This week on Takeline, Ian Begley of SNY talks to Jason and Renee about game 1 of the Hawks/Knicks series (49:30) and Dr. Abdul El-Sayed joins to play a medical themed Take Survivor (1:02:21). Plus, Jason and Renee break down the opening playoff games from the weekend (12:58).

Don’t forget to smash the subscribe button at http://youtube.com/takelineshow for exclusive video clips and to watch ALL CAPS NBA. New episodes every Friday!

 

Transcript

 

Jason Concepcion: On this episode of Takeline, fallout from game one in which the Atlanta Hawks beat the New York Knicks in what was an exciting game until the last moments. Spike Lee don’t dap Trae Young up anymore. Plus more NBA playoff reactions. And SNY insider Ian Begley joins us. Plus Take Survivor with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed! I’m hurting right now. Takeline, right now. I’m Jason Concepcion.

 

Renee Montgomery: I’m Renee Montgomery. Let’s go!

 

Jason Concepcion: OK, so must, we must.

 

Renee Montgomery: Let’s go!

 

Jason Concepcion: We must, unfortunately, begin here with Knicks-Hawks, game one, the four-five match up, Madison Square Garden, nearly capacity crowd of 15,000, the largest public gathering in New York State since the pandemic began. It was loud, it was raucous. And then all of a sudden it was really a lot quieter at the very, very end, as Trae Young put the Hawks ahead, 107:105 is the final. To the, to the victor go the spoils so Renee, go ahead.

 

Renee Montgomery: Let’s go! Listen, OK, let me first start off by saying, yes, I know it was just one game. OK I’ve been an athlete my whole life. Of course, I know it was just one game. However, I believe that this was a big win, not just because it was just one game, but we got a young team that needs confidence. We got a young team, it’s a lot of their first times in the playoffs. So you go to Madison Square Garden, you got Spike Lee on the hardwood doing the the A-town stomp on the hardwood, and you got 15,000 fans when—I just need to remind people—we weren’t even in the bubble. I just have to remind people that in case they forgot that whole atmosphere of the bubble, we weren’t there! So, yes, we’re excited that we’re in the playoffs. We’re playing great in the playoffs, and we stole a game on the road. So I just had to start with that. Let’s go! But I know it’s not over yet. I just am excited. That’s a good, huge win.

 

Jason Concepcion: Listen, that’s fine. Listen, as I said, I’ve said many a time, we’re playing with house money right now. Does it hurt? Yes! Is there pain? Yes! Did I die three times over the course of the last two minutes of that game, and only to be resurrected, only to finally die again when Trae hit that floater, one of many fucking floaters? Yes. OK.

 

Renee Montgomery: But Jason, Ok, can I just ask you something, though, off the top, Jason? I just, you know, I’m just curious.

 

Jason Concepcion: Absolutely. Again, to the victor go the spoils. You can ask anything you want.

 

Renee Montgomery: Was it like as a fan did you guys feel like you guys came together? I mean, all those chance—I even went on Twitter and there was like Trae Young slander. They, they wanted to talk about his hair I guess because his float game was so strong. They’re like, let me attack his hair. What?! Is this the New York way?! Like, did you feel very united with New York because of this, because it felt like ya’ll band together?

 

Jason Concepcion: This is this is what it is. This, it’s the playoffs. This is banter. This is why it’s fun. Right? You know, like listen, Kendrick Perkins was on ESPN today saying that Knicks fans should be more humble about—come on, we’re, everybody’s excited, it was so fun to have a near, like a crowd, a real crowd in an arena.

 

Renee Montgomery: Exactly.

 

Jason Concepcion: Forget where it was. It could have been anywhere. That was just like really fun and great to see. To the slander and the F Trae Young chants that began at the top of the game? You know, I saw people saying, oh that fired him up, don’t poke the—Trae Young doesn’t need that. Trae Young is a great player. It feels so good to hate someone again. I hate Trae Young, but he doesn’t need that inspiration. He didn’t need it. He’s not inspired, he’s not going to go out there and kill us because he heard some chants or because whatever, whatever. It’s playoff time. It’s game one of the playoffs in MSG—he said it was Times Square, it’s many, many blocks from Times Square. He doesn’t even know where it is. It’s fine. That does not get him excited.

 

Renee Montgomery: He was in the building! All he knows was he was in the building and in the postgame interviews—you guys know I cover the Hawks—in the postgame interview, he said on multiple occasions, I don’t forget nothing. So to that like don’t poke the bear thing: yes, he was going to be turned up but it’s like you don’t give players—for example, Diana Taurasi is a bear. And so when I had to guard her, you know, in Minnesota coach Reeve loved to say: Renee, she’s yours, handle it! And I’m like: oh yeah, OK, like I got it coach.

 

Jason Concepcion: Hi, Deanna. How are you today? How is your [laughs]. Did you get a lot of sleep, all that.

 

Renee Montgomery: Exactly. Like: yo, what up baby, blead blue, don’t we, you know, husky—you know, like I ain’t poking that bear. Now will Diana come and give me 25 regardless? Yes, but there is something to poking a bear. So for you got to think about the psyche of a man that just hit the game winner, with 0.9 seconds he goes directly to, and quote “as I hit the floater, I just felt like everybody got quiet.” He said “I was waiting on the F U chance again. I was excited.” That was at the top of his brain, Jason. The top of it!

 

Jason Concepcion: No. The F U chance will be back on Wednesday. Trae Young is a professional basketball player. He’s been hearing—in his own words, by his own words, in various interviews—he’s been hearing hate since he was a kid, since he was in AAU, smallest player on the court.

 

Renee Montgomery: Yep.

 

Jason Concepcion: Talking about how he shouldn’t be out there. He’s heard that his whole career. This is not extra for him. He loves this. There’s a, there’s an argument maybe that it’s too comfortable for him doing that. But like, this is what, this is what a full arena should sound like. This is what a full arena in New York should sound like.

 

Renee Montgomery: This is the stuff that dreams are made of.

 

Jason Concepcion: Yes. And this is, don’t we love it? Aren’t we talking about it right now? Didn’t they lead Sports Center right now?

 

Renee Montgomery: I love it!! Listen, I want you guys to know, we love this ok.

 

Jason Concepcion: Yeah, they love it.

 

Renee Montgomery: Let me just say, I’m happy we won like but I feel like it’s so evenly matched—

 

Jason Concepcion: Oh wow. Spoiler alert! [laughs] Don’t spoil it. Renee, are you happy they won? [laughs]

 

Renee Montgomery: Yeah, just throw it out there. I’m really happy and excited that we won. However, I am very aware that next game I could be sitting in the exact same position, Jason, because we won on a buzzer-beater. Like we won on a floater. It’s not like we handled the New York Knicks. So I just want to say that even though we won, I know that there might be times we don’t win. I’m still going to love it. Like this is what we were yearning for as fans, real playoff atmosphere with fans mad, fans going crazy.

