Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Triste Quick.
Speaker 2: On this episode of The Heat Check, It's here baby.
Speaker 2: The NBA season popped off last night with a pair
Speaker 2: of games that were absolutely electric. Neither one, for different reasons,
Speaker 2: did not disappoint. We will be breaking down both games,
Speaker 2: as well as covering a little news that's popping around
Speaker 2: the league. Of course, I talked about Draymond Green's idiotic
Speaker 2: documentary that he decided to drop right before a ring night,
Speaker 2: just when the team's try to get over the fact
Speaker 2: that I don't know you touched your fucking teammate in
Speaker 2: the mouth. Anyway, lot's to go over, Nick, So just
Speaker 2: go ahead and drop that motherfucking bea. We are so back, baby,
Speaker 2: Oh my god, we are back. And boy did opening
Speaker 2: night deliver. As an aside, why the fuck were the
Speaker 2: Lakers playing on Opening Night? I try to tell y'all
Speaker 2: and the Sixers, that's fine, But where were the Milwaukee
Speaker 2: Bucks in all of this? The disrespect to Yannis is
Speaker 2: getting egregious. The disrespect till Milwaukee is getting egregious.
Speaker 1: Me.
Speaker 2: I don't even like the Bucks, and I'm feeling like
Speaker 2: they should have some sort of cause for concern a
Speaker 2: petition Adam Silver clearly slighting the Bucks, but I digress.
Speaker 2: I was just so excited to watch Ring night for
Speaker 2: dub Nation, of course, and and boy did that ceremony
Speaker 2: push this game late? Goodness, gracious, I'm on the East
Speaker 2: Coast and I'm like, yo, can we get this shit
Speaker 2: started or what? Ugh? I was falling asleep around halftime,
Speaker 2: but the Ring ceremony pitched push tip off around eleven pm.
Speaker 2: We had all wait about what seven minutes? Eight minutes,
Speaker 2: be honest, like one minute before the world knew what
Speaker 2: I already knew and was shouting from the highest rooftops
Speaker 2: for the last I don't know two years now, what
Speaker 2: are the Lakers doing? What are they up to? What
Speaker 2: is this team? It don't make no damn sense? And
Speaker 2: the delusional fan base hate to see it on Twitter
Speaker 2: kept me from my sleep. I was enjoying the timeline
Speaker 2: so much. The Twitter fan base for the Lakers is
Speaker 2: currently in shambles. Shambles at night Shamble's first thing. In
Speaker 2: the morning, reality came crashing hard, folks. It just I've
Speaker 2: literally never seen any fan base come to terms that
Speaker 2: the season was over as fast as this Laker fan
Speaker 2: base has. It was not even halftime, folks, and they
Speaker 2: were like, all right, that's enough for me, SpongeBob emoji,
Speaker 2: I'm a head out. And for everybody waking up on
Speaker 2: the East coast at nine am, people were already cooking
Speaker 2: the Lakers barbecued chicken. Just you have the East Coast
Speaker 2: cooking them up on the grill, and then you wake
Speaker 2: up on the West coast just in time for those
Speaker 2: barbecued Laker thighs to just be ready for your plate
Speaker 2: to consume them. This team's fucking bad. This team is trash.
Speaker 2: They won thirty three games last year, and I tell
Speaker 2: you what, they're worse than then. I actually don't hate
Speaker 2: to see it. They did nothing to improve this team's weaknesses.
Speaker 2: They can't defend, which they couldn't do last year. Why'd
Speaker 2: they give up Alex Crusoe. Why why'd they give up
Speaker 2: Kyle Kuzma? Why why'd they give up KCP? Why? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: Russell Westbrook. I forgot he was supposed to be the panacea.
Speaker 2: But they can't defend, they cannot shoot, they cannot score.
Speaker 2: Those are all the most integral things for a basketball
Speaker 2: team to be able to do. But hey, we had
Speaker 2: to see it for our own two eyes before we
Speaker 2: understood what was going on, what time it was. This
Speaker 2: is not a title contender. This is not a playoff team.
Speaker 2: Let me say it again, this is not a playoff team.
Speaker 2: This team won thirty three games last year, and I
Speaker 2: think they might win thirty one or thirty two this year.
