Speaker 1: On this episode of the Eat check Man, Steph's injury
Speaker 1: is a bigger deal than we thought. Oh, Warriors without
Speaker 1: Steph certified buns like lottery cheeks. They lost a who
Speaker 1: without who and who. Also, Lakers have a huge weekend
Speaker 1: beat the Bucks going up and down with Dame Lillard
Speaker 1: in their face, blocked him at the end of the game,
Speaker 1: and then get into an ugly dogfight against the Timberwolves.
Speaker 1: Are the Lakers the most dangerous team from the six
Speaker 1: seed down? We also get into a bunch of news,
Speaker 1: some heartbreaking injury news from around the league. Lot to
Speaker 1: get into Anthony big wins this weekend. Anthony drop that
Speaker 1: motherfucking beat that.
Speaker 2: Should be rhon alert alert.
Speaker 1: He starts to show with some injury news that came
Speaker 1: during the slate.
Speaker 2: Of the afternoon on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Alprin Shangoon Aka I was part of the goon squad.
Speaker 1: He was having an incredible season, maybe most improved player
Speaker 1: level season for the Houston Rockets, and he goes down
Speaker 1: after awkwardly after challenging Domas Sabonis at the rim and folks,
Speaker 1: we have as worst of an image as you can get.
Speaker 1: The send them out in the wheelchair hands in the head,
Speaker 1: towel over the face while he was wheeled off, just
Speaker 1: never a good sign.
Speaker 2: The only like somewhat.
Speaker 1: Strange thing that happened at the end was the towel
Speaker 1: guy clearly just missed the moment, just threw the towel
Speaker 1: right at Shangoon's lap. Just there you go. This fucking sucks,
Speaker 1: though in general, right knee seemed to buckle. Currently undergoing
Speaker 1: an MRI on his right.
Speaker 2: Knee and ankle.
Speaker 1: Maybe, just maybe it's nothing. I looked. It looked really bad,
Speaker 1: but we can always hope for the best.
Speaker 2: More on this than the next episode.
Speaker 1: I am sure big news though, because the Houston Rockets
Speaker 1: were breathing down the necks of the Warriors. So if
Speaker 1: Shangoon goes down, then so do the Rockets. I have
Speaker 1: been a Shangoon fan since well before the draft. He
Speaker 1: was the youngest player to ever win the Basketball Super
Speaker 1: League's Most Valuable Player award in twenty twenty one. He
Speaker 1: was only eighteen years old. Huge upside for Shangoon. Hope
Speaker 1: it's nothing serious. Hope he gets back to ballin' the
Speaker 1: fuck out soon. All right, let's get in to some
Speaker 1: stuff about the games. The late night game on Sunday
Speaker 1: was the Timberwolves versus the Lakers. Timberwolves without Cat Kitty
Speaker 1: Cat visiting the Lakers out west, and it reminded us.
Speaker 1: It reminded me at least Anthony. Anthony, my producer, is
Speaker 1: also massive Laker fan, also hosts the Lakers Lounge. Give
Speaker 1: it a shout.
Speaker 2: Don't give it too much.
Speaker 1: Of a shout though, like cause like fuck the Lakers. Anyway,
Speaker 1: they molly wopped the Wolves, which, to be fair, they
Speaker 1: were missing like two fifths of their starting five.
Speaker 2: Aunt Edwards was banged up.
Speaker 1: No Shlomo, no go Bear, just kind of a banged
Speaker 1: up squad. It was a short handed team. But I
Speaker 1: don't care. This Lakers team is a problem. Is a
Speaker 1: problem also, So they were able to get go bumping
Speaker 1: uglies with the Minnesota Timberwolves on a Sunday night, get
Speaker 1: into a very low scoring game where Anthony Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: Data Davis had the very first twenty five to twenty
Speaker 1: five to five steals, five assists game.
Speaker 2: In NBA history.
