at niche animal facts to share on the show, but thanks for ruining the magic Wes from the Locked-On Bulls podcast. He's a Bears and Bulls creator for Bleach Report. It's Hayes. I'm an owner of almost 200 pound Akita, so I don't worry about other animals. I just sick Loki on him. That's his name is Loki. So I like how to ask dog names.

2:03200 pounds? He's 195 pounds, almost 200 pounds. He's a Bears, wouldn't he? I think when you're at 195 as a dog, you get to round up, I think that's why do you own the guardians from Ghostbusters? Because literally, so Akita's in my favorite breed of dog. I hadn't Akita before, but he was a smaller Akita. He was like maybe 130. So I got this one, and from like the time he was like six months old, I was like, oh, this is going to be a big boy, and then he just never stopped growing. Okay. Well, let's start with today's show and taking a look at the play. One of the main races in both of these conferences, I want to start in the Western conference. You look at the standings, the Lakers have a two game lead for six place, and then in the play in spots, you have Phoenix, Golden State, the LA Clippers, and then Portland. I want to start with the suns because they've become number one, one of our favorite teams here on Locked on NBA daily, but they've also been dealing with some injuries. They've had a little bit of a stumble since the all star break here a bit. They could still potentially sneak out of the play in tournament. I think that's worth mentioning, right? There are seven in the standings right now, two games back of the Lakers.

3:07You do have a firm four game cushion over the eighth place warriors, and most importantly, they got Devon Booker back, and they got to win over the Sacramento Kings last night. Here's more from Ben Garcia from Locked on Suns. When he is not in the line if they are not the same offense, yet he struggled from shooting from the field today. He only had five assists. I didn't think he was bad defensively, but I didn't think he was necessarily awesome. He's coming back from injury in this game. And yet the Suns blow out the Sacramento Kings in the second half. Booker tonight, six for 19, he was pulling off his best Rey Mysterio with the 619, four for nine from three, and I didn't hate some of the shots Booker was getting tonight. Good win over the Sacramento Kings who stink and they're actively losing games, yada, yada. But important fact here, they get Devon Booker back, he's starting to shake off some of the rust here. When you look at the standings, Matt, Phoenix there at seventh, like I said before, one of our favorite teams here on the show, they get their star player back.

4:08Are they the favorites to come out of the Western conference playing mix? That's tough, man. So I like what Phoenix has done a lot. I want to appreciate what they've kind of accomplished. The problem is when we get into these big, kind of profile environments, I don't know if this team is necessarily built for that, right? Because they are, this is the one area. I'm typically pretty much like Alan is a little overrated in the NBA because we see all these combinations of superstars, like, oh, I don't know Phoenix last year that are kind of trash cans. But when you get into like hyper tense, very close environments, you do need the best players. And that's one of the areas where Phoenix is kind of a little bit down. Now facing gold and state maybe, but if you're just like, hey, the suns are hosting gold and state in a seven, eight match up in the play in tournament, I'm going to be a little nervous for Phoenix, right? Like Steph Curry is the type of player that ruins teams like the suns is life. Which is what they do, what he does. So I'm a little bit worried about them coming out of the play in tournament. I don't really know what to make of their playoff chances in terms of what you really want

5:10from the suns. I think a reasonable expectation is, hey, make life hard on your first round opponent. Just have them leave that series be like, ah, that team was annoying. We could not get rid of them. That's kind of got to be the goal, right? You want to win. But that's going to be the goal is make sure that that team is like, man, Phoenix was tough. And I'm not sure that they're built in such a way to be able to pull that off, but I would really love to see it. I mean, to get to the West's basic question is that, yeah, I think they are the favorites to come out the, the playing, I'm not saying that I picked them to play our series like when you look at the teams in the play in Portland, it's completely fallen off. Like, I mean, they'll probably still make the plan because Memphis is terrible, but they were, they were, they can't fall off if they were never up, sir. They were up at one point. The clippers, you know, the thing I think that helps the Phoenix sons that if they're staying the 70, they have two games to get one win and get and make it out the playing. And I do trust them like to get one win out of two games, whether that is the 78 match

