ESPN First Take: Playoff Edition

ESPN first Take is about to begin. Once again, we ask for the respect of all of the GMs to Not respond until the show closes

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Jay Crawford: Good afternoon and welcome to our afternoon Playoff Edition of First Take, where we embrace debate. I'm Jay Crawford, and I'll be hosting today's show. On the docket, we will have our two favorite co-hosts Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith go at each other over Round 1 of the Playoffs and what to expect for future rounds.

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Skip Bayless: As always, thanks Jay. We're excited about the show today, where we have quite a few things to say about teams that choked and teams that got lucky. Of course we had some dominant teams, and we'll talk about those too.

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Stephen A. Smith: Choke. Oh we'll talk about choking. Skip, you are gunna choke on your Diet Mountain Dew when you hear what I have to say about one team. And hell if I'm gunna perform the Heimlich on you. That's what Jay's for. Anyway, I'm not going to spoil anything just yet.

Skip Bayless: Stephen A., let's be real. It's hard to spoil anything with you when you're so predictable. And to be honest, I'd trust a one-armed babboon with Parkinson's Disease to give me the Heimlich over you.

Jay Crawford: ... AND on that note, we'll begin our show with Skip talking about our first topic.

Jay Crawford: Alright Guys on to our first topic of the day, and really all the topics today, the NBA playoffs, which has been nothing short of Dramatic. We had the Lakers, Warriors, Sonics, and the Mavericks make it through in the West, and the 76ers, the Bulls, the Hornets, and the Wizards in the East. Who was the biggest surprise

Skip Bayless: Like I said earlier Stephen A., I’m not going to be predictable. I’m going to throw you off your game so bad right now, that you and Tim Duncan can talk about how bad the Hornets and I dominated you both.

Stephen A. Smith: Oh Lawd here we go.

Skip Bayless: That’s the only thing that can save you now. I want to start of not on upsets that did happen, but one that NEARLY happened; the Celtics and the 76ers.

Stephen A. Smith: Wait, one minute, Am I to understand that Skip Bayless is about to give credit to the Philadelphia 76ers credit about BLASTING them in out last show?

Skip Bayless: WRONG Stephen A. I told you not to mess with me today. The 76ers have been the luckiest team in the worst division ALL year, and they got LUCKY once again in the playoffs playing a Boston Cetlics team that was better, but riddled with injuries. Now, I know I blasted the Celtics GM for not making a move to help out Chris Webber, but they still, without their second best player almost made NBA history and came back from 0-3. I said earlier and I’m sticking to my guns here, this team wouldn’t do anything in the West.

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Skip Bayless: You better wake up Stephen A., I’m Bringing it all day. Let’s hear what you have to say.

Stephen A. Smith: PLEASE. I don't understand the hate for the 76ers. That's a squad that plays together, with one heart and one spirit. You couldn't ask for any more effort from that team on the court. It's really unfortunate to lose Courtney Alexander; that's a big blow to the team.

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Stephen A. Smith: Instead of bashing a team that still had a chance to win it, how about you stop glancing over two teams who you picked to go deep deep into the playoffs and are already out?

Skip Bayless: Now, hold on one minute th--

Stephen A. Smith: Oh the Spurs and the Raptors have plenty of minutes to hold onto this offseason. You should join 'em on the S.S. Gone Fishin'. It's time to for you to own up to your bad predictions, Skip.

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Stephen A. Smith: Let's start with the Spurs losing to a team whose management and coaching has been ghostly. In fact, a friend of mine close to the situation in Golden State told me that their GM was arrested for drunken disorderly on a San Francisco trolley. The organization has done a good job at keeping that piece of information from hitting the news, but my friend told me there may be a management change brewing in the Warriors organization this offseason. But one of the most dominating teams in the Western Conference decided to put their drive to the championship in cruise control. In fact, look back at the games the Spurs won. ALL AWAY. They thought that they had the POWER OF THE ALAMO in their back pocket and tried to coast, but they lost every single home game of the series, including a blowout in Game 1 to set the tone. I do commend them at playing hard on the road. The Spurs played hard on enemy territory, but in the playoffs, you need to. And the veteran leadership let that team down this post-season. Let's hope they get this together next year, because that window is closing ever so quickly for the aging wonders of Texas.

Stephen A. Smith: And I didn't even get started on the Raptors yet...

Skip Bayless: In case you forgot, Stephen A, this is the playoffs so you'd better step it up; and if you remember, I said the Raptors wouldn’t even make it past the second round in the West, so don't count me as one of the people who said "Oh Toronto can't be stopped"; and YOU Stephen A. Smith said last week…. No Jay Let’s cut to the video:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stephan A. Smith

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Stephen A.: WHAT?! YOU THINK THE TORONTO RAPTORS WHO HAVE NICK THE QUICK, JERRY STACKHOUSE, JAMAL MONSTER MASH, AND NOW RASHEED WALLACE WOULDN’T MAKE IT PAST THE SECOND ROUND. TO EVEN ARGUE HOW GOOD THE RAPTORS WILL BE IS ASININE ASITEN ASIELEVEL ASITWELVE!!!!

