March 6, 2025 • 38 mins
The guys were pleased to be joined by CBS Sports NBA writer Jasmyn Wimbish for today's episode. The trio discussed the blazing hot Cavs in terms of their true title chances, the Lakers continued dominance and several other trending topics from around the league as well as a full breakdown of what could be next for the Dallas Mavericks!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, Well, the Calves and Lakers are the hottest teams
in the league, but we have teams on hot streaks
all throughout the standings.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
The day, well that just happened. They are also on
the move.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
We had some unfortunate injuries around the league that we'll
need to address with NBA writer Jasmine Wimbish on today's episode,
I'm Miles Street.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
And I'm Jack O'Brien and this.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Is my.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Chory got it when Looka hits ta. Okay, you be
driving spinny fatter numbers, sight gen, that's been secure. What's
something sure? NBA champions over the public tea.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Right, be honest with the.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Short time, won't you go?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Jasmine Wimbish, you cover the NBA for CBS Sports.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yo, that was the first time Zoom noticed my singing
and said, are you recording music?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Wow, all right, I am a good thing. It usually
just goes stop.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
That the AI is getting smarter.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
It turns out it does turned out that way.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Jasmine, thank you so much for coming on the show
when we have I think this is just a question
I like to ask a lot of NBA journalists where
you are as a journalist and as a fan do
you keep them separate? Do you try and embrace both?
Obviously you're professionals, so you don't let that interfere with
your coverage. But are you also because of your coverage
of the league, you have transcended.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And you have no team.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
I would say that I'm definitely not transcended. That's certainly not.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Not a transcendental NBA cover.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
I'm not trying to be two above it.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
By boy, those people are all lying to themselves.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, you feel anything when you watch basketball, then you
got to have something.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
That's a lie. I grew up a Dallas Mavericks fan.
Dereknovitsky is all time. So this conversation is going to
be rough because the last month has been incredibly depressing
for Mavericks fans. Yeah, but obviously, you know, keeping it
professional and separate from fandom is you know, I have to.
But it also makes my writing a lot better, especially
(02:24):
now the Mavericks are always in the news for the
wrong reasons.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So sure, sure, sure, right. Well, well, so to a
wildly unprofessional podcast where yeah, we.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Fandom obscures our coverage and perspective to a degree that
it's almost unlistenable. But people come in for for the
jokes either way. But yeah, I mean we're I guess
we just get right into it.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I will say I am a seventy six Ers fan,
so I don't know exactly how you're feeling, but uh,
it's bad. Yeah it's bad over here as well. At
least your generational big is coming back soon.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
We'll see about.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, we'll see our ours is untradeable permanently. The only
hope I've seen in Sixers forums is like, maybe we
can get them to retire and then then we'll do
the retirement clause or something. I don't I don't know
any of the contract stuff. But Kyrie has been slowly
(03:30):
winning us over with his game over these past couple years.
And yeah, I mean just one of the most impressive
one on one players, one of the best ball handlers,
shot makers in the league, one of the most fun
players to watch play basketball. So it is I think
devastating obviously to Dallas fans, but also to basketball fans
(03:52):
that he is has a torn acl and out for
the remainder of this season. And it's one of the
injuries that usually takes a toll the next season, if
not takes you out for the next season, but obviously
gave us an indelible image on the way out shooting
the free throws with tears rolling down his face after
(04:13):
the injury, because he seemed like he knew what was happening. Yeah,
but I don't know, like where do we begin with
what the past month has been like for Dallas Mavericks fans.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
I don't know. I mean, I'll tell you where I began,
which was the day that Luca got traded. And I
was awake when that happened, which was at like twelve
thirty in the morning. Yeah, and I was scrolling on
my phone. I get the alert and I'm like, there's
no way this is real. And then I think I
went to like my company's slack and nobody was on
because everybody's asleep. And I go back to Twitter, and
(04:45):
I think sham Sin tweeted more reporting about it or something,
and I was like, oh, this is happening. And I
felt like I was having the worst nightmare and got
like like the night sweats and was just like completely
in denial for about five hours. And then the next
day was it was like mourning somebody like a loved
one who just passed away, Like that's the best way
(05:07):
I can describe it. And it's still like, if you
are a Mavericks fan, watching Luca play for the Lakers
right now is like he's doing everything that he was
doing in Dallas and watching him do it in a
different team's jersey is like the most depressing thing that
you could ever imagine happened to your franchise, Like I
can't And there's nothing else to compare this to in
the NBA, Like genuinely, it's never happened. And so it's
(05:30):
just like it's like living in the worst time timeline possible.
I don't even know it's And to this day, all
of the reasons that the Mavericks have been trying to
filter out through all of their flimsy reports make zero sense.
Like oh he was fat, I mean, okay, he's still
averaging a triple double and went to the.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Finals, took you on his back to the final, right right.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
The amount of like that same sweet tea anecdote I've
seen come up over and over again, I'm like, what
they're still doing this.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, I've been telling that anecdote for years. Okay, right, no,
but I mean like that's what he still I know,
But it's so wild that that's like they got that
one story in their craw and they're just like, yep, no,
we're going to take that drink out of his hand. Yeah, well,
he's celebrating taking us.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
To the finals, even when Kyrie got hurt. Nico Harrison
came out with the statement yesterday or the day before whatever,
and again was like, you know, I see the same
work ethic in him that I saw in Kobe Bryant.
I'm like, oh my god, dude, you gotta let it go.
Like it's all just like another slight at Luca being
like he doesn't have Mamba mentality, which is ridiculous. Yes,
(06:36):
it's gross.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah yeah, and also seems like somebody who does play
with a lot, like the biggest chip on his shoulder,
Like oh absolutely, you just gave him another chip for
the other shoulder. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
I mean just like when Nico was courtside during the
warm up for that Laker game, I was like, no,
we're Luca's about to go off.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Why you're even visible? Why are you even visible hold
of this man right now? Yeah? I would be watching
that game from under my bed in my own house.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Like.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Ad mission impossible, Like just going with somebody completely different.
You're like, yes, and I am enjoying this basketball game.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
But I think that's the thing is Nico thinks that
he's right, so he has all the confidence in the world.
He's never afraid of it. Aside, I should take that back.
He's afraid of being in front of Mavericks fans at
home because he's sitting up in a skybox at home
games whatever. On the road, he is totally comfortable, especially
in Crypto dot Camerina. He just helped set up this
(07:37):
team for the next ten to fifteen years plus, like
he has no reason to be like shameful or whatever,
and he still thinks that he made the right decision.
Like there's just no way.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Yeah, yeah, I know at that game, I know they
had the Luca seventy seven T shirts on the on
the seats, but it was also Nico Harrison night. I
think Harrison, Yeah, yeah, just they didn't know, they didn't know.
But I'm I'm I'm wondering too, because just seeing the
frustration from MAVs fans, which is so understandable, and I
(08:06):
said this before you came, was like it even even
for us, we like, how we how do we have Luca,
Like that's impossible. It's like their franchise player. This never happens.
What do you see happening to even win the good
will back? Because I feel like everything you see from
the fans is just like they're dejected. They feel absolutely
(08:26):
just like empty after this trade and now the subsequent
injuries to Ad and Kyrie just in the finals nine
months ago. What is like, what is the path forward
or is that how do you see that situation the
relationship with the fans or this is just something that
these decisions are being made completely without consideration of that dimension.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Uh, Immediately, they need to fire Nico Harrison. That I
think is like step one to try and like rebuild
a fan base that is completely in tatters right now,
especially at the rate that this thing is just like
falling off the lake, just completely falling apart, like Kyrie's hurt,
eighties hurt. Kyrie's gonna be out for probably most if
not all, of next season. Like, okay, so now next
(09:08):
season is lost, And Nico Harrison during his press conference
was like, oh, well ten years from now, it doesn't matter.
I care about the next three to four all right, Well,
those next three to four years are pretty look at bad. Yeah,
So I mean at the next if at the end
of next season, if Nico Harrison still has a job,
I would genuinely be surprised. Like there's just no way,
(09:28):
especially with the new owner, Patrick Dumont, Like he said
some crazy things about Luca as well. But I don't
understand how you could own a team, have somebody like
Nico basically just running it into the ground at a
rapid rate, and then still try and keep him employed
for the long haul. It doesn't make any sense, doesn't
make sense at all.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah. Ah, where does this rank with the calling Steph
Curry Steven do we think on his career highlight reel?
Oh no, it's Seth right, he called himself. Okay, all
right brother in the slide show. Sorry, we meant to
(10:08):
switch those Outland. What No, I'm not from Maryland?
Speaker 4 (10:12):
What?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah? The East Coast you're you're you're an East Coast guy, right, buddy?
Why do you keep calling me buddy? No? It's Seth right,
mister healed?
Speaker 4 (10:23):
What?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
No? Wiles? What so much? It's there's so many everything
is unprecedented right now, just in every dimension. So I'm
just like, what what, Okay? A picture. It transcends basketball.
(10:45):
It's it's wild, it is biblical, it is job is
how it feels. So we'll stop asking you about the
Dallas Mavericks. We we got the game of the week,
so uh, Jasmine. Every week we take a look at
the upcoming slate and we're like, here's the game of
the week, here's the game that you're gonna want to watch.
(11:07):
We'll watch it, we'll talk about it. And for the
first five times we did this, they were all like
thirty point blow. We got one right. This time. It
was the Cavs playing the Boston Celtics. And the only
(11:28):
thing I enjoy in this league more than a seventy
six Ers win or now that we're tanking a seventy
six Ers loss, is a Boston Celtics loss, particularly come
from behind victory. Jasmin, I am a root for the
rest of the league against the Celtics person. That's my
(11:49):
philosophy in following basketball. In this case, the Celtics built
a twenty two point lead, We're maintaining a double digit
lead for most of the game, even with Porzengis and
Drew Holliday out of the rotation, and then Cleveland was
able to come back. Donovan Mitchell went off for forty
(12:09):
one and just yeah, it took it to him. There's
a very viral clip of Jason Tatum inviting the Cavaliers
to get the heck out of here. Yeah, hey, you guys,
get get on out of here, editation, it takes this personally, Yes, exactly.
(12:30):
They were up twenty five to three and at the
end they lost one twenty three to one sixteen. Donovan
Mitchell gave a little little thumb as Jason Tatum had.
Mitchell scored twenty six of his forty one in the
second half. He's actually been pretty dominant against the Celtics,
Like this is shaping up to be. I think for
(12:52):
a while, I just like didn't believe. I was like,
I still think it's just going to be the Celtics
in the playoffs. But if they play in a seven
game series, Cleveland has home court advantage. I don't know
that they have an answer for Mitchell unless Drew is
like able to just like take it up to another
level defensively in the playoffs, which he has been able
(13:15):
to do in the past. So maybe maybe that's what happens.
But I think it's like kind of a coin flip
at this point, Like, I really think Cleveland Boston is
like could go either way. What do you guys think?
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I just out of my need for the Celtics to
not be good, I am fully invested in that. I
watch this game with such joy in my heart. I mean,
I don't know, just looking at the momentum they have,
I'm like, I'm not gonna say that for sure it's happening,
but I think it's well, it's more than reasonable to believe.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
I'm like, okay, no, no, no, this isn't a fluke,
Like this is something that's going to be sustainable. At least.
That's my sort of half hearted entry into it. What
about you, Jazmine, I feel.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Like if Boston's healthy, I think, like you said, Jack,
like if jew Holliday can turn it up a notch,
then they have an answer for Donovan Mitchell. But the
thing that I watched in that game was like Evan
Mobley also like just completely stood out in that fourth quarter.
I think he had like sixteen of however many points
he scored on the night in the fourth quarter of
that game. All season long, he's just been like his
(14:20):
offensive game has just been like just crazy impressive compared
to his previous seasons. He's already like super dominant on
the defensive side of the ball, but he's getting to
the ram at a rate we've never seen before. Like
he's handed to the all like he's ending them in
the ball so much better, like shooting with so much
more confidence. Like Kenny Atkinson has just been like a
wizard over there for the Cavaliers, and specifically with Evan
(14:42):
Mobley that like, if he's their second best player every
night or sometimes their best player in that series, like
then Cleveland could win. But I'm also very like, I
don't know, because Cleveland kind of gets nervous in the
playoffs and the lights are too bright and whatever that
quote is that year at Allen said last year, like
(15:02):
so I'm not sure, like Boston's scary when they're on,
but Cleveland's been really good this year, so I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, yeah, okay, what's the most hopeful version that way?
So I could it can sue my fears of other Celtics.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
All right, get to us again, but pretend that actually
the Celtics stinct.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I pretend I'm not crying because you said the Celtics
might do it and these tears is just the lights
are right.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Phil Jackson had a measure for like whether a team's
championship aspirations were realistic or not, and it was whether
you could win forty games before losing twenty. And the
Calves are fifty to ten, which is pretty incredible eating
the watermark. Yeah. Yeah, it's just like one of I
feel like we do this a lot where it's just like,
(15:48):
because we haven't seen it yet, we just assumed that
it's it's not going to happen this year because of
like what we've seen historically. We're like, well, the Calves
were bad last year, but even they weren't like from
a personnel standpoint, a completely different team. They are a
different They look like a completely different team this year.
(16:09):
They really have it going. And yeah, Evan Mobley being
the kind of biggest step forward. And then DeAndre Hunter,
you know, ten games Celtic Hunter. DeAndre Hunter, he's always
been good against the Celtics. So should we let's take
a quick break. We'll come back and we'll take a
(16:30):
look further afield around the league. We'll be right back.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
And we're back.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
We're back, and we're going to take a look around
the league. One of these is going to be somewhat unpleasant.
But at the hottest teams in the league, the Cavs
ten straight pretty good. We also have the Pistons now
they're nine and one over the last ten, have the
nineteenth toughest remaining schedule, so like, not that bad a
(17:07):
remaining schedule, just nine and fifteen on December fourth, following
a double digit loss to the Celtics, and have gone
twenty six and thirteen since then, which makes them the
second best team in the NBA since that date. And
Kate is just awesome. I love it. I love it.
Okate is just balling out of his mind. What do
(17:28):
we think the ceiling is for Detroit this year? Can
they get to the Eastern Conference Finals? Or we think
it's just Celtics calves with a bullet and anybody else
is just kind of kind of for the Pistons to
make it to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
We would love for that. I just love when the
Pistons are doing great.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
But what's where are they at right now?
Speaker 4 (17:51):
There's six I just looked up the standing Yeah, okay,
the face. If the playoffs started today, they placed the
Knicks in the first round a tough matchup just off
the bat. Yeah, so I don't know about Eastern Conference.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Finals, but or the second round.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Yeah, maybe a seven game series in the first round.
In playoffs. I mean, getting to the playoffs at all
for Detroit is just like throw a parade, to be honest,
because the season that they've been having after last year
where they set multiple records, where like with their losing streaks,
this is just nobody thought that they would be one
of the top six teams in the East. I mean,
(18:32):
nobody thought the Sixers would completely implode either, but it's
just been like you said, Kate Cunningham has been an
All Star. He's been. It's funny because, like I remember
when Kate came into the league and he had this
rookie season and like everyone was just kind of like, oh,
I don't know, he doesn't look like the number one pick,
and he started off really slow, and then like his
(18:53):
efficiency like was really poor in the first season, and
I feel like he didn't get enough shine in like
his second season, and now he's kind of getting that
moment and the Pistons are benefiting from that that I
think like next season is when we can start talking
like all right past the first round. I think this
is a team that could go a little bit further,
but right now I don't see them making out of
the first round.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
All right, and onto the Lakers, who've played eight teams
with an above five hundred record in the month of
February and went eight to oh hadn't given up more
than one hundred and two points since the break since
the All Star Break, which is seven games. They did
give up over that to the Pelicans last night, but
that was mainly garbage time, and they do just seem
(19:35):
to be able to put all the different pieces together
in a way that works. I do just want to
talk about Lebron real quick. I just want to talk
about what he's been doing since his birthday. He's putting
up twenty six to eight and eight. His Lakers have
won over seventy four percent of the games during that stretch.
His birthday was on December thirtieth, so this is basically
(19:58):
full twenty five. So as a forty year old, twenty
six eight and eight Lakers are winning at a non
president rate for them in his era with the Lakers,
He's not an MVP candidate, but you know, could finish
top ten for the first time since the twenty one
to twenty two season, and most importantly, we're approaching the
(20:20):
ten year anniversary of the tweet that said Lebron is
thirty this Blankerrie won't go on for much longer, thank God.
Twenty fifteen, twenty fifteen, blifically my gosh.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah, yeah, truly, you know, that goes great watching him
score fifty thousand points against the Pelicans, just to smash
through that ceiling. But I don't know, I mean, it
is wild to think just what he's doing right now
and his even his defensive output, even that Pelicans game,
some of the just the runs he was making to
(20:57):
chase down a block or something. It's it's just wild
to see that that intensity is still there at that level.
But now it's just more about when he deploys it
at the right time, and that wisdom is definitely there.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
But yeah, I don't know, I'm.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Just I'm I'm hesitant to get too excited about anything
with the Lakers, although it is generally very fun to watch,
and I hate to say that in front of Testament
does maver e space.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
It's fine, I'm totally fine.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
It's wild, because I mean, I think the one thing too,
Like JJ Reddick was like, Okay, maybe we're gonna we'll
be a shoot a higher volume of threes. And now
we're I think, just second to the Celtics right now
in that department in terms of our effectiveness there from
three and a lot of that has to do with Luca,
but it's I don't know, things are, things are moving
in the right direction, but part of me is also
just conditioned to at this point not ever get my
(21:47):
hopes up high, just because it's hard for me, but
it is.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
It is difficult to not be excited and you know,
at what we're seeing. Just one note of because I
I want to talk about the face of the league
thing real quick, because that's like a big conversation that is, like,
I think, an interesting conversation. But even though it sounds
like sort of a dumb ESPN conversation where they're they're
just like, he's not the face of the league. He doesn't,
you know, where I do like Lebron looks tired in
(22:15):
a way that I've never seen him look on the court,
Like even at the end of the Pelicans game. I'm
not saying like he had an incredible game. I do
just want JJ to start taking him out like five
minutes earlier, Like I just work, Like after the Kyrie injury,
like I do worry about like it can't go on forever.
(22:38):
It can go on until it stops and he gets
hurt and he is forty and he's playing a lot
of time, not as much as he has in the past,
but like just really lean on those breaks, you know,
drive it. Let's drive very cautiously. Heading to the to
the playoffs would be my urging. But yeah, I think
(22:58):
a lot of people are having this conversation about like
the face of the league and like who's going to
take over once Lebron and staff are gone, And like
hearing people talk about that, I was reminded of that
Detroit playoff game where Lebron like before anybody thought it
was possible, like took over a game in a series
and just like single handedly won it for Cleveland against
(23:21):
you know, defending champions or you know. So I forget
if Detroit had won the year before or recently, but
it was it was just an incredible experience. It's always
like stood out to me, and I think it was
because like I really do think the NBA benefits from
having a main character, like whether you know I grew
(23:42):
up with Jordan, Well, I don't think we'll ever have
a Jordan again who's like, you know, approval rating is
like probably eighty percent, you know, whereas Lebron became like
the main protagonist slash antagonist of the league, like a
lot of people didn't like him, but like that was
the character or that was like all the attention was
focused around, and I think that was like what was
(24:05):
happening in that Detroit game was like me as an
NBA fan who grew up with Jordan, being like, ah,
we we have a main character again. We have like
somebody who's like kind of driving the league and is
kind of the face of the league again. And it
is just amazing that he's been able to be that
for as long as he has, and I like, is
(24:27):
making another run at being like one of the most relevant,
if not the most relevant player, like heading into the postseason,
like in terms of like narrative, in terms of like
people paying attention, and like, you know, I think the
Lakers are going to be a part of the conversation
of like who wins this year, And I think people
are going to be like rooting for and against Lebron
(24:48):
like that he is still just like the protagonist of
the NBA or antagonist depending on your opinion, but like
he is that like main character face of the league
that I think is for whatever reason, Like I don't
think it's true of like other of the NFL or
like Major League Baseball. I don't think they necessarily need
like the a main character. But for the NBA, it's
(25:11):
like a movie, you know, like the real like stat Nerd,
like basketball nerd or like film nerds might not need
like a strong protagonist, but like I feel like everybody
else just needs like that main character who we're either
like rooting for or against. And it's just he's been
carrying a lot of weight over two freaking decades.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
It's crazy, Jasmine, who do you see being close to that?
Like when you look at the bevy of options, I.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Mean probably Luca, especially now that he's in LA, like
you know, the whole circus of being in LA in
general will just like heighten his you know, image even more.
The thing is is from watching Luca in Dallas for
seven seasons, like he doesn't really look for that kind
of attention, So I don't know that that's going to
(26:00):
Like if the league was like we want you to
be the face, I don't know that Luca is going
to be like, oh yeah, I want to do this,
like yeah, jam Yeah, Like I don't know, Like I
think that's the problem that the league's gonna run into.
I don't know that a lot of guys want that burden,
because it was a burden for Lebron, like like you said, Jack,
like Michael Jordan was like so revered. It's like this
mythical creature like that can be that's like not touch
(26:22):
and then you have like social media and like the
twenty four hour news cycle with Lebron's era, that you
can't really go back to something like Michael and so
going forward, it's just gonna get worse. Like Anthony Edwards
said at I think it was All Star weekend, He's
like somebody asked him, Oh, are you the next face
of the league. He's like, no, that's what Wemby's for.
But I don't know if Wemby is even going to
(26:42):
be that because people are already like an international player
can't be the face of the league, which is the rules. Yeah,
apparently some made up just put together in place all
of a sudden now, So I don't. I don't know.
I feel like it's going to be, uh, it's Lucas
if he wants it, But if he doesn't, then I
don't know where they go.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I don't I mean between Jordan and Lebron. Obviously we
had like Shaq and Kobe, and there was that one
moment I remember like like I'm viewing all like the
history of league or like my experiences with the league
through this, I'm realizing like a lot of the times,
I'm like like when Iverson won Game one against the
Lakers and it was like, oh my god, like maybe
(27:23):
he can just like do anything, you know, like maybe
this is going to be Like he was like the
guy who like he's kind of like you know Jordan.
In his early career, they were like, he's a ballhog.
He just like if I shot that many times, I'd
score thirty a game. And that was kind of how
Iverson was viewed. And then he had that one season
where they like put Ma Tumbo in the middle to
(27:44):
like protect the rim, and I was just like, oh
my god, like this we might have like the next
guy and then who could like you know, defy the
laws of physics. But yeah, I do feel like it's
been a Lebron league for a long time, and it
might be Luca. I don't know. I don't know who
it is.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Maybe maybe I don't know, but he doesn't.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, like that Tatum and like the Celtics team reminds
me of like the that when Lebron like kind of
took it over. I think it was like back and
forth between him and then like the Spurs, you know,
like the the like just Spurs team being dominant, and
I feel like that's kind of what the Celtics team
(28:30):
is is like the Spurs. Like everybody is just like yeah, man,
like you got to be impressed with how they ate,
but we're all actually rooting against them, except for like
super basketball nerds.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
It's like a hard balance of a having that aura
that feels mythical to the point that you can be
bestowed the label of the face of the league. Into
Chasment's point, the enthusiasm to want to have that kind
of scrutiny on you all the time and be able
to handle that is like a whole like because a
lot of people want it, but then can you handle it?
