Tea Time with Mike Miller from Double Clutch UK

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Skylar and Brian chat with Mike Miller from Double Clutch UK about the first round of the NBA Playoffs. They talk about the Bucks and Lakers losing their first games, their favorite teams in the playoffs so far, who's hot or not, top fits (especially from the Rockets and Thunder), best Bubble moments, and more!

Full Transcript:

Brian Bosché:
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to High Tea Hoops. This is Brian Bosché at the duke of hoops and as always, I am joined by Skylar Smith, the duchess of hoops. Hi Skylar.

Skylar Smith:
Hi Brian.

Brian Bosché:
I paused there for you to get your little welcome in this time. I'm learning.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah. I know. I don't do that as often.

Brian Bosché:
I don't have to do it again. We'll get it. We'll, eventually get

Skylar Smith:
Yeah, we got to get better at these intros.

Brian Bosché:
I am so excited to bring on Mike Miller from Double Clutch UK as our special guest today during our Tea Time episode. Mike, what's up?

Mike Miller:
Hey. All good here. Thanks for having me on.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. So, to start off with just to give our audience a little bit of an idea of you and you're already on a podcast that covers the NBA in the UK. They probably know you, but give us a little background on yourself before we launch into our segments.

Mike Miller:
Oh wow, okay. I'm Mike Miller, not the other Mike Miller or the other Mike Miller. So yeah, sorry to... There's definitely one person who's tweeted you with a question who's going to be disappointed that you're talking to this Mike Miller. But yeah, I've been an NBA addict since I was about 10 or 11 and then in... I'm considerably older than that now and since 2015 I've been involved in Double Clutch. I just love the game, love talking about it, and now I'm too old to play much. Yeah, this is how I fill that void in my life.

Brian Bosché:
And we got some great Twitter questions. I'm just going to go rapid fire for a second. Stateside High School basketball career?

Mike Miller:
Yeah, that's inaccurate-

Brian Bosché:
Question mark.

Mike Miller:
Yeah, that's inaccurate. I lived in just outside of Portland in Salem for a year. I went to University for a year. And long and short I tried to walk on for the basketball team and was promptly carried off, so my basketball career did not go very well over in America.

Brian Bosché:
Another one. How is your son Reggie doing?

Mike Miller:
Yep. My son turned two, would've been on the 14th of August, no 19th. Well, days blurring together. So, he's been two for 19 days. And there was a Twitter poll as to what his name should be before he was born. And unsurprisingly all of the answers suggested were Reggie, and there was a four way tie or three way tie. It was 31% or something like that. It was some ridiculous amount and it tied up happened to be Reggie's number. But I couldn't call him Reggie, not only because I'm not the biggest Reggie Miller fan, but also because in honor of Reggie Miller, my brother named his yellow dog, Reggie. My son does have a suitable basketball name. He is JJ Miller after.

Brian Bosché:
Nice.

Mike Miller:
So, there's many things going on here. Obviously, there's the Miller connection with Reggie. His middle name is Jordan. So, I'm setting the bar high, and then J.J. with Reddick as well. So, if this guy doesn't turn into a pure shooter, then I failed as a parent.

Brian Bosché:
Completely failed. Last one, shoe-less three, that's from.

Mike Miller:
That's as a reference to the real Mike Miller. Shoe-less three from Miami.

Brian Bosché:
So, Murray is going to be disappointed.

Mike Miller:
Murray is going to be totally disappointed. But I have met the real Mike Miller, and the world did not implode when the two of us met. So, that's a good. In fact, he was playing for your Nuggets at the time. It was, I want to say 2017 when Denver played Indiana at the O2. We really got into the Colorado spirit because the snowfall on the O2 like it was part of the Rockies. And Denver just warped Indiana, absolutely destroyed them. I think they shot [crosstalk 00:03:36] from the field in the second half or something just obscene like that. But yeah, I met Mike Miller. He didn't want to talk to anyone. The only reason I got to talk to him was because I was like, "My name is Mike Miller." And he was like, "Really?" I said it really is. And we shared a moment and it was fantastic, and he's ignored me ever since.

Brian Bosché:
Nice. That's a good that's a good strategy to get an interview. You just say your name is theirs, and who knows if they'll believe it or not?

Mike Miller:
Yeah, I think I could probably get away with a few. George Muresan called me his son because apparently... No offense to George, but I kind of took that as an insult.

Brian Bosché:
All right. That's the end of our rapid fire Twitter questions. Thank you everyone for submitting. Sorry that this isn't the real Mike Miller. But I think this Mike Miller will do a better job with the pod so I wouldn't worry too much. First segment in our Tea Time show is takeaways from the first two days of the Playoffs. So, Skylar, I'm going to kick it to you first. What is one of your top takeaways from these first couple days of NBA Playoff action? Which I'm so excited is back.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah, so excited is back. Let me just up top say this is so much fun getting to watch just Playoff games literally all day long.

Brian Bosché:
All day.

Skylar Smith:
I feel like I'm watching March Madness in the best way. My first takeaway, my biggest takeaway from these first two days of games is that our top teams are looking rough-

Brian Bosché:
Bad.

Skylar Smith:
They're looking shaky. We saw the Bucks lose and the Lakers lose. It's tough. Should we talk about the Bucks first and the Magic?

Brian Bosché:
As predicted by the duchess in our Sunday Roast show where she was like, "Bucks are looking a little weird. Lakers looking a little weird. I'd be concerned." Yeah, let's start with the Bucks.

Skylar Smith:
I would like to take credit for correctly predicting that the Bucks were going to lose their heads, but I also would like to not ever be held accountable for my bad takes. So, just take all of this with a grain of salt.

Brian Bosché:
Mike how do people do that? Are we allowed to do that? Can we only take credit for the good ones?

Mike Miller:
Just never mention when you've got it wrong.

Skylar Smith:
I literally... I've been drinking about, there is a game, one of the games yesterday I started thinking about this take I had two weeks ago, and I was like, "I hope no one remembers that take," and I'm just-

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, you just bury it.

Skylar Smith:
... not going to say it. I'm not even going to tell Brian.

Mike Miller:
It's all recency bias, isn't it? Is you just promote and plug it when you get it right straight away and no one will remember the rest.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah.

Brian Bosché:
Yep. Good feedback. But let's start with the Bucks.

Skylar Smith:
The Bucks looked rough. It's weird the Bucks... It's interesting how the bubble is going to affect different teams. So we joked around about the Magic having home court advantage in the bubble. I don't think that's true at all, but-

Brian Bosché:
It has to be a part of it. They feel comfortable there.

Skylar Smith:
I honestly don't think it's part of it.

Brian Bosché:
That was going to be one of my jokes.

