The NBA Play-In and Most Enticing Playoff Matchups

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2021

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When LeBron James sunk a game winning 3-point shot in the final minute of Wednesday’s play-in game vs. Golden State, it felt like the NBA playoffs had already begun. And now, the seventh seeded Lakers are actually favored in their first-round series against the Phoenix Suns. As the playoffs loom, Kevin Arnovitz tells us how LeBron and Anthony Davis (who are still recovering from injuries) and the Lakers might handle Chris Paul and the Suns. Plus he makes the case for why we should hop on the Utah Jazz bandwagon. And why Bucks vs. Heat might be the most enticing matchup in the entire first round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	After drape my finger to the eye, I was literally seeing three rims out there.
0:09.4	So I just shot at the middle one.
0:11.6	And I was able to, to the grace of the man above, I was able to knock it down.
0:20.0	LeBron James was hallucinating when he hit that game winner to beat the Warriors.
0:24.9	But now, after sticking his finger in the eye of anyone who doubted his Lakers,
0:30.9	LeBron is setting his sights on the Phoenix Suns.
0:34.8	Today, ahead of this first round of the playoffs, Kevin Arnivitz takes stock of
0:39.6	that series and a lot more, separating optical illusion from harsh reality as the NBA postseason
0:48.4	finally comes into focus. I'm Pablo Torre. It's Friday, May 21st. This is ESPN Daily, presented by UKG. Our purpose is people.
1:04.5	Kevin Arnivitz, how you doing, man? I'm well. How are you? I'm good. I'm kind of preemptively
1:09.1	overwhelmed, Kevin, because I'm looking at this schedule for the NBA playoffs,
1:12.9	four game Saturday, four games Sunday, and then it sort of continues on forever as this thing tends to go.
1:18.3	Are you already overwhelmed?
1:19.6	Are you excited?
1:20.5	Where are you emotionally?
1:21.8	I'm wellmed, excited.
1:24.3	I think there's some great first round matchups.
1:26.0	So I think it's kind of a more interesting season, I think.
1:29.5	Kevin Arnowitz has covered the NBA for ESPN since 2008, and he has a steel trap of a basketball
1:37.3	memory. So I want to start with a game that is still stuck in my brain, Kevin, and we had this
1:43.5	moment where the NBA, even as it is variously whelmed, was sort of all
1:48.9	gather around a television watching the same exact thing.
	...

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