Speaker 1: Ninety seven.
Speaker 2: Partly cloudy.
Speaker 1: Cumulone members SPF eighty five.
Speaker 2: By the way, all previously reported temperatures are in fahrenheit.
Speaker 1: That good mornings swim. Then welcome to the Now Dungs
Speaker 1: podcast on the Athletic Network. It's Thursday, April twenty ninth.
Speaker 2: J E.
Speaker 1: Skeeds along with my top shot hot boy Trey Kirby
Speaker 1: heyl Hey, the international Man of Mystery, taking it to
Speaker 1: the max Leyelism, and last but not least, making the
Speaker 1: magic happiness JD. Hello Darius here we are shout out
Speaker 1: to the stream team for joining us live right now
Speaker 1: on YouTube. Smash that like button, leave your comments and subscribe,
Speaker 1: cause tonight at nine pm Eastern. Yeah, we already changed
Speaker 1: the start today for this NBA Happy Hour is now
Speaker 1: game night. Yes, come join your boys on the live
Speaker 1: stream here on YouTube as we play a little Geo guesser,
Speaker 1: maybe a little Sparkle quiz. Maybe Lee opens up an
Speaker 1: old pack of F one racing cards. You don't know
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen on Game Night tonight, but anyway, we'll
Speaker 1: hang out for a couple hours, have a blast, of course,
Speaker 1: answer your questions and comments that you're dropping in the
Speaker 1: stream team there as well, So join us tonight nine
Speaker 1: pm Eastern. NBA Happy Hour is now game Night. Okay.
Speaker 1: Also email us your questions and comments for the next
Speaker 1: beach step. In podcasts No Dunks at the Athletic dot com,
Speaker 1: we hit the beach yesterday. We talked about new NBA
Speaker 1: awards we'd like to see added to the mix. We
Speaker 1: attempted to agree on, like what actually makes up an
Speaker 1: NBA journeyman, like the criteria for that. That was fun,
Speaker 1: uh task leading that discussion, and then Lee talked a
Speaker 1: lot about cars and construction. Real manly Man yesterday's Johnson.
Speaker 3: Rotten Man Man, that's right, yeah, all.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, how's your Stanley bru.
Speaker 3: You gotta be a hippie, you gotta be way more
Speaker 3: into it, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my bad.
Speaker 1: I've got a grunt like Tim the tool Taylor. Yeah.
Speaker 1: He was talking a lot about uh again, driving over
Speaker 1: screws and then his screw drivers and.
Speaker 2: The left and right.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah to stuff from a gang. Go check
Speaker 1: out that beach dub podcast that we posted yesterday, and
Speaker 1: I finally grab your suite No dunks merch over at
Speaker 1: No dunk dot com. Okay, On today's show. We got
Speaker 1: tweeted the night we got pick the results. Uh, though,
Speaker 1: maybe we'll just skip that, you know, I think we'll
Speaker 1: just gloss over that today nothing important happened. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: gonna run back some what you got fun. We had
Speaker 1: a blast doing night yesterday. I got some other ones
Speaker 1: for you guys today, and we'll get to the big
Speaker 1: games and the big news from a very busy Wednesday
Speaker 1: night in the Association. But first, Weggie number forty four.
Speaker 1: It was a prime time Weggie Paul George. Hmm, nice
Speaker 1: nice wedge there underneath sort of the rim lodged in
Speaker 1: there against the backboard. So beautiful shot there. I love
Speaker 1: that camera work. And here we are go to weggietracker
Speaker 1: dot com. Up to forty four wedgies on the season.
Speaker 1: We're getting closer and closer to that magic number fifty
Speaker 1: and then we're gonna try and set the all time
Speaker 1: record on pace for fifty five. We're loving it. So
Speaker 1: great stuff there from a very entertaining game from the
Speaker 1: Clippers and the Suns. And that's the first game we're
Speaker 1: starting with here Ley the Suns. The headline is the
Speaker 1: Suns clinch of their first postseason birth in eleven years,
Speaker 1: and they did it in style and once again Chris
Speaker 1: Paul taking over late. But what's the big takeaway for
Speaker 1: you in terms of that game and then making the
Speaker 1: postseason for a first time in a long time.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, repeat Rinson, repeat there with Chris Paul. Get
Speaker 3: the game close, just give the ball to Chris Paul
Speaker 3: and he'll finish it off, which is incredible stuff. Once again.
Speaker 3: But look, the turnaround in Phoenix I think has gone
Speaker 3: way better than even they could have hoped for. When
Speaker 3: they traded for Chris Paul in the offseason, it was
Speaker 3: a look, we desperately want to make the playoffs, and
Speaker 3: I think they probably would have settled for somewhere like
Speaker 3: fifth or sixth, you know, to be honest, I think.
Speaker 3: But now they're at the point where they potentially have
Speaker 3: home court advantage for as long as they're in the
Speaker 3: playoffs because they're only a game back of the Utah Jazz.
Speaker 3: They play them tonight, but they already hold the tiebreaker
Speaker 3: against the Utah Jazz, having beaten them twice this season. Now,
Speaker 3: who knows exactly what happens, maybe guys rest to night,
Speaker 3: I'm not sure, but Phoenix to be in this position
Speaker 3: where you know they could have the best record in
Speaker 3: the league is incredible.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: Chris Paul obviously deserves a ton of credit for that.
Speaker 3: And I think when you saw an Okay, see guys
Speaker 3: like Gilges, Alexander Denis Sruder, they elevated their games. And
Speaker 3: you see it as well with outside of the guys
Speaker 3: of the Stars like Devin Booker and and DeAndre and
Speaker 3: Michael Bridges or macale Bridges, Cameron Payne. Those guys are
Speaker 3: sort of elevating their game. That's not all Chris Paul,
Speaker 3: but I certainly think he has influenced those guys by
Speaker 3: trusting them. He throws in the ball and he needs
Speaker 3: them to knock down shots and they do. And then
Speaker 3: cam Raon Payne, you just see him out there. He's
Speaker 3: just feels confident in his game. And I think again
Speaker 3: the way that Chris Paul plays, these guys just see
Speaker 3: how he plays and they try to sort of play
Speaker 3: the best they can. The Suns offensively, they're great, seventh defense,
Speaker 3: their fifth even better. So you know, things have been
Speaker 3: legit with this team. It's not like they're just sort
Speaker 3: of riding one particular wave. You know, they're balanced well
Speaker 3: they're they're well coached, they're deep, and they've got that
Speaker 3: superstar who is really closing out games for them, which
Speaker 3: is great. Now it becomes a tricky part because obviously
Speaker 3: they're going to make the playoffs and skeezee, you know
Speaker 3: better than anybody, after a long playoff drought, the Raptors
Speaker 3: made the playoffs. Remember, for their first two years, home
Speaker 3: court advantage probably went into both series favorite and they
Speaker 3: lost in that first round. So that's going to be
Speaker 3: the real big challenge if the Phoenix Suns. I know,
Speaker 3: the Suns fans don't want to hear that. They don't
Speaker 3: want to hear that. They're like, hey, stop hating on
Speaker 3: the Suns. The big difference is the Raptors didn't have
Speaker 3: a Chris Paul in that situation.
Speaker 1: Lowry.
Speaker 3: I think Larry hadn't made the playoffs once, but obviously
Speaker 3: he hadn't gone all that far and he wasn't at
Speaker 3: Chris Paul's level. But you know, that's where the Suns
Speaker 3: do have a big advantage. They're going to have a
Speaker 3: guy who's going to be thirty six. He's a veteran.
Speaker 3: You know, he's played over one hundred playoff games and look,
Speaker 3: not all of those have been great, let's be fair,
Speaker 3: but it certainly feels like he's the sort of guy
Speaker 3: who is going to be able to at least steer
Speaker 3: them in the right direction. So I think this is great,
Speaker 3: and I'm excited for Phoenix. You know, it's been so
Speaker 3: long and they're back, They're in the playoffs, and now
Speaker 3: it's just going to be okay. Can they translate what's
Speaker 3: happened in the regular season into playoff success and what
Speaker 3: is a successful season?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: Do they have to make the conference finals? I don't
Speaker 3: think so, but I certainly think they have to go
Speaker 3: further than the first round at a minimum to really
Speaker 3: make something out of the season. But it's been an
Speaker 3: incredible turnaround, way better than I think any one realistically predicted.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Sons have not been there since twenty ten. When
Speaker 1: Nash is throwing oops to Amari Stadameyer trade. It's a
Speaker 1: long time ten season drought there, tied for fist long.
