George, what a boy's good to see you.

Hope everybody's good.

Did we miss you?

But I'm thinking of you because NBA Finals when you think Miami Heat and you think Lakers, I'm like, yeah, I'll talk about a thorn guy Sedano.

You getting heat pun intended from the fans?

I mean, you cover the Lakers every day, but you're in Miami, guy.

Well, everyone's asking me what I'm picking and you know which side I'm on and it's Look, I'm not gonna let social media spoil this for me.

This is an amazing opportunity for me, just from a personal perspective.

I know so many people in both these organizations over the years of covering them that no one is happier that these two teams are meeting in the finals.

That make and we're still for you.

You called that early on, though, So no surprise here.

E got my that you guys, But a lot of people like me when I said the heat would play e I believe you.

So this or that who has the advantage, LeBron?

Because he knows Spoelstra so well or Spoelstra because he knows LeBron.

It's a great question.

I think you always have advantage player there because he's got the actual ball in his hands and look.

Erik Spoelstra, to me, is the best coach in the NBA right now.

I know that people have had a hard time coming to grips with that, but I think he's proven that you look at what he's done over the last several years with some rosters that haven't necessarily been great rosters.

He's had them either in the playoffs or right there knocking at the door until the last game of the season to get into the postseason.

Now he's got a top 15 player in Jimmy Butler on Ascending Player and Bam out of Bio and some really great complimentary pieces, and he's got it back in the NBA Finals.

This might be his best coaching job that he's done, and that includes the championship teams, however, okay, LeBron James, the best player on the planet LeBron James is a supercomputer is a brain, and even though I'm deking out to see what SPO throws and LeBron, he's still gonna have the advantage because he's got the ball in his hands, as opposed to SPO, who has to hope his players implement the planet.

Best player on the planet.

But Jimmy Butler, best coffee on the planet.

Who has the better supporting cast?

The Lakers for the Heat In this Siri's?

I would say it's the heat.

I think that, as I mentioned, LeBron and A D are by far the best two players I think on the floor.

And then after that, the heat probably have hand next.

All right, let me do this in my head while while we're doing this.

Bam, Jimmy, drag Egx here.

Oh, yeah, Like I think the heat have the next four potentially, easily the next three, but maybe even the next four.

So I would say that the best supporting cast is the heat.

George, Let's talk mental edge because right now, Miami playing with house money.

Essentially, where for the Lakers.

There is that pressure where you know, LeBron, is he going to get it done in L.

A.

You know, he's got Anthony Davis.

So where's the mental edge?

Oh, I think Miami, because they're playing with House money, has to be so much looser than the Lakers.

Now, look I'm not saying that the Lakers, you know, are gonna be tight.

But if this Siri's gets prolonged for whatever reason, I think that's when that stuff starts to play in.

Less.

So with LeBron on may be a guy like Rondo, right?

Who's been through these battles before and Dwight.

But there's some guys on this roster who haven't been through those battles before.

Cal Kuzma, right?

Alex Caruso e.

I think that you can look at some guys who are important to the Lakers roster.

Kentavious Caldwell Pope is another guy who haven't been this deep in the playoffs before.

Anthony Davis, as great as he is, hasn't been this.

This has been the playoffs before, so I think as the Siri's gets prolonged, if it goes the distance, I think that's when the pressure starts to seep in.

Whereas Miami's like, Yo, this is all gravy.

We weren't even supposed to be here by most measurements, so we're gonna play loose in that spot, but I don't know if it will get to that point.

I just think that LeBron is so damn good right now that if it gets to a Game seven, I would feel fairly confident that he'd be ableto toe pull this thing out.

Yeah, LeBron playing like a man on a mission.

Now you mentioned Tyler hero Top four on the heat.

But who has more swag?

Alex Crusoe or Tyler Hero?

It's Tyler hero.

I love me some Alex Caruso.

Don't get me wrong, man.

They call him the Karoo Show here in L.

A.

But Tyler hero, do you remember what that kid wore at the draft?

