WEBVTT - The Denver Nuggets feel inevitable 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:13.440 On this episode of the Heat Check. It's a midweek episode. 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:15.520 We got a couple of little stories to get to, 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:18.520 but not really a ton of big news other than 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:21.119 the fact that Kawhi Leonard just left the game with 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:24.840 thoracic spasms, could not sit, had to go to the 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:28.440 hospital or get another second opinion, third opinion, whatever it is. 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.760 We also cover out when the Denver Nuggets decide it's time. 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:35.839 It's fucking time. Nobody can hang nobody can. I think 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:37.680 this is the same story every week when they decide 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:40.200 it's time to turn it up. We have another sample though, 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:42.640 of this. This one comes when they were down thirty 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.280 five to a Toronto Raptors team. We also get into 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:47.000 a ton of news from around the league, including an 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:50.800 update on alprin Shangoon squad. Okay, Anthony, let's get a 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:51.319 move on it. 0:00:51.840 --> 0:01:07.560 Let's drop this motherfucking leadership, all right. 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:10.720 So I was we gotta talk about these Nuggets, Okay. 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:17.160 I was watching this game, unfortunately, Nuggets playing the Toronto Raptors. 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:18.840 I was watching it on my other show, but I'm 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:21.560 jim to Night Live that airs Monday through Friday, seven 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:24.319 to eleven. Anyway, so I'm watching the Raptors take a 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:26.759 twenty point lead on Denver at sixteen and a half 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:31.400 point underdogs, and all of a sudden, I look up 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:36.480 and it's like thirteen. It's a third quarter, and for 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:42.120 whatever reason, Jokic is just being extra aggressive, and I said, 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:44.720 I think the Nuggets are gonna win this game. I'm 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:49.280 not gonna like it. And guess what, Guess what, Guess what. 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:52.880 Denver won that game. They turned the heat up and 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:55.880 blew the doors out of Toronto in the fourth and 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:59.000 they cruised to a six point win, a twenty eight 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:03.840 point turnaround like it was nothing, Like it was nothing. 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:10.040 Yokich went off my gud thirty seven, fifteen, and twelve 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:14.280 for another triple double. But more importantly, all of his 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:16.400 teammates didn't matter they were having a bad night. He 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:19.160 just decided, I kind of want to win this one, 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:21.959 like I kind of want the one seat. So all 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:25.519 of that to say, when the Denver Nuggets decide they 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:31.080 want to play basketball and do it seriously, not anybody 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:33.520 in the league stands a chance. No lead is safe, 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:39.200 no team can feel confident that Freddy Krueger's not coming. 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:42.880 It's surreal. When they decide I'm putting my teeth into 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:45.959 this meal. Nine ozer run is so normal you don't 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:48.120 even blink, you don't even notice it. Just like I 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:51.480 think they've I think they've scored like seven straight times 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:56.280 and the other team hasn't, like eh, unlike those Golden 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.360 State teams that just bombed you to death from three 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.720 Okic comes in like a snake and they squeeze you 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:08.080 to death like an anaconda with like the most gross 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:12.200 hook shots from three feet from the basket you've ever seen. 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:15.720 Like you're like, yeah, that should go in. It's literally 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:21.560 a yard stick away slow asphyxiation. Now, I am sorry, 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.920 night night sleep masks. They're putting quarters on your eyeballs. 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:30.640 Other teams, even good ones, they just get shut down completely. 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:35.200 This team feeds off Jokic, and when he gets serious, 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:38.800 they get serious, and you find a way. Did you 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:40.960 shut the other team down? No matter what they've got 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:44.400 going on, they hardly broke a sweat winning the championship 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:47.320 last year. We knew they weren't gonna have a problem 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:49.920 with Miami. We thought they might. We've made a lot 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:52.200 of noise about it, but like in our hearts, when 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.760 we went to bed, we didn't think Miami was gonna 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.240 do shit against the Nuggers, Like this team is fucking 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:02.160 cooked and it's all on you Jog's shoulders. It happens 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.040 to be on both sides of the court. We were 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:10.800 clowning me. Included Nikola Jokic's defense. But Nikola Jokic is 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:14.480 averaging like two steals game right now, Okay, that is normal. 