Skylar Smith:
Sorry, I stepped on it, Brian. This is for all my jokes that you've stepped on. But the Bucks, it's insane how much of a home court advantage the Bucks have when they're in Milwaukee. They just have an insane stadium, insane fans. The Magic won't have that, but I think the best thing for the Magic in this series is that they're not going to have to go play at Fiserv. They're not going to have to go play in the Bucks home. And so, I think a lot of these series, we're just going to see interesting games, I think, and I don't think all of these series are going to be as clear cut as we expected they would be if they weren't in the bubble.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. What do you think Mike? What did you see from the Bucks game?

Mike Miller:
I saw a team that has not taken the bubble seriously. They had the one seat locked up. They've not had to push, whereas the Magic to a degree have. I mean, the Wizards were a long way back, but the Magic have had to try in these games. They were supplanted by the Nets. But the Bucks have just been on easy street. For them it was just like preseason almost. And now they need to go from having just been relaxed and chilled out nothing at stake to, okay, we're in the Playoffs, and I think this is going to serve as a wake up call for them. I'm not worried for them because the Magic beat Toronto last year in the first game of the Playoffs. My reaction then is my same reaction as this one or is going to be for one then.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I think that's a pretty consistent thread with the top teams is they took a little easy. It was more like a ramp up, as opposed to this is the start of the Playoffs like a lot of the lower seeded teams took it. And they just didn't seem quite ready. And it didn't really seem like they were ready to go. Even [inaudible 00:08:18] have a bad game if he has 31 points and 25 rebounds and has done everything on the court. Maybe. But we saw this from the Lakers, which I want to transition to. The Lakers did a similar approach, Mike, where they had it locked up, and they rested, and they've had just trying out different players, and the Trail Blazers have treated every single game like a Playoff game, and are ready to go out of the gate. So what did you see from this Lakers game, Mike?

Mike Miller:
You're exactly right. The Blazers have been in Playoff mode for now 18 days or so. And the Lakers are only just realizing that it's time to stop playing. Obviously, LeBron had a fantastic game. I mean, to do what he's doing at his age is phenomenal irrespective of the fact it didn't even crack his top 100 games per game score or something crazy like that. It's nuts what he's doing, but they had a bad night. The role plays didn't step up, and I don't expect that to continue throughout the series. They will get it together. And again, as much as the Blazers are the worst opponent for the Lakers to face in this opening round I don't see how they can go the distance with them.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, Skylar, what did you see from that Lakers game that we were watching diligently last night?

Skylar Smith:
Well, I was very disappointed in Karl Kuzma's performance, first of all.

Brian Bosché:
It was Charles Barkley. He wilds out on that show. It's unbelievable.

Skylar Smith:
Charles Barkley was high as hell on that show last night. He was not sober. Yeah, I mean exactly like Mike said it was LeBron had a great night but LeBron at his age I don't know that can carry a team past a team like the Blazers. He's not going to be able to do it on his own. And so, if they're going to want to beat this team and win this series, the role players have got to step up.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, it was really interesting watching this. Obviously, the Blazers went out to a really fast lead. I think they had what 30 something in the first quarter. And then it really slowed down as you saw the Lakers get into a little bit more of a flow. The Lakers took the lead. But then I think the Blazers because they're in this Playoff mode, they went into that killer instinct that they've had to do every single game because every game has been close. And they put their foot on the gas and closed out the game, and the Lakers fell apart.

Brian Bosché:
I don't know what the Lakers didn't really foul, they tried to extend the game. They kind of just... I don't know, it just felt like they just gave up at the end, which was really weird to see. And for the Trail Blazers, and like Damian Lillard hitting those logo shots every game, Melo hitting those shots, CJ, like they've been doing this every single game. And the Lakers really haven't been tested like that. It seemed like they fell apart a little bit. But it didn't seem like the Trail Blazers played that well either. They were all missing a bunch of shots. So, Mike, you think this is going six, five? You think the Lakers are just going to be like, "All right, we're going to snap out of it and go for it."

Mike Miller:
I don't know if they can snap out of it. I had it going six. I just think that this is LeBron. We know what LeBron was like. This could be him... You remember how he liked to subtweet. This could be him in action, that the physical embodiment of subtweeting of like, "You guys need to step up now." We're not going to try and win this game. We're not going to go all out with the fouling, extending the game trying to get back into it. We'll let it lose because you guys need to have a wake up call here. If I start bailing you out again it's going to limit this later on in the series, and perhaps even in the later rounds. The Blazers, if people treat them as an [inaudible 00:11:55], they're not they're not an [inaudible 00:11:57]. Even last year Western Conference final without Nurkic. And they're much better than what they appear to be in terms of rankings, but they're just not on the same level.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Skylar, any Kuzma takes before I move on?

Skylar Smith:
No. I think I'm going to be calling him Carl from now on just so that everyone knows. No, but I do think this isn't something we've talked about as much on this podcast and Brian brought it up in his post game media scrum last night. It is different for them too without fans there. We talked a lot about what it's like for us as viewers watching these games without fans. And I think we haven't really talked a ton about how it's different for them as players. Like Brian was saying, it's not as easy for them to just snap into Playoff game mode or even just normal game mode when there's not fans there to help them get hyped up and get in their heads. Obviously, all guys have different motivations and stuff, but I think it's going to be tough especially just because the Lakers, it's not easy to just snap into Playoff mode if you've just been doing whatever in those first eight games, and it's going to be even harder in this situation. So, yeah, they've got to figure it out fast.

Brian Bosché:
I'll just say with Kuzma he has one moment a quarter, and then he just flexes on everyone and gets all swaggy. I'm like, "Come on, dude, you can't score 14 points and do that every single time you score." Just step up a little bit. And then Hassan Whiteside just blocked every shot, unbelievable. Yeah, it's amazing. All right-

Skylar Smith:
He set up that logo Lillard shot.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Hassan Whiteside, I don't think is very good, but he was huge in that game, and who knows blocking A.D. and Dwight, it was amazing.

Mike Miller:
It's a matchup that works well for traditional lineups where the bigs actually seem relevant again. The minute they go against the team, which has got smaller lineups none of those big men are going to be able to do what they did yesterday. So, yeah, it's a time for him to shine, but we know what Whiteside is like. He'll be fantastic one game and then just not even be on the court.

Brian Bosché:
Yep. He'll do like 4000 for the first three minutes and not be able to play. All right, let's move on to our next one. Mike, what is one of your biggest takeaways?

Mike Miller:
Kind of echoing the same thing. It's that to do with home court advantage is that the bubble is like a Thunderdome. You do not know what's going to... You can not predict it. This is ridiculous. The whole thing, you think you can... In the normal season you can make educated guesses which at least stand a chance of being able to re-plug it because you got it right, but here it's just you can make something that seems set in stone and it's just gone.

Brian Bosché:
Yep. So, on that let's overreact a little bit or under react or whatever reaction you want. Who do you like so far? Who's really stood out if we're going to take this one game as an example and extend it out?

Mike Miller:
Houston, which actually makes me feel a bit.

Brian Bosché:
Nice. No.

Mike Miller:
They put 123 points on OKC without Westbrook, without significant contributions from Robert Covington. And the next man up was Jeff Green. What? That's mad. I thought this series was going to go six or seven games. If this sort of trend continues that's just that... Yeah, wow.

Skylar Smith:
I mean, to be fair, OKC looked awful.

Mike Miller:
True.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Shai had nine points or something where he was supposed to be one of the key role players and he did not step up. Jeff Green dunking off two feet from almost the free throw line. And you're like, "What's going on?" I love these Jeff Green games, by the way, just like on and off. I love when we get an on Jeff Green game, and we just get to go on twitter at Jeff Green's history again. Skylar, who are some of your favorite teams that you've seen so far?

Skylar Smith:
Yeah, I agree with Mike. I was big on the Rockets coming into those Playoffs. I thought they looked great in that first game. I was super into it. I'm not even going to really touch on the Raptors. So, I picked to win just because it was a blowout.

Brian Bosché:
And it's the Nets.

Skylar Smith:
And it's the Nets. We love Caris LeVert, but sorry, the Nets are going in four. I was really impressed with where we talked about the Blazers a bit. I thought they looked great, especially in that first half. I loved the Heat. I thought that Heat Pacers game, I wanted it to be a little bit more competitive. I wanted there to be a little bit more like... It just didn't seem like any of them were super, super into it yet, but I thought the heat looked great. I thought Jimmy Butler was doing a really great job leading that team, which Jimmy Butler we can see him go either way, but it seems like he's found a team here that he really fits on and that he really likes the guys and he really cares about the team. And so, now he's doing everything he can to lead this team and that's my favorite Jimmy Butler to see.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, they just fit. They have good coaching. Everything is pieced together. Your guy Duncan Robinson, Skylar, is doing more than just shooting, which when you shoot 50% you don't have to do much more. But he is actually kind of a... They call plays for him and he can do things off the dribble and pass.

Skylar Smith:
Well, him just being on the court has such a big impact on the offense, and on the other team's defense. They have to close out on him every single time he has the ball or he's going to be just draining it in their face. So, it affects the court in so many other ways than just him coming out and hitting a bunch of insane threes. I also saw an insane stat that his percentage of made threes is 44% or something 44.7 and then his percentage when they're contested is 44.9, it's higher, which I love Duncan Robinson-

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, Mike-

Skylar Smith:
... it's insane how good his shot his.

Brian Bosché:
Skylar went to uni with Duncan. So, we've been watching him blossom and grow. They went to Michigan together. So it's been fun to see them.

Mike Miller:
How many... Sorry, sidebar how many NBA players did you go to college with? Because you went Mo Wagner as well?

Skylar Smith:
Yeah. Quite a lot.

Brian Bosché:
Michigan's just powerhouse.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah.

Brian Bosché:
Trey Burke, or were you a little too young for that?

Skylar Smith:
Yeah, I was a little too young for Trey Burke. Caris LeVert, D.J. Wilson. I'm forgetting a bunch at this point, Mo Wagner. Tim Hardaway Jr.

Brian Bosché:
Glen Robinson III.

Skylar Smith:
There's a bunch of good guys in the league right now from Michigan.

Brian Bosché:
I went to Dart with Mike, so we do not produce NBA players.

Skylar Smith:
No.

Brian Bosché:
It does not happen. You get a good education, no basketball players. Next one I want to go into is Gordon Hayward is out for at least four weeks. He sprained his ankle. It looked pretty bad. And he has a history of this, obviously, when he snapped his leg and in half in that first game with the Celtics. So, Mike, it's hard to... I sprained my ankles all the time, too. So it's just, it's too much. But Mike, how do you think this is going to affect this series and the Celtics' chances moving forward because I was really looking forward to the 76ers Celtics series and then a Celtics run.

Mike Miller:
Obviously, it's a huge loss. I mean, he's one of their most effective scorers. He does a lot of things to keep the offense going. He's great at passing. He's just great at everything. He allows them to be a lot more switchable on defense. But I think this is a good thing because he was always going to be missing time. His wife is due to give birth next month. So, at some point, they would need to play without Gordon Hayward. Isn't it good now to get it against a weakened Philadelphia team in an earlier round so you can adjust and get people playing in roles that they're not necessarily accustomed to? To do that now rather than have to do it in a second round probably against someone like Toronto.

Brian Bosché:
That's a good point. I forgot about his wife being due, and that he was going to have to leave like Conley's left for the Jazz. How long is that quarantine period?

Mike Miller:
Four days.

Brian Bosché:
Four days once they get back.

Mike Miller:
Whist they are away they have to be tested every day. So, I think Conley arrived back Monday night, so he should be ready to go for game three, yeah, I want to say.

Brian Bosché:
Got it. So, it wouldn't have been too long, but that's still a week you're basically out.

Mike Miller:
It's three games in the series, isn't it?

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. So yeah, it just seems like the replacement wings just can't fill up. You're right. The Celtics or the 76th errs don't have Ben Simmons. Embiid's just freaking out every... It just didn't look like he's there mentally. So yeah, maybe it's if they can solidify a rotation without Hayward that might help them in the long term. What do you think, Skylar?

Skylar Smith:
I'm just scared-

Brian Bosché:
Do you even care about the Celtics? We've roasted them so many times.

Skylar Smith:
I have roasted them a lot. I'm just scared of what the rest of this series against the Sixers is going to look like as the Celtics try to figure it out. That game, when was that, Monday? I was like, this is... It just looked so messy. Both teams looked super messy. Eventually Jayson Tatum ended up stepping up and taking over the game, but I was like, just neither of these teams look in it. Joel Embiid was throwing himself all over the floor, which is... I love Joel Embiid, but if I'm a Sixers fan and he's consistently getting hurt, just had an injury two weeks ago. Do you want Joel Embiid throwing himself all over the floor for these loose balls when it's the second quarter? I don't know. I just thought it was a super messy game. And so, I feel like this is going to be such a weird series for the rest of the series.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. All right, last one for me. This is mine. I fucking hate all the fouls that they're calling. The technical files, there was one possession with the Trail Blazers Lakers last night where there was four consecutive fouls with Nurkic and Dwight just hitting each other's arms off of each other and getting fouls, the double Tex. It's just like, let them play, and then other times they just don't call anything, and all the players are looking around like what's going on? It seems very inconsistent, the Porzingis ejection, which hilarious Boban moment when he was pointing at him and telling him to go to his room in the exit way. But Mike, I'd love your take on what do you think about the refs and the fouls? Do you think that having no crowd noise is affecting it so they're calling more. I don't remember them calling this many fouls, especially technical fouls in other Playoff series.

