February 15, 2024 • 42 mins
Episode 164: Arky Shea and Joel C. Cordes break down the NBA's landscape leading into the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend, including the biggest surprises and disappointments so far. They also weigh the staying power of the New York Knicks, LA Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder in their respective conferences.
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(00:00):
Welcome back into Basketball by Association,the All Star edition except for three dumb
games. Tonight. My name isArky. Say that is Joel c Cord.
It's Joel. Basketball's done for theyear. Now we get to finally
do what we care about, whichis slamming the dunks and finding out who
the best point guard of selected pointguards could be. Joel. This could
be the greatest weekend of my life. I am not sure what to make
(00:25):
of that enthusiasm. Yeah, welcomebasketball. I mean that you're not the
most excited about the best All StarGame ever. I mean, it's in
Indiana, for crying ally, doyou know what's in Indiana basketball? That's
it, That is all of it. Larry Bird's gonna be the three point
contest. I may have made thatup, but he could have been if
(00:46):
you want to do probably, Idon't know. Yeah, I mean,
we've had lots of Indianapolis slander outof you, mister Sandering. I'm just
saying, Indiana they love them somehoop it right there. Desperate to have
good teams, right desperate for beinglike a really fun That's where it was
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all invented in their minds, soto speak. So listen, it's okay,
no problem with Indiana and that respect. Let me ask you this least
interesting thing about All Star weekend,the Celebrity All Star Game or the three
point contest. Oh, the CelebrityAll Star Game one hundred? Like you
(01:30):
like after all these threes, wekeep seeing more people shooting threes. The
three point contest to a lot ofpeople has arguably become I'm trying to move
away this vacuum cleaner that just startedcleaning in the background. Yes, it
is a robot. Okay, II have a three year old child that's
walking around the background of this,so you know it's the Lucy Goosey All
(01:51):
Star version. It is. Thethree point competition to a lot of people,
is more exciting these days than thedunk competition. And it's been that
way for a little bit. Sonow those people, I think of them
equally. I think the three pointcompetition is fun. I like that it
(02:12):
has a larger field. It seemsto move quicker these days than the slam
dunk competition, although they've taken effortto try to fix that. You know,
the dunk competition got into way toomany problems with practice rounds, and
you get X number of tries andall that stuff, and it just that
part of it was too much,the three point competition because it's you know,
(02:34):
eight players, ten players, whateverit is. They got to move
quickly and the shooting moves quickly too. So yeah, I'm I'm okay with
the three point competition. Do Iever watch the Celebrity All Star Game?
Yeah? No, No, Idon't. I don't, and I'm an
NBA die hard. I'll if there'ssomething really great from it. I'll catch
(02:57):
up on the ten second clip fromsocial media. But it's one of those
things that like, I don't givea crap, and I think that event
is for people who don't give acrap about NBA basketball. Okay, that's
not fair, Joe. Let mejust tell you the celebrities in the All
Star Game. You tell me ifyou changed your mind after I tell you
these. Okay, Okay, thisis I'm guessing like Friday. I don't
know. I don't. I thinkit's like the Friday before anybody starts caring
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about that. I can tell youright now, I haven't changed my mind.
There, I saved just some time. Okay, Well, there is
Micah Parsons. My Dallas Cowboys defensivedefensive end Walker Hayes, Connor Daily,
Kai Sinnett, Annual, Quincy Isaiah. Okay, we got to really like
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work on what a celebrity. Okay, that's on team. I was gonna
say, yeah, we're stretching thedefinition of celebrity and this is just making
for great airtime. Contact. Well, the coaches for the team Shannon or
Shannon Sharp and uh Fitty sent andthen the other team, here's your coaches,
stephen A Smith, Little Wayne Hey, Buddy and Asia Wilson. Those
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notes we've heard of. Right,how about this, here's your celebrity.
Your celebrity coaches are Shannon Sharp andstephen A. Smith. That tells me
all I need to know that,Like it's it's just dumb. It's just
dumb. Okay, Well here herehere's your game and then we can we
can get more forward. I guessreal basketball meadow World, Peace Hurd of
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him? Yeah, okay, JackRyan heard of him? I have it,
Adam Blackstone. It's a Jack Ryanplayed by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford,
John Krasinski or person named Jack Ryan. Like I don't think it's like
that character that's books and stuff I'mout Kwame on the WICHI mm hmmm.
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Jennifer Hudson, there's one and ajMcLean. So if you're gonna be a
Lucas Ohl Stadium on Friday, watchout. It is going to be phenomen
Have you seen a setup for that? By the way, the led court
is interesting. I'm not sure thatI love it, but it follows in
line with what they did during theend season tournament, the NBA Cup and
(05:24):
some things they've been experimenting with.So if there's a time to get weird
and experiment with something, the AllStar break is actually the time to do
it. So I don't love theidea itself, but the timing of giving
it a whirl, fine, gofor it, Okay. So I do
want to give some actual NBA talkssince we've been off for so long before
we get out of here. It'snot just going to be about the All
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Star which is basically we get threegames tonight and then no basketball for like
a month. It feels likely justthey just take you just take a really
long time on. I think it'sa full week to get off of Yeah,
and I get that the players itis a good break in a long
season. And there was already fouror five days off, and to give
him a couple extra ones. Itmakes sense, but yeah, it does
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become this weird midpoint, especially whenwe just got done with the trade deadline
and everything, which is one ofthe high points of the season. I
want to ask you about what happenedlast night. The Celtics happened to just
barely beat the Nets. Did yousee this game? I did not watch
this game. I caught up onit afterwards. Well, they only won
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by fifty, so it's a shortwin over the Celtics or by the Celtics,
which was, by the way,Joe Mozula's one hundredth win worthy of
celebration. Hi, you doubted him. You doubted him, Joel, and
now he's one hundred wins, he'slike fifteen hundred away from the room.
It helps when your opponent only hastwo players and double figures for the night,
and one of those players in doublefigures was ten points. It does
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help with that. Now I don'thave the facts behind this. The reason
I wanted to bring this up isit feels like we've seen a lot of
games like this this year, likethirty five four, forty five point wins
for teams even fifty. It feelslike it's happened a lot this year,
and maybe this is just me feelingit. Is it happening more now?
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Does it feel like that the haveshave not sometimes are a little more there's
a little more disparity between the two. Anecdotally, I haven't noticed like a
huge uptick in blowouts. I think, you know, last year, for
example, Oklahoma City at the beginningof the year got blown out by like
sixty points, and it happens.I do think, however, that the
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bottom of both the Eastern Conference andthe West to a slightly lesser extent,
are worse off this year than alot of us thought, and so there
is a disparity between the top andthe bottom. Whereas going into this year,
I remember the narrative was this ideaaround better than ever parody in the
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NBA. But teams that we thoughtwere gonna be at least halfway respectable,
like the Detroit Pistons, who bythe way, have won three out of
their last seven. That's that's amonumental achievement for that team. Teams like
Detroit were just you know, historicallybad to start the season. Washington has
been right there with them. Charlotte'sbeen not much better. Toronto has really
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struggled, though a lot of peoplekind of saw that coming. And then
out in the West, you know, we understood that Portland would probably be
pretty bad. We thought San Antonio, though, might be sniffing around the
play in tournament. That has nothappened. Memphis, of course, was
not supposed to be a sub twentywin team at this point of the year,
even with Jah out originally on thisthe suspension, but him coming back
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now it's just not working. Sothere also have been a lot of nights,
you know, where there's guys thatset that are hurt and it hasn't
been the mass sitting events. Wellme, let me contextualize this with the
number I just found it out.There have been so far, and we're
like roughly halfway through fifty four tofifty five games into the season, there
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have been twenty seven games decided byat least thirty six points this year,
and that feels like that does feela lot. Yeah, it feels like
an insane number. I don't havethe historical number technically looking up now.
Maybe that's something for the next weekwhen we get ready to go into the
second half of the season. Butthat feels like a ton including that sixty
two point game you're talking about withthe thunderback in the becca at the beginning
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of the year. So well,yeah, the beginning of last year.
By beginning sorry, this was yeahlast season for them that they got blown
out, but yeah, they've there'sbeen huge, huge blowouts this year,
last year, the last couple years. To me, the one anecdotally that
jumps out more than the disparity ofscores has been the last couple of seasons
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when there has been a huge pointoutburst by a player and all of a
sudden gets contagious for like two weeksand you have this massive amount of you
know, scoring outbursts and other guysare getting fifty sixty points trying to outdo
each other that I don't remember happeningin previous years, and last year it
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was weird, but for this yearto have it happened again kind of around
the same time of the season islike, Okay, are people just like
I'm I'm going to get fifty tothen I'm going to get sixty and then
teammates are just force feeding and Idon't know, Yeah, By the way,
that sixty two point game was thethunder over over Portland. That was
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the January eleventh this year. Sooh, that was the game they won.