 

Jason Concepcion: This is exactly it.

 

Renee Montgomery: I’m yelling at Jason on the Internet. Like this—

 

Jason Concepcion: That’s what we wanted.

 

Renee Montgomery: This is what we really wanted. So at the end of the day, like, of course, I’m hyped that the Hawks won, but I’m really hyped at what’s happening. Like this is, like sports are really back. Like they’re back now.

 

Jason Concepcion: They’re really back. Let me just say this: I’m not mad at the fans, I love what the fans did. I have some criticisms for Spike. Number one, Knick fans: Spike don’t don’t dap up the opposition, don’t do it.

 

Renee Montgomery: Dap me up bro!!

 

Jason Concepcion: Don’t dap up Trae. Don’t let him touch that, like pioneering film making. Don’t do it. He’s the enemy when he’s in there Spike. Look what he did to us!

 

Renee Montgomery: Good on Spike. We love you, baby! We love you here in A, the Midas touch. Grant you the Midas touch baby!

 

Jason Concepcion: Don’t let him do it! Man, I will say that it, um—just like we said last week, you know, like, yes, the Knicks won three in the regular season against the Hawks, but different team, different coach for a bunch of those games. Trae was injured for the last game. They have the exact same record coming into the playoffs.

 

Renee Montgomery: Crazy.

 

Jason Concepcion: It’s going to be close. It’s going to be nip and tuck and, you know, it’s going to be very, very close.

 

Renee Montgomery: So to that point, like, what adjustments do you guys need to make, though? Like, you know, every team, game one to game to, like we the Hawks have to make adjustments as well. Everybody has to make adjustments. What’s ya’lls for the Knicks.

 

Jason Concepcion: I’ll listen, I was looking up Elfrid Payton, Knick Starter Elfrid Payton’s plus minus for the last couple of weeks. My guy fell off the bottom of—I’m not even kidding. I tweeted it—he fell off the bottom of the screen. His plus minus has been like so—

 

Renee Montgomery: Oh my god, Jason. [laughs]

 

Jason Concepcion: He fell off the bottom of the graph and he came back up a little bit, like a little point and then he fell back down. He looked like Crypto over the last couple of weeks. He is the only starter who did not score. Everybody else scored. And I just think we got to go a different way. It’s time for Derrick, like it’s going to be too close. We can’t, he only played eight minutes, but we can’t give up those eight. It’s time for Derrick Rose to start and we’ll figure out with Quickley and maybe with Frank Nteilikina, you know, figure out the rest of the minutes. But it’s going to be too close to give away those minutes. The other thing is Julius Randle will bounce back somehow. I thought he was, I thought he forced a little bit early and should have looked to maybe play make, but he’s going to figure out a way to get off. I’m not concerned about that, you know, are we going to get another Alec Burks 27-point game again?

 

Renee Montgomery: 18 in the fourth quarter. What is that?!

 

Jason Concepcion: That was nuts. But I think Julius Randle will figure out a way. And listen, Trae, we’re just going to have to throw a bunch of different looks at him. He’s too good to just show him one thing.

 

Renee Montgomery: Agree. That pick and roll . . .

 

Jason Concepcion: It’s, it’s deadly. It’s deadly. His handle is too good and he can shoot it from too far out. It’s just—

 

Renee Montgomery: And speaking of like, spectacular Trae Young in his debut, he finished with 32 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds. That was his playoff debut. LeBron James is the only other player with 30 points, 10 assists and 5 rebounds in their postseason debut. So just to put it in perspective, because sometimes people need to, to see those kind of numbers side by side, Trae Young’s debut night was like literally the stuff people dream of.

 

Jason Concepcion: Yeah, that’s one more thing. You know, the Hawks are just a dangerous, offensive team. They were number nine offense during the season. They have just a bunch of, the gang of people they can shoot 40% from three. Bogdanovic was absolutely nails this game. He, as I said last week, he’s a guy that I’m legitimately scared of. The Knicks did it primarily with offense. They were very scrappy. It’s a bunch of times they could have gone away in that game but they hit big shots. I’d love to see them find that defensive identity again. Listen, you can’t again, Trae—

 

Renee Montgomery: Tom Thibodeau team. I mean, that’s literally what Tom Thibodeau is known for, so I don’t see the defense.

 

Jason Concepcion: So can we reconnect with that? Of course, Trae is just going to be tough, but can we reconnect with that, with that defensive mentality? Because, you know, I think it was a little bit of gravy with the offense. We got again, Alec Burks with 27 points plus 8 over the course of the game. He was hitting like pump and goes, like on the baseline like—

 

Renee Montgomery: It was unbelievable. It was unbelievable. I just, like and that’s another thing. So talking about adjustments, you know, I think for as much as everyone was saying the New York Knicks missed a lot of shots, Bogi missed, Danilo Gallinari missed a lot of shots, Bogi hit the biggest shot of the game when he hit that three pointer with just under a minute left to tie it up at 103.

 

Jason Concepcion: That swung it. [30] That was a game swinging-type of shot.

 

Renee Montgomery: That was a huge play. But before that, it wasn’t like Bogi and Gallo were just on fire. We actually didn’t hit a lot, like a lot of those shots were the second half is what I’ll say. So I’m just excited. Look, that was game one. I’m excited because we got probably six more of those. I just . . .

 

Jason Concepcion: Yeah, it looks like a pick up series, as many have said. It looks, again, exact same record coming in, it’s going to be a long series. My heart can’t take this, much more

 

Renee Montgomery: Let go!

 

Renee Montgomery: So as we know, we could talk about it all day because the Knicks and Hawks series might be the one that you and I are watching that closest, Jason. But there were definitely some other great games all weekend. You know, the first round of the playoffs did not disappoint. So let’s start with the Bucks and the Heat. Another finals last second shot from Khris Middleton, a little dribble to the right, uh step back, cash money to leave Milwaukee over Miami. What are your thoughts? What are we thinking?

 

Jason Concepcion: I think that it was a real battle and it seemed like one of those games where, uh oh, the Bucks are a little scared again or just a little shaky coming out of the gate. But I’m really impressed with the Bucks, this win.

 

Renee Montgomery: Really?

 

Jason Concepcion: Number one, Middleton being the guy who gets the shot at the end. And the second thing is they shot five for 31 from three and they won that game. Do you know how many times they’ve won a game where they’ve shot that percentage.

 

Renee Montgomery: How much.

 

Jason Concepcion: None because it never happened. This is the worst three-point shooting game that they’ve shot all season and they won. That’s huge to me. That shows that this team is kind of like has a different kind of spine than they have had in previous incarnations. I really love that they won that game. I’m not saying that the Heat are going to just go away. That is absolutely not the case that Erik Spoelstra coached team in a Pat Riley run franchise, and with Jimmy Butler on that squad and Goran Dragic, and the guys they have. But that was a huge marker for me, for them winning that game, what did you think?

 

Renee Montgomery: OK, so you don’t care that they’re like, the higher seed won by two points?

 

Jason Concepcion: I don’t, because again, that five for 31. And then to come back and win it.

 

Renee Montgomery: OK, but that five, for 31, I will raise you a Butler finishing with 17 points, four for 22 shooting from the field. I don’t know, to me that is very rare as well because we know Jimmy Buckets is called Jimmy Buckets for a reason. So to me those two things could pretty much, let’s say, offset each other and shouts to Giannis who was the primary defender on Butler for thirty two possessions as opposed to ten possessions in their entire series last year. But to me I guess when you get to the playoffs, you know it was different. I had a different mindset like when we were the number one team in Minnesota, our first couple of rounds we wanted people to know we are the number one seed. We wanted our play to show it. We wanted the score to reflect it. We wanted to show that, look, there’s a difference here because it sets the tone. Like to me, look, and I get it, it’s so evenly matched in the NBA, but a 109-107 win, Milwaukee over Miami. I mean, that’s . . .

 

Jason Concepcion: But let me ask you this. OK, so the Heat are not your typical lower seed, right? This is like, this is somewhat of a rivalry. This is a team that the Bucks have history with. This will be like, you know, if the Sparks fell because of injuries or whatever, fell to a lower season, then you play them. Yes, you’re the number one, but you’re also looking at them as a different type of team. And I feel like all the underlying stats, if you didn’t show somebody the score and said the Bucks play the Heat game one, they shot five for 31, what do you think happened? I think you’d think the Heat won that game.

 

Renee Montgomery: But you would have to mention that Jimmy Butler went four for 22.

 

Jason Concepcion: That’s true.

 

Renee Montgomery: If you told them, if you told people those two stat lines, I think that people would not know what happened because everyone knows that this Miami team goes where Jimmy Butler goes. So if Jimmy Butler, while he had 17 points, four for 22 is a tough night, like period.

 

Jason Concepcion: That said people have been asking season after season, when are they going to unleash Giannis as a defender and all that length and all that athleticism and when are they going to put him on the other team’s primary scorer. They did it.

 

Renee Montgomery: They did it and shouts the Giannis because the superstars you know like a lot of times there’s that idea to rest the superstars. You don’t want them to guard the other superstar because you need them on offense. So shouts to Giannis for taking that step and being like yo I have to lock him down. You gave an example about the Sparks. Well honestly the Lakers are kind of that example in a sense of they’ve been hurt all year. Everybody thought bow, they’re just going to turn it on for the playoffs, it’s going to be amazing because guess what, they’re the Lakers. But you’re saying that that’s what should happen with Miami and it just doesn’t happen that way. Your season record is for a reason. That’s how the team has been performing. And so let’s move on to the Lakers and Phoenix where Phoenix beat them 99-90 but the real problem is the Lakers play pretty much the same way they played, but you’re playing a good team now and it just there’s no on and off switch. I know that some players have on and off switches. I firmly believe it. I’ve seen players just flip the switch and I’m like, whoa. But teams? That’s different.

 

Jason Concepcion: I agree with you. I think part of the problem is with that on and off switch mentality, that idea is you can have an on and off switch if you, if you’ve got a group that has played together a lot.

 

Renee Montgomery: Yep.

 

Jason Concepcion: This Lakers team is not a group that has played together a lot or even you could argue a little. They’ve got a lot of new faces. James has been out. He had the longest injury stretch of his entire career. Davis was in and out of the lineup. They bring in Andre Drummond as a new face. And it’s, the results are not confidence inspiring, first of all. Big ups to Phoenix who won and have been one of the great stories of the season, Chris Paul cementing his place, as you know, top four, top three point guard all time. He took a knock, had a shoulder injury, left the game, came back, played, didn’t look himself, was really favoring that left hand a lot. But still. Devin Booker, thirty four points, picked up the pace. Chris Paul still had eight assists, still played good defense. And I got to say, was it just me or did DeAndre Ayton look like he played really solid defense against Anthony Davis.

 

Renee Montgomery: Yeah. No. 100.

 

Jason Concepcion: Now listen, I’m not saying Anthony Davis, Anthony Davis has the talent to overcome any kind of defense, but DeAndre Ayton was up in his jersey bothering him with length for a lot of that game and Davis came away with thirteen points, five of sixteen from the field, did have three blocks, was it minus eighteen in the game. Man that was, that was really concerning if you’re a Laker fan.

 

Renee Montgomery: But I mean Jason, to that point, Davis even said to himself, like, we’re not going to win a lot of games with me playing like that. You know, so he acknowledged that he definitely didn’t play his best. But to your point, DeAndre, you have to give people credit sometimes. I’m sure there were a lot of shots in there that Anthony Davis on any other circumstance would make it. So he probably missed a lot of his makeable shots. But you also have to give credit where credit is due. DeAndre Ayton just didn’t make it easy on him.

 

Jason Concepcion: He played well.

 

Renee Montgomery: He played really hard. He did it make it easy on them. And to that point, you know you talked about the plus minuses, LeBron was the only one with a positive plus minus. I’m not really into those, like those numbers can be skewed if you’re on the court with, depending on him. Yes, but that is telling that when LeBron is on the court that a plus two team, when Anthony Davis is on the court, there are minus eighteen. But Kyle Kuzma zero points in nineteen minutes. I mean that’s, that’s a pretty that’s a pretty loud stat. Everyone’s talking about Andre Drummond and can he a part of it.

 

Jason Concepcion: That can’t happen.

 

Renee Montgomery: But if you have somebody playing nineteen minutes and they give you a goose egg, that’s tough, that’s tough to overcome. That’s a lot of minutes.

 

Jason Concepcion: That absolutely can’t happen.

 

Renee Montgomery: You’re over here trying to bench Payne after eight minutes of no production. Come on Kuzma!

 

Jason Concepcion: OK let’s talk about, this has been a big point of conversation amongst Laker fans, amongst the media: Andre Drummond, Lakers brought him in at the trade deadline. They are starting him alongside Davis, a two big line up and I got, it just is, for whatever kind of benefits that you’re thinking you’re getting rim protection, shot blocking, another big, overwhelm a team with size, you get that extra rebounding—it does not look to be working. I would argue that Drummond is doing a better job of guarding the Lakers than he is guarding Phoenix because the spacing is all clogged up. They don’t have the same kind of driving lanes. You push Davis farther out on the court. Now, he can do that, right? He can do that. But that’s not exactly where you would want to play him. You want that whole side of the court open for him to roam. And, man, it just does not look like it’s working. One, Renee, what do you think? And two, if from a player perspective, right, something’s not working. It’s playoff time. How do you, how do you approach that player and say, OK, we got to try something different, especially a player of Drummond’s cache who has been a name player in the league?

