NBA Playoff Predictions: Fade OKC's Repeat; Can Knicks win it? | Spurs/Wolves, Cavs/Pistons Analysis

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another edition of Fade the Field. I am Coach Jean Clemens. That is CJ, my guy Chris James, um, Chopping Up with CJ podcast. Make sure you go and check out everything he does over there. Um, this is as always a Seven Oracles production and we know we missed you last week. We know we missed you last week and I thought that we were going to really regret it because I thought we might have some better series, but I mean OKC um put BTA, the New York Knicks put double BTA, and now we're sitting with two teams that are probably going to have to wait three more games in order to find out who they're going to play in the Eastern and Western Conference playoffs. I don't do you think it's an advantage, you know, Chris, like do you think it's an advantage that they have to wait around so long because these are most likely going to be seven game series between these two teams? I mean, these four teams that are still playing to some extent, it's going to be an advantage and it's just based on the matchups, right? So for OKC, they get more time to get back William Sue who's been out with whatever is going on with his leg and uh some other things, but so they get that advantage. On the opposite side, the Knicks, if they have to play Detroit, let's say, they get more rest before a physical series, and if they have to play Cleveland, a series where they're going to run up and down. So I think it actually is an advantage because they're not going to get out of their rhythm. They're not rhythm shooting teams like some of the the units that, you know, kind of get that rust on them from sitting down. Yeah. And and I'll say this too, um, for anybody out there that's looking for markets that are, in my opinion, almost guarantees at this point, if you see, if you go and you go to a Knicks game and you see the player prop market for points and Jaylen Brunson is at like 30 or 31 points, just take the old just take him to get those points. like he at some point in the fourth quarter he's gonna go crazy. He's gonna go bananas and he's going to score 10 11. Don't Don't even worry about what he has before the fourth quarter. Whatever he needs to get to over 30, he's going to get it in the fourth quarter. I wouldn't care if he walked into the fourth quarter, CJ, with zero points in the fourth quarter. it. There's just something different. And I think this is what they've missed about him his entire career. He's been cooking these same dudes his entire career. In high school, they tried to say he wasn't the man. Guess what? They were wrong. He was the man. In college, they tried to say he wasn't the man. Guess what? They were wrong. He's the man. And in the NBA, he looked up and went, "These are all the same foods I've been cooking my entire life." Why should it be any different now just because they're in the NBA? Nope. Barbecue chicken. Hey, shout out This is me. Respect to um to to to to Jaylen Brunson and and all of the haters that keep trying to tell us that he can't be the catalyst for them to win a championship. Yeah. And he's Well, one I think people underestimate he's a legit 6'2. He's not 5 foot 11. So, there's this whole he's some sort of tiny or what. I don't understand what people are talking about. But the other portion of it is he is taking advantage of a situation that the NBA needs to figure out, which is, hey, if you're going to allow me to get fouls, I'm going to use those files and I'm going to knock those down. And he takes advantage of it, especially in the fourth quarter. Gets his points up. And that's not shade at this stage. It's more so just me recognizing what I'm seeing with my own two eyes. Yeah. But and he's also strong. So like some of the stuff that you think you're going to knock him off with, you can't knock him off with and then the So then you try to play a little bit harder and being trying to be a little bit stronger on him and then he draws a foul on you. Like that's the that's the that's the dichotomy. It's like you you can't play how you have to play against him to keep him from to keep from fouling him because he's just too strong. He'll just play right through it. But if you go a little bit harder, he knows just what pressure point to hit in order to draw the foul. Like that's a talent. Um there's no other way to say it. It's a talent. It's different than what Shay's doing in my opinion. It's different than what Shay's doing because Shay is just flat out out here acting like people are hitting him and nobody's touching them. like you know it's the difference between somebody somebody picking your pocket and somebody saying yo give me your money like there's a a lot more a lot more um histrionics and shiness with it. I don't know. Um I digress. Um shout out to the Knicks who took care of business. Shout out to OKC who took care of business. Shout out to LeBron James 24 and 12. If this is the last game that we've seen him and he decides that he shuts it down, man, the NBA is going to be in for a rude awakening next year. And a lot of content creators and people who um look for narratives and stuff to talk about, they're going to be scrambling. They people don't ever realize how much they need someone until that someone is gone. But let me not be the one to do it. LeBron James is absolutely phenomenal. He is everything we ever said we wanted in our basketball superheroes and then we got it and we totally flubbed the way we treated them. Yeah. Became an easy target because easy hits. And it's because people deep down in their heads and their brains know that there was greatness in front of them. They just didn't want to admit it. whether it was because of their affinity for another player, which I've never understood why you have can't appreciate more than one player, like what what are we doing? But then there's the other portion of I think people don't like to watch like lengthened out success for virtually anyone. They they get tired of it and they start making up stories to make the other person seem like they're not either as good, great, or impactful as they are. They want to see the fall. And I hate that. I absolutely hate the fact that people want to see the fall from someone who's been up in a high. And the thing that I love about LeBron James is he's never let people see the fall. Sorry, you keep waiting. Like like remember um years ago it was it was oh well not even years ago just a few years ago was oh well you know LeBron he might be doing something on the side blah blah blah. Nope. Savannah still there courtside front whatever they got going on in their own personal life. She still rides or die for him. He's still ride or die for her. People are really upset about the fact that an NBA player could spend his entire career with one woman and there not be a scandal. As if that's a prerequisite to being an elite level player, right? They're they're they're mad because he's never had that one year that makes you go, "Oh, he lost it." Like he just don't got it no more. Like he never had that. He gave people one little like crumb of fall in those in those finals versus versus Dallas when he he wasn't his best self. He gave him one little crumb and then said, "I'll take two championships back to back after that and then get to a third one and if not for Kawhi Leonard going absolutely like crazy out there, he'd have three in a row." Like every place where they want to where they want to say he he he he fall or he's taking a dip back, he's always proving people wrong. I love that about him. We're gonna miss him when he's gone. I hope this isn't it, but if it is, like 24 and 12 on the way out the door at 40ome years old, like come on, it's a beautiful thing. Y and you you know what and there's more parallels than there seems to be, but and it's not where with where they started, but it's what they were able to accomplish achieve over a longevity span and period. and when they were, you know, set for dead, came back to life. Think about how Tom Brady was at the end of his career. And I don't mean the last game he played, but the man was voted the number one player in the NFL and not his last year, second to last year when we thought he might be cashed out after New England. And while LeBron hasn't had that type of fall, what we've seen is, okay, it's going to fall off. His defense isn't there anymore. The expectation of someone who at the time was 37 to still be able to guard like he was 27 is insane. Yeah. But he's been able to turn it on. He's had a chase down block at a point this year, which is not supposed to happen when you're 41 years old. To your point, if this is the end, he went out without looking like some of our favorite stars from the past who went out looking like shells of themselves. He went out looking like a guy who's still at at worst a number two on a really good team, but at best a guy who could carry it when that number one was out with an injury. Yeah. And it it it's it's sad to me cuz I'm like if I'm LeBron, I ride that thing till the wheels fall off. I don't care what the averages look like at the end. I'm I'm trying to be out there saturating that thing, baby. I'm I'm out there at 50 getting it. Just like could you imagine a LeBron James at 45 years old who at 45 he would still probably be able to average like 14 points a game. Like all injuries, you know, injuries aside, still be able to do that at that at that level. That's crazy to me. Yeah. No. Could he do it? Absolutely. Not only have the rules changed, but also he puts so much into his body where it's just not even fair compared to other people. And I'm not saying, you know, he should stop doing that. But for him, and this is just me with no context of having any contact with a guy who shares my last name. I think that next year, if he extended it anymore, would be that year where he puts everything into it. They try to build a championship roster, one that can attack the OKC's and the San Antonios of the world. And that's what he does because I don't think he ever wants to be considered a shell of what LeBron was because he's not one right now. And I think he's got at least one more year of not being at all if he wanted to. Yeah. I mean, that makes perfect sense. Let's speaking of of Spurs, let's get into um these topics for today because we are in the NBA um semifinals, right? The semifinals, conference semi-finals. Um we know two of them are over, but two of them are still going heavy and we want to get into that right now. Let's jump into this first topic. Who wins Spurs and the Timberwolves series? Like which team do you think pulls this out right now? Spurs and Timberwolves are 22. Who do you have winning this series? I actually have the Spurs winning this series in six. And the reason I have him winning in six is looking at how the game changed and how it changes periodically when women's not in the game for the Timberwolves. They get downhill. They're willing to threaten him like they did in game one, but they're more apt to do it and more successful when he's not in the game. In this past game, the Spurs show that they had some metal to themselves without winyama. So now that he's back, they'll be at home in this first game and then I think in the next game they'll just be a little bit too much for S for the Minnesota Timberwolves. And Ant still isn't 100%. He's just that guy that if you give him the chance, he can get it done. I don't think they'll have the chance truly in this game coming up or even game six if Wimby keeps his composure. Yeah. Um Spurs to win. Um Spurs to win this game um 42, right? Spurs to win 4-2 is um essentially um 2x your money. So you get you you're able to double up your money um there on a on a four a 4-2 Spurs win. Um I I talked about Minnesota before, man. There's just something about Anthony that Anthony um Edwards that makes it hard for me to go against them if you're going to play them now. I mean, obviously they got their second win, no Wimi. You're probably not going to get that luxury in any of these other wins except we've seen them win with Wimi out there. So, we know they can get that done. I I think if I if I just look at the money, right, I would probably be more inclined to bet with the money. Either I'm taking the Spurs in seven because that's going to give me um 2.8x on my money or I'm taking Minnesota in seven because that's going to give me 7.25x on my money. Like I'm looking at this as a seven game series. I think one of one of these three games Minnesota gets for sure. I think Minnesota finds a way to win one of the three which means it's going seven. Like because I don't see Minnesota beating the Spurs two games in a row, right? So if if Minnesota's going to win it, I think they win it because they they find a way to get a game five. They they let down on game six, they come back and they and they they grind one out in game seven. Um I don't I don't necessarily see them winning too. But if they lose game five, I think they leave it all all bullets out out of the out of the chamber on game six. They run out of gas in game seven. Spurs get them. But either way, I think my money would be on investing in a seven game series and whoever comes out on that side in the seven games. No. And you know what the one thing I can add to that is we talk so much about experience and also people clenching up and how things change in the game seven. Even though they'd have the home game, the environment would be familiar to Minnesota versus that that San Antonio team. We have seen teams even when they're better. Hey, we just talked about LeBron, the 73 win Golden State Warriors at full strength at home. They're supposed to win in Oracle. Sometimes you just dig down and you get a little bit in your system and Ant has that killer instinct in them. So, if I was going to go seven games, I would actually take Minnesota to your point. Yeah, I think I think there's a there's a chance Minnesota pulls off the upset and then just gets boat raced in the in the Western Conference Finals. Like, I don't see cuz they cuz they cuz they foul too much to to try to to try to be It's a terrible matchup for them. Yeah. It's a bad matchup for them. It's a much better matchup for the Spurs. Correct. Um because they have that that that eraser inside um with with Wimi that that can change the math. Now we don't have to foul you, Shay. We just funnel you to Wimi and let Wimi just stand there and send you stuff the other way. Let's get to this second the second one cuz I'm I'm interested to see which way you're going in this series. Who wins? Detroit and Cleveland. They are 2-2 right now. Um it looked as if early on like Detroit might be able to stretch this thing to a three one league. Cleveland came back was a lot more a lot more fierce um than I than I thought. right now. Um, who do you have winning this series, getting the next two out of the three? So, when I was looking at it when the series started, I was I said, you know what, Detroit, especially having that extra home game, they'll probably get it done. But, as I started to look at this, Detroit's missing something that actually gave me pause to them going into the playoffs, a secondary scoring option that's truly dependable. Now, we can say Tobias Tobias Harris. I don't really think he's that. He's the midgame guy. He's not a guy who goes and gets his own bucket consistently. You got guys like that on Cleveland and you have those bigs who are getting used to playing big instead of just being tall. Right. This reminds me of the 20 2019 Toronto versus Milwaukee series where Milwaukee went off 200 and then Toronto took him down because Kawawaii went ham. Give me Donovan Mitchell and company probably actually finishing this out in six because they're on one right now. Yeah, I think I think that's interesting that you bring up the the Kawhi Leonard comparison and and here's why I love James Harden going to, you know, this team. The problem with James Harden is James Harden's never been a closer. He's never been a guy down the stretch of a series that you could lean on to get it done. That's just he he he he he wilted. He folded. Donovan Mitchell has been waiting for this opportunity. Donovan Mitchell is like, "Yo, no, just get me to the end of the game. Get me to the end of the series and I'll do it, big dog. You ain't got to do Listen, go hang out with all the Cleveland strippers you want to hang out with. We're good over here. You just do a little something in them first three quarters, right? Do a little something in them first three quarters and then I got you, baby. Like, we good." So, I think that Donovan Mitchell is looking at this thing like this is what I'm made for. This is what I'm bred for. And he's waiting for it. I don't know if they get it done in in six, but I think that the smart move because because the the the money is pretty even all the way across the board. Um Detroit to win it 42 is trading almost four is almost 4x. Detroit to win it 43 is trading at a little over 3x. Cleveland to win at 42 is trading at 3.8x and Cleveland to win at 43 is trading at 4.31x. If if it's me, I'm looking at trying to maximize my Cleveland cuz I'm like you. I think Cleveland has more offensive firepower to get it done. They play they play good D. I think that that that Detroit is really relying on one guy to be the new clear option and that's Kate Cunningham. He's way too inefficient for me. I think that Cleveland gets it done. I don't know if it's in six. I don't know if it's in seven. I'd be willing to to to invest in both to make sure that I came out on the positive end of that side. If you want to make a little extra money, depending on whether you want it in six or seven, if you believe in Cleveland, actually take them in game five because Detroit is the favorite in game five. You might as well go get yourself some money here because to your point, maybe Detroit, you know, they fight off the Demons. If they lose game five, they come back and they win at game six. So, it goes to seven. But honestly, I feel like if they lose this game five, which is on the board, they need a car levert to kind of go ham in the first to get them back in the game. If this happens, then they have virtually no chance, 1% chance in game six. They're not winning in Cleveland. That that makes a lot of sense. I'm I'm with you. like hedging your hedging hedging your investment and putting a little something on game five makes a lot of sense because now if you hit game five now you're really up. So, it doesn't matter game six or game seven which one hits, you're still going to really be up because you've hit two out of your last three hits. And those two are for four, you know, four plus x. As we're talking right now, the money is moving. Cleveland to win um 4-2 at at 4.1x. Cleveland to win 4-3 at 4.31x. So, um, the the favorite is on side of the side of Detroit as the one seed, but neither CJ or I believe that this game is trending towards Detroit. No, it just doesn't look good for Detroit, even though I think they have a bright future. Absolutely. Like, I I don't think this will be the end of them, but I I just don't think they get it done this time. Um, let's go and look at our next our our next market. Will Oklahoma City repeat or nope, not getting it done. What do you think on Oklahoma City repeating as champions this year? So, Oklahoma City is rooting for two things to happen. They want Detroit to end up winning the East and they want Minnesota to end up winning this next series. Then yes, they are rubber stamp it back-to-back champs. There's actually really interesting matchups otherwise. We all talk about the whole wimby thing in San Antonio, and we know why that's an interesting matchup. The Knicks match up extremely well with them because it's virtually a bizarro version of that team. And I don't mean on the negative side. It's just a weird version flipped. They got the bigs in there, one who can't really score, but does do some things on the defensive side. They got the other big in there who if he's on his game, he's a problem. They have the point guard who can score whether it's getting contact or just getting it out the gutter on you. They have these wings that do a lot of different things for you and they can make flurries of shots. I actually don't think OKC repeats, not because they don't have the talent to do so, but I think they have a a harder field to go through than they did last year. So, um, here is where things get interesting, ladies and gentlemen. So, right now, Oklahoma City is trading at 63%. By the way, this market, the money in this market, CJ, $174 million mere canorn, can of corn, mere bag of shells, you know. Um, but right now Oklahoma City is 63% to um repeat, which means that if you don't think they're going to repeat, you can you can take the option no, you can short them and now you're going to get 2.5x on your money by going against them. That means if anybody else wins it, if anybody else wins it, you're going to win it. Like anytime you can get like two and a half on your money when you're talking about like multiple people, the field essentially. So you're saying Oklahoma City or the field. I'll take the field and you're going to give me two and a half. Like that to me makes a lot of sense when we're talking about how you want to invest in in in in your sports markets. Like this isn't the way of the of the world