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:16.720 He'll get you a block and two steals on a 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:21.520 night tonight. Basis he on the ball in pick and 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:26.080 roll is insane. This is what Michael Malone had to 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:29.760 say about Nicole Jkic and his defense. People criticize Nicola 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:32.000 because he doesn't average three blocks a game, but if 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.560 you really are a basketball purist and you watch the game, 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:36.240 you see he's got some of the best hands in 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.960 the game in the NBA, bar none. He's never gonna 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:42.440 out athleticize anyone, that's for fucking sure, but he is 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:48.640 going to outsmart you. And that gets us to the 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:54.279 real point of this, which is who are the top 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:58.880 three players in the league that are the most mentally 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:04.680 high IQ basketball players. There. I would contend there might 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:07.640 not even be three, there might only be two. One 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:13.160 is Lebron James. The other is Nikola Jokic. Always makes 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.680 the right decision, sees where the game is going, like 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:20.120 he've already seen it before. Some of the best vision 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:24.200 you've ever seen in Nikola Jokic, And when he decides 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:26.840 that it's winning time, he can do it all by 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:31.840 himself if necessary, Just ask Toronto. All right, let's move 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:34.240 on a lot of quick hitters from around the league 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:37.600 to get to first of all, things are going well 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:41.360 in Orlando. How do we know this? Well? The Magic 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:44.200 have moved from the high lottery to fifth in the 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:48.120 East with the chance to take the four spot. They've 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.080 gone from twenty one wins in twenty twenty twenty one 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:55.360 to thirty seven and counting this year. What's the reasons? 0:05:56.480 --> 0:06:01.480 One Paolo ben Caro Bronz Bogner sugs, But the more 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:06.840 important one is jamal Mo Mosley, a coach who has 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.800 overseen the growth of a very young team and now 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.599 he's getting a reward. He's now agreed to a four 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:14.840 year extension that will keep him in Orlando until at 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:19.200 least twenty twenty seven, twenty twenty eight. To me, this 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:22.040 is well deserved. Remember jamal Moseley wanted to be the 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:24.479 head coach of the Dallas Mavericks and they said, no, sir, 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:31.240 we're going with Jason Kidd. Wow, that's rough. Imagine Dallas 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:34.919 being coached by this Jamal Moseley. Other teams in similar spots, 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.240 Charlotte and Detroit come to mind. They're terrible. They're living 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:42.440 squarely in the bottom of a dirty dumpster in a 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:46.599 hell hole in some random third world country, but not Orlando. 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:49.440 Their only real problem is that they don't have a 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:53.080 ton of veteran leadership. They may have too much talent, 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:56.240 so they're guys like I don't know Jet Howard, who's 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.880 six foot nine. I don't even seen him on the 0:06:58.920 --> 0:06:59.440 floor at all. 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:00.360 So kut to. 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:04.440 Jamal Moseley, Kudos to the Orlando Magic, Kudos to Palo Bancaro. 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:07.280 Tough job to take for Jamal, and he's done a 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.520 phenomenal job turning things around so fucking fast in a 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.240 market that almost no one ever has thought about. Before 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:19.200 moving on, we opened up the last show with some 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.880 bad news about alper and Shanggoun, who we have been 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:23.800 loving on the heat checks since he was the Euarro 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:28.160 League MVP at eighteen, but he collided with Dolmas. He 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:30.320 felt awkwardly, had to be rolled off in the wheelchair, 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:33.239 head covered in a towel, tears in his eyes. That's 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:35.720 never a good sign. It's never a good sign. But 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.440 the news actually could be worse. Woch tweeted this out. 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:44.160 Houston Rocket center Alpern Shangun has escaped major injury on 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:47.680 his lower right leg, suffering a severely sprained ankle and 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:49.760 a bone bruise on his knee. He's been one of 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:52.040 the breakout stars in the league this year, averaging twenty 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:56.400 one to nine to five great three ankle sprain, which 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:02.120 is really bad. Not catastrophic, but pretty damn bad. That is. 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:06.880 That's like almost needing surgery, but not needing surgery. It 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:10.000 is a complete tear of the ligament. That means he's 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.040 getting shut down for the year. Probably gonna be back 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:16.160 in like six months, definitely by the time the season starts. 