Mike Miller:
It definitely is. I think there's already been commentary about it. I'm trying to think who it was but someone suggested that maybe the refs needed some kind of emotional support because they could now hear the players cussing them out. And so, maybe there need to be a ref helpline, which seems like a genius idea. It's frustrating because one of the things that is the complaint of people of a certain age was the game was better in my day. It was more physical blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I get that there are a number of reasons why it's evolved differently. But this is exactly one of the reasons why the league is soft now, and the rivalries are gone. It's because you get two guys next to each other on the free throw line yesterday, Dwight Howard and he just held his hand, which again is a foul, but come on. Why? Come on.

Brian Bosché:
Why? No one wants to watch that.

Mike Miller:
It's not necessary. And even Kristaps. How can you expect a guy to not... He wasn't aggressive towards them in terms of the first tech. He just sort of went arm through the air in frustration. You want your players to be engaged and motivated and frustrated by things that don't go their way. You don't want them to be reprimanded for it. I get that we don't want them to necessarily fight on the court. But let them have some emotion.

Brian Bosché:
And I think the players have to bring up the emotion because what's everyone said, there's no fans, so there's no one to bring them up externally so they got to fire themselves up personally on the court with their team, and they're not able to do anything. Skylar, we've talked about this before, but I'm sure you hate this.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah, I'm just frustrated by how inconsistent it is too. I think the fouls in general. The technicals are... I mean, it's insane, and I think there is a lot to be said of just the refs are hearing a lot all the sudden, but the inconsistency in the foul calling has been driving me crazy. That little segment in that Lakers Blazers game where it was just foul after foul after foul. It's not fun to watch. It completely slows both teams rhythms.

Skylar Smith:
It almost felt like the refs were trying to take over the game, which is the worst thing you want to happen in a Lakers game because you know all the Lakers fans are going to latch on to that and just never shut up about it. But then we saw that shot with Harden where Harden took a three and took a knee to his knee and went down and was kind of hurt, and that didn't get called. And so, I'm just so confused what's happening with the refs and why everything is so inconsistent. I get why more stuff is getting called. I just don't really get the inconsistency. I guess they're trying to swing back. They're realizing they're calling a lot then they're trying to swing the pendulum back. I don't know. It's really frustrating.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I totally agree. But let's move on to our next segment. This is who's hot or not. So, Skylar, I'm going to start with you. Who is hot in the NBA Playoffs right now? What do you got? You got one.

Skylar Smith:
Okay, let's start with your Nuggies. I really liked-

Brian Bosché:
My Nuggets are hot?

Skylar Smith:
... the Nuggets, Jazz. Yeah, I thought that Nuggets, Jazz game was really fun. No, obviously the Nuggets aren't hot, but I think it was a really fun game. Just both of them battling back and forth. I thought it was actually one of the most interesting games we got in those first two days was the Nuggets and Jazz battling back and forth in that game. And that wasn't a series that I was expecting to be great, but I was really into it. [crosstalk 00:25:58].

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Overtime, Mike, you guys were recording your pod through the overtime, which is impressive.

Mike Miller:
That was.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. I don't know how you were able to do that. I would have been super distracted. But yeah, the Nuggets stepped up. Even though Mike Conley's out I didn't think... I don't think they should have had to go to overtime. I think the Nuggets can handle the Jazz without Conley and without Bogdanovich. But Donovan Mitchell putting up 57 points and just taking over on his driving and attacking and with his outside shooting. It was impressive to see us close that one out. What do you think, Mike?

Mike Miller:
I was surprised it was as close as it was. I think it was early in the first quarter Nuggets were up by about, it felt like 15 or 20. But Jazz second unit were in and I thought, "Well, here we go. This is just the Jazz's lack of depth." Conley is out of. Bogdanovich is out. They struggled offensively last year. This is where they're going to get blown apart by this deep beyond belief Nuggets team. And then somehow I was getting ready for the show. We were doing some bits online trying to get things ready, and the score is getting closer and closer, and it's like, okay, what's going on here? Then we start the show and it was one point game, and we were like, "Why are we doing this now?" I've got one eye... Where I'm sat now in front of me is a big TV, which I have the live games on. And I was just like, trying to hold the conversation carry on talking. And this was going on. I kept trying to give updates and obviously I've got it on mute so I can't work out that Donovan Mitchell scored that many points, things like that. It was just bad. I agree that they are hot. I thought they would have disposed of the Jazz without the need of overtime, and Jamal Murray frustrates me.

Brian Bosché:
He even had a good game though, he kind of... He's always frustrated me as a Nuggets fan, but he stepped up a little bit in this game. Give me a little glimmer of hope here.

Mike Miller:
Yeah, he's a fantastic player. What frustrates me is when he gets crazy on elbow jump shots. He'll work his way into to the elbow. And then he'll do some kind of reverse spin fade away or pump fake step under try and jump, and it's just, it's like it's not an efficient shot, and it just feels weird. Someone like a master of that sort of shot like Kobe maybe. But Jamal was not on that level yet. And it just feels to me like a waste of possession sometimes, but he is a phenomenal talent. And they are a phenomenal team that have managed to battle so far with a number of absences. But I think they could easily destroy this Jazz team in the next couple of games because Donovan Mitchell, if he can put up that kind of display consistently, then wow, he is an excellent player beyond what I already think of him, which is already pretty freaking good.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. The fact that he can do that though and they still lose is definitely concerning, but we'll see with Conley coming back. But yeah, I've said this on Twitter, but I think it's good to see this Nuggets team doing well, but I think they're still a couple years away especially with Michael Porter Jr. Developing. I think they're going to be really good next year or the year after and I'm excited to see them develop. I just don't know if it's their year, especially since they have the Clippers coming up if the Clippers can get by the Mavs.

Brian Bosché:
The other note was we had a great... I'm going to say this for bubble, but you get to see players right after the game. It's hilarious. All right, next one. Who do you think is hot, Mike? Who's hot in the NBA Playoffs right now?

Mike Miller:
Despite the L, Luka and the Mavericks.

Brian Bosché:
All right.