I was thinking, not the lastyear that you're talking about two years
ago. Yeah, when when okaysee got absolutely blitzed. Yeah, there's
a little like, hey, areyou thanks for coughing buddy. It's like,
are you guys even playing basketball?Because one of you doesn't like to
play basketball at all? Hey,I wanted to match you something about my
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New York Knicks. Have you seenwhat they're doing? Surgeries? They're all
trying to stay afloat, that's whatthey're doing. But I'll tell you what
with Julius Randall and his injury,and now you got a nobe with his
with his injury, and they're gonnabe out for the next few weeks or
so the next more than the stateafloat for the first several games after Julius
Randall was out. Uh, theyactually were still very very good. Now
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unfortunately, it's uh the Knicks areyou know, they've lost four in a
row, right, but they havebuilt up a little bit of a little
bit of a cushion during that thatstretch beforehand where Jalen Brunson was unstoppable,
like he was legitimately like one ofthe best. The Garden was chanting MVP
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to him after a game a fewnights ago. So, you know what
I love about this New York Knicksteam is that eventually I can look forward
to them being all together again.Someday that will happen, and it's been.
Brunson has been huge, Dante deVincenzo's playing the best basketball of his
career, and all of a suddenhas gone from a you know, role
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player type of guy to one ofthe main scorer for the New York Nick's
one of the main secondary scorers.He's not going to retain that mantle when
Julius Randall comes back, but it'sgreat to see that that is an option
for them. You know, youtalked about Anonobe being out, but Isaiah
Hertenstein has been out obviously, MitchellRobinson has been out for much of the
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year already at this point. Sofor New York to be sitting in fourth
place despite all the injuries is great. And you talk about I think New
York is the team out of allof the NBA squads that needs this week
off around the All Star break thananybody else because also they'll stop losing ground,
you know, like that'll stop losingbecause the fact. And I don't
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think they're going to be able toyou know, compete for the one seed
when he comes out of the East. This year's just so much time that
they so much space that they hadto make up in the standings, and
so little time basically to be ableto do it. And Boston has not
shown any side of being eating otherthan uh, really really good for a
long time. And and uh,I think that there's a chance with another
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week, which is another week foreverybody to start getting healthier. As you
say, you stop losing the ground. I think there's now such shot that
could be a two seed, butI think three or four is probably where
they end up before they go intouh the playoffs, which is really all
I want to do is to beable to host. By the way,
shouldn't have been losing for losers tofour straight after being hosed itdmntedly hosed out
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of a call of a couple ofnights ago. Uh, not a foul,
especially when the officials afterwards like,yeah, to incidental contact, no
big deal. Oh great, canyou just replay the down again? Like,
are you able to just put everybodyback together? No even looked at
it and replay what is going on? I look, you know, I
tell you I did love. Idid love the fact that Tom Thibodeau.
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Even afterwards, it's like or notafterwards, but like during the review was
like, I'm drawing up a play. I'm drawing up a play. We're
gonna have time, We're gonna makesure of this. It was still like,
we're gonna we're gonna win this.Just by his weird beard. We're
gonna win this. I'll tell youthis. I don't know, man,
I think the Nicks I really wantedto talk about, just because since we've
left talk they've been destroyed with acouple of big in trees that are guys
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that are coming out. You gottabe really happy with the acquisition of boy
On Bogdanovitch, I would assume,and Alec Burks to a lesser extent,
because what New York got them forwas a big of spare parts. Really,
I mean no disrespect to Quentin Grimes, who I was surprised they cut
bait with, but you got tosend something of value. But to get
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boy On Bogdanovich, who is oneof the better I think third wheel scorers,
fourth wheel scorers, and a guywho really can light it up when
he's when he's on. And thenAlec Burks has been a good pro over
the last few seasons and he's beenin New York before. He showed some
scoring prowess in Detroit out of necessity, but he's not a bad defender either.
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Again, just a good veteran tohave in that rotation. We knew
the Ogeana Nobi trade. That one. I think everybody looked at and went,
yeah, that's a fair price.It sucks to get rid of RJ.
Barrett. Nobody wants to see Emmanuelquickly out of a Knicks uniform.
But Onanobi's gonna be a good fit. He gives them an hindsight being twenty
twenty that's been rewarded in spades.Onanobe is an absolute great fit. But
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to get Bogdanovitch for the price thatthey got him, I'm looking around going
if that's all it took to getBogie and Alec Burks out of Detroit,
where were the rest of the contendersbanging down the door? For him because
he is very helpful. Yes,over exposed if he's your second or third
wheel, but when he's gonna bea rotation scorer, oh my goodness,
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I'll tell you this and then wecan move on from them. I think
the biggest the biggest sign that thatshowed me is that the Knicks are in.
The Knicks are fully in for theseason to be able to compete.
That even though they had a coupleof really unfortunate injuries, they are going
to take a huge chunk out ofthe season a month plus for each of
these guys, if not nothing,at least those injuries are happened basically at
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the same time in the time onlinewill kind of sort of coincide where it'll
be roughly back around the same time. But the Knicks are like, listen,
we don't want this to sort oftorpedo us into the seven the eighth
or play in something like that.We don't want to be looking. We
know what we got. We gota really good team. We got a
really good set of people here.When we're all completely healthy, we need
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to make sure that while we're waitingfor everyone to come back, we don't
just sit in twiddle our thumbs,and so I think that's that's what I
loved about it. I'll tell youwhat. You know, you and I
at the beginning of the season,we're pretty bullish on the Knicks. I
think it's the first time ever sincewe've been doing shows together that we were
both excited about them at the sametime. And one of the things that
really stood out was the knicks usabledepth this year, which was a little
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bit of a problem last season anddefinitely over the previous few seasons. And
now you look at that usable depth. It's absolutely having to be used on
a necessity because of those injuries.But when fully healthy, you're four guys
off the bench, because let's bereal, that's all Thibodeau is going to
play if that, but your fourguys off the bench and boy On Bogdanovich,
Josh hart Alec Burks, and IsaiahHartenstein, with Miles McBride and Precious
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at Chewa in reserve behind them,that's fantastic. That is really and it's
not just the names. It's notjust that they're all veterans and they've been
through their own separate playoff runs andbig moments or of ben starters for a
little bit before played bigger roles,but it's just that they all fit together
too, and they seem to fitinto a Thibodeau style that has evolved at
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least enough over the last couple ofseasons to be workable in the modern NBA.
And then you have the the isoability of Jalen Brunson and Julius Randall,
the connective ability of Ogian Andobia,and then hopefully Dante di Vincenzo and
Mitchell Robinson being able to do theirthings as very very solid starters. At
this point, yeah, I thinkthere's a lot still to be had for
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the new organings team. So gottto get everybody healthy in time. But
absolutely, yeah, there's no Abiand then there's no Randall. There's no
Knicks competing this year. But ifyou could get at least Randall back,
I know, B they could keepthe I think with Randall Randall, Noanobi,
I think that could be. Ithink that could be a team that
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surprises somebody to get to the EasternConference finals with with only a note B.
I mean with Randall, I thinkthat's a team that has a shot.
So it could be with Randall andno Aobi. The other way I
think that's a shot that the teamit could be get the NBA Finals.
I feel bullish, but I knowBoston looked really, really good. But
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I'm not really afraid of Milwaukee atthis point. I'm not really afraid of
Philadelphia at this point. Cleveland's hot, but probably not afraid of them given
the series last year. No,the Knicks punched him in the face last
year, So there, there's there'snothing other than maybe Boston obviously, which
would be a great seriest series toofun that that that that could be.
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That could be six very crazy fungames to watch, maybe seven. But
you like New York's chances in allof those series, which is that's saying
something right, You like their chances, and I end if its and you
give both the guys back and theb and Randall, then for sure I'm
picking them to beat everybody that's athat's not biased right. That way we
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can get through to see them.You know, the Minnesota Timberwolves in the
finals, and you and I aregoing to a game or two. UH
probably have to go to UH toMinnesota because New York wn be a little
expensive. Yeah, we can't putout fifth mortgages on our houses. Now
yet soon though soon. I didn'tfind a lot really sort of super interesting
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to talk about over these last coupleof weeks as far as teams individually,
because what we've seen a lot,especially in the West, is a lot
of a lot of the same.I'm impressed in Minnesota and Oklahoma City are
still there. One into this whole. The Slippers gave him a run though
Clippers were the scene back right,so like they're half a game back of
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like second which is which is okay? See at this point, like I
think the Clippers are great. Ithink the Clippers. The Clippers are my
surprise right now. They're my bigsurprise because I did not expect this to
fit this way and to work thisway right now, neither of us different,
but they they have been really stellar. Neither of us expected it.
And and it's time, I think, and this has been coming for a
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while for us to give the mayA call. But to James Harden,
we were among the you know,the pack, with everybody else rooting for
that to fail. James Harden hasracked up so much bad karma over the
last couple of years, and whenhe got to LA and it looked like
it was just flaming out Immediately,we all kind of snickered and said,
see. I think the turning pointthough for the Clippers belongings to Russell Westbrook
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when he said, when he saidthis is not working, I will move
to the bench. I will makethe sacrifice to do that. And I
think it's set this precedent where Hardonbeing there trying to fit in with everybody.
You see Kawhi Leonard, I don'tknow if it's being fine because we
never know what his emotion is,but operating with fewer touches and yet still
being very efficient. Paul George isstill you know, himself, for better
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or worse. The team's a littlebit small up front, but they are
so athletic at all the wing positions. Zubots is a you know, great
solid starting center. The bench isdeep enough. It's a very veteran laden
team. And look, the Clippershave been trying to open this window for
it feels like the last three fourseasons, right, and it kept slamming
shut because of injuries. Kawhi Leonardknock On Wood has missed four games total
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this year. They've all been plannedabsences as far as I know, or
a minor injury. Paul George hasnot missed all that much time either.
Zubots I think has been the leadinggame misser for the Clippers. So you
talk about health being this secret sauceand the Clippers finally, finally, finally,
this year have a talented, veteranladen team like they have the past
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few seasons, but everybody has beenavailable enough to keep the momentum going and
turn around the fact that they hadsuch a slow start to the year.
Yeah, I've I've been really impressed, and like you said, the may
cope is on me definitely, andyou know, I'm not gonna put that
on you. I was absolutely Iwas rooting for that to fail, and
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we still have some time for itto fail. Right, there's still a
chance for like somebody the playoffs,when James Harden has to you know,
score points and not disappear, that'sgonna be a question. I'll be honest
with you, man, I stilldon't want to fully believe in the Clippers,
Like there's still that reservation in theback of my head. But they're
third in the West and they're agame and a half back. Do you
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know what the third place team inthe East is at a first place.
They're eight games back. Like theWest is tight. And that's why I
give so much credit to Minnesota andto okay See and by the way,
Denvers those at four that that's theworld championship team. By the way,
like that's a heated race that's beengoing. It's been heated all year long.
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And I give so much credit tothose top two teams for not will
thinks so far. And they givecredit to the Clippers for putting it together
and getting the hardened trade and forit working out. But the West has
been the West has been wild manthe Minnesota has Minnesota's has split their series
to a piece with the Thunder,and Minnesota has spanked the Clippers in both
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of their matchups so far this year, like dominated Minnesota. And I think
Minnesota is like the best in theWest on the road, if I'm not
mistaken. Yeah, And I thinkthey're one of the top two at least
in the West, like on theroad, Like they're really good at home,
but on the road they're pretty goodtoo. They're nineteen eleven away from
home and that is the most roadwins so far of any team I think,
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percentage wise, there might be oneor two that are sniffing around that
new or sitting at seventeen and twelveis awfully close. But yeah, Minnesota
nineteen and five at home on theyear, and a lot of their wins,
this is what's really frustrating as aWolves fan. Most of their wins
have come against the really good teams. What they have had a problem with
is blowing big leads. That wasa huge problem for them last year,
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Blowing big leads against lesser competition,whether that was the Raptors early in the
season or you know, Charlotte justrecently, there's the game where Karl Anthony
Towns puts up sixty points and theylose, like despite having a twenty point
lead. So they've had a handfulof those games, and if Minnesota cleans
that up, you're looking at themwith five more wins on the season easily
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if they don't lose that focus onthose big leads. So as we're sort
of looking at basically the rearview mirrorfor the first half of the season,
and you know, we'll maybe nextweek we'll talk about going forward, what
we think what's been the biggest disappointmentfor you for the first half. Player
wise, team wise, anything likethat, because I'll tell you who my
(25:03):
biggest disappointment in the in the uh, in the entire NBA is so far,
Yeah, go for it. Andthen I've I've got one or two
for each conference. That's Memphis,Man, Memphis. Look, I know
when you started off with not havinga John Moran and that was a big
deal. But they were so bad, like they were unwatchable at times during
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that first twenty five game stretch.And then John comes back and again and
they start winning immediately and winning immediately, and then they and then he gets
hurt and they have all their injuries. That's the biggest. And I know
there's reasons for it. I'm notsaying they're a bad organization or a bad
group of fellas out there, youknow, shooting hoops around, but that's
been the biggest. So I thoughtI thought they would tread water for the
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first twenty five games probably, andthen when John came back, they'd be
able to rock it to the toptop four of the of the West.
I thought they were good enough too, and they've just not been able to
have any of that happen. Injuries, the suspension and then just some terrible
play just in general, that rosteris not built for depth. They're not
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built to be able to sustain reallyany type of loss to their first part
of their lineup, and they've beenobliterated to the first part of their lineup.
So that's been I think the biggestIt's a woman in the whole NBA
for me. Yeah, and youknow, missing Marcus Smart for as long
as they have and Derek Rose foras long as they have. There's been
others besides job, but it certainlyis jah as the main issue there for
(26:34):
me. You know, while we'reat the bottom of the standings, it's
been a major disappointment how few gamesDetroit and San Antonio have been able to
win. Coming into this season,neither were expected to be playoff teams.
But in both cases I thought,I think with the sheer amount of talent
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and the good coaching that they have, and the fact that they have been
developing their young guys, it's notlike this is the first year of the
rebuild for either of these franchises.This is like year three, year four
with a lot of these young guysplaying together. I think they can be
sniffing around the play in tournament andthey both just were awful to start the
year. They have since like gottena little bit of momentum. You know,
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San Antonio is still only two andeight in their last ten, despite
the fact that Wemby advertised yeah rightright, and Detroit eight wins three and
seven in their last ten. LikeI mentioned before, those neither of those
two teams should have been at thebottom of their conference. That should have
been reserved for somebody like Portland andWashington, Charlotte, what have you.
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I think further up the list,it's been really disappointing for the Lakers.
You know, that's an obvious one, But I picked them to win the
championship. Don't calmp them out yet, but it's hard to believe in them
when you look at the quality atthe top of the Western Conference. But
if they're healthy, they get intothe playoffs. Got that veteran laden team
and all those different very intriguing partsthat we looked at with LA and similar
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things can be said with Golden State, like there's no way that either of
those two teams should be sitting atninth and tenth at this point of the
season. That is a massive disappointment. At the same time, nobody really
wants to see either of those twoteams in the first round, much less
the second round, because that wouldmean said team has found some momentum that
(28:27):
has escaped them. And we haveseen teams like the Miami Heat, veteran
laden teams that just kind of limpedthrough a regular season and then all of
a sudden they're here to play likeWe've also seen those teams not be able
to flip the switch in the past. But I think that's what the Lakers.
I think the Lakers are just like, get us in and we'll be
able to even though they look really, really good at the beginning of the
(28:48):
year, I think I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong, and I might
be wrong. I feel like themore I say it, the more I
am wrong on that I think theyneed to be I don't think I don't
think they're gonna I think they wantto avoid the play as much as possible.
Put that way. The most recentdisappointment, the one that still I
think stings the most for me,is Milwaukee. You fire Adrian Griffin when
(29:11):
you're sitting with an identical record tothe top team in the West, and
yes, you're sitting in second atthe same time whatever Doc Rivers comes in,
and not only do you go fromnot winning as many games as you
were supposed to, but now you'relosing a whole bunch of games. They're
four and six in their last ten, searching for momentum. Yes, the
defense has looked a little bit better, but all of a sudden, Damian
(29:33):
Lillard doesn't look comfortable again. Like, think of how tough of a position
that is. When you are aguy who played a decade plus for a
different team, most of that forTerry Stott, so most of that with
one coach, and then you cometo your first new franchise ever where you're
going to be a second wheel forthe first time ever in your career.
(29:56):
You've got all that pressure and allthat acclamation. It's a brand new coach
that you are playing for, andsaid coach gets fired before the All Star
break, and now you have anothernew coach and a new system to try
to take care of right down thestretch of a playoff run and you had
been sitting in second place. Iwould be really frustrated if I was Dame,
(30:18):
And if I'm honest, I wouldgo what kind of dysfunction is this?
Unless it was those two who werereally in the ears of management to
go. Adrian Griffin's not cutting it, He's not ready, which very well
could have happened. I feel likeyou should put some respect on the name
Doc Rivers, who is your NBAAll Star Game coach for the deed.
Okay, that might be the mostdisappointing thing of all. Thank you for
(30:42):
bringing that up. Actually, thatmight be the most disappointing thing at all.
Either Adrian Griffin gets to come backand coach that game or the support
staff for the Bucks to do andDoc Rivers doesn't, or just give it
to JB. Bickerstaff from Cleveland orsomeone else. Come on to me.
(31:02):
At least Doc Riffs acknowledges that it'sridiculous. Yes, at least he acknowledges
his ridiculous But but he won't giveup the honor of doing exactly like like
what my my thing is exactly withyou? I know this. Does he
get the bonus? Does he getthe coaching bonus? Because there's money on
the line for the coaching staff,So if he gets the bonus out of
(31:22):
that and Adrian Griffin doesn't, that'sbs man. That's an interesting question because
even if he does. He think'sgot to pay that out to somebody,
right, Like he's gotta say he'sgotta venmo that to somebody else. Yes,
cut that check to Adrian, gobuy him a Bentley or you know
something like you gotta you gotta giveyou gotta give the man that money.
I think the coachings this is enoughto buy a Bentley. No, okay,
(31:45):
I used one like it's the AllStar Game, brother, Yeah,
I know the NBA rules are whatthey are for this and this is sort
of a unique situation that it happenedand all. But even then, if
you're the NBA, you're like,Okay, we get it, we have
to adjust for this week. Youcan't just be like them the rules,
you know, like you know whatthe rules are there for, not for
(32:05):
guys to be coachd not to beguys. Not for guys to be fired,
like six games before the All StarGame and they still be in position
if you're fired for the All StarGame. Most of the time you're not
in a position to be the AllStar Game coach because you know what,
you're not a good team. Ihonestly don't even like the rule that says
if you coached it last year,you can't coach it again, Like,
(32:27):
you know what's the problem with JoeMizula and his staff being in first place
in the Eastern Conference again getting togo like, we wouldn't have any of
this problem unless the Bucks have beensitting in first and then one would think
they wouldn't have fired Adrian Griffin.But like, if it's not gonna be
Joe Mizzoula, then JB. Bickerstaffhas done a really nice job in Cleveland
over the last couple of years.Yes, they've had an influx of talent
(32:52):
and a development of their guys thatwere in house too, but like he's
done a really nice job and theCavs are sitting there contending to him.
I'm okay with that. Listen,if you're Doc Rivers, you gotta say,
like talk to them, be likethat, I can't do this.
You're putting me in a weird spot. Like it's a weird spot. Like
he was basically the coach before heplayed, before he started coaching for the
(33:13):
All Star Game, Like all theyreally had to do I think was what
it was like, like he didn'teven have to win a game, Like
they had to have someone else lose, basically for him to confirm that that
it's so weird, so such aweird spot. Better comedy and better karma
would be Doc Rivers just going Iwon't coach the game, but my son,
Austin Rivers gets to coach the game, and we get to continue the
neo baby talking with Austin Rivers,which is not fair to him. He's
(33:36):
tried to get away from that.All right. We got a few more
minutes here before were got to hitout. I want to ask about your
surprises positively, uh, and whenit comes to the NBA for the first
half, and maybe if you wantto throw as someone who you think is
your MVP right now, I thinkthat would be fair to go at this
point. Who's the biggest surprise?Positively? Because I do like to give
(33:59):
those the laurels that when I canto Nobody expected Minnesota sitting in first.
We expected them to be better.We expected the fit to either work well
enough that they were going to bein the playoff field or that they were
going to have to blow things upbetween Rudy Gobert and Karl Anthony Towns by
the deadline, and it's worked.Karl Anthony Towns has fit better over this
(34:22):
season, not perfectly, but tome, I think the bigger surprise out
West, even more than Minnesota,even more than OKC has been the Dallas
Mavericks, who I picked to benear the bottom of the West. We
thought that was a disaster roster waiting, and the roster as originally constituted,
(34:44):
got off to a really hot start. Luca and Kyrie worked things out before
some injuries began to set in.And then as the injuries have piled up
here and they started to lose alittle momentum, you saw Dallas with an
aggression at the trade deadline that went, no, we are in on competing,
we are in on taking this asfar as we can, and we're
(35:05):
gonna go get more perfect lob partnersfor Luka, Doncic, and more guys
that can finish a play, whichhas really been you know, the issue
for the Dallas Mavericks is that Luka, like Nikola Jokic, would rather be
a play initiator. Yes, hecan finish plays, and Luca is even
better than Jokic's honestly when it comesto that, but he would rather be
(35:25):
the setup man. And you hadKyrie irving and you had Tim Hardaway Junior
as guys that you could reliably havefinish a play and maybe even generate some
looks themselves. But really that wasit. Derek Lively comes out of the
woodwork as a rookie. Josh Greenhas been, you know, I think,
ascending on his development curve faster thanthey expected. Dante ExHAM has been
(35:47):
a usable NBA player, which youknow, he's been out of the league
for a couple of years. Butfor them to then go get Daniel Gafford,
who just plays above the rim,I mean, that guy plays above
the rim, and and nobody reallyknows that because he was on some lousy
Bulls teams. He's been on somelousy Wizards teams. He's perfect. He's
the slightly more veteran version of DerekLively. And PJ. Washington is a
(36:09):
guy who can get up but reallyis a pick and pop type of player.
And it's a nice defender too.They got them both for reasonable prices.
It solidifies that starting lineup. Iloved those moves. I love that
Dallas is sending that signal to Lucathat says, we will continue shuffling the
(36:30):
deck until we get this right.We're not going to waste your time here
in Dallas. So they've been thebiggest pleasant surprise out west, out east,
I mean, take your pick.Cleveland's sitting in second, though that
may just be a product of otherteams struggling New York being as solid as
they've been. Maybe that's not asurprise because we kind of called that,
(36:50):
but it probably is. The Pacersthat surprised a lot of people, but
not you and me arequiche because wepicked them to be exactly where they are
right now, which was sitting aroundthe fifth or sixth seed, and that
was going to be a huge bump. And then for them to go out
and get Pascal Siakam for what theydid, and he's been a seamless fit
with Halliburton. We've said it overand over, India is fun this year.
(37:13):
They are fun. They are fun, but they are a good team
too, and they've got a nicebedrock to build off of Halliburton super young.
Siakam's young enough, Miles Turner isn'told yet. Aaron neth Smith now
moved into the starting lineup. Rememberthat was a lottery pick by the Celtics,
looking like a really solid starter.Ben Mathron a lottery pick. They
got some weapons, and they've gotsome upside that they probably will not hit
(37:36):
this year, but over the nextcouple of seasons, Indiana is going to
be mentioned in the same I think, the same sentence as the Celtics and
the Bucks and the Knicks, theSixers, the Cavs. It is a
really hot top six in the East. And then you still got Miami floating
around there, going don't forget aboutus, because as soon as you do,
we're going to kill you. Stopbringing in Miami. I'll keep the
(37:59):
three my overall just big surprises.Okay. See, I'm surprised they're sustained.
I really am. We've seen We'veseen this Minnesota group essentially be really
good before. I did not expectOKAC to be this good this year.
They look veteran young, veteran young. And you know why because my first
half v m VP, that's Shaygild Gilges Alexander. That guy has it.
(38:22):
Without him, that team doesn't runthe way it does, and that
teams running really nice right now,averaging over thirty points a game. He
was a I think what was hesecond touring last year? He didn't lea
the League of scoring last year?Did he He did not know, but
he was up in the top threealmost all season. Yeah, yeah,
he was phenomenal last year. Thefact that he sustained and this year is
another great season for him to saythat that guy is going to be someone
(38:45):
to pay attention to. It's goingto be a problem for teams for the
next few seasons. Jay Gilders,Alexander is my MVP for the first first
half of the season. He's beengreat. That Okac team has been great
and again one of those teams andwe're like super fun to watch. What's
so great about Shaye and this iswhere he is similar to Jannie or Joe
(39:07):
El Embiid is that he puts upthese top five scoring numbers and Shay's sitting
in third right now, behind Embiidand behind Luca. But unlike somebody like
Luca and even somewhat like Nikola jokiccha couple of the other and Jason Tatum
too, who are all solid enoughdefenders, Shay Giljes Alexander is a really
(39:27):
good defensive player, a really goodtwo way player. He's averaging what is
it on the season here, letme pull this up he's averaging two steals
a game and a block per gamein addition to thirty points per game,
six and a half assists, fiveand a half boards. He's shooting thirty
seven percent from downtown. This isthe big kicker, fifty five percent from
the floor on the season. Like, you cannot keep him in those long
(39:52):
arms out of the lane, andonce he gets there, he's getting to
his spots like a Jason Tatum does, where there's just there's nothing you can
really do about it to keep himfrom getting to those efficient kill zones.
But then on that defensive end,like you said, he's so good in
the passing lanes, as are allof the Thunder like they That's that's where
(40:13):
the veteran part to me really comesout. Yeah, they execute their offense,
They run a devastating fast break.They defend on a string. If
you can get young guys like thatto defend at the level that they have
been and Shay is leading the charge. Oh yeah, the Thunder are surprising.
I think we all thought we've seenthis coming. We're like, yeah,
this is a good group. Somedaythis is gonna be scary. We
(40:35):
just didn't see it happening. Thissoon. Yeah, they're not gonna win
it all this year, but theymay in the next couple. They may
be a team that finds uh,you know, finds Oklahoma City back in
deep, deep playoff runs for thenext several years, which will be they're
gonna they're gonna beat handily. Ithink at least one veteran team in the
playoffs where you go, oh,the Thunder aren't ready. This other team
(40:58):
is there, and I think theThunder are gonna somebody out of the building
in five games. Oh yeah,for that first round matchup, probably,
I would agree, Probably could bein the second round, who knows,
But I mean, it's it's coming, like this team is legit. Yeah,
I think the Semis are probably theceiling for OKAC. I just I
think there's just too much depth atthe top of the West to be able
to get completely through it. Butwho knows, man, they may they
(41:20):
may find themselves in the West finalsand then you know, it'll be all
the matchup dependent. All right,Joe, that's gonna do it for us,
another wonderful basketball association. When wecome back, there will be no
basketball played, but we'll start talkingabout the second half of the season.
And while the Knicks are clearly thefavorite to win it all until they Joel,
don't scoff at that. I'm justlooking forward to, you know,
dedicating thirty five minutes of a celebritygame breakdown, you know, a recap.
(41:45):
Listen, listen. Fifty cent Ais a coach. He deserves the
time. That's what Doc Rivers shouldbe coaching a celebrity game, not if
he wants to coach a game inthe All Star Game. It's the celebrity
game, not the not the actualone that we'll see on Sunday. All
right, Joe, let's go doit for us. Say goodbye to the
good people. Goodbye, good people. Will see you next time.
Welcome back into Basketball by Association,the All Star edition except for three dumb
games. Tonight. My name isArky. Say that is Joel c Cord.
