Around the Horn reacts to Joel Embiid and the 76ers complete thrilling 14-point comeback over Heat

Around the Horn reacts to Joel Embiid and the 76ers complete thrilling 14-point comeback over Heat

hey Pete Fairbank tough afternoon
baseball kind of blew the game how do
you break it down for no I thought it
generally sucked I didn’t think it was a
specific suck I thought it was like
all-encompassing type of suck all right
well that’s I love honesty tremendous
the opposite of all-encompassing suck by
the way lifetime Hall of Fame for Woody
pige the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame
after 50 years which makes us all
say what the hell were they waiting for
Woody B AG here’s a 50 boy bonus for 50
years what are your awesome there’s a
game
requirement carple tunnel syndrome
situation for me with those 50 boy bonus
congrats Woody we’ll start with last
night’s playing and another play in
casualty Jimmy Butler the fear is an MCL
injury that would be weeks long injury
so like Zion certainly out for Friday’s
must-win
game we’ll talk about that in a second
how the 76ers turned it on in the second
half just enough to emerge that’s where
we begin the Nicholas Batum game in the
year of Our Lord 2024 Harry l Jr you
find yourself feeling better or worse
about the Philadelphia
76ers Tony this ain’t what you want to
hear but it’s what you need to hear it
was a little bit of both because the 7
Sixers looked absolutely atrocious last
night because the fans were booing them
because they couldn’t break a Zone they
looked like a middle school team out
there that had seen it for the first
time it was absolutely poor they turned
it over eight of 12 times from that zone
and it carried over early into the
second half where they shot one of 13 it
wasn’t until Nick Batum started knocking
down threes he had six of them where
they finally started to be able to break
that obviously Jimmy Butler was slowed
down a little bit because of his injury
and Joel embiid finally started looking
like Joel embiid late in the third and
early in the fourth quarter when needed
him most so I think it’s a positive
thing if you come out and you win a game
like this where you have to figure it
out and you clearly don’t have things
figured out early I think it’s bad
because Joel embiid still looks like a
guy that is coming off of a long-term
injury and that does not farewell when
you going you’re going up against a New
York Knicks team that is going to be
able to throw a lot of big bodies at you
all right Hall of Famer show them how
it’s
done yeah Harry good job of giving us
both sides of the argument and not
taking your opinion I would say this
without it be this team was miserable it
fell from a favorite to a flop but what
happened as a result of that is the
trades they made really had brought this
team together you saw the new and the
old last night you saw why they were
struggling in the first half as Harry
talked about but they seem to come
together in the second half and figure
out exactly what they’re doing using an
old bromide from ja adande you got to
win playoff games in order to win
playoff games and that’s exactly what
they last night wasn’t a playoff game it
was the play in game but I I hear what
you’re saying so you’d like to say a w
is a w and and feel good about that bill
plashy you feel better or worse about
Philadelphia today much better call me a
Philly fanatic I love this team I love
the fact that MB played a season High 38
minutes I love that he scored 11 points
in the fourth quarter I love that they
had the biggest comeback halftime
comeback of the season I love that they
won a game in a place where they lost
the last three seasons their season
ended with a loss on that floor they
came back in Brazilian and overcame the
Heat I love the fact that they’re 32
and8 when MB plays the Knicks are have
their hands full at this time and Kevin
blackistone you feel better or worse
about Philadelphia oh much better I’ll
take the W I mean that’s big at this
time of the year obviously and you talk
about MB 25 13 five assist and the most
important assist of the game he made to
Kelly UB for the go-ahead three-pointer
so this team came together right at the
right time in that game and they came
together because of the guy who makes
them the playoff Contender the the
championship Contender that they are
we’ve seen this from embiid since he’s
come back from injury he’s been solid
and he was Unstoppable when they needed
him to be all right I feel like I don’t
need to ask but I I feel like I need to
ask Miami without Jimmy Butler is what
going forward Bill
plki done done and done they are a minus
72 when he’s off the court if he can’t
play they can’t win they can beat
they’ll beat the bows but they have no
chance against the Celtics they need him
too much you give him anything that he
can work through this with maybe a
couple games
off I think could talk about heat
culture but the the most important part
of that culture is the guy who’s not
going to be able to play so no they have
no CH I don’t even think they beat the
Bulls I actually saw the Bulls play two
of their late games and I’m I was very
impressed with them I think they’re
going to give the heat all they possibly
could want and without Jimmy Butler on
the court I just think they’re
a country without a man AR
J yeah I think this you know heat
culture it’s probably going to get you
past the Chicago Bulls but in terms of
playing against the Celtics like man it
I’m sorry it’s just the reason we had
hope for this team last year when they
were a low seated team was because of
Jimmy Butler the reason we had any hope
for them this year was because of Jimmy
Butler he is one of the greatest playoff
performers of his generation if he is
not going to be out which it seems like
it’s going to be an extended amount of
time again I think he could give them a
game against the Bulls because I don’t
know if the Bulls should necessarily be
in this uh but against the Celtics it’s
out of the question in my opinion and
when the report came out it was an MCL
Jimmy Butler’s agent said hold on a
second we haven’t confirmed that there
could be hope KB do you have any hope
for Miami well I don’t have any hope for
them if he doesn’t play they’re 13- nine
however without him this year so they
have been able to get through some games
but this is a different part of the year
next game and that makes Friday versus
the Chicago Bulls let’s talk about the
Bulls win over Atlanta last night the
Kobe white game as Chicago has some good
momentum in trouncing Atlanta KB was
this more about what the Bulls did or
what the Hawks didn’t and continually
fail to do in the playing
games well it’s probably more about what
the Bulls did and I was trying to figure
out why I was watching this game anyway
with two teams with losing records
didn’t win 40 games this year so I’m
going to look at more what the the team
that won um did going forward and who
knows you know maybe they can get by
this next these next couple of games and
and move on but you got to be happy for
Kobe white what a year he had and what a
tremendous game he had left just a
followup in a year where you have two
teams with losing records playing in the
nine 10 game do you think there should
be like a little footnote that maybe we
don’t need to play the game is that what
you’re suggesting exact I mean the
playoffs is for winners it’s not for
teams with losing records I just don’t
get it we’ve extended it this far enough
cut it back again I know they’ll never
do that because of the money but it’s
just I just don’t like the look of
losing teams in the play
AR yeah the playing tournament is called
the regular season uh but that’s another
conversation I I think it’s everything
everything about last night was about
the what the Bulls did obviously the big
performance from Kobe white he’s a great
candidate for most improved player this
year like he’s really stepped into his
own uh was a great player coming out
North Carolina but I’m going to keep it
local uh word to Bill plasy and I’m
going to talk about the Atlanta Hawks
because this is a team
basically for the past 15 years has been
running in one place and that one place
is between 38 and 44 wins a season and
they have been chasing this thing that
they captured in 2021 where they made
the Eastern Conference Finals and Trey
young and this team that looked like a
well oiled machine looked like it was
going to actually be a Eastern
Conference Contender and the last couple
of years it hasn’t turned into that so
if you’re the Atlanta Hawks you need to
either figure out a way to build a
better team that is going to build
around or work around Trey young cuz
he’s not just say score but he’s also a
great passer or you need to get rid of
him let him go be great somewhere else
in so so you’re saying it’s still an
either or I want to hear if it’s at that
moment now it’s a break up the team
situation Harry LS you you’re arguing
both sides of the fence again
here Woody Paige I’ll go to
you yeah you you beat me too that but
yes they need to get rid of Trey young
and I don’t mean just throw him to the
curb I’m talking about use him as that
ass
that can get you four or five draft
choices what happened in Oklahoma City
they got all those draft choices got a
young team started over again and they
won the Western Conference so I think
Atlanta has to do that they are a team
that’s just a 500 team I do want to
defend however that teams with losing
records get into playoffs we’ve seen the
Seattle Seahawks do that we’ve seen it
happen in the NFL I’ve covered a have
you ever seen it in the NBA bu have you
ever seen a team with a losing record in
the NBA make noise in the playoffs but
plashy I’ll turn to you I watched this
game and I thought they need to trade
Trey young they need to get rid of him
he’s holding his team back he’s arguably
the worst defensive player in the league
they’re the worst defense in the league
when he’s on the court the last two
games they were minus I think 62 when he
was on the court he was he’s he needs to
be traded they they can’t build Quinn
Snider can’t build around him he needs
to go and why not trade him to the
Lakers okay all
right there it is is flashy 5 Lyle zero
black andone 10 and Woody pagee
54 canot talk about the Lakers you take
off the rest of the show if you want W I
think you’re doing great
next the last 72 hours for Caitlyn Clark
part of a draft with record views an
intro press conference with the Indiana
Fever The sell out of her official
jersey to the point fanatic says there
won’t be any available until August now
and the big shoe announcement with Nike
reporting today it’s for more than $20
million that is a week yesterday’s press
conference was noticed also for an
exchange with indie star columnist Greg
Doyle an exchange viewed more than 42
million my family every game so okay
well start doing it to me and we’ll be
get along just fine the Jersey not just
for the unprecedented record sales but