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:18.280 I don't doubt that he's gonna be ready for the season. 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:20.640 It sucks that he got hurt. Pretty much means that 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:24.320 the Rockets playing chances are dead. But holy moly, glad 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:26.800 it wasn't an Achilles or an acl or an mcl 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:31.000 Moving over, moving on, I went over in a recent episode. 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:33.400 Why I think Victor Weberinyama is having the second best 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:38.200 rookie season of all time behind the Man from Another Dimension? Well, Chamberlain, 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:44.360 here's another reason to love the Spurs Slenderman. On Monday night, 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:47.960 Golden State rookie Trace Jackson Davis Road drove into the 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:52.200 lane laid down a highlight worthy hammer of a dunk 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:55.680 on Victor Webbanyama. The Warriors bench, of course, went insane, 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:59.440 crowd went insane, social media lost its fucking mind. So yeah, 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:02.760 like Victor first game of probably his NBA career that 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:07.480 he got posterized, and then a fascinating thing happened after 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:11.400 the game. A French reporter asked, of course, I'll ask Victor, hey, 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:14.440 does it hurt to get dunked on like that? Mentally? 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:18.160 And Victor said, getting dunked on is nothing. It's part 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:20.320 of the game. I dunk on a lot of people, 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.000 and a lot of people dunk on me too. But 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:24.760 I think I block more off and then I get 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:28.640 dunked on. So that's the positive. I think I block 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:31.280 more off and then I get dunked on. Come see 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:34.000 me in the lane, Come see me near the rim. 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:36.960 Fam I got you. I'm sending your shit all the 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.800 way out into Row thirty four. I swear this guy. 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:44.840 I love some Victor weibin Yama. We've been pumping his 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:49.320 tires for two straight years now. It's like the world 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:52.960 combined to create a perfect basketball machine. He's like AI. 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:55.560 He's got a little supercomputer chip inside of him, and 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:58.000 he's just uploading all the raw data and putting it 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:00.840 into full execution mode. As soon as he steps on 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:03.000 the court the next time, he'll make us. This is 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:07.200 what a Greg Popovich says. We've seen this basketball automation 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:11.960 automaton once before in San Antonio. Greg Popovich remembers this. 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:15.360 He said this after the game, Victor will make a 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:17.839 step back three, and he won't act like it's the 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.480 first step back three that's ever been made. He's just 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.199 got more or less the Tim Duncan sort of attitude 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:27.920 on things. That's just who he is. Tim Duncan may 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:30.360 not have shown any emotion in his Hall of Fame career, 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:33.640 but play some talk to some people who played against him. 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:37.640 They hated playing against him Duncan. They will tell you 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:42.080 his shit talk game was stone cold. He was a killer, 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:45.400 will slice your throat. Watch you bleed over. Watch you 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:48.080 bleed out while he stands right over your dead cold body, 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:51.560 just like Victor wemen Yama. Lightning apparently does strike twice 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:57.000 in the exact same place, multiple generations in a row. 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:00.640 Time is a flat circle for the San Antonio Sports Spurs, 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:04.360 just one ping Paul ball away though for Portland, just 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:06.880 like it was for Hakeim Elijahan. So time still is 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:09.800 a flat circle for us too. It appears all right. 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:19.200 Moving on, Grant Williams is as polarizing figure. When he 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:22.199 left Boston, his former teammates joked that the locker room 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:26.040 will finally be quiet. Then he went to Dallas. His 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:29.800 teammates joked that they wish he would have stayed in Boston. 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:33.080 They did not like him much. He got moved at 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.520 the trade deadline to Charlotte, where he has been like 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:38.120 slightly effective I guess thirteen five and two thirty six 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:41.280 percent for three. But now that he's been gone a 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:43.720 hot minute from Dallas, there are some very funny stories 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:47.960 coming out about his limited time there. MAVs legend who 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:51.320 knows why he's in the building. Michael Finley dropped one 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.400 this week. One day in practice a player on our team. 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:57.199 I won't call his name out, but it was Grant Williams. 