How Far Can the Charlotte Hornets Go?

0:00Coming up on Locked-on NBA Daily. One of the fans are dreaming big at the last night's win over the Celtics. We'll talk about the ceiling to the league's hottest team. Meanwhile, add Mike Brown to the list of people who have a problem with the Thunder. Does the league need to step in? And finally, we do a deep dive on a pair of overlooked playoff teams. Locked-on NBA Daily starts now. You are Locked-on NBA. You're 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 the Locked-on Podcast Network. Now, the number one sports podcast network. However, you're tuning in on YouTube. Run your podcast app. Thanks for making us your first list in every day. I'm Wes Goldberg, and today we're talking about just how far the Hornets can go in the Eastern Conference. We've got a game of make it take it coming up in the next segment. And then a deep-ish dive on the Raptors and Timberwolves. We're doing the help of Locked-on's local experts.

1:01I have two of the best with me, as always, from the Locked-on Nuggets Podcast. He's a senior NBA writer for the Action Network. It gets Matt Moore. There's a wood frog that you can literally freeze solid. And it survives. Like, you can freeze it solid. Up to 70% of their body can freeze. And that frog survives. Truly the most clutch animal you're going to find. From the Locked-on Bulls Podcast. He's a Bears and Bulls creator for Bleach Report. It's Hayes. I have no random animal facts because I am the animal here. How about that? The animal, the petty animal. Let's start with a team that has everybody in the league buzzing. The Hornets beat the Celtics last night in a blowout win over the in Boston. On the second night of it back-to-back, the Hornets have now won six games in a row. They're one of the hottest teams in the league. If not the hottest team in the league since December, we've talked about them here on the show as a sneaky playoff team. But last night's win has Hornets fans dreaming even bigger. Locked-on Hornets, I thought did a great job breaking down last night's win. I want to play for you a part of that episode right now.

2:01The Hornets, they beat the Celtics. 118 to 89. It's the Celtics' largest loss of the season. It marks Boston's second wire-to-wire loss of the season. It's the Celtics' third 20-point loss of the season. So the Hornets just beat the second best team in the Eastern Conference. A squad already having tallied 40 wins on the year. So what does it mean for Charlotte? They've won six straight. They've won 10 straight road games. Now the Hornets again having won six straight games. They won each of those games by 15 plus points. It's the longest streak by any team since the 2017-2018 Warriors. Hey, they were pretty good. I think people are going to look at the three-point shooting because it has carried this team all season long. And for the game, the Hornets shot nearly 39 percent. It's holding the Celtics to 28 percent. But the 10 or the 28 percent is honestly not even the most important number.

3:01It's that they held them to 36-3-point attempts. I wrote this over and over in my box in my every-horn spots score game notes. They did be impossible. How many times have teams been able to turn the Boston Celtics into a two-point shooting team? I don't know. But I would venture to say it does not happen very often. They were running guys off the three-point line. They were taking their confidence away. It was incredible with the Hornets were doing turning defense into offense. That's not how you blow the Celtics out in a regular season game. That's how you win a got-dern playoff series. I'll ask you the question. Are the Hornets just going to win the championship, Dr. Branson? Is that what we're watching this year in 2025-2026? Are we watching a championship contender? I already came into this game saying that there wasn't any need at this point in time to put a ceiling on what the Charlotte Hornets could accomplish. That is some big talk coming out of our friends over at Lock the Hornets. Shout out to Doug Branson. Matt, I'm going to ask you the crazy question.

4:04Can the Hornets make the NBA finals? Yes. Yes. I would have said no like five years ago. I would have been like no, I don't know circumstances can they do this. But we're in a different era now where we are seeing these teams make these runs. So the 2023 Lakers go from the play internment to the conference finals. The heat go from the play internment to the finals. We've seen the Mavers go from a five-seed to the finals. We're seeing deeper runs for teams outside the top three, which is historically those are the teams that win the title. So the Charlotte can't win the title, but we are in an era where I do think you could make a run. And it's teams not necessarily like Charlotte. They usually actually start later where it's like, oh, it was really since like February 1st. They played great for three months and then just kept going until it ran out of gas. This has been going on longer, which is kind of the interesting question here is, okay.