Speaker 2: Because why even with teams trying to tank like Sacramento,
Speaker 2: or even with teams trying to tank like excuse me,
Speaker 2: san Antonio, not Sacramento. Even with teams trying to tank
Speaker 2: like Utah, you think they're gonna try to tank against
Speaker 2: the Lakers. Fuck No, everyone hates the Lakers anyway, I'm
Speaker 2: getting too excited. I'm getting ahead of myself. I've got
Speaker 2: a full on breakdown of why the Lakers snink. Just
Speaker 2: hold on a second. Let's talk about Ring Knight for
Speaker 2: a second. Bowling shirts that I tried to buy on
Speaker 2: eBay or NBA dot com. Those are sick. I want that.
Speaker 2: I want that white and gold bowling shirt. They should
Speaker 2: wear those all the time. That should be the Warriors
Speaker 2: warm up suit the entire year. Just show that you've won,
Speaker 2: you're the chance as you've got the Laryo on the
Speaker 2: side of your shirt, like, yeah, we're the fucking men
Speaker 2: right now. Emotions, tears running down. Everyone's there. They're bringing
Speaker 2: out the director of Player Finance Operations, who knows who
Speaker 2: she was, but she got some shine. Adam Silver's there,
Speaker 2: Peter Gruber is there. All the peeps, even people who
Speaker 2: aren't even on rosters are there, like Quin Dairy Witherspoon
Speaker 2: showing up in street clothes, getting his popcorn ready, collecting
Speaker 2: his hardware, you know, sitting down and enjoying the fact
Speaker 2: that he can only watch basketball. I digress. It was
Speaker 2: a whole thing, whole thing, and so I was thinking
Speaker 2: about it, and I was like, what did Jalen Rose say?
Speaker 2: Jalen Rose said, the fact that the Warriors did not
Speaker 2: suspend Draymond Green meant that they were soft and that
Speaker 2: they weren't gonna win the title and that things were
Speaker 2: gonna come crashing down. I actually posit this, If the
Speaker 2: Warriors would have suspended Draymond Green for Ring night, that
Speaker 2: would have been the end. That would have been the
Speaker 2: end of the chapter of this dynasty. That would have
Speaker 2: been the thing that broke the fabric of this Warrior's
Speaker 2: team down. Because if you stole that moment from Draymond
Speaker 2: one of the key pieces of this franchise and dynasty
Speaker 2: for the last god knows how long, And you took
Speaker 2: that away for a good reason, but not a good
Speaker 2: enough reason enough, right, he can't really move on and
Speaker 2: heal if a key piece of your team is sitting
Speaker 2: watching the rest of his brothers aka Quin Darry Witherspoon
Speaker 2: get his fucking ring and Draymond Green has to have
Speaker 2: his FedEx to him, sir, No, no, no, we can't
Speaker 2: have that. That would have been a disaster. So I'm
Speaker 2: glad they didn't suspend him, But we got to talk
Speaker 2: about this fucking documentary he produced. What were we doing? Baby?
Speaker 2: I love Draymond Green. I'm like the only Draymond Green
Speaker 2: fan left on Earth. I think he's a good dude.
Speaker 2: I like him. Has obviously a little anger issues he's
Speaker 2: sorting through, but I like him. I'm a fan of Draymond.
Speaker 2: I think he's worthwhile to this team and keeping him
Speaker 2: around is very important. But god damn, that documentary was
Speaker 2: just so tone deaf. For a guy who knows all
Speaker 2: about media and how narratives are created and shaped, he
Speaker 2: was so off to try to put out what was that?
Speaker 2: Did you? If you haven't seen it, pause, pause this podcast,
Speaker 2: go click watch the seven minute come back. If you're
Speaker 2: back now you know what I'm talking about. That narrator?
Speaker 2: Who was that all state narrator? Welcome to Welcome to
Speaker 2: Draymond Green's universe. Like, what was that? The way that
Speaker 2: it was all dramatic in the back and in the
Speaker 2: front lighting and the ring light and Draymond's eyes, like,
Speaker 2: the whole thing was so I hate to say the
Speaker 2: word because makes me feel icky, but it was cringe.
Speaker 2: It was cringe. It was something. First of all, this
Speaker 2: is what Draymond said by addressing the punch. I never
Speaker 2: really knew how much it blew up. I was just
Speaker 2: at home chilling with my children. And then he had
Speaker 2: the b roll in the biz. That's what we call
Speaker 2: the video that he puts on top of his audio
Speaker 2: and it's him and his kids playing, Oh cute, Draymond.
Speaker 2: Draymond's a father. Oh, let's all circle around. He's a
Speaker 2: sweet man. Be serious, Draymond said he was watching the
Speaker 2: tape fifteen times. You don't know how much it blew up?
Speaker 2: Oh serious, talking to me. Nobody knows what's going on
Speaker 2: more than Draymond Green. That is just flat out bullshit propaganda.
Speaker 2: And I mean that sincerely, with no shade. Draymond is
Speaker 2: trying to control the narrative and he is failing. Everyone
Speaker 2: has turned against him except for me. Draymond. He check
Speaker 2: is a safe space for you to get your feelings out.
Speaker 2: If you ever want to come on to the I
Speaker 2: don't even know. If I'm old media or new media,
Speaker 2: I can't tell. But if you ever want to come
Speaker 2: on medium media, that's what I am, sort of nouveau media,
Speaker 2: come on in. He has friends that would alert him.
Speaker 2: By the way, Hey, shit's go a viral. Draymond Layer,
Speaker 2: shit low, lay low. The filmmakers even made this dramatic
Speaker 2: account of Draymond Green on a peloton, probably in his apartment,
Speaker 2: gym or condo, Jim with his towels and his weights
Speaker 2: and a water bottle and Draymond Green has no time
Speaker 2: to waste four days until opening nights and you see
Speaker 2: him on his I don't even know if he took
Speaker 2: the peloton class. He wasn't sweating that badly. But anyway,
Speaker 2: why was he away from the team, I don't know,
Speaker 2: Because he punched his fucking team in the face. They
Speaker 2: even said he was exiled. He was exiled, folks, stop it.
Speaker 2: I should they should hire me. I always wonder when
Speaker 2: people make decisions, like, did you guys have anyone who
Speaker 2: could tell you, no, this is not a good idea.
Speaker 2: Did anybody in the room have any kajones to say, hey,
Speaker 2: this is gonna be worse as a result of you
Speaker 2: putting this out. Also, the whole team's trying to move on.
Speaker 2: They said, all of them have said this. Steve Kerr
Speaker 2: has said this, Draymond h Jordan Poole has said this,
Speaker 2: Clay has said this, Steph has said this. We're all
Speaker 2: just trying to move on. We all want to stop
Speaker 2: thinking about this punch, talking about this punch. We all
Speaker 2: just want to just get our rings fucking move past us.
Speaker 2: So what does Draymond Green do? Put out a documentary
Speaker 2: explaining the whole thing, how he thinks it's actually a
Speaker 2: good thing that we saw him in his worst moments,
Speaker 2: because there's an upside to that, Draymond Green, No one
Speaker 2: wants to do this. Right now, we're trying to watch
Speaker 2: Steph Curry work on his new dream Shape post move,
Speaker 2: which he executed to perfection. Steph's dreamshake absolutely electric. If
Speaker 2: you haven't seen that, go google that. The entire video
Speaker 2: was a debacle. Jordan Pool. After the game, they asked them, Hey,
Speaker 2: was there any healing that's taking place between you and Draymond?
Speaker 2: His quote fairy telling we went out there. We had
Speaker 2: a job to do to win a game. Sounds like
Speaker 2: it's still fresh, sounds like the wounds haven't healed. I
Speaker 2: got bit by a a Viishla about three days ago
Speaker 2: on my arm. That wound has healed faster and I
Speaker 2: can still see it on my arm right now. That
Speaker 2: wound has healed faster than Draymond Green and Jordan Pool's wounds.
Speaker 2: They also played a basketball game, so let's talk about that.
Speaker 2: It was a game. It was a game. The Warriors
Speaker 2: put the league on notice. Dub Nation where we at
Speaker 2: had gold blooded. The Warriors gonna win it again, folks.
Speaker 2: I hate to tell people who are not lifelong Dub
Speaker 2: fans like me, they are gonna win it all again.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately for the rest of the league it is scary hours.
Speaker 2: They put on a clinic, a defensive clinic against a team.
Speaker 2: Truthfully that it's not really mattering because they can't score
Speaker 2: or shoot, but it was it was something they swarmed,
Speaker 2: They switched. They suplexed the Lakers into submission. They sagged
Speaker 2: off them because they know let them shoot. Let them shoot.
Speaker 2: These boys can't shoot the three feet off the three
Speaker 2: point line. They're packing the paint offensively. They looked amazing.
Speaker 2: They just felt like they were already in regular season four.
Speaker 2: None of the russ that we would expect from a
Speaker 2: team happened. They felt like we had just seen them
Speaker 2: win the championship, and then two days later the season
Speaker 2: began for the Lakers. It's just more of the same.
