Speaker 1: Welcome to NBA Pulse, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: in the NBA. I'm sarahcu Stock, NBA analyst for the
Speaker 1: S Network. Today is Friday, December six, from our fabulous
Speaker 1: core group of NBA journalists, we are joined by NBA
Speaker 1: dot Com senior writer Michael C. Wright to discuss his
Speaker 1: KIA m VP Ladder. Anthony Davis falls to number ten
Speaker 1: and the Lakers have been having some issues. Meanwhile, Nicola
Speaker 1: Yokich is up to number three and the big Men
Speaker 1: face off tonight. Plus we'll talk Kevin Durant in the
Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets says he makes his first appearance in the
Speaker 1: top five of the m v P Ladder. Michael, thanks
Speaker 1: for joining us. Not a problems. Good to see you again.
Speaker 1: Good to see you. It's been a minute. It's been
Speaker 1: a minute. And speaking of being a minute, I think
Speaker 1: we last saw each other back in that first round
Speaker 1: series between the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets. So
Speaker 1: real quickly, take a look at your m v P
Speaker 1: Ladder for today. Jason Tatum stays at number one, Janice
Speaker 1: at number two. As I meant, Nicola Yoki's jumping up
Speaker 1: to that number three spot. John Murant at number four
Speaker 1: and Kevin Durant at number five. But I want to
Speaker 1: start with I mentioned Anthony Davis, who falls to the
Speaker 1: ten spot. Is it's been a little rough go for
Speaker 1: the Lakers, and in particular Anthony Davis at the line
Speaker 1: opportunities with their last two losses in overtime. Um, tell
Speaker 1: me a little bit more about what you've seen on
Speaker 1: a D and in the reason for his fall. Well,
Speaker 1: first though, the I mean he hasn't been high on
Speaker 1: the ladder anyway, just because of the fact that the
Speaker 1: Lakers are not really in contention. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean you would like if you look at m
Speaker 1: VP voting, like if you're in the mixed War, play
Speaker 1: against but typically you're not gonna win, and you know
Speaker 1: you gotta be up there in the top four or five.
Speaker 1: And so with a D, I mean, look, I was
Speaker 1: just looking at like sort of his last three or
Speaker 1: four games, thirty seven points, thirty four points, thirty one.
Speaker 1: You have these monster performances and then you lose games
Speaker 1: because you missed a free throw. That's a tough part,
Speaker 1: it is, it is, and you know that it's like
Speaker 1: really eating it him because he knows what he's doing.
Speaker 1: And he knows what the Lakers are capable of when
Speaker 1: they play like they can play, and you know, for
Speaker 1: you to miss free throws, and we're talking about them
Speaker 1: playing against a couple of the league's best teams Boston,
Speaker 1: you know, the seventy sixers. Those are good teams, and
Speaker 1: you're blowing opportunities there, and I think that that sort
Speaker 1: of knocks you down a little bit on the ladder
Speaker 1: because his peers on this list, they're all also putting
Speaker 1: up Barker stats. Yeah, you mentioned those stats. I mean,
Speaker 1: and it's been wild to see and and this has
Speaker 1: been for him, you know, a stretch where you look
Speaker 1: at the numbers and it's so impressive with how he's played,
Speaker 1: how he's scored. I think just the ownership and authority
Speaker 1: that he's taken. Um. But Lakers haven't dropped four of
Speaker 1: the last five, just got the overtime loss and Joyce
Speaker 1: and coming from behind him. Where where's your youll on them? Um?
Speaker 1: We'll get to this game against stan for in just
Speaker 1: a minute, but where's your your feel on the trajectory
Speaker 1: of this team? And look like they were starting to
Speaker 1: put the pieces together, maybe just a little bit um,
Speaker 1: but it's been back to a slide. It has been,
Speaker 1: but I don't know why. I mean, maybe it's just
Speaker 1: a good feel, but I think that they're sort of
Speaker 1: figuring it out. You know, they're figuring out, you know,
Speaker 1: what their capabilities are. I mean, you look at Russell Westbrook,
Speaker 1: like the way he's been playing off the bench for
Speaker 1: the Lakers. Okay, we we finally figured that that part
Speaker 1: of it out. And you know, they've got a bunch
Speaker 1: of veterans that you know, in my opinion, they're sort
Speaker 1: of their fighters, and so they're not gonna just sort
Speaker 1: of sit back on their laurels and and just let
Speaker 1: the season go to waste. And anytime you have Lebron
Speaker 1: James on your team, you have to be in the
Speaker 1: business of trying to get a championship. And they are
Speaker 1: not gonna blow that opportunity. Yeah, So they lay Denver tonight.