that delay in serving the demand and the
shoe deal has led to an examination of
women’s shoe deals currently and Through
the Years Bill plashy what has this week
been for Caitlyn Clark and for
basketball it’s been transformative Tony
that the women’s basketball popularity
is going from the college to the W WNBA
all those millions of viewers that watch
the wnb draft remember she was only the
one one person pick there’s a bunch of
bunch of players pick people are
watching those players people are buying
those tickets teams are moving to bigger
Arenas to accommodate her this is all
moving from college to WNBA now we’ll
see if it sticks that’s a big question
boy
Paige well I’m glad Bill didn’t say
she’s be traded to Los Angeles at least
she’s in a place where basketball so
Superior yeah I think that if you really
want to look at it when the salary came
out I went everybody’s getting all upset
about it she’s going to make millions
upon of millions of dollars outside the
game of basketball which is incredible
and when you consider the shoe there
have been only two NBA rookies who’ve
ever signed Sho signature deals with the
uh with Nike and that was LeBron and
Michael Jordan that is an incredible
accomplishment she’ll be the 12th in the
WNBA to have her own signature School uh
school shoe pardon me and I think that
this week has just shown that this
quality of basketball the quality of
popularity that’s following this game I
think it’s fantastic for the entire
country and particularly for the SP l
Jr I feel like this week is probably
everything she could have ever dreamed
of I mean to me it’s one thing to be
drafted number one overall but to me the
Nike deal signifies something different
and it signifies I I think something
that people should look forward to with
this and what we’ve been seeing which is
growth the fact that she got a deal like
this Caitlin Clark is not a regular star
she’s not a superstar she is a rockar
the way that LeBron James at least in my
lifetime Kobe Bryant Stephen Curry have
been rockstars somebody that fills the
arena makes you go to a bigger Arena
which we are already seeing teams do
with the WNBA so for me I feel like
Caitlyn Clark this is something an
investment that you’re seeing from Nike
that hopefully she’s obviously going to
benefit from if her promise Becomes Her
potential her promise her potential
Becomes Her promise and she becomes what
we think she can be I think overall this
becomes great for women’s basketball in
the WNBA in particular Kevin
blackone well this is great for Caitlyn
Clark I don’t think that whatever she’s
getting from Nike is going to be shared
with the rest of the league and let’s
not forget you know over the years
women’s sports in particular women’s
basketball and women’s soccer have seen
these sorts of rises in interest right
um the great uh Sports scholar at Purdue
Cheryl cookie has studied this since
1989 and we’ve seen this rise and then
all of a sudden there’s a fallof so
let’s see if this can be sustained but
what is happening right now is about
Caitlyn Clark and she is being followed
from the college game to the
professional game where now everybody’s
going to want to see her but what is
going to be important is whether or not
everybody’s going to want to see those
who come behind I hear you say that
Kevin blackistone when I hear the word
is this sustainable or not sometimes
that’s firmly placed on women’s athletes
I don’t view it that way that should be
placed on everybody and I’ll give you
the example we saw at the press
conference which Greg Doyle was a star
columnist in
Indiana has admitted to be an oish
exchange in his regard and has
apologized but you have a moment like
that or you have a moment with the
jerseys where they’re in business to
sell jerseys and all of a sudden it’s
like oh we didn’t realize we were in
this big of a business we won’t get
jerseys out until August now which may
be after Indiana’s season right so you
have these conversations where it’s not
just we put it on the women’s athletes
to be sustainable I want to ask broadly
to you first Kevin blackone if you feel
like we’re all up to the fight here to
be involved in this situation well the
only thing I can say is that if past is
prologue we are not because that has not
been the history I can sit here and tell
you that I got a ticket to see Caitlyn
Clark a year ago in a half filled uh
Arena at the University of Maryland I’ve
gone out of my way to go talk to about
that I want even more specifically in
the members of the media all right what
we’re talking about here is do the
members of the media even know how to
cover women’s sports do the networks
even know how to cultivate and grow the
game these these ratings happened this
year could they have happened earlier if
other decisions weren’t made that’s the
question I POs to you as a professor of
Journalism well absolutely and there is
the argument made that if you cover it
we will come and that is something that
we have seen in this past college
basketball season that’s something that
we see every Women’s World Cup so the
question is whether or not people will
step up to continue to finance this and
whether or not media will continue to
send people out to cover it bill plashy
I’ll turn to you these are there need to
be no right or wrong answers in this I’m
just wondering in the history of
covering women’s sport you see people
decry the salaries and this is the 27th
year of the WNBA if you look at the 27th
year of the NBA 1973 or so where was the