Mike Miller:
Despite the L, it took... There's a great video that went round. I'm sure you saw it of Luka dapping up the refs after the game and it was various showing respect to the team that beat him essentially, which I thought was a fantastic tweet. This Mavericks team weren't supposed to be this good this year. Luka wasn't supposed to make the leap he's made. Most points in a Playoff debut. And the best bit was the opening few minutes, the Clippers were all over him in the opening few minutes and the commentators even said, Doc is sending a message here that this is another game that he's not quite ready for. He went off with his ankle injury, came back, and just smashed them. Absolutely destroyed them. He's just too good.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I was impressed they fought back because the Clippers had a really... It was 18 to four. It was something crazy really early on. And then they fought back and I was expecting them to collapse a little bit, especially after Porzingis went out, but Doncic carries them, and it's really impressive to see that. Skylar, did you watch a lot of this game? What do you think of this kind of Doncic performance?

Skylar Smith:
Yeah, I saw bits of this game. I mean, Lucas... It's Luka. Luka is incredible. I did really appreciate that commentary about the Clippers wanting to send a message to Luka and tell him, oh, he's still kind of not a rookie, but he's still a young guy and he's going to be able to pull up all the stuff he does on other people on us. So then, the way Luka was just able to surge back I thought was really funny and really cool. This team I thought it looked a lot like that Lakers team we saw most just because with Porzingis out early, it literally just looked like Luka trying to crawl his way back with this team when no one else is really producing anything, and 42 points is impressive. I think it's partly because he didn't really have anyone else producing, but yeah, Luka is incredible. I don't know that he's going to be able to get this Dallas team to win on their own. Kristaps got to figure out a way to stay in games.

Brian Bosché:
Well, I have the Clippers to win it all. So I think the Clippers are going to handle. The fact that the Mavs fought back and the Clippers were like, all right, we'll just adjust and take you down this way. They're going to be so tough.

Skylar Smith:
Just killers.

Brian Bosché:
I have honorable mention for hot, Fred VanVleet put up 30. It's on the Nets, but who would have thought? Before he had a son last year no one would have said VanVleet's a key role player putting up 30 in the Playoffs. So, no commentary there needed. Mike, who is not hot in the Playoffs right now?

Mike Miller:
It's an easy cop out, but it would be the Nets.

Brian Bosché:
You're right. They were kind of hot in the restart to get blown out. You're right.

Mike Miller:
I just don't think they're really the right kind of caliber team at this point to be where they are. It just... I don't know that... Yeah, I think they kind of locked themselves into seventh, and they're playing above their relative standing at the minute, but that's a that's a cop out answer.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Well, it's frustrating see the Blazers and their quality versus the Lakers in their first round and then see the Nets Raptors where you're like, "Really? This is a first round matchup?" Anything to add on the Nets, Skylar? We've talked about them.

Skylar Smith:
We've talked a lot about the Nets.

Brian Bosché:
All right. Who's-

Skylar Smith:
I mean, they shouldn't be there. Yeah, I don't know. They've got a team of nobodies. It's going to be tough for them.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, who do you got is not hot, Skylar, in the Playoffs.

Skylar Smith:
I thought the Sixers looks like shit. I already talked about this a little bit. This was literally what I wrote in our notes is Sixers looked like shit. Yeah, I already talked about this a little bit with Jojo. They just can't get it together, and I don't understand what's happening there honestly. Honestly, could someone explain because I truly do not understand what... Why can't they just not get it together? It's just Sixers are going to be Sixers at literally every turn.

Brian Bosché:
There's an interesting theory-

Skylar Smith:
It's so frustrating.

Brian Bosché:
... that they built a culture of losing. But it was a different-

Skylar Smith:
And it's so deep-

Brian Bosché:
And it's so deep-

Skylar Smith:
... that they can't get out of it now?

Brian Bosché:
But that's just, I don't know, it's different players. It should be a team that's performing but I just I don't know. I don't know if having Embiid is... Look at Dame in that killer instinct or LeBron, and all these guys that step up and lead these teams versus an Embiid attitude. I don't know if it's going to break through.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah, I don't know, he's just... I don't think he's the person to lead your team. I don't know. I thought they look terrible.

Mike Miller:
I think that's the key. It's leadership qualities. You mentioned Dame. You mentioned LeBron. Look at the way they lead. Look at the way Embiid leads. It's leadership, and it kind of, if you look at how they were last season, albeit the best player was probably still Embiid, Butler was the leader. Butler was the guy who would bring them up and I don't see that kind of personality from Embiid. I don't see it from Simmons either necessarily. I think he seems to me to be too, just not outgoing enough. And that's where I think they're going to have an issue similar to, well, probably with not as much success as the Raptors have sort of yester year where you had DeRozan and Lowry who were albeit, they had a much better relationship than Simmons and Embiid. They couldn't decide between the two of them who was going to step up and be that cutthroat leader. It took Kawhi coming in to just go robot style. This is how we're doing it.

Brian Bosché:
I am the Terminator.

Mike Miller:
Yeah, exactly. I'm here. I'm leading it. Follow me and do as I do, and they haven't got that guy.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, it's going to be tough for them.

Skylar Smith:
It's actually exactly what we saw out of Jimmy in that Heat team is exactly what the Sixers were missing in that game against the Celtics.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah.

Skylar Smith:
Jimmy Butler is the answer to everything is the conclusion to this.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, to Skylar, audience of one. It's always the answer. Who's the coolest player? Jimmy Butler. Best fit, it's Jimmy Butler. Best coffee shop, Jimmy Butler. I just have one. Shai, I've talked about a little bit. If OKC is going to be competitive and give us a good series to watch as fans, Shai has got to step up. This is his time to show that he is a key player for OKC, and nine points isn't going to cut it. So, that was mine. We've talked about it a little bit before. And then we had some... Like the announcers, Chris Webber, it was not a good announcing team. I thought [crosstalk 00:36:06]-

Skylar Smith:
I saw someone-

Brian Bosché:
... technical difficulties while announcing it. What was going on?

Skylar Smith:
I saw someone say that he talks like it's the predictive text on your phone, which is so true. It's like he starts a sentence and he's just like, "All right, let's see what comes next," which I also sometimes do on this podcast, so I appreciate it.

Brian Bosché:
I just don't know. Sometimes it felt like someone from off mic would be yelling in. Like a producer didn't have a mic, but he was just going back a lot, and not coming back and just I'm like, "What's happening in that booth right now?" And he was clearly cheering... It's just like, "I don't know what's going on there."

Skylar Smith:
Maybe he's just a bad announcer. Everyone's always looking for answers about Chris Webber. He's just bad at this.

Brian Bosché:
And J.J. roasted him. Did you see that Mike?

Mike Miller:
Yeah. The poll, how soon before you're allowed to mute it?

Brian Bosché:
Yes.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah.