Speaker 2: These guys are literally coaching together. Yeah at this point, Yeah,
Speaker 2: wild stuff.
Speaker 1: And so here they are. But Chris Paul twenty eight
Speaker 1: and ten last night, Clippers, they didn't know what to
Speaker 1: do with them again in the fourth quarter, he hit
Speaker 1: five of his eight shots, scored fifteen. You know, when
Speaker 1: it got tight, when the Clippers pulled within one, it
Speaker 1: was Chris Paul once again like making consecutive tough baskets
Speaker 1: there to close it out. He is the closer here.
Speaker 1: And you said it, Lee, I mean they're one game
Speaker 1: back of the Utah Jazz. Let's say the Suns get
Speaker 1: the number one seed, the best record in the NBA. Huh,
Speaker 1: Chris Paul comes there in the first season, gets the
Speaker 1: best record. Well, we'll get a few former MVPs for
Speaker 1: Phoenix Suns that have done that before. Barkley and his
Speaker 1: first year with the Suns, right one MVP leading the
Speaker 1: league's the best record there in Phoenix. Same with Steve
Speaker 1: Nash his first one, you know, returning to the Suns
Speaker 1: in his case, winning MVP and leading them to the
Speaker 1: best record. A lot of us think Yoki is gonna
Speaker 1: win MVP and he We're gonna get to him and
Speaker 1: what he did last night. But trait, if the Suns
Speaker 1: do have the number one record, does Chris Paul have
Speaker 1: any chance over the final ten or even I guess
Speaker 1: the question, does he have any chance to get like
Speaker 1: top three top two with what he's doing here recently
Speaker 1: and again the caveat the Phoenix Sun's having the number
Speaker 1: one record in the liague.
Speaker 2: Well Skeets, Now that you mentioned the historical MVPs that
Speaker 2: the Suns have, I think that Chris Paul's gonna win
Speaker 2: it because Charles Barkley shouldn't have won the MVP in
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety three and Steve Nash shouldn't have won it
Speaker 2: in two thousand and five. So maybe they'll give it
Speaker 2: to Chris Paul because this belongs to Nicoley Jokinz. But
Speaker 2: this guy's gonna get some votes, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: And I think you're right that top three is certainly
Speaker 2: in the mix at this point. As you know, Chris
Speaker 2: Paul has certainly put the team on his back for
Speaker 2: the fourth quarters and the way he is, he's showing
Speaker 2: out and doing it every single night, and if they
Speaker 2: get the number one seed, those are some good arguments,
Speaker 2: especially considering when you're looking at who's gonna come in
Speaker 2: third right now anyways, you're probably saying Jokic, then Embiid
Speaker 2: and then third is maybe a toss up. Steph Curry,
Speaker 2: I would think, was kind of leading that for a while.
Speaker 2: But the Warriors obviously are scrapping to stay in the
Speaker 2: play in tournament. Jannis obviously has a case for number
Speaker 2: three as well, but it feels like we're just going
Speaker 2: to kind of ignore that right now. Meanwhile, the Bucks
Speaker 2: are kind of, you know, playing five hundred basketball, just
Speaker 2: waiting for the playoffs, which is really where Yiannis needs
Speaker 2: to show up. So yeah, I can certainly see people
Speaker 2: talking themselves into Chris Paul at least being a top
Speaker 2: three MVP candidate, because it's impossible to deny the impact
Speaker 2: he has. Just look at like Frank Kaminski. He has
Speaker 2: played like thirty five minutes in the past month, score
Speaker 2: thirteen points in thirteen minutes in the first half last night.
Speaker 2: They're just like, hey, we need you to shoot your
Speaker 2: threes and do your Frank Kominski stuff. He's like, all right,
Speaker 2: I got you. Chris Paul getting the MVP chance, no surprise,
Speaker 2: he should be there, But I don't know. Less and
Speaker 2: less I'm thinking it's a crazy idea to give Chris
Speaker 2: Paul some MVP votes.
Speaker 1: Well, what you're saying there, Trey is a I saw
Speaker 1: Kazim had a tweet last night that said Chris Paul
Speaker 1: got to blame Steve Nash for not getting real MVP
Speaker 1: consideration because folks are hell bent on never letting that
Speaker 1: happen again. And there it is any truth to that.
Speaker 1: Lee Like does Nash winning you know his MVPs? Like
Speaker 1: does it help or hurt a guy's chances? Like Chris
Speaker 1: Paul where where the stats are not blowing you away?
Speaker 1: But of course it's like what he's done, the impact
Speaker 1: on that winning culture, the intangibles, whatever you want to
Speaker 1: call it. You know, it is similar to Steve Nash
Speaker 1: in that sense. What do you think about like that
Speaker 1: tweeting that idea?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think Steve Nash went back to
Speaker 3: Phoenix because largely because Mark Cuban didn't think his back
Speaker 3: was going to hold up, and so he didn't want
Speaker 3: to re sign him, and so the Sun said we'll
Speaker 3: take him. And then he rejuvenated that Sun's team, and
Speaker 3: I don't remember if they finished with the best record
Speaker 3: or not in the in the Western Conference. I was
Speaker 3: certainly up there, but they seem to when he came
Speaker 3: back all of a sudden, you know, he was exactly
Speaker 3: what they would needed for a Mari stardomeron for and
Speaker 3: Sean Marrion and Raja Bell. You know, Raja Bell was
Speaker 3: that sort of guy who was like, all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: he's just shooting threes and it's like, this guy's great
Speaker 3: playing alongside Steve Natch. So, but I think with Chris Paul,
Speaker 3: it's more the fact that the Sons were like, you know,
Speaker 3: they had a good bubble of course, and I was like, okay,
Speaker 3: he's there and he improved the thunder. What's he going
Speaker 3: to do with the Suns? Are they going to be
Speaker 3: about somewhere in the middle.
Speaker 1: But instead he's.
Speaker 3: Got them, you know, to a point where it's like, wow,
Speaker 3: this is this is so much better than what anyone
Speaker 3: was really predicting with them. So the numbers, yeah, they
Speaker 3: sixteen and eight. I think he's only putting up on
Speaker 3: the season. But he's having a much greater significant impact
Speaker 3: on that team and their record than those numbers show,
Speaker 3: because he's doing it late. I don't have the clutch
Speaker 3: stats here. I meant to check those this morning.
Speaker 1: I forgot to. But Phoenix's money in the clyps there's
Speaker 1: something like twenty and eleven last year.
Speaker 3: Okay, see were as well, you know, so it's no
Speaker 3: coincidence that where he goes his team improves.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's timing as well, isn't it.
Speaker 3: You know, because he's playing so well right now that
Speaker 3: that is, you know, the freshest recency buyers certainly plays
Speaker 3: a factor. You know, Jokic and the the Nuggets are
Speaker 3: doing well certainly since Jamal Murray went down. But it's
Speaker 3: almost like we've been talking about him so much that
Speaker 3: that maybe he has dropped a little bit in the.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've been talking about him in the MVP conversation
Speaker 2: for so long that we need to get him out
Speaker 2: of the MVP. Come. Guy made a huge clutch play
Speaker 2: last night, I know.
Speaker 1: But if he had faltered here when Jamal Murray went
Speaker 1: out and the Nuggets last a bunch of games, then
Speaker 1: this gets really interesting. But that didn't happen. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that's why, you know what, We're going to make our
Speaker 1: award picks on tomorrow's Drop podcast. By the way, we're
Speaker 1: doing that tomorrow. We'll do our top five ballot all
Speaker 1: of that. But he did it like he didn't fall
Speaker 1: off at all, is the problem. But I'm saying I
Speaker 1: think that Chris paul Is is definitely, of course at
Speaker 1: the MVP table at this point. I'm with you on that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's what I'm saying. In the more recent
Speaker 3: games and in the recent history, we've seen him step
Speaker 3: up and hit those shots late, win those games for
Speaker 3: his teams, and that just elevates him in the conversation.