Speaker 1: So congratulations for Anthony Davis waking the fuck up. Anyway,
Speaker 1: So they go and do that on a Sunday and
Speaker 1: what was it Friday? They beat the Bucks in an
Speaker 1: up and down game where they had to have d
Speaker 1: Lo hit a random step back shot in the paint
Speaker 1: and then they block the shit out of Dame to
Speaker 1: end the game. Like, this is a team that's finding
Speaker 1: its style. Styles make fights, and we had Darvin Ham
Speaker 1: try to do the like small ball thing. That shit
Speaker 1: did not work. And now the bigger they go, the
Speaker 1: more jumble they go, the more of.
Speaker 2: A problem they are.
Speaker 1: I don't know who in the West the Lakers can't
Speaker 1: beat other than Denver, And I tell you what, the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Timberwolves and most likely the Lakers are both going
Speaker 1: to be fearing what happens with the top of the
Speaker 1: West and the bottom of the West. Because if the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Timberwolves somehow or two seed and the Lakers somehow
Speaker 1: or seventh seed, I tell you what, one team is
Speaker 1: happy about that, and the other team is the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Speaker 1: So you have five teams that are pretty much locked
Speaker 1: into the top five, and then you've got three teams Sons, Kings,
Speaker 1: and Mavericks fighting for the six spot. I think that
Speaker 1: the Kings probably get the six, which leaves just a
Speaker 1: hellish just an absolute brutal play in tournament with the Suns,
Speaker 1: the MAVs, the Lakers, and the Warriors, which are four
Speaker 1: of the teams that, like listen, Adam Silver wants all
Speaker 1: four of those in. If you could take one team out,
Speaker 1: we know who it would be, wouldn't it.
Speaker 2: It'd be ur Kangs, b r Kangs. They want them out.
Speaker 1: They want to get the fuck out of here, you
Speaker 1: small market Kings. You snuck in one year, not this year.
Speaker 1: You know, They're like, let's get Kevin durant In, Let's
Speaker 1: get Luca In, Let's get step In, Let's get brawn In.
Speaker 1: Who cares about Deer and Fox and that European guy
Speaker 1: that's putting up double doubles forty five straight games. Who
Speaker 1: cares about him?
Speaker 2: Anyway?
Speaker 1: It's crazy, It's absolutely nuts. I think at this moment,
Speaker 1: the Lakers are the biggest problem in the play in.
Speaker 1: Teams like the OKAC thunder do not want to play
Speaker 1: a team like the Lakers. They and then the Lakers,
Speaker 1: for their part, they are hoping upon hope that they
Speaker 1: either sneak into a seven seed play in where they
Speaker 1: could be the seven, or that the Nuggets aren't the
Speaker 1: one seed. Because that's night Night's sleep mask for the Lakers.
Speaker 1: But if they pull the Wolves, the Clippers, okay, see Minnesota, Like,
Speaker 1: it's just crazy, any of them.
Speaker 2: LA could be all of them. It would not surprise me.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think the Lakers are invested into the
Speaker 1: one seed and who they are. So yeah, wins over
Speaker 1: the Bucks, wins over the Wolves, all that just prepares
Speaker 1: them for the plan. Their goal, of course, I think,
Speaker 1: is to be the seven seed, but that's not a given.
Speaker 1: So yeah, the play in is gonna be absolutely hellish.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be lit, it's gonna be exciting, and if
Speaker 1: the Lakers come out of it, I would not be
Speaker 1: surprised if they do something in this.
Speaker 2: All right, let's move on.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about our doves. Like long gups fan here
Speaker 1: just to quick our Dubs, Dubs Nation, we have a problem.
Speaker 1: I saw a tweet today from a friend of show
Speaker 1: and commander of Dubs Nation, Sam Sfandiari, in response to
Speaker 1: a tweet that read Steph going out like Dirk on
Speaker 1: a sad and mediocre tanking team, which is just kind
Speaker 1: of an unacceptable tweet, really disrespectful, will say Sam quote
Speaker 1: tweeted the following, I hate that it does feel like
Speaker 1: that Damn, damn Sam. Why'd you have to say the truth?
Speaker 1: Why'd you have to put it on on Twitter? Whax? Well,
Speaker 1: it's time for some therapy for Warriors fans dub Nation
Speaker 1: because the numbers don't lie.
Speaker 2: We know what it is.