Mike Miller:
Yeah. I mean, I still prefer him because it's comedic value [inaudible 00:37:04]. I hate to do this to your Nuggets, but I'm pretty sure it's the Nuggets on the first few games in the scrimmages where they had the Zoom chat going on at the same time. And they seemed to be stuck on the same subject for what felt like two hours. And for anyone listening, I know that the subject is a game of basketball, but it was one specific topic within it. I can't remember what it was. But eventually it was on the third quarter, and I was just sitting there with my head in my hands, why am I watching this commentary? And then I suddenly went, "I've got league pass. I can just flip it to the other team." And then I was like, "Finally."

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I don't think we're very known and in the industry for a great media team covering the Nuggets, but that's all right, we can improve.

Skylar Smith:
It's been wild though, like the swings between the commentating. Like Stan Van is so good at it. Doris is so good at it, and then we Listen to Chris Webber. It's insane to go from one of the people who's doing it so well to then a game where it's fucking Chris Webber, and I'm not going to shit on anyone else but it's tough. It's weird, the swings.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, another Michigan tie. All right, before we get into that. Let's go into our new segment. Stupid things people are arguing about on the internet. So, Skylar, I'm going to let you launch into this one. Do you want to set it up? Do you want me to set it up?

Skylar Smith:
Great. I'll set it up.

Brian Bosché:
Do it.

Skylar Smith:
I saw a bunch of people arguing on the internet this week about the NBA ratings and if they're down and why they're down. There was an essay that came out that said that ratings were down because of the kneeling and the social justice stuff. I think that's fucking stupid. But I don't know. I think there's a lot of stuff that goes into this argument. I think that a lot of times this argument gets really oversimplified. Honestly, ratings have not dropped that much since like, I don't know, the '80s-

Brian Bosché:
Normal seasons, or just post…

Skylar Smith:
... it's very sensationalized. But also people are cord cutting and like people my age, a lot of the times just don't have time to watch all these games. So we're catching up on social media. And there's so much that goes into this argument. And I feel like it gets really oversimplified. And people use this data for just these really bad faith arguments that they know that people will latch on to because they're racist or whatever. But I want to remind people that basketball is fun, and basketball is supposed to be fun. And every once in a while these stupid ass things come up on the internet where everyone starts arguing about it. And I want to just remind everyone, you don't have to engage on this if you don't want to. You don't have to talk about this. If you don't want to. I personally don't care about the NBA ratings. It literally doesn't affect the game in any way. And so, I just want to remind people, you don't have to do this and you don't have to engage with trolls.

Brian Bosché:
Unfortunately, Trump has made it political, where it's like, they're kneeling, and they're talking about this. So, that's why the ratings are going down. And we have a president that's saying that and then they're comparing it to Tucker Carlson, these awful shows. Oh, they're not performing as well. It's becoming competitive and political, which is ridiculous because you're right. There's so many factors that go into it. I mean, the games are 10:30am now. We're in a global pandemic, we're in the middle of... Give people a break, and people are consuming the NBA in a lot of different ways. And I think for the UK, Mike, these are the best Playoff times you could ask for in the UK. You could actually watch them at a reasonable hour.

Mike Miller:
You would think so. But from my personal experience, it's a lot harder because at the top of the show, I mentioned I've got a son. He goes to bed around that time. Previously, I would be getting... So, my commute into London was two hours there, two hours back. So, I would be up at 5:00 AM, and I would flip on the third quarter of probably a Blazers game, and that sort of thing. I'd watch that through until the time I got on the train. And in the meantime, I'm downloading something from League Pass as well.

Mike Miller:
So that two hours in I'm watching something, and I've got my lunch break, which I definitely take now because I'm watching basketball. I'm not working through it if it means watching basketball, and then I've got two hours back again. So, I'm consuming six hours just like that without missing out on family time. But now 6:30 I have to wait till I've got... If I put it on, he wants to watch some kids TV show and he's just like, "Daddy, Daddy, Mr. Tumble," or whatever, which probably means nothing to you guys because I doubt Mr. Tumble's made it out that far. [crosstalk 00:41:44]. But I've found it more difficult. When he's gone to bed then I can go, but I've found it more difficult.

Brian Bosché:
Wow.

Mike Miller:
But said, I think the whole ratings argument is bullshit. Absolute bullshit. And I realize it's very difficult for a white English man say anything authentic about kneeling and the impact it has on your country because it's not my experience. And, again, what can I say that hasn't already been said? But it's absolute bullshit. Because the ratings dropped the minute Jordan retired. They've always sort of teetered around the same as Skylar was saying. You're right, cord cutters is being consumed in different ways. You've got League Pass now so you can get past... These are TV ratings. They don't look at how much is being consumed digitally. You can watch segments of games. You don't have to watch the whole thing. They were trying something last year where you could watch the last quarter.

Mike Miller:
And then what it also doesn't factor in is that these are just American TV ratings. The NBA is now a global sport. I hate to try and rip it away from you because we know it's not as big here in the UK. But there are people all over the world. The amount of Australians and people like that I interact with daily who are just diehard NBA fans. You go back 15, 20 years is probably not the same situation. When I first started watching this game, I had to wait for a Saturday morning magazine show. I'd have to sneak my TV on late at night when the parents had gone to bed. I used to go to my grandma's because she had cable and stick the VHS in, make sure it was set to long play and try and catch a whole game that way. It was mad. We would... Did you guys have Pontel videos? I doubt it out there.

Brian Bosché:
No.

Mike Miller:
Pontel was... I'm sorry I'm going off on a tangent. Pontel was a German... They're still going. There were a German company that for an extortionate 15 pounds or what about $20 they will sell you a single game.

Skylar Smith:
Oh, my God.

Mike Miller:
And so, these were traded. You'd be like, "What game have you got?" Swapsies and all that kind of stuff. I don't have a game. Oh, come on now. I'll lend it to you. And then you'd never give it back. But the way it's consumed now is so different. TV hates... This is probably a bit extreme, but it's a dying medium. Everything is going online and you can watch. Yeah, sorry, I've just gone on a really random tangent.

Brian Bosché:
I agree, though. I think it's bullshit, and I can consume games in a really fun way with second screen experiences. If I just follow the NBA through Twitter. I'm going to get game highlights, commentary. I'm going to get everything, and I think that's how a lot of people are going.

Mike Miller:
My final point is the NBA is stressed throughout this restart of the Black Lives Matter. If you're not watching because you don't agree with that I don't think they give a shit if…

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, no way. Don't be a fan. It's ridiculous. Yeah, this is a good one. You don't have to argue about this stuff. You can just enjoy the games. So that's our point.

Skylar Smith:
People make bad faith arguments on it. Just don't engage with them.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, you don't have to. Okay, we are going to our next category, which is Skylar's favorite, and I always hijack it for something that doesn't fit in this category. I'm so sorry, Skylar. I'm doing it again.

Skylar Smith:
It's fine.