Speaker 1: That's all I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, No, he's looked. Chris Paul,
Speaker 1: believe it or not, has finished top seven in MVP
Speaker 1: bloats like eight times, like a lot, you know, which
Speaker 1: surprised me a little bit and looking into that, but
Speaker 1: he'll do that again. I would imagine at least top
Speaker 1: seven and like we're saying, maybe top five, maybe top three,
Speaker 1: who knows where he falls. He just like when you
Speaker 1: had Chris Paul to your team at this point, you
Speaker 1: know what's gonna happen. You're gonna be pretty damn good
Speaker 1: in the clutch, like you said, Lee, because he's got
Speaker 1: a pretty good track history of that. He's gonna steady
Speaker 1: the pace, which is where the Suns are, you know,
Speaker 1: like they're they play somewhat slowly. They rank in the
Speaker 1: bottom third. Because that's again Chris Paul just has his
Speaker 1: fingers over everything, over everything that you're running out there
Speaker 1: and then you're gonna protect the ball because he's incredible
Speaker 1: at that. So they're a really good team passing the
Speaker 1: ball fourth and assists. They don't turn it over a ton,
Speaker 1: you know, awesome, you know, sort of assist to turnover
Speaker 1: ratio there with them, and again that clutch factor. That's
Speaker 1: what you're getting from a Chris Paul led team right
Speaker 1: now at the point guard. And this is wild that
Speaker 1: they might have the best record in the league or
Speaker 1: at least chasing the Jets. So fun stuff. They're really
Speaker 1: fun game now, Clippers, I like, I hope these teams
Speaker 1: meet somehow in the playoffs because they don't like each other, yeah,
Speaker 1: which is great. You know, there's some animosity there between,
Speaker 1: especially like Booker CP three and then sort of Paul
Speaker 1: George and there's no Kauai for the Clippers. So I
Speaker 1: don't think everybody's freaking out over that last, though. I
Speaker 1: will say I don't like the Clippers' chances maybe now
Speaker 1: of going up in the standings anymore. Like that was
Speaker 1: a big win for Phoenix in that sensely where they
Speaker 1: might be holding on to it the very least the
Speaker 1: second seed, like we said, maybe get to first but
Speaker 1: you know, they're nice little buffer there a little bit.
Speaker 3: Now, yeah, two games, two games and what about eight
Speaker 3: to ten to go? I think sort of depending on
Speaker 3: exactly what their schedules are, but yeah, that would have
Speaker 3: been one of those ones that they would have moved
Speaker 3: to what forty four? Yeah, it would have been still
Speaker 3: one or two losses behind the Suns, but ahead of
Speaker 3: them on victory. So yeah, it's pretty important there for
Speaker 3: the Phoenix Suns to hang on at home against the
Speaker 3: team they could likely face. But there's enough time, I
Speaker 3: think for the Clippers here just to still over the
Speaker 3: haul and if they if they really get on a
Speaker 3: bit of a hot streak and the Sons do drop
Speaker 3: a game or two, but very very close.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to yell Kitsch, the lead MVP
Speaker 1: front runner. At least he blocks, did he? Zion's lap
Speaker 1: shot now gets hold off the Pelicans one fourteen, one twelve.
Speaker 1: Zion asked about it after the game, like that critical,
Speaker 1: like nine call there got to earn my respect, he said, So,
Speaker 1: you know, he took it on the chin, But what
Speaker 1: did you think of that? No call there? Leaves thought
Speaker 1: it was a foul or no that you'll could take
Speaker 1: something swipe at Zion there as about two seconds left,
Speaker 1: ingram nice little shovel pass to him. I thought it
Speaker 1: was really nice. But what'd you think about that play?
Speaker 3: This was as bang bang a players I think you
Speaker 3: can possibly get because he does sort of swipe at him,
Speaker 3: which I think that gives the referees a chance to
Speaker 3: sort of say, you know what, like that that's a
Speaker 3: foul just because you sort of he sort of winds
Speaker 3: up and hits him there. I went back frame by
Speaker 3: frame over both replaces to see him baby, just to
Speaker 3: see exactly like what happened first, And I think he
Speaker 3: gets enough ball first and as way as far as
Speaker 3: I understand the rule, the hand is part of the ball.
Speaker 3: If your hand is covering that part of the ball,
Speaker 3: then it's not a fair and I think he gets
Speaker 3: enough of that. There's a little bit of collateral afterwards
Speaker 3: with the with the sort of hand coming down and.
Speaker 1: Their head a little bit.
Speaker 3: But overall I'm kind of like, I think that's actually fine.
Speaker 3: I think it is it's fine that call he gets.
Speaker 3: He gets enough of it there for me to be like,
Speaker 3: the refs made the right call on that play. So
Speaker 3: you know, the Pelicans obviously upset, not not happy. I
Speaker 3: was hoping Zilla would have a little ride up on
Speaker 3: it this morning, because he's usually pretty accurate.
Speaker 1: He didn't really say anything. He just said it was
Speaker 1: like one line. I was like, come on, they'll give
Speaker 1: me some more of that.
Speaker 3: But overall, I think it's yeah, you could, you could
Speaker 3: make the case there's a foul, but I think it's
Speaker 3: about a fifty two percent non foul forty eight percent.
Speaker 3: I lean a yo kitchen in the nugget's favorite and
Speaker 3: for the ref to not, you know, they decided they
Speaker 3: weren't gonna well, he still have had to make free throws,
Speaker 3: of course, but well.
Speaker 1: That's what's funny about it. I feel like Yo kich
Speaker 1: was almost trying to foul them in a weird way
Speaker 1: put the line like, at least like we're not giving
Speaker 1: up the dunker lay up here. I think he even
Speaker 1: said that after the game. Well, I'm just going to like,
Speaker 1: at least foul you know, sorry, at least take a
Speaker 1: hard swipe at yes, and yeah, maybe I hit ball
Speaker 1: which definitely does make contact, and at the very least
Speaker 1: I prevent him from tying the game up and make
Speaker 1: him earning at the line. So it's it's it's a
Speaker 1: it's a close one there. But what would you think.
Speaker 2: Trey clean, super clean, to be complete completely honest. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean Zion maybe in five seasons he gets that call,
Speaker 2: I would say, you know, when he's one of the
Speaker 2: faces of the league, even more so. But Nikola Jokich
Speaker 2: is your MVP right now, so he's getting the calls.
Speaker 2: And I thought maybe maybe he touches Zion's hair a
Speaker 2: little bit at the top, but he doesn't even get
Speaker 2: a lot of hand I don't really think on this block.
Speaker 2: He gets the ball pretty cleanly. When you see it
Speaker 2: from behind, it just looks like a massive swipe because
Speaker 2: it is a massive swipe. But I did love Jokic's
Speaker 2: reaction afterwards, just walking back to the bench like no
Speaker 2: big deal, just like he had a game winner, all right,
Speaker 2: game winning blocks. Bought some great quotes from this afterwards.
Speaker 2: Stan Van Gundy said, I do think that strength gets
Speaker 2: punished in this league a lot more than quickness. If
Speaker 2: you're able to go through contact a little bit called differently.
Speaker 2: If you fall down every time your hit or you flop,
Speaker 2: you get calls. That's just the way it is. It's
Speaker 2: not just just Zion, That's just.
Speaker 1: The way it is.
Speaker 2: Things will never be the same now. Obviously, stan Van
Speaker 2: Gundhy was a Dwight Howard's coach. Dwight Howard went to
Speaker 2: the line a whole bunch of times. He got fouled
Speaker 2: a lot. But big guys do get refereed differently, I
Speaker 2: do think, And to be quite honest, Zion did go
Speaker 2: down to the ground on that foul call right or
Speaker 2: on that shot attempt right there. But do you guys
Speaker 2: agree that a strong guy gets officiated differently?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I dred percent think so. But also, Zion, isn't
Speaker 1: he like uh? Is he like second in the league
Speaker 1: in free through attempts? For somebody's very exactly right exactly
Speaker 1: a second year player, which is damn impressive and deservedly so.
