Speaker 1: The Lakers have lost three in a row? Is it
Speaker 1: time to worry? The team? LA is chasing? The Utah
Speaker 1: Jazz set a new team record, but that was after
Speaker 1: the Charlotte Hornets really pissed them off. God, I love
Speaker 1: that game. Let's get into it. Hey, I'm tas Malus
Speaker 1: and this is what you need to know in the
Speaker 1: NBA for Tuesday, February twenty third. The first thing you
Speaker 1: need to know is that the world is not collapsing
Speaker 1: for the Lakers. Yes, the champs have lost three in
Speaker 1: a row after losing to the Wizards at home, and
Speaker 1: they have some problems with the bottom dwelling teams in
Speaker 1: the NBA, but that's better than having problems with the
Speaker 1: best teams in the NBA. Lebron's Lakers are going to
Speaker 1: play down to their competition at times. They need things
Speaker 1: to motivate them. That's why they're a far better road
Speaker 1: team than they are a home team. And even more
Speaker 1: importantly than that, they're a top heavy team that doesn't
Speaker 1: have their top right now. Anthony Davis is out He's
Speaker 1: missed this entire three game losing streak, and Dennis Shrewder,
Speaker 1: their third best scorer, is also out. And he won't
Speaker 1: be there when the Lakers face the Utah Jazz on
Speaker 1: Wednesday night, which stinks. If you want to nitpick about
Speaker 1: something with the Lakers, it's that they're up seventeen in
Speaker 1: the third quarter and then they just shot three after three,
Speaker 1: after three after three. They missed twelve straight threes between
Speaker 1: the third and fourth quarter when they should have been
Speaker 1: going to the whole to the free throw line. Especially
Speaker 1: with their old mate, old Laker Moe Wagner starting in
Speaker 1: the middle for the Wizards. This should have been going
Speaker 1: down there. But Lebron James thirty one points and thirteen
Speaker 1: assists isn't getting the old It's not an issue. That's
Speaker 1: not the problem. Yeah, he missed a free throw at
Speaker 1: the end of the game. It would be nice if
Speaker 1: he had a better free throw percentage. It went into
Speaker 1: overtime because he missed that free throw when Westbrook had
Speaker 1: a really good period, great shot selection from him. He
Speaker 1: handed with thirty two points, fourteen boards, and nine assists.
Speaker 1: He says he's held healthy and if you listen to
Speaker 1: this show, you'd know that his second half of the
Speaker 1: season is probably going to be better than his first.
Speaker 1: If his season mimics anything like it was last year
Speaker 1: for the Houston Rockets when he went to the All
Speaker 1: Star Game, and just some great experiences for the Wizards
Speaker 1: youngsters in this game as well. Ruy At Tramura got
Speaker 1: to guard the best player in the world for the
Speaker 1: entire game, guarding Lebron. That was awesome to see. Russell Westbrook,
Speaker 1: according to Fredkatz, told ruy hey, you got to guard
Speaker 1: one through five, and now he has taken defense a
Speaker 1: little bit more seriously, Danny Avdia, their rookie draft pick.
Speaker 1: He hit a big shot under a minute left. The
Speaker 1: Whiz have now won five straight games, their longest winning
Speaker 1: streak in three years. They're at eleven and seventeen and
Speaker 1: they're only two games back of the eight seed, and
Speaker 1: they've got more games left than anyone in the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference because of how their COVID postponements have worked out
Speaker 1: thus far. Little note for the Lakers, they released Quinn Cook,
Speaker 1: the two time NBA champ, is likely to be replaced
Speaker 1: by a big man. DeMarcus Cousins is rumored to be
Speaker 1: going to the Lakers because he's on the outs with
Speaker 1: the Houston Rockets. According to Schams Sharania of the athletic.
Speaker 1: But there's also another big man who's in a very
Speaker 1: similar situation to DeMarcus Cousins with the Rockets, but with
Speaker 1: the Kings, Hassan Whiteside is a backup big there might
Speaker 1: be on the outs with a young and upcoming team
Speaker 1: that's looking to move on from Hassan Whiteside. According to
Speaker 1: The La Times, Brad Turner and Dan Wiki, the Lakers
Speaker 1: are interested in Hassan Whiteside, and it makes sense that
Speaker 1: the Lakers want a backup big. They never really replaced
Speaker 1: Dwight Howard in the offseason. Montrez Harrol is their backup center.
Speaker 1: Although he's more of a power forward. He couldn't play
Speaker 1: in overtime against the Washington Wizards even though he had
Speaker 1: a season high twenty six points. He's just a little
Speaker 1: bit undersized, so for some matchups they need a biggie
Speaker 1: like Couzy or white Sidey moving on the Hornets versus
Speaker 1: the Utah Jazz. My money, this was the game of
Speaker 1: the night and with my money, I could have probably
Speaker 1: got into this game. There were fans in the stands.
Speaker 1: There were thirty nine hundred of them. Although it sounded
Speaker 1: like Utah's old stadium, pumping sound, and that's probably what
Speaker 1: was happening. They're piping in music and piping in sound,
Speaker 1: and I'm extremely gullible. Anyways, the Hornets were just feeling themselves.
Speaker 1: Everyone on that team can pass and shoot. This was
Speaker 1: a great game and they make other teams angry. When
Speaker 1: Lamellow Ball scored and did the you're too small gesture
Speaker 1: toward Mike Conley, Oh, it riled up the jazz commentators.