Speaker 2: It showed two major things. One announced in big bold Lakers,
Speaker 2: big bold letters, excuse me that the Warriors are going
Speaker 2: to be They're gonna win it all. They're gonna be
Speaker 2: hard out. You gotta come with your best shit. That
Speaker 2: team should be the West favorites than they are. This
Speaker 2: is the best defense in the West. And they showed
Speaker 2: that Wiggins was a monster. Looney was the rock in
Speaker 2: which the defense was built on. Wiseman is disciplined. Now
Speaker 2: on defense, I saw a defensive possession with him where
Speaker 2: he stayed straight up. He was completely locked in. He
Speaker 2: didn't do anything too crazy, and you know what possession
Speaker 2: over for the Lakers. Out into transition, we go sprinting
Speaker 2: like thoroughbreds. Steph was out there showing why he is
Speaker 2: the only player ever to lead the NBA in steels
Speaker 2: and not make the team First Team All Defense, and
Speaker 2: it was sick. And you can say, well, Trista, this
Speaker 2: is the Lakers, So what does it matter really, how
Speaker 2: can we really gauge how good the Warriors defense really is?
Speaker 2: Have a point. It was the Lakers and we will
Speaker 2: get to that. But now it's still a team that
Speaker 2: has shown they have no rust. They showed off all
Speaker 2: the things that you need to do to win a championship,
Speaker 2: all the things they did lash Well, yes it was
Speaker 2: the Lakers, but they've also just won a title, hence
Speaker 2: the ring night. Here's the scary part. I think they're better.
Speaker 2: I think this team is actually better than last year.
Speaker 2: Moses Moody didn't see a ton of him, but I
Speaker 2: think he's gonna take a step. James Wiseman looked good.
Speaker 2: Kaminga look meh, but I think he'll progress. They have
Speaker 2: Dante DiVincenzo looked amazing. This second unit is going to
Speaker 2: be ridiculous. If you hate the Warriors. I guess you're
Speaker 2: only solace is you don't really have one. Honestly, other
Speaker 2: teams have gotten better, but they've they other team to
Speaker 2: beat as good as the Warriors were, Let's be honest.
Speaker 2: The thing that was most most impressive, most exciting, most
Speaker 2: delicious was how bad the Lakers were. People. It was fucking,
Speaker 2: absolutely priceless. Rob Palinka creating the masterpiece, the Mona Lisa
Speaker 2: of how bad can you fuck up? One of the
Speaker 2: greatest player players in our generation? The greatest player since
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan? How bad can you fuck up? His legacy?
Speaker 2: If he tried? It gets pretty bad. It's really bad.
Speaker 2: This is a Titanic and it's already started to sink,
Speaker 2: but somehow everybody's just still playing the banjo fingerprints all
Speaker 2: over this thing. And yet yet, yet he gets an
Speaker 2: extension in this offseason after the offseason he had which
Speaker 2: was pretty much signing Patrick Beverley or trading for Patrick Beverly.
Speaker 2: I don't even recall what the terms were, but it's terrible.
Speaker 2: The Lakers are so much worse, and you know what,
Speaker 2: I love it, but by a far margin. The thing
Speaker 2: that makes me sad is that Lebron James is getting wasted.
Speaker 2: Even healthy ish, this team is getting their doors blown
Speaker 2: off by any good team in the NBA. They signed
Speaker 2: a bunch of youngsters after signing every player thirty five
Speaker 2: and older. Polinka's bold offseason decision. All the thirty five
Speaker 2: year olds that we hated, like Carmelo Anthony, Let's replace
Speaker 2: him with undrafted rookies like Scottie Pippen Jr. Austin Reeves.
Speaker 2: Let's add Patrick Beverly into the mix. For some you're
Speaker 2: just like a little spicy. Just put a little spicy
Speaker 2: on top of these rookies. Kendrick Nunn. He's back healthy again,
Speaker 2: So now we can really evaluate these Lakers guys, like,
Speaker 2: what did you expect to happen? I don't know. Westbrook
Speaker 2: came off the bench for the first time in his
Speaker 2: career in the preseason. He ends up getting the start tonight,
Speaker 2: and yet that didn't make no sense. It was Russell Westbrook,
Speaker 2: Patrick Beverly, Lonnie Walker, Braun at the and ad at
Speaker 2: the five. And then of course he's nursing a hamstring injury.