6:11with the Goam State Warriors, or if they lose that matchup and have to face off against the winners of the clippers in Portland Trailblazers, like they have, they're such a tough team when everybody's healthy. They're so well balanced and they just fit together and Devin Booker can go off. He can be the plus player in one game. I don't know if he can be the best player in a seven game series and get some of the teams in the playoffs. He can be the best player on any given night. And so because of that, I do think the sons have to be one of the favorites to make it, be favorite to make it out the Western Conference play. It's really been kind of a quiet really good season for Devin Booker. They are 28 and 17 with Booker in the lineup this season there. 6.1 points per 100 possessions better on offense and offensive rating when Devin Booker's on the court nearly eight points overall better. So even defensively, he's helping them on that end. So look, Phoenix, I do think probably the favorites to come out of the play in mix here. Not only that they're going to have home court as the 72, which obviously matters historically in this play in mix, man, I'm going to go back to you here. If you were going to pick two teams to come out of the play internament in the Western Conference, assuming that it's going to be Phoenix, Golden State, Clippers, Portland,

7:14the Lakers have a two game lead in that six spot. If you think that they're going to drop, I guess you can include them in that. But the favorites to come out of the Western Conference play in mix if you had to pick two. It's going to be it's Golden State and Phoenix. It's Golden State and Phoenix and then everybody else. I mean, the Clippers were interesting. It's just like they're trying to piece this thing together on the fly. Like Darius Garland and Vedic math were to have an unpacked and they don't, they lost zoo. So now it's like they're piecing together the center position. They're just a really rag tag kind of group trying to pull this together behind. Quiet Leonard being able to make jump shots. And I just don't know if that's going to be enough to get them home. Now it's like you do ask me do you want coi Leonard or the sons in a, you know, winter go home environment that makes me nervous and I'm a guy that has question coi's game seven performances pretty consistently go look those up. They're not great. I think I will, I will say right now Phoenix and Golden State, right? And if the Lakers fall in its Lakers and Golden State, I do have a little bit of the best guys do tend to win in these playoff environment and these play in environments like the best

8:16guys win. Although, you know, look, the Warriors got knocked out. I think by Memphis. Yeah, they got knocked out by Memphis one year. So it's not always just like, oh, you just, you know, pencil in staff. I don't know if that's true. If the Lakers miss the playoffs, God, what a story though. Like the Lakers and then the Clippers and we get a seven eight match up in the play in tournament between the Lakers and the Warriors, which would be a repeat. I think of the first year of the play in tournament. Hayes in the Western Conference, who do you like to come out of the play? And you already mentioned Phoenix, but who else? You know, I think Phoenix and Golden State, right? So, you know, it's boring conversation, but yeah, I agree with Matt there. What's that disagreed? But Phoenix and Golden State are the two out of three. So I'm very down on the idea of peaking the right time. Historically, this doesn't actually track. Like you need to play your best basketball in December and January. That's just what history says for if you want to make deep playoff runs. I do think the play in is different though. I think you can be the right team at the right time. And I know we're going to talk about a great candidate for that in the East.

9:17But I just kind of wonder like, look, if you're Portland, do you really, do you really want to be on this thing? Like do you really want to be on this thing? And so I would, I would really love to see New Orleans make an improbable run and just like sneak in there, make some sort of crazy finish where it's like, oh my god, the pelicans are going to make the play in. That would be actually really wild and a lot of fun to see, I think. And it would be very fun to tune into Lockdown Hawks to hear them freak out about their pick. In that situation, I'm going to go ahead. I'm going to go out on a limb here. I think Phoenix beats Golden State in the 7-8 game. And then I think the Clippers beat Portland in the 9-10 game. And then Kawaii Leonard is the best player in a Clippers Warriors game. And then the Clippers sneak in and make the playoffs. That's where I'm going to go with this one, just to be a little bit different here. We know the top teams in the Western Conference, the winner of the East play in race, though, that team might be able to push a team in the first round. We're going to take a look at the Eastern Conference play in race after this. Today's episode of Lockdown NBA is brought to you by TurboTax.

10:21It's tax time. But for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is a lot trying to book an appointment. That's not the most convenient sitting in a waiting room with a stack of papers, emailing back and forth and wondering if they really get your situation. But this year, you're getting a major upgrade into a TurboTax. Now has in person locations nationwide. You can meet face to face with a real tax expert and get your documents uploaded straight to your TurboTax app on the spot. And just like that, you're done. Your TurboTax expert works to get you every dollar that you deserve while you get real time notifications as you go about your day. It's the relief of walking in and meeting a real person and walking out, knowing your taxes are being handled right. Head to TurboTax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment today. Welcome back to Lockdown NBA Daily. The best way to support the show is to subscribe on YouTube. We air Monday to Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern wherever you get your podcasts. Let's go to the Eastern Conference with a play and race doubles as the Southeast division seven through 10 in the standings or the magic heat hornets and hawks.

11:21The sixers are a half game up on the magic and the heat for six place. So they're still on the bubble and very much a part of the conversation we're going to have here. The magic do have the tie break over the heat for the season. That's why they are technically in seventh and the heat are in eighth, although the records are similar, but let's start there. That bubble-ish area, sixers magic heat. Hey, is who do you like to end up at six? Cause I think that's probably the best place to start before we have a rest of the conversation about the rest of the play and race. Man, I'd say I like, I want to pick Orlando magic there. I just don't trust them. I'll say still the 76 is hold on to the six seed. I think it, you know, they're if they can stay relatively healthy, they'll hold on to the six seed there like the Orlando magic is still finished at seventh. And I do think unfortunately West your Miami heat are probably going to fall down to ninth. I think the Charlotte Horn is probably going to pass them up. It is a two game difference between Miami and Charlotte with a big meeting on Friday. Matt, who do you like to end up at six Miami?

12:22Miami's schedule is really soft. I will trust Eric Spulster, the heat, you know, when they're fully healthy, I actually think that they're really good. Obviously we've got the big coaching advantage here. I look at the schedule. I look at how they've played. I look at their overall performance that he'd have been the best team. So I think Miami's going to sneak out, you know, Philly. I don't really know what to make of them. It's like, how do you project them? Because if they're one team with them beat and they're one team without him and you don't know what he's going to play on any given night. And so trying to project like what he's going to be, I think is really, really difficult. But I've got Miami at 46 wins. I've got Philly at 43. I've actually got Charlotte at 45. So I actually have Philly sliding all the way down to the eight spot. How much does Paul George's suspension play a factor in those projections, Matt? Because no, Paul George and then be dealing with this ribs situation. That's actually fully healthy is the thing is like that assumes full health for everybody because I tend to bump this up. And if you're asking like, how is that possible? How good indeed is Miami's actually missed a lot of guys that are really

13:25important, like Norman Powell, grades out really well in my system. Like Tyler Hero, grades out really well in my system. Like they have like the heat or good, I don't, they have not played as well as they should, the heat should be better than they are. And so I think I think Miami gets the six. I think Charlotte gets the seven and I think Philly gets the eight. Miami with the best point differential out of the Philly Orlando Miami little trio there. And as you mentioned, Charlotte sneaking up on this entire group. They are the feel good story here after a bad start to the season. They've surged into the play in mix. They're now 500 for the season, which is a crazy turnaround. They're playing as well as anybody right now. Here's more on that turnaround from our friend Doug Branson. I locked on Hornets this turnaround just by record is extraordinary to think where they were, you know, through the first 25 games or so. And to think of where they are now, and to be able to pull out of that tail spin is a is a testament to the determination of this group, the

14:26togetherness of this group, how much joy they play with, how competitive they've been, on and on and all, all the things that we have talked about, nonstop about what's fueling this team. Hey, what do you like about this Hornets team? I mean, I don't even want to ask if it's real or not. They've been doing it for long enough where they are clearly a good basketball team. I guess the question is how good can they be? Man, I think they could be a tough first round exit. I don't know if they can be much more than that. And no knock on them, like they're a really tough team. And, you know, Conkin, it was being great. Lamello ball is maybe as much as me, man, if talk about him, not playing winning basketball, maybe starting to learn a little bit. There's some balance there when they're fully healthy. But I think this year, just a really, if they can make it a really tough first round exit, I think that's a great step in the right direction for them. With the caveat that I'm always worried about these teams, they get super hot for like extended period of time because I just think it's really like, they started playing well in December. And you're asking them to play at such a higher level than they have ever played

15:28at for a sustained four month stretch. That's really difficult. Like that's just a lot to ask for, you know, and we see what happens whenever like I got for bid knock on wood, like Lamello's ankles just seem to have problems. And so and whenever he goes out, they fall to pieces. So like I'm a little worried about about them maintaining, but like as far as a ceiling, I'm not going to be surprised if it's like, oh my god, Charlotte Detroit's going to game seven. I love the thing I love most about Charlotte is the way that Charles Lee has coached this team in terms of maximizing what they do. They're like, hey, what if we rebounded absolutely everything? We're hyper efficient at the rim and won the math game. The I understand the three point stuff can get obnoxious for some people. But when you're not a team that doesn't have the best talent and you are, you are going into these fights outgunned, doing things like, hey, we're going to win from the three point line and at the rim. And we're going to make sure you don't get extra possessions is absolutely huge. They don't have the best defense in the league.

