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Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard is not happy, but he's still his fun

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Speaker 1: guy self. Number one pick Anthony Edwards is also a

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Speaker 1: fun guy. He's balling and he went boom again. Alexey

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Speaker 1: Polkashewsky can do more than have awkward draft day photos

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Speaker 1: and be skinny. He can play too. And the Warriors

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Speaker 1: look like they can upset a team in the playoffs

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Speaker 1: like the West used to try to do against them. Hey,

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

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Speaker 1: know in the NBA for Monday, March fifteenth, Good morning.

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Speaker 1: It felt a little different watching NBA basketball this past weekend.

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Speaker 1: There are about two to four thousand fans in many arenas.

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Speaker 1: The broadcasters could feel it, and we're commenting on it.

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Speaker 1: There was one point where Hawk's sideline reporter Kelly Krawl

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Speaker 1: said there were some standing ovations for players. What hey,

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Speaker 1: I guess that happened. I guess that happens in minor

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Speaker 1: league baseball stadiums where there's not twenty thousand fans. Anyways,

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Speaker 1: there was no fans in Minnesota, but that didn't matter

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Speaker 1: to Anthony Edwards. Damian Little in Portland came to town,

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Speaker 1: but it was all about the number one pick. He

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Speaker 1: had another huge dunk roll that thing JD. He went

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Speaker 1: boom on Robert Covington. Not quite the dunk of the

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Speaker 1: year that he had against the Toronto Raptors. But Anthony

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Speaker 1: Edwards is making headlines for huge jams, but more importantly

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Speaker 1: for the Wolves. The ball was in his hands down

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Speaker 1: the stretch. He was the one making plays, and he

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Speaker 1: was hitting Big three after Big three after Big three,

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Speaker 1: and doing Carmelo Anthony's Big three celebration right in his face.

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Speaker 1: He had a career high six threes to fuel his

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Speaker 1: career high of thirty four points. Check the number one

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Speaker 1: stats the last seven games, the number one pick stats

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Speaker 1: the last seven games thirty four, twenty one, twenty seven, nineteen,

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Speaker 1: twenty four, twenty one and twenty one. Edwards is the

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Speaker 1: team's future. Hopefully he and Karl Anthony Towns can make

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Speaker 1: it work. Dangel Russell is out. When he comes back,

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Speaker 1: He's gonna have to learn to play around Anthony Edwards.

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Speaker 1: He's got no choice. New head coach Chris Finch is

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Speaker 1: playing the young guys. There was a comparison on the

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Speaker 1: broadcast that Jim Peterson made between Anthony Edwards and Jimmy Butler.

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Speaker 1: At first, I said, no way, Jimmy Butler's one of

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Speaker 1: the hardest working guys in the NBA. But they said

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Speaker 1: their confidence is very similar, and it's it's true. You

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Speaker 1: watch the Minnesota Timberwolves broadcast, they have those in game

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Speaker 1: videos that happened. Anthony Edwards said at one point he said,

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Speaker 1: I'm fun, I'm a great time. That's a Jimmy Butler

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Speaker 1: type of quote. I'm a great time. And then he

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Speaker 1: had this quote on the debate over the number one pick.

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Speaker 1: He said, whoever is still talking about that they can

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Speaker 1: just kick rocks? What nineteen year old says they can

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Speaker 1: just kick rocks? I love that quote. As a thirty

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Speaker 1: nine year old, gosh, I love that quote. Thanks to

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Speaker 1: John Krasinski for transcribing that tweet. Edward's got Damian Lillard's

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Speaker 1: jersey after the game and was crowing about it on Instagram.

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Speaker 1: Lillard had a quiet thirty eight like he always does.

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Speaker 1: Moving on Utah and Golden State, this is a potential

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Speaker 1: one to eight matchup in the Western confidence. It's a

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Speaker 1: flip of a few years ago when teams were trying

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Speaker 1: to knock off the Warriors. People were saying maybe the

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Speaker 1: Jazz could be that team. They played great perimeter defense.

