Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: search seventy Sixers Insiders wherever you get your podcasts day, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'm five, yeah, seventy six Hello, everybody. Welcome back once
Speaker 1: again to a post Sixers win reaction. I'm Lauren Rosen.
Speaker 1: Matt Murphy is here with me. If you're live on
Speaker 1: Twitter spaces, welcome. If you're listening posthumously on the seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers Insiders podcast feed, thank you for joining us. There
Speaker 1: a reminder that you can always give us your feedback.
Speaker 1: Let us know what you want to hear about after
Speaker 1: every Sixers game. Whether or not we go live the
Speaker 1: next day, we keep tracks, So we would love, love,
Speaker 1: love to hear from you guys where you're listening from,
Speaker 1: what you're seeing, what you're enjoying, what you're hoping for.
Speaker 1: On the road ahead, Matt Murphy, good morning, four and oh.
Speaker 1: On this road trip thus far, Doc Rivers Terry's Maxie
Speaker 1: talked about it last night. They say they'd be thrilled
Speaker 1: if they had been bold, if they were going to
Speaker 1: go four and oh at the beginning, especially considering how
Speaker 1: few days off the team had during this stretch and
Speaker 1: how grueling. It's been so four and oh so far.
Speaker 1: It's been awesome to recap them with you. How are
Speaker 1: you feeling this morning? I'm doing great. One oh five
Speaker 1: ninety five win over the Portland Trailblazers. The Sixers now
Speaker 1: have the same record in the Eastern Conference as the
Speaker 1: Milwaukee Bucks, and those teams only trail the Boston Celtics
Speaker 1: Philadelphia now twenty nine and sixteen. In the pre show,
Speaker 1: he said, it's not mourning for the East Coast people,
Speaker 1: including myself, but I'm kicking us off with a funny
Speaker 1: message from Winona, who says it feels like mourning because
Speaker 1: we stay up with the fellas. So that's how we're
Speaker 1: doing on this side, Lauren. But it is morning for
Speaker 1: you going from Portland to Sacramento overnight. It was a
Speaker 1: late night last night, but again, any late night is
Speaker 1: better when the Sixers can pull out a win and
Speaker 1: the vibes can be as high as they were leaving
Speaker 1: Portland last night. So let's dive into the box score.
Speaker 1: As I read some stats from last night, Please let
Speaker 1: us know what stands out to you. You can click
Speaker 1: the bottom right hand corner of the space. There's a
Speaker 1: purple icon where you can let us know what's standing out.
Speaker 1: You can send us DMS. You guys know the drill,
Speaker 1: let's do it. Joel Embiid last night led the way
Speaker 1: thirty two points, nine rebounds, two assists, a steel, and
Speaker 1: three blocks. Joel shot twenty two or two twelve four
Speaker 1: twenty two from the field, seven for seven from the
Speaker 1: free throw line. James Harden another triple double last night,
Speaker 1: sixteen points, ten rebounds, fourteen assists. He shot six for
Speaker 1: eleven from the field, three for four from the line
Speaker 1: in thirty four minutes. Again, the minutes lower last night,
Speaker 1: which is great to see on again a pretty grueling
Speaker 1: road stretch like this. James's thirty four minutes marked a
Speaker 1: team high. Tobias Harris eleven points, seven rebounds and assist
Speaker 1: and a steal. He shot five for eleven. Tyrese Maxie
Speaker 1: led the bench unit with fifteen points, two rebounds, two
Speaker 1: assists and a steal. He shot seven for twelve from
Speaker 1: the field in a bench high twenty nine. And it's
Speaker 1: of play. D Anthony Melton, George Niang, Shake, Milton Matisse, Thyble,
Speaker 1: Montrese Harrell all scored in this one as well, but
Speaker 1: Matt Murphy. What stood out to you as you watched
Speaker 1: this edition of Sixers after Dark? I am going to
Speaker 1: borrow from one of the Space's followers on Twitter. Stuart said,
Speaker 1: forty one bench points says a lot, Maxi Shake Niang
Speaker 1: doing well, so I'd agree with that. I think the
Speaker 1: bench points I'm gonna steal that answer because it ended
Speaker 1: up being forty one eighteen in favor of the Sixers bench.
Speaker 1: Of course, Tyrese Maxie his third straight game off the bench,
Speaker 1: Shake Milton had some really clutch buckets in the second half,
Speaker 1: so did George Niang again. Matisse Thible a steal against
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard in a fifteen point game towards the end
Speaker 1: of the game, made some plays as well. Montrese Harold's
Speaker 1: energy in the first half and throughout the game. I
Speaker 1: think the bench on game four of a five game
Speaker 1: road trip, I was impressed with the energy level that
Speaker 1: the bench brought and it just shows the depth of
Speaker 1: this team. What stood out to you? I agree with you.
Speaker 1: I think that the bench productivity has been really really
Speaker 1: strong throughout this trip. I think not even I think
Speaker 1: the bench productivity has been strong, led by Tyrese Maxie,
Speaker 1: Matt I want to hear from him. Are we ready
Speaker 1: to dive into his comments or did you want to
Speaker 1: talk about stats a little bit more? No, I mean
Speaker 1: we could always talk about Joel Embad and James Harden's stats,
Speaker 1: because with these most recent performances we may have already
Speaker 1: covered this. But seven straight thirty point games from Bad,
Speaker 1: he just keeps tacking onto that. And Harden's fourth triple
Speaker 1: double leads the Eastern Conference. But let's hear from Tyrese Maxie. Yeah,
Speaker 1: big time stuff. In the words of Tyres Maxie. Rather,
Speaker 1: we need to make sure that we're not taking for
Speaker 1: granted amazing nights like last night for Joel. He said
Speaker 1: after the Clippers game that sometimes they look up before
Speaker 1: Joel has reached the thirty point threshold at the scoreboard
Speaker 1: and they say, where's Joel tonight? Jokingly obviously, but interesting
Speaker 1: to see that such a such a dominant performance is
Speaker 1: becoming such clockwork for Joel and for his teammates to
Speaker 1: expect it as well. And then you mentioned James Harden,
Speaker 1: of course, who's been distributing perhaps better than anybody else
Speaker 1: in the league, and his chemistry with Joel something that
Speaker 1: we should we should touch on at some point as well,
Speaker 1: but love to see the two of them really developing
Speaker 1: something special. I feel like on this trip specifically, Matt
Speaker 1: James's awareness for where Joel has been is perhaps at
Speaker 1: its peak, and that's been something really cool to see.
Speaker 1: So to shift gears a little bit a cool story.
Speaker 1: We know. Rich Hoffmann from The Athletic covered this as
Speaker 1: well this morning, But for those of you that don't know,
Speaker 1: Shake Milton and Tyrese Maxie, who are now leaving that
Speaker 1: second unit backcourt together, actually have a lot of history.
Speaker 1: They The two of them didn't know each other until
Speaker 1: Tyrese was a high school student and Shake was in college,
Speaker 1: but that of course was years before they became teammates
Speaker 1: with the seventy sixers. Tyrese's father was at the time
Speaker 1: a coach with SMU where Shake Milton played his college basketball,
Speaker 1: and a high school Tyrese Maxie remembers getting to know
Speaker 1: a college aged Shake Milton who became a little bit
Speaker 1: of a mentor for him, and then life is funny
Speaker 1: they end up on the seventy sixers together. Now they
Speaker 1: end up playing together more heavily than they ever have,
Speaker 1: and the chemistry that was built back then is showing today,
Speaker 1: so I want to play maybe a couple of minutes
Speaker 1: actually worth of tires. Maxie's media availability from last night
Speaker 1: where he sort of chronicled that bond that he built
Speaker 1: with Shake, how it started and how it's continued on today.
Speaker 1: So take a listen to Tyrese here. I met him
Speaker 1: so long ago. I met him my junior year in
Speaker 1: high school, I think, and just because I was a
Speaker 1: fan of his game and my dad coach at SMU,
Speaker 1: so I was at the games all the time, and
Speaker 1: you know, and I'll go and either at practicing different
Speaker 1: things like that because I'm a fan. Because he was,
Speaker 1: you know, older than me. It's funny, like you'd always
Speaker 1: take men this win. You know, he'll talk to me
Speaker 1: or tell me what he saw in the picking roll,
Speaker 1: tell when he saw in the game. I just messed
Speaker 1: with him, buy how well he played the night before.
Speaker 1: But in my posts, should come home and tell me
Speaker 1: he was like, you know, this dude's gonna be really good.
Speaker 1: And just watch how players off to picking all his
Speaker 1: pacing different things like that. Um, we do have a
Speaker 1: lot of totally different games. He's a little bit slower
Speaker 1: and I'm a little a little bit running around fast,
Speaker 1: but you know it's it's great now. I'm just streaming
Speaker 1: proud of him. Um, he's doing this thing right now
Speaker 1: and he's been big. But this whole road trip and
Speaker 1: even before that, he stayed right. He's been a different
Speaker 1: role starting not playing, coming out to bench playing, have
Speaker 1: to score big moments and just gotta really appreciate the
Speaker 1: guy like that worked out with him, or play one
Speaker 1: on one while you were maybe stalling high school. That that
Speaker 1: that ever happening long in college? No, because you know,
Speaker 1: you don't want to. I don't want to be a
Speaker 1: part of them trying to hurt, you know, and mess
Speaker 1: around and actually hurt somebody, and that could you know.
Speaker 1: But I did watch a lot of practice because there
Speaker 1: was only like what thirty minutes away from my house,
Speaker 1: so I would go up there and watch practice with
Speaker 1: my dad and UH coach Jankovic. I appreciate them let
Speaker 1: me come in and sit in on it. UM. I
Speaker 1: think one because it UM enhanced your basketball IQ being
Speaker 1: able to sit in through college a college practice in
Speaker 1: high school and you can go back to your teammates
Speaker 1: and tell them what you see, what you saw and
Speaker 1: you kind of execute with your high school teammates. It's
Speaker 1: not as easy, but it's definitely fun. But um, but yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's probably the biggest thing with us. We didn't
Speaker 1: play much one on one, but he was like a
Speaker 1: big brother. You mentioned he told ye like when you
Speaker 1: were playing, what work was he kind of using his lace,
Speaker 1: you know, his past. I don't know. I think he
Speaker 1: was just like because he felt like he knew that
Speaker 1: I had I guess, potential or talent, and he just
Speaker 1: told me to stay ready. He's like, you just never
Speaker 1: know what happens. You never know this this league. Guys
Speaker 1: get hurt sometimes, Like we don't want anybody get hurt,
Speaker 1: but guys get hurt. And you got to step right
Speaker 1: in and step up. And there was games where, um,
Speaker 1: you know, some people have to sit out because low management,
Speaker 1: different things like that. And there's games where he would
Speaker 1: talk to me, is all right, look it's one of
Speaker 1: them games like let's go and I'll go right in
Speaker 1: and be myself. And when you have somebody like that,
Speaker 1: who's in the rotation, who's playing every night, who's at
Speaker 1: that time, was like a really really good six man
Speaker 1: for our team, and he was like a microwaves score.
Speaker 1: When you have a guy like that who's older than
Speaker 1: they have the confidence to you, it builds confidence in yourself.
Speaker 1: So I've just been trying to do the same thing
Speaker 1: with everybody. I know, I'm younger than most, but trying
Speaker 1: to give them them confidence because the confidence that a
Speaker 1: lot of people don't have it themselves. If you gave
Speaker 1: them the confidence, then thinking they can perform a lot better.
Speaker 1: So that tyres Maxie talking last night about Shake Milton
Speaker 1: and the years long relationship that they have. Matt, I
Speaker 1: know that we had covered it previously. The two of
Speaker 1: us have talked with both Tyris and with Shake about
Speaker 1: their relationship. But how cool is it now to see
Speaker 1: the two of them really bonding, playing together and being
Speaker 1: so successful with it so that this can become a
Speaker 1: much bigger story than it was perhaps when when Reas
Speaker 1: joined the team a few years back. To me, it
Speaker 1: just says a lot about this mantra that Tyrese shared
Speaker 1: coming from Doc Rivers and the coaching staff on media day,
Speaker 1: the wee season thing and adapting to different roles throughout
Speaker 1: the season. So Tyrese is averaging about seventeen points per
Speaker 1: game off the bench in the last couple on this
Speaker 1: road trip back at the end of November when Maxi
Speaker 1: went down and Shake Milton was starting. For a nine
Speaker 1: game period he averaged about twenty points per game. And
Speaker 1: then he goes back to a bench roll and can
Speaker 1: still make consecutive buckets at important junctures of games, like
Speaker 1: he did against the Blazers, finishing with ten points and
Speaker 1: had some key baskets in that game. And it's always
Speaker 1: good to hear guys talk about their friendships and how
Speaker 1: long it goes back. And I appreciate the story that
Speaker 1: Rich Hoffman did right for the athletic. You gave him
Speaker 1: a shout out by the way, a fellow Fordham Ram
Speaker 1: like myself, so shout out to But Rich wrote in
Speaker 1: that story that the microwave nickname comes from Sixers athletic
Speaker 1: trainer Kevin Johnson, who said that Shake Milton reminds him
Speaker 1: of former Detroit Piston the microwave Vinnie Johnson. So a
Speaker 1: little bit more background on that, But Shakes a guy
Speaker 1: that's had different nicknames over the years. He was actually
Speaker 1: in the G League his rookie year, they called him
Speaker 1: money Train. I'm not still sure of the origin of that.
Speaker 1: I have to do that that had to be Norbell Pell. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so around that time when they were calling Shake Money Train,
Speaker 1: they would a lot of his Bluecoats teammates when Shake
Speaker 1: was on a two way contract, would comment on Instagram
Speaker 1: with just like a money emoji and a train emoji.
Speaker 1: But then the microwave nickname. Tyrese Maxie has said it
Speaker 1: a lot, George Niang has said it this year, and
Speaker 1: of course his social media handles are Sniper Shake too.
Speaker 1: So he's a guy with many nicknames. But I think
Speaker 1: Shake actually not his given first name Molik, So I
Speaker 1: love it, Matt, what a history of nicknames for Shake Milton.
Speaker 1: This is the content you come to Twitter spaces for. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of different things you could refer to
Speaker 1: Shake Milton as, but him and Tyrese Maxie most recently
Speaker 1: both adapting to their roles when they have this theme
Speaker 1: of a wee season. I think they're great examples of
Speaker 1: just that. Absolutely. I love how they chronicled and Matt,
Speaker 1: we talked about this last time, but when the guys
Speaker 1: interviewed one another in LA they sort of alluded to
Speaker 1: the fact that when Tyrese was a rookie, which we
Speaker 1: just heard him speak about, he didn't play a lot,
Speaker 1: and Shake went through a stretch that season where he
Speaker 1: also didn't play a whole lot, especially last year, didn't
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to play all that much because of injuries.
Speaker 1: So the way that they have taught each other how
Speaker 1: to stay ready, and you of course point immediately back
Speaker 1: to both of them having thirty nine point performances during
Speaker 1: a period of time where they weren't expected to be
Speaker 1: as active as they were Shake of course versus the Clippers,
Speaker 1: and then tyrese later on when a lot of players
Speaker 1: were out in his rookie season against the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 1: So there are a lot of parallels between the two
Speaker 1: of them, and it's been really cool to see them
Speaker 1: bond and play together so well. Doc Rivers talked about
Speaker 1: them pregame, the way that they have very different demeanors.
Speaker 1: Tyres a lot more demonstrative. You can hear his voice
Speaker 1: pretty consistently at practice. Shake is a little bit more demure,
Speaker 1: a little bit less loud. He keeps himself very even keeled.
Speaker 1: But Doc said he appreciates the way that when they
Speaker 1: hit the court together, when they spend time together, they're
Speaker 1: very very similar, even though they display differently. So a
Speaker 1: cool little subplot in this mid season stretch for the
Speaker 1: seventy six ers. Matt, I don't know if you're ready
Speaker 1: to move on, but if you have any other topics
Speaker 1: you want to cover this morning, let's dive in. I'm
Speaker 1: sorting through various questions and comments and I well, let's
Speaker 1: go back because some came in earlier today or even
Speaker 1: earlier in the week. Joseph said, Jojo unstoppable. James has
Speaker 1: been sensational. You did mention that combination of players and
Speaker 1: how important they were. Again, so what have you seen
Speaker 1: from I mean, we've talked about it on recent episodes,
Speaker 1: but their pick and roll and you actually tweeted towards
Speaker 1: the end of the game. I don't want to miss
Speaker 1: quote it, but just how special Joel Embiid has been.
Speaker 1: I think it was right after that high arcing end
Speaker 1: of shot clock fadeaway that in yeah, that he's somehow made.
Speaker 1: So when they are on it is incredible to watch.
Speaker 1: And they've been on a lot lately, and they're almost
Speaker 1: just getting started though, because when we think about how
Speaker 1: this season has gone along James missing time with injury,
Speaker 1: Joel missing time with injury last season, of course they
Speaker 1: only had less than half of the year to get
Speaker 1: to know one another, and each of them endured some
Speaker 1: bumps and bruises during that time as well. So cool,
Speaker 1: really cool, and of course Knockwood, but to see them
Speaker 1: have this healthy stretch together to start to get to
Speaker 1: know one another. Shake Milton called James Harden a wizard
Speaker 1: with the basketball a few weeks ago, and then last
Speaker 1: night Tyrese Maxie said the same, discussing the way in
Speaker 1: the ways, the many ways in which James can find
Speaker 1: his teammates regardless of where they are. Tyrese's quote from
Speaker 1: last night, James is just a wizard with the ball.
Speaker 1: He knows exactly where guys are going to be. He
Speaker 1: and Joel have a connection. It took some time, but
Speaker 1: when they're clicking, it's clicking. And sort of the trope
Speaker 1: that we've now heard from Matisse Thybal, from George Niang,
Speaker 1: from Tyrese, from Shake is that James is able to
Speaker 1: find them on the court, whether or not he's looking
Speaker 1: at them or for them. It almost takes time for
Speaker 1: these other players to adjust to understanding that James knows
Speaker 1: where they are, even if even if they don't think
Speaker 1: that he does. And that's been something really special to see.
Speaker 1: Of course, we've talked a lot about turnovers this season,
Speaker 1: and sometimes those situations result in turnovers, but not because
Speaker 1: James isn't finding someone. It's because someone isn't expecting James
Speaker 1: to find them. And it's been really cool to see
Speaker 1: them sort of limit those turnovers, developed that chemistry, and
Speaker 1: last night it was certainly on full display. A couple
Speaker 1: more thoughts on the Portland game, because I want to
Speaker 1: emphasize the fact that the Trailblazers only scored thirty four
Speaker 1: points in the first half. I know they clawed their
Speaker 1: way back into it, but an impressive start to the
Speaker 1: game for the Sixers at fifty seven to thirty four
Speaker 1: after two quarters. And there was a stretch early in
Speaker 1: the second quarter where the bench was reacting pretty demonstratively
Speaker 1: in favor of what was going on because Mantraz Harold
Speaker 1: had a big alley conversion from George Niang, Matis Thibel
Speaker 1: had a steal and a dunk, and he was smiling
Speaker 1: on his way back down the court. So from your
Speaker 1: perspective at the game, it seemed like that was a
Speaker 1: great example of where this team chemistry is at right now.
Speaker 1: If the vibes are good when you think about the
Speaker 1: stretch over these last couple of months, starting with that
Speaker 1: Lakers game to kick off the seven game homestand at
Speaker 1: home in which the Sixers won all seven. If I'm
Speaker 1: not mistaken, Matt Murphy, Yeah, since that first Lakers game
Speaker 1: and running us all the way up until last night
Speaker 1: against the Trailblazer, with the Sixers have only lost four games.
Speaker 1: They are developing Zach Low this morning, it's called it
Speaker 1: Philly's quiet dominance, and I think that that's sort of
Speaker 1: what this team is doing right, staying a little under
Speaker 1: the radar, still working things out, understanding that they can
Speaker 1: get a lot better. I'll read a Doc Rivers quote
Speaker 1: on exactly that Doc said following the game. I think
Speaker 1: we're good, and I think we can be really really good,
Speaker 1: but there's a lot of work left to do. So
Speaker 1: if this is what the team looks like with a
Speaker 1: lot of work still to do, Matt, it's exciting, right,
Speaker 1: and you kind of want to be that quietly dominant team.
Speaker 1: You kind of want to fly under the radar a
Speaker 1: little bit. We've talked about the Bucks in the Celtics
Speaker 1: all year long, but to be up in that company now,
Speaker 1: especially considering I know we've said it a lot, but
Speaker 1: especially considering the injuries early in the season. Very impressive
Speaker 1: stuff and a lot of exciting basketball is still to come.
Speaker 1: I'm getting some more questions, and there's a couple that
Speaker 1: I want to get to. But there's one from Wednesday
Speaker 1: that is from Nate who said Harden his first in
Speaker 1: assists per game and Embead his second in points per
Speaker 1: game this season. The reason I want to get to
Speaker 1: this is because it's pretty easy answer. I think we've seen.
Speaker 1: We've seen Harden have his games and Embid have his games,
Speaker 1: and even great nights from both of them together. Do
Speaker 1: you think the success of both players each game are
Speaker 1: imperative to make a deep playoff run, or rather a
Speaker 1: whole team effort. I would say yes, it's imperative for
Speaker 1: both of those guys to play really well. But to
Speaker 1: the point about the assist rankings and the points rankings,
Speaker 1: and Bead's right there with Luca don Chich and then
Speaker 1: Harden has to meet that seventy percent of games played threshold,
Speaker 1: but he would be above Tyrese Haliburton and everybody else,
Speaker 1: and through Thursday's games, and beat is only at he's
Speaker 1: at thirty three point six points per game, and don
Speaker 1: chit's just thirty three point seven. So it's as close
Speaker 1: as it gets through Thursday, January nineteenth, and Justin said, hey, Matt,
Speaker 1: I want Joel Embiid and Lebron James to be All
Speaker 1: Star teammates. What do you think. I'm looking at the
Speaker 1: voting to see where everybody stands, and Joel Embiid on
Speaker 1: the latest returns not in the would not be in
Speaker 1: the starting lineup because of the three front court spots.
Speaker 1: But Kevin Durant is injured right now, Jannis Durant, Tatum
Speaker 1: and Bead and then of course there's the draft, so
Speaker 1: you can look at different combinations of players and what
Speaker 1: would be fun together. But Justin wants to see Mbad
Speaker 1: and Lebron. I think that would be a good one
Speaker 1: right off the top. Do any other combinations of players
Speaker 1: jump out to you when they have the All Star Draft?
Speaker 1: I mean, look, you gotta you gotta hope that they
Speaker 1: can be teammates, but you also know it would be
Speaker 1: fun to see them faced off. I mean, Matt, we're gonna,
Speaker 1: I'm sure talk about it down the road, but we
Speaker 1: got to make sure that Joel is a starter in
Speaker 1: that All Star Game. He's just been so dominant. He's
Speaker 1: a two time runner up for the MVP Award and
Speaker 1: continues to get better. I'm looking forward to your All
Speaker 1: Star coverage, but yeah, the two of them playing together
Speaker 1: in that situation could be really dangerous and just another
Speaker 1: opportunity to continue developing this chemistry. Lebron's the Western Conference
Speaker 1: leading vote getter right now, over six and a half
Speaker 1: million votes as of the last or the third fan returns.
Speaker 1: But you really can't go wrong with any of these combinations.
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to think if any other combos jump
Speaker 1: out to me. I think Stephen Curry in an All
Speaker 1: Star Game is incredible to watch. He had a casual
Speaker 1: half court shot against the Celtics in the Warriors last
Speaker 1: game at the end of the first half, and he
Speaker 1: like practices those and makes them all the time. Luca
Speaker 1: and John Morant I think will be must see it
Speaker 1: this year's All Star Game as well, so a couple
Speaker 1: of Western Conference guards. I think that if you paired
Speaker 1: up with Joel and the All Star Game would be
Speaker 1: fun duos to watch. I think any of those Curry,
Speaker 1: don Chich Morant with Joel Embiid would be great. I
Speaker 1: think jo I think Jaw with Joel could be awesome.
Speaker 1: I think Stephen James in a backcourt could be awesome.
Speaker 1: The two of them obviously have a ton of history,
Speaker 1: and Matt, I'm looking forward to it very much. So
Speaker 1: that's coming up in exactly a month, the weekend of
Speaker 1: President's Day in February. Matt Murphy will be on the
Speaker 1: ground looking forward to your coverage at the All Star Game. Matt,
Speaker 1: just I know we do it a lot, but just
Speaker 1: remind everybody one more time where to vote, how to vote,
Speaker 1: and then we will look ahead before we wrap this
Speaker 1: one up, so you can't vote for too much longer.
