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Speaker 1: Let's break out the panic button because some of the

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Speaker 1: NBA's best teams have major question marks. Well, the Lakers

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis have to sit an extended period because of

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Speaker 1: a persistent injury. Brooklyn's Kevin Durant returns, but he's injured,

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Speaker 1: and the Nets have some last year Clipper vibes going on.

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Speaker 1: And in the wide open East, the Celtics are just average.

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Speaker 1: Let's break it down for you. I'm tas Mellus and

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Speaker 1: this is what you need to know in the NBA.

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Speaker 1: For Monday, February fifteenth, the Lakers seven game win streak

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Speaker 1: was finally snapped. But what is really noteworthy is that

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis left the game with achilles tendonosis. He's going

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Speaker 1: to undergo an MRI on Monday, but his lower right

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Speaker 1: leg has been bothering him for weeks. He sat out

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Speaker 1: a couple games, but returned versus Memphis on Friday and

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Speaker 1: looked great a thirty five point monstrous performance, but he

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Speaker 1: reveal that the injury got sore late in the game

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Speaker 1: and then implied, Hey, this is just the way it's

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Speaker 1: gonna be. But after he bumped legs with Nikola Jokich,

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Speaker 1: it was too much to handle, so he left in

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Speaker 1: the second quarter of that game on Sunday. So my

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Speaker 1: question is it time to rest Anthony Davis. Now, I

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Speaker 1: grew up with some Greeks, none were named Achilles tendonosis,

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Speaker 1: but it sure looks that way. I doubt it's gonna

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Speaker 1: get better by playing. A player can't have in the

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Speaker 1: back of his mind that his injury is just gonna

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Speaker 1: bother him late in games, especially going into the postseason.

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Speaker 1: So I imagine ad rest, But that puts an even

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Speaker 1: bigger burden on thirty six year old Lebron who hasn't

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Speaker 1: missed the game this season. And Lebron has to sit

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Speaker 1: at some point short offseason, and most NBA players, especially stars,

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Speaker 1: are managing their bodies and sitting. I get it. It

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Speaker 1: helps his MVP chances if he plays every single game,

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Speaker 1: but the freshness for the playoffs in May matters and

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Speaker 1: more for Lebron James, that one seed in the West

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Speaker 1: looks like it's up for grabs, whether it's the Las

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Speaker 1: or the Utah who have been playing out of their heads.

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Speaker 1: Utah has won eighteen of nineteen. The Clippers have injury

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Speaker 1: problems of their own. Paul George has missed five games

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Speaker 1: with a foot toe bone adema swelling thing happening. Then

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Speaker 1: Kawhi sat versus the Calves two on Sunday, but the

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Speaker 1: Clippers still had enough to get a win. The Calves

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Speaker 1: have lost seven straight and have plummeted down the standings.

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Speaker 1: Let's jump to the East for a second. The Boston Celtics.

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Speaker 1: They lost to the Eastern conferences two worst teams this

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Speaker 1: past weekend, the Pistons and the Wizards. They had thirty

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Speaker 1: assists verst the Raptors on Thursday moving that thing, and

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Speaker 1: then twenty nine combined over the next two games on

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Speaker 1: the weekend. So when Jalen Brown was asked about the

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Speaker 1: lack of ball movement, this is how long he took

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Speaker 1: to answer the question, don't worry your podcast isn't broken.

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Speaker 1: This is how long he took no comment. I think

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Speaker 1: a huge issue for the Boston Celtics is that Marcus

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Speaker 1: Smart isn't playing. He is their lifeblood. He makes them

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Speaker 1: go when the ball isn't moving, When their three stars

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Speaker 1: are trying to get their own shot, Marcus Smart will

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Speaker 1: undoubtedly move that thing. And thirteen and thirteen isn't that

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Speaker 1: far back in the Eastern Conference. Yeah, they're five hundred,

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Speaker 1: but this is a wild year in the East. There's

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Speaker 1: so much parody that they can return, get healthy and

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Speaker 1: jump up in the Eastern Conference standings. But the worry

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Speaker 1: some parts this team is known to go a little

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Speaker 1: bit ISO heavy. Their offense is just freaking average this

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Speaker 1: season and an even bigger worry for a Brad Stevens team.

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Speaker 1: They have dropped out of the top ten defensively this season.

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Speaker 1: They need to get back healthy pronto. Hopefully Marcus Smart

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Speaker 1: can return soon. Speaking of their heart beat back, the

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Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets got Kevin Durant back. Now, Kevin Durant their

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Speaker 1: best player for sure, but I also think he's their

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Speaker 1: vocal leader on the court. He has matured since he

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Speaker 1: played with the Golden State Warriors and he's really their

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Speaker 1: best defender, which is a little bit bonker. So on Saturday,

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Speaker 1: when he returned to Golden State for the first time,

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Speaker 1: it was a nice moment and he destroyed the Golden

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Speaker 1: State Warriors. Although he didn't have a great shooting night,

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Speaker 1: there was no chance for the Warriors to beat the

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Speaker 1: Nets in this game. It was a seventeen point win,

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Speaker 1: but the margin was even bigger than that. However, Kevin

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Speaker 1: Durant heard his hamstring in this game and he will

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Speaker 1: miss at least the next two games. To me, this

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Speaker 1: situation has some serious similarities to the Clipper season that

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Speaker 1: fell apart last year. Paul George and Kawhi Leonard went

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Speaker 1: into the bubble having played only thirty two games together.

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Speaker 1: And even if everything goes perfectly health wise for the

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Speaker 1: rest of the season for the Brooklyn Nets, they're big

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Speaker 1: three off Kyrie, James Harden, and Kevin Durant will have

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Speaker 1: only played fewer than fifty games together. They've played seven

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Speaker 1: games together to this point, well six and a half really,

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Speaker 1: and they are so good. I think they should still

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Speaker 1: be the favorites in the Eastern Conference because Philly has questions. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: Boston has questions, the Bucks have questions. But you need

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Speaker 1: to play together to win in the NBA. It's as

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Speaker 1: simple as that. And although Kyrie Irving told James Harden

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Speaker 1: this week that he's the point guard and there is

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Speaker 1: a little bit more role definition, that's fantastic news. They

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Speaker 1: got to play together just this season with the Brooklyn Nets.

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Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving missed a couple weeks because of personal issues.

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Speaker 1: James Harden wasn't in shape when he was traded mid

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Speaker 1: season from the Houston Rockets, so Steve Nash said he

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Speaker 1: couldn't practice that hard. Kevin Durant has missed many games

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Speaker 1: because of health and safety protocols, and now he's actually injured.

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Speaker 1: It's got a lot of similarities to the Los Angeles

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Speaker 1: Clippers of last season. For me, when the Clippers flamed

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Speaker 1: out in the playoffs, I'm still taking the Nets as

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Speaker 1: the favorite in the Eastern Conference. That's how good they are.

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Speaker 1: But the more they don't play with each other, the

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Speaker 1: more I have my doubts. Obviously, speaking of point guard,

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Speaker 1: shooting guard, small forward, power forward, center Kyrie and James Harden.

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Speaker 1: