Speaker 1: Come on, these speakers are fire.
Speaker 2: On this episode of the Heat Check, the NBA finally
Speaker 2: got off their ass and released the schedule. I've been asking,
Speaker 2: We've been calling for it. We know that they didn't
Speaker 2: want to do it because they don't know where Kevin
Speaker 2: Durant's gonna go, and that has changed their entire course
Speaker 2: of plans. But here we are. We also get into
Speaker 2: the player who will single handedly sink somewhere between four
Speaker 2: and eight teams this year just for the chance to
Speaker 2: draft him. And we also break down the latest tea
Speaker 2: about Ben Simmons and Tyler my hero. Things are still
Speaker 2: popping in the streets all the way in August. Some
Speaker 2: say I am the only one right now making NBA podcasts.
Speaker 2: Everyone else's on vacation twenty two, twenty twenty three season
Speaker 2: is here, So do me a favor and drop that beat.
Speaker 2: Uh Rihanna should not happen Spotify. How do we get
Speaker 2: CDs skipping on Spotify? Jesus, I just had PTSD for
Speaker 2: my high school years. Really quick. If you're old enough
Speaker 2: to have a CD, think about the last time you
Speaker 2: heard a song skip and how that just messed up
Speaker 2: the entire vibe of your life and how we don't
Speaker 2: really have to deal with that anymore except for when
Speaker 2: the Internet goes down. So just real quick, NBA season has.
Speaker 2: The schedule has Finally, that means the NBA season is
Speaker 2: right around the corner and we got it in. They'd
Speaker 2: like to do it like drugs, just a quick, little
Speaker 2: slow trickle. First and foremost. They give you the Christmas
Speaker 2: Day slates, Get a couple of Christmas Day games, interesting
Speaker 2: Election Day evening slates, which is just a wild new
Speaker 2: packaging of marketing. Here finally, key matchups before they drop
Speaker 2: the whole enchilada in our laps, let's break it down.
Speaker 2: Christmas Day. Christmas Day has gotta be the NBA's version
Speaker 2: of NFL on Thanksgiving Full Day of hoops? Is there
Speaker 2: someone over there that I don't know? Is there anybody
Speaker 2: over there? Oh? I thought you saw somebody. Christmas Day
Speaker 2: has become the NBA version of NFL Thanksgiving Full Day
Speaker 2: of basketball. This year, seven of the final eight teams
Speaker 2: alive in the playoffs last season got Christmas Day games.
Speaker 2: The odd man out is, of course, the most boring
Speaker 2: NBA team that is succeeding the Miami Heat. Unfortunately, poor
Speaker 2: pat Riley he makes the Eastern Conference Finals multiple times
Speaker 2: in multiple years, has a Jimmy Buckets three pointer away
Speaker 2: from going back to the finals again. Can't even get
Speaker 2: a squeak. Can't even get a peep of the biggest
Speaker 2: day of the NBA season. Here's the Christmas Day rundown
Speaker 2: seventy six Ers Knicks. I was gonna wait for the
Speaker 2: full slate for me to tell you before I gave
Speaker 2: a reaction, But ugh, ugh, who wants to see that?
Speaker 2: Does anyone? Does anyone care about that tea?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: That matchup is like the least asked for matchup. At
Speaker 2: least like, give me the Atlanta Hawks versus the Knicks.
Speaker 2: I don't even care that they're good, just at least
Speaker 2: the tea the Sixers versus the Knicks at msg ugh
Speaker 2: ros Lakers at Mavericks. Why do the Lakers get a
Speaker 2: Christmas Day game? They shouldn't. We need to yeah, money, money,
Speaker 2: We need to stricken them from that, We need to
Speaker 2: strip them until you start making the playoffs. You can't
Speaker 2: get a Christmas Day game if you miss the fucking playoffs. What.