Speaker 1: But if you're listening live on Friday, January twentieth, right now,
Speaker 1: it's at three for one voting day, so get your
Speaker 1: votes in for Joel mb James Harden and all your
Speaker 1: other favorite Sixers because voting only runs for an extra day.
Speaker 1: It's on the NBA app, it's on NBA dot com
Speaker 1: and Sixers dot com. Slash All Star will point you
Speaker 1: in all of the right places and provide some resources
Speaker 1: as well about some of the Sixers candidacies. Kenny chimed
Speaker 1: in and said a combination of Luca and Embiid would
Speaker 1: be unfair, referencing the All Star Game discussion. I agree
Speaker 1: with that the top two leading scorers in the NBA
Speaker 1: right now, Lauren, before we move forward. Wanona sent a
Speaker 1: question earlier that's more behind the scenes which we like
Speaker 1: to talk about, and Wanona asked, what is the Sixers
Speaker 1: pregame meal? And you've been around them a lot on
Speaker 1: the road, how that changes when they're at home and
Speaker 1: things like that, But any insight you can share regarding
Speaker 1: that off the court, I think would be insightful. Well,
Speaker 1: so my understanding is that it's actually different from city
Speaker 1: to city, from arena to arena. I think that there
Speaker 1: are some repeat performances. They're amazing. I'm trying to think
Speaker 1: of where that even is amazing wings in Cleveland last night,
Speaker 1: I leaf there was Mexican food. It's different every It's
Speaker 1: different every night. But I can try to start paying
Speaker 1: a little bit more attention to see I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of protein involved, some good carbohydrate options,
Speaker 1: but every guy sort of has their their own ritual
Speaker 1: to you know, coming into games at home, there's always
Speaker 1: a pregame meal, but some of the guys bring their
Speaker 1: own food or eat separately. Everybody has their own routine
Speaker 1: and that's always interesting to observe. But it is cool
Speaker 1: to sort of see, especially when sometimes postgame local vendors
Speaker 1: restaurants in whatever city the team is in will supply
Speaker 1: the postgame meal, which is always cool to see get
Speaker 1: a little local immersion in whatever city that we're in.
Speaker 1: But yeah, there's not actually a consistent pregame meal. There
Speaker 1: are certain things that are always available. There's always fruit,
Speaker 1: there's always the same complement of beverages. There's always peanut
Speaker 1: butter and jelly sandwiches. Try and think what else popcorn.
Speaker 1: We see Joel entire sating popcorn after the game a lot.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the main meal component varies from game to game.
Speaker 1: Thank you for sharing that. I'm looking forward to the
Speaker 1: final game of this road trip because the Sacramento Kings
Speaker 1: are all the way up to third in the Western
Speaker 1: Conference for the first time in a long time if
Speaker 1: they've been that high in the standings at this point
Speaker 1: of an NBA season. So Saturday night, ten pm Eastern
Speaker 1: NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus and ninety seven five The Fanatic
Speaker 1: again your ways to watch and listen to this Sixers
Speaker 1: Kings game. They're twenty five and eighteen. Again, the Sixers
Speaker 1: are twenty nine and sixteen, and the Kings have a
Speaker 1: winning streak of their own, So two teams that are
Speaker 1: really trending in the right direction could be the best
Speaker 1: game of the entire trip to watch. Hopefully it's a
Speaker 1: close contest, and of course, hopefully the Sixers can keep
Speaker 1: it rolling. If you're a basketball nerd like me, the
Speaker 1: Kings are actually hosting the Oklahoma City Thunder this evening
Speaker 1: and you can do some game prep watch, check out
Speaker 1: what there is to watch for. The Sixers, for the
Speaker 1: first time in a long time, will be the more
Speaker 1: well rested team in that matchup tomorrow, with an off
Speaker 1: night this evening in Sacramento, and then taking on, like
Speaker 1: you said, an exciting Sacramento Kings team tomorrow, before heading
Speaker 1: back home for a four game homestand featuring the Brooklyn
Speaker 1: Nets on Wednesday, the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, and then
Speaker 1: a two game set with the Orlando Magic next week
Speaker 1: on Monday and Wednesday. The team will hit the road
Speaker 1: again afterwards to go to San Antonio, New York, and
Speaker 1: Boston and Matt, we will hope, hope, hope, hope to
Speaker 1: be with you guys quite a bit following a plethora
Speaker 1: of those games, if not all of them. Yes, I
Speaker 1: there's so many different places to see people's comments that
Speaker 1: I'm of course listening to you at the same time,
Speaker 1: but also making sure we don't miss anyone. And Jeannie
Speaker 1: said a little bit ago and here I love how
Speaker 1: Tyrese comes off the bench firing on all cylinders five
Speaker 1: fire emojis. And then Jeannie said, oh, this was about
Speaker 1: the drawing that I did pin to the space. Her
Speaker 1: drawing was amazing with some clapping emojis. So I just
Speaker 1: want to make sure we didn't forget anyone. But in
Speaker 1: regard to these winning streaks that both the Sixers and
Speaker 1: the Kings are on, this is not to diminish anything
Speaker 1: the Kings have done this year, but their winning streak,
Speaker 1: it's not the same caliber of streak that the Sixers
Speaker 1: have going right now because they played some teams that
Speaker 1: are young and kind of going through it this season's
Speaker 1: and the fact that they play OKC, who's not going
Speaker 1: to be any easy out in the front end of
Speaker 1: a doubleheader or a back to back, Rather that bodes
Speaker 1: well for the Sixers in my opinion. But their five
Speaker 1: game winning streak is over Orlando, Houston, Houston, San Antonio,
Speaker 1: and then the Lakers, which they did win without Sabonis,
Speaker 1: and this will be the final meeting between the Sixers
Speaker 1: and the Kings and the regular season. The Sixers won
Speaker 1: by twenty back in December, and that was when they
Speaker 1: had that eighty point first half. So the Sixers obviously
Speaker 1: on the road. It's never easy to win in the NBA,
Speaker 1: but getting the Kings coming off a game the night
Speaker 1: before could be a big advantage. I look forward to
Speaker 1: watching that one, Matt. I look forward to hopefully recapping
Speaker 1: it with you. Do you have any final words for
Speaker 1: the Space's audience, for the Insiders audience before we hop off,
Speaker 1: Unless there's anything that I completely missed, I apologize if
Speaker 1: I do, but you saw as evidence by going back
Speaker 1: to a question from Wednesday. Sometimes we can circle back
Speaker 1: to things, so feel free to send us questions whenever.
Speaker 1: I think. That's all I had for this one, other
Speaker 1: than maybe an Eagle shout out, because right before that
Speaker 1: King's game against the Sixers will be the Eagles and
Speaker 1: the Giants in the playoffs. In Philadelphia. So at an
Speaker 1: obligatory go Birds, and they're facing the Giants who have
Speaker 1: a quarterback from where you went to school, Duke University,
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones. Were you guys in school together? We were,
Speaker 1: We overlapped towards the end of my tenure there. So
Speaker 1: I'm still reading for the Birds in this one. I've
Speaker 1: really adopted Philly. I certainly adopted the Eagles as my
Speaker 1: football team. So looking forward to that one, Matt, and
Speaker 1: hopefully we can recap two big Philadelphia wins on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Is Duke a football school? No? Yes, sort of? I
Speaker 1: don't know. Yeah, I mean, look, it was. It was
Speaker 1: a lot of fun to work with that football team
Speaker 1: in all seriousness while I was there under David Cutcliffe.
Speaker 1: He created a really cool environment and it was special
Speaker 1: to be a small part of that. And then obviously
Speaker 1: the basketball there is great, So you know, I would
Speaker 1: I would give it. I would give it a football
Speaker 1: you at a basketball school. I wasn't trying to steer
Speaker 1: you in any direction. Everyone should know we're all about
Speaker 1: the Eagles in this matchup against the Giants. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: go Birds, Ghost Sixers, and we will talk with everyone
Speaker 1: again soon. Lauren Rosen, thanks so much. I know you've
Speaker 1: been battling the time zones to join us, so come on.
Speaker 1: You guys have been flexible with me, so I get
Speaker 1: no credit. I really appreciate you, and I appreciate everybody
Speaker 1: for listening. Yeah, thank you everyone, and we'll be back soon.
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot. See Yeah