brooklyn nets, boston celtics, kevin durant, kyrie irving, ben simmons, atlantic files

Brooklyn Nets get swept | The Atlantic Files Ep225

This week on the Atlantic Files podcast, the Brooklyn Nets officially get swept out of the first round by the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers are starting to look like the first team that will blow a 3-0 lead, Luka Doncic comes back and dominates, and the NBA playoffs roll on!

The biggest topic, especially for our podcast, is the Brooklyn Nets getting swept right out of the first round by the Boston Celtics. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving looked like deer in headlights and the Celtics now all of a sudden look like they’re championship bound. Ime Udoka has the boys in green playing like a superstar-level squad.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have the Philadelphia 76ers on the verge of making a bad kind of history. They went up 3-0 on the Toronto Raptors and the entire city of Philadelphia started talking their trash. Now, Joel Embiid is hurt and Toronto has won two straight. Scary times for the Philly fans.

Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry are hurt yet again, but the Miami Heat won their matchup with the Atlanta Hawks anyway. Are the Hawks that bad or are the Heat actually a championship-level team?

Chronicles of the Utah Jazz is taking place as they tank their series against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks as well. It’s time for a blow up and rebuild job in the Salt Lake City!

All of that and more NBA Playoffs topics!

Timecodes:
0:00 – Intro
2:30 – Can the Toronto Raptors make history?
17:10 – Brooklyn Nets are a mess and Ben Simmons is still missing
28:39 – Are the Boston Celtics championship level?
32:42 – Are the Miami Heat that good or Atlanta Hawks that bad
37:08 – Thoughts on the Ben Simmons James Harden trade now
45:45 – Minnesota Timberwolves blowing leads and KAT fake tough
50:33 – New Orleans Pelicans are looking good!
57:50 – Golden State Warriors back in the title picture

Julius Randle, New York Knicks

What’s up with Julius Randle | The Atlantic Files Ep210

On this week’s episode of the Atlantic Files, Klay Thompson finally returns to the floor, Tobias Harris is now on the block, Julius Randle is feeling the heat in his seat, Joel Embiid is back to his MVP level of play, the Atlanta Hawks are shopping John Collins, and the Memphis Grizzlies are going nuts!

First things first, we wanted to give the shout-out to Klay Thompson on finally returning from his slew of major injuries. Rehabbing from back-to-back injuries of that magnitude is no minor feat. Now, the Golden State Warriors look like they’re going to be big-time favorites to win the Western Conference and even could be NBA Finals favorites on top of that.

Then, there are the more surprising things to take place this season. The Memphis Grizzlies are all of a sudden near the top of the West and Kyle Kuzma has been playing out of his mind. This drove us to the question of which of these two things are the most surprising? Did anyone see the Grizzlies being this good or did they see Kuzma improving as much as he’s showing lately?

Going to the Atlantic, finally. Daryl Morey and the Philadelphia 76ers are still in all of the rumor mills and on all of the news sites for more trade talks. This time, they’re actually trying to package Tobias Harris with Ben Simmons in trades. Yes, they’re putting together $80M worth of contracts together and trying to get something out of it. Harris has been a name on this podcast that has been thrown in trades already, but which team is actually willing to take on that contract?

This all brings us to our main topic of Julius Randle. Last season now looks like a very distant memory due to the lack of effort, lack of production, and all-around bad play this year. The Knicks are nowhere near the level that everyone expected after last season, and they could be in danger of only making a play-in tournament spot or even missing the playoffs. Julius Randle was in the highest of graces with the Knicks fans and all of a sudden that came crashing down as he had to tell them to shut up and cursed at them along the way.

Finally, there was another prominent Eastern team working the trade phones. The Atlanta Hawks are now shopping John Collins and they’ve even been linked to the Sixers. At this point, who knows what kind of craziness will go down before the trade deadline.

Timecodes:
0:00 – Intro
1:34 – Klay Thompson returns!
5:03 – Memphis Grizzlies vs Kyle Kuzma, who’s more surprising?
15:06 – Tobias Harris on the Philadelphia 76ers trade block
25:27 – Joel Embiid back to MVP numbers
31:06 – John Collins is on the block for Atlanta Hawks
37:04 – Julius Randle stinking and New York Knicks fans are fed up