league then the games weren’t on TV in
in the way that they are now it was a
different League altogether to hold that
against the WNBA now so think about the
revenue the WNBA has or hasn’t made how
much of that is on the actual Sport and
the athletes playing how much is it the
greater Collective view of the
world yeah it’s it’s it’s it’s funny T
there’s still a big gap there between
Caitlyn Clark and the rest of the WBA
and as evidence to that while her press
C she was in under draic her press
conference was a huge event Cameron
Brink the number two pick for the win to
the Sparks her press conference was
conducted with two other draft picks on
a zoom call yesterday so it’s there the
whole league is not up to Caitlyn
Clark’s
popularity yet and I don’t know if it
will be because at the bottom line is do
the viewers want to watch women’s
professional basketball that’s the
bottom line
page men viewers didn’t want to watch
the NBA they had to bring in the Harlem
clove draws to actually they finals used
to be on tape sure this is going to grow
it so uh Professor I totally disagree
with you they’re going to be 15 Caitlyn
Mars in the next 10 years what happened
after the dream team went to Barcelona
the growth of basketball internationally
just took over that’s what we’re going
to see as a result of this it’s going to
become overwhelmingly popular for young
women white hispanic uh Latino uh well
that’s another conversation that many
are having now and this is invited into
the conversation are the black players
of the WNBA carried and celerated and
cultivated the same way white players
are because we could talk about the shoe
deals Through The Years there have been
black players of Adam currently it’s
primarily white players Harry LS Junior
last word I just feel like the most
important thing about this conversation
it shouldn’t be a question about
sustainability because obviously the
Peaks are going to be hard to sustain
the key here is growth the WNBA is in
its 27th year it’s still a very young
league as long as we are making progress
and growth and you keep seeing those
measures being taken as we’ve seen with
women’s college basketball the last few
years that is the path that that we need
to be on because we have treated women’s
basketball as something that is less
than men’s and that is part of the
problem um this is not a call out uh
when examples are stated like men did
not watch or do people support women’s
sports and and it’s a broad
all-encompassing we it’s it’s not
helping anybody you have to look even at
the newsrooms the newsrooms who’s
covering these Sports and and the
newsrooms and who’s making the hires of
who’s covering these Sports as well
thank you for your time paig Blackstone
will be show down next of the coyotes
not completely known Arizona won the
finale last night heart felt goodbyes
the team social media posting see you in
June for the draft then they took that
down in the stripping of the Arena after
there’s video of a fan giving Shane Don
his retired jersey Banner all of the
news on this coming out in the past week
that a vote of the Board of Governors is
happening
today but a mov to Salt Lake City looks
like it’s right here
Woody Paige how will you remember the
Phoenix Arizona
Coyotes I won’t remember anything about
them as a team but I remember they
played in an arena with Arizona State
that’s called mullet Arena really and
the one they played in before that okay
never no no I mean don’t just don’t be
dancing on somebody’s grave here go
ahead Kevin
Blackstone well I’ll just remember that
this was the experiment in the desert
and and in the end it just didn’t work
um and I feel bad about about those fans
uh they should not have had to go
through this just like this where was
the where was the prologue to this it
came very very suddenly I mean you’re
not wrong about that Kevin blackistone
we’ll move on Tampa Bay rised Pete
Fairbanks blew a game and then after he
said I thought it generally sucked I
didn’t think it was a specific suck I
thought it was like an all-encompassing
type of suck maybe K where do you come
down on honesty and overall suck of Sal
oh my goodness this is fantastic this is
all that you want out of your interview
with an athlete or a coach you want them
to tell you the absolute truth and he
gave it to you right there I almost felt
sorry for the guy after a while I think
I would have shut off the camera paage
Kevin we appreciate honesty but guess
what he can’t come back and do it again
tomorrow night because then he’ll be
called repeat what’s he going to tell us
this that if he continues to all right
what what just stop talking right now
please I’m GNA have a moment of honesty
here with Kevin Blackstone Kevin love
you but Woody just made the Hall of Fame
he needs his FaceTime today he’s going
to win Showdown even with negative
numbers let’s
go gosh I I want to thank the Colorado
Sports Hall of Fame for this badge that
looks like I won third place in the Bob
oh what you beautiful met come on Mini
oh yeah look at that this packet is
incredible but the theme of my speech
last night is to what I say to all the
viewers today persevere perseverance I
think in this country with what’s going
on perseverance with what we’ve overcome
uh in the history of this Sports I think
it’s important just remember always
persevere
l e
speee
one now
First Blood
your tower has been
destroyed an enemy has been
defeated
foree spit
an ally has been defeated
you have our base is under
attack you have defeated an enemy
h