 

Renee Montgomery: There’s two parts to it. It’s tough because the NBA has just a new mold and we all know what that mold is, is like three point is king. And so everything that teams are trying to do is how can we spread the floor? How can we get spacing? How can we drive, get a layup or drive, get a dunk or drive and get a kick to a three? Like that, literally the analytics of the NBA. So when you’re a player that just doesn’t fit into that mold, like Andre Drummond, he’s, my gosh, [?] blue UConn husky, it’s so tough for the traditional big right now because there’s just not a place for them. There’s the new style where you see a Joker and you see Joel Embiid, what do they have in common? They’re big men that have skill sets of a guard That’s the new wave. That’s what you have to do. A Rudy Gobert, Andre Drummond—those bigs, it’s just not the way of the NBA right now. The analytics and how it’s fallen. And so how do you talk to a player like that. Look you got to bring them to the side and be like, hey listen, we’re trying to do something big. We’re trying to win a championship and the numbers just aren’t adding up. Look at the numbers when you’re in the lineup. Look at our numbers when we have this lineup. Look at the analytics. When you’re on the court, you know, you have to take one for the team in a sense of your minutes might be limited, but you might get a championship out of it. Like that’s how you have to talk to players. I mean, we, he knows now, you know, he got sat in Cleveland for X amount of time until they could move him somewhere else. And I think that’s a problem. It shouldn’t happen that way. But it’s because people don’t necessarily know what to do with the traditional big anymore. And you just got to be real with them, like bro, we’re trying to win a championship and teams are guarding us a certain way when you’re on the court. So when you’re out there, you know, we can still start em and we might pull them five minutes into it, but it’s, when you’re out there, make the most of it, do your thing, don’t change your game. But just as far as minutes-wise? They might be less, moving forward,

 

Jason Concepcion: Man, all I can think is Marc Gasol must have like hit Frank Vogel’s car or something? I don’t know what he did. I don’t know what he did, but he can’t find the court with Google Maps.

 

[ad break]

 

Jason Concepcion: So there’s a little bit of controversy with this Utah-Memphis game, Utah, as we know, lost by three to Memphis, 112 to 109. But Donovan Mitchell, like this is [garbled] Ok. But let me start, let me set it up. I like where this is going. Before the game he said, look, I feel good. There’s always going to be some soreness, but I’m ready to go tonight. No pain. I’m excited to get going. And then after the game, Spida Mitchell says sorry, y’all, I wish I could say more, I’ll be out there soon. We know now, since there’s some things happening, you know, break it. Look, Jason, you have some theories, so I would love to hear what happened with this Utah-Memphis situation and what happened with Donovan Mitchell?

 

Jason Concepcion: I’m going to lay out a conspiracy theory that is not even really that far-fetched. And you tell me what you think. OK. Utah is the number one seed, defensive powerhouse, hit a bunch of threes. They got a lot of players hitting on all cylinders right now. They got a bench headlined by Jordan Clarkson, Joe Ingles, you know, they got the best rim protector in the league. I think they looked across the bracket, they saw the Grizzlies limp into the playoffs, have to, have to fight through the play-in get there, and I think they thought, OK, Mitchell is coming off the ankle sprain, maybe we can steal another day, day and a half of rest here, we’re going to roll over this eighth seed that, that is probably a little winded after coming through the play-in to get here. And we’re at home. We’re at altitude at home. And so let’s get a little cute. I think we win this game without Donovan Mitchell. And I think that bit them. That’s personally what I think.

 

Renee Montgomery: Ah, so you think the team made a business decision that I think we can beat Memphis without Donovan. So let’s get him one more game of a rest. He’ll be back out there. Just give him a little bit more rest? OK.

 

Jason Concepcion: And I think they sold it to Donovan because, listen, if if Donovan Mitchell wanted to play and was like, I’m playing, I don’t know that I buy that the Utah Jazz hold firm and go absolutely not. If we take this, the pregame quote to be factual, I feel good, always going to be soreness, I’m ready to go tonight—I think if Mitchell pushed the issue, they let him play. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s how I feel.

 

Renee Montgomery: So. So you’re saying that you think he just found out? He just found out and was like basically they were like—

 

Jason Concepcion: I think they sold it to him and I think he agreed with it. I think if, I think if they came to him and said, listen, we can beat these guys, I think we got them, like we’re at home. Rudy, everybody’s ready to go. Why don’t you just sit this one? We’re going to win the series. We’re going to win this game, sit this one out. It’ll be fine. And I think it just bit. And I, because I honestly feel like if Donovan Mitchell was like, no, I’m going, then he would have went and guess what happened? It turns out the Grizzlies aren’t grizzlies. They’re freakin dogs. Because—

 

Renee Montgomery: Shouts to the Memphis Grizzlies, man, because, you know, that’s another thing, I had to make sure, because a lot of times in TV and we are basically TV, it’ll be like if there’s the number one seed, no matter what the lower seed does, you always talk about the number one seed. So let me switch gears a little bit. Come on, Brooks. Thirty one points, thirteen for twenty six from the floor, but what I love is he’s, in his post game, he said they just had some guys out there that couldn’t guard me. Like, woooooh!

 

Jason Concepcion: I get tired watching him. He makes me tired because, man, he’s the type of player that I, if I was, like, in an alley with him, I’d be like, man, I’m about to get mugged and scored on. He is just nonstop on both sides. He in people’s jersey on the defensive side and then on offense this guy just does not stop working you. Working you, working you, working you. It’s unreal.

 

Renee Montgomery: Brooks and Ja Morant, I’m telling you that, that the way they play with this chip on their shoulder, this underdog mentality, embrace and look, the thing about it is these players watch the news. I said earlier with Trae Young and all of them. If you wonder why these guys be gassed up in the game and they you see them turnt up, they watched First Take, they watched all of these different shows that may have opinions about the game. So if you see the players like you could clearly tell and this is a fact, literally all of the ESPN analysts other than one—shouts to Monta McNutt—everyone said that they were going to lose in every single round. And so if you wonder why they’re running around crazy, why their turnt up, why they’re going off—players, like that’s chalkboard stuff, like players take that to heart. And so for me, when you see him say, yeah, there’s some guys out there just couldn’t guard me, that’s him letting people know next time y’all talk about our game and talk about this awesome defense, you better let them know that there’s guys that can’t guard us.

 

Jason Concepcion: They cannot, they could not—and that’s the other thing. Listen, yes. Donovan Mitchell was not in the game.

 

Renee Montgomery: Right.