Speaker 1: Denver visits Los Angeles, and we had mentioned Nicolaioki jumps
Speaker 1: up to number three. Denver has been interesting too because
Speaker 1: they hit won four straight, they lost three. Now they're
Speaker 1: on a three game winning streak. UH sitting third in
Speaker 1: the West, despite though that the West is so tight,
Speaker 1: especially there in the middle. UH, what about Yoki? What's
Speaker 1: impressed to you about how Yoki has played and how
Speaker 1: he's helped Denver to play lately. He's a sinner. He's
Speaker 1: a sinner, and he's one two straight m vps and
Speaker 1: to me, he's I mean, he's averaging almost a triple double,
Speaker 1: and like it is not fair at all. It's not fair.
Speaker 1: I hate this. But it's almost like here's this voter
Speaker 1: fatigue thing going on with him and he's like gonna
Speaker 1: have to put together like his like a career year.
Speaker 1: Does it remind you of Janice? I mean, is this
Speaker 1: is this the same with the whether it's voter fatigue, whatever,
Speaker 1: you look at the expectations of Okay, you you did
Speaker 1: this last season, how are you going to elevate it?
Speaker 1: Do you think there's a similar with the MVP voting? Definitely,
Speaker 1: And you can throw Kevin Durant in that too. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: these guys do do this amazing stuff, and then there's
Speaker 1: almost like this expectation that that it always has to
Speaker 1: happen for them to even have a shot at winning
Speaker 1: the m v P. But in Yoka, just in his
Speaker 1: specific case again averaging almost a triple double, Clipton the barrier,
Speaker 1: a new season high for joking. The last couple of years,
Speaker 1: the narrative had always been, well, you know, he doesn't
Speaker 1: have you know, all of his guys, you know Michael
Speaker 1: Ford Jr. He's heard, you know, Jamal Murray. That was
Speaker 1: the narrative. Well he's got all those guys back now,
Speaker 1: and he's still putting up those numbers. I mean the
Speaker 1: scoring isn't it high, but just across the board, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just amazing. And he's averaging a career high right
Speaker 1: now in assist so to me, like, it's not fair
Speaker 1: at all. And who's gonna want to vote him as
Speaker 1: the as the first m v P first three times
Speaker 1: in a row m VP since Larry Bird. Who's gonna
Speaker 1: have the guts to do it? I don't know. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be interesting the conversation. Who I think I'll also
Speaker 1: kind of parlays into defense. What happens to the defensive
Speaker 1: side of the floor. That's an aspect we're gonna see tonight.
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. Of course, you know the presence he brings there.
Speaker 1: Give me, give me your pick, tell me what happens.
Speaker 1: What happens tonight between Lakers Nuggets A D. And oh man,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know. I think Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: because they've had a two day rest. Today will be
Speaker 1: a two day rest of them and A D is
Speaker 1: gonna come out motivated to to, you know, just sort
Speaker 1: of make up for those those last two losses. And also,
Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, Anthony Davis actually has a leinning
Speaker 1: record and head to head matchups with NICOLEA. Yoki, so
Speaker 1: that will be interesting to see. But yeah, it'll be
Speaker 1: a fun match up for sure. Putting all the tough
Speaker 1: questions on you. We've got some more coming up. We're
Speaker 1: gonna take a quick break and then talk about someone
Speaker 1: I get to see thankfully on a nightly basis, Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: who moved into your top five. Don't go anywhere, all right,
Speaker 1: We're back on the NBA Pulse with Michael c Right
Speaker 1: talking about Yorkia m v P Ladder and Michael. Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant moves into the top five for the first time
Speaker 1: the season. He has been putting up just some crazy numbers. Uh.
Speaker 1: What's impressed me most has been the efficiency of which
Speaker 1: he's doing it with. But it's got the nuts playing well. Uh,
Speaker 1: tell me more about Durant and and what made this
Speaker 1: be the day the week that he made the jump. Well,
Speaker 1: you know what, Sarah, I was late to the party.
Speaker 1: Let's be real here. I was late to the party
Speaker 1: because you know, Um, like you mentioned earlier, the last
Speaker 1: time that we saw one another was like in Boston,
Speaker 1: and I think and and it was just it was
Speaker 1: an ugly vibe with that team at that point. You know,
Speaker 1: they got swept and then you know, you go through
Speaker 1: the summer and everything has happened with this team and
Speaker 1: to see them bounce back and get near the top
Speaker 1: of the Eastern Conference standings. Um, it's it's been amazing.