And then can you handle can then can you sustain it?
(29:07):
It's just such a it's like a hard thing. It's like,
I don't think it's one of those things where someone
like you can just anoint someone in the face of
the league. It just all of those factors have to
come together around a player and then it just sort
of makes it obvious rather than someone's like, yes, I'm
in line next for face of the league. It's like, well, no,
I mean, I know you popping with the stats, but
people don't, like people are low key clowning you all
(29:29):
the time or whatever it is. But I think that's
just kind of Yeah, it's hard to see where it
comes from.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
But I don't know.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
I mean, for a long time we were like we
love doctor Mark Green, Anthony Edwards just coming through with
that energy. But he also, yeah, like to your point,
he's reluctant. He's definitely reluctant, and I think he knows
where he probably just falls short of those sort of
certain factors.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
But yeah, not as a shooter, but definitely to have
that yeah rule bestowed on.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
It was find like every other night.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
So yeah, I know, I know, it's so funny the
league's favorite either Yeah, yeah, yeah, It's funny here all
the vents.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Like don't give your money away, like that are you doing?
Keep your money please?
Speaker 4 (30:18):
I mean there's Jannis too though, Like I mean I
felt like for.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
A moment, yeah, after that championship win and like he
was just like just posting his stories. Everyone's like yes,
oh yeah, oh my god, his stories are so great.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Yeah. Yeah, that chicken nugget order, like fifty five chicken
nuggets or whatever after Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
He's probably going somewhere and then it'd be cool if
he went to the Knicks and then like had another
run with the Knicks or something like that. I feel
like that would be the face of the league status. Yeah.
Time will tell, Yeah, I think I think yeah, because
he's had it for US season, I feel like maybe
we do see him kind of take it over for
a little while.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
He does have the space Jam quality. I think that's
the important thing. Is like, if you got more than anything,
you need the space Jam quality. And if you don't
have the space Jam quality, there's you're not going to
quite be the face of the league.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
You mean, arms that look like he's in that scene
in Space Jamuy stretches arms out condunge from the three
point line, just by reality.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
And mildly green skin and red nails.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Yes, let's uh, let's take a quick break, and when
we come back, we are going to do the rapid
fire Round questioning to close it out. We will be
right back and we're back. We're back. Wow, you want
(31:47):
low on that. I had to.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
I had to get the full saunic spectrum of my
voice because Jasmine has been wonderful having you as a guest.
But it is time for the fourth quarter rapid fire
Round questioning, the plastic question answer segment in all sports
podcasting history. We will ask you a question. Just respond quickly, instinctively,
don't think too much, don't tap into the intellectual, tap
into the uh, the the.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Animalistic side, the revolutionary side. Yes, so sports takes.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Just fire it right back. Okay, And if you take
too long and put our record at stake of being
the fastest question answer segment with one of the longest
opening intros for the fastest question answer segment of all time.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
We will be route to you.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Okay, ready, understand, Okay, there we go.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Buy at o'clock. Jack. You're gonna go first, I go first.
Oh I could go first, Miles, if that's okay with you,
that's all right, okay, all right, So this is a
this or that segment where we give you some fictional players.
They're like little fictional player combos if you will, yes,
(32:54):
and you have to choose one or the other. That
was probably clear from though this or that. Okay, Yeah, Brian.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
Start started all right, uh jazz jazzm there, ye all right,
waiting on y'all right now you Actually, that's that's why
I asked, having to do with us slowing it up.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Jack, do you take Dirk with the Keems defense or
Jannie with the Keem's offensive package.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
Dirk, because I'm a homer.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Yeah, I still got that shot. Ye, you still got
that iconic rise up one footage jumper. That the euro step.
They should just call it the Dirk step. Oh yeah.
And then does he still play saxophone?
Speaker 4 (33:36):
He played saxophone.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
I just always think of that, and about his shooting Clinton,
He's like German shooting coats. That always made him saxophone
season Wait what coach? He would always his big thing
was like yeah and just be like try.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Something new, like let's give you a new skill, like
not just shooting a basketball So like, do you learn
sacks like let's learnt?
Speaker 4 (34:02):
Yeah yeah yeah, very shooting off of like one leg
with his eyes closed or something.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Yeah yeah, just very quirky.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
I love that, okay, Jasmine, This or that Luca in
the late nineties and early two thousands, like you know,
playing against t mac Vance, Kobe Mellow, et cetera, or
Dirk in today's game.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
M I'm gonna go Luca because then he wouldn't get
shamed for drinking beer.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
That was just what you did. Yeah, Jordan ripped a
whole rack of Corse lights on on a golf course
before before putting up forty on somebody here you go
Lucas all right. And finally you can't pick Dirk or Luca,
but you can put together any two players to team
(34:49):
up from through at history. Who are you choosing just
in general?
Speaker 4 (34:55):
Oh my god, I'm gonna go Steven ash because again
Mavericks and Lebron James. I was easy.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Oh yeah, that would be nice.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Yeah, service, we like that, okay, Jasmine. Last question, Okay,
you can go back in time and live one year
as an NBA player and experience everything they experienced in
that single year. What player and year.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Are you choosing?
Speaker 4 (35:26):
What year was it that Steph Curry won like unanimous MVP?
Whatever year that was?
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Was that? Like that was fifteen sixteen?
Speaker 4 (35:34):
Yeah, fifteen sixteen? Oh never mind?
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Is that from my final?
Speaker 4 (35:41):
So then I'll do that year as Lebron James winning
the NBA Finals.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Yeah, yeah, there it is. Yeah, that'd be fine. I
want to be a Lebron James all right. And finally,
psych that wasn't the last one because we got to
pick the game of the week.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Oh that's right, yep, Jasmine, let us know what do
we pay?
Speaker 2 (36:00):
What do we need to keep our eyes on? We
got three to choose from only one right answer. On Saturday,
the Los Angeles Lakers are playing the Boston Celtics on ABC.
On Sunday, the Nuggets are playing the Thunder on ABC.
Also later that day or maybe earlier, I'm not sure.
(36:20):
The Calves are at the Bucks on E S p N.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
Where we going with I'm going Lakers Boston?
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Okay, good, thank god? Yeah, that is the right answer,
and we appreciate you choosing the right answer. That's gonna
be something that is I'm gonna feel after that, but
probably bad. I feel like you guys don't match up
that well with the Celtics'. That's the other reason that
you know, my my main quest at this point as
a Sixers fan is like Sixers loses many more games
(36:47):
and we get to keep our pick. They have to
be in the bottom six to keep their pick. And
also a chip for Lebron. If we could get one
last chip for Lebron, that would be so fun. But
that's yeah, So I mean, if the Cavs can knock
off the Celtics for you, that's a that's a big mitzvah.
That would be very nice for Yeah, too.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Early, too early, but Jasmine, those were all the correct answers.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Thank you so much for participating.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Thank you so much for joining us on miles and
jackot mad Boosties. Where do the people find you?
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Follow you, read you, support you and all the work
that you.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
Do cbssports dot com, Slash Jazz Andlinbash Jazz Winbush on
Twitter and on Blue Sky.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Here you go.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky at
Miles of Grade g r A, why.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
I'm at jack Underscore o Brian on Twitter and jack
ob One on Blue Sky, and you can find us
at hashtag mat Boosties for show links and updates, and
be sure to join the conversation on our discord, which
you can also find the link for plinging search hashtag
mat boosties. All Right listeners been put on alert. It's
Lakers at Celtics on Saturday on ABC.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Make sure you do your homework so when you come
to class next time, you don't look foolish.
