all right all right we got the magic and the Knicks and we got the Warriors and the Nuggets says the Emirates NBA cup continues it is TNT NBA tip off presented by CarX Ernie Johnson Shaquille O'Neal Charles Barkley and sitting in for Jaylen Rose is Kenny The Jet Smith y'all can't get me out the group y can't get me out the group I'm the best D my drummer you got I tell you can't take me out you know what the Temptations is without Kenny Smith it's group search it for Kenny Smith it's good to have
you back hope you had a great thanks I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving yeah it was good Ken welcome back well good to be back but realize that people didn't get smarter when I left well talk about this guy CH got his G tell what he was just doing go ahead and tell everybody ladies and gentlemen his question was how do you text two people at the same time I don't know how listen man I've been busy I don't I'm not good with technology I've been busy people at the same time and we're sitting
here for 5 minutes telling you how to just add another person I've been busy it's called a group text okay I don't know how to do that put five or 10 it gets more amazing every day we are together as a matter of fact there's going to be a lot of math tonight I hope you guys are ready really yeah there's going to be a lot of math let me let me get into this thing it's the uh the final night of group play in the Emirates NBA cup after tonight eight teams will move to
The Knockout stage next week six group winners and two wild cards three group winners and both wild cards are still to be decided tonight now some of this is clear-cut winner of the Bucks Pistons game takes Group B in the East winner of the magic Nicks game here on TNT takes group a but then it can get complicated as Point differential comes into play so CarMax never settle gives you an idea now hang with me you three okay imagine you're the Boston Celtics right now okay Kenny yes so you are in wildcard position right now
at three and one with a point differential of plus 23 everybody on with this let's get that let's get that yeah we can read okay so what they but you know what Boston wants tonight they want Orlando to beat the Knicks and win the group because if Orlando loses look at that point differential of plus 60 right now they'd have to lose the game by 38 to keep Boston alive so they want Orlando to win that game now and would also knock New York out and then if those two things happen then Boston says okay
now we're concerned with Milwaukee and Detroit winner of that game wins the group The Loser can we maintain that point differential okay if Milwaukee loses by seven they'd be 22 if Detroit loses by six they'd be 22 so you're you're concerned if you're the Celtics about margins and who wins and who loses and also here's another thing if all those things happen Boston would not want Milwaukee and Detroit to play overtime because your point differential doesn't change you know what Boston say it yeah you guys just play it and let us know where we're going
or if we're going we'll see y'all in Vegas Bost saying is June happen is all of that resonating with you Dr O'Neal it it makes a lot of sense but I wasn't P let me finish I was not paying attention it makes a lot of sense but I wasn't paying attention thank you very much Bost Celtics not worryed about the cup there's only one cup that they're wor about those guys don't throw cold water on the cup no no no the cup like that the cup is more important I know well for Orlando well building
momentum in a Detroit in a Detroit building momentum but if you know the cup is much more important for those guys than the Boston Cel well I why do I have this thermostat that's not a thermostat fol it's a cup thermal cup it's a thermal cup I have this because I don't care about the cup mhm my God this dude this is not a cup Ste your line I wasn't paying attention I will say this what I think the cup Bridget the cup doesn't mean a lot to some people but I think last year it
gave the Indiana Pacers tremendous confidence right and they had their best season in a long time but if you the Pistons um the Houston Rockets the Houston Rockets uh Orlando Orlando I think it can be a great confidence Builder springboard yes um meantime for more on the magic and the Knicks uh let's get to the garden and Lauren Jabara who is going to be working the sidelines tonight Lauren did you get all that were you paying attention EJ there's a reason why I switch from mathematics major in college to English major I feel like my
mind was exactly the same as Dr Shaquille O'Neal's right there a lot of numbers going around but I can simplify it for you right here right now because this game it's all about winning and you're in if the New York Knicks win this game they're going to the quarterfinals of the inseason tournament if the Magic win they're also going to the quarterfinals now if the Knicks win and the magic lose by less than 30 both of the teams are going to the next round I hope that math was good for you but I talked to
France Vagner a little bit earlier today and he told me you know what we just approach these games just like we do every other regular season game it's one of those where you focus a little bit more on the details though and certain games get you up a little bit more so one like this at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks knowing that the inseason tournament is on the line it gets us going a little bit more I also talked to Carl Anthony towns about it and he said the same thing I feel like players