Speaker 1: When Steph's out there right, very healthy. He's been very
Speaker 1: healthy in his ankle braces until turning the ankle against
Speaker 1: the Bulls, an injury that's probably going to keep him
Speaker 1: out a week or two, right, But when he's in
Speaker 1: the game, the Warriors are as dangerous as anyone. This year,
Speaker 1: Stef's missed four games four the Warriors are zero to
Speaker 1: four without him, losses to Minnesota, OKC Milwaukee. And this
Speaker 1: is the one where we knew.
Speaker 2: That things were in real trouble.
Speaker 1: So the Spurs said before the game two days before
Speaker 1: Victor women Yama Wemby, Rookie of.
Speaker 2: The Year, Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
Speaker 1: He's not playing. He's ruled out. And then before the game,
Speaker 1: right before the game, shockingly, Devin Vessel, one of their
Speaker 1: best scorers, also out. So they're rolling out guys that
Speaker 1: casual Dubbs fans have never heard of. Jeremy Sohan and
Speaker 1: his one handed free throw shit that he does. Caldon Johnson,
Speaker 1: Zach Collins, like, come on, that our dub should buzzsaw
Speaker 1: through this middling not even middling would be an over exaggeration.
Speaker 1: This team is like the worst in the West, Okay,
Speaker 1: And what happened? They fucking won lost to the San
Speaker 1: Antonio Spurs without Wemby and without the Cell. That might
Speaker 1: be the worst loss of the entire year, which has
Speaker 1: been sprinkled with very disappointing losses so far. And it's
Speaker 1: not like they're sitting at the sixth seed and they're like, ah,
Speaker 1: who cares bad loss? No, they are scraping and cwing
Speaker 1: for their lives right now. You simply cannot lose to
Speaker 1: a thirteen and Fiftiespurs team with forty percent of their
Speaker 1: offense out starting Julian Champagne, Malachi Brannham. Not even the
Speaker 1: Good Jones, the Trade Jones. Where is the pride at
Speaker 1: Golden State, at the Chase Center? Where is it dub Nation?
Speaker 1: Where's the sense of urgency? The Warriors were down nineteen
Speaker 1: and a half. That's disgusting. The most impressive thing that
Speaker 1: happened at Chase Center was that we found our else
Speaker 1: a Steve kerdoppelganger. That's the only thing that I was
Speaker 1: like impressed by. Gross Steph, who was cooking for most
Speaker 1: of the year. He started to slow down after the
Speaker 1: All Star break. Steve Kerr said exactly that, Listen, I'm
Speaker 1: not just talking about those woeful four points against the Bulls,
Speaker 1: zero for nine from.
Speaker 2: Three in the first half.
Speaker 1: In his last ten games before his ankle injury, he
Speaker 1: was averaging.
Speaker 2: Twenty one, twenty one, four and.
Speaker 1: Five on just thirty three percent from three and thirty
Speaker 1: seven percent from the field. People were trying to argue
Speaker 1: with me and saying he wasn't in a little mini swamp,
Speaker 1: And now they got the.
Speaker 2: Stats for me.
Speaker 1: Now they got the stats. Uugh. Even his free throw
Speaker 1: percentage has fallen to eighty six percent for the first
Speaker 1: time in a decade.
Speaker 2: Steph has been carrying the.
Speaker 1: Load for way too long. And now after you carry
Speaker 1: around these extra lard backpacks all day, to turn an
Speaker 1: ankle and all of this obscures a larger issue. I
Speaker 1: don't think this is true, but I have to pose it.
Speaker 2: I have to pose it.
Speaker 1: It's a possibility. I'm not saying it's what's happening, Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't want to get mis quoted. Are we seeing
Speaker 1: the decline of one Stephan wardel Curry? Is the baby
Speaker 1: face assassin turning into a baby face with an AARP card?
Speaker 1: Is he headed for a Dirk Novisky like slot. Dirk
Speaker 1: Novitski ever is twenty two, six and six and two,
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen, and then just five years later,
Speaker 1: slid all the way down to seven three and three,
Speaker 1: unable to keep the sinking MAVs Titanic afloat Dallas went
Speaker 1: from forty nine.
Speaker 2: Wins to thirty three wins during that time.