Speaker 2: I didn't even notice that until it just now because
Speaker 2: I was so deep in the weeds in the full season,
Speaker 2: But that is not a game that anyone is circling
Speaker 2: on their schedule unless they're a die hard Purple and
Speaker 2: Gold fan of the Lakers. Sun's at Nuggets I guess,
Speaker 2: I mean, okay, that's fine, Like that was the original
Speaker 2: Suns and four guy, so maybe holl show back up.
Speaker 2: I don't know what's happening here, but the final two
Speaker 2: amazing Bucks at Celtics and Eastern Conference semi matchup went
Speaker 2: seven games, some people are saying. Some people are saying
Speaker 2: that if Chris Middleton didn't go down, then the Bucks
Speaker 2: would have won and probably would have gone back to
Speaker 2: the finals. But not me. I am much too classy
Speaker 2: for that. But some are saying that now we get
Speaker 2: to see what a real matchup looks like with a
Speaker 2: fully Milwaukee team versus a fully baked Celtics team. Also
Speaker 2: really fun considering that maybe Kevin Durant is there at
Speaker 2: this point, who knows, not sure. And then finally the
Speaker 2: Memphis Grizzlies versus the Warriors. I am so excited to
Speaker 2: see a fully healthy Ja Morant play this Warriors team
Speaker 2: at Chase Center. This is the game we have all
Speaker 2: been hoping for and praying for and waiting for so
Speaker 2: Ja Morant and the Warriors, well, really, the Memphis Grizzlies
Speaker 2: and the Warriors out as a whole have been going
Speaker 2: back and forth all off season, creating a little drama
Speaker 2: between the two. There's a rivalry, they're saying. Ja Moran
Speaker 2: is saying that the Warriors have a spot in their heads.
Speaker 2: The Memphis Grizzlies live in their heads. Rent Free, you've
Speaker 2: got issues with Klay Thompson and Jaron Jackson Junior going
Speaker 2: back and forth on Twitter. I wondered everyone's wondering will
Speaker 2: these two teams get the NBA Christmas Day game? Like
Speaker 2: jaw was saying, yes, they did, and John Rant tweeted
Speaker 2: at Draymond afterwards and said, we got what we wanted, Dre.
Speaker 2: Draymond responded, that's the power of your voice, young king.
Speaker 2: Let's go bring the fam to the crib for dinner
Speaker 2: after If you think things are nicely nicey between these
Speaker 2: two teams, because they have a little nice Twitter exchange,
Speaker 2: remember that the grizz have this quote from Draymond plastered
Speaker 2: on a chalkboard inside of their weight room that says, quote,
Speaker 2: Memphis is going to get their reality check and then
Speaker 2: they have tally marks right next to it. I don't
Speaker 2: know what that means. It's probably like pr or like weight.
Speaker 2: How many five hundred pound reps Ja Morant did, It's
Speaker 2: like seventy five on the tally chart. It's gonna be
Speaker 2: the best game on the slate. I'm gonna do whatever
Speaker 2: I can in my power to go to this game.
Speaker 2: One because I love the Memphis Grizzlies. Two because I
Speaker 2: have a Warriors Finals ticket already in my pocket. Two
Speaker 2: Warriors fans hate me, so why not show up at
Speaker 2: Chase Center See how it feels to be there since
Speaker 2: the Suns in four, nine and one fiasco all went down.
Speaker 2: I love this for both teams. New sneaky rivalry I
Speaker 2: think will continue to persist throughout time. Super fun schedule
Speaker 2: outside of the whole Knicks and the Sun's Nuggets thing.
Speaker 2: Opening night games are gonna be fun as well. Here's
Speaker 2: a sample of what we have to look forward to
Speaker 2: here as some select games that I picked out. Phoenix
Speaker 2: at Dallas is October nineteenth. The last time that we
Speaker 2: saw these two teams play. The entire Phoenix Sun's roster
Speaker 2: had COVID. Nobody knew many Williams was throwing DeAndre eighton
Speaker 2: underneath the bus with low key, shady comments. The world
Speaker 2: thought DeAndre Ayton would never be in a Sun's uniform
Speaker 2: ever again, and things seemed to spiral. The championship windows
Speaker 2: started to close for the Phoenix Suns after this game
Speaker 2: Game seven against the Dallas Mavericks, and now at least
Speaker 2: we know Suns are running it back one more time.
