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Speaker 1: On today's show, Carl Anthony Towns has reason to smile again.

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Speaker 1: Gary Trent Junior hits a game winner, He's already a

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Speaker 1: fan favorite in Toronto. He's Damian Lillard Part two relaxed Tasks,

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Speaker 1: and Kyrie Irving is a gd showman. Although James Harden

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Speaker 1: sustains an injury in Brooklyn, we'll get to that. Hey,

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Speaker 1: I'm tas Mellis and this is what you need to

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Speaker 1: know in the NBA for Tuesday, April sixth, Hey, Hey,

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Speaker 1: what's up everybody? It was an entertaining set of games

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Speaker 1: on the NBA schedule that got the heck out of

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Speaker 1: the way for the NCAA final. Congrats to the Baylor

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Speaker 1: team on the w in the professional leagues, the NCAA

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Speaker 1: is kind of professional, isn't it? Or should be? Anyways,

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Speaker 1: I first turned my eyes to Nick's Nets. The Nets

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Speaker 1: are trying to get fully healthy for the stretcher on

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Speaker 1: getting ready for the postseason, and like most weeks in

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Speaker 1: my life, if things started promising for the Nets, Kevin

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Speaker 1: Durant scheduled to come back soon. James Harden did return

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Speaker 1: after missing two straight games with hamstring tightness and then

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Speaker 1: on an innocent looking drive to the hoop. Just four

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Speaker 1: minutes into the game, he got into the lane, did

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Speaker 1: a little drive and dish what Harden's been doing? Things

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Speaker 1: look normal, But then he signaled to the bench, Hey, hey,

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Speaker 1: coach Nash, get me out of here. He tweaked that

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Speaker 1: right hamstring again, a worrysome injury, as hamstring injuries tend

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Speaker 1: to not go away. He went to the locker room

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Speaker 1: did not return. Hopefully he's just being safe. No word

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Speaker 1: on the severity of the injury. As he KD and

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Speaker 1: Kyrie have only played seven games together this season, it's

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Speaker 1: a weird year for Harden. Played himself into shape in Brooklyn.

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Speaker 1: Looked amazing, but hopefully he'll be all right. The other

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Speaker 1: part of that victory, Kyrie Irving. What a show. Watching

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Speaker 1: this game, I thought, if there's one player I would

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Speaker 1: pay to see perform on any given night, it would

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Speaker 1: be this guy. Yeah, I'm taking Kyrie. The difficulty in

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Speaker 1: the shot making this year is like no other player.

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Speaker 1: Of course, there's Jokic and Lillard and Luca and Lebron.

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Speaker 1: There's a ton let me know who you would pick

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Speaker 1: in the comments. But the acrobatics, what he's doing pulling

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Speaker 1: back the ball falling in the lane right hand, left hand,

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Speaker 1: like he's going to over and over and over again.

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Speaker 1: This season, I'm taking Kyrie. Kyrie ended this game with

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Speaker 1: forty points as Brooklyn came back to beat the Knicks,

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Speaker 1: who are struggling offensively lately. That is their big issue.

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Speaker 1: Moving on, The Minnesota Timberwolves have had many issues this season.

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Speaker 1: He can't point to just one. Karl Anthony Towns has

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Speaker 1: had little reason to smile, but it was awesome seeing

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Speaker 1: Kat smile again in a win over Sacramento. Yeah, huge smile.

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Speaker 1: And his stats have been pretty bonkers recently twenty seven

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Speaker 1: and eleven with nearly five assists on good percentages over

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Speaker 1: the last fifteen games. Very solid. Twenty twenty was very

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Speaker 1: tough year for him with his family. His mom passed

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Speaker 1: last year, family members passed. That's why this season was

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Speaker 1: always kind of a write off for him. But no

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Speaker 1: one was expecting them to have the worst record in

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Speaker 1: the league. Expectations for them to be in the play

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Speaker 1: in tournament at least with Dangel Russell, himself and rookie Rubio.

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Speaker 1: Then they got injured. It all went downhill. Although because

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Speaker 1: of the injuries, rookie Anthony Edwards took on a bigger role,

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Speaker 1: got some more reps. Dangel Russell, one of those injured guys,

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Speaker 1: did return after missing two months against the Kings. He

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Speaker 1: came back, didn't have a great shooting night. But here

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Speaker 1: we are. This is Carl Anthony Town's sixth year in

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Speaker 1: his career. I just don't want him to be a

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Speaker 1: numbers guy. I just don't want him to get those

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Speaker 1: numbers and not have the w's alongside it. Big job

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Speaker 1: for new head coach Chris Finch in that locker room

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Speaker 1: to mix Dangel Russell and Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony Towns.

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Speaker 1: Hopefully they can find some stability there because they haven't

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Speaker 1: found there was some stability in the rim. There was

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Speaker 1: a weggie in this game. Great called by Dave Ben's

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Speaker 1: Jim Peterson to call this Weggie. You'll see it on

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Speaker 1: the full No Dunks episode today here on Tuesday, Washington, Toronto.