Speaker 1: Good thing though, because they did get Luca, So maybe
Speaker 1: that's what the Golden State's hoping for. Last season they
Speaker 1: were thirteen and twelve without Steph eight and ten. The
Speaker 1: season be four, two and six, the pandemic year. That
Speaker 1: is not true. Not to mention the not to be
Speaker 1: confused with the pandemic year, even though it's very confusing.
Speaker 1: The bubble year where we got COVID, where Steph was
Speaker 1: out most of the year with the hand injury, and
Speaker 1: they didn't even make the fucking bubble and then they
Speaker 1: ended up getting Jamess wise man. Is the statement of fact.
Speaker 1: This is not a very good team without Steph oh
Speaker 1: and four this year without him, twenty three and thirty
Speaker 1: two the last three years, four years without them, and
Speaker 1: just twenty seven and twenty four with Steph in their
Speaker 1: last fifty one games. Fam, it's not good for our dubs.
Speaker 1: Steph has two years left on his contract. Steve Kerr
Speaker 1: has two years left on his contract. You guys better
Speaker 1: get it together. Next year is where the rubber meets
Speaker 1: the road. While I love cumbuckets and air pods, I
Speaker 1: do love both those things independently of those being basketball. Know,
Speaker 1: we got a glimpse of what this team looks like
Speaker 1: without Steph opening up the offense, and it's average with him.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry that was nasty. As one Warriors fans tweeted,
Speaker 1: the Warriors always seem to remind you that, no matter
Speaker 1: how many good players they have, those players are good
Speaker 1: largely because they share the floor with Steph Curry. So
Speaker 1: what do you even have? What you have is a
Speaker 1: bunch of like asparagus and mac and cheese and I
Speaker 1: don't know, Brussels sprouts without the steak. You ain't got
Speaker 1: shit right. The Doves are staring at not one, but
Speaker 1: two road games in the play in just to make
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and.
Speaker 2: The road goes through.
Speaker 1: It's not good Dallas, Phoenix and the Lakers as a
Speaker 1: team a half a billion dollars into the luxury tax
Speaker 1: and who make huge bank on home games. It's getting
Speaker 1: scary hours in the Bay, tough sledding for a team
Speaker 1: that's now going to try and bring Steph back from
Speaker 1: injury and back into the flow by game time.
Speaker 2: Time to play in begins.
Speaker 1: Don't remember, though, those folks, That's what happened last year.
Speaker 1: Remember Steph came back from ankle injury last year and
Speaker 1: guess what happens?
Speaker 2: They did win the first round. They lost the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Anyway, more information to come on that.
Speaker 2: I am sure he will take the next up.
Speaker 1: Sad news out of Indiana, unless you're a Toronto Raptors fan.
Speaker 1: Benedict Mathren two ends, some people call him Maturin, is
Speaker 1: gonna be maturing in street clothes. He is out for
Speaker 1: the season with a torn labram and his undergoing shoulder surgery.
Speaker 2: Torn labrams are so.
Speaker 1: Fucked up to come back from that is a huge
Speaker 1: loss for an Indiana Pacers team who is a shocking
Speaker 1: thirty five and twenty nine there are teams that are
Speaker 1: your favorite teams that don't have a record as good
Speaker 1: as that, and they have pushed their sis into the
Speaker 1: middle with a huge Pascal Siakam trade at the deadline,
Speaker 1: Mathurin Mathrin started to play a lot better. Hit his
Speaker 1: stride as of late eighteen five and three on forty
Speaker 1: three percent from deep, nearly two steals and blocks per game.
Speaker 1: In the last two weeks, he had a game like
Speaker 1: thirty five the other day. His defense is what found
Speaker 1: him on the bench earlier this year, but it has
Speaker 1: definitely come around.
Speaker 2: When he was at Arizona, he was an absolute monster
Speaker 2: on ball defense.
Speaker 1: His defensive rating on a team that actually has really
Speaker 1: really bad defensive rating by the way, like Pacers are
Speaker 1: one of the worst defensive rating one twenty one point
Speaker 1: seven per game, the worst on the Pacers and one
Speaker 1: of the worst of the league. Say it ain't so, Ben,
Speaker 1: Say it ain't so. I know you're better than this.
Speaker 1: You're not Trey Young. His minutes will probably now go
Speaker 1: to Aaron Nesmith, who has been actually pretty good too.
Speaker 1: Thirty five plus minutes pre Ben Sheppard, the guy who
Speaker 1: runs like he's swimming in water, standing up like doing
Speaker 1: water aerobics. He should see a huge uptick in playing
Speaker 1: time as well. News could not come at a time
Speaker 1: that's worse for the Pacers as they sit a half
Speaker 1: game out of the sixth spot, behind both the Sixers
Speaker 1: and the surging Heat. Mattherin was a key coog in
Speaker 1: this offense. He has led the team in scoring nine
Speaker 1: times this year despite being a third option.
Speaker 2: So he will be missed.
Speaker 1: We will see how the Pacers respond and we will
Speaker 1: see what pick goes to.
Speaker 2: The Toronto Raptors. All right, moving on.
Speaker 1: Lost in the flurry of mid trades at the trade
Speaker 1: deadline was a silent swap a team that people are
Speaker 1: very focused on trading with a team that no one
Speaker 1: is focused on, the Boston Celtics and my Portland Trailblazers.
Speaker 1: It was so under the radar.
Speaker 2: I didn't even know how the man got on the.
Speaker 1: Roster, Honestly, I had to do so some like forensic
Speaker 1: accounting to find out at what point did he get here?
Speaker 1: Like it was a trade that just no one. I
Speaker 1: don't even think Sean's reported it, honestly, if I had
Speaker 1: to guess, that's how like little anyone thought about it.
Speaker 1: And it is now giving us some impact. I thought
Speaker 1: that this trade was tied into the Drew Holiday trade
Speaker 1: for Malcolm Brogden and Rob Williams. No, no, this was
Speaker 1: at the deadline.
Speaker 2: Baby.
Speaker 1: The Celtics traded Delano'banton, half Jamaican half Canadian player to
Speaker 1: the Blazers at the deadline for a very heavily second
Speaker 1: protected second round pick. Like how heavily like probably never
Speaker 1: gonna convey heavily. Now, most people don't really understand how
Speaker 1: the pick protections work because in some case cases the
Speaker 1: pick never even conveys. In this case, the pick is
Speaker 1: a twenty twenty seven top fifty five protected pick. Do
Speaker 1: you know how many okay, top fifty five protected second
Speaker 1: round pick? That would mean the Blazers would have to
Speaker 1: be like the fifth best team in the league by
Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven. God help us. I would love it
Speaker 1: if this pick conveys. I'll just say that if this
Speaker 1: pick conveys, things are all right on track, which means
Speaker 1: that the Blazers got Delan o'banton, probably a man you've
Speaker 1: never heard of, for free for free. In fact, actually
Speaker 1: they got paid to take a more to that. In
Speaker 1: a second, Banton came up with Toronto. I watched that
Speaker 1: boy play a few times, showed a ton of flashes.
Speaker 1: Nick Nurse wasn't given that man any playing time. Remember
Speaker 1: he plays like five and a half.
Speaker 2: Players in forty minutes.
Speaker 1: Like his rotations are basically doc rivers. Right, young players,
Speaker 1: you ain't getting any time. He was the first Canadian
Speaker 1: player drafted by the franchise who can never crack the lineup.
Speaker 1: So the Celtics landed him on a two year, four
Speaker 1: point two million deal this summer before the jew Holiday trade.
Speaker 1: Kind of made him my guess Perflus, he's a lot
Speaker 1: bigger than Drews and he plays a different position. Once again, though,
Speaker 1: Banton had the bad luck of playing on a team
Speaker 1: where he could not crack the rotation. The Celtics they
Speaker 1: don't have four point two million dollars to spend, they
Speaker 1: don't have two dollars to spend. They gotta pay Drew
Speaker 1: Holiday and they said, you know what, Banton dipset to you,
Speaker 1: And just like that, the Blazers got a six to
Speaker 1: nine point guard guard combo guard will call him, who
Speaker 1: can hit the three pretty seamlessly off the dra like
Speaker 1: off the dribble, pull ups and play defense.
Speaker 2: He is six nine. Nice.
Speaker 1: That's the kind of six nine we're talking about. A
Speaker 1: guard with handles can shoot forty percent from three seven
Speaker 1: foot wing span. We know it's like Joe Cronin got
Speaker 1: a tight like he likes those long winged boys. He
Speaker 1: likes wingspan.
Speaker 2: Me too, yoh, me too. I can't get enough.
Speaker 1: What a theft? So if you're wondering, like Trista, why
Speaker 1: you bringing this shit up? Like none of this matters,
Speaker 1: He doesn't matter, Your team doesn't matter, Like do you
Speaker 1: have nothing else to talk about? I just have to
Speaker 1: say he's bawling. Since he got to Portland, he's put
Speaker 1: up fourteen to five and three on thirty seven percent
Speaker 1: from three. But recently, because Jeremy Grant has been dealing
Speaker 1: with some injuries, they played him together in the game
Speaker 1: against Okce that Portland was competing in pretty much the
Speaker 1: entire game. Anyway, he's been balling out. In his last
Speaker 1: four games. He's averaging twenty two point seven rebounds, five assists,
Speaker 1: forty percent from three nearly two offensive boards per game.
Speaker 1: Brad Stevens must feel indebted to Joe Cronin for choosing
Speaker 1: him in the jew Holiday sweepstakes instead of Miami or
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, because there's no other reason that makes sense
Speaker 1: for them to just hand over to Lato Banta for nothing. Well, actually,
Speaker 1: like I said, not even for nothing. The Blazers also
Speaker 1: got three million dollars in cash, Like, hey, let me
Speaker 1: sign this over to you from the Celtics in the trade.
Speaker 1: I'll take that. Like, you're just gonna give me a player,
Speaker 1: six nine guards shooting forty percent from three and three
Speaker 1: million dollars and a pit that, let's be honest, will
Speaker 1: never convey to you. Wow. Well, the cat pit if
Speaker 1: they would have kept them, would have been as high
Speaker 1: as four to one on Banton's two point two million
Speaker 1: dollar contracts.
Speaker 2: So they're like, we're not paying them eight million, you
Speaker 2: can have them. We'll give you three.
Speaker 1: And Portland also inherited that two point two million dollar
Speaker 1: team option on Bannon next year, so fam, we're keeping him.
Speaker 1: He's ours now, he's only twenty four. This is a young,
Speaker 1: rebuilding team. Don't let us fuck around and get good.
Speaker 1: Don't let us fuck around and get good. You can
Speaker 1: have that.
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 1: Top fifty five protected pick. Joe Cronin quietly having himself
Speaker 1: quite an interesting career.
Speaker 2: There in Portland.
Speaker 1: That's all the time that we have this episode of
Speaker 1: the Heat Check. Come back Tuesday for the Rookie Report,
Speaker 1: and check out the feed for past episodes and many
Speaker 1: episodes which drop unexpectedly like a tech from someone you
Speaker 1: have no interest in communicating with ever again, say sorry, buddy, Uh,
Speaker 1: go follow the Heat Check if you want to hear
Speaker 1: Trista's voice. Don't forget to follow the Heat Check as
Speaker 1: we head down the stretch of the season into the
Speaker 1: play and turn them into the playoffs. That means download,
Speaker 1: that means subscribe.
Speaker 2: And tell your.
Speaker 1: Friends, all of them, even that little skunt sitting next
Speaker 1: to you on a cross country flight who scowls at
Speaker 1: you immediately and then never gets that skunty look off
Speaker 1: her face for six hours. Tell her, Yo, I didn't
Speaker 1: do anything to you. You better put on a nice
Speaker 1: face because I'm gonna talk shit about you, uh on
Speaker 1: the podcast. Change that attitude. Five hours is a long
Speaker 1: ass time and I'm gonna mood to take off my
Speaker 1: uh metaphorical earrings because I'm not wearing anything. And don't
Speaker 1: forget to follow us it at this heat Check and
Speaker 1: at trist A criek on TikTok, Twitter, in Instagram and YouTube,
Speaker 1: because that's how Roman wants to get