Speaker 2: The MAVs have no Jalen Brunson, So now it's a
Speaker 2: steady dose of Probably Luca is, let's be honest, sixty
Speaker 2: pounds lighter now than he was coming into camp last
Speaker 2: year because he came in thirty pounds heavier than he
Speaker 2: was supposed to be at the start of camp, they
Speaker 2: said last year. And now he's probably twenty to twenty
Speaker 2: five thirty pounds lighter than he was at the start
Speaker 2: or at peak season. So you're talking about a sixty
Speaker 2: pounds swing for Luka Donciins. What's that mean? Nightmares for
Speaker 2: the rest of the league is what that means? That
Speaker 2: means Luka Donciins is gonna win MVP. If we've only
Speaker 2: seen fat fluffy eating Croatian sweet treat, Luca hanging on
Speaker 2: the beach and now Lucas I'm taking his freaking training Seriously,
Speaker 2: Luca is going to set the world on fire. I
Speaker 2: tell you what, that's gonna be a game you might
Speaker 2: when I give you this matchup, you're gonna wonder why
Speaker 2: I even said it. Portland at Sacramento October nineteenth. What
Speaker 2: a wild opener. This is like like, no one cares
Speaker 2: about US Portland Trail Blazers, No one cares. I love Sacramento,
Speaker 2: I do. I've said so many positive things about Sacramento,
Speaker 2: rooting for them. They're the little engine that won't and
Speaker 2: and I'm really hoping that they turn things around. No
Speaker 2: shade to sack Town. But when you have to play
Speaker 2: the Kings on opening night, it's bad in the streets
Speaker 2: for your team. The Blazers and the Kings. They were
Speaker 2: just the last two teams left after the NBA picked
Speaker 2: their opening night matchups. It was like, oh, who's left?
Speaker 2: Kings Blazers. Sounds fine. They're in the same division that
Speaker 2: nobody even knows exists. I bet you don't even know
Speaker 2: that the Northwest Division exists in the NBA, and that
Speaker 2: the winner of the Northwest Division gets something that will
Speaker 2: be decided at a later date. It's true. The sad
Speaker 2: part is the Blazers played the Utah Jazz last year
Speaker 2: on opening Night, the number one overall seed in the
Speaker 2: prior year. That's how far the Blazers have fallen. Damian
Speaker 2: Lillard just gets a little stomach injury and all of
Speaker 2: a sudden things come rolling down. That is the effects
Speaker 2: of tanking. You are now an irrelevant team you decided
Speaker 2: to go after Oh yeah, how many games into the season.
Speaker 2: By the way, do you think it takes for us
Speaker 2: to see shade and sharp all that that tanking yielded us?
Speaker 2: If you want to say maybe I'm pessimistic, maybe I am,
Speaker 2: But that is a shady ass matchup for a team
Speaker 2: that has been to the playoffs every year outside of
Speaker 2: last Sheer Flight the last two decades. Celtics at home
Speaker 2: against the seventy six ers on October eighteenth, got of
Speaker 2: a low key little rivalry between these two teams. And
Speaker 2: maybe maybe we'll see Katie and Kelly Green then if
Speaker 2: if that's the case, we're gonna see Kevin Durant facing
Speaker 2: his new bestie, James Harden. He's been parleying in Europe
Speaker 2: with him all year, all summer he's been in London,
Speaker 2: he's been in sandro Pei. They're going to soccer matches,
Speaker 2: they're seeing new movies and concerts. Travis Scott. I thought
Speaker 2: Travis Scott was canceled. What happened to that? Anyway, game's
Speaker 2: gonna be out outrageous through the roof New York. At
Speaker 2: Memphis opening night October nineteenth, someone said, oh, look, Memphis
Speaker 2: gets a bye bye week. That's rude. That is not
Speaker 2: even anything I would ever say, But that's funny. So
Speaker 2: I figured I would make mention of it on the podcast.