16:29They don't have the most talent in the league, but they make the most of what they have. And I love teams like that. So I'm not going to be surprised if Charlotte Detroit go to a game seven first round. The thing that is really interesting to me about this Hornets team, especially in a potential series against Detroit is that the Hornets have four guys on the court almost at all times who can dribble pass and shoot for the most part. And that's a really tough, like that's, we talked about the thunder defense and the model and the fact that they drafted all these guys and whatever. Really the thunder model is the fact that they trust all their guys to make a decision with the ball in their hands. And you trust Shay, obviously the most, he's the superstar, but everybody, they trust case and walls to do stuff. They trust, you know, all these guys to do stuff. Charlotte is doing a little bit of that here and to your point, Matt, they've, they're also like nailing these margin battles here that are really important. Big question. Hey, is what three teams do you think make the playoffs of the group that we're talking about? Lumping Philadelphia in here, just because they only have that half game lead at six Philadelphia Orlando,

17:30Miami Charlotte Atlanta, three of those teams have to make the playoffs, which three do you like? Philly Miami Orlando. So you have Charlotte not making it. I see that's the thing. Like I want to pick Charlotte over Orlando, but I just think if Orlando gets healthy, they'll make it above them. But that, that's what I'll go on wax to say right now, because I'm not going to bet against your Miami heat. You're my brother. I'm not going to do that to you. I appreciate that. So it was between Miami and Charlotte, not Orlando. I got you. Matt, where are you at? Orlando's cheeks. I don't even know why we're talking about them. Like they're, they're coaching their and their star player taking jabs at each other in the media. This is one of those years. Like we know how this goes. They're going to, they're going to miss the playoffs. They're going to fire Mosley. They're going to bring in another coach. And then the guy that did all of the good work to get them in a good position is going to get scapegoated while the other guy benefits from what's already been built. And then Mosley's going to go somewhere else and do really well, just like JV Picker staff did. I'm going to go with Miami Charlotte and Atlanta.

18:35Um, Jonathan Kominga leads the Hawks to the playoffs. I thought we, I thought we buried Kominga talk. And now he, we have to talk about him again because we're, that is how the universe has, the universe has decided. We have to talk about Jonathan Kominga almost every night. That, that feels disrespectful to Philly. I know I really like the Sixers team and think that they're really good. I just like, I, I am not going to be surprised if it's like, yeah, and B can't go in the plane in the playing game. He's just abbreviated whatever he's not feeling good can't go. And it's like, oh man, after everything Philly gets knocked out, wouldn't surprise me. The safe answer though is, is Philly Charlotte Miami? That's the safe answer. Yeah. The good thing about Philly is, even if they drop into the play in tournament, it's hard to see them falling much lower than the 78 bracket part of this. So they'd get two chances to win one game to get into the playoffs. Charlotte right now, if they're at nine or Atlanta at 10, like they got to win twice Atlanta twice on the road,

19:36based on where they're at right now. Seven seeds have never failed to get into the NBA playoffs in the history of land in five years of the tournament. Ten seeds are one and four with West's stupid Miami heat last year for no reason. We could have, we could have lost and perhaps gotten Cooper flag, because we might have been in that Dallas Mavericks lottery slot there. Orlando has the, and will not give up the tiebreaker over Miami, as long as the records are obviously the same, because that's how the tiebreakers work. Orlando's three and O against Miami this season. So that's, that's an important thing here in a distinction match to your point. If whoever gets seven gets at home court there, that's a pretty big advantage that you're talking about there. Up next, we're going to take a look at the schedule tonight, including the first match up the season between two teams that many picked to make the NBA finals stay tuned. Today's episode is brought to you by game time. There's nothing like being in an NBA arena, the crowd, the energy, the moment,

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21:41sons, locked on hornets, locked on heat, locked on sixers locked on all these teams that are involved in this play and mix for more on those teams. Let's look at the tonight's slated games to really exciting ones guys. Let's start with thunder at next next four point underdogs at mass and square garden. First meeting between these two teams for what a lot of people's this was a lot of people's preseason pick for the NBA finals, both teams, by the way, playing on a back to back, although SGA did not play on Tuesday night. So he'll be a little bit more fresh for the thunder. But hey, what are you watching for in this one? This is good basketball. I mean, I don't have like when you look at the mix in the thunder, like, I don't, I don't trust the nicks. I think I've been clear on that when we've talked about this team. I don't trust the nicks at all to do anything sensible. And I think they're going to be an early exit again in the playoffs. So I'm looking for the nicks that not look good and the O.K.C. Thunder probably will even shame playing in this game tonight or no. Yes, is oh, yeah, they're going to kill the nicks. They're going to kill what? Why are you making me defend the nicks? I don't like this man.