0:11:57.280 --> 0:11:59.839 He decided he wanted to get under Luca's skin. He 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.480 felt Luca didn't come that day ready to practice. So, 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:05.000 to make a long story short, this is bad. They 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:07.280 had a scrimmage going and he's talking trash to Luca 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:10.000 up and down the court. So finally Luca says, okay, 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:12.640 And I tell you, Luca decided to go on a 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.720 twenty six to six run by himself. You could ask anyone. 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:19.080 I am not exaggering. It was a twenty six six 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:23.720 run by himself. He showed us everything, the threes, the 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:30.160 post us, the floaters, everything by him self. I love 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.199 everything about this quote. I do. I love the whole 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:35.360 thing of Like, I'm not gonna say who it is, 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:38.960 but his name's Grant Williams. Did you even need to say, 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:41.320 Michael Finley that it was Grant Williams because we know 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:43.839 already that there's only one player it could have been. 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.680 You think Tim Hardaway Junior is like, Luca, you're not 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.160 in shape today. Oh what have you been eating? Like? Oh, 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:51.160 you got bags under your eyes, Luca? Oh do you 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:51.880 have your shorts on? 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:52.240 Luca. 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:56.080 No, nobody who's played with Luca that long is gonna 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.600 be dogging Luca. And then Luke gotta love Luca, just 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:01.680 being like, all right, fuck this bitch, I'm about to 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.520 just let him know. I'm ready to play whenever I 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:06.840 want to play, Okay, like I will give you the 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:12.000 business any time of the week. Never changed, Luca, never 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.600 change and never changed. Grant Williams, Boy, oh boy, do 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:19.160 you give us some good stories. Moving on, Finally, there's 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:21.720 a lot of buzz about post All Star Game unders, 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:28.000 which means low scoring games post All Star Game, abysmally 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:30.640 low scoring games. We got a seventy two to seventy 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:33.120 nine game the other day. We got to watch Philly 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:35.160 play in the garden, and that's what it was. They 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:39.160 scored seventy nine points twice. Remember a couple of months 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:41.560 ago when everyone was upset because the scoring was crazy, 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:45.000 when Luca scored seventy three in a game by himself. Well, 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:48.280 it's not just Tom Haberstrow who's breaking down these numbers anymore. 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:52.199 It's a story that's picking up steam. And it was 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:56.000 also Ethan Strauss who wrote the original article. Mark Stein 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.440 joined in on his substack and wrote this total scoring 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:02.880 across the league had significantly decreased since the All Star break. 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:05.800 Before the All Star Break, teams averaged one hundred and 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:08.640 fifteen point five points per game and twenty two point 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:12.000 seven free throws per game league wide. The NBA's composite 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:15.680 scoring average hadn't been that high at the break since 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:22.160 the nineteen sixty nine nineteen seventy season. So apparently the 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:27.080 drop of a three point eighty eight points per game 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:31.840 is the largest dip in the post All Star game 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:37.200 period in NBA history. Probably nothing happened to precipitate that, though, 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:41.760 Like that's just probably completely random for I don't know, 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:45.600 the last third of the season for thirty teams. Like, 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:49.160 probably nothing to see here, right, Like those watching the 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:52.200 games know that the refs as a whole probably just 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:55.880 calling the game exactly the same, not swallowing their whistles 0:14:55.880 --> 0:15:01.080 at all. Why though, Why are the refs swallow their whistles? 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:03.480 I don't know, Like no way. It was like a 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:07.200 mandate from the league that got embarrassed by one hundred 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:10.560 and fifty five one hundred and forty eight game in 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.200 which everyone claims that there was no defense being played 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:16.080 and they never wanted to play defense. There's no way 0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:19.360 that Adam Silver decided to make a call and say 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.480 I'm tired of this shit, right There's no reason for that. 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:25.440 What we do know is that the NBA games right 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:29.240 now are slog Those two sixers Knicks games were basically unwatchable. 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:31.400 In the first game, there was one hundred and fifty 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:34.880 two points scored, which would be a low under in 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:38.880 an NCAA basketball game in the MEAC. In the second, 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:41.640 the Knicks scored one hundred and nine and the game 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.960 still was one hundred and it was twenty points under 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:47.720 the total score that the Vegas thought it would be. 