Brian Bosché:
This is our top fits. You want to launch us into this one?

Skylar Smith:
I mean, you're taking it over-

Brian Bosché:
No, no-

Skylar Smith:
Do you want to do your first... Do you wan to get your first one out of the way?

Brian Bosché:
Yes.

Skylar Smith:
Okay.

Brian Bosché:
I'll get my first one out. This is the, between us, the transition to top fits.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah, just get yours out of the way so that I can get to my top fits.

Brian Bosché:
And then do you want Mike to vote for his top fit from your categories or are we just talking about top fits?

Skylar Smith:
We're just talking about some top fits. I also just have some fit... I have some stuff to roast in my fits today.

Brian Bosché:
Great. New Space Jam jerseys came out. Obviously, I think I was six years old when Space Jam came out, so it's obviously my favorite movie of all time, and set me up for a lifetime of basketball fandom. People are roasting it. I think they're fine. That's my spicy take. They're fine. I'm going to get one-

Skylar Smith:
Interesting.

Brian Bosché:
I'm going to enjoy it. I love that Space Jam 2 is back, so I'm just enjoying the entire experience. And I'm not going to judge the outfit and the jersey too heavily. They could have done a better job, but it could have been a lot worse.

Skylar Smith:
At first look, I hated it. And I still kind of do but I feel like I get it more now because I started just looking at it and thinking about it. This looks like it was made for like, oh my god, what's that game? What's that game that you always play?

Brian Bosché:
Fortnite.

Skylar Smith:
The video game? It looks like it was made for Fortnite. It looks like a Fortnite [crosstalk 00:46:23]. It's just based on Fortnite.

Brian Bosché:
You're right. It's very Fortnite.

Skylar Smith:
It looks like a skin for Fortnite.

Brian Bosché:
It's for kids.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah, it's definitely for kids. So, I don't love it. But I feel like I get it now and I'm not mad.

Brian Bosché:
Do I get a Space Jam jersey skin that I can put on in Fortnite and there's going to be a Space Jam promo. That'd be amazing. Did you see this, Mike?

Skylar Smith:
That would be amazing.

Brian Bosché:
What do you think of the jersey?

Mike Miller:
I hate it. Again, in a much more lighthearted and comedic way I don't think I'm the right person to give an authentic take of it because I am of an age where I start looking at the coaches now, and I'm like, "Yeah, I think I could rock that buttoned up [inaudible 00:47:03]. That'd go nicely." Gone are the days where I used to wear the baggy shorts and things like that…

Brian Bosché:
You're like Terry Stotts is looking really good in this interview.

Mike Miller:
To be fair, there is a photo of Terry Stotts in the 70s where he's got the shirt open and the big gold chain, and it's one of my favorite photos and I'll tweet it on mine, but yeah, I did not like the jerseys. I kind of get it as Skylar was saying. It is aimed at kids. It kind of reminds me of candy, like the colors they use in, and there's that kind of like throwback to-

Brian Bosché:
Gobstoppers.

Mike Miller:
Yeah, and you've got kind of like the '90s colors coming through. When we went through that phase where we all wore because I was at that age at that time, the ridiculous colors that all went crazy. So, I get it, but I like the simple ones that were there before.

Brian Bosché:
All right. Sorry for hijacking, Skylar, let's launch into your top fits of the week.

Skylar Smith:
Great. So, instead of picking top fits for the week, I honestly just want to talk about the OKC vs Houston Playoff matchup because this is literally the ultimate fit matchup. I don't know how I missed this in our Playoff preview-

Brian Bosché:
The off court battle.

Skylar Smith:
... but the off court battle is insane. So, I'm going to run through a couple of, Shai, Shea, whatever we're going with-

Brian Bosché:
Shai.

Skylar Smith:
Whatever we're going with, Shai?

Brian Bosché:
Mike, what is it? Is it Shai or Shea?

Mike Miller:
I would say... Oh, good questions.

Brian Bosché:
Say with no hesitation.

Mike Miller:
Shai.

Brian Bosché:
Shai. Let's go with Shai.

Skylar Smith:
Okay, I had originally said Shai.

Brian Bosché:
I thought it was Shea.

Mike Miller:
You got it wrong there.

Brian Bosché:
Who knows?

Skylar Smith:
We're going to go with Shai.

Brian Bosché:
SGA.

Skylar Smith:
We've waffled on this a lot. Yeah, we'll go SGA. Okay, SGA is just... He's one of like, just the fit gods within the NBA at this point. He's had a quick rise within the fits community in the NBA. Given his coach some pointers on drip before the game. I love-

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, hilarious.

Skylar Smith:
I love to see it. Of course, we've got Russ on the sideline. He wasn't playing, of course, but that's a good thing for me because we get to see him in a fit on the sideline in his leather shorts and his tattered end racism shirt. It was such a classic Russell outfit. That's exactly what I picture Russell in. But it was just I loved it, and he was so obnoxious on the sideline during that game, and I love watching him do that.

Skylar Smith:
And then P.J. Tucker, just the most incredible collection of shoes. It's cool to see them adjust to the bubble walk in. So, they've all started adjust... They've all started carrying their shoes in with them. And it's funny to see them match the shoes they're going to play in, in the game to their shoes they're wearing to walk into the game with the outfit they're wearing to walk into the game. It's like a whole lot of coordination right now that is really interesting to see. And P.J. Tucker came in with those unreleased Drake Jordan 16s that were so crispy. Love to see it. So, I'm just so excited to see the rest of the series and all the incredible outfits we got of it.

Brian Bosché:
So, should we do a bracket, Skylar, of which teams have the best fits and then they get to advance and it's just like an all fits team at the end?

Skylar Smith:
Maybe. I mean, League Fits did this where they had first team, second team, third team…

Brian Bosché:
But for players, I'm talking teams. Like if you just judge the team by their fits, their entry fits, who wins this?

Skylar Smith:
Honestly, Houston is probably the winner just off the top of my head. They're so good.

Brian Bosché:
Didn't P.J. Tucker bring like a 100 different pairs of sneakers in? Or something insane.

Mike Miller:
There was a room for them.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah.

Skylar Smith:
He has these big bags that he carries them and that carry hundreds of shoes at once. It's incredible. He has 6,000 pairs at home.

Brian Bosché:
Love this matchup. Do you think the rockets are edging out OKC now?

Skylar Smith:
Oh, yeah. They always have.

Brian Bosché:
Okay, that's fair. Mike, what do you think? Rockets, Trail Blazers, who's your top fit team?

Mike Miller:
I'm trying to wrap my head around why anyone would wear leather shorts in the humidity of Florida.

Brian Bosché:
Fashion, Mike.

