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Speaker 1: On today's show. Hate him or love them? I'm sure

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Speaker 1: it's mostly hate. There are some reasons why. But the

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Speaker 1: Clippers are getting it together. Donovan Mitchell's impressive season is

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Speaker 1: only getting better. Here comes the MVP chatter, and we

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Speaker 1: had two Dunk of the Year candidates on the same night.

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Speaker 1: It was an entertaining one in the NBA. Let's get

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Speaker 1: to all seven games for you. I got some complaining

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Speaker 1: to do. I'm Tasmellis and here's what you need to

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Speaker 1: know in the NBA for Friday, April ninth. Hey, what's up, everybody.

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Speaker 1: I said it on yesterday's show, I'm getting a little

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Speaker 1: prematurely excited for the playoffs. And it happened again Utah

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Speaker 1: Phoenix the night before then we got Phoenix Clippers two

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Speaker 1: seed versus the three seed in the West. It felt

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Speaker 1: like a playoff game. The Clippers ended up taking advantage

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Speaker 1: of the Suns on a traveling back to back, beating

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Speaker 1: them late, but it was a two point game going

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Speaker 1: into the fourth. George was phenomenal the whole night, seven

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Speaker 1: to ten, from three to thirty three points. Kawhi had

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Speaker 1: twenty seven and got hot in the second half, and

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Speaker 1: the Clippers got some playoff Rondo. Rugion Rondo had fifteen

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Speaker 1: points overall. He was a plus fifteen in the fourth

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Speaker 1: quarter alone. You ready to hate this team world, because

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Speaker 1: they are going to be in the playoffs and they

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Speaker 1: are going to be making some waves. Their fourth quarter

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Speaker 1: lineup Kawhi Leonard Paul, George Marcus Morris, Nicola Batoum and

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Speaker 1: Rugon Rondo. It was a spirited playoff battle. Patrick Beverly

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Speaker 1: was ejected from this game for hitting Chris Paul in

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Speaker 1: the open court. I'm not going to show it to

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Speaker 1: you here. If you're watching on YouTube. This ain't the nineties.

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Speaker 1: This aint shattered the new podcast about the Knicks from

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Speaker 1: the Athletic No, no parental discretion advice. We're not showing

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Speaker 1: that to you. It occurred to me while watching this game.

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Speaker 1: The Clippers point guards are Patrick Beverly and Rugon Rondo,

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Speaker 1: probably the most hated point guard duo in history. You

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Speaker 1: throw Chris Paul into this game, how could it not

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Speaker 1: feel like a playoff matchup the Clippers. Marcus Morris was

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Speaker 1: ejected late. His brother Mark Keith Morris was ejected for

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Speaker 1: the Lakers on Thursday. Two twins ejected on the same

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Speaker 1: night and we had a runner up dunk of the

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Speaker 1: Year candidate from Kawhi Leonard. Look, nothing is going to

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Speaker 1: beat the Wolves. Anthony Edwards dunk on Utah Watson. I'll

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Speaker 1: be but Kawhi Leonard with a monstrous jam. Don't see

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Speaker 1: Kawhi do that very often. He was hit by DeAndre

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Speaker 1: and still able to throw it down. Be beautiful from

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Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard. The Sons still have to feel pretty good

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Speaker 1: if these two teams meet in the playoffs. Despite the loss,

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Speaker 1: they hit their first twenty seven of forty shots before

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Speaker 1: cooling off in the fourth. Clippers, on the other side,

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Speaker 1: they got to feel good too. They have won thirteen

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Speaker 1: straight over the Suns at Staples Center. Clippers now hold

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Speaker 1: a tie break if they do tie going into the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: Two games separate them right now in a one to

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Speaker 1: six battle, see the playoffs just continue. Utah ended up

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Speaker 1: blowing out the Blazers. Donovan Mitchell rate start to this game,

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Speaker 1: doing everything for his team. He ended up with thirty

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Speaker 1: seven points. They were struggling early, but Donovan Mitchell was

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Speaker 1: making it happen. Forty points and thirty seven points on

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Speaker 1: back to back nights for Mitchell. Yes, people, starting to

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Speaker 1: Mitchell for MVP conversation. I say, sure, why not bring

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Speaker 1: him to the table, pull up a chair. But there

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Speaker 1: are other players that are just doing too much for

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Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell to actually win this thing. It's a tough crowd,

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Speaker 1: tough field right now. But that's how good the NBA is.