Speaker 4 (37:58):
We will see you then.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Bye bye bye
Okay, Well, the Calves and Lakers are the hottest teams
in the league, but we have teams on hot streaks
all throughout the standings.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
The day, well that just happened. They are also on
the move.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
We had some unfortunate injuries around the league that we'll
need to address with NBA writer Jasmine Wimbish on today's episode,
I'm Miles Street.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
And I'm Jack O'Brien and this.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Is my.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Chory got it when Looka hits ta. Okay, you be
driving spinny fatter numbers, sight gen, that's been secure. What's
something sure? NBA champions over the public tea.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Right, be honest with the.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Short time, won't you go?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Jasmine Wimbish, you cover the NBA for CBS Sports.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yo, that was the first time Zoom noticed my singing
and said, are you recording music?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Wow, all right, I am a good thing. It usually
just goes stop.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
That the AI is getting smarter.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
It turns out it does turned out that way.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Jasmine, thank you so much for coming on the show
when we have I think this is just a question
I like to ask a lot of NBA journalists where
you are as a journalist and as a fan do
you keep them separate? Do you try and embrace both?
Obviously you're professionals, so you don't let that interfere with
your coverage. But are you also because of your coverage
of the league, you have transcended.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And you have no team.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
I would say that I'm definitely not transcended. That's certainly not.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Not a transcendental NBA cover.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
I'm not trying to be two above it.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
By boy, those people are all lying to themselves.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, you feel anything when you watch basketball, then you
got to have something.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
That's a lie. I grew up a Dallas Mavericks fan.
Dereknovitsky is all time. So this conversation is going to
be rough because the last month has been incredibly depressing
for Mavericks fans. Yeah, but obviously, you know, keeping it
professional and separate from fandom is you know, I have to.
But it also makes my writing a lot better, especially
(02:24):
now the Mavericks are always in the news for the
wrong reasons.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So sure, sure, sure, right. Well, well, so to a
wildly unprofessional podcast where yeah, we.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Fandom obscures our coverage and perspective to a degree that
it's almost unlistenable. But people come in for for the
jokes either way. But yeah, I mean we're I guess
we just get right into it.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I will say I am a seventy six Ers fan,
so I don't know exactly how you're feeling, but uh,
it's bad. Yeah it's bad over here as well. At
least your generational big is coming back soon.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
We'll see about.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, we'll see our ours is untradeable permanently. The only
hope I've seen in Sixers forums is like, maybe we
can get them to retire and then then we'll do
the retirement clause or something. I don't I don't know
any of the contract stuff. But Kyrie has been slowly
(03:30):
winning us over with his game over these past couple years.
And yeah, I mean just one of the most impressive
one on one players, one of the best ball handlers,
shot makers in the league, one of the most fun
players to watch play basketball. So it is I think
devastating obviously to Dallas fans, but also to basketball fans
(03:52):
that he is has a torn acl and out for
the remainder of this season. And it's one of the
injuries that usually takes a toll the next season, if
not takes you out for the next season, but obviously
gave us an indelible image on the way out shooting
the free throws with tears rolling down his face after
(04:13):
the injury, because he seemed like he knew what was happening. Yeah,
but I don't know, like where do we begin with
what the past month has been like for Dallas Mavericks fans.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
I don't know. I mean, I'll tell you where I began,
which was the day that Luca got traded. And I
was awake when that happened, which was at like twelve
thirty in the morning. Yeah, and I was scrolling on
my phone. I get the alert and I'm like, there's
no way this is real. And then I think I
went to like my company's slack and nobody was on
because everybody's asleep. And I go back to Twitter, and
(04:45):
I think sham Sin tweeted more reporting about it or something,
and I was like, oh, this is happening. And I
felt like I was having the worst nightmare and got
like like the night sweats and was just like completely
in denial for about five hours. And then the next
day was it was like mourning somebody like a loved
one who just passed away, Like that's the best way
(05:07):
I can describe it. And it's still like, if you
are a Mavericks fan, watching Luca play for the Lakers
right now is like he's doing everything that he was
doing in Dallas and watching him do it in a
different team's jersey is like the most depressing thing that
you could ever imagine happened to your franchise, Like I
can't And there's nothing else to compare this to in
the NBA, Like genuinely, it's never happened. And so it's
(05:30):
just like it's like living in the worst time timeline possible.
I don't even know it's And to this day, all
of the reasons that the Mavericks have been trying to
filter out through all of their flimsy reports make zero sense.
Like oh he was fat, I mean, okay, he's still
averaging a triple double and went to the.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Finals, took you on his back to the final, right right.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
The amount of like that same sweet tea anecdote I've
seen come up over and over again, I'm like, what
they're still doing this.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, I've been telling that anecdote for years. Okay, right, no,
but I mean like that's what he still I know,
But it's so wild that that's like they got that
one story in their craw and they're just like, yep, no,
we're going to take that drink out of his hand. Yeah, well,
he's celebrating taking us.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
To the finals, even when Kyrie got hurt. Nico Harrison
came out with the statement yesterday or the day before whatever,
and again was like, you know, I see the same
work ethic in him that I saw in Kobe Bryant.
I'm like, oh my god, dude, you gotta let it go.
Like it's all just like another slight at Luca being
like he doesn't have Mamba mentality, which is ridiculous. Yes,
(06:36):
it's gross.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah yeah, and also seems like somebody who does play
with a lot, like the biggest chip on his shoulder,
Like oh absolutely, you just gave him another chip for
the other shoulder. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
I mean just like when Nico was courtside during the
warm up for that Laker game, I was like, no,
we're Luca's about to go off.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Why you're even visible? Why are you even visible hold
of this man right now? Yeah? I would be watching
that game from under my bed in my own house.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Like.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Ad mission impossible, Like just going with somebody completely different.
You're like, yes, and I am enjoying this basketball game.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
But I think that's the thing is Nico thinks that
he's right, so he has all the confidence in the world.
He's never afraid of it. Aside, I should take that back.
He's afraid of being in front of Mavericks fans at
home because he's sitting up in a skybox at home
games whatever. On the road, he is totally comfortable, especially
in Crypto dot Camerina. He just helped set up this
(07:37):
team for the next ten to fifteen years plus, like
he has no reason to be like shameful or whatever,
and he still thinks that he made the right decision.
Like there's just no way.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Yeah, yeah, I know at that game, I know they
had the Luca seventy seven T shirts on the on
the seats, but it was also Nico Harrison night. I
think Harrison, Yeah, yeah, just they didn't know, they didn't know.
But I'm I'm I'm wondering too, because just seeing the
frustration from MAVs fans, which is so understandable, and I
(08:06):
said this before you came, was like it even even
for us, we like, how we how do we have Luca,
Like that's impossible. It's like their franchise player. This never happens.
What do you see happening to even win the good
will back? Because I feel like everything you see from
the fans is just like they're dejected. They feel absolutely
(08:26):
just like empty after this trade and now the subsequent
injuries to Ad and Kyrie just in the finals nine
months ago. What is like, what is the path forward
or is that how do you see that situation the
relationship with the fans or this is just something that
these decisions are being made completely without consideration of that dimension.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Uh, Immediately, they need to fire Nico Harrison. That I
think is like step one to try and like rebuild
a fan base that is completely in tatters right now,
especially at the rate that this thing is just like
falling off the lake, just completely falling apart, like Kyrie's hurt,
eighties hurt. Kyrie's gonna be out for probably most if
not all, of next season. Like, okay, so now next
(09:08):
season is lost, And Nico Harrison during his press conference
was like, oh, well ten years from now, it doesn't matter.