Speaker 2: Russell Westbrook and says to the world with a dead
Speaker 2: straight face that Darvin Ham's decision to bring him off
Speaker 2: the bench in the last preseason game probably is what
Speaker 2: hurt his hamstring. That is absolute lunacy. If you're hoping
Speaker 2: though that the Lakers are getting a reprieve after this,
Speaker 2: I don't know, like play the Pistons or the Thunderspurs
Speaker 2: or the Utah Jazz. Like who do they get next?
Speaker 2: Checks notes? Oh a Clippers, Clippers next. Where there are
Speaker 2: wings Lonnie Walker and Austin Reeves. That is their wings
Speaker 2: that I just hate to tell you. They're gonna be
Speaker 2: saddled with the task of trying to defend Kawhi Leonard
Speaker 2: and Paul George. That is going to be a blood bath.
Speaker 2: Shooting wise in this game, one for ten from three
Speaker 2: in the first half is that bad? I feel like
Speaker 2: that's bad. Way though ageless Lebron James kept them within
Speaker 2: ten and then the third quarter that was the one
Speaker 2: that was really telling for me. Wheels of course fall off,
Speaker 2: as we might expect, the inevitable occurs. The Warriors outscore
Speaker 2: the Lakers by twenty by twenty thirty two twelve, and
Speaker 2: before you know it, Lebron James has on his hands
Speaker 2: a full on fire, looks at his head, puts his
Speaker 2: hands on it. Staring up at a twenty seven point deficit.
Speaker 2: They are two for twenty from three. This team sucks.
Speaker 2: At one point they were two for twenty. That's probably
Speaker 2: what they'll shoot moving forward, maybe three for twenty. Good job.
Speaker 2: When asked about it after the game, Lebron James said.
Speaker 1: This, I think we're getting great looks. I think, but
Speaker 1: it also could be teams given us great looks to
Speaker 1: me in of you be completely honest, We're not a
Speaker 1: team that's constructed of great shooting. And that's just the
Speaker 1: truth of the matter is it's not like, you know,
Speaker 1: we're sitting here with a lot of lasers on our team,
Speaker 1: so you know, but that doesn't deter us. I'm still
Speaker 1: trying to get great shots, and we get those opportunities,
Speaker 1: you take them. But we're not sitting here with a
Speaker 1: bunch of forty plus career three point shooting guys. I mean,
Speaker 1: it looked like a football team, you know, if like,
Speaker 1: you know, you had a football analogy and you had
Speaker 1: a bunch of guys that was underneath route runners and
Speaker 1: you're wondering why the quarterback is not throwing twenty plus
Speaker 1: it passes down the field. Okay, you know that's that's
Speaker 1: how the team was constructed. So that don't mean you
Speaker 1: can't win. Brady did it?
Speaker 2: You can't win like that? Actually, no, Lebron. Maybe in
Speaker 2: football you can win with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick,
Speaker 2: but you're sitting here with checks notes. Rob Polinka, her
Speaker 2: first time head coach in Darvinham, I'm sorry. You know
Speaker 2: a league driven by threes. If you don't have snipers,
Speaker 2: if you don't have lasers, as you called it, no,
Speaker 2: you can't win games. Also, just amount of passive aggressiveness
Speaker 2: towards this roster construction is amazing. I can't wait. I
Speaker 2: think I'm gonna set alarms. Little Hey, Siri, let me
Speaker 2: know when Lebron James goes and gives another press conference.
Speaker 2: I am not shocked that this team is bad, but why.
Speaker 2: What I am shocked about is that not enough people
Speaker 2: are asking why Polenka got an extension, like he is
Speaker 2: responsible for his dumpster fire. First, he replaced seventy five
Speaker 2: percent of a roster that no one wanted last year
Speaker 2: with a bunch of players that no one wants this year.
Speaker 2: How bad was last year's roster? Oh? I don't know.
Speaker 2: They're currently nine players nine count them nine players who
Speaker 2: were on the Laker roster last year who have yet
Speaker 2: to have a team right now. That is absurd. Might
Speaker 2: I remind you this season has started, it is now
Speaker 2: in motion. Look at this year's team. We have guys
Speaker 2: like Wenyan Gabriel and he actually played solid five six
Speaker 2: minutes last night Whenyan Gabriel got It's not rocket science, folks.