Speaker 1: I mean he's at the rim all the time. There's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of contact. Yeah, I think I
Speaker 1: think stan Van's got a point. I think it's just
Speaker 1: much more difficult if you're an official to call that
Speaker 1: the big guys down there. Lely you agree like shot, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was for sure.
Speaker 3: I mean you could just see Shack he would go there,
Speaker 3: and because he was so big and strong, players were
Speaker 3: able to do things that they weren't allowed to do
Speaker 3: against other guys, and so that was a sort of
Speaker 3: a punishment against I think you see it with Lebron
Speaker 3: too at times. You know, it's like just because he's
Speaker 3: so tough, it's like, well he can take more body
Speaker 3: contact than other guys. But that's just again, how you
Speaker 3: interpret the rule, and a refereeing is so very difficult
Speaker 3: because let's say, for example, last night, they called that
Speaker 3: foul and then they defend it after the game, which
Speaker 3: they could have done.
Speaker 1: The refs.
Speaker 3: It's like, sure if they call that, sometimes you know
Speaker 3: they didn't. And it's funny because I thought, you know,
Speaker 3: Zion saying as well, he's got to earn his respect,
Speaker 3: which is pretty mature thing of him to say and
Speaker 3: to realize that that's how it goes in the league,
Speaker 3: and I thought maybe he could have tried to sell
Speaker 3: it a little bit more, but he sort of did.
Speaker 3: I mean, he goes down, he hits the ground, so
Speaker 3: you know, there's some physicality on the play, but yeah,
Speaker 3: it's overall, I think it's just it was the right call.
Speaker 3: But you know, you can see why Pelicans see, well,
Speaker 3: that's automatically a foul because you know there was the
Speaker 3: sort of the connection there, but he gets it clean
Speaker 3: enough at the start, and great defensive played from Nikola jokicch.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know it's almost blue this game, right,
Speaker 1: They were up nine with like forty five seconds to go. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it was nearly a tie game. You know, if
Speaker 1: Yokich doesn't recover there in time and take a swipe
Speaker 1: out it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, even on that last play, right, that's the only
Speaker 2: reason that Pelicans have it, because Jokich with like an
Speaker 2: uncharacteristic turnover in the last ten seconds of the game.
Speaker 2: But great Cowley, I kin I actually forgot that. Stan
Speaker 2: Band Gundhy coached Shaquille O'Neil as well at one point.
Speaker 2: This guy's coached a lot of some solid bigs. The
Speaker 2: other thing I love from stan Ban Gundhy somebody asked
Speaker 2: him if he was gonna teach Zion how to flop.
Speaker 2: He says, I cannot imagine going to a player and
Speaker 2: telling him to start flopping. I can't imagine that's what
Speaker 2: you have to do. I could never bring myself to
Speaker 2: do that with the player. But what are you gonna do?
Speaker 2: Can you learn how to flop? Well?
Speaker 1: I mean a guy like Zion. I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's possible, but yeah, other guys, I think Ken, especially
Speaker 1: the smaller you are, I think the easier it is
Speaker 1: to sell that contact, like get out of here too, JG.
Speaker 1: I want to put this up here. Ingram should have
Speaker 1: taken that up, maybe get a foul call. He didn't
Speaker 1: want that moment. What the fuck are you talking about?
Speaker 1: Like he just gave it to a guy who's shooting
Speaker 1: like what seventy percent from the floor this year, like
Speaker 1: in a beautiful past. The defense collapsed a little bit.
Speaker 1: It's a nice play a boy yolkic to again take
Speaker 1: a swipe at it. I think he was like, well,
Speaker 1: screw this if I found my foul and at least
Speaker 1: it's not a layup. That's a nice play there from Ingram.
Speaker 1: Come on, you had me maybe up until that he
Speaker 1: didn't want that moment. Should have could have what Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't think from the moment there were you talking about?
Speaker 3: Yeah I mean that, but that that is I think
Speaker 3: that is actually the right play from Ingram, because you
Speaker 3: can see he might have been like, maybe I want
Speaker 3: this moment, but instead he found his teammate who was
Speaker 3: rising up and it nearly paid off.
Speaker 1: Look again, like you know he could have taken a floater, Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and maybe would have hit it, sure, but he was
Speaker 1: shoveling it to a teammate who shoots like goddamn, like
Speaker 1: the highest percentage we've ever seen play a bad play,
Speaker 1: it's a great play.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I would have liked to see Denzel
Speaker 2: Valentine from Brandon right there, just pull up from thirty
Speaker 2: five feet. Why not let a rip.
Speaker 1: Our final sort of like games here, I'll lumpum together
Speaker 1: because it's the it's the hottest thing in sports right now.
Speaker 1: It's the race for the tenth seed. You know, nobody's
Speaker 1: talking about it and covering it like we are at
Speaker 1: no dunks. So last night, a few games and a
Speaker 1: few teams in the mix, of course, Julius Randall and
Speaker 1: the Knicks beat your Bulls tray one thirteen ninety four
Speaker 1: for their tenths, winning eleven games. Bulls are trying to
Speaker 1: get into the playing tournament, and meanwhile the Wizard's trying
Speaker 1: to hold onto that ten seed. While Beale and Westbrook
Speaker 1: bawling out again, they led their team, the Wizards pass
Speaker 1: the lebron less Lakers one sixteen one O seven TK.
Speaker 1: How you feeling about your Bulls chances here? With the
Speaker 1: Wizards winning, Bulls lost their what do you think?
Speaker 2: I hate to say it. The Knicks are more back
Speaker 2: than the Bulls. Yeah, and the race is over?
Speaker 1: Wow calling it?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, I don't know. The Wizards are playing
Speaker 2: too well right now. I can't believe I'm saying that
Speaker 2: the Wizards are playing too well right now. They've got
Speaker 2: the leading scorer in the NBA and the leading assist
Speaker 2: man in the NBA. This is ridiculous stuff. I did
Speaker 2: think it was interesting though, that ESPN flexed this Bulls
Speaker 2: Knicks game for Lakers Wizards, and then the NBA called
Speaker 2: in some refs to fix the game for the Knicks,
Speaker 2: thinking that nobody would see it. But I was watching,
Speaker 2: and I saw those dastardly Knicks hitting Daniel Tyson the
Speaker 2: face time and time again, something that Celtics fans literally
Speaker 2: warned me about. They're saying, daniel Tye is gonna get
Speaker 2: hit in the face all the time and he will
Speaker 2: never get foul calls. That's exactly what happened. I'm kidding.
Speaker 2: The Knicks bullied the Bulls completely in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2: They really went to another gear defensively. The Bulls couldn't
Speaker 2: get it done with no Zach Lavine. Randall had eight
Speaker 2: in the fourth, quickly had eleven in the fourth. They
Speaker 2: were incredible. And guess what, I'm legitimately happy for all
Speaker 2: my Knicks fans friends, Jason Concepcion, Seth Rosenthal, Jack Settlement,
Speaker 2: and of course Lee Ellis watching that game last night, ma'am.
Speaker 2: It felt good in my heart. I can't deny it
Speaker 2: to you guys, seeing the Knicks have a starter out
Speaker 2: there that nobody wants starting. I loved it. Elfred Payton,
Speaker 2: You're the new Keith Bogans. Why are you starting all
Speaker 2: these games because Tom Thibodeau's there. I love that part too.
Speaker 2: Three huge parts of the twenty eleven Bulls in Thibbs
Speaker 2: Rose and obviously TODJ. Gibson, And of course I love
Speaker 2: seeing Julius Randall in the game taking threes with the
Speaker 2: Knicks up twenty and a minute and a half left.
Speaker 2: I was like the rudy guy, slow clap. I remember this,
Speaker 2: this is my kind of shit right here. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: have to take some lessons in how to become a
Speaker 2: Knicks fan because that was nice last night. I can't
Speaker 2: deny it. The Knicks are back and the Bulls are
Speaker 2: blowing it. I saw a stat they haven't been over
Speaker 2: five hundred in the past four seasons.
Speaker 1: Whoa, yeah, wow, yeah, so they've never actually been back
Speaker 1: at all.