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Speaker 1: Well flip it. Golden State would be very confident if

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Speaker 1: they met in the postseason. The Warriors were ready to

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Speaker 1: play against the West's best team on Sunday. They're ready

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Speaker 1: to scramble defensively. They've got the seventh best defense quietly

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Speaker 1: in the NBA. You gotta scramble against the Jazz. They've

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Speaker 1: got so many weapons. And the Warriors got contributions from

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Speaker 1: so many guys. Andrew Wiggins on the break, operating the

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Speaker 1: pick and roll with three shooters, he had twenty eight points.

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Speaker 1: James Wiseman the number two pick, he's back balling off

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Speaker 1: the bench, he had eighteen. Draymond Green had a triple double.

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Speaker 1: Was playing great defensively, and Draymond Green was well behaved.

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Speaker 1: Because Rudy Gobert came into the land and Draymond Green,

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Speaker 1: he could have hit Rudy Gobert right in the face,

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Speaker 1: but he didn't. He didn't. He could have followed through

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Speaker 1: right on Draymond Green's face or right on Rudy Gobert's face,

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Speaker 1: but well behaved Draymond Green. He's in playoff mode. The

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Speaker 1: Warriors are playing their young guys Wiseman, Jordan Poole, Nicomannon,

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Speaker 1: Steve Kerr putting a lot of trust in the team

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Speaker 1: and they are definitely producing. They're number one in assists

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Speaker 1: in the NBA. Yeah, that's why I kind of harken

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Speaker 1: back to the last few years with the Warriors. No,

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Speaker 1: they don't have Durant, but this team passes the ball

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Speaker 1: like they used to in the golden days of a

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Speaker 1: few years ago. They had a thirty plus assist night.

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Speaker 1: Much credit to that has to go to Stephan Curry,

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Speaker 1: who just turned thirty three on Sunday. Happy belated to Steph.

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Speaker 1: Credit to Steve Kerr what he's got going on in

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Speaker 1: Golden State. Steve Nash is doing something similar in Brooklyn.

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Speaker 1: And this really has nothing to do with anything in

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Speaker 1: this game. But since we're talking about coaches here a

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Speaker 1: little bit. When Charles Barkley asked Cole on TNT this

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Speaker 1: past week if the coaching change has changed anything in

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles, Kawhi had this to say. I had to

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Speaker 1: squeeze this in for your roll A, Jady, is there

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Speaker 1: anything different? Not saying right or wrong? Anything different would

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Speaker 1: have it tylutherhead coach compared to Doc Rubbers. I mean, yeah,

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Speaker 1: they're two different people. Speaking of the Clippers, Kawhi was

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Speaker 1: not happy they got routed by the Pelicans on Sunday night.

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Speaker 1: The Clippers have now dropped to fourth in the West.

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Speaker 1: It was an absolute route. There are four and six

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Speaker 1: over their last ten. They've started the season well. I

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Speaker 1: thought they would be the number one team in the

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Speaker 1: Western Conference, but their inconsistent play has crept back into

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Speaker 1: their habits as it did in the bubble. Qui said

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Speaker 1: this after the game, quote, very concerned. If you have

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Speaker 1: if you want to have a chance at anything, you

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Speaker 1: got to be consistent nights where energy is not there.

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Speaker 1: It's all about consistency. That is what makes a team great.

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Speaker 1: This Pelicans Clippers game not great. The only good part

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Speaker 1: about it was the legendary Hubie Brown on the call.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and a Jackson Hayes dunk, his hair flying

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Speaker 1: all over the place as he threw it down on

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Speaker 1: little guy Reggie Jackson. Can you tap your head after

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Speaker 1: you throw it down on a little guy? I don't know,

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Speaker 1: but the photo is very cool as he goes jam

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Speaker 1: over Reggie Jackson Memphis, OKC. You remember Alexey Pokyshewski, the

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Speaker 1: overseas kid drafted nineteen years of age. A legendary draft

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Speaker 1: day photo here sitting around the table with his family,

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Speaker 1: The skinny Serbian kid, seven foot one hundred and ninety pounds.

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Speaker 1: I can't get over those number. Seven foot one hundred

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Speaker 1: and ninety pounds. A draft day project. He was in

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Speaker 1: the rotation to start the year, but now he's starting,

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Speaker 1: starting at power forward. Had a couple career highs over

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Speaker 1: his last three games as a starter, as you'd expect,

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Speaker 1: and on Sunday twenty three points, ten boards, and five

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Speaker 1: threes were great. But the play that really impressed me

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Speaker 1: was some nasty footwork as a seven footer, the scoop,

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Speaker 1: the sort of escape play to throw it off the glass.