Speaker 2: If Wenyan Gabriel is getting real minutes on your team,
Speaker 2: you've got problems. You've got a guy named Matt Ryan
Speaker 2: on your team, and I'm not talking about the washed Colts.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about a guy that even Celtics fans forgot about,
Speaker 2: and he was a Celtic. You've got Scottie Pippen junior,
Speaker 2: who's a nice player, fine young player. He is not
Speaker 2: getting you anywhere. You got Cole Swider. Is it Sweiter
Speaker 2: or Sweeter? I think it's Swider. But the fact that
Speaker 2: I don't know his last name tells you everything you
Speaker 2: need to know. Right This isn't like knowing Ben Mathern.
Speaker 2: If you don't know his last name, I don't know
Speaker 2: what to tell you. And secondly, how are people not
Speaker 2: outraged that Rob Polenka is literally destroying Lebron James's career.
Speaker 2: The last part of Lebron's career, he has been just
Speaker 2: on the brink. He hasn't made the playoffs. Now what
Speaker 2: three out of the five years that Lebron James has played. Okay,
Speaker 2: so you won a title once, you missed the playoffs
Speaker 2: your first year, you missed last year, You're not gonna
Speaker 2: make it this year? And what you were a playing
Speaker 2: team and somehow snuck your way into playing the Phoenix
Speaker 2: Suns and losing in the first round in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2: That is a disaster. We could legitimately see a scenario,
Speaker 2: and we'll talk about this more. We could legitimately see
Speaker 2: a scenario where Lebron James never makes it to the
Speaker 2: playoffs again in his career. Think about that, after everything
Speaker 2: that he did for Cleveland with that dogshit roster, and
Speaker 2: then the sort of rain that he had in Miami,
Speaker 2: then what he did in Cleveland again to then go
Speaker 2: to La, Man, the sun in La will get you
Speaker 2: forgetting everything about your life. The sun in La will
Speaker 2: get you figuring like ambition doesn't matter anymore. Strive for greatness.
Speaker 2: What I'm striving for? Vitamin D, Baby, I don't need
Speaker 2: to go to the playoffs like I am a multi billionaire.
Speaker 2: This is absolutely insane. Lebron is a time machine and
Speaker 2: I really mean it. He wore the homage to his
Speaker 2: draft day white suit and made it look better than
Speaker 2: it did two decades ago. Oh my god. He was
Speaker 2: the best player on the floor last night against the
Speaker 2: defending NBA champions and he's not even gonna go to
Speaker 2: the playoffs. They might not even be a play in
Speaker 2: team this year. Think about that, and why is Rob
Speaker 2: Polinka extended? Why is his job security on lock? Braun
Speaker 2: deserves better than this man. They don't have any first
Speaker 2: round draft picks because of the Ad trade, and much
Speaker 2: like the Puff Daddy Tour of nineteen ninety eight, there
Speaker 2: is no way out, folks, There is no way out.
Speaker 2: Moving on, because I could do this all day talk
Speaker 2: about the Lakers and how sad it is. Let's talk
Speaker 2: about the Sixers and the Celtics, because that game was elite,
Speaker 2: like the product on the floor, elite. The Sixers and
Speaker 2: the Celtics squared off, and what was Joe Mizula's first
Speaker 2: game coaching since e May got deep sixth. The game
Speaker 2: was phenomenal. Both teams showing at points why people are
Speaker 2: tapping them to lead the East. Who is going to
Speaker 2: get the most regular seasons wins. I was very shocked
Speaker 2: how good the Celtics looked, and at times I was like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I get why they're still considered the best team in
Speaker 2: all of basketball. From Las Vegas perspective, here's the good.
Speaker 2: Starting in Boston, the team didn't look like they missed
Speaker 2: debate whoo the fact, despite the fact the emy Udoka
Speaker 2: got shit canned, Let's be honest, he's not coming back.