Speaker 1: And we always talked about with this award narrative, Well
Speaker 1: that's a part of the narrative. You know, you switched coaches.
Speaker 1: You've gone through everything with Kyrie Irving, with Ben Simmons,
Speaker 1: there's been a lot, and Kevin Durant has been like
Speaker 1: the stadium influence. And what I like about Brooklyn right
Speaker 1: now with Kevin Durant because he's showing exceptional leadership. But
Speaker 1: what I really like is we have not seen the
Speaker 1: best Brooklyn Nets team just yet. I don't think they
Speaker 1: peaked yet. It's I I agree with that. I also
Speaker 1: think just collectively you mentioned that they they're getting some
Speaker 1: guys back healthy that had been injured. UM, more of
Speaker 1: just continuity within the rotation. Jack Van has done an
Speaker 1: extraordinary job just pushing all the right buttons. Not only
Speaker 1: his attitude, but I think in game adjustments is something. Um.
Speaker 1: Do you think Kevin Durant the points are there. Um,
Speaker 1: what he's been doing on the defensive end has been
Speaker 1: a big reason for how this team has thrived. His
Speaker 1: ability to assist and facilitate is something that I think
Speaker 1: has really moved to a different level. Do you think
Speaker 1: he can win M v P this season? I think
Speaker 1: if Brooklyn stays where they are, or at least just
Speaker 1: maintains that for this next couple of months, and he
Speaker 1: keeps playing the way he's playing, he definitely has to
Speaker 1: be in the conversation. And again, just like what we
Speaker 1: talked about with you know who who was at Yokis
Speaker 1: with the voter fatigued, I think you get that with
Speaker 1: with Katie with Janice, and it's not fair at all
Speaker 1: because what they're doing is just amazing. And so with
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant and the way Kyrie Irving. You know, he's
Speaker 1: kind of he's really come along too. The way those
Speaker 1: guys are playing, they're gonna have a shot at being
Speaker 1: real contenders in the Eastern Conference. Durant has played forty
Speaker 1: one minutes tonight from the floor for three going at
Speaker 1: can he get fifty yet? One for Kevin Durant killing
Speaker 1: for you to deny Kevin Durant just based off his
Speaker 1: pass and I'm talking about you know, his previous MVP.
Speaker 1: Come on, come on, let's let this man, Let let
Speaker 1: this man eat, let him let him live, because he's
Speaker 1: been playing so well and it's been fun to watch.
Speaker 1: Really does so entertaining with I mentioned it talking about
Speaker 1: your kitchen. We've heard this, Joel Janice, Listen, how much
Speaker 1: do you think both sides we've seen extraordinary offensive numbers,
Speaker 1: historic numbers in many cases four teams, and what guys
Speaker 1: are scoring, how many guys are putting up big numbers? Uh,
Speaker 1: how do you think that potentially factors in this season
Speaker 1: just given the explosion of offense and or if there
Speaker 1: is more weight put onto what these guys are doing
Speaker 1: at the other end of the floor. Well, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go back to an interview that Stephen Curry did a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago and he was asked about, you know,
Speaker 1: just being a part of the m v P conversation
Speaker 1: and and I loved his his he had a really
Speaker 1: practical view of it, and it was, Look, when you
Speaker 1: start talking about m vps, you're talking about the best
Speaker 1: layers on the best teams. Those are the ones that
Speaker 1: you talked about first. And then beyond that, now you
Speaker 1: start going to people that haven't like really impressive individual numbers.
Speaker 1: So I like this take on it because I think
Speaker 1: that's the way it should go. I think it should
Speaker 1: be about winning. I think you you know you you're
Speaker 1: you're an m v P on a ninth place scene. No,
Speaker 1: it should not be the case. Winning has to matter
Speaker 1: in this and that's part of why, like Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: why he is he jumped all the way in there
Speaker 1: at number five because they won with eight of their
Speaker 1: their last ten games, and then six of those games
Speaker 1: he's had like thirty one plus points. He deserves to
Speaker 1: be there, and like I said, it's the winning that matters.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, we know it is only December, so
Speaker 1: we got a long way to go. But I love
Speaker 1: to talk appreciate your time. Michael C. Wright. We'll be
Speaker 1: checking out your m v P Ladder and all the
Speaker 1: other good stuff throughout the course of this year, and
Speaker 1: we'll see you in a couple of weeks as well.
Speaker 1: Thanks for being here with us, no problem alright. On Monday,
Speaker 1: Mark mcdea with the biggest news from the weekend. He
Speaker 1: will join me and be a pulse with Syracuse. Dock
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