5:06If this is just who they are, the last 30 games is just like this is who they are. They're not running hot. This is just the level of team that they are. Then you kind of have to start assessing them differently because if they had simply been that team for the entire year. Now you're talking about a team that's probably in conversations with the nicks. They're probably hanging in there, like they're in competition with Cleveland. Like they are a team that we would be talking about from that perspective. The problem, the other problem I have though is just like, look, there's just no experience here. Lamella has been never been in a playoffs series, cons never been in a playoff series. And we just do not see these teams make a run from having never won a playoff game to making the finals. So I think probably like second round, third round. I'm not going to be shocked if they make the conference finals. Hey, I'm just not. Yeah, you can see that I mean, that's fine, but it would be shocking. They're not going to make the conference finals. This is a good basketball team. This is they're not that they're way too early on. They're too young to two in the experience in the playoffs. What they're doing in the regular season is great. And it's a great foundation to build on, but they're not going to go.

6:08They're not the Golden State Warriors and not going to go from, you know, being a team that's just young and scrappy to go into a conference finals right away. They're just not going to do it. It's good what they're doing now. Like I said, this great platform to build off of is gives them, is going to give them a lot of great data and things to build off on this all season to take that next step. But I still have questions if they're going to want to play off series. I'm still not going to, and I'm not ready to even count them to be able to do that quite yet. What they're doing here is great. They still got a lot more to show before I'd be willing to go that far. Yeah, but you're talking about like what they will do, right? We're talking about what they can do, right? It's all probability. What? No, see, like possibility and probability are different. Is it possible? Yes. Is it probable? No. I'm not ready to say it's probably. Yeah. I mean, I would say that if you're not favored, you're not probable to win. What, what team do you feel like they can't be in the playoff series? Any of the experience, so I don't think they can get past Boston. I don't think they can get past. I would even if they went with Cleveland, like experience doesn't matter in that. The New York mix. I wouldn't pick them to win over the mix, which if I'm going to get anyone,

7:10they can upset the next. If that's the case, if that's the thing, because I don't believe in them either. But I'm not giving them any, any team that's actually been on a playoff run before. I'm not giving the shark the horn just credit over them yet. I want to try to spin this a little bit positive here, because look, I do think that the big dreams, it's easy to just kind of come in and be like, look, this Hornets team is not going to make the final, so even the Eastern Conference finals. And you're probably right. They probably will not do that. But, you know, Walker mail brought up the Warriors in that, in that clip that I just played from locked on Hornets. And look, the Warriors didn't become the Warriors until they had some of those trials and tribulations in the playoffs. They had to go up against the San Antonio and lose. They had to get through those playoff moments and gain that experience to your point, Hayes. But we also watched that Warriors team go toe to toe with that Spurs team a couple of years before they won the championship in 2015 and say, wow. That's a really good basketball team. There's something special happening here. And I do wonder if maybe for the Hornets, we're looking at a potential series,

8:10whoever it's against, whether it's Boston and the playoffs or Detroit or whatever, the New York Knicks, whatever team. And I wonder, I do wonder if we're going to look at this team and say, wow. This team is as much of a fun story as they were in the regular season. Can they actually push a team and make us think differently about where this thing is going? Because I'm watching these games. That is a good basketball team to locked on Hornets this point. This is not just a team that is winning the three-point variance thing. This team defends like crazy. They box out well. They do, they turn the ball over too much, which is their big bugaboo. But they pretty much do everything else at a really high level. Charles Lee's got him playing really well, Matt. I mean, they, I think, defends like the devil, I think is a bit much. That ninth in defensive rating since the middle of December when all of this really started. But against Boston and they, they were on a string. Like they, they amped up their defense in that game. Yeah, I think, you know, some of this is. The consistency is the hard part, right? I think that's, that's one of the issues that you kind of run into there.

9:13They don't cause a lot of turnovers. And they don't allow that low of a shooting percentage. I do like their defense a lot in terms of they protect the paint really well. And that's a surprising thing about them where I'm like, how, how are you doing this? How is, how are you getting this done? Most of the about the one of the things that that probably both. Yeah, one of the things that probably modes both well for them in the playoff series. They've got a lot of line up versatility. Where you can be like, all right, we need to go small. All right, we're putting the most of the obate when you go bigger. All right, putting a call runner and the obate. All right, we're going to go, you know, all these type of things. But I will just, you know, kind of. Generally say the Miles Bridges minutes are really, really, really, really, really, really bad. They're really bad. They're really bad consistently. And that might wind up being something that becomes a bigger story in the playoffs. We're going to keep talking about the playoffs here on Lockdown NBA, including what's the easiest path through the Eastern Conference to make the finals for the Hornets or any other team. And could we see teams trying to game the standings? Make it take it is next. This special segment is brought to you by five hour energy.