 

Jason Concepcion: You are, you’re a top defense in this league for years. Rudy Gobert is a, is a number one defense in a box. He is a number one rim protector.

 

Renee Montgomery: Supposed to defensive player of the year.

 

Jason Concepcion: Come on.

 

Renee Montgomery: Clint Capela didn’t even make the finalist!

 

Jason Concepcion: You have people who really know basketball who whose opinions I absolutely respect who can make dark horse MVP candidates for Rudy Gobert because that’s how much he embodies their defensive ethos and their ability. Why couldn’t they stop anybody. Why couldn’t they stop Dillon Brooks. Why couldn’t they od that?

 

Renee Montgomery: These are questions that need to be answered. Clint Capela was not a finalist and I only say that because he’s number one in rebounds at the end of the season, you know because halfway through the season people are like Oh yeah you’re a low-ranked team. We ended up the number five team. He’s the number one in rebounding, number three in block shots. I’m not saying he should have necessarily won, but how is that not a finalist?

 

Jason Concepcion: I mean he, he gave, he gave the Knicks a lot of problems. I’ll just say that.

 

Renee Montgomery: That’s what he does on a normal basis.

 

Jason Concepcion: He gave, he have the Knicks a lot of pro—.

 

Renee Montgomery: I’m just saying, you know, how when people tell you to put up or shut up? OK, Utah, you’re the number, like you’re the top team for a reason.

 

Jason Concepcion: Renee, I wanted to ask you about this, so Brian Windhorst wrote a piece today, and in it he writes, quote “Utah jazz star Donovan Mitchell was incensed at the late decision to scratch him from Sunday’s playoff opener and it deepened tensions with the team regarding his recovery from right ankle sprain sources told ESPN.” that source is probably named Onovan Itchell. You expect Donovan to play in game two now, right?

 

Renee Montgomery: Uh. Yeah. Yeah, I would expect that Donovan’s going to play in game two. Also, so to your point, I do think that it was probably told this way. First of all, players want to play. So Donovan Mitchell, I believe he missed 16 regular season games before missing that one. So knowing how long he’s been out, I can pretty much assume that he was really hyped to play. First of all, there’s advertisements all over TV. He wants to be a part of the action. It’s the playoffs. It’s the whole thing you’ve been playing for all season long. But to your point, I do think probably the medical staff was like, yo, if we could get you to, look, imagine this, you don’t play in this game. There’s three games until the next game after that. So we would be able to get you five more days of rest. You know, I could just see how the conversation went. So Donovan Mitchell probably was like, I want to play, but all right, whatever, man. Like, I get you. And then when they lost, when they dropped—

 

Jason Concepcion: Now you’re mad, now you’re mad.

 

Renee Montgomery: Now he’s big, mad. And I get because he’s like, so I was ready to go, let me get this straight. I was ready to go. I literally said I feel good. Of course it’s going to be a little sore, but I’m ready to roll tonight. I’m excited to get going. You guys tell me to sit out and now we’re 0-1. Why is that a big deal? Because players understand games matter and everybody can be like, oh, it’s just one game. But if anybody, that listening has ever been in a series, which I’ve been in the series before, a five game series with L.A. Sparks. Getting those three wins are like the hardest thing ever. So when you say it’s just one game, I remember every single game. It’s like those forty minutes are the longest minutes ever. And it’s like you break it down by four minute periods and you just break the game down so much that you would never just say it’s just one game. Donovan Mitchell, get’s that.

 

Jason Concepcion: You can’t give it away like that. OK, let’s go to a number 4, Los Angeles Clippers versus number 5, Jason Gallagher’s team, the Dallas Mavericks. And let me just say this. Patrick Beverley cannot guard Luka Doncic. When Luca Doncic did the he’s too small thing.

 

Renee Montgomery: Yeah, that interesting.

 

Jason Concepcion: He is absolutely right. Luca is just too big and too much of a load for, but I was shocked at this at this final score, like, come on, the Clippers, you got Kawhi and you got Paul George. And from game to game, the Mavericks don’t know who their number two scorer is going to be. But man, Luca Doncic is a load.

 

Renee Montgomery: You know, last year we all remember what happened in the bubble with the Clippers and their whole thing this year was we are not that same Clippers team. I mean everything about what they were doing. The players are even practicing now. I remember somebody said something like last year, the whole team only practiced together like three times, which is pretty wild. But with load management and, you know, different things going on, I can believe it. So this year they’re like, all right, we’re actually going to practice. We’re actually going to practice together. We’re not going to be that same team. But it’s scary because it’s looking like that same team that in the bubble was unstable, was not solid. And what I mean by solid is Kawhi had twenty six points and that’s why you can’t always look at stats. Kawhi had twenty six points. He was nine for twenty two, ten rebounds, five assists but the impact felt in the game. Paul George, twenty three points, eight for eighteen, six rebounds, five assists, but it’s the impact felt in the game. I felt like Kawhi and Paul George should have controlled the game. I mean if you ask who’s the best players in that game before the game, people would have mentioned their names and they didn’t play bad. Don’t get me wrong. But the story of the game was Luca Doncic.

 

Jason Concepcion: Two of the best two way wings in the league, certainly over the last several years. And I just think those two guys need to be much more involved in trying to stop Luka from going for thirty one points, ten rebounds and eleven assists, because he just did whatever he wanted to do, got wherever he wanted to go.

 

Renee Montgomery: And that’s a part of being a good player.

 

Jason Concepcion: Yeah, he people forget he is LeBron James’ size. Like he is a big guy. And I think he’s just he’s just too big for Pat Beverley. Like they got to put wings on him.

 

Renee Montgomery: But the same way we just talked about, Giannis taken that on himself, that he’s like, all right, look, I’m going to guard Butler. Well, we have to see Kawhi or Paul George be like, look, I’m going to take the assignment of guarding Luca. We can alternate it, but we can’t let Luca go eleven for twenty four, get ten rebounds, eleven assists, his third career postseason triple double—like just those guys have to just decide, like it’s not like we’re asking non-defenders to just all of a sudden be defenders. These are well known to-way players so for me they just have to stand up. Like you have to just decide, you know, tonight it’s not going to happen. And when I say tonight, game two is set for Tuesday night at 7:30 on TNT, they have to decide like it aint happening tonight. Like that just has to be something they decide within.

 

Jason Concepcion: Next, Boston 93, Brooklyn Nets 104. I got to say, first of all, we expected, this is, we don’t need to talk about this too much, this is an absolutely expected outcome. I will say as a New York Knicks fan, I found it quite humorous that as the Knicks sold out Madison Square Garden, James Harden starred in a social video for the Nets where he was like, hey, use promo code Nets basketball for great seats. But we expected this, Boston is down a star. Jayson Tatum struggled a little bit and the Nets just have too much firepower. Right? This is going to be probably a sweep.