Speaker 2: All time? When do you put it that way? Sense
Speaker 2: their back ski its I don't make pro sense. Still
Speaker 2: not bad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was very similar actually that Balls lost to
Speaker 1: the Next oddly to the Raptors losing to the Nets
Speaker 1: the night before there where it was like a coose
Speaker 1: game for three quarters they're in it and then like
Speaker 1: like the Next did to the Balls, the Nets did
Speaker 1: to the Raptors, put the clamps on them and just
Speaker 1: ran away in the fourth quarter. And it was like
Speaker 1: a bit of a dominant win there, and those two
Speaker 1: teams not looking good. Lely, your Bradley Beal is going
Speaker 1: to be on the playing tournament for you man. You
Speaker 1: must be happy. Yeah, I am.
Speaker 3: It is amazing watching the Wizards right now because they
Speaker 3: are kind of fun to watch, you know.
Speaker 1: They just get out and run.
Speaker 3: And that was going up against the Lakers team obviously
Speaker 3: no Lebron, but Davis played a heavy minutes and this
Speaker 3: was an important game.
Speaker 1: For them, and they stood up to the challenge.
Speaker 3: And last night was one of those nights where there's
Speaker 3: so many games on you just don't even know what
Speaker 3: sort of game to tune into because the Knicks Bulls
Speaker 3: was legitimately like, I want to watch this. I think
Speaker 3: this one, this one's going to be fun and and manual. Quickly,
Speaker 3: he's quickly becoming well, no pun intended there, but one
Speaker 3: of my fun favorite guys to watch it because he
Speaker 3: just gets.
Speaker 1: Out there and flings it. He doesn't care where.
Speaker 3: He is on the court, and he's got the you know,
Speaker 3: he's got the hype going as well, so I think
Speaker 3: he's going to quick again quickly become a fan favorite
Speaker 3: there of the Knicks because he just goes out there
Speaker 3: and believes in himself. You know, for a rookie, he's
Speaker 3: not afraid of the moment. He's not afraid of where
Speaker 3: he is on the court. If he's open, he's shooting
Speaker 3: it and it's going in. So that was great. But yeah,
Speaker 3: the Wizards, this is this is a big turnaround as well,
Speaker 3: because they were just so gross to watch earlier this
Speaker 3: season and it was like, be you're putting up just
Speaker 3: those Remember he went on that run where he's just
Speaker 3: putting up forty every night and they were losing it. It
Speaker 3: was like, what's the point? And now they're you know,
Speaker 3: playing at the right time, and they're going to be
Speaker 3: tough in that first playing round. You know, whoever they play,
Speaker 3: they're going to feel pretty confident again against because you know,
Speaker 3: you just have to play hard, and they do that
Speaker 3: right now, and they've got the two stars that are
Speaker 3: tough to defend.
Speaker 2: So this is this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know where it's gonna go for the Wizards,
Speaker 3: how this season's gonna win, but certainly Westbrook again another
Speaker 3: triple double being in that sort of like everyone's written
Speaker 3: us off, no one believes in us. Westbrook kind of
Speaker 3: loves that situation.
Speaker 1: So true.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know who they will face. I mean,
Speaker 3: it does change the take off.
Speaker 1: They'll they're likely going to play the Pacers if that
Speaker 1: stays a nine to ten games, So I think most
Speaker 1: people would take Washington the way they're playing right now,
Speaker 1: they're struggling, Yeah, exactly. So then the Wizards move on
Speaker 1: to then likely play the loser of like a Heat
Speaker 1: Hornets game. It could be still the Celtics in that game.
Speaker 1: Let's call it Heat Hornets. You know, let's say the
Speaker 1: Hornets lose that game. So yeah, Wizards Hornets to see
Speaker 1: who gets the eighth seeds. Again, I think most people
Speaker 1: would probably be backing Washington right now. You're right, Lee,
Speaker 1: like they might be one of the favorite teams to
Speaker 1: get from the play and turn it actually into the playoffs. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's fair soough for sure.
Speaker 3: And then if we got Westbrook versus Hottening Durant in
Speaker 3: that first round, I mean.
Speaker 1: Right, I said that a couple of weeks ago. I
Speaker 1: was like, sign me up for that. I mean, it'd
Speaker 1: be at least a juicy storey lying to a one
Speaker 1: eight matchup. Yeah, yeah, at the very least. So all right,
Speaker 1: not looking good for the Bulls. Not looking good for
Speaker 1: my zombie Raps as they continue to sort of lose
Speaker 1: ground here on the Wizards. Well, I gotta hope at
Speaker 1: this point, Tray, that the Pacers just like keep losing
Speaker 1: from here on out.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's more likely, that's the most likely scenario at
Speaker 2: this point, But we might be seeing some crazy lineups
Speaker 2: on that May thirteenth game between the Raptors and Bulls.
Speaker 2: If both of them are locked in out of the
Speaker 2: play in tournament, Like, what are we going to be
Speaker 2: watching here? So literally it's going to be Ryan Archie
Speaker 2: Diakano versus Malachi Flynn. Just the one on one game.
Speaker 3: I love my stuff.
Speaker 1: Yes, all right, let's get to a little what you
Speaker 1: got brought to you by the Zebra.
Speaker 2: What's it?
Speaker 4: Good?
Speaker 1: Yeah? A little what you got again here brought to
Speaker 1: you by the Zebra. Sticking with like some of the
Speaker 1: games and storylines from last night. First one, guys, the
Speaker 1: Utah Jazz made twenty four to threes, bounced back from
Speaker 1: consecutive losses, set a franchise scoring record one fifty four
Speaker 1: to one oh five over the Kings, my goodness. And
Speaker 1: then we had Jaalen Brown scoring thirty eight, Tatum outing
Speaker 1: thirty five. Celtics rebounded from an embarrassing loss a night
Speaker 1: earlier with the one twenty one to eleven victory over
Speaker 1: the Hornet. So, Lee, what you got question is you
Speaker 1: know what was the better bounce back? When was it
Speaker 1: the Jazz or the Celtics.
Speaker 3: It's the Celtics for me, because they had a real
Speaker 3: embarrassing loss at home the night before against the thunder
Speaker 3: the team that just couldn't hasn't been able to beat
Speaker 3: anybody for months, it seems, so the Celtics had to
Speaker 3: sort of go out there last night.
Speaker 2: Against a good opponent.
Speaker 3: I'm sure the Hornets are shorthand at the moment though,
Speaker 3: Heyward know la mellow ball, but they got beaten by
Speaker 3: the Hornets just last week by twenty points, so this
Speaker 3: was kind of like a all right, we're got to
Speaker 3: go out there and show this team's better. Tatum came back,
Speaker 3: but then the Celtics actually lost Marcus Smart just before
Speaker 3: the game. He got suspended for apparently threatening a referee
Speaker 3: or abusing a referee, so they sort of were short
Speaker 3: hand a little bit there, but they came out in
Speaker 3: that first quarter build a big lead, a.
Speaker 1: Twenty point lead. Hornets made it a game, though.
Speaker 3: The Hornets got back into this one late in the fourth,
Speaker 3: but the Celtics closed it out, and yeah, you want
Speaker 3: you want to see your two all stars basically just
Speaker 3: say we're not losing this game, and that's what they did.
Speaker 3: Brown and Tatum were fantastic, and then the role players
Speaker 3: chipped in. So I think it's that one. I mean,
Speaker 3: the Jazz you know you can I don't think you
Speaker 3: can get to take a revenge game against the Kings,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 1: Especially when they're short headed. Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, the Jazz I thought like their losses to
Speaker 3: the Wolves were actually like, you know, the Wolves.
Speaker 1: Played hard and played played well.
Speaker 3: So you know, putting up one hundred and fifty on
Speaker 3: the Kings is like, that's not fair. You've got to
Speaker 3: You've got to beat at least a reasonable opponent. So okay, yeah,
Speaker 3: Celtics for me.
Speaker 1: Okay, so the being town boys the better bounce back
Speaker 1: when Trey you agree.