22:43Like, you don't have to do. We can actually be on the same side every once in a while, man. Yeah, but yeah, but you're just like they're going to be another first round exit again. They made the conference finals the last two years early exit. I didn't necessarily say first round. It's an early exit. How is the conference final that early exit? I'm saying this season, they'll be an early exit. All right. You say they get. All right. I actually really want to see this. So New York is six and two versus playoff teams in the Western conference. And over the last couple of seasons, they've matched up really well with some of the best teams in the West for all of their faults. I actually really like this match up for them. Now, OKC may kill them because OKC is better in every facet. Like, they're an amazing team. However, if you ask me like, what do you need to be OKC? Number one, you got to have offensive rebounding. You got to create extra possessions and absolutely just. You have to smash them on the interior. You got to be able to smash the glass and be able to get offensive rebounds and really be physical with them. Mitchell Robinson, Caron Thane Towns, that's a great ability. You have to have great spot of shooters because they're going to give you threes,

23:44but they try and target who they're going to give them to. So Landry Shamit is going to have to have another obnoxious night. That guy drives me nuts because I'm like, how is this guy doing this? Like Landry Shamit's going to have another night where he hits three threes. I actually really kind of like this match up for New York. I'm not saying I can't sit here and say that they're going to win, but I like their chances better than whatever the market is going to give them. This is not a bad match up for New York, which makes it really kind of an interesting thing if the Nix are able to get out of the Eastern conference. They match up OK with OKC. It matches your point. Both teams, OKC and New York, they've gotten up for big games like this this season, right? And specifically the Nix. I don't think we're surprised by that with a thunder because they get up for all their games. They're just a very good basketball team. The Nix, I want to see if they can match up physically and with that physicality that we saw OKC and Denver play with last Friday night, right? If OKC is going to play with that level of intensity in Madison Square Garden tonight, I want to see the Nix step that up and bring that level of physicality to this game. Do you feel like the Nix are lacking that category? Because I feel like that's one of their strengths. I think that's one of the reasons why they've been a pretty good match up versus the Cavs consistently

24:47is their ability to play physical. I don't really worry about the Nix physicality. I worry about their discipline, which is different. Yeah, and I think there's some interesting matchups here too, right? Like you probably start Chet with Horton Stein coming off the bench if you're OKC, depending on obviously who's ultimately available for them. You have Chet start on Carlyl and then he towns and then he could switch on to Brunson. And then on the other end, you know, we're going to see Shagelder's Alexander target, Jalen Brunson, quite a bit. And that's where that physicality might come into play on the perimeter. Do you try to hide Jalen Brunson in other spots? Like what is Mike Brown draw up and how much do they ultimately want to show, right? I think for the Nix, this is an important game where I think you don't throw the kitchen sink necessarily, but you don't necessarily hide stuff either. I think you go out and try to win this game because I think there's a lot of I think I think he's I think you throw the kitchen sink like, yeah, you can't be like, we're going to save stuff for the finals. You get there and it's like, all right, figure it out from here. Nix, 23 and eight at home this season. So they've been absolutely dynamite in MSJ, the shipping of one last one here.

25:50I want to talk about Hornets at Celtics, our Charlotte Hornets versus their Boston silk. Celtics six and a half point favorites at home Hornets on the second night of back to back after blowing out the Mavericks last night. But this should still be a really interesting game between two team, two of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference, as we talked about, this is the first, they have not played yet. This is the first of three meetings that they're going to have over the next month and a half. Hey, what are you most interested in watching in this one? If I have no interest in this game tonight, I don't know, I have zero interest in it. None, none, maybe, maybe I'm, maybe I'm, I'm jaded because my team sucks, but right now. And so maybe that's jaded me a little bit on basketball, but the bulls played a night. Does that why no, the bulls don't play to the thing. God, they don't play today. I need, oh, as many days off as I can possibly get, you should be interested in watching some good basketball because both of these teams are playing good. They're playing great, they are very much playing great. I'm just, you know what it is?