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12:42After the game told reporters, quote, SGA, he's a tough cover. And he does a great job of convincing the referees probably better than anybody in the league that he's getting hit. And quote, guys, Mike Brown is the latest person to call out the way that the thunder are officiated. Does the NBA need to take a second? Look at this. Hayes, you won last week so you get the rock first. I mean, they're officiated like a NBA champion with an MVP on it is. Like, yeah, so they're going to get those calls. It's just going to happen. It ebbs and flows is something that we've seen throughout the game. Does the NBA need to do something about it by time they try to implement something that it may already shift, especially if they don't go as far, don't win the title again. They're going to get the benefit of the whistle. It is what it is. We can talk about Shane is grifting and all that type of stuff. But the reality is is that's going to be the thing. It's going to be how they're officiated. Let's not act like this started with them waiting the championship. They're complaining about that last year. I will say there's this is a more complex thing that people make it out to be where often times we're like,

13:45that's not a foul. And like if you understand the rules, yes, that's absolutely a foul. Like last night, the one that Shay got where he flailed in the air. Here's what happens. Towns turns sideways to him. If you turn, if you turn parallel to him with your shoulder, if your shoulder is next to Shay, he is going to reach up under that shoulder under your elbow and he is going to generate contact that way. You have to stay parallel and you got to show your hands. It's the only way to be able to do it. You may still want to get in call. I will say that I think there's a problem that so many people feel the same way about it. Right. Where it's like every one across the league. It's not just like nuggets fans or wolves fans or nicks fans. Like everyone's kind of like, man, this guy gets a crazy whistle. The problem is like there's no data to back it up. So the league's just going to be like, they're 15th and in free throw rate defensively. They're 15th right and in free throw rate offensively. There's no evidence that they're getting a beneficial whistle. What do you want? It's one guy in particular that gets a very specific type of whistle because of how he manipulates space. I don't think that there is a, the league needs to step in here.

14:46But I do think that it's a problem about how the league has allowed offensive players to manipulate the system and take advantage of it. We just have too much of that now and they've got to pull back on a little bit of that because nobody wants this type of basketball. People are going to complain about officiating all the time. It is what it is. Usually isn't going to win. Make a take it. But in this instance, it is I'm giving the points to Hayes here because look, we're going to, if you're the best team in the league, you're the best player in the league. We complained that we found reasons to complain about Steph Curry breaking the game where people did rather. And so I do kind of just think it is what it is. And I'm kind of, hey, it's just kind of get over it. Play your game. Moving on, the NBA updated its standings website to include the current playoff picture. And I was looking at it. And if you look at the east standings, the eighth seeds path includes the number one seed pistons and the number four seed Cavaliers. The seventh seeds path has the Celtics and the nicks in it. So Hayes, would you rather be the seventh seed in the east and face the Celtics and nicks?

15:47Or could we see teams try to game this thing, get the eighth seed and try to get the more inexperienced pistons and a Cavs team that's been up and down all season long. What do you think? I mean, it's definitely possible. It's not like it would be the first time that we that we've seen something like that. I said, especially when you look at, you know, a team like your Miami Heat, they end up sneaking in as the eighth seed or something like that. They were a land of magic. They may try to take advantage of that inexperienced scene. But I'll tell you what, because it can happen. Don't make that let you think that it's not going to bite you in the butt to do so. This is a Detroit business scene. Yeah, it's the first year being being this good. But they're so sound on both sides of the ball. Their point differential is so, so good in their placement on both sides of the ball. So I'm looking at insane. Like, yeah, I would, I could see a team trying to strategically do it. But I don't think it's going to be as successful as it if it was like, for example, like Charlotte Hornets has the number one seed. Like if there's that level of inexperienced. You'll absolutely not see any team do this because it involves the play internment. That's the difference here. Oh, that's a good point. That's a good point.