Speaker 2: Wow, yeah, But I mean it honestly just comes down
Speaker 2: to the Kings having really bad timing with the Jazz
Speaker 2: having lost those two games against the timber Wolves and
Speaker 2: still having something to play for trying to keep that
Speaker 2: number one seed. So yeah, I mean shooting sixty four
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty four points in regulation, Like, I
Speaker 2: don't know, the Kings scored a lot of points. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, in today's game, one hundred and five isn't
Speaker 2: a ton, but you're still over one hundred and he's
Speaker 2: still almost lost by fifty. That's quite the bounce back.
Speaker 2: That's a big bounce back right there. So yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: the Celtics obviously had a better win. They're obviously playing
Speaker 2: for something as well. But man, one hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: four points, that's.
Speaker 1: A lot of points. Yeah, it is a ton Matt Thomas,
Speaker 1: former Rappet players seven ver seven in that game, seventeen
Speaker 1: points in nine minutes. He got it up. He hit
Speaker 1: three threes, but everybody was scoring for Utah. But I'm
Speaker 1: with you, I think, you know, especially like Jayalen Brown
Speaker 1: had sort of like called out his team after that
Speaker 1: embarrassing loss to the Thunder and my godly he backed
Speaker 1: that up. Yeah, Like he came out and he out
Speaker 1: scored the Hornets in the first quarter. Didn't he have
Speaker 1: like twenty or twenty one points after the first twelve
Speaker 1: minutes and they had He single handedly had a lead
Speaker 1: over Charlotte, So that that was a good win. And
Speaker 1: you're right with with that late sort of Marcus smart
Speaker 1: scratch there for what he did. Good goodwin, good bounce
Speaker 1: back win. All right, our next one, I'm gonna show
Speaker 1: you a little footage here on the old stream team
Speaker 1: Bam getting the best of teenage mutant Ninja Purtle last night,
Speaker 1: dunking all over his head. And then we had really
Speaker 1: Hatchamura dunking on Anthony Davis on the fast break, popping
Speaker 1: them there in the face. So both big big dunks.
Speaker 1: Question is which one was the bigger dunk, Bam or
Speaker 1: Ruey Trey what you got?
Speaker 2: A lot of things the factor into this, Skeets, including
Speaker 2: the titles on the highlights. These come to you from
Speaker 2: MLG Highlights, a solid highlights channel. Bam detonated on Yakam
Speaker 2: Purdle like dynamite dunk versus Rui. Hachimura murders Anthony Davis
Speaker 2: with monster duck.
Speaker 1: That's a tough call right there.
Speaker 2: You're going with the dynamite dunk detonation or the monster
Speaker 2: dunk murder. You mentioned it there, Skeets, Ruey gets some
Speaker 2: points because he dunked on Anthony Davis. Pearl's no slouch
Speaker 2: at the rim, but Ad at all time great caliber
Speaker 2: of defender, still returning from injury, so maybe not at
Speaker 2: his key prowess, but nonetheless you're taking Ad as a
Speaker 2: defender over Peardle. I do think there's a little more
Speaker 2: ferocity for ruly Hatchamura, but I'm ultimately gonna go with
Speaker 2: Bam here because, as you said, Skeets, Ruey basically punches
Speaker 2: a d in the face as he's going up for
Speaker 2: this dunk, which makes it look awesome, especially the pictures
Speaker 2: of it, like Anthony Davis just flailing back, he's grabbing
Speaker 2: his nose afterwards, but not quite as clean of a
Speaker 2: dunk for Ruy. Bam is just straight up body to
Speaker 2: body with pearl up at the top, and then of
Speaker 2: course he simply detonates him with a dynamite dunk. So
Speaker 2: give me Bam a dynamite dunk from a guy named Bam.
Speaker 2: It's perfect.
Speaker 1: Okay, Lee, what you got Bama? RUI?
Speaker 3: Well, I think BAM's was probably a big a dunk.
Speaker 3: But Ruy gets Anthony Davis. I think that's one you
Speaker 3: want for the Harlot real spish because Davis is kind of,
Speaker 3: you know, hurt after the play. He's like that, it's
Speaker 3: it's like you got him and there was no fount.
Speaker 1: But it's like the fast Break variety posts. But you
Speaker 1: know it's not as it's not as crazy to me,
Speaker 1: I think Bam runs away with this.
Speaker 4: Nah.
Speaker 3: I think I think you've got to You've got to
Speaker 3: discount just the fact like Purdole isn't it isn't a
Speaker 3: bad defender. But it's just like who would rather have
Speaker 3: on your on your you know, on your on your list.
Speaker 3: You'd say, man, I smashed one over Anthony Davis. People,
Speaker 3: Oh wow, Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: It's big, huge, it's big.
Speaker 3: But I would just rather have Anthony Davis on my
Speaker 3: You know, if you're like a hunter and you've got
Speaker 3: the heads up on the wall, you know, as a dunker,
Speaker 3: you've got the you've got the Anthony Davis trophy up there.
Speaker 1: So which which teenager and ninja turtle would you most
Speaker 1: like to dunk? Only if you had it's like to
Speaker 1: dunk on and they get their weapon.
Speaker 3: Wow, Raphael had those one of those. Yeah, Michelangelo had
Speaker 3: the nun chucks. Yeah, Leonardo the big sword, didn't he?
Speaker 1: And then Donna tell yeah the staff.
Speaker 3: I would say probably Leonardo because you know, I mean
Speaker 3: that's a that's a that's a blade that he's got there.
Speaker 3: So it's true, you know, I mean, because I think
Speaker 3: Donna Tella could just like sort of body you off
Speaker 3: with that.
Speaker 2: But cross check.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, in hockey, that's right.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So if a guy's got an actual kind of machete
Speaker 3: and you're dunking over him, I think that that it
Speaker 3: takes some balls.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, same question, though you can also include Bebop,
Speaker 1: rock Steady and Krang Casey's.
Speaker 2: Casey Jones might be the hardest to dunk on since
Speaker 2: he is wearing football pads and carrying a hockey stick
Speaker 2: at all times. That's gonna be tough. He's got a
Speaker 2: lot of reach and a lot of strength. I think
Speaker 2: it would be most fun to dunk on Raphael because
Speaker 2: he would be so pissed. Yeah, if you dunked on him,
Speaker 2: he would get up, probably stab you with a with
Speaker 2: a sigh, and then he's ejected and you got a
Speaker 2: ball against April O'Neil.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Anthony Davis could have used the Casey Jones mask.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah too.
Speaker 1: Ed he wasn't rocking that all right. That's a fun
Speaker 1: question for everybody in the stream team which teenage ninaternal
Speaker 1: character would most like the dunk on? You're only getting
Speaker 1: that stuff here from no dunk I'm telling you you're
Speaker 1: not seeing that anywhere else today.
Speaker 2: I love it. It's a perfect poll too, four options.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, our final one here. CJ. McCollum had
Speaker 1: twenty six points. Norman Powell out of twenty four helped
Speaker 1: the Blazers solidify their hold on the seventh place in
Speaker 1: the West one thirty one oh nine victory over the
Speaker 1: Grizzlies there last night. The win moves Portland two games
Speaker 1: ahead of Memphis, so they're still matched up in the
Speaker 1: playing tournament seven eight. But Portland's two games up on
Speaker 1: Memphis and San Antonio there and now just a half
Speaker 1: game back from the Dallas Mavericks, who are still in
Speaker 1: the sixth seeds. So I guess the question is here,
Speaker 1: who's going to avoid that play? Interny, who would you
Speaker 1: be putting money on to stay out of that seventh
Speaker 1: seed and keep the sixth seed is but the Mavericks
Speaker 1: or the Blazers trade what you got.
Speaker 2: I'm being a big time floppity flipper on this one
Speaker 2: because I was going Dallas as of last Thursday and
Speaker 2: Thursday nights, Porzingis rolls his ankle, so on Friday I
Speaker 2: went with Portland. But now the MAVs have gone two
Speaker 2: and one without Kristaps Porzingis. He's questionable for tonight's game.
Speaker 2: We'll see if he plays, but either way, it's not
Speaker 2: going to be long. So now I'm back on the MAVs.
Speaker 2: But it really comes back to the MVP ballot talk
Speaker 2: that we had yesterday on the whole of the season.