Speaker 2: I like Brunson on the Knicks, here's a little here's
Speaker 2: a little inside behind the curtains. So I met up
Speaker 2: with a couple of people. I'm not gonna say who,
Speaker 2: but I met up with a couple of prominent people
Speaker 2: on the Knicks, and I was like, oh, love the
Speaker 2: brunts and pickup. That's awesome, good stuff there, And do
Speaker 2: you think anything else gonna come down the horizon? What's
Speaker 2: happening there? And they were like, gotta get Tibbs some
Speaker 2: more talent on this team. Have they added more talent
Speaker 2: since then? No? They have not. Do they feel if
Speaker 2: you're looking at it and you say Are the New
Speaker 2: York Knicks satisfied with this current roster? Absolutely fucking not.
Speaker 2: And the Memphis Grizzlies are a wagon. This is gonna
Speaker 2: be an absolute beat down. But remember New York looked good.
Speaker 2: Remember Bing Bong Bing Bong early early season Knicks or
Speaker 2: something to behold. So maybe this is a spot where
Speaker 2: the Knicks can actually get one as underdogs New Orleans
Speaker 2: at Brooklyn is October nineteenth. They're billing this game. This
Speaker 2: is how you know. It's just they're billing this as
Speaker 2: Zion versus Ben Simmons. That just tells you everything you
Speaker 2: need to know about the state of the Brooklyn Nets.
Speaker 2: Ben Simmons. They're marketing, We're marketing Ben Simmons. Now, does
Speaker 2: anyone actually believe that Zion or Ben Simmons is even
Speaker 2: gonna play these games? What? Don't even get me started
Speaker 2: on the fact that Zion is now telling the world
Speaker 2: that we bullied him because he can't be in shape
Speaker 2: and he went to a dark place, which we know
Speaker 2: just leads him to eating more and being less in shape.
Speaker 2: If you don't want people to point out that you're
Speaker 2: three hundred and seventy five pounds, maybe don't be three
Speaker 2: hundred and seventy five pounds and be a professional athlete,
Speaker 2: be a professional eater. Miami at Chicago, October nineteenth. This
Speaker 2: is a boring matchup. Unfortunately, that's a hit. I so
Speaker 2: want to be excited about this matchup, but they are
Speaker 2: just not really that exciting. I had two weeks where
Speaker 2: I liked the Bulls when DeRozan was hitting game winners
Speaker 2: and they look like they could be fun. And Lonzo
Speaker 2: Ball had two functioning knees and Alex Crusoe hadn't had
Speaker 2: a concussion yet, and Vucevich wasn't a defensive liability, or
Speaker 2: at least we didn't know how bad he was. I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't even know why this is an opening. This
Speaker 2: is the I guess, second tier level of the shady
Speaker 2: matchup between Sacramento and Portland. Like this is about as
Speaker 2: exciting as that to me. I might even watch Sacramento
Speaker 2: Portland over this, truthfully. Lakers at Clippers October twentieth. Kawhi's
Speaker 2: return is against ad Lebron and perhaps Russ Perhaps maybe
Speaker 2: he'll be Hey, maybe sit these out for a little
Speaker 2: while we're working on something the back burner just don't
Speaker 2: bring any attention but just maybe take a vacation like
Speaker 2: Tom Brady did in the beginning of training camp. They
Speaker 2: I like that they open against each other because they
Speaker 2: do this every year and that means no travel for
Speaker 2: either one of them. It's like the one short cut
Speaker 2: loophole that they each have. How many times they need
Speaker 2: to do this, I don't know. Should be a fun
Speaker 2: game for the Clippers, not so fun. This is the
Speaker 2: smack your face matchup for the Lakers, Like, oh shit,
Speaker 2: we really don't got it. Like that question that I
Speaker 2: have is how many more games will it take for
Speaker 2: Anthony Davis to be in street clothes? Yeah? Like game
Speaker 2: four games? Maybe maybe this game, maybe he'll take a
Speaker 2: hard fall and he'll be in street clothes by halftime.