16:47You're not going to be able to, these teams are terrified of the play internment. Like I keep yelling like, hey, no seven seeds ever failed to miss it. Make it guys like you have two home games. You're probably going to win one that get the drop is usually huge from seven to nine. They're terrified of it. Teams are just really worried about that one game environment where a team goes crazy and gets it. So you're not going to see any team like risk getting into this eight seed position. I would say that like if I had to choose, I probably do want the pistons from a front running position where everything's going great for them this year. And their offense is really mediocre a lot of the time. Like Detroit's had an amazing year. The problem is whenever you have this kind of amazing year that's like such a feel good story. It usually leads to you being probably a little higher than where you probably need to be. And so I do think that the pistons are a vulnerable one seed. But no team's going to mess with the point. I do want to point out that everything you pointed out about the seventh seed applies to the eight C to like even the eight C gets two games. They get to get they're going to get two games shot to get it done. I won't necessarily count that I was not like they're dropping to the night C where they only get a one. But if you would opportunity. But if you tank one, you're taking one of those away.

17:50If you literally are trying to take one to not win in the plane. I think it's why I take one to for your playoff seating to drop leading into the plane. But we see teams. But we see teams game it and try to get eight to play the pistons and calves. That doesn't mean lose in the plane. That means get the eight seed with your standings before you go into the plane, Matt. Okay. Well, ironically enough, the team that we're just talking about the Hornets are in that nine 10 game. So any team that gets out of the nine 10 part of the play internment ends up just getting the eighth seed. So we could end up in a battle of field with stories in the first in the first round between the pistons and the Hornets. Points are not making my question sound stupid. The next final question here. Make it take it. The Hawks, the Atlanta Hawks, five games in a row that they've won after last night's win over the Milwaukee box. After riding off the Hawks, at least I have. Do we need to respect them more in the plane race in the Eastern Conference? They're currently 10th at 32 and 31 tied in record with the Charlotte Hornets and just a stone throw away from maybe even climbing up into that seven eight part of the bracket, Matt.

18:57You just won the last round back to you. I mean, are we talking play respect them as a play in team or respect them as an actual team? Because that's their plan race. Yeah, respect them. Where are they? They're teams that can make it out and make the posties. Yeah, the Hornets are this great story right now. Everyone's going to hold on to some belief in the magic. You know, if whether it's the Sixers of the Heat, there's going to be this conversation. But the like the reality is like, no, these teams are all flawed. They're all around 500. So they're all flawed. So if you're playing the best basketball at the right moment, like what if the Hornets tail off? The Hornets get an injury. What if whatever happens? The Hawks can absolutely sneak in. We see consistently teams that don't belong there. Be the ones or the team that we are most disappointed to see make it in are the ones that make it in. Now, personally, not excited for having to talk about Johnson, Kaminga and how he matches up with the pistons over the course of seven games. But it seems like that's our lot in life this year. But look, their defense has been absolutely tremendous the last couple of weeks. They're starting to figure out an identity. I'm still not necessarily convinced that Atlanta is going to get it together.

20:00I don't trust the Hawks, but they are as real as any other team in this group, no matter what it looks like at any given moment. Yeah, I'm saying I think they are real in the playing and you have to like when you have Jalen Johnson averaging an almost triple double like that. That's a player that in a play in turn, which is just making it into the playoffs. Like, yeah, can they win two games to get it done? Yeah, they can do it. It's a probable we'll see, but like you have Jalen Johnson there who's now leaving the team. Trey young is now completely gone. You even have your own ball score in Johnson, Kaminga if he keeps this up. And like you said, what karma would that be? We have to say about a whole playoff series of Johnson, Kaminga possibly cooking. But this team does have balance. That is part of the reason why they traded trade young. And so because of the way that the individual young pieces fit on this team and you have a guy like Jalen Johnson that I can. I may not count on them to be the best player in a seven game playoff series. But can you be the best game on best player in two nights against other teams that are around 500? Yeah, it's definitely possible. The Hornets, the Hawks rather have won five in a row. Like I said, but they'd be in Brooklyn, Washington, twice Portland and Milwaukee.

21:02All stinky, stinky, stinky teams. They do play Philadelphia on Saturday after a very long break. They played last night, Wednesday, and they don't play again until Saturday. So good for them. They'll have the rest advantage obviously in that game. And then Dallas, who's also tanking and then Brooklyn, who is still tanking and then Milwaukee again, who still stinks. So the schedule in other words has been really soft for Atlanta. But you got to be the teams in front of you. It is what it is points to Matt here. You're going to win. Take it because both of you guys said the same thing basically and those are the rules. And that's just how it goes. The Timberwolves and the Raptors play tonight. And we haven't spent much time talking about either one of them recently. We're going to fix that after this. Stay tuned. Today's episode of Locked on NBA is brought to you by TurboTax. It'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 got your situation. But this is your, this, but this year you're getting a major upgrade into a TurboTax.