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Speaker 1: It's going to Jokic, it's going to unbid Lebron will

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Speaker 1: throw his hat into the ring eventually when he gets back,

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Speaker 1: we'll talk about that. Too many guys, there's too many

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Speaker 1: guys and I can't even mention them all. But Donovan

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Speaker 1: Mitchell in this game, his quarter by quarter production, he

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Speaker 1: looked like an MVP. Yeah, eleven nine, then thirteen for

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Speaker 1: the first three quarters. He didn't need as much in

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Speaker 1: the fourth. It was a flashback to the playoffs last year.

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Speaker 1: If you remember in the Bubble, Donovan Mitchell averaged thirty

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Speaker 1: six points. Yeah, they only had one series versus the Nuggets.

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Speaker 1: In that seven gamer, him and Jamal Murray got it.

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Speaker 1: But my goodness, let's get these playoffs started. The Blazers

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Speaker 1: struggled to score on the other side. It was good

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Speaker 1: to see Yusef Nurkic out there. After he sat a

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Speaker 1: game with knee inflammation. Because you know, when you talk injuries,

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Speaker 1: you talk Portland Trailblazers, you gotta worry. Moving on to

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Speaker 1: some other action on Thursday night, and this one had

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Speaker 1: me a little agitated. Bulls Raptors. The Bulls. They are

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Speaker 1: a more enjoyable watch since they're trade for Nikole Vucevic. Right,

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Speaker 1: they're making a more concerned effort to move the ball.

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Speaker 1: Zach Lavine believes in his teammates more. Just from my

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Speaker 1: perspective on my couch. He had thirteen assists in this one,

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Speaker 1: Zack Lavine. That's the most assists he's had since his

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Speaker 1: rookie year six years ago, when he was being played

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Speaker 1: as a point guard. The Raptors suited up only eight players.

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Speaker 1: Why while a couple other guys were suspended earlier in

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Speaker 1: the day for leaving the bench during an altercation earlier

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Speaker 1: in the week. We'll get to it on the drop

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Speaker 1: the full Nodunk's episode in Worst of the Week. A

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Speaker 1: ridiculous decision by the league. The season from hell continues

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Speaker 1: for Toronto. They just need bodies, only eight guys. They

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Speaker 1: signed a man by the name of Freddy Gillespie to

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Speaker 1: a ten day contract. No not classy Freddy Blassie, but

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Speaker 1: Freddy Gillespie. Yeah, it's show and tell if you're on

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Speaker 1: YouTube here, classy Freddy Gillespie. How about that? How about that?

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Speaker 1: Is that a good nickname? I don't know, probably not.

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Speaker 1: He couldn't even play though Bouche Chris Bouche had thirty

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Speaker 1: eight and nineteen for the Raps. Pascal Siakam had twenty seven.

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Speaker 1: How about that? Why didn't they win? Well, the Bulls

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Speaker 1: got far better production because they had far more players,

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Speaker 1: far more of their roster. Bulls win. Lakers Heat. The

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Speaker 1: Heat took care of the Lakers on TNT. No Anthony Davis,

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Speaker 1: no Lebron James for the Lakers. They probably just didn't

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Speaker 1: want to play on the Heat's offensive court. This vice

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Speaker 1: versa court bothers me more than any other court since

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Speaker 1: I've started watching basketball, the Pink and Blue with the

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Speaker 1: shim it's absolutely unwatchable. And I'm an easygoing guy when

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Speaker 1: it comes to courts, but no, it's unwatchable. You can't

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Speaker 1: do that. I hate watching games with that court anyways.

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Speaker 1: Lebron nearing the three week mark of his absence because

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Speaker 1: of a high ankle sprain. No timeline for his return.

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis could return from his calf achilles tendonosis injury

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Speaker 1: when their road trip ends in three games, so some

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Speaker 1: positivity there. The Lakers remained fifth in the standings, three

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Speaker 1: games from dropping into seventh. Into the play and tournament,

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Speaker 1: they are hanging on one negative for the Heat. Victor

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Speaker 1: Oladipo sustained a leg injury, grabbed his knee when he

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Speaker 1: went up for a jam. He's been hampered by injury

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Speaker 1: recovery the last couple of years. Had to leave the game.