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Stephen A. Smith: EVEN A DEAD CLOCK IS RIGHT TWICE A DAY

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Skip Bayless: Don’t give me that. Give me credit where it’s due. Mr. “Tim Duncan puts his team on his back when they need him the most”


Stephen A. Smith: I’ll give you credit when your pick in the West isn’t HANDLED in the first round.



Jay Crawford : So we’ve heard Cleveland mentioned, we’ve heard the Spurs, which team do you guys think choked the most?


Skip Bayless: As much as I hate to do it, I’ve got to admit my counterpart is right on this one and pick the San Antonio Spurs, and there’s no excuses here. The only person injured on their team was an ancient Scottie Pippen and they couldn’t close the deal versus a team who, really has a chance to shock people as you see by their 2-1 lead on the Lakers, but doesn’t really have a go to player. I think the world of Antionio Mcdyess, but wouldn’t consider him a “star”.

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Jay Crawford : And the Cavs?


Skip Bayless: I’ve said it before and I said it again, but the general manager of the Cavs better step up and surround Tim Duncan with some players because I know he’s not going to stand for this much longer. I want to give credit where credit is due for the Hornets being the only team ever in a 7 game series as an 8 seed up upset a 1 Seed and a really impressive young coach and GM who coached circles around the Cavs.

Stephen A. Smith: Biggest shock happens to also be the biggest choke. And that goes out to the Memphis Grizzlies. But I don't really want to call the team out; they played hard tie the series up after being down 0-3. Who I really want to call out is ALONZO FREAKIN MOURNING.

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Stephen A. Smith: ALONZO, I'M CALLING YOU OUT. You are the LEADER of your team. You are by far one of the 2 most DOMINANT centers in the game today. You were 4th in the league in points per game. You were 2nd in the league in rebounds per game. You were 2nd in the league in blocks per game. You are the glue holding the lost-in-the-wood Grizzlies together as they battled back from being 3 down. And here comes Game 7 in the 1st round of the playoffs. Your toughest opponent comes around. No, I'm not talking about David Robinson. I'm talking about THE ITTY BITTY BWUISE ON YOUR HIP. HO HUM. ZO, you should have MANNED up. If my mama saw me sitting on my butt with an ice pack on my hip during Game 7 in the playoffs, she would've dragged me to the announcers table by the ear and checked me in. Be a man, Zo. Your mama raised you better than that. You let your team down. I'd like to commend Todd MacCulloch on a fine job at filling in for Alonzo, but those are some pretty small pants to fill for a big baby like him.

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Skip Bayless: You need a brown bag over there? You're hyperventilating pretty bad.

Stephen A. Smith: No I'm fine. Just get a little worked up... but let's move on to our last segment:

PICKS FOR THE CONFERENCE AND NBA FINALS

Stephen A. Smith: I'm going to pick the Bulls and the Wizards as the teams going to the Eastern Conference Finals, with Chicago's core of youth and experience to carry them to the NBA Finals. Kobe's great, but I heard Brian Grant's girlfriend recently dumped him. We all know how he handles adversity...

Stephen A. Smith: And for the Western Conference Finals, I see my boy Shaq leading the Lakers back to win it against the Warriors. And the SuperSonics have been playing some stellar defensive ball of their own. When those two Western superpowers collide in the Western Conference Finals, I see the combination of Shaq and Outlaw standing on top of the bludgeoned bodies of Robinson and Ratliff.

Skip Bayless: Yeah Stephen A., I’m going to have to agree with you on the East picks. We all know how I feel about the 76ers team. They’re more likely to lose a 3-0 lead than to come back from a 3-0 deficit. Then you have Kobe Bryant, who through his two seasons has played magnificent in the playoffs. A man who some claim is “overrated” is still producing wins despite a huge shooting slump and always seems to make the right play when it comes down to it.

Jay Crawford: How about the West Skip?


Skip Bayless: Well, this is where Stephen A. and I completely disagree. And Stephen A. how dare you pick against the defending world champion Dallas Mavericks who only GOT BETTER getting Cassell for pennies on the dollar and a healthy Paul Pierce back. And I can hear it now, where you are going to use Shareef Abdur-Rahim’s injury as an excuse, But that’s a mistake because last week their coach made the decision to bring him in the game off the bench in the playoffs which speaks volumes; and the coach has been quoted as questioning if his team is better without him. I still think he’s talented, he’s just never fit into what the Sonics do.


Skip Bayless: And on the other side of the bracket, I’m going to pick the Golden State Warriors to upset this Lakers team who doesn’t seem to have put it together in time for the playoffs. Any team that can take out the Spurs who own the Lakers, has a decent shot to beat the Lakers themselves after taking away home court.


Jay Crawford: We’re running low on time: Prediction for who makes the Finals?


Skip Bayless: Simple: Mavericks and the Wizards.

Jay Crawford: That’s all we have time for. I want to again thank my two cohost, Stephen A Smith and Skip Bayless and want to apologize for the short show today. Tune in for the Finals Edition next week. Goodbye!


Sorry guys we didn't have time for more. With the hurricane pushing everything back last week we both have a ton of errands. Hope you enjoyed and we always appreciate comments, both good and bad.

The End

I liked it. Good stuff.

Lmao well I finally got on First Take lol

Lol careful what you wish for!

thanks for the love stephen A

Playoff ppg leader... RAY ALLEN!!!!!!