22:02Now as in-person locations nationwide, you can meet face to face with a real tax expert and your documents get 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 the rest of your day. It's the relief of walking in and meeting a real person and walking out knowing that your taxes are being handled right. Head to TurboTax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment today. Thanks for making Locked on NBA Daily your first listen every day. The Locked on Podcast Network has a show for every team. Check out Locked on Hornets, Locked on Thunder, Locked on Nix. For more on today's top stories. I want to end the show today by talking about a game tonight between two teams that I feel like get overlooked a lot a bit when we talk about the playoff teams. The Raptors play the Timberwolves in Minnesota tonight. The Raptors of the fifth seed, the Timberwolves are the fourth seed in the west. Let's start with the Timberwolves guys. Weird season.

23:02But their ninth and offensive rating, ninth and defensive rating, made the move for Iodasunmu who we all liked at the trade deadline. Anthony Edwards playing at an MVP caliber level will probably end up on the final ballot in terms of the top five in MVP race. The question I guess Hayes is why aren't they better and why do we feel why does it feel like they've been a little overlooked in the western conference right now? I mean, isn't this where we are with them every year around this time? Like we always wondering why aren't they better than they turn it on. I'm not saying that they just get to get the benefit of the doubt that they're just going to turn it on this time again like they can because eventually you run out of luck in that. You don't turn it on and that ends up being the case. But you know, I think that this is just who the Minnesota Timberwolves are. They're just a team that they wake up at the right time. And can they do it again and sustain that for another playoff series? That's the question. But with them be going to two straight western conference finals. Maybe that's the right case. Maybe they don't burn themselves out and then they're able to take advantage of these other teams in these playoff series because they were able to pace themselves better.

24:06I've said that's a lot about them lately. By the way, Anthony Edwards downgraded a question mark tonight, injury maintenance. So that's a bummer. They don't have a floor. They just don't have one. They can lose to anybody on any given night. They could beat anybody on any given night. They win more than they lose, which is good. Because otherwise you would just be like a 500 dangerous team and those are the worst. But Minnesota has been pretty consistently just like okay. When it comes to how they manage their schedule. They get up for they get up for these really big games so they can beat anybody. They're ceiling is so high. But they don't have a floor. That to me is still Anthony Edwards problem. It's that I don't feel like aunt every single night is like I'm going to destroy you. And we're going to have a blowout in the fourth quarter. And I'm going to sit down and rest the last quarter. And you know, he'll say it's about how they're covering him and they're doubling him and all these types of things. Maybe that's it. Maybe they just need some sort of adjustment with how they're doing these types of things.

25:07Here's the stat that kind of explain it versus teams that are in the middle. Middle 10. So 11 through 20 in point differential. The mid teams. They are 10 and 10. They're excellent versus really bad teams. And they're great versus the really good teams. They are mid versus everybody in the middle. And until you learn that consistency where you don't lose the teams that you should not lose to. You're going to continue to have problems setting yourself up for the best possible run. You need a top two seats. You've got more home court advantage and series finish earlier. They don't put themselves in the best position to win. That's Minnesota's problem. It's a really good stat because I was looking up the similar stats on cleaning the glass. The second net rating against teams of the top 10 point differential to your point. Very great against those top teams. But if you're not handling business against the teams that are slightly worse than you. Right. Those mid teams to your point. That's kind of why you end up in the standings the way the number was ended up here. To me, I look at the defense. Ninth and defensive rating sounds good. But this was a team that had been consistently top three four five in defensive rating over the last couple of years.

26:10It just feels like they've lost that part of their identity, which was defend like hell. And that Anthony Edwards, you know, deliver in the fourth quarter. And they've lost a little bit of that there. Now can they get back to those high highs in terms of defense in the playoffs? I think probably right. And we've seen him turn it up defensively. McDonald's is what he is, which is awesome defensively. Go bear having another great year in terms of room protection. Like they can get there. But they haven't gotten there to both of your guys's point consistently all regular season. Let's talk about the Toronto Raptors. The other team that they're playing tonight. All the movement in the east. That we've been talking about in terms of the playoffs standings and the Raptors have just been a steady team. There's right there fifth place. Not a real danger of falling into the plane. They have to monitor it a little bit, but they're not in complete danger. They got to be conscious of it. But look, a solid playoff team alongside the four teams that we always talk about in front of them in terms of the pistons, Celtics, Knicks, and Cavs yet. We don't talk about them in that same conversation. I'm not necessarily arguing that we should, right?