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Speaker 1: No one touched him. He also had a real big

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Speaker 1: dunk in this game, looking spry. Hopefully Victor Oladipo gets

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Speaker 1: back and that was just a little tweak. Milwaukee Dallas

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Speaker 1: Luka Doncic obviously the best player for the Dallas Mavericks,

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Speaker 1: an MVP candidate, some would say, but the key to

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Speaker 1: unlocking how far Luca can take this team is their

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Speaker 1: big Chris Stops Porzingis and he is healthy. Porzingis played

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Speaker 1: on consecutive nights for the first time in months. He's

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Speaker 1: playing more physical. Twenty six points and seventeen rebounds. Seventeen

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Speaker 1: rebounds for krisps Porzingis and the MAVs have found their

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Speaker 1: ideal lineup to surround both Luca and Porzingis with defenders

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Speaker 1: who can also score. Their starting lineup of Luca, Jason Richardson,

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Speaker 1: not Jason Richardson, Josh Richardson, I'm a Jason Richardson fan Luca,

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Speaker 1: Josh Richardson, Dorian Finney Smith, Maxi Kleiba, and Porzingis is

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Speaker 1: fifteen and four this season. Jalen Brunson and Tim Hardaway

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Speaker 1: are their super duo off the bench. Did I say

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Speaker 1: the playoffs are going to be great? Or what? Porzingis

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Speaker 1: Shawn in the fourth scoring eight straight eleven overall in

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Speaker 1: the quarter, and he even had a dime to the

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Speaker 1: corner for a big three with two minutes left, his

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Speaker 1: only dime, But whatever, No Yanni's for the Bucks in

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Speaker 1: this one, Wonky right need bothering him. He's missed five

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Speaker 1: of the last ten games for the Milwaukee Bucks. Detroit

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Speaker 1: beats Sacramento. Corey Joseph twenty four against his old team.

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Speaker 1: He just got traded from Sacramento to Detroit. He had

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Speaker 1: twenty four, he led all scores, and we also had

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Speaker 1: a second best dunk of the year candidate. And this

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Speaker 1: one Mo Hearkless. He plays for the Sacramento Kings. I

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Speaker 1: had a montrous jam. It was a crazy one because

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Speaker 1: he jumped off his off foot and took some body

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Speaker 1: contact and just threw it down. Either way, Anthony Edwards

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Speaker 1: is still at the dunk of the year. That's the

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Speaker 1: one Cleveland. Okay, see last game here. To wrap it up,

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Speaker 1: the Calves blew out the Thunder by twenty seven. Colin

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Speaker 1: Sexton had twenty seven for Cleveland. This season's plan is

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Speaker 1: finally coming through for the Thunder, and by plan, I

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Speaker 1: mean losing to start the season. The Thunder were the

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Speaker 1: only team of the thirty that was not trying to

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Speaker 1: win this year. I know it's hard to try and

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Speaker 1: wrap your head around that. It is for me. The

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Speaker 1: Minnesota Timberwolves have had such a bad year where they

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Speaker 1: trying to lose, They're trying to win. Houston Rockets were

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Speaker 1: trying to win, playing John Wall, Victor Ola. Well, they

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Speaker 1: got Victor Oldeople after they had James Harden. It was

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Speaker 1: it was just a wild wild ride to start the season.

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Speaker 1: Detroit Pistons were signing every old guy. Okay, se was

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Speaker 1: trying to lose. They've lost five in a row. But

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Speaker 1: they were too good when Shay Gildas Alexander was playing,

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Speaker 1: so now they only have the seventh worst record in

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Speaker 1: the NBA. So they sat Shay, they sat Al Horford.

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Speaker 1: They're just working on the growth of their players for

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Speaker 1: the last third of the season. Tail Melodon, Alexey Poka Chevski,

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Speaker 1: Moses Brown. I'm not sure how much we'll be talking about, Okay,

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Speaker 1: see on what you need to know over the last

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Speaker 1: five weeks, which is probably a positive for them. That's

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

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Speaker 1: drop episode here on Friday. I'll be back on Monday

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Speaker 1: to give you the news as fast as I possibly can.

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Speaker 1: Thanks everybody. Last