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Speaker 1: Beautiful footwork, great stuff. Okay, see beats Memphis, Alexey Polkashewsky

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Speaker 1: making headlines. Great to see that here as a nineteen

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Speaker 1: year old kid. That impressed me. But something that hasn't

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Speaker 1: impressed me is the Atlanta Hawks five game win streak.

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Speaker 1: Maybe I am a hater, but the Hawks have now

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Speaker 1: won five straight since firing head coach Lloyd Pierce, beating

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Speaker 1: the Calves in a blowout win they're definitely a confident Budge.

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Speaker 1: I just can't get excited for it, and I'm in Atlanta.

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Speaker 1: I just not super pumped about it. They beat Miami

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Speaker 1: without Jimmy Butler. That was the first game after firing

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Speaker 1: a coach. Of course they're going to be pumped. They

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Speaker 1: beat the Orlando Magic who didn't have three of their starters.

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Speaker 1: Had to come back from nineteen to do that. They

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Speaker 1: came back from fifteen to beat the Raptors, who didn't

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Speaker 1: have three of their starters. Then they beat two teams

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Speaker 1: at the bottom of the standings in the Sacramento Kings

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Speaker 1: and the Cleveland Cavaliers. That's their five game win streak.

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Speaker 1: So people will say, whoa, they did it. They did it.

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Speaker 1: They fired coach Pierson, they turned things around. I'm not

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Speaker 1: quite sold just yet. Boston Houston. Boston handled Houston easily,

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Speaker 1: like many teams have been able to do so many.

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Speaker 1: The Rockets have lost sixteen games in a row. They

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Speaker 1: have motivation to be bad. They would lose their draft

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Speaker 1: pick if it falls out of the top four, so

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Speaker 1: they want to be one of the four worst teams

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Speaker 1: in the NBA, and they are that right now. They've

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Speaker 1: got plenty of injuries. John wall is out, Eric Gordon

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Speaker 1: now out for four to six weeks, Christian Wood is out.

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Speaker 1: Of course, tough being Steven Silas as head coach of

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Speaker 1: the Rockets right now. The Raptors on a losing streak

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Speaker 1: as well. Chicago handled them pretty easily. Toronto now five

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Speaker 1: straight losses. They were at five hundred and then Corona

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Speaker 1: protocol has decimated their roster. They're tenth in the East.

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Speaker 1: They hope to get some of their guys back on Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: but Pascal Siakam is out, for advan Vliet is out,

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Speaker 1: o Gianninobi is out, and it is also ten days

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Speaker 1: before the trade deadline. I wonder if this recent streak

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Speaker 1: changes the calculus on a potential Kyle Lowry trade. I

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Speaker 1: don't think so, but I do think they were thinking

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Speaker 1: about it in the first place, so I think that

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Speaker 1: still continues. Over the next ten days. A couple more

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Speaker 1: scores to go through Spurs six Ers. The seventy six

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Speaker 1: Ers routed the Spurs despite Joel Embiid being out the

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Speaker 1: next two weeks with a bone bruise. Could have been

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Speaker 1: a lot worse for the Sixers and Joel Embiid, and

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Speaker 1: that injury. Last one here Miami Orlando. Miami continuing to

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Speaker 1: climb the standings and they continue to skate. Just by

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Speaker 1: their competition. They have a negative point differential and they're

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Speaker 1: fourth in the Eastern Conference. They would hold a home

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Speaker 1: court series and they have a negative point differential. That's

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Speaker 1: kind of bonkers. Jimmy Butler at twenty nine, Terrence Ross

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Speaker 1: had thirty one, Niko Lavucevich had thirty eight, and Michael

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Speaker 1: Carter Williams has cool hair. That is it for me.

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Speaker 1: I will be back tomorrow to give you the news

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Speaker 1: as fast as I possibly can. Make sure you check

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Speaker 1: out the full Nodunk's episode here on Monday, where we

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Speaker 1: will go through the winners and losers of the weekend.

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Speaker 1: I'll talk to you tomorrow