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Speaker 1: Gary Trent Junior has been a Raptor for less than

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Speaker 1: two weeks. He was acquired for Norm Powell at the deadline,

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Speaker 1: and in those two weeks, in six games, the twenty

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Speaker 1: two year old has had his career high. He was

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Speaker 1: coming off two consecutive games where he hit six threes

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Speaker 1: in each, and then on Monday he wasn't having an

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Speaker 1: incredible night. When the Wizards were up one, they missed

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Speaker 1: with ten seconds left, leaving the door open for Toronto.

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Speaker 1: Trent rebounded the ball and said, I'm taking this. He

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Speaker 1: made up his mind that he was taking it. He

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Speaker 1: told Eric Smith after the game on the broadcast. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I wasn't letting it go. It's a little Damian Lillard like, right.

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Speaker 1: He played with Lillard in Portland before being moved to Toronto.

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Speaker 1: It already looks like an credible deal for the Raptors,

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Speaker 1: and it's not just the game winner, although that was phenomenal.

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Speaker 1: They traded one former second round pick for another, moving

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Speaker 1: Norm Powell over to Portland, but the one in Toronto

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Speaker 1: now and Gary Trent will be signing his first big

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Speaker 1: contract with the Toronto this offseason, rather than his second

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Speaker 1: big contract like Portland will be doing with Norm, and

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Speaker 1: unlike his dad, Gary Trent Senior, I think Junior will

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Speaker 1: be spending more than just thirteen games with the Raptors

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Speaker 1: just a hunch. I think they'll be ready to pay him.

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Speaker 1: And if you haven't read the incredible story of Gary

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Speaker 1: Trent helping his friend Jordan Bolton walk again on the

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Speaker 1: athletic You should. I'll throw it in the show notes.

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Speaker 1: Have a read Utah Dallas, Luka Doncic talking about those

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Speaker 1: guys you would pay to see. Well, he'll win an

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Speaker 1: MVP down the road this one this season, it's not it.

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Speaker 1: He started slowly and his team suffered because of it.

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Speaker 1: But the MAVs have won five straight. They're two games

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Speaker 1: back from the sixth seed. They hoppled a Jazz team

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Speaker 1: that couldn't hit a three. I mean that was part

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Speaker 1: of it, for sure. They're kind of like the Nuggets.

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Speaker 1: The Mavericks are. The team started slow and here they come.

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Speaker 1: They found their identity a little bit. Even without Christops Porzingis,

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Speaker 1: who was sitting this one out, they beat those Utah Jazz.

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Speaker 1: It was an off night for Utah snapping their streak.

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Speaker 1: That's fine, they can have it. They can have an

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Speaker 1: off night. Cleveland, San Antonio. The Spurs are a team

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Speaker 1: Dallas has passed in the standings. The Spurs finished up

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Speaker 1: a home stand two and seven. Yeah. The Spurs snapped

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Speaker 1: a streak of twenty two consecutive playoff appearances last season

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Speaker 1: when they missed out and they could be starting a

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Speaker 1: streak in the other direction. They've dropped into the play

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Speaker 1: in tournament portion of the standings after a great start

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Speaker 1: to the season. Is making the play in tournament? Making

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Speaker 1: the playoffs? Oh, the eternal question here in the NBA.

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Speaker 1: They're banged up. No to John Taymurray hurt the defense

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Speaker 1: versus Darius Garland, who had a career high thirty seven points,

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Speaker 1: versus San Antonio whoo of the Rocket are banged up,

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Speaker 1: of course, but give credit to head coach Steven Silas.

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Speaker 1: They are scrappy. They took on an equally scrappy Suns

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Speaker 1: team down to the wire, but Phoenix held on for

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Speaker 1: their sixth straight win. They're sitting comfortably in the West

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Speaker 1: second seed. How about that. Good to see DeAndre Ayton

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Speaker 1: bounce back, he said, a little bit of a rough

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Speaker 1: stretch with twenty seven points. Kevin Porter Junior continues to

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Speaker 1: rehab his image in Houston. He scored twenty what could

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Speaker 1: have been in Cleveland? Just talked about Darius Garland along

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Speaker 1: with Colin Sexton. Kevin Porter Junior was there. Some called

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Speaker 1: Kevin Porter Junior the prospect with the most upside or

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Speaker 1: maybe it was a young OKC situation with Durant Westbrook

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Speaker 1: and Harden. They were just never gonna work out. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm comparing Darius Garland, Colin Sexton, and Kevin Porter Junior

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Speaker 1: to Durant Westbrook and Harden. I might be going a

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Speaker 1: little bonkers here, I am. I am definitely going a

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Speaker 1: little bonkers here. Although you know, Kevin Porter Junior is

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Speaker 1: a lefty, Harden's a lefty. They both left You always

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Speaker 1: have to compare a lefty with the lefty. That's the

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Speaker 1: rules in the NBA when you're making comps. Last game

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Speaker 1: on the Skid, the Pistons dominated the Thunder as Jeremy

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Speaker 1: Grant scored twenty one against his former team. That's it

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Speaker 1: for me. Make sure you check out the full Nodunks

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Speaker 1: episode here on Tuesday. They'll give you the goods. Make

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Speaker 1: sure you check the show notes for that article from

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Speaker 1: The Athletic. I'll be back to give you the news

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Speaker 1: tomorrow as fast as I possibly can. I'll talk to

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Speaker 1: you then