Speaker 2: Milwaukee at Philadelphia October twentieth. These last two opening games
Speaker 2: are pretty exciting. On October twentieth, TNT headlined by Bucks
Speaker 2: and Sixers. I'm really excited to see if James hardness
Speaker 2: fitting into his warm up suit. I am excited to
Speaker 2: see whether Joel Embiid is fully healthy, how he's feel
Speaker 2: after being snubbed from the French national team in the summer.
Speaker 2: So that's a fun matchup as well. Other key matchup
Speaker 2: dates to circle on your calendar. Orlando at Atlanta's October
Speaker 2: twenty first. So you might say, why is that a
Speaker 2: key matchup? This is how you know that the league
Speaker 2: lies to us when they say they don't want drama.
Speaker 2: They don't want any drama. They just want to focus
Speaker 2: on the games. They just want to make sure that
Speaker 2: we highlight the elite athleticism from these young players. Why
Speaker 2: do we have to make everything about storylines? You're I mean,
Speaker 2: you're lying. It's Dejonte versus Poollo. After Jonte and Palo
Speaker 2: get into some little scuffle in the middle of a
Speaker 2: pro am and then they go back and forth on
Speaker 2: Twitter and Instagram and all the little social media apps
Speaker 2: like you don't want to wait for this little thing
Speaker 2: to cool off. No, you want to stoke the fire
Speaker 2: and have them play the first weekend of the NBA
Speaker 2: season so that everybody can talk about it. We can
Speaker 2: put it on our little pregame panels. Probably TNT Charles
Speaker 2: Barkley making fun of Pallo making fun of Dejonte. Two
Speaker 2: Pacific Northwest guys from Seattle have never accomplished anything yet
Speaker 2: in the NBA level, and all of a sudden, they
Speaker 2: want to like create something. The league is the drama?
Speaker 2: Am I the drama? I don't think I'm the drama. Yes, yes,
Speaker 2: Adam Silver, you are Utah at Minnesota. The Rudy Gobert
Speaker 2: revenge game example number two of the league deciding to
Speaker 2: capitalize on drama. Yes, Like, is Donovan Mitchell still playing?
Speaker 2: If Donovan Mitchell is still playing for the Utah Jazz
Speaker 2: at this moment, that will be an electric factory. Those
Speaker 2: two going after each other. Rudy Gobert hard fouling Donovan
Speaker 2: Mitchell in the paint, talking about how he never paid
Speaker 2: as to him, so many opportunities for jokes. Maybe Donovan
Speaker 2: Mitchell is not going to be there, but I really
Speaker 2: really hope he is. Houston versus Dallas November sixteen. People
Speaker 2: are billing this the Christian would Revenge game. I actually
Speaker 2: don't know if this is a key date. I just
Speaker 2: thought I would. I thought I would label it the
Speaker 2: Christian would Revenge Game. Bobon's return to Dallas. He was
Speaker 2: a beloved figure for the MAVs. I mean, there's not
Speaker 2: going to be many many dates that you want to
Speaker 2: circle on your calendar of the Houston Rockets. They will
Speaker 2: be fun. They will not win many games. They'll probably
Speaker 2: be fun to like a Little League pass team, but
Speaker 2: they're not going to accomplish months. We'll talk more about
Speaker 2: them in the Victor Wambaiana Sweepstakes in a bit. Brooklyn
Speaker 2: at Philadelphia November twenty second. Yes, Ben Simmons return to Philadelphia.