I care about the next three to four all right, Well,
those next three to four years are pretty look at bad. Yeah,
So I mean at the next if at the end
of next season, if Nico Harrison still has a job,
I would genuinely be surprised. Like there's just no way,
(09:28):
especially with the new owner, Patrick Dumont, Like he said
some crazy things about Luca as well. But I don't
understand how you could own a team, have somebody like
Nico basically just running it into the ground at a
rapid rate, and then still try and keep him employed
for the long haul. It doesn't make any sense, doesn't
make sense at all.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah. Ah, where does this rank with the calling Steph
Curry Steven do we think on his career highlight reel?
Oh no, it's Seth right, he called himself. Okay, all
right brother in the slide show. Sorry, we meant to
(10:08):
switch those Outland. What No, I'm not from Maryland?
Speaker 4 (10:12):
What?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah? The East Coast you're you're you're an East Coast guy, right, buddy?
Why do you keep calling me buddy? No? It's Seth right,
mister healed?
Speaker 4 (10:23):
What?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
No? Wiles? What so much? It's there's so many everything
is unprecedented right now, just in every dimension. So I'm
just like, what what, Okay? A picture. It transcends basketball.
(10:45):
It's it's wild, it is biblical, it is job is
how it feels. So we'll stop asking you about the
Dallas Mavericks. We we got the game of the week,
so uh, Jasmine. Every week we take a look at
the upcoming slate and we're like, here's the game of
the week, here's the game that you're gonna want to watch.
(11:07):
We'll watch it, we'll talk about it. And for the
first five times we did this, they were all like
thirty point blow. We got one right. This time. It
was the Cavs playing the Boston Celtics. And the only
(11:28):
thing I enjoy in this league more than a seventy
six Ers win or now that we're tanking a seventy
six Ers loss, is a Boston Celtics loss, particularly come
from behind victory. Jasmin, I am a root for the
rest of the league against the Celtics person. That's my
(11:49):
philosophy in following basketball. In this case, the Celtics built
a twenty two point lead, We're maintaining a double digit
lead for most of the game, even with Porzengis and
Drew Holliday out of the rotation, and then Cleveland was
able to come back. Donovan Mitchell went off for forty
(12:09):
one and just yeah, it took it to him. There's
a very viral clip of Jason Tatum inviting the Cavaliers
to get the heck out of here. Yeah, hey, you guys,
get get on out of here, editation, it takes this personally, Yes, exactly.
(12:30):
They were up twenty five to three and at the
end they lost one twenty three to one sixteen. Donovan
Mitchell gave a little little thumb as Jason Tatum had.
Mitchell scored twenty six of his forty one in the
second half. He's actually been pretty dominant against the Celtics,
Like this is shaping up to be. I think for
(12:52):
a while, I just like didn't believe. I was like,
I still think it's just going to be the Celtics
in the playoffs. But if they play in a seven
game series, Cleveland has home court advantage. I don't know
that they have an answer for Mitchell unless Drew is
like able to just like take it up to another
level defensively in the playoffs, which he has been able
(13:15):
to do in the past. So maybe maybe that's what happens.
But I think it's like kind of a coin flip
at this point, Like, I really think Cleveland Boston is
like could go either way. What do you guys think?
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I just out of my need for the Celtics to
not be good, I am fully invested in that. I
watch this game with such joy in my heart. I mean,
I don't know, just looking at the momentum they have,
I'm like, I'm not gonna say that for sure it's happening,
but I think it's well, it's more than reasonable to believe.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
I'm like, okay, no, no, no, this isn't a fluke,
Like this is something that's going to be sustainable. At least.
That's my sort of half hearted entry into it. What
about you, Jazmine, I feel.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Like if Boston's healthy, I think, like you said, Jack,
like if jew Holliday can turn it up a notch,
then they have an answer for Donovan Mitchell. But the
thing that I watched in that game was like Evan
Mobley also like just completely stood out in that fourth quarter.
I think he had like sixteen of however many points
he scored on the night in the fourth quarter of
that game. All season long, he's just been like his
(14:20):
offensive game has just been like just crazy impressive compared
to his previous seasons. He's already like super dominant on
the defensive side of the ball, but he's getting to
the ram at a rate we've never seen before. Like
he's handed to the all like he's ending them in
the ball so much better, like shooting with so much
more confidence. Like Kenny Atkinson has just been like a
wizard over there for the Cavaliers, and specifically with Evan
(14:42):
Mobley that like, if he's their second best player every
night or sometimes their best player in that series, like
then Cleveland could win. But I'm also very like, I
don't know, because Cleveland kind of gets nervous in the
playoffs and the lights are too bright and whatever that
quote is that year at Allen said last year, like
(15:02):
so I'm not sure, like Boston's scary when they're on,
but Cleveland's been really good this year, so I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, yeah, okay, what's the most hopeful version that way?
So I could it can sue my fears of other Celtics.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
All right, get to us again, but pretend that actually
the Celtics stinct.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I pretend I'm not crying because you said the Celtics
might do it and these tears is just the lights
are right.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Phil Jackson had a measure for like whether a team's
championship aspirations were realistic or not, and it was whether
you could win forty games before losing twenty. And the
Calves are fifty to ten, which is pretty incredible eating
the watermark. Yeah. Yeah, it's just like one of I
feel like we do this a lot where it's just like,
(15:48):
because we haven't seen it yet, we just assumed that
it's it's not going to happen this year because of
like what we've seen historically. We're like, well, the Calves
were bad last year, but even they weren't like from
a personnel standpoint, a completely different team. They are a
different They look like a completely different team this year.
(16:09):
They really have it going. And yeah, Evan Mobley being
the kind of biggest step forward. And then DeAndre Hunter,
you know, ten games Celtic Hunter. DeAndre Hunter, he's always
been good against the Celtics. So should we let's take
a quick break. We'll come back and we'll take a
(16:30):
look further afield around the league. We'll be right back.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
And we're back.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
We're back, and we're going to take a look around
the league. One of these is going to be somewhat unpleasant.
But at the hottest teams in the league, the Cavs
ten straight pretty good. We also have the Pistons now
they're nine and one over the last ten, have the
nineteenth toughest remaining schedule, so like, not that bad a
(17:07):
remaining schedule, just nine and fifteen on December fourth, following
a double digit loss to the Celtics, and have gone
twenty six and thirteen since then, which makes them the
second best team in the NBA since that date. And
Kate is just awesome. I love it. I love it.
Okate is just balling out of his mind. What do
(17:28):
we think the ceiling is for Detroit this year? Can
they get to the Eastern Conference Finals? Or we think
it's just Celtics calves with a bullet and anybody else
is just kind of kind of for the Pistons to
make it to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
We would love for that. I just love when the
Pistons are doing great.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
But what's where are they at right now?
Speaker 4 (17:51):
There's six I just looked up the standing Yeah, okay,
the face. If the playoffs started today, they placed the
Knicks in the first round a tough matchup just off
the bat. Yeah, so I don't know about Eastern Conference.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Finals, but or the second round.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Yeah, maybe a seven game series in the first round.
In playoffs. I mean, getting to the playoffs at all
for Detroit is just like throw a parade, to be honest,
because the season that they've been having after last year
where they set multiple records, where like with their losing streaks,
this is just nobody thought that they would be one
of the top six teams in the East. I mean,
(18:32):
nobody thought the Sixers would completely implode either, but it's
just been like you said, Kate Cunningham has been an
All Star. He's been. It's funny because, like I remember
when Kate came into the league and he had this
rookie season and like everyone was just kind of like, oh,
I don't know, he doesn't look like the number one pick,
and he started off really slow, and then like his
(18:53):
efficiency like was really poor in the first season, and
I feel like he didn't get enough shine in like
his second season, and now he's kind of getting that
moment and the Pistons are benefiting from that that I
think like next season is when we can start talking
like all right past the first round. I think this
is a team that could go a little bit further,
but right now I don't see them making out of
the first round.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
All right, and onto the Lakers, who've played eight teams
with an above five hundred record in the month of
February and went eight to oh hadn't given up more
than one hundred and two points since the break since
the All Star Break, which is seven games. They did
give up over that to the Pelicans last night, but
that was mainly garbage time, and they do just seem
(19:35):
to be able to put all the different pieces together
in a way that works. I do just want to
talk about Lebron real quick. I just want to talk
about what he's been doing since his birthday. He's putting
up twenty six to eight and eight. His Lakers have
won over seventy four percent of the games during that stretch.
