Carl Dukes and Mike Bell are joined by Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Chris Mannix to talk about the latest with the NBA Playoffs and some upcoming boxing matches.
Mannix on if the Denver Nuggets are better than we expected, “They were the number 2 seed in the West for a reason despite their struggles in the first round against the Spurs. They have a bunch of guys that can score and Jokic (Nikola Jokic) is a Top 5 MVP Candidate.”
Mannix on when the Eastern Conference will be as good as the Western Conference, “The East is on the upswing. I think the days where you can get into the playoffs under .500 are coming to an end.”
Mannix on the refereeing in the Rockets/Warriors series, “The idea that the refs cost them the Western Conference Finals last year is just…..they missed several three pointers.”
Mannix continued, “The whistles in the playoffs have been very late calls.”
Mannix on James Harden’s antics, “At the end of the Game (Game 1) that was not a foul. They were plays throughout the game where Klay Thompson did not allow Harden to land. I just want to see a little more clarity.”
Mannix on Damian Lillard’s rap career, “I’m very against people crossing lanes like that. When Roy Jones was trying to be a rapper, he lost about $25 Million. Stick with what you know.”
Mannix on the Atlanta Hawks, “They had a lot of questions coming into this year starting with the Trae Young trade. There were a lot of people including me that were wondering if Lloyd Pierce was the right guy. Both of those questions have been answered.”
Mannix on if the Hawks will be a player in free agency this off-season, “Not this year. You may have to wait two years. I would wait out the next two summers and build this team organically. When teams get into trouble is when they have knee jerk reactions. You have to be careful when you’re building out a young team.”
Mannix on the gap between Luka Doncic and Trae Young for the Rookie of the Year race, “It is big. If it was Rookie of the Half Year Trae Young would be in the mix but Luka was so good in the beginning of the year.”
The conversation with Mannix then turned to boxing as Dukes and Bell previewed some upcoming boxing matches with the Sports Illustrated Senior Writer.