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:50.600 So yeah, this kind of changes everything we were led 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:52.840 to believe. This was the new age of scoring. Anytime, 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:55.840 any point, somebody go out for sixty seventy, When would 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:58.480 somebody score one hundred? To replay of a Tuesday Night 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:01.000 Blackout special at nineteen nine too that you didn't get 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:04.760 to see until the next day. God, I hope this 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:08.360 trend does not continue. What's happening with the NBA. Let's 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:11.600 get back to scoring, folks. I want to see some buckets. 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:15.040 And finally, we end the episode with an interview with 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:20.200 Sports illustrates basketball insider Robin Lundberg. Robin joined bet MGM 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:21.920 the night where I was joined by my co host 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.000 Nick Ashew. So let's get right. 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:30.840 Into Robin Ludberg jumps on with us now SI now, 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:34.600 And I'm not even gonna focus on this whole Zion 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:36.480 thing because nobody wants to hear about my bet other 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:38.640 than what it's done. It's like hearing about somebody's fantasy team. 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.680 But I do want to get into what happened last night, Robin, 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:44.720 between the Celtics and the Nuggets and what a lot 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.080 of people look at as a potential finals matchup. Now, 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:49.360 it was a close game once again, we're talking about 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:52.800 Jason Tatum in the clutch again, and you sit there 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:54.720 and wonder whether that is going to continue to be 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.240 a theme the entire year. But just big picture, what 0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:00.800 did you take away from that matchup between those two teams, 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:02.720 given the potential that is a finals matchup. 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:05.119 Look, I think it's actually a little bit more about 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:08.200 Denver than it is about Boston, and nobody's beating the 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:10.359 Nuggets in a seven game series. I mean, I guess 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:14.120 crazier things have happened, but it's hard they don't get 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:16.840 covered in the same way. We still talk about Lebron 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:19.360 and Steph and all these other people all the time, 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:21.800 and we don't really talk about the Nuggets. But when 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:25.200 you look at something that is unstoppable, the two man 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:28.399 game of Jokich and Murray is about as unstoppable as 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.840 anything I can recall in my NBA fandom, because Jokich 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:35.119 is so big, you know, Trista had replied to a 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:37.080 tweet I had last night that I said, Jokich is 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:40.440 a combination of Shack, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson. He's 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:43.439 so big, like Shack, he always gets exactly where he 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:46.119 wants to be on the floor and controls what he's doing. 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:48.400 He can see the floor like Magic, passes the ball, 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.399 and he's got that touch like Bird. He's maybe he 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:52.199 has the best touch of a big man ever. And 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:55.360 then you partner him up with a point guard who 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:57.879 can play pick and roll, pick and pop, break you 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:00.520 down off the dribble, and a four man and who 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:03.879 can rim dive and catch it and finish in Aaron Gordon. 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:05.520 It's just really tough to stop them. 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:07.720 On the Celtics side of things, it's some of the 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:10.600 same problems we've seen throughout this era where they don't 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:13.840 really have that lead guard who's going to get things 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:17.080 under control and break it down in the clutch time, 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:19.840 and you go to the wings and Jason Tatum just 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:23.280 hasn't been that guy in those spots. So, as I've 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:26.679 said before, I think Jimmy Butler and the Heat have 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:29.600 a better chance of beating the Celtics than the Celtics 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:31.120 do of beating the Nuggets. 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:37.840 Celtics are Heat Nuggets. Exact result, Robin is fifty to one. 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:40.560 We threw that out there last night. Ryan, our other 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:42.840 co host who's out tonight. He hated it, but I 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.480 kind of love it. So I do want to ask 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:49.639 you about this Pelicans team, because right now they're beating 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:51.920 the hell out of the Sixers ninety two seventy four, 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:55.920 but they've kind of snuck up on everyone pretty much 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:59.280 the entire season until maybe the last two weeks. They've 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:01.760 just been sitting in the middle of the five spot, 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:07.480 hanging around offensively, okay, his point Zion has been working defensively, 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:10.520 eighth best in the league, second in the league in deflections. 