It's Joel. Basketball's done for theyear. Now we get to finally
do what we care about, whichis slamming the dunks and finding out who
the best point guard of selected pointguards could be. Joel. This could
be the greatest weekend of my life. I am not sure what to make
(00:25):
of that enthusiasm. Yeah, welcomebasketball. I mean that you're not the
most excited about the best All StarGame ever. I mean, it's in
Indiana, for crying ally, doyou know what's in Indiana basketball? That's
it, That is all of it. Larry Bird's gonna be the three point
contest. I may have made thatup, but he could have been if
(00:46):
you want to do probably, Idon't know. Yeah, I mean,
we've had lots of Indianapolis slander outof you, mister Sandering. I'm just
saying, Indiana they love them somehoop it right there. Desperate to have
good teams, right desperate for beinglike a really fun That's where it was
(01:06):
all invented in their minds, soto speak. So listen, it's okay,
no problem with Indiana and that respect. Let me ask you this least
interesting thing about All Star weekend,the Celebrity All Star Game or the three
point contest. Oh, the CelebrityAll Star Game one hundred? Like you
(01:30):
like after all these threes, wekeep seeing more people shooting threes. The
three point contest to a lot ofpeople has arguably become I'm trying to move
away this vacuum cleaner that just startedcleaning in the background. Yes, it
is a robot. Okay, II have a three year old child that's
walking around the background of this,so you know it's the Lucy Goosey All
(01:51):
Star version. It is. Thethree point competition to a lot of people,
is more exciting these days than thedunk competition. And it's been that
way for a little bit. Sonow those people, I think of them
equally. I think the three pointcompetition is fun. I like that it
(02:12):
has a larger field. It seemsto move quicker these days than the slam
dunk competition, although they've taken effortto try to fix that. You know,
the dunk competition got into way toomany problems with practice rounds, and
you get X number of tries andall that stuff, and it just that
part of it was too much,the three point competition because it's you know,
(02:34):
eight players, ten players, whateverit is. They got to move
quickly and the shooting moves quickly too. So yeah, I'm I'm okay with
the three point competition. Do Iever watch the Celebrity All Star Game?
Yeah? No, No, Idon't. I don't, and I'm an
NBA die hard. I'll if there'ssomething really great from it. I'll catch
(02:57):
up on the ten second clip fromsocial media. But it's one of those
things that like, I don't givea crap, and I think that event
is for people who don't give acrap about NBA basketball. Okay, that's
not fair, Joe. Let mejust tell you the celebrities in the All
Star Game. You tell me ifyou changed your mind after I tell you
these. Okay, Okay, thisis I'm guessing like Friday. I don't
know. I don't. I thinkit's like the Friday before anybody starts caring
(03:21):
about that. I can tell youright now, I haven't changed my mind.
There, I saved just some time. Okay, Well, there is
Micah Parsons. My Dallas Cowboys defensivedefensive end Walker Hayes, Connor Daily,
Kai Sinnett, Annual, Quincy Isaiah. Okay, we got to really like
(03:50):
work on what a celebrity. Okay, that's on team. I was gonna
say, yeah, we're stretching thedefinition of celebrity and this is just making
for great airtime. Contact. Well, the coaches for the team Shannon or
Shannon Sharp and uh Fitty sent andthen the other team, here's your coaches,
stephen A Smith, Little Wayne Hey, Buddy and Asia Wilson. Those
(04:12):
notes we've heard of. Right,how about this, here's your celebrity.
Your celebrity coaches are Shannon Sharp andstephen A. Smith. That tells me
all I need to know that,Like it's it's just dumb. It's just
dumb. Okay, Well here herehere's your game and then we can we
can get more forward. I guessreal basketball meadow World, Peace Hurd of
(04:32):
him? Yeah, okay, JackRyan heard of him? I have it,
Adam Blackstone. It's a Jack Ryanplayed by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford,
John Krasinski or person named Jack Ryan. Like I don't think it's like
that character that's books and stuff I'mout Kwame on the WICHI mm hmmm.
(05:00):
Jennifer Hudson, there's one and ajMcLean. So if you're gonna be a
Lucas Ohl Stadium on Friday, watchout. It is going to be phenomen
Have you seen a setup for that? By the way, the led court
is interesting. I'm not sure thatI love it, but it follows in
line with what they did during theend season tournament, the NBA Cup and
(05:24):
some things they've been experimenting with.So if there's a time to get weird
and experiment with something, the AllStar break is actually the time to do
it. So I don't love theidea itself, but the timing of giving
it a whirl, fine, gofor it, Okay. So I do
want to give some actual NBA talkssince we've been off for so long before
we get out of here. It'snot just going to be about the All
(05:44):
Star which is basically we get threegames tonight and then no basketball for like
a month. It feels likely justthey just take you just take a really
long time on. I think it'sa full week to get off of Yeah,
and I get that the players itis a good break in a long
season. And there was already fouror five days off, and to give
him a couple extra ones. Itmakes sense, but yeah, it does
(06:06):
become this weird midpoint, especially whenwe just got done with the trade deadline
and everything, which is one ofthe high points of the season. I
want to ask you about what happenedlast night. The Celtics happened to just
barely beat the Nets. Did yousee this game? I did not watch
this game. I caught up onit afterwards. Well, they only won
(06:27):
by fifty, so it's a shortwin over the Celtics or by the Celtics,
which was, by the way,Joe Mozula's one hundredth win worthy of
celebration. Hi, you doubted him. You doubted him, Joel, and
now he's one hundred wins, he'slike fifteen hundred away from the room.
It helps when your opponent only hastwo players and double figures for the night,
and one of those players in doublefigures was ten points. It does
(06:49):
help with that. Now I don'thave the facts behind this. The reason
I wanted to bring this up isit feels like we've seen a lot of
games like this this year, likethirty five four, forty five point wins
for teams even fifty. It feelslike it's happened a lot this year,
and maybe this is just me feelingit. Is it happening more now?
(07:12):
Does it feel like that the haveshave not sometimes are a little more there's
a little more disparity between the two. Anecdotally, I haven't noticed like a
huge uptick in blowouts. I think, you know, last year, for
example, Oklahoma City at the beginningof the year got blown out by like
sixty points, and it happens.I do think, however, that the
(07:35):
bottom of both the Eastern Conference andthe West to a slightly lesser extent,
are worse off this year than alot of us thought, and so there
is a disparity between the top andthe bottom. Whereas going into this year,
I remember the narrative was this ideaaround better than ever parody in the
(07:56):
NBA. But teams that we thoughtwere gonna be at least halfway respectable,
like the Detroit Pistons, who bythe way, have won three out of
their last seven. That's that's amonumental achievement for that team. Teams like
Detroit were just you know, historicallybad to start the season. Washington has
been right there with them. Charlotte'sbeen not much better. Toronto has really
(08:18):
struggled, though a lot of peoplekind of saw that coming. And then
out in the West, you know, we understood that Portland would probably be
pretty bad. We thought San Antonio, though, might be sniffing around the
play in tournament. That has nothappened. Memphis, of course, was
not supposed to be a sub twentywin team at this point of the year,
even with Jah out originally on thisthe suspension, but him coming back
(08:39):
now it's just not working. Sothere also have been a lot of nights,
you know, where there's guys thatset that are hurt and it hasn't
been the mass sitting events. Wellme, let me contextualize this with the
number I just found it out.There have been so far, and we're
like roughly halfway through fifty four tofifty five games into the season, there
(09:00):
have been twenty seven games decided byat least thirty six points this year,
and that feels like that does feela lot. Yeah, it feels like
an insane number. I don't havethe historical number technically looking up now.
Maybe that's something for the next weekwhen we get ready to go into the
second half of the season. Butthat feels like a ton including that sixty
two point game you're talking about withthe thunderback in the becca at the beginning
(09:22):
of the year. So well,yeah, the beginning of last year.
By beginning sorry, this was yeahlast season for them that they got blown
out, but yeah, they've there'sbeen huge, huge blowouts this year,
last year, the last couple years. To me, the one anecdotally that
jumps out more than the disparity ofscores has been the last couple of seasons
(09:48):
when there has been a huge pointoutburst by a player and all of a
sudden gets contagious for like two weeksand you have this massive amount of you
know, scoring outbursts and other guysare getting fifty sixty points trying to outdo
each other that I don't remember happeningin previous years, and last year it
(10:09):
was weird, but for this yearto have it happened again kind of around
the same time of the season islike, Okay, are people just like
I'm I'm going to get fifty tothen I'm going to get sixty and then
teammates are just force feeding and Idon't know, Yeah, By the way,
that sixty two point game was thethunder over over Portland. That was
(10:30):
the January eleventh this year. Sooh, that was the game they won.
I was thinking, not the lastyear that you're talking about two years
ago. Yeah, when when okaysee got absolutely blitzed. Yeah, there's
a little like, hey, areyou thanks for coughing buddy. It's like,
are you guys even playing basketball?Because one of you doesn't like to
play basketball at all? Hey,I wanted to match you something about my
(10:50):
New York Knicks. Have you seenwhat they're doing? Surgeries? They're all
trying to stay afloat, that's whatthey're doing. But I'll tell you what
with Julius Randall and his injury,and now you got a nobe with his
with his injury, and they're gonnabe out for the next few weeks or
so the next more than the stateafloat for the first several games after Julius
Randall was out. Uh, theyactually were still very very good. Now
(11:15):
unfortunately, it's uh the Knicks areyou know, they've lost four in a
row, right, but they havebuilt up a little bit of a little
bit of a cushion during that thatstretch beforehand where Jalen Brunson was unstoppable,
like he was legitimately like one ofthe best. The Garden was chanting MVP
(11:35):
to him after a game a fewnights ago. So, you know what
I love about this New York Knicksteam is that eventually I can look forward
to them being all together again.Someday that will happen, and it's been.
