Knicks and Thunder sweep respective series in NBA Conference Semifinals

**Kevin Dent** (0:30)
What is going on, everybody? We are back at it with another episode of Stats Over Politics, episode 190 As you can see, there are the two low guys on the ship. It is me and our continuing guest, Keith. Keith, how are you doing today, man? Thank you for joining us once again.

**Keith** (0:47)
Well, first of all, I disagree with the concept that we're the low guys. I would say more the most consistent, the right guys on this podcast.
No Shaun Holkko today, so that means that this podcast will sail smoothly for once. But nonetheless, in all seriousness, it's great to be here.

**Kevin Dent** (1:06)
Definitely, man. It's great to be here as well. Jaevon Totty will be joining us shortly.
And like he said, Shaun will not be here today. So he did give me a lot of credit, saying that this is going to run smoothly. But Keith, I know you've seen the episodes where Shaun is not here and the production side of things is just a tad bit delayed. But I'm going to do my best for the people watching on Instagram and YouTube. I'm going to get your comments up here as fast as I can.
Just have some leniency with me. Cause like I said, the man behind the scenes is not here today. So we're going to do the best that we can without him. So we're going to get right into it. We are going to cover all things Eastern and Western, semi-conference finals from the Lakers being swept, unfortunately, to the 76ers getting swept, to the Minnesota Timberwolves taking a three to two lead, or sorry, the San Antonio Spurs taking a three to two lead, and the Detroit Pistons and Cavs tied up at two to two. So we are going to start with the game that just ended. The Spurs taking a three to two lead. So Keith, I got two questions for you. First off, what were your thoughts? Should Victor Wimminyama have been suspended after the elbow? And secondly, what were your thoughts on game five?

**Keith** (2:16)
Well, let's start with the elbow.
Should he have been suspended?
It depends on how you look at it. Now, any real fan of the game that watched the game could tell you before the elbow, obviously something triggered him to where he felt the need to respond. Obviously McDaniels and Reid had him sandwiched on the block. Somebody did something to him in the back and Vic just had enough. And the famous quote, Kevin, a man must know his limitations. And Victor Wimunyama, he reached his limitations or so to speak his boiling point. And he launched back and he paid tribute to Macho Man Randy Savage and he delivered the elbow of all elbows. I can only imagine, I don't want to know, but I can only imagine what a straight elbow to the throat would be from a 7'4, at least 200 pound grown man in the prime of his athletic peak would feel like.
Look, at the end of the day, the NBA has a unwritten code. We don't want to see the best players in the biggest moments get thrown out of these games. We don't like seeing the superstars getting ejected. But at that point, you have no choice. You have to send a message, you have to throw them out. But I think the bigger question was, yes, I'm glad they did not suspend him for further games, especially like a pivotal game five like we saw tonight, where he made such an impact, which we'll get into. Should he have been suspended? Yeah, you have to blow the whistle in that situation. I mean, a guy launches an elbow into the throat, you can only handle so much. But I also think it speaks to how they're calling this series, which we'll get into a little later on, what led to that elbow. But at the end of the day, he had to do that, a ref that's speaking what he had to do.
Game five, I called in our group chat. I said, if he's out there and he's not throwing an elbow that leads to him getting suspended or ejected from a game, Spurs are gonna handle him. And he did, another 20 point piece, 17 rebounds, Keldon Johnson, 21 points off the bench, earning every part of that six man of the year award. Anthony Edwards got off to a slow start. And if that's gonna happen, Minnesota is gonna lose nine out of these 10 games. But again, I think Minnesota has reached a point where they've hit their peak. I think it's set in for them, especially when Reed tried to push Vic in the back in the third quarter and he didn't respond. It's like, okay, there's nothing we can do at that point. He's got everything under control.