Speaker 2: Before the preseason started, Jason Tatum looks like he's on
Speaker 2: a mission, declaring to the athletic that his sole goal
Speaker 2: is to win a championship. Then he goes out puts
Speaker 2: up seventy fantasy points thirty five points real life in
Speaker 2: opening night, blocks, steals, transition buckets, tough and ones, tough,
Speaker 2: lays jump shot after jump shot, and here's what should
Speaker 2: send shiffs down the spine of other teams. Even without
Speaker 2: Rob Williams, their best defensive player, this team played really
Speaker 2: good defense against Joel Embiid and a very potent offense
Speaker 2: team called the Sixers. Looked offense like just looked awesome
Speaker 2: for long stretches, they have swarming, deflecting passes, they can
Speaker 2: switch everything on defense. Still, they're very long. They can
Speaker 2: disrupt a very good Sixers team that makes tough shot
Speaker 2: after tough shot, and I think we can expect this
Speaker 2: defensive intensity moving forward. But to me, where it was
Speaker 2: very exciting was the offense, especially when you're point guard
Speaker 2: as Marcus mart Boston shot fifty percent in their first half,
Speaker 2: then came out of the break and shot fifty seven
Speaker 2: percent in the second half to take a tight game
Speaker 2: and make it a very comfortable win. The thing that
Speaker 2: impresses me the most this team doesn't have Danella Gallinari
Speaker 2: for the year. This team is missing Rob Williams. They've
Speaker 2: got issues, and they still look pretty deep. They can
Speaker 2: run out a second unit. They can put the ball
Speaker 2: in the hole, unlike last year. I like Malcolm Brogden
Speaker 2: if he can stay healthy. He needs some seasoning, but
Speaker 2: with Tatum making a big leap forward Brown being underrated,
Speaker 2: you can kind of flex him in and out with
Speaker 2: the second unit. I think this team can score with
Speaker 2: just about anybody and with a very long, stingy defense.
Speaker 2: When Rob Williams comes back, my lord, they don't seem
Speaker 2: to care about Emai Udoka's suspension. They look very very good.
Speaker 2: Philly's very good too, just not as good as Boston.
Speaker 2: That's pretty much it. I don't know how that changes.
Speaker 2: The good for the Sixers was the offense really? James
Speaker 2: Harden looks good, very good. He put on a masterpiece.
Speaker 2: He looked like Houston Harden again, Big nights from big,
Speaker 2: big game James. He is going to be aggressive all
Speaker 2: year long. The assists will come, of course, but he's
Speaker 2: going to score thirty again, and that's exciting for Sixers fans.
Speaker 2: He's aggressive, he looks lean, he's shooting the lights out,
Speaker 2: he's getting the free throw line, vintage James Harden, and
Speaker 2: Bed looked like he was in mid season for him.
Speaker 2: I'm not talking about him falling on every possession. I'm
Speaker 2: just talking about him consistently being that guy, double digit rebounds,
Speaker 2: double digit points, being able to do whatever he wants
Speaker 2: on the floor. So there was a lot to like
Speaker 2: about Philly's offense, which cooked an elite Boston defense. But defensively,
Speaker 2: they've got a lot that is leaving to be desired.
Speaker 2: Philly is just something else defensively, and if PJ Tucker
Speaker 2: can't defend because he looks like he's a bit I
Speaker 2: don't want to say wash, but he looks like a
Speaker 2: bit like some is lost on his step. They took
Speaker 2: advantage of the Sixers. The Celtics did. They shot over
Speaker 2: fifty percent from the field for the entire game. The
Speaker 2: Celtics put up one hundred and twenty seven points on
Speaker 2: the Sixers, and a lot of it, you have to
Speaker 2: say is on PJ. Tucker, who I love. He cannot
Speaker 2: be expected to be the type of perimeter defender that
Speaker 2: Ben Simmons was. An AVI wolfman arrant. I think that's
Speaker 2: how you say it. He said it best on Twitter.
Speaker 2: This game was begging for a switchable center to take
Speaker 2: the Celtics out of their rhythm. Sixers have two options
Speaker 2: on the roster. Neither played a minute at the five.
Speaker 2: That can't happen in the playoffs. This is gonna be
Speaker 2: a very good regular season team. How good they're gonna
Speaker 2: be in the playoffs? I think that depends. Do they
Speaker 2: have to face the six Do they have to face
Speaker 2: the Celtics, do they have to face I don't know,
Speaker 2: a team like the Bucks. Well, I have to see
Speaker 2: they were getting abs so loutly cooked, and it was
Speaker 2: a great game. The scary thing about the Celtics is
Speaker 2: they were getting cooked by the Sixers and you look
Speaker 2: up and a lead that was four turns out to
Speaker 2: be twenty and you don't know how it's happening, because
Speaker 2: James Harden just put up six quick buckets and somehow
Speaker 2: the lead got extended. That's what they're gonna do this year, folks.
Speaker 2: Four point leads will turn into twenty point leads before
Speaker 2: you know it, because that's what happens when you have
Speaker 2: a team that can put their clamps on whenever they want.
Speaker 2: You got guys like Tatum and Brown who can get
Speaker 2: out in the block, They can block you, they can
Speaker 2: get out into the transition. They can make tough lays.
Speaker 2: There's also a little tussle I don't know if you
Speaker 2: guys saw this between Embiid and Marcus Smart, and Bid
Speaker 2: grabbed Marcus of Smart's arm. The two fell to the ground,
Speaker 2: and then Smart grabbed Joel and Bead's leg. Joel Embiid
Speaker 2: flops to the ground like he was playing, you know,
Speaker 2: for his favorite team. Man you. Smart was not happy
Speaker 2: after the game, though, Marcus Smart said publicly I could
Speaker 2: have cracked his head open if I wanted to. What
Speaker 2: does that mean that? I mean it feels like something
Speaker 2: that would receive a you know, Marcus Smart documentary after
Speaker 2: and just a four day exile. I think there's a
Speaker 2: real deal rivalry bruin here though, between Marcus Smart and
Speaker 2: Joel embiid things I would love to see. So yeah,
Speaker 2: Opening night massive success. Both games delivered for different reasons.
Speaker 2: We'll get into a ton of lead of news from
Speaker 2: around the league tomorrow, but I do want to cover
Speaker 2: just a couple of quick stories. One Grant Williams absolutely
Speaker 2: bald last night after not getting his contract extension from
Speaker 2: the Celtics. He went five or five for fifteen points
Speaker 2: in just twenty four minutes. He was not offered the
Speaker 2: rookie scale contract extension, which is a little odd considering
Speaker 2: that he was a pretty important piece for the Celtics
Speaker 2: last year. Other players who were not extended by their
Speaker 2: teams include you'll probably guess some of these, Kobe White
Speaker 2: number seventh pick in the twenty nineteen draft, Jackson Hayes,
Speaker 2: the number eight pick in the twenty nine teen draft,
Speaker 2: Ruey Yacchi Murrow number nine pick in the twenty nineteen draft.
Speaker 2: Cam Reddish the number ten pick. I mean, we're starting
Speaker 2: to get We're starting to get a little bit of
Speaker 2: a pattern. Are we not? Ten pick in twenty nineteen?
Speaker 2: Cam Johnson the eleventh pick in twenty nineteen. PJ. Washington
Speaker 2: the twelve pick in the twenty nineteen draft. Matis Thible,
Speaker 2: number twenty in the twenty nineteen draft. Holy shit, number
Speaker 2: seven through number twelve. What a disaster. All of these
Speaker 2: teams are feeling like maybe we made the wrong decisions.
Speaker 2: A lot of good players, young good players on that list.
Speaker 2: I'll put up a TikTok asking who surprised you the
Speaker 2: most on this list? But also moving forward, a little
Speaker 2: news out of TNT. Good news in terms of extensions.
Speaker 2: Charles Barkley looks like he's gonna get extension. He's gonna
Speaker 2: get paid ten years, one hundred million dollars. No more
Speaker 2: talk about him leaving the Live Tour. Thought it was
Speaker 2: hilarious though. He came on and said pretty sure, I'm
Speaker 2: not going to fulfill the entire length of that contract. Like,
Speaker 2: I don't think I'm putting in ten more years. That's exciting,
Speaker 2: very fun. They've got me locked down. I can't do
Speaker 2: anything else. But I don't think I'm gonna stother ten.
Speaker 2: He as old as fuck love him, wish he does
Speaker 2: stay another ten and greed does lead the way. Charles
Speaker 2: Barkley takes every opportunity that he can get if they
Speaker 2: pay enough, so we'll have to see. I love Chuck
Speaker 2: Barkley being involved in TNT for the foreseeable future. This
Speaker 2: is a good stuff. This is good stuff. Keeping the
Speaker 2: band together is important, So hats off to Ernie and
Speaker 2: Shaq and Kenny and Chuck for all getting in the
Speaker 2: bag continuing to have the best product in the NBA
Speaker 2: in terms of a show. But we have to go.
Speaker 2: That is all the time that we have for the
Speaker 2: Heat Check. We'll be back tomorrow with a new episode.
Speaker 2: Will we recap the opener and more news ton of
Speaker 2: teams as well as getting deep into this tee that's brewing.
Speaker 2: So follow us on the heat Check. Please do not
Speaker 2: forget to download, subscribe, Please tell your friends, every single
Speaker 2: one of them, and follow us on socialide at this
Speaker 2: heat check and Trista Criek on TikTok. Thanks again, We'll
Speaker 2: see you next time.