 

Renee Montgomery: This is like Brooklyn looking like a top team. That’s all it is. Moving on to the next round. But what do you think about this? Portland-Denver now? Portland 123, Denver, 109. We talked about this. We talked about it in the play, we actually talked about this in the play-in game scenario, but we said the same sentiments. No one wants to see Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum in any type of playoff post game. It’s Daim time. Like, you know how the fourth quarter is supposed to be Daim time. Well, all postseason feels like Daim time. That’s just not who you want to match up. What are your thoughts?

 

Jason Concepcion: If you’re Denver, this can’t happen. Like I understand Jamal Murray lost for the season with that really, really tough knee injury. But like Michael Porter, Junior has been, this guy has taken the leap in the absence of Jamal Murray. You still have Yokich, who was feasting offensively. I told you the take that Daim ruins the playoffs every single year because they beat a team that they shouldn’t beat, and then they go forward and they get stomped. But, man. I was, I was, I was really surprised at this outcome, I was shocked.

 

Renee Montgomery: I mean, I think a lot of people were and I think a lot of people weren’t.

 

Jason Concepcion: Not that they would win, but 123-109? Come on.

 

Renee Montgomery: No, that’s a whupping. That’s like. They got whupped. But now when we talk about MVP talk, does that change things? I mean, should the MVP’s higher ranked team take a whupping like that? I mean, that’s, and I’ll grant you, is not a one man team, a one man show, but a lot of times when they talk about All Star, they talk about these end of the year awards, it’s how well is your team doing? This is an MVP candidate in the Joker, grant you he played great, thirty four points, sixteen rebounds, one assist. That’s the part to me: one assist. That’s one of his strongest skill sets. We talk about his passing. The one assist is what’s interesting to me.

 

Jason Concepcion: He was passing the ball. You know, he you here’s where the Jamal Murray thing comes in, he has less targets. That said, I wouldn’t change it because it is a regular season award. Obviously, this isn’t ideal. Obviously, we’re overreacting to game ones. I’m overreacting to the Knicks lost.

 

Renee Montgomery: Just so people understand.

 

Jason Concepcion: This is what we do. We got to overreact. But listen, there is precedent for this. Dirk Nowitzki famously won the MVP award and then got stomped out in the playoffs, its regular season award. I don’t change my mind.

 

Renee Montgomery: Oh, wait. So you thought the Joker should be the regular season MVP anyway?

 

Jason Concepcion: I think he should be the MVP, I think he’s, he’s my MVP.

 

Renee Montgomery: You know what, I think if we ran the tape, it’s actually interesting because at the time that we asked, I picked Damian Lillard, I was like if we had to pick it today I had picked Damian Lillard just because I mean his numbers are out of this world. Again, I don’t know why he always ends up falling off the list. It’s like the list ever evolves and then it’s like certain players just are no longer on there. But I mean Damian Lillard is one of those guys that he’s been killing it to that point. It if the Joker gets stomped out in the playoffs, that’s just not a good look. But it doesn’t matter when it comes to Player of the Year. But what do you think about Philly and D.C.? The Washington Wizards, Philadelphia Seventy Sixers, 125 The Wizards, 118. I mean, Bill and Westbrook were on a tear, you know, and hit just a really good team. What are your thoughts?

 

Jason Concepcion: So first of all, shout out to the Washington Wizards on an amazing turnaround to the season, on getting into the playoffs, on proving a lot of people wrong on this game, which was a lot closer than many people expected, including myself. I think they had a lead at halftime, if I’m not mistaken. But Philly has too many weapons. They’re too good. They got [?] into foul trouble early and that played a big role. Maybe if they can continue to [?] into foul trouble, maybe these are the next three games are close. But I expect Philly to romp, either a sweep or a five game series. What do you think?

 

Renee Montgomery: Yeah, I think that, you know, Philly is a good team. And this is what I mean by if you’re a good team and you want people to know it, you need to handle teams that, you should beat the teams you’re supposed to beat. They say this during the regular season. If you’re a higher seed, you should beat the club that you should beat. And I think it’s no different in the playoffs. It was a close game. I think it was a very winnable game for DC, in a sense of—

 

Jason Concepcion: It was winnable, extremely winnable.

 

Renee Montgomery: Extremely winnable. And I don’t know if I was the seventy Sixers, I’d be a little alarmed by that. But what really hurt the Wizards is six turnovers from Russell Westbrook at very key times. That’s for the whole game. He had six. But Bradley Beal also had six turnovers. That’s not to mention that Joel Embiid had five of his own, but when you have two of your main guys with twelve turnovers and some of them being in crunch time . . .

 

Jason Concepcion: Russ had that step on the line where he bobbled the ball and that that was just, ugh. It was crushing.

 

Renee Montgomery: But to that point, if you’re the Wizards, you watch back the tape, you start to see, wait a minute guys, we’re in this game.

 

Jason Concepcion: Right? We clean this up a little bit. But that said, there’s a lot of things that I don’t know how replicable they are. It really feels like if you’re Washington, you really wasted one here. Like you needed this one.

 

Renee Montgomery: That was the one. That was the one. Joel Embiid in foul trouble. It was the perfect storm. And he still got, and by the way Joel Embiid was in foul trouble, he still ended up dropping thirty points, six rebounds, three assists, so he’s just that again another MVP candidate that willed his team the win. But yeah I think that if, if the Wizards had like their shot at the surprise game, that was the one.

 

Jason Concepcion: It was that. Well it’s been an incredibly fun first week in the playoffs, except for the game on Sunday which I will stop talking about.

 

Renee Montgomery: Let’s go!

 

Jason Concepcion: I just can’t wait for the rest of the games this week, Renee. I can’t wait to talk about them as we head to the finals.

 

Renee Montgomery: Yes.

 

Jason Concepcion: He’s SNY’s NBA insider, he’s been a part of my life for a long time, he’s been covering the New York Knicks for years, he’s the host of the NBA digital show The Put Back—go check it out. Ian Begley, welcome to Takeline. It’s great to see you.

 

Ian Begley: Great to be with you guys. And it’s so fitting. We have a diehard Knick fan and a Hawks enthusiast on the other side. So this is great.

 

Renee Montgomery: You better.

 

Jason Concepcion: First question, and it’s an important one Ian: how do we trick Elfrid Payton into thinking the game is Thursday. What can do? Can we change his clocks? Can we change all the clocks in the facility? How can we get him to not show up to the arena on Wednesday.