27:10I think there's a clear gap between those teams in the Toronto Raptors. But why is it that we don't? What's stopping us specifically with this Toronto Raptors team in terms of talking about them and maybe making a run to any eastern conference finals, Hayes? I think that's just an awkward team like like it's it's weird because they're telling it. They're solid defensively. They win games, but this is a team where I still just not confident in the fit of their roster together now over the course of the seven game series. Maybe they actually works out to them. Maybe they can they can go a lot of adjustments on the flying throughout different looks. But there's something about the Raptors team that I just look at and I'm just like, I don't know their thing is yet. And usually if you talk about players that can go on like a conference finals run or something like that, like you have some type of idea. I still don't feel like the Raptors have an identity yet. And maybe that's maybe that's just my perspective. They are a little bit of an inverse of the wolves. I think so here's one of the things with them.

28:12With Brandon Ingram on the court, they are seven points worse defensively or under possessions. What you find and they have they're one of the worst teams in the league at spot up shooting. They have this problem where they're good defenders can't shoot and they're good shooters can't defend. They're overall profile is like, look, they're a good defensive team, but it's it's hyper concentrated in certain minutes, particularly Jamal shed. And they can score, but it's hyper concentrated in certain minutes. And that should be good because it should be like, oh, well, you can mix and match, but it doesn't work that way. Because when you put a mix of the good offense and good defensive players, you just kind of come out in the middle as mid, you're not necessarily excellent defensively. That to me is kind of like where we're at with this team. They're not explosive offensively. So you don't get that kind of sense of like, wow, they're really exciting. So they don't get any attention that way. And they don't have a lot of signature wins because they're just very, they are like the opposite of the wolves where I feel like they're very consistent in who they win and lose to.

29:16They are, yeah, they are six and 16 versus top 10 teams in point differential, 16th in point differential versus those squads. They are the opposite of the wolves. They can't be anyone serious, but they take care of business versus everybody else. And those teams just don't get as much attention. Really solid squad, good, great work by, we're talking about this year, but, you know, I don't have a lot of faith and then being able to put together what they need to in the playoff series. Yeah, like they're, they're floors really high and they're meeting that floor pretty much every single night where they don't have the ceiling like a Minnesota. It's a great point, Matt. I look at this team too. And I say for teams in the past that we've seen make runs from like the middle of the east to an eastern conference finals or an NBA finals, right? Like we think about the hawks squad would tray young from several years ago that made the eastern conference finals or the pastures last year, the heat in 2023. Those teams all had a player who could just erupt and just sort of transform into the best player on the court on any given night. And there's a lot of players that I like on this Raptors team, but you don't really picture them doing like you're not going to see Scotty Barnes necessarily erupt for 56 points in a game in the playoffs.

30:22Like you're not going to see that in part because the ball is going to be in guys like Brandon Ingram's hands and and and a manual quickly hands a lot also. They just don't really have that one guy that you feel like might be able to, you know, fuel a surprising run there. The way I feel about is like if you were to upgrade Ingram to one more level up, if they had Tyrese Maxi instead of Brandon Ingram, something like that. If they had and like those are like Tyrese has been like an in a fringe MVP candidate this season. That's how good he's been, but if he's been that level, even if you go to like a Jamal Murray, honestly, with how Jamal's played this year, those type of guys. And he just leveled up Ingram is the best player in terms of offensive of explosiveness. You would feel I think a lot better now. Maybe Ingram surprises us though. Maybe he has like a great playoff run. He's a veteran guy. Like maybe he just has a great playoff run and they're able to put together something to make a little bit of a run. Surprise would be the right word there, Matt. I think finally last thing. I don't know if you guys saw Shane as post game press conference last night. He was wearing something that looked like a snuggie mixed with a squirrel costume.

31:23For people on YouTube, you could see the picture here. Hey, is this the shade needs somebody in his life to step in with some of these outfits. No, I mean, that outfit is really indicative of how you can't be rough with a teddy bear. You can't play rough with them on the basketball quarter. That's going to be a foul. Let's end on that. You win. If you like what you heard today, subscribe to Lockdown NBA Daily, wherever you get your podcasts, including on YouTube. Thank you to Matt and Hayes for their expertise every day. Thanks for making Lockdown podcast network your first listen. We'll see you right back here tomorrow on Lockdown NBA Daily.