Speaker 2: This is a game I might go to. It's a
Speaker 2: game I might have to pull up in a Ben
Speaker 2: Simmons Jersey, Philadelphia, Ben Simmons Jersey and see what's up.
Speaker 2: Hostile environment in Philly. I don't know if he'll make
Speaker 2: the trip ever to Philly. If I was him, I
Speaker 2: would always schedule doctor's appointments for or dentists and dentists
Speaker 2: appointments for these dates like I have a toothache. I
Speaker 2: have to go see moy orthodontist. Uh, I'm sorry, I
Speaker 2: can't make it. Was really looking forward to it. I
Speaker 2: would be shocked to see him at this game. I've
Speaker 2: said this story a million times. I asked Ben Simmons
Speaker 2: one question about him and his relationship with Kendall Jenner,
Speaker 2: and he literally picked up his suitcase and he left.
Speaker 2: There's no shot he's there, right, The odds on Ben
Speaker 2: Simmons playing in this game at Wells Fargo Arena. It's
Speaker 2: gotta be like plus four fifty. I'll give you five
Speaker 2: to one odds to this. Clippers at Golden State November
Speaker 2: twenty three, probably a preview of the Western Conference Finals.
Speaker 2: These two teams have three of the two of the
Speaker 2: three best odds to win it all. Golden State plus
Speaker 2: six hundred, Clippers plus seven hundred to win it all. Yes,
Speaker 2: it is true. So that's gonna be a really fun game.
Speaker 2: I can't wait to see Paul George. I can't wait
Speaker 2: to see Kawhi and all of the depth that they've
Speaker 2: added since Kawhi went down with Norm Powell and Robert
Speaker 2: Covington and all those guys. Boston at Golden State is
Speaker 2: December tenth, NBA Finals return game. Kind of surprise, this
Speaker 2: wasn't a Christmas Day game, but again, NBA is stoking
Speaker 2: the tea and Memphis is a hotter matchup with Golden
Speaker 2: State than Boston, And if they were to do it,
Speaker 2: they would have had to play Golden State would have
Speaker 2: had to play in Boston. And you can't have the
Speaker 2: defending champs play in Boston when unless you're the Milwaukee
Speaker 2: Bucks because I think they did that last year. That's
Speaker 2: just a shady thing to do to a defending champ,
Speaker 2: so I'm glad they didn't do that. He played the
Speaker 2: Spurs in Mexico City December seventeenth. The g League has
Speaker 2: a team right now in Mexico City this year. This
Speaker 2: is probably not a game I would travel to Mexico
Speaker 2: to watch, given that I've already referenced how boring the
Speaker 2: Heat are to watch play, and that the Spurs are,
Speaker 2: even when they are elite, very boring, and now they
Speaker 2: are very boring and tanking. So probably not a game
Speaker 2: that you're going to circle on your calendar to travel to.
Speaker 2: But the league is also just an interesting wrinkle not
Speaker 2: going to have any games on Election Day this year.
Speaker 2: They are going to be playing on Monday on what
Speaker 2: the NBA is deeming a civic engagement night that will
Speaker 2: encourage people to vote in the midterms. Kind of love
Speaker 2: that the entire schedule, by the way, is downloadable in
Speaker 2: PDF form from NBA dot com for both dates and
Speaker 2: by team. I would love to know, dm me get
Speaker 2: me on Twitter. What games are you guys looking forward
Speaker 2: to the most? Which games that I leave out? What
Speaker 2: team do you think has the least amount of nationally
Speaker 2: televised games that should have more, and who has It's
Speaker 2: the Lakers. We know that the Lakers have too many
Speaker 2: nationally and don't even answer. We know the Lakers have
Speaker 2: the most amount of nationally televised games that they show
Speaker 2: do not deserve, but yes, check that out, hopefully seeing
Speaker 2: you at some of these games. I am so glad
Speaker 2: that the NBA season is fully here now that we
Speaker 2: have the schedule in play,