just approach it the same way right it's a regular season game they just want to play their game and Carl Anthony towns also told me we're playing in front of a home crowd on the orange floor we have to make sure we get a win tonight because if we lose we're out of this thing now EJ you did a really good job of explaining all of that because I was going to ask Dr O'Neal and Kenny The Jet to explain it to me I wasn't going to ask Chuck because he never got that degree from
Auburn but you know what we all do what we can do I know sorry I had to throw some Baggers happy happy belated things help me understand it's a lot of math that's going on right now EJ my mind can't proc that was unnecessary cut me cut me cut me man cut me man hang in there she hasn't laid a glove on you it was the truth Manor to have your guard up hey Lauren I'm not sensitive I'm not sensitive you're out of the whe Lauren you're out of the whe excellent stuff thank you much
U I like her more now wow you know what Ernie I got to tell you something about this magic team this season could have went coach Mosley is doing a fabulous job because this team when you lose your best player and then they've won 14 out of 15 or 13 out of 14 12 out of 13 I mean they are flat a row I can't believe they came out after losing their best player so that tell me the coach is doing a fabulous job going out I think getting some veteran leadership in kcp uh check
you don't believe that and but the thing is too you thought after the injury when they lost those first four games it it's like oh here we go and then they have turned it around and and it is it's the vogner boys this kid right here well SS is playing great too honey this kid right here was playing next to the man now there's a difference between being the man and playing next to the man when you are the man Kenny knows this Chuck knows this you know you're going to get your 20 25 shots
but when you're next to the man man shot varies but now Poo's out this guy is the man he's controlling the floor points is up three points percent up he's making the right decision what I really love about his game if he's not shooting well he's getting to the foul out so has nothing to do with coaching it's just about the of course it has something to do with coaching next man stepping up no that's not you can't it ain't no next man step up that's total BS you just can't start you just you just
can't throw a plug you first of all there's nobody on that team as good as Palo vano he can make them Championship contenders okay but we're talking about this kid playing well cuz he he playing very well you just can't plug guys in that's not even fair and that's not even true he was next to Paulo everybody's playing well but there some coaches Ken's not going to back you up I check I can't back you up of course he's not when he something D nobody follow you down Jim Jones all of a sudden the reason
is p b Caro is a player that regardless of where you put H ain't playing this man has stepped up it's all about the next man stepping up but all of us stepped up there's a difference in no no he's the man now he's the go-to guy in the he's playing very well he's the number one option he is playing very well one option that P Jack would you agree this KOB Bry when he was the great great yes Kobe Bryant when he's the number one guy he has so many things in his Arsenal that
he can go through he can post you up he can shoot threes he can whatever the guys that are now that not coming in when he's out and someone steps up they don't have the same Arsenal like as good as vogner is those guys they don't have the same so coaching has to put you in the right position to score the basketball and to defend the bball bro he's a point guard coach ain't got to put him in position he has the ball all the time and he's making the right decision he's making the plays
pyo's not there so he's stepping up as see see you just don't believe in coaching and you're just wrong I'm not wrong coach coach you didn't you yeah yeah you had Phil Jackson bro and you had you had the two greatest coaches that ever you watch Phil Jackson coach philson his I hey I played you before Phil Jackson Phil figure out Phil Jackson sat his ass down with Phil was he he's in the conversation off I drew you just hate coaches man you must have been a joy to coach you rely on coaches too much
that's why you didn't win you got to do it yourself you got to step up by the way shout out Jeff welman too the GM because he's buil built a great team down because he drafted ban Caro but also going out against some veteran leadership they they were probably the youngest team in the league but he's bringing young s is a hell of a player good job shout out to AIS Martins too we're coming back with more TNT NBA tip off presented by CarMax in just a bit tonight's countdown clock brought to you by dash
pass your door to All Things basketball we areach 22 uh and a half minutes or so away from the tip coach help him do that shot right there too St talking about somebody taught him how to do it yeah wasn't the coach right it was his daddy