 

Ian Begley: Jason, it’s amazing because you know, throughout the course of the year I understood why fans wanted to see other players start at point guard and I always thought, well, they’re winning, so why change it? And then last 20 games of the regular season, Peyton just seemed to get worse and worse. And, you know, I feel for him because it seems like the struggle, the momentum towards struggling, it’s hard to get out of that. And he just, he was a non-factor game one. I have to think Tom Thibodeau at least thinks about tweaking his starting lineup going into game two. And I also have to think that Frank Ntilikina maybe get some more minutes defending Trae Young earlier on in game two, based on what we saw on Sunday.

 

Renee Montgomery: How big of a deal is it that the Hawks stole game one at MSG, where home court advantage, as we know, is huge in the playoffs, especially for a team like ours who has won 12 straight home games?

 

Ian Begley: Yeah, I wasn’t that surprised by it. I mean, I just think these teams are evenly matched. I knew that the Knicks were going to have a tough time over the course of this series with Trae Young and the Hawks shooting and Clint Capela, so I wasn’t that surprised but it. If they lose game two on Wednesday, that’s when you’re going to start to see people hitting the panic button. That’s when you’re going to start to see Jason losing his mind a little bit. It’s going to get ugly. But I’m not surprised that they lost game one. I mean, they were right there. You know, you could say that RJ Barret, he tipped the pass and it went right to Bogdanovic, Bogdanovic at the three, like—

 

Renee Montgomery: Biggest play of the game.

 

Jason Concepcion: Yeah. it haunts me still

 

Ian Begley: It could have just gone the other way. So I wasn’t that stunned by it.

 

Jason Concepcion: Ian, the Knicks under Tom Thibodeau I’ve really developed this kind of like defensive identity. Now the Hawks are a very combustible offensive team. Trae Young, Bogdanovich, Danilo Gallinari was one of seven but he’s shooting north of forty percent from three over the course of the season—it felt like the Knicks stayed in it primarily through some really surprising offense from Alec Burks, who just went off in shocking fashion. It, can the Knicks get back to that defensive identity against this team?

 

Ian Begley: You know, I don’t think so. I don’t think they’re going to play that elite level defense that we saw over the course of the regular season, because this Hawks team is just clicking so well offensively. And the Knicks just they don’t have that person out to come in and send somebody on Trae Young and try to slow him down. It’s going to be a group effort and I don’t think they’re going to be successful, you know, as often as they’d like to because Atlanta is so talented. So I think if you’re Renee, Renee, if I were you, I’d be so happy that the Knicks, you know, Derrick Rose—

 

Renee Montgomery: Oh, Ian, you have no idea!

 

Ian Begley: Derrick Rose was like, had played a great game. Alec Burks is out of his mind. They even got stuff from Obi Toppin and they got production from Quickley, and they still lost the game. So to me, like the Hawks have to be feeling pretty good based on how the game unfolded and the idea that they got the win.

 

Renee Montgomery: Well, you know, we feel great, thank you for asking, Ian, and I feel great over here. We feel great in Atlanta, but we’re not naive to think that we’ve won the series just off a first game. So what do you think it looks like for Julius Randle to get back on track? Because as we know, he’s going to get most improved player. There’s no way he doesn’t get it. He’s been a monster all season long. That was the first game that we’ve seen him look a little human. So what should we expect from a Julius Randle game 2.

 

Ian Begley: I think he’ll take the same shots. And if he doesn’t take the same shots, I think that’s a problem for the Knicks, because just from my vantage point, the shots that he was missing on Sunday were shots that he has taken all year. And more often than not, he’s made those shots. So I think you want to see him take the same shots if you’re the Knicks. And also get rid of the ball a little bit quicker when a double team comes. There were a couple of possessions, particularly late in that third quarter, back to back possessions, where he struggled against an extra defender. And Lou Williams took advantage on the other end. That was really a big sequence in that game. And so Randle has been so good all year, surveying the defense, finding open teammates, especially when a team throws a second defender at him. And he wasn’t the same on Sunday. So I think if he gets back to that going into game two, that would be a good development for the Knicks.

 

Jason Concepcion: Finally, Ian, before we ask you about the put back, some predictions in this series, what do you expect to see? It is going to be, I think, very close. These teams have the exact same record coming in. I think the fact that the Knicks won three games over the Hawks this season, 3-0 during the regular season a little, is a little bit of fool’s gold. That was a different team before Nate McMillan came in. The last game Trae Young had the injury. What do you expect to see over the course of this series?

 

Ian Begley: My big prediction actually for game three, Jason, is I think we’re going to see Renee courtside, [laughter] and I think something tells me Rene is going to start an “F Julius Randle” chant to get back at the Garden crowd for what happened on Sunday.

 

Renee Montgomery: [laughs] I love this guy!

 

Ian Begley: That’s my boldest prediction. as far as the rest of the series, I mean, it’s a four-five series. This is, this seems like a great matchup. So I think that we’re going to go six, maybe seven. And if we don’t go six or seven and the Hawks really take control of this thing, the Knicks are going to have a lot of questions moving forward. Not to say that they didn’t have a great season, but if things play out where Randle doesn’t play his best and you know, they’re exposed that the lead guard, they’re going to have a lot more questions going into that off season and how they’re building this roster out.

 

Jason Concepcion: One more question about that. Just let’s say that Julius Randle, I expect him to bounce better.

 

Ian Begley: So do I.

 

Jason Concepcion: But if his game one becomes the theme, you know, sports is a ruthless business. Do the Knicks look at extending Randle differently after that?

 

Ian Begley: I think that maybe the numbers change, but I would think that the idea of extending them remains the same. I think he showed you over the course of the season that what he’s doing is not a fluke. So if he struggles in four or five, six games shooting the ball, that tells you something because it’s the playoffs and it’s a big stage. But I don’t think you shift everything based on that. Maybe it just changes the amount of the contract. But I think it also maybe changes the way that you build around Julius Randle and who you look to put alongside him, maybe not above him, but alongside, maybe different players. Because if you think that you can run your offense through Julius Randle regularly, that maybe you look at a different type of point guard. But if you’re not as sure about that, then it causes you to look elsewhere for maybe a more ball dominant point guard. So I think the Knicks can learn a lot about what they want to do moving forward based on what happens in the series. But, Jason, I’m with you. I think Julius Randle I mean, the body of work this year is too strong. I think he’s going to bounce back.

 

Renee Montgomery: No, I agree. He’s, like I said, the clear favorite for most improved. Now, if we could just flip that script a little bit. OK, so the Hawks, we won game one, but if we were hypothetically, I would never want to see this to lose, given all the weapons we had, what we’ve done in the off season, what does—and especially the incredible job that coach Nate McMillan has done, I mean, unbelievable—what do you see Atlanta’s future?