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:13.600 How high or how far do you think that this 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:16.440 Pelicans team can go? Because they're a lot bigger than 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:18.879 some of the other teams that they might face in 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:20.639 the first or second round of the playoffs. 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.080 Well, you know, it's another one of those players, Zion, 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:25.440 that we get caught up and talking about everything except 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.760 for what's actually happening on the court. Now that he's quietly, 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:31.919 you know, they're quietly getting that done. And he's always 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:34.600 been a very efficient monster when he's been out there. 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:38.080 We've just discussed, you know how, his calorie intake for 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:42.560 whatever reason, and of course his injury and that that 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.280 is a legitimate concern with him going forward. But one 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:48.359 thing I think we've seen in today's league is that 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.280 they have been successful at creating parody. I mean, you 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:53.959 look at the odds there on the side of the screen, 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:56.440 so many of those teams are kind of bunched up. 0:19:56.640 --> 0:19:58.840 Like I said, I don't think anybody's beating the Nuggets, 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:00.680 but the odds makers will tell you the Clippers aren't 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:02.439 too far off. And then when you look at the 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:05.680 rest of these teams, they're all right in that mix 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:09.240 around the same odds. So do I think the Pelicans 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:11.280 are going to make an extended run. No, I don't, 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:14.080 because if they run into the Wolves I like the 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:15.800 Wolves better if they run into the Thunder. 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:17.080 The Thunder have been a better team. 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:19.880 If they run into the Suns, the Sons have Kdie, 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:23.639 if they run into the Lakers have Lebron James. So 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:26.840 in those kind of series, I think that's always going 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.320 to be the equalizer, which team has the better and 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:32.720 proven players. But they're not that far off, and they're 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:35.960 certainly in that grouping. And I think between the play 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:39.920 in tournament and what they've done with the salary cap 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:42.640 and some of the CBA changes, one thing I think 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:46.520 the NBA has successfully done is create parody where we're 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:49.360 no longer talking about the star stack teams as much, 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:52.240 or can we get three guys together on the same team, 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:55.280 or it's just this team and that team and nobody else. 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:58.320 I think there is a big mix of squads that 0:20:58.359 --> 0:20:59.560 are on the same playing field. 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:01.760 It's it's weird to look at the standings now in 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:04.280 the West and we're looking at Lakers and Warriors just 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:06.679 on the back end, and then it's the Timberwolves in 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:09.359 Thunder in the one to two spots right now in 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:11.720 the Western Conference. Now, I thought the Thunder would be 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:13.359 much better this year. I thought maybe like five or 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:15.439 six seed. I didn't expect them to burst into this 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:18.879 spot this quickly. They're an incredible team to watch. Minnesota 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:22.080 obviously taken a huge blow with Karl Anthony Towns missing 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:24.560 about a month. But let's say that Karl Anthony Towns 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:27.080 is back healthy by the time we get to the playoffs. 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:31.000 Good to go Minnesota Oklahoma City at full strength. Out 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:32.840 of those two teams, we know young teams kind of 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:35.119 have to go through a couple of seasons of just 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:37.400 losses and learning what it's like to play in the playoffs, 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:39.560 very different than the regular season. But out of those 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:42.480 two teams, the Timberwolves in the Thunder, what would be 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:44.080 the team that you'd have at least a little more 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:46.520 confidence in in the actual playoffs. 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:49.160 I think I go with what you see my instinct, 0:21:49.240 --> 0:21:51.760 says the Thunder, because I do really like that team. 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:54.159 But I think your point is well taken, where the 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:58.240 Wolves at least have dipped their toes in the water 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:00.880 a little bit, and you know, Root Gobert is another 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:03.720 guy who's been there, done that, been around the block. 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:07.280