Brunson has been huge, Dante deVincenzo's playing the best basketball of his
career, and all of a suddenhas gone from a you know, role
(11:56):
player type of guy to one ofthe main scorer for the New York Nick's
one of the main secondary scorers.He's not going to retain that mantle when
Julius Randall comes back, but it'sgreat to see that that is an option
for them. You know, youtalked about Anonobe being out, but Isaiah
Hertenstein has been out obviously, MitchellRobinson has been out for much of the
(12:18):
year already at this point. Sofor New York to be sitting in fourth
place despite all the injuries is great. And you talk about I think New
York is the team out of allof the NBA squads that needs this week
off around the All Star break thananybody else because also they'll stop losing ground,
you know, like that'll stop losingbecause the fact. And I don't
(12:43):
think they're going to be able toyou know, compete for the one seed
when he comes out of the East. This year's just so much time that
they so much space that they hadto make up in the standings, and
so little time basically to be ableto do it. And Boston has not
shown any side of being eating otherthan uh, really really good for a
long time. And and uh,I think that there's a chance with another
(13:05):
week, which is another week foreverybody to start getting healthier. As you
say, you stop losing the ground. I think there's now such shot that
could be a two seed, butI think three or four is probably where
they end up before they go intouh the playoffs, which is really all
I want to do is to beable to host. By the way,
shouldn't have been losing for losers tofour straight after being hosed itdmntedly hosed out
(13:26):
of a call of a couple ofnights ago. Uh, not a foul,
especially when the officials afterwards like,yeah, to incidental contact, no
big deal. Oh great, canyou just replay the down again? Like,
are you able to just put everybodyback together? No even looked at
it and replay what is going on? I look, you know, I
tell you I did love. Idid love the fact that Tom Thibodeau.
(13:46):
Even afterwards, it's like or notafterwards, but like during the review was
like, I'm drawing up a play. I'm drawing up a play. We're
gonna have time, We're gonna makesure of this. It was still like,
we're gonna we're gonna win this.Just by his weird beard. We're
gonna win this. I'll tell youthis. I don't know, man,
I think the Nicks I really wantedto talk about, just because since we've
left talk they've been destroyed with acouple of big in trees that are guys
(14:09):
that are coming out. You gottabe really happy with the acquisition of boy
On Bogdanovitch, I would assume,and Alec Burks to a lesser extent,
because what New York got them forwas a big of spare parts. Really,
I mean no disrespect to Quentin Grimes, who I was surprised they cut
bait with, but you got tosend something of value. But to get
(14:31):
boy On Bogdanovich, who is oneof the better I think third wheel scorers,
fourth wheel scorers, and a guywho really can light it up when
he's when he's on. And thenAlec Burks has been a good pro over
the last few seasons and he's beenin New York before. He showed some
scoring prowess in Detroit out of necessity, but he's not a bad defender either.
(14:52):
Again, just a good veteran tohave in that rotation. We knew
the Ogeana Nobi trade. That one. I think everybody looked at and went,
yeah, that's a fair price.It sucks to get rid of RJ.
Barrett. Nobody wants to see Emmanuelquickly out of a Knicks uniform.
But Onanobi's gonna be a good fit. He gives them an hindsight being twenty
twenty that's been rewarded in spades.Onanobe is an absolute great fit. But
(15:13):
to get Bogdanovitch for the price thatthey got him, I'm looking around going
if that's all it took to getBogie and Alec Burks out of Detroit,
where were the rest of the contendersbanging down the door? For him because
he is very helpful. Yes,over exposed if he's your second or third
wheel, but when he's gonna bea rotation scorer, oh my goodness,
(15:35):
I'll tell you this and then wecan move on from them. I think
the biggest the biggest sign that thatshowed me is that the Knicks are in.
The Knicks are fully in for theseason to be able to compete.
That even though they had a coupleof really unfortunate injuries, they are going
to take a huge chunk out ofthe season a month plus for each of
these guys, if not nothing,at least those injuries are happened basically at
(15:58):
the same time in the time onlinewill kind of sort of coincide where it'll
be roughly back around the same time. But the Knicks are like, listen,
we don't want this to sort oftorpedo us into the seven the eighth
or play in something like that.We don't want to be looking. We
know what we got. We gota really good team. We got a
really good set of people here.When we're all completely healthy, we need
(16:18):
to make sure that while we're waitingfor everyone to come back, we don't
just sit in twiddle our thumbs,and so I think that's that's what I
loved about it. I'll tell youwhat. You know, you and I
at the beginning of the season,we're pretty bullish on the Knicks. I
think it's the first time ever sincewe've been doing shows together that we were
both excited about them at the sametime. And one of the things that
really stood out was the knicks usabledepth this year, which was a little
(16:41):
bit of a problem last season anddefinitely over the previous few seasons. And
now you look at that usable depth. It's absolutely having to be used on
a necessity because of those injuries.But when fully healthy, you're four guys
off the bench, because let's bereal, that's all Thibodeau is going to
play if that, but your fourguys off the bench and boy On Bogdanovich,
Josh hart Alec Burks, and IsaiahHartenstein, with Miles McBride and Precious
(17:06):
at Chewa in reserve behind them,that's fantastic. That is really and it's
not just the names. It's notjust that they're all veterans and they've been
through their own separate playoff runs andbig moments or of ben starters for a
little bit before played bigger roles,but it's just that they all fit together
too, and they seem to fitinto a Thibodeau style that has evolved at
(17:30):
least enough over the last couple ofseasons to be workable in the modern NBA.
And then you have the the isoability of Jalen Brunson and Julius Randall,
the connective ability of Ogian Andobia,and then hopefully Dante di Vincenzo and
Mitchell Robinson being able to do theirthings as very very solid starters. At
this point, yeah, I thinkthere's a lot still to be had for
(17:52):
the new organings team. So gottto get everybody healthy in time. But
absolutely, yeah, there's no Abiand then there's no Randall. There's no
Knicks competing this year. But ifyou could get at least Randall back,
I know, B they could keepthe I think with Randall Randall, Noanobi,
I think that could be. Ithink that could be a team that
(18:14):
surprises somebody to get to the EasternConference finals with with only a note B.
I mean with Randall, I thinkthat's a team that has a shot.
So it could be with Randall andno Aobi. The other way I
think that's a shot that the teamit could be get the NBA Finals.
I feel bullish, but I knowBoston looked really, really good. But
(18:36):
I'm not really afraid of Milwaukee atthis point. I'm not really afraid of
Philadelphia at this point. Cleveland's hot, but probably not afraid of them given
the series last year. No,the Knicks punched him in the face last
year, So there, there's there'snothing other than maybe Boston obviously, which
would be a great seriest series toofun that that that that could be.
(19:02):
That could be six very crazy fungames to watch, maybe seven. But
you like New York's chances in allof those series, which is that's saying
something right, You like their chances, and I end if its and you
give both the guys back and theb and Randall, then for sure I'm
picking them to beat everybody that's athat's not biased right. That way we
(19:22):
can get through to see them.You know, the Minnesota Timberwolves in the
finals, and you and I aregoing to a game or two. UH
probably have to go to UH toMinnesota because New York wn be a little
expensive. Yeah, we can't putout fifth mortgages on our houses. Now
yet soon though soon. I didn'tfind a lot really sort of super interesting
(19:45):
to talk about over these last coupleof weeks as far as teams individually,
because what we've seen a lot,especially in the West, is a lot
of a lot of the same.I'm impressed in Minnesota and Oklahoma City are
still there. One into this whole. The Slippers gave him a run though
Clippers were the scene back right,so like they're half a game back of
(20:06):
like second which is which is okay? See at this point, like I
think the Clippers are great. Ithink the Clippers. The Clippers are my
surprise right now. They're my bigsurprise because I did not expect this to
fit this way and to work thisway right now, neither of us different,
but they they have been really stellar. Neither of us expected it.
And and it's time, I think, and this has been coming for a
(20:27):
while for us to give the mayA call. But to James Harden,
we were among the you know,the pack, with everybody else rooting for
that to fail. James Harden hasracked up so much bad karma over the
last couple of years, and whenhe got to LA and it looked like
it was just flaming out Immediately,we all kind of snickered and said,
see. I think the turning pointthough for the Clippers belongings to Russell Westbrook
(20:53):
when he said, when he saidthis is not working, I will move
to the bench. I will makethe sacrifice to do that. And I
think it's set this precedent where Hardonbeing there trying to fit in with everybody.
You see Kawhi Leonard, I don'tknow if it's being fine because we
never know what his emotion is,but operating with fewer touches and yet still
being very efficient. Paul George isstill you know, himself, for better
(21:17):
or worse. The team's a littlebit small up front, but they are
so athletic at all the wing positions. Zubots is a you know, great
solid starting center. The bench isdeep enough. It's a very veteran laden
team. And look, the Clippershave been trying to open this window for
it feels like the last three fourseasons, right, and it kept slamming
shut because of injuries. Kawhi Leonardknock On Wood has missed four games total
(21:41):
this year. They've all been plannedabsences as far as I know, or
a minor injury. Paul George hasnot missed all that much time either.
Zubots I think has been the leadinggame misser for the Clippers. So you
talk about health being this secret sauceand the Clippers finally, finally, finally,
this year have a talented, veteranladen team like they have the past
(22:03):
few seasons, but everybody has beenavailable enough to keep the momentum going and
turn around the fact that they hadsuch a slow start to the year.
Yeah, I've I've been really impressed, and like you said, the may
cope is on me definitely, andyou know, I'm not gonna put that
on you. I was absolutely Iwas rooting for that to fail, and
(22:26):
we still have some time for itto fail. Right, there's still a
chance for like somebody the playoffs,when James Harden has to you know,
score points and not disappear, that'sgonna be a question. I'll be honest
with you, man, I stilldon't want to fully believe in the Clippers,
Like there's still that reservation in theback of my head. But they're
third in the West and they're agame and a half back. Do you
(22:48):
know what the third place team inthe East is at a first place.
They're eight games back. Like theWest is tight. And that's why I
give so much credit to Minnesota andto okay See and by the way,
Denvers those at four that that's theworld championship team. By the way,
like that's a heated race that's beengoing. It's been heated all year long.
(23:11):
And I give so much credit tothose top two teams for not will
thinks so far. And they givecredit to the Clippers for putting it together
and getting the hardened trade and forit working out. But the West has
been the West has been wild manthe Minnesota has Minnesota's has split their series
to a piece with the Thunder,and Minnesota has spanked the Clippers in both
(23:33):
of their matchups so far this year, like dominated Minnesota. And I think
Minnesota is like the best in theWest on the road, if I'm not
mistaken. Yeah, And I thinkthey're one of the top two at least
in the West, like on theroad, Like they're really good at home,
but on the road they're pretty goodtoo. They're nineteen eleven away from
home and that is the most roadwins so far of any team I think,
(23:56):
percentage wise, there might be oneor two that are sniffing around that
new or sitting at seventeen and twelveis awfully close. But yeah, Minnesota
nineteen and five at home on theyear, and a lot of their wins,
this is what's really frustrating as aWolves fan. Most of their wins
have come against the really good teams. What they have had a problem with
is blowing big leads. That wasa huge problem for them last year,
(24:18):
Blowing big leads against lesser competition,whether that was the Raptors early in the
season or you know, Charlotte justrecently, there's the game where Karl Anthony
Towns puts up sixty points and theylose, like despite having a twenty point
lead. So they've had a handfulof those games, and if Minnesota cleans
that up, you're looking at themwith five more wins on the season easily
(24:41):
if they don't lose that focus onthose big leads. So as we're sort
of looking at basically the rearview mirrorfor the first half of the season,
and you know, we'll maybe nextweek we'll talk about going forward, what
we think what's been the biggest disappointmentfor you for the first half. Player
wise, team wise, anything likethat, because I'll tell you who my
(25:03):
biggest disappointment in the in the uh, in the entire NBA is so far,
Yeah, go for it. Andthen I've I've got one or two
for each conference. That's Memphis,Man, Memphis. Look, I know
when you started off with not havinga John Moran and that was a big
deal. But they were so bad, like they were unwatchable at times during
(25:26):
that first twenty five game stretch.And then John comes back and again and
they start winning immediately and winning immediately, and then they and then he gets
hurt and they have all their injuries. That's the biggest. And I know
there's reasons for it. I'm notsaying they're a bad organization or a bad
group of fellas out there, youknow, shooting hoops around, but that's
been the biggest. So I thoughtI thought they would tread water for the
(25:48):
first twenty five games probably, andthen when John came back, they'd be
able to rock it to the toptop four of the of the West.
I thought they were good enough too, and they've just not been able to
have any of that happen. Injuries, the suspension and then just some terrible
play just in general, that rosteris not built for depth. They're not
(26:11):
built to be able to sustain reallyany type of loss to their first part
of their lineup, and they've beenobliterated to the first part of their lineup.
So that's been I think the biggestIt's a woman in the whole NBA
for me. Yeah, and youknow, missing Marcus Smart for as long
as they have and Derek Rose foras long as they have. There's been
others besides job, but it certainlyis jah as the main issue there for
(26:34):
me. You know, while we'reat the bottom of the standings, it's
been a major disappointment how few gamesDetroit and San Antonio have been able to
win. Coming into this season,neither were expected to be playoff teams.
But in both cases I thought,I think with the sheer amount of talent
(26:56):
and the good coaching that they have, and the fact that they have been
developing their young guys, it's notlike this is the first year of the
rebuild for either of these franchises.This is like year three, year four
with a lot of these young guysplaying together. I think they can be
sniffing around the play in tournament andthey both just were awful to start the
year. They have since like gottena little bit of momentum. You know,
(27:21):
San Antonio is still only two andeight in their last ten, despite
the fact that Wemby advertised yeah rightright, and Detroit eight wins three and
seven in their last ten. LikeI mentioned before, those neither of those
two teams should have been at thebottom of their conference. That should have
been reserved for somebody like Portland andWashington, Charlotte, what have you.
(27:41):
I think further up the list,it's been really disappointing for the Lakers.
You know, that's an obvious one, But I picked them to win the
championship. Don't calmp them out yet, but it's hard to believe in them
when you look at the quality atthe top of the Western Conference. But
if they're healthy, they get intothe playoffs. Got that veteran laden team
and all those different very intriguing partsthat we looked at with LA and similar
(28:06):
things can be said with Golden State, like there's no way that either of
those two teams should be sitting atninth and tenth at this point of the
season. That is a massive disappointment. At the same time, nobody really
wants to see either of those twoteams in the first round, much less
the second round, because that wouldmean said team has found some momentum that
(28:27):
has escaped them. And we haveseen teams like the Miami Heat, veteran
laden teams that just kind of limpedthrough a regular season and then all of
a sudden they're here to play likeWe've also seen those teams not be able
to flip the switch in the past. But I think that's what the Lakers.
I think the Lakers are just like, get us in and we'll be
able to even though they look really, really good at the beginning of the
(28:48):
year, I think I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong, and I might
be wrong. I feel like themore I say it, the more I
am wrong on that I think theyneed to be I don't think I don't
think they're gonna I think they wantto avoid the play as much as possible.
Put that way. The most recentdisappointment, the one that still I
think stings the most for me,is Milwaukee. You fire Adrian Griffin when
(29:11):
you're sitting with an identical record tothe top team in the West, and
yes, you're sitting in second atthe same time whatever Doc Rivers comes in,
and not only do you go fromnot winning as many games as you
were supposed to, but now you'relosing a whole bunch of games. They're
four and six in their last ten, searching for momentum. Yes, the
defense has looked a little bit better, but all of a sudden, Damian
(29:33):
Lillard doesn't look comfortable again. Like, think of how tough of a position
that is. When you are aguy who played a decade plus for a
different team, most of that forTerry Stott, so most of that with
one coach, and then you cometo your first new franchise ever where you're
going to be a second wheel forthe first time ever in your career.
(29:56):
You've got all that pressure and allthat acclamation. It's a brand new coach
that you are playing for, andsaid coach gets fired before the All Star
break, and now you have anothernew coach and a new system to try
to take care of right down thestretch of a playoff run and you had
been sitting in second place. Iwould be really frustrated if I was Dame,
(30:18):
And if I'm honest, I wouldgo what kind of dysfunction is this?
Unless it was those two who werereally in the ears of management to
go. Adrian Griffin's not cutting it, He's not ready, which very well
could have happened. I feel likeyou should put some respect on the name
Doc Rivers, who is your NBAAll Star Game coach for the deed.
Okay, that might be the mostdisappointing thing of all. Thank you for
(30:42):
bringing that up. Actually, thatmight be the most disappointing thing at all.
Either Adrian Griffin gets to come backand coach that game or the support
staff for the Bucks to do andDoc Rivers doesn't, or just give it
to JB. Bickerstaff from Cleveland orsomeone else. Come on to me.
(31:02):
At least Doc Riffs acknowledges that it'sridiculous. Yes, at least he acknowledges
his ridiculous But but he won't giveup the honor of doing exactly like like
what my my thing is exactly withyou? I know this. Does he
get the bonus? Does he getthe coaching bonus? Because there's money on
the line for the coaching staff,So if he gets the bonus out of
(31:22):
that and Adrian Griffin doesn't, that'sbs man. That's an interesting question because
even if he does. He think'sgot to pay that out to somebody,
right, Like he's gotta say he'sgotta venmo that to somebody else. Yes,
cut that check to Adrian, gobuy him a Bentley or you know
something like you gotta you gotta giveyou gotta give the man that money.