 

Ian Begley: Yeah, I think it’s bright. I mean, you look at the way that this team has played since March 1st when Nate McMillan took over. And I guess this is how Travis Schlink and everybody envisioned it when they made the moves they made in the off season. Obviously, they got crushed by injuries earlier in the season. So I don’t think it’s fair to put everything on Nate McMillan coaching well, and look at what Lloyd Peirce wasn’t doing. I don’t think that’s fair. But the idea that, it’s Trey Young and it’s great shooting and there’s a rim protector and Clint Capela, I mean it just makes sense. I think the questions you have to answer is what do you do with John Collins? Do you rehire Nate McMillan—which I mean I think they should, I think it’s a no brainer. And where do you fill out the back end of the rotation. But the big questions to me have been answered here based on how the Hawks have looked over the past few months. It’s just an ideal roster around Trae Young. Just let him go, let him score, let him create. And that’s what we’ve seen from Atlanta.

 

Renee Montgomery: Ooooh, let’s go!

 

Jason Concepcion: I’d like to see a little less of it over the course of the series. Finally, what can we expect next on the Putback?

 

Ian Begley: So we will be just doing live shows throughout the postseason. So Jason, I think you hope that maybe we get two live shows in over the course of this series. Renee, I think you’re hoping we get maybe one more in and then we call it a night, but we’re doing some live shows. And then after the playoffs, we’ll be looking at the off season, the draft free agency, all that fun stuff.

 

Jason Concepcion: He’s SNY NBA insider for the Knicks and the Nets, Ian Bagley. Thanks, man, for joining Takeline.

 

Renee Montgomery: Yes, Ian!

 

Ian Begley: Thank you, guys. Great to be with you.

 

[ad break]

 

[Take Survivor]

 

Renee Montgomery: This time for Buzzer Beater. When we talk the stories that we didn’t cover in the show because the time. Jason, I’m a let you handle this.

 

Jason Concepcion: OK, so we both picked Julio Jones calling into Undisputed with Shannon Sharpe and Lizard man Skip Bayless. So this happened this morning. We’re taping this on a Monday during the live broadcast of Undisputed, Shannon Sharpe appeared to call Atlanta Falcons receiver Julio Jones and asked Jones about the current trade rumors that are swirling around, while on speakerphone during this time Shannon has Julio on and he never mentions that they are on live TV, this caused a lot of conversation about speaker phone etiquette, back and forth. That said man, there are actually like lawyer legal implications, as you well know, on whenever someone comes on a program. There need to be releases, they need to be informed, there’s all sorts of phone calls.

 

Renee Montgomery: But do you think he knew? Because don’t you think he knew? You think he knew.

 

Jason Concepcion: You think he had to know, I think that there’s no world in which he didn’t know. That said, I think that there is there’s a universe in which Shannon and texts Julio and then assumes that Julio would think, OK, what else would I be texting him for? Well, you know what I mean? Like and then when he makes the call and Skip is in the background saying hello, that maybe it went through Shannon’s mind that, oh, of course, Julio thinks that we’re on Undisputed right now. But did he actually, was he actually aware that they were rolling? Man, I don’t know. What do you think?

 

Renee Montgomery: I think Julio Jones had no idea. Only reason I say that is like who does a roll out like that? We’ve seen JJ Watt, he made a whole production out of, hey, I’m leaving. I want to tell the fans why, he showed the fans where he was going next. Players use that as an opportunity to promote, market. I just feel like if that was where he was going to announce to the world that he was no longer going to be a Falcon—now this is coming off of seeing him in a Dallas Cowboys hoodie just randomly somebody put—you know, like this is coming off of allegations. But he hadn’t addressed them yet. I don’t think, I, listen, call me naive, I really thought he was talking to his homie and then he realized, wait, am I on TV?

 

Jason Concepcion: Right. And they could and he could have thought, oh, they’re on a break in there, and maybe they just wanna know what’s going on. Now, Whitney McIntosh on my Twitter mentioned says that you can hear Taft, she thinks in the background saying, quote “Can you remind him we’re on television right now?”

 

Renee Montgomery: Now Jason . . .

 

Jason Concepcion: It really feels like they were sweating, so that leads me to believe, oh they were sweating it.

 

Renee Montgomery: Why would a producer, we got producers on this show and we do a lot of different interviews. None of them are hopping in the middle of the interview and like: Jason, make sure, you know, they know that we’re recording this. That’s just not a normal behavior, if everything was already cleared beforehand. That’s all I’m going to say because that’s crazy.

 

Jason Concepcion: So let me ask you this, right? Number one, Fox Sports Legal is absolutely going don’t do this again. Please don’t do this because, if that is the case and Julio Jones didn’t know, there’s a world in which Julio Jones is like, I’m suing Fox Sports one, because they not only taped me without my consent, but then they aired it on live TV. That won’t happen.

 

Renee Montgomery: What a nightmare.

 

Jason Concepcion: That won’t happen. But if that is the case, you know how this works. What I would expect to happen is Julio’s reps get at Fox Sports and say, you owe us, you we us big time.

 

Renee Montgomery: Like whenever we come back for that favor, it’s a yes. Like it’s one of those things.

 

Jason Concepcion: It’s a yes, because you owe us.

 

Renee Montgomery: Also, let me put this on your brain, like I’m in the media journalism world. So I like, to Julio’s defense, I’ve had people call me and be like, hey, just for context, this is off the record or just, one of those calls where it makes it seem like we just want to know where your head is at, can you give us context. Now if Julio Jones thought it was one of those calls, just so people understand, like every time someone calls you from the media doesn’t mean that you’re going to be live on air. I’ve been called from plenty of my media friends with China Robinson, all of them. They just want to know what you’re thinking so that when they talk about you on air, they know. So just so people understand, this is not a wild thing that could have happened. He could have just thought that Shannon Sharpe was calling him to see where his head was at because they’re discussing it, and he thought he was giving him a nugget like, oh, I’m out of here, like I’m gone. It’s a nightmare! I’m scared!

 

Jason Concepcion: Now listen here, listen here, if that is the case and you see Julio Jones’s second cousin, cohosting Undisputed with Shannon Sharpe, don’t question why, because you know.

 

Renee Montgomery: It’s going to be called Second Take with Julio, baby!

 

Jason Concepcion: That’s it for us this week. Follow and subscribe to us on Apple podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. And don’t forget to subscribe to Takeline show on YouTube for exclusive video clips from this episode. Plus my digital series, All Caps NBA, which airs every Friday. Check it out, like and subscribe, five star ratings. We will accept nothing else. See you next week. Oh, let me survive this.

 

Renee Montgomery: Let’s go!!

 

Jason Concepcion: Takeline is a Crooked Media production. The show is produced by Carlton Gillispie and Zuri Irvin. Our executive producers are myself, and Sandy Girard. Our contributing producers are Caroline Reston, Elijah Cone and Jason Gallagher. Engineering, editing and sound design by Sarah Gibble-Laska and the folks at Chapter Four. And our theme music is produced by Brian Vasquez.