His birthday was on December thirtieth, so this is basically
(19:58):
full twenty five. So as a forty year old, twenty
six eight and eight Lakers are winning at a non
president rate for them in his era with the Lakers,
He's not an MVP candidate, but you know, could finish
top ten for the first time since the twenty one
to twenty two season, and most importantly, we're approaching the
(20:20):
ten year anniversary of the tweet that said Lebron is
thirty this Blankerrie won't go on for much longer, thank God.
Twenty fifteen, twenty fifteen, blifically my gosh.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah, yeah, truly, you know, that goes great watching him
score fifty thousand points against the Pelicans, just to smash
through that ceiling. But I don't know, I mean, it
is wild to think just what he's doing right now
and his even his defensive output, even that Pelicans game,
some of the just the runs he was making to
(20:57):
chase down a block or something. It's it's just wild
to see that that intensity is still there at that level.
But now it's just more about when he deploys it
at the right time, and that wisdom is definitely there.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
But yeah, I don't know, I'm.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Just I'm I'm hesitant to get too excited about anything
with the Lakers, although it is generally very fun to watch,
and I hate to say that in front of Testament
does maver e space.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
It's fine, I'm totally fine.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
It's wild, because I mean, I think the one thing too,
Like JJ Reddick was like, Okay, maybe we're gonna we'll
be a shoot a higher volume of threes. And now
we're I think, just second to the Celtics right now
in that department in terms of our effectiveness there from
three and a lot of that has to do with Luca,
but it's I don't know, things are, things are moving
in the right direction, but part of me is also
just conditioned to at this point not ever get my
(21:47):
hopes up high, just because it's hard for me, but
it is.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
It is difficult to not be excited and you know,
at what we're seeing. Just one note of because I
I want to talk about the face of the league
thing real quick, because that's like a big conversation that is, like,
I think, an interesting conversation. But even though it sounds
like sort of a dumb ESPN conversation where they're they're
just like, he's not the face of the league. He doesn't,
you know, where I do like Lebron looks tired in
(22:15):
a way that I've never seen him look on the court,
Like even at the end of the Pelicans game. I'm
not saying like he had an incredible game. I do
just want JJ to start taking him out like five
minutes earlier, Like I just work, Like after the Kyrie injury,
like I do worry about like it can't go on forever.
(22:38):
It can go on until it stops and he gets
hurt and he is forty and he's playing a lot
of time, not as much as he has in the past,
but like just really lean on those breaks, you know,
drive it. Let's drive very cautiously. Heading to the to
the playoffs would be my urging. But yeah, I think
(22:58):
a lot of people are having this conversation about like
the face of the league and like who's going to
take over once Lebron and staff are gone, And like
hearing people talk about that, I was reminded of that
Detroit playoff game where Lebron like before anybody thought it
was possible, like took over a game in a series
and just like single handedly won it for Cleveland against
(23:21):
you know, defending champions or you know. So I forget
if Detroit had won the year before or recently, but
it was it was just an incredible experience. It's always
like stood out to me, and I think it was
because like I really do think the NBA benefits from
having a main character, like whether you know I grew
(23:42):
up with Jordan, Well, I don't think we'll ever have
a Jordan again who's like, you know, approval rating is
like probably eighty percent, you know, whereas Lebron became like
the main protagonist slash antagonist of the league, like a
lot of people didn't like him, but like that was
the character or that was like all the attention was
focused around, and I think that was like what was
(24:05):
happening in that Detroit game was like me as an
NBA fan who grew up with Jordan, being like, ah,
we we have a main character again. We have like
somebody who's like kind of driving the league and is
kind of the face of the league again. And it
is just amazing that he's been able to be that
for as long as he has, and I like, is
(24:27):
making another run at being like one of the most relevant,
if not the most relevant player, like heading into the postseason,
like in terms of like narrative, in terms of like
people paying attention, and like, you know, I think the
Lakers are going to be a part of the conversation
of like who wins this year, And I think people
are going to be like rooting for and against Lebron
(24:48):
like that he is still just like the protagonist of
the NBA or antagonist depending on your opinion, but like
he is that like main character face of the league
that I think is for whatever reason, Like I don't
think it's true of like other of the NFL or
like Major League Baseball. I don't think they necessarily need
like the a main character. But for the NBA, it's
(25:11):
like a movie, you know, like the real like stat Nerd,
like basketball nerd or like film nerds might not need
like a strong protagonist, but like I feel like everybody
else just needs like that main character who we're either
like rooting for or against. And it's just he's been
carrying a lot of weight over two freaking decades.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
It's crazy, Jasmine, who do you see being close to that?
Like when you look at the bevy of options, I.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Mean probably Luca, especially now that he's in LA, like
you know, the whole circus of being in LA in
general will just like heighten his you know, image even more.
The thing is is from watching Luca in Dallas for
seven seasons, like he doesn't really look for that kind
of attention, So I don't know that that's going to
(26:00):
Like if the league was like we want you to
be the face, I don't know that Luca is going
to be like, oh yeah, I want to do this,
like yeah, jam Yeah, Like I don't know, Like I
think that's the problem that the league's gonna run into.
I don't know that a lot of guys want that burden,
because it was a burden for Lebron, like like you said, Jack,
like Michael Jordan was like so revered. It's like this
mythical creature like that can be that's like not touch
(26:22):
and then you have like social media and like the
twenty four hour news cycle with Lebron's era, that you
can't really go back to something like Michael and so
going forward, it's just gonna get worse. Like Anthony Edwards
said at I think it was All Star weekend, He's
like somebody asked him, Oh, are you the next face
of the league. He's like, no, that's what Wemby's for.
But I don't know if Wemby is even going to
(26:42):
be that because people are already like an international player
can't be the face of the league, which is the rules. Yeah,
apparently some made up just put together in place all
of a sudden now, So I don't. I don't know.
I feel like it's going to be, uh, it's Lucas
if he wants it, But if he doesn't, then I
don't know where they go.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I don't I mean between Jordan and Lebron. Obviously we
had like Shaq and Kobe, and there was that one
moment I remember like like I'm viewing all like the
history of league or like my experiences with the league
through this, I'm realizing like a lot of the times,
I'm like like when Iverson won Game one against the
Lakers and it was like, oh my god, like maybe
(27:23):
he can just like do anything, you know, like maybe
this is going to be Like he was like the
guy who like he's kind of like you know Jordan.
In his early career, they were like, he's a ballhog.
He just like if I shot that many times, I'd
score thirty a game. And that was kind of how
Iverson was viewed. And then he had that one season
where they like put Ma Tumbo in the middle to
(27:44):
like protect the rim, and I was just like, oh
my god, like this we might have like the next
guy and then who could like you know, defy the
laws of physics. But yeah, I do feel like it's
been a Lebron league for a long time, and it
might be Luca. I don't know. I don't know who
it is.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Maybe maybe I don't know, but he doesn't.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, like that Tatum and like the Celtics team reminds
me of like the that when Lebron like kind of
took it over. I think it was like back and
forth between him and then like the Spurs, you know,
like the the like just Spurs team being dominant, and
I feel like that's kind of what the Celtics team
(28:30):
is is like the Spurs. Like everybody is just like yeah, man,
like you got to be impressed with how they ate,
but we're all actually rooting against them, except for like
super basketball nerds.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
It's like a hard balance of a having that aura
that feels mythical to the point that you can be
bestowed the label of the face of the league. Into
Chasment's point, the enthusiasm to want to have that kind
of scrutiny on you all the time and be able
to handle that is like a whole like because a
lot of people want it, but then can you handle it?