Speaker 2: Dame and Luca, I think, are having very similar years,
Speaker 2: similar stats, their team's records are the same, both teams
Speaker 2: have had a lot of players miss a lot of games.
Speaker 2: Their initials are even opposites LD and DL crazy stuffs.
Speaker 2: But it feels like Luca is peaking right now, whereas
Speaker 2: Dame looks like he's been carrying the Blazers for the
Speaker 2: entire season and he's just came back from a hamstring injury.
Speaker 2: Just looks like he's still rounding into form. Whereas Luca
Speaker 2: it feels like he's going to hit a game winner
Speaker 2: every single night, even though that's clearly not the case
Speaker 2: with what's happening. But it feels like the MAVs did
Speaker 2: a good job to survive with poor Zingis out for
Speaker 2: a little bit of time. Here, got a couple of wins.
Speaker 2: He's going to be coming back soon, which bodes well
Speaker 2: for the Mavericks as well. So I think it's Dallas,
Speaker 2: but you know, I reserve the rights to change my mind,
Speaker 2: new information, new decisions.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's close right now. I believe they
Speaker 1: have the same amount of wins Ley and the MAVs
Speaker 1: are maybe just a game short right now, you know,
Speaker 1: like they have one less loss. Yes, so who you
Speaker 1: going This is a tough question, But who's more likely
Speaker 1: to avoid it? And just say in the six seat Dallas,
Speaker 1: Sir Portland.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well the Blazes have the tie breakout, which could
Speaker 3: be key in that in that matchup.
Speaker 1: But looking look safe in a hotel room.
Speaker 3: Looking at the schedule though, it clearly favors the Mavericks
Speaker 3: for me because they have a much easier schedule to
Speaker 3: got the Pistons, the Kings, the Cavs twice, they got
Speaker 3: the Raptors, and then they finish with the they finish
Speaker 3: with the Minnesota Timberwolves, whereas the Blazers have still got
Speaker 3: like Brooklyn, Boston, the Lakers, the Spurs, the Jazz, the Suns,
Speaker 3: and the Nuggets to close out. So now we know
Speaker 3: as well, like sometimes those last two or three games
Speaker 3: there's literally no one playing for teams. It just sort
Speaker 3: of depends on where they are in the standings and
Speaker 3: if they just want to get their guys a little
Speaker 3: bit a bit extra rest. But just looking at that,
Speaker 3: I would say that the MAVs have a more winning
Speaker 3: ball schedule, so I think they get in and I
Speaker 3: think that they avoid the play in which I believe
Speaker 3: was the question. Yes, I think the MAVs of all.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, look, I'm already getting like sort of like
Speaker 1: chills in trying to figure out who I'm going to
Speaker 1: be taking in like playoff matchups and like because we like,
Speaker 1: of course, like everybody, we're going to do like playoff
Speaker 1: previews and ultimately predictions and like, oh, team X and
Speaker 1: in four games, TEAMX in five games. Yes, it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't know. You start looking at some of these
Speaker 1: matchups already, and a big part of it, like let's
Speaker 1: be honest, is because the Lakers are so far down
Speaker 1: and then they're going to be adding Lebron and you're
Speaker 1: like you almost feel bad for the Nuggets. It's like
Speaker 1: so many of these matchups currently as is, and this
Speaker 1: is without even knowing some of the play in tournament
Speaker 1: winners getting in there for as the seventh and eight seat.
Speaker 1: It's like, I don't know, I think there's gonna be
Speaker 1: so many where you're like, I guess that'll probably go seven,
Speaker 1: and I have no clue I'll flip a coin on
Speaker 1: whether you know, just for example, like a Sun's Mavericks
Speaker 1: matchup or a Suns Blazer's matchup. For crying out loud,
Speaker 1: I think is very still tight, so I can't wait
Speaker 1: for it getting awful close. What are we two weeks
Speaker 1: away from? Basically not long the play in tournament and
Speaker 1: then and then the playoffs starting soon after that. Oh,
Speaker 1: very exciting stuff. Well what is that sound and we
Speaker 1: hear that one?
Speaker 2: Yeah, something crazy by?
Speaker 3: Well there's a truck that drove by, But it wasn't
Speaker 3: I don't know, it didn't seem super weird.
Speaker 2: Old noticed in there.
Speaker 1: I don't know what it was. Let's hear from all
Speaker 1: of you guys out there, all your answers to those
Speaker 1: what you got questions? Leave them in the stream team
Speaker 1: we've been in the YouTube comments, or tweet them in
Speaker 1: at no dunks in Okay.
Speaker 4: Time for tweet to the night, Tweet out the night. Wow.
Speaker 2: Pretty simple tweet of the night for today. It comes
Speaker 2: to us from Tim Reynolds of the AP down in Miami.
Speaker 2: It's simply a picture of what may be the greatest
Speaker 2: misspelled jersey in NBA history, the Dwayne Deadman wearing the
Speaker 2: Miami Vice two tone jersey and it's spelled d ed
Speaker 2: m A and straight up dead Man this is awesome.
Speaker 2: Usually a misspelled jersey is just something that looks hilarious
Speaker 2: when you see it, like Andre Drummond with three m's
Speaker 2: or Eric beldsoe, yes, this is dead Man. This is awesome,
Speaker 2: like you're saying, skeets, this is straight up the Undertaker.
Speaker 2: These jerseys didn't get great reviews compared to the Miami
Speaker 2: Vice jerseys of the past couple of seasons, but this
Speaker 2: is a must have one. If you can actually get
Speaker 2: the Dwayne Deadman dead Man jersey, that would be major
Speaker 2: stuff because eventually he switched into a standard d ed
Speaker 2: m O N. I think for the second half, a
Speaker 2: straight up Dwayne Deadman jersey, but a dead Man jersey fire.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Lee, what do you think of that? You like
Speaker 1: that better than the actual spelling is?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Why wouldn't you just say just keep it like that
Speaker 3: from now on?
Speaker 1: I mean, why not?
Speaker 3: It suits those jerseys, and you know he's a sort
Speaker 3: of big intimidating guy as well, so you know, I
Speaker 3: think it fits his persona as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, does he have any sort of WrestleMania streak going
Speaker 1: that we need to know about. I guess that one's
Speaker 1: done right for the actual Undertaker, I guess brock defeated
Speaker 1: that or snapped that right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think he was twenty one in
Speaker 2: zho at the time that brock Lesnar beat him, right,
Speaker 2: Which is pretty crazy because Dwayne Deadman wears number twenty
Speaker 2: one skits whoa the Undertaker. He literally needs to get
Speaker 2: his hands on this jersey, I think, because, like you're saying, League,
Speaker 2: Dwayne Deadman is big. He's seven feet two forty five
Speaker 2: is what he's listed at. The Undertaker is huge as well.
Speaker 2: He could wear this jersey. Yeah, Dwayne Deadman had to
Speaker 2: hook up the Undertaker's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Undertaker played hoops too, didn't he, like back
Speaker 1: in probably his high school days because he was a
Speaker 1: big dude.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so, And I think you're exactly right.
Speaker 2: Him and Kevin Nash. Kevin Nash was like recruited in
Speaker 2: the same class as Magic Johnson or something like that,
Speaker 2: like Magic Johnson was the number one recruit in the
Speaker 2: nation and Kevin Nash was number two. Seriously, something crazy
Speaker 2: like that. Hey, in the seventies, if you were over
Speaker 2: seven feet tall. Yeah, you're gonna be getting basketball. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's exactly right.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's see if we can get that jersey, that
Speaker 1: error jersey, into the hands of the actual Undertaker. Yeah,
Speaker 1: why not, that'd be that'd be a cool ass jersey
Speaker 1: for him to rock. Actually, totally, he could pull it off.
Speaker 1: Get back on his chopper, turn back into the American badass.
Speaker 1: Oh I love it. Okay, good tweet of the night.
Speaker 1: There a great catchup. You know it could have been
Speaker 1: in the running for Worst of the Week. Actually sometimes
Speaker 1: we do that. But tomorrow on the Drop podcast, we're
Speaker 1: getting rid of us a week because we're going long
Speaker 1: on the awards. I already teased this a couple of times.