where it's like, you know, oh well, you have to bet on whoever Oklahoma City is playing. No, you just have to bet that anybody else is going to win it other than Oklahoma City. I like those I like those odds. Um, for me, I think that the the what in what happens is if Oklahoma City can't stop the others from from being legitimate like doubledigit scorers, then New York wins. Cuz I know what Jaylen Brunson's going to do, right? Like I know what he's going to do. Like he doesn't give a damn about Lou Dort. like Lou Dort doesn't scare him at all. And so if your Mikuel Bridges can be a consistent 12 to 14 points, if if Hart can be 10 to 12 along with his eight eight assist and six rebounds, um they've been allowed to rest OG. And so now you you get a healthy OG Anobi back for, you know, a finals run hopefully if he can be his 16 to 18 points. And then you've got Cat over there who just needs to not fall in love with the three-point shot when he gets matched up with when he gets matched up with with um um or with Chad because Hartinstein can guard him. Hartinstein can guard him. Maybe he pulls Hartinstein outside, but when he gets Cet Homegrren on him, there's no reason to shoot threes. My baby, bring him in the box. Got you. Go ahead. take him down there and do what everyone should do to Chad Homegrren, which is abuse him. He weighs 135 pounds, soaking wet with a snowsuit and combat boots on. Ain't no way this guy's supposed to be out here like ding you up in the paint. So, I think that becomes interesting if it if it is a Knicks if it is a Knicks and and and you know, OKC final. Obviously, the Spurs, they they have their own they give them their own problems. I think that Detroit would be an interesting matchup um as well because Detroit leans so heavily into defense. I just don't know who else is going to be able to score regularly. Correct. To go with it, you know, that's that's the problem there for me. Um let's take a look at one more before we get out of here. And this is obviously New York Knicks. Can New York Knicks win it all? Well, of course they can win it all, but in your opinion, the New York Knicks, who are currently trading at um 6.73x, is that is that something that you like for a team to win at all? Do you think that they have what it takes to get it done this year and like have them burn New York City to the ground? It was a weird and interesting shift as far as style of play and it was extremely simple. Hey Carl, become a level of facilitator so that Jaylen Brunson can do his thing later on in the game but just early in the game it's facilitating. A lot of the the situations that have happened have come from that getting wide open threes because he was the number one overall pick for a reason. Carl Towns is extremely talented. The problem is consistency and sometimes he just has issues with making poor decisions. Well, he hasn't been making them. So, if this continues, which has happened over the last six games, actually what, seven now, there is no I I honestly think that they have the easiest path to the NBA championship because OKC probably has to go through Vic, Big Vic and company, while over here on the East, you have them having to go through either Donovan Mitchell, who can either shoot him in or shoot him out of the gym, or go against Detroit, who doesn't have a secondary score. So yeah, the Knicks can definitely win and they have a great path to it considering what they've done seven straight games. Yeah. Like do you do you worry that Carl Anthony Towns turns back into a pumpkin like at midnight? I would be if it wasn't if it didn't h if it happened for two games and then game three it happened and he turned back into pumpkin because we've seen him do that before when he was with Minnesota and even with you know Tom Tibido in New York. It's been seven straight games. So, if he just says, "Huh, maybe I should listen. Maybe I should do this, then I don't think they have an issue." It's just whether or not it stops working. If they get down the series, that's when I think he turns back into a pumpkin and it have to be like a 2-1 3-1 type of situation for him to lose his mind. I I I also wonder if there there's Eastern Conference pressure cuz they're going to be even though like if if if Detroit wins, they're the one seed, but every the the the favorite will be the Knicks because of the way the Knicks did Philly. Like the favorite will be the Knicks. Um, but whomever comes out of that series, it makes me wonder like like do they do they get in their own that's that's my only problem with the Knicks is I do they get in their own way like do they do they do the things do do they do they get out of out of out of out of character? Do do people start trying to do things they haven't been doing before? like is there something different that they start looking to do that that helps them out? There's no there's no value in going against the the Knicks to win it right now. Like because the Knicks are only 14% cuz I'm assuming they they look at OKC and say, "Well, OKC is going to be the overwhelming favorite to win it all." So everybody else is is down there, right? But man, I just hope that the Knicks allow themselves the opportunity to be great. I don't know if they win it all. I think they can win it all. So, I'd be willing to to to, you know, put a put a light investment in this. But, I just hope