Mike Miller:
No, I get it, it's a statement, but this guy is... This is where I'm at now. This guy is carrying a quad injury so there must be some compensation in the way he walks in his at the moment. That could create unnecessary chauffage and prolong [crosstalk 00:51:32]. I don't think he's-

Brian Bosché:
Maybe it's compression. Maybe it's a rehab thing.

Mike Miller:
Maybe it is compression.

Brian Bosché:
If it's swag it just sucks-

Mike Miller:
Maybe it's like-

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, just really-

Mike Miller:
Was it when Russ pulled on the leather pants, and maybe that is the compression [crosstalk 00:51:44]-

Brian Bosché:
Yeah.

Skylar Smith:
I feel like Russell is more comfortable and leather than anything else. I feel like we see Russell in leather pants almost non-stop. So maybe that's just what he's more comfortable in.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. We don't know. Anything else in the fits category, Skylar?

Skylar Smith:
Yeah, I saw a lot of people talking about the Lakers' hats. The MAGA spoof hats that said, "Arrest the killers of Breonna Taylor. They were not great, honestly. I want MAGA spoof hats to-

Brian Bosché:
To be gone.

Skylar Smith:
... go away and never come back. You're just giving power to Donald Trump and his supporters every time. It's not doing what you think it's doing. And even the ones that they wore yesterday, I had to really squint and look and zoom in to see what it said. And it wasn't a great look. And when I saw LeBron wearing it, I was like, all right, LeBron's heart is in the right place, but this isn't the right. Maybe talk to our girls in the WNBA. They seem to really have it together. And then I saw the entire team come out in them and I was like-

Brian Bosché:
Oh, no.

Skylar Smith:
... this is a tough look. All I know is that I think it was Kyle Kuzma's idea.

Brian Bosché:
Karl. All right, we got to move on. We're going to go to best bubble moments. I'm going to start this one off because I mentioned it previously. When Donovan Mitchell drops 57 on you, and then you leave the arena, and you just see him hanging out at the lunch tables. It's a lot of high school vibes. A lot of the immediate gym class and you have a competitive game of basketball. And then you just see them in the lunchroom or locker room afterward. It's just hilarious how these guys are all together and we've seen this pretty consistently where it's like, they'll IG live each other, and they'll be like, "Why do I always see you? Get out of the pool area." They're getting mad that they just have to see the other team so much. But it's just hilarious that Jamal Murray just immediately after beating the Jazz in overtime has to see Donovan Mitchell sitting at the table and gets to roast him as he goes by. It's a great moment.

Skylar Smith:
I also think it's funny, during the regular season, I think we can... I don't know how you... I don't think about this that much. But after a player has an insane night, I picture them going to clubs and people being like, "Oh, you had a great game tonight." I picture it being like... I picture them going and doing cool stuff after having these really good games. And so, it's really funny to see Donovan Mitchell, I mean, obviously they lost, but he had a great game. And then just to see him just sitting at a table outside on Instagram. I was like, this is really killing all my illusions of the NBA right now.

Brian Bosché:
It makes them very... It humanizes them a lot. It makes them feel they're just normal guys who are like, "Oh, all right, I'm going to go get my smoothie, and just scroll through Instagram after a loss at the table outside."

Skylar Smith:
He's like that was a tough day at work. It's like all of us.

Brian Bosché:
Mike, did you have any favorite bubble moments from the last couple of weeks?

Mike Miller:
Well, just on that one is things like the 1:00 AM bathtub or the ice tub that the Blazers are doing. You imagine this, be going out and celebrating know that they're sat by the pool at 1:00 AM. They're probably walking back to their rooms after most of the lights have gone off and there's just some night janitor walking by, hey, good game mate. Nice one.

Mike Miller:
For me the last few days it's got to be Noah with the Sage. It's just the most joking thing that you could do, but really makes me, again, I'm showing my age here makes me worry about the fire alarm systems these hotels have got.

Brian Bosché:
Seriously.

Mike Miller:
How is that not setting anything off? That's ridiculous. They must have disabled them, which is speculate why that would happen or however you want. But strikes me is a very Phil Jackson thing to do and I actually suddenly went down a rabbit hole of imagine if Noah and Jackson were somehow, whether it was in a go back in time and he was coached by Jackson on whether they'd go back in further in time, and they were both on the Knicks at the same time. I think that would be one of the coolest duos in NBA history.

Brian Bosché:
Just with their weird science, and their spirituality-

Mike Miller:
Yeah.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, everything they do.

Skylar Smith:
Don't call it weird, Brian.

Brian Bosché:
It's weird, alternative…

Skylar Smith:
No. Alternative.

Brian Bosché:
Weird just means not normal. So, it's not a negative connotation in the way I'm saying it. When I first saw-

Skylar Smith:
As someone who loves Sage, that is so rude.

Brian Bosché:
I think I only saw the smoke in the first, so I thought he just had a gigantic joint, and he was just walking down the hallway, and I was like, "What?" Because I was completely unsurprised that would be Noah but then I'm like, "Oh, okay, it's Sage." He's going into the door.

Skylar Smith:
Also, as his Instagram name is sticky icky or something like that. Like just walking around with a giant joint.

Brian Bosché:
That's what I thought it was. All right, Skylar, what's been your favorite bubble moment?

Skylar Smith:
I will say the joking Noah was probably my favorite this week. I'm big fan of him. Love to see it. I thought it was so funny. I already talked about Jimmy a little bit, so I'll just hit this very quickly. He set up a coffee shop in the bubble because Indiana just can't give him anything to work with. He's just bored after these games. He's not getting that competitive edge enough. I'm just taking my moment to talk my shit at Jimmy Butler right now.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I know, I know.

Skylar Smith:
And so, he set up a coffee shop, and it's just exactly what you would expect out of a Jimmy Butler coffee shop. He says that there are no IOUs allowed and there is a small, medium, and large size available, and they are all $20. That's just exactly what you expect out of Jimmy and I'm glad that he is channeling all that energy that is getting pent up somewhere else into a side hustle.

Brian Bosché:
Love to see it, and also Dame's dropping music.

Skylar Smith:
I missed this, is he?

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. I think he dropped some music.

Mike Miller:
He's got a recording studio in his room. Well, he's got recording equipment in his room.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah.

Mike Miller:
I mean, he's got a lot of time to kill. He can't be scrolling through social media all day and hanging out by the pool.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. So, he hits the logo shots. He gets into the Playoffs and then he goes back and is inspired and records a song. Good for Dame.

Mike Miller:
Yeah.

Skylar Smith:
Good for Dame.

Brian Bosché:
All right. That's all I got for this week's Tea Time. Mike, thank you so much for joining us. Skylar, as always, thank you for joining us, and the spirit of Jimmy Butler lives in every episode. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.