I think the coachings this is enoughto buy a Bentley. No, okay,
(31:45):
I used one like it's the AllStar Game, brother, Yeah,
I know the NBA rules are whatthey are for this and this is sort
of a unique situation that it happenedand all. But even then, if
you're the NBA, you're like,Okay, we get it, we have
to adjust for this week. Youcan't just be like them the rules,
you know, like you know whatthe rules are there for, not for
(32:05):
guys to be coachd not to beguys. Not for guys to be fired,
like six games before the All StarGame and they still be in position
if you're fired for the All StarGame. Most of the time you're not
in a position to be the AllStar Game coach because you know what,
you're not a good team. Ihonestly don't even like the rule that says
if you coached it last year,you can't coach it again, Like,
(32:27):
you know what's the problem with JoeMizula and his staff being in first place
in the Eastern Conference again getting togo like, we wouldn't have any of
this problem unless the Bucks have beensitting in first and then one would think
they wouldn't have fired Adrian Griffin.But like, if it's not gonna be
Joe Mizzoula, then JB. Bickerstaffhas done a really nice job in Cleveland
over the last couple of years.Yes, they've had an influx of talent
(32:52):
and a development of their guys thatwere in house too, but like he's
done a really nice job and theCavs are sitting there contending to him.
I'm okay with that. Listen,if you're Doc Rivers, you gotta say,
like talk to them, be likethat, I can't do this.
You're putting me in a weird spot. Like it's a weird spot. Like
he was basically the coach before heplayed, before he started coaching for the
(33:13):
All Star Game, Like all theyreally had to do I think was what
it was like, like he didn'teven have to win a game, Like
they had to have someone else lose, basically for him to confirm that that
it's so weird, so such aweird spot. Better comedy and better karma
would be Doc Rivers just going Iwon't coach the game, but my son,
Austin Rivers gets to coach the game, and we get to continue the
neo baby talking with Austin Rivers,which is not fair to him. He's
(33:36):
tried to get away from that.All right. We got a few more
minutes here before were got to hitout. I want to ask about your
surprises positively, uh, and whenit comes to the NBA for the first
half, and maybe if you wantto throw as someone who you think is
your MVP right now, I thinkthat would be fair to go at this
point. Who's the biggest surprise?Positively? Because I do like to give
(33:59):
those the laurels that when I canto Nobody expected Minnesota sitting in first.
We expected them to be better.We expected the fit to either work well
enough that they were going to bein the playoff field or that they were
going to have to blow things upbetween Rudy Gobert and Karl Anthony Towns by
the deadline, and it's worked.Karl Anthony Towns has fit better over this
(34:22):
season, not perfectly, but tome, I think the bigger surprise out
West, even more than Minnesota,even more than OKC has been the Dallas
Mavericks, who I picked to benear the bottom of the West. We
thought that was a disaster roster waiting, and the roster as originally constituted,
(34:44):
got off to a really hot start. Luca and Kyrie worked things out before
some injuries began to set in.And then as the injuries have piled up
here and they started to lose alittle momentum, you saw Dallas with an
aggression at the trade deadline that went, no, we are in on competing,
we are in on taking this asfar as we can, and we're
(35:05):
gonna go get more perfect lob partnersfor Luka, Doncic, and more guys
that can finish a play, whichhas really been you know, the issue
for the Dallas Mavericks is that Luka, like Nikola Jokic, would rather be
a play initiator. Yes, hecan finish plays, and Luca is even
better than Jokic's honestly when it comesto that, but he would rather be
(35:25):
the setup man. And you hadKyrie irving and you had Tim Hardaway Junior
as guys that you could reliably havefinish a play and maybe even generate some
looks themselves. But really that wasit. Derek Lively comes out of the
woodwork as a rookie. Josh Greenhas been, you know, I think,
ascending on his development curve faster thanthey expected. Dante ExHAM has been
(35:47):
a usable NBA player, which youknow, he's been out of the league
for a couple of years. Butfor them to then go get Daniel Gafford,
who just plays above the rim,I mean, that guy plays above
the rim, and and nobody reallyknows that because he was on some lousy
Bulls teams. He's been on somelousy Wizards teams. He's perfect. He's
the slightly more veteran version of DerekLively. And PJ. Washington is a
(36:09):
guy who can get up but reallyis a pick and pop type of player.
And it's a nice defender too.They got them both for reasonable prices.
It solidifies that starting lineup. Iloved those moves. I love that
Dallas is sending that signal to Lucathat says, we will continue shuffling the
(36:30):
deck until we get this right.We're not going to waste your time here
in Dallas. So they've been thebiggest pleasant surprise out west, out east,
I mean, take your pick.Cleveland's sitting in second, though that
may just be a product of otherteams struggling New York being as solid as
they've been. Maybe that's not asurprise because we kind of called that,
(36:50):
but it probably is. The Pacersthat surprised a lot of people, but
not you and me arequiche because wepicked them to be exactly where they are
right now, which was sitting aroundthe fifth or sixth seed, and that
was going to be a huge bump. And then for them to go out
and get Pascal Siakam for what theydid, and he's been a seamless fit
with Halliburton. We've said it overand over, India is fun this year.
(37:13):
They are fun. They are fun, but they are a good team
too, and they've got a nicebedrock to build off of Halliburton super young.
Siakam's young enough, Miles Turner isn'told yet. Aaron neth Smith now
moved into the starting lineup. Rememberthat was a lottery pick by the Celtics,
looking like a really solid starter.Ben Mathron a lottery pick. They
got some weapons, and they've gotsome upside that they probably will not hit
(37:36):
this year, but over the nextcouple of seasons, Indiana is going to
be mentioned in the same I think, the same sentence as the Celtics and
the Bucks and the Knicks, theSixers, the Cavs. It is a
really hot top six in the East. And then you still got Miami floating
around there, going don't forget aboutus, because as soon as you do,
we're going to kill you. Stopbringing in Miami. I'll keep the
(37:59):
three my overall just big surprises.Okay. See, I'm surprised they're sustained.
I really am. We've seen We'veseen this Minnesota group essentially be really
good before. I did not expectOKAC to be this good this year.
They look veteran young, veteran young. And you know why because my first
half v m VP, that's Shaygild Gilges Alexander. That guy has it.
(38:22):
Without him, that team doesn't runthe way it does, and that
teams running really nice right now,averaging over thirty points a game. He
was a I think what was hesecond touring last year? He didn't lea
the League of scoring last year?Did he He did not know, but
he was up in the top threealmost all season. Yeah, yeah,
he was phenomenal last year. Thefact that he sustained and this year is
another great season for him to saythat that guy is going to be someone
(38:45):
to pay attention to. It's goingto be a problem for teams for the
next few seasons. Jay Gilders,Alexander is my MVP for the first first
half of the season. He's beengreat. That Okac team has been great
and again one of those teams andwe're like super fun to watch. What's
so great about Shaye and this iswhere he is similar to Jannie or Joe
(39:07):
El Embiid is that he puts upthese top five scoring numbers and Shay's sitting
in third right now, behind Embiidand behind Luca. But unlike somebody like
Luca and even somewhat like Nikola jokiccha couple of the other and Jason Tatum
too, who are all solid enoughdefenders, Shay Giljes Alexander is a really
(39:27):
good defensive player, a really goodtwo way player. He's averaging what is
it on the season here, letme pull this up he's averaging two steals
a game and a block per gamein addition to thirty points per game,
six and a half assists, fiveand a half boards. He's shooting thirty
seven percent from downtown. This isthe big kicker, fifty five percent from
the floor on the season. Like, you cannot keep him in those long
(39:52):
arms out of the lane, andonce he gets there, he's getting to
his spots like a Jason Tatum does, where there's just there's nothing you can
really do about it to keep himfrom getting to those efficient kill zones.
But then on that defensive end,like you said, he's so good in
the passing lanes, as are allof the Thunder like they That's that's where
(40:13):
the veteran part to me really comesout. Yeah, they execute their offense,
They run a devastating fast break.They defend on a string. If
you can get young guys like thatto defend at the level that they have
been and Shay is leading the charge. Oh yeah, the Thunder are surprising.
I think we all thought we've seenthis coming. We're like, yeah,
this is a good group. Somedaythis is gonna be scary. We
(40:35):
just didn't see it happening. Thissoon. Yeah, they're not gonna win
it all this year, but theymay in the next couple. They may
be a team that finds uh,you know, finds Oklahoma City back in
deep, deep playoff runs for thenext several years, which will be they're
gonna they're gonna beat handily. Ithink at least one veteran team in the
playoffs where you go, oh,the Thunder aren't ready. This other team
(40:58):
is there, and I think theThunder are gonna somebody out of the building
in five games. Oh yeah,for that first round matchup, probably,
I would agree, Probably could bein the second round, who knows,
But I mean, it's it's coming, like this team is legit. Yeah,
I think the Semis are probably theceiling for OKAC. I just I
think there's just too much depth atthe top of the West to be able
to get completely through it. Butwho knows, man, they may they
(41:20):
may find themselves in the West finalsand then you know, it'll be all
the matchup dependent. All right,Joe, that's gonna do it for us,
another wonderful basketball association. When wecome back, there will be no
basketball played, but we'll start talkingabout the second half of the season.
And while the Knicks are clearly thefavorite to win it all until they Joel,
don't scoff at that. I'm justlooking forward to, you know,
dedicating thirty five minutes of a celebritygame breakdown, you know, a recap.
(41:45):
Listen, listen. Fifty cent Ais a coach. He deserves the
time. That's what Doc Rivers shouldbe coaching a celebrity game, not if
he wants to coach a game inthe All Star Game. It's the celebrity
game, not the not the actualone that we'll see on Sunday. All
right, Joe, let's go doit for us. Say goodbye to the
good people. Goodbye, good people. Will see you next time.
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CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.