Speaker 1: We're making all of our picks for the six major awards, MVP,
Speaker 1: Most Improved sixth Man, Rookie, Defensive Player of the Year,
Speaker 1: and everybody's favorite award, the Coach of the Year. That's right.
Speaker 1: So we'll make our picks for all those. Like I said,
Speaker 1: we'll even flush out the MVP pick. You know who
Speaker 1: is at the table, who's.
Speaker 3: In the final call for the table tomorrow.
Speaker 1: That's right, this be it. So we'll start doing that.
Speaker 1: But that stuff usually takes a while, so you know,
Speaker 1: we're just gonna like get rid of a couple of
Speaker 1: the other things that we sometimes have in the Drop podcast. Also,
Speaker 1: JD is like still trying to like basically flip a
Speaker 1: house over there. We're gonna start a little earlier tomorrow too,
Speaker 1: if you want to join us live at nine am
Speaker 1: Eastern on YouTube for the Drop Podcast. So yeah, NBA
Speaker 1: Award talk heavy stuff there tomorrow next week. By the way,
Speaker 1: we got a couple of guests lined up to join
Speaker 1: us here on the show. That'll be fun, all right.
Speaker 1: Pick them results brought to you by Bett MGM. You know,
Speaker 1: I swerved. I took the Hornets. I had to. Everybody
Speaker 1: else had Boston to win by eight or more. The
Speaker 1: line was seven and a half Celtic's favor and man,
Speaker 1: I thought I was just gonna maybe maybe maybe pull
Speaker 1: it out because there was a couple plays at the end.
Speaker 1: There was a dumb foul on Tata like they tried
Speaker 1: to trap and they did the whole thing anyway, Celtics
Speaker 1: just covered and I'm done. I have now lost two
Speaker 1: consecutive months. I'm eight and twelve Task finishes twelve and eight,
Speaker 1: Train and leate eleven and nine, So good on you, guys.
Speaker 1: I got too far behind. You just can't get behind
Speaker 1: in the pickup because then you start panicking and you
Speaker 1: do start swerving when you probably shouldn't. But that's what
Speaker 1: happened with me. And yeah, I've been garbage the last
Speaker 1: two months, so I owed two payoffs. There's some talk
Speaker 1: going around of just saving it till the postseason to
Speaker 1: you know, help us with content in the summer and
Speaker 1: really do something worthwhile. You know, I'm not gonna sit
Speaker 1: here and eat an Herby sandwich. Okay, I'm not doing that,
Speaker 1: Uh though I already did just chug a beer once
Speaker 1: as a pickup payoff. Also lame, also lame. We can
Speaker 1: do better, so we will. Uh, don't you worry? Won't
Speaker 1: be forgetting about these uh these losses and me having
Speaker 1: to pay it off. But if you have suggestions, let
Speaker 1: us know, write us in, email him, email him in,
Speaker 1: No dunkink athletic dot com, tweetm in and no dunk sinc.
Speaker 1: What I should do for any of these payoffs or
Speaker 1: do I just at this point guys would just take
Speaker 1: two sort of small payoffs and merge them into one
Speaker 1: like Mega payoff one giant. I mean that's a possibility
Speaker 1: to if we come up with something brutal. I think
Speaker 1: that might be fair. But again, a serious suggestions we
Speaker 1: won't make. We won't make any picks for tonight months
Speaker 1: basically over. We will do a short month for me. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll have like two weeks of action. I guess we
Speaker 1: don't do this in the playoffs in terms of the
Speaker 1: pick them, but we'll do it for the rest of
Speaker 1: the regular seasons. And maybe we'll just make that one
Speaker 1: because it's so short, like I don't know, some donation
Speaker 1: or something like that. We just got to pony up
Speaker 1: some dough to a good cause. So we'll come up
Speaker 1: with something like that. So don't you worry. We'll start
Speaker 1: it back up. He started me there, all right, sort
Speaker 1: of a quicker show. It's all good, everybody all right
Speaker 1: with that? Guys, goold, want to get out of here.
Speaker 2: I don't know, you want to just tap dance for
Speaker 2: thirteen minutes? Now, get it to an hour?
Speaker 1: Not really, We're gonna have a bit of a shorter
Speaker 1: one here. Again. Jad's very very busy.
Speaker 3: Hey, well, well we've got a little bit of talking
Speaker 3: about I saw interaction with Chris Hayes there too yesterday
Speaker 3: because after the tweet that I had saying about him
Speaker 3: and doctor Fauci talking to the trash to each other.
Speaker 3: So if anyone's got a contact for Chris Hayes and
Speaker 3: he wants to come on the show and talk his
Speaker 3: basketball talk, let him know, let.
Speaker 1: Him know, let us know it. Basically went back on
Speaker 1: Twitter saying like he's got you know, do you know
Speaker 1: how small thing he is? And he's got like sixty
Speaker 1: pounds on him, Like he's like too small, He's got.
Speaker 2: To kick the takes Fauji into the post banks in
Speaker 2: a banker runs back down doing the little stand thing.
Speaker 2: Too small, Fauji, too small.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I actually have a rapid fire question off
Speaker 1: of that tomorrow, Lely, So don't you worry. Okay, I
Speaker 1: think it'd be fun that if we can make that
Speaker 1: game actually happen. I'll tease it right now for you guys.
Speaker 1: You're hearing this question for the first time right here,
Speaker 1: this second. If they could play a game for charity, right,
Speaker 1: Hayes versus Fauci. Okay, that's the that's the main event.
Speaker 1: But let's say you guys were the undercard, which random celebrity,
Speaker 1: would you like to challenge to a game of one
Speaker 1: on one to sort of get us in the mood
Speaker 1: for that for that heavyweight one on one battle between
Speaker 1: Hayes and Fauti. So start thinking it over, everybody, start
Speaker 1: dropping your suggestions for these guys. I'll be asking Ley
Speaker 1: Trey and Task that on tomorrow's Drop podcast again nine
Speaker 1: am Eastern starts, so it'll get up in your podcast
Speaker 1: feed a little bit earlier than normal, as well as
Speaker 1: we do our NBA award picks and some rapid fire
Speaker 1: fun and all that. Please like comments, subscribe to No
Speaker 1: Dunks on YouTube. Email us your questions and comments for
Speaker 1: the next beat step in podcast No Dunks at the
Speaker 1: Athletic dot com, Tweet them in at No dung Sinc.
Speaker 1: I NC. Grab your No Dunks merchover at No dunks
Speaker 1: dot com and join us Tonight, yes, Thursday, April twenty ninth,
Speaker 1: for those keeping track for our first ever really NBA
Speaker 1: Happy Our Game night. There's no games on TNT tonight
Speaker 1: because there's some weird thing called the NFL Draft, So
Speaker 1: we're gonna we're gonna try something new here, maybe a
Speaker 1: little geo guesser, some sporkle quizzes, uh, some some pop
Speaker 1: and some packs. Who knows what else.
Speaker 2: It's funny you mentioned popping packs. I just came up
Speaker 2: with a new name for this that we could call
Speaker 2: what we're doing tonight game night. Everybody does it? What
Speaker 2: about game time?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: I don't mind that at all. Yeah, And when things
Speaker 1: get tight, it's crunched time at the end of the sport.
Speaker 1: This time is running out, all right, So join us tonight.
Speaker 1: That's nine pm Eastern live on YouTube. Guys, just subscribe
Speaker 1: to us on new YouTube so you know when we're
Speaker 1: going live. You get that little notification button. You're told
Speaker 1: when we're going live. That'll be fun. We'll see it then.
Speaker 1: Uh clipper bros. You heard it here first.
Speaker 2: Have a great time, turn up. Love you guys, awesome,
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us. Sam. Remember Willie Nelson once smoked
Speaker 2: weed on the roof of the White House with the
Speaker 2: President's son. That's a true story. Happy birthday, Willie Nelson.
Speaker 1: Happy birthday to my father in law higas well. Brace
Speaker 1: the day people. You could stay ooo every day.
Speaker 4: And Daggy happy every minute.
Speaker 1: It's been so long that your dolna waiting for.
Speaker 4: Its happened already it's
Speaker 1: Gonna be Grevy.