26:50I'm jealous that it's not my team. That's what it is. Hey, we're like two week, we're like two weeks from that March stretch where everything gets disgusting. We have to enjoy this now because we're starting now, starting, but we're not quite there yet. Two weeks is where it's going to be like, Oh, God, these games are so bad. Yeah. So like, we got to get the get it in now while it's, while it's good here. Interesting stat for us, the Charlotte Hornets, the season are eight and four straight up on the second night of a back to back. They have been absolute dynamite in these bad rest spots. Another like, there's a lot of good candidates for coach of the year. I think it's Jordan, because we all were like, the sons and now they're back in the playoffs. But I think Charles Lee's probably going to be higher on this list than we then we've talked about. Even though I think Missoula just points to win. But eight and four is a really good mark. This again, this is really interesting because Charles Lee is a former assistant from Boston. So you've got kind of all these really good matchups and you've got Caulkbrenner and Musa Diabate, who are really different kind of options for them defensively. The same way for an offensively, the same way that for Boston,

27:53Bouchavitch and Cata are very different in what they bring to the table. You're going to have a lot, you know, I think Miles Bridges has going to have to have a really big game as much as he should not be in the NBA. Like he's going to have to have a big game here because the power forward spot is one of the week's positions here for Boston. One thing people are really interested in. What does Jalen Brown look like and what is probably the last game before Jason Tatum returns? Great point. What is he trying to prove? He could be he could empty the clip in this one tonight to your point, right? Like the Charles Lee thing coming from the Boston Celtic staff. The Hornets are very much like baby brother Boston Celtics, right? Like both of these teams are built in a very similar way. They get up as 103's. They both crashed the boards Charlotte's weakness, which is a Boston strength. Charlotte turns the ball over a lot Boston does not. So that could be a swing factor in this game. I'm kind of looking for which team ends up scoring more in the paint because we know what they can do from three point range. Both of these teams are near the bottom and paint points per game. If one of them can get a clear edge there, maybe that's something that can swing this game in one of the others favor. But yeah, can the Hornets beat big brother?

28:54That to me is that a measure and so this measures the game for Charlotte is that what we're saying. A lot of well said. I mean, I think I can deal with that. I mean, Charles Hornets have been playing really solid basketball. I'm always excited to see Kinepple play basketball as well. I just, I just think that this game is going to go the way that we all expected to go. I think that they're going to make some mistakes down the down. The Hornets are going to make some mistakes down the shirts of the game that the Mizzoulins and the Celtics are going to take advantage of. They're going to end up coming away with the win. Are you less impressed with Charlotte than maybe we've talked about? No, I'm so I'm impressed with them per what my preseason expectations were for them. I didn't expect them to even be sniffing the playoffs in a chance that they have some really impressive players down there. And I love the way that they play together. It's just it. I just think that this is going to end in the way that it should. They're still ahead of schedule. But like I said, we'll talk about them earlier. If they can just make it a really competitive first round series, that's a big, big huge lead for them. But as we know with the Hornets, they've done it before. They've getting to the playoffs before that next step is usually where it starts falling apart for them. Is it some of this that you feel like they've just caught teams like nobody's taking them seriously?

29:58Because they've been so under the radar and everyone kind of had the book on them is not being serious. And when teams start taking them serious, it's going to be a little bit different. I think that yeah, that's especially at the start of the season. I do think teams are starting to realize like, no, you can't sleep on the Charlotte Hornets team. You have to play a full four quarters against them. And you know, this season is going to be with what this season is. There's not enough time left. But I think next season, when that adjustment happens, that's where we're going to see the Charlotte Hornets expose potentially a little bit. I'm going to make a prediction for Hornet Celtics. I think Jalen Brown tries to hit the game winner at the, I think it's a close game. Jalen Brown goes for the game winner at the end, misses and Brandon Miller hits the go ahead game winner at the other end and Charlotte comes away with the road one. This has been Miami Heat Fanfic brought to you by Lockdown NBA Daily. If you like what you heard today, subscribe to Lockdown NBA Daily wherever you get to get your podcasts, including on YouTube. Thank you to Matt and Hayes for their expertise every day. Thank you for making the Lockdown podcast network your first lesson. We'll see you right here tomorrow on Lockdown NBA Daily.