that they don't they don't get in their way of of being great. Like, if they win, I want someone to beat them. I don't want them to just give it away. 100%. And that's part of the reason why I thought that the Knicks could, you know, get in their own way in that first round series against a hungry, fast, and athletic Hawks team. And they did early. They really got in their way. They lost games because they made poor choices and they allowed a team that wasn't as talented to stick with them. They haven't done it since. And having that new coach who, correct me if I'm wrong, I think a decade and a half ago was coach of the year in the NBA. So, and he's gone through it. He's been on championship teams as an assistant. He's been a head coach in his own right in Sacramento. And that loss to Indiana last year, they feel like they gave that one away in their own mind. They're going to be more serious about this. And I think that whole confluence gets the job done. At least getting out of the East and figuring out if they have the medal for either San Antonio or OKC. Well, I mean, if you think that um that New York or OKC, if you think they're going to win at all, you might as well also bet on them to win the Eastern and Western Conference Championships. And and here's what I'll tell people. It's not as if there's a lot of money in that. They're they're they're less than 2x, but depending upon how much you're you're looking to invest, you can bring back a nice return. There's a reason why people invest in in Microsoft. There's a reason why people invest in Apple because they're they would get return on, you know, their investment even though it's not a a 7x or a 3x or even a 2x, you know, like sometimes if you're investing enough like 30% can be can be quite beneficial. And so when you start thinking about these these markets, the way you think about stocks, not I if if you put a if you put a $1,000 into a stock and it yields you 300, you're excited. Yo, I just got 30% on my money, like I'm excited. I'm yielding 300. Well, that's what a lot of this stuff is. when you when you look at a team that might be trading at like 1.5 or at or at 1.4 like the the opportunity to make money. And that's why you have to go over to the sevenoracles.com and check out all of the tools that we have over there that helps you better invest your money in these quick turnaround type of investments. Not in the long ones, but in those ones that happen like pretty fast. Again, if I'm if I'm investing in in a stock and within a week I I put a thousand in and my thousand turns into,300 in a week, I'm excited. I'm excited. And so that's the way you got to look at it. That's what we help you do over at the sevenoracles.com. That's why you should be over there um you know checking out all of those tools and then deciding if you want to sign up for that for that free you know membership so you can get the full unlocked version of it. The World Cup is coming and ladies and gentlemen we are really going to attack the World Cup because you know I like to make money and you should like to make money as well. So um definitely go check out everything um my boy Chris is doing over there chopping up with CJ. get it wherever you get your podcast from. Give them your socials, um, CJ, so they know where they can find you. I try to keep it nice and simple. It's on the screen, CJ49. You can find me on multiple socials. X is where you really want to follow me. That's where I post a lot of my content that's related to football. It'll be expanding as we go into the NFL season. Right now, I'm doing NFL uh 2026 NFL draft grades right now. I'm going through each division, giving you a breakdown because I want all 257 players who are drafted to get their flowers and just keep up with me that way. As Jean said, you can find me on any platform where you get podcast and I do videos as well. So, you can see my above average face on the screen via X. Above average face. That's it. Just above average. People People don't People be just trying to like humble brag all they want. I see how it goes. Um, you can find me everywhere at Jean Clemens, Coach Jean Clemens. Um, over on YouTube. Follow the the New York Giants on SI YouTube channel. Check out my Giant issue. But definitely go over to the sevenoracles.com. Make sure you subscribe to the Seven Oracles on YouTube. Go over check out the newsletter, see what we writing that day. And then, you know, make sure you're on the website checking out all of the tools and the bells and whistles that we have to help you be better as you navigate your cowies and your poly markets and and your and and all of your prediction marketplaces that you can put down on sports. Hey, even Robin Hood now is getting into the game. You can go in and get and and and do some investing on sports on Robin Hood. So, if you've got a Robin Hood account already and you might have a little a little chicken on there already, put it in the rotisserie, let it do its thing and then drop it back into whatever that investment that you have it in there, whatever h without having to take it out and then put it back into somewhere. So, um always thankful um that we get a chance to come and talk. Always great to talk to you, CJ. Um great, you know, every week. We'll be back next week for another edition of Fade the Field, a Seven Oracles production. Until next time, peace.