You know what I'm saying?

Like, you remember that suit.

You gotta have a lot of swag and a lot of confidence toe wear that thing and pull that thing off in front of millions of people watching the draft.

So from that point on, you know, you see what that kid is made of, and we've seen it.

We've seen it during the regular season.

He was the third leading scorer in the fourth quarter for the heat behind Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic's, and we've seen him have tremendous performances here in in the Eastern Conference finals.

Onley Magic Johnson has put up more points at the age 20 or younger in a in a playoff game.

I mean, he's been really fantastic.

He's grown leaps and bounds just really since this restart.

George, I'm gonna ask you to part final question for this.

Who wins it?

And who has the cooler jersey, the Miami vice jersey or the LeBron.

I'm sorry, The Kobe mama Jersey.

So I think the Lakers went in seven.

That's what I picked on ESPN dot com.

So I'm gonna I'm gonna stick with that.

And I just think it becomes like I think most people don't think this is gonna be that close of a Siri's.

But I absolutely think that this is gonna be a battle tooth and nail till the end.

Who has the look?

Look, no disrespect to Kobe.

Kobe is one of the goats, okay?

And those jerseys are pretty nice.

Don't get me wrong, but the vice jerseys are the best jerseys I've ever seen in NBA history.

They outsole old every other city edition jersey combined in the n B A.

So if you don't believe me and you think I'm being biased, the numbers don't lie from a business perspective either.

E believe you.

I know you have to be biased.

I see you representing Kobe back there But I do have to be back there.

Kobe Hoody that they hooked me up with.

Yeah, exactly.

I I am an objective reporter.

Okay, that I am capable of being objective.

I know most people in today's day and age don't believe that because we live in such a fractured society.

But I can let my brain overtake my heart.

What does Sadan know about the Clippers replacing Doc Rivers before Ugo?

First of all, Saddam?

No.

Didn't know anything right out of the gate.

I was just stunned by the watch bomb, right?

I saw that, and that was my literal tweet.

I am stunned.

I didn't think this would happen.

I mean, think about what Doc Rivers has meant for the Clippers and him navigating them through that Donald Sterling saga.

Right?

But it goes to show you that in professional sports, that man, unless you're winning championships and even then sometimes, right, like, you can be dismissed in those positions.

You know, coaching is really a a tough gig, man.

Like it doesn't matter who you are.

There are very few coaches in the sport, uh, in general, right?

In sports in general that get that kind of longevity, obviously, Belichick.

I mean, look, Erik Spoelstra is one of those guys in Miami right now Gregg Popovich in the n b A.

As well, But there's not that many of them.

You take those jobs knowing you're probably gonna get fired.

But I do think that Doc and everyone might have been caught by surprise there.

But what I do know to an extent, is that Steve Balmer made this decision that Steve Balmer spoke to Doc Rivers and asked him, very frankly, Okay, what happened?

And you know, Doc was like, citing chemistry issues and the pandemic and the players quit on them.

And this that and the other.

And those are all valid reasons.

But what bomber wanted to know waas.

Okay, but how do we fix that?

Like, how do we remedy that?

And docks position Waas?

Well, we run it back, you know, and we don't have to deal with, hopefully a pandemic, right?

And guys get to know each other and they get to understand each other better.

I mean, there were literally moments during the season earlier this year where Paul George didn't even know the play that they were running, so they only played with their entire group.

I think it was 12 games the entire season.

You can't cheat the game that way.

But Steve Balmer did not like that answer.

You know, Steve Ballmer's a Tech guy.

He is a data guy.

He has a results driven guy like many people are in big business.

And he's also got a guy in Jerry West who is his consultant, who is one of the most winningest executives in the history of the sport.

And my guess is Jerry probably had some say in this particular equation, even though I know Jerry has denied that.

I would be stunned that the consultant for the owner didn't at least weigh in on this particular conversation.

But this was a Steve Balmer decision, and this is where it ultimately led to with Doc Rivers not being the Clippers coach anymore.