And then can you handle can then can you sustain it?
(29:07):
It's just such a it's like a hard thing. It's like,
I don't think it's one of those things where someone
like you can just anoint someone in the face of
the league. It just all of those factors have to
come together around a player and then it just sort
of makes it obvious rather than someone's like, yes, I'm
in line next for face of the league. It's like, well, no,
I mean, I know you popping with the stats, but
people don't, like people are low key clowning you all
(29:29):
the time or whatever it is. But I think that's
just kind of Yeah, it's hard to see where it
comes from.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
But I don't know.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
I mean, for a long time we were like we
love doctor Mark Green, Anthony Edwards just coming through with
that energy. But he also, yeah, like to your point,
he's reluctant. He's definitely reluctant, and I think he knows
where he probably just falls short of those sort of
certain factors.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
But yeah, not as a shooter, but definitely to have
that yeah rule bestowed on.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
It was find like every other night.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
So yeah, I know, I know, it's so funny the
league's favorite either Yeah, yeah, yeah, It's funny here all
the vents.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Like don't give your money away, like that are you doing?
Keep your money please?
Speaker 4 (30:18):
I mean there's Jannis too though, Like I mean I
felt like for.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
A moment, yeah, after that championship win and like he
was just like just posting his stories. Everyone's like yes,
oh yeah, oh my god, his stories are so great.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Yeah. Yeah, that chicken nugget order, like fifty five chicken
nuggets or whatever after Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
He's probably going somewhere and then it'd be cool if
he went to the Knicks and then like had another
run with the Knicks or something like that. I feel
like that would be the face of the league status. Yeah.
Time will tell, Yeah, I think I think yeah, because
he's had it for US season, I feel like maybe
we do see him kind of take it over for
a little while.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
He does have the space Jam quality. I think that's
the important thing. Is like, if you got more than anything,
you need the space Jam quality. And if you don't
have the space Jam quality, there's you're not going to
quite be the face of the league.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
You mean, arms that look like he's in that scene
in Space Jamuy stretches arms out condunge from the three
point line, just by reality.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
And mildly green skin and red nails.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Yes, let's uh, let's take a quick break, and when
we come back, we are going to do the rapid
fire Round questioning to close it out. We will be
right back and we're back. We're back. Wow, you want
(31:47):
low on that. I had to.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
I had to get the full saunic spectrum of my
voice because Jasmine has been wonderful having you as a guest.
But it is time for the fourth quarter rapid fire
Round questioning, the plastic question answer segment in all sports
podcasting history. We will ask you a question. Just respond quickly, instinctively,
don't think too much, don't tap into the intellectual, tap
into the uh, the the.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Animalistic side, the revolutionary side. Yes, so sports takes.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Just fire it right back. Okay, And if you take
too long and put our record at stake of being
the fastest question answer segment with one of the longest
opening intros for the fastest question answer segment of all time.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
We will be route to you.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Okay, ready, understand, Okay, there we go.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Buy at o'clock. Jack. You're gonna go first, I go first.
Oh I could go first, Miles, if that's okay with you,
that's all right, okay, all right, So this is a
this or that segment where we give you some fictional players.
They're like little fictional player combos if you will, yes,
(32:54):
and you have to choose one or the other. That
was probably clear from though this or that. Okay, Yeah, Brian.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
Start started all right, uh jazz jazzm there, ye all right,
waiting on y'all right now you Actually, that's that's why
I asked, having to do with us slowing it up.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Jack, do you take Dirk with the Keems defense or
Jannie with the Keem's offensive package.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
Dirk, because I'm a homer.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Yeah, I still got that shot. Ye, you still got
that iconic rise up one footage jumper. That the euro step.
They should just call it the Dirk step. Oh yeah.
And then does he still play saxophone?
Speaker 4 (33:36):
He played saxophone.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
I just always think of that, and about his shooting Clinton,
He's like German shooting coats. That always made him saxophone
season Wait what coach? He would always his big thing
was like yeah and just be like try.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Something new, like let's give you a new skill, like
not just shooting a basketball So like, do you learn
sacks like let's learnt?
Speaker 4 (34:02):
Yeah yeah yeah, very shooting off of like one leg
with his eyes closed or something.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Yeah yeah, just very quirky.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
I love that, okay, Jasmine, This or that Luca in
the late nineties and early two thousands, like you know,
playing against t mac Vance, Kobe Mellow, et cetera, or
Dirk in today's game.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
M I'm gonna go Luca because then he wouldn't get
shamed for drinking beer.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
That was just what you did. Yeah, Jordan ripped a
whole rack of Corse lights on on a golf course
before before putting up forty on somebody here you go
Lucas all right. And finally you can't pick Dirk or Luca,
but you can put together any two players to team
(34:49):
up from through at history. Who are you choosing just
in general?
Speaker 4 (34:55):
Oh my god, I'm gonna go Steven ash because again
Mavericks and Lebron James. I was easy.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Oh yeah, that would be nice.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Yeah, service, we like that, okay, Jasmine. Last question, Okay,
you can go back in time and live one year
as an NBA player and experience everything they experienced in
that single year. What player and year.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Are you choosing?
Speaker 4 (35:26):
What year was it that Steph Curry won like unanimous MVP?
Whatever year that was?
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Was that? Like that was fifteen sixteen?
Speaker 4 (35:34):
Yeah, fifteen sixteen? Oh never mind?
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Is that from my final?
Speaker 4 (35:41):
So then I'll do that year as Lebron James winning
the NBA Finals.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Yeah, yeah, there it is. Yeah, that'd be fine. I
want to be a Lebron James all right. And finally,
psych that wasn't the last one because we got to
pick the game of the week.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Oh that's right, yep, Jasmine, let us know what do
we pay?
Speaker 2 (36:00):
What do we need to keep our eyes on? We
got three to choose from only one right answer. On Saturday,
the Los Angeles Lakers are playing the Boston Celtics on ABC.
On Sunday, the Nuggets are playing the Thunder on ABC.
Also later that day or maybe earlier, I'm not sure.
(36:20):
The Calves are at the Bucks on E S p N.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
Where we going with I'm going Lakers Boston?
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Okay, good, thank god? Yeah, that is the right answer,
and we appreciate you choosing the right answer. That's gonna
be something that is I'm gonna feel after that, but
probably bad. I feel like you guys don't match up
that well with the Celtics'. That's the other reason that
you know, my my main quest at this point as
a Sixers fan is like Sixers loses many more games
(36:47):
and we get to keep our pick. They have to
be in the bottom six to keep their pick. And
also a chip for Lebron. If we could get one
last chip for Lebron, that would be so fun. But
that's yeah, So I mean, if the Cavs can knock
off the Celtics for you, that's a that's a big mitzvah.
That would be very nice for Yeah, too.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Early, too early, but Jasmine, those were all the correct answers.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Thank you so much for participating.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Thank you so much for joining us on miles and
jackot mad Boosties. Where do the people find you?
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Follow you, read you, support you and all the work
that you.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
Do cbssports dot com, Slash Jazz Andlinbash Jazz Winbush on
Twitter and on Blue Sky.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Here you go.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky at
Miles of Grade g r A, why.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
I'm at jack Underscore o Brian on Twitter and jack
ob One on Blue Sky, and you can find us
at hashtag mat Boosties for show links and updates, and
be sure to join the conversation on our discord, which
you can also find the link for plinging search hashtag
mat boosties. All Right listeners been put on alert. It's
Lakers at Celtics on Saturday on ABC.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Make sure you do your homework so when you come
to class next time, you don't look foolish.
Speaker 4 (37:58):
We will see you then.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Bye bye bye
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