Speaker 1: Listen right here the bucket. Nice playing, But all right,
Speaker 1: young fella, why I watch yourself. It's a long game. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: rookie can't do that to a fourteen years van. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Gotta love it when Ball shot his floaters, Craig Bowlerjack
Speaker 1: and Thorough Bailey were calling his shot technique awkward. I
Speaker 1: believe the word you're looking for is unique, although they
Speaker 1: softened on Ball and his twenty one points as the
Speaker 1: game went on. Gotta love Ball going after it and
Speaker 1: Gordon Hayward is fun to watch against his old team.
Speaker 1: He went into Utah was looking like his old stop
Speaker 1: on a diamond the lane spinny self. He had twenty
Speaker 1: one points, but he left this game with apparent wrist injury.
Speaker 1: In the fourth quarter. Hopefully he's all right. The Utah
Speaker 1: Jazz were all right. They sold the Hornets in the
Speaker 1: second half. Charlotte was taken away the middle and Rudy
Speaker 1: Gobert so he didn't have much of an offensive game.
Speaker 1: Then the Jazz just decided, you're gonna play into our
Speaker 1: hands like that. We're just gonna bomb away threes and
Speaker 1: they hit a franchise record twenty eight of them, which
Speaker 1: is one off the NBA record set by the Bucks
Speaker 1: earlier this year. The Jazz set an NBA record in
Speaker 1: this one with nineteen threes off the bench. George Nyang
Speaker 1: and Joe Ingles had seven, each career highs for both
Speaker 1: of them. They didn't score another point either. The Clarkson
Speaker 1: had five off the bench. How are you going to
Speaker 1: lose when you've got nineteen threes off the bench seven
Speaker 1: from the Yang, seven from Engles, and five from Clarkson.
Speaker 1: The Jazz stretch their lead atop the West to three
Speaker 1: and a half games on both the Clippers and the Lakers.
Speaker 1: One though Rookie of the Year race, I have been
Speaker 1: big enough. Anthony Edwards, the number one pick out of Minnesota,
Speaker 1: LaMelo Ball definitely still the Rookie of the Year favorite,
Speaker 1: the Charlotte Hornets definitely the NBA favorite as being the
Speaker 1: most fun team in the league. Moving on to Portland
Speaker 1: and Phoenix, one of the most fun teams in the
Speaker 1: league is the Suns, especially because of Devin Booker. This
Speaker 1: guy against the Blazers, it was some classic big shooting
Speaker 1: guard stuff, taking small defenders in the posts like Damian
Speaker 1: Lillard showing all his handles and pull ups to Gary
Speaker 1: Trent Junior, going by bigger guys like Derek Jones Junior
Speaker 1: and Robert Covington. Everyone that was not a center guarded
Speaker 1: Devin Booker, but he cannot be stopped. It was a
Speaker 1: perfect night. Thirty four points, twelve of seventeen, shooting eight
Speaker 1: free throws. Okay, I guess it's not perfect because he misshots,
Speaker 1: but all in all, watching this guy play was perfect
Speaker 1: and they needed Booker to be that good because Chris Paul,
Speaker 1: his backcourt mate, only had two points in this one.
Speaker 1: When the All Star reserves are announced on Tuesday, who
Speaker 1: the heck is going to get that All Star appearance
Speaker 1: from the Suns. They are both deserving, but it's unlikely
Speaker 1: both are gonna make it. Just give him half an
Speaker 1: All Star appearance each Crevin Book, All yeah, Crevin Book Book,
Speaker 1: All yeah, it's half. They're a well rounded team that
Speaker 1: is now twenty and ten. They're gonna make the playoffs
Speaker 1: for the first time since twenty ten when Steve Nash
Speaker 1: was taking this team to the Western Conference finals. Gonna
Speaker 1: wrap up the other few games for you. Memphis visited Dallas.
Speaker 1: No Christops Porzingis in this one. The MAVs big man
Speaker 1: had a little bit of back tightness, and as my
Speaker 1: man Kelly Dwyer pointed out, you know, wonder Dallas's defense
Speaker 1: played a little bit tighter against Memphis. Brutal Kelly Dwyer,
Speaker 1: but probably some truth to that. The MAVs won in
Speaker 1: a game that wasn't all that close. They had him
Speaker 1: played in a week due to game cancelations, so I'm
Speaker 1: sure they were just happy to get back on the court.
Speaker 1: The Bulls destroyed the Rockets, who have now lost eight straight.
Speaker 1: They don't have Christian Wood or Victor Oladipo in the lineup.
Speaker 1: And I'll say it one last time, Zach Lavine better
Speaker 1: be named an All Star reserved tonight. Give the fans
Speaker 1: one last dunk contast Zach He's definitely not going in
Speaker 1: it if he's not named an All Star. Last game,
Speaker 1: the Heat got a nice, well rounded win over okay See,
Speaker 1: looking a little like the Bubble Heat. But I give
Speaker 1: all the credit to Kelly Olinick's shoes. He was wearing
Speaker 1: his old team Canada twenty ten red Nike hyperfuses when
Speaker 1: he was on the national team. As Nick Depaula pointed out,
Speaker 1: those are some beauties. Thanks for joining me today. I'll
Speaker 1: be back on Wednesday to give you the news as
Speaker 1: fast as I possibly can. Some All Star reserves talk
Speaker 1: in there, I'm sure. Make sure you check out the
Speaker 1: full No Dunks episode today here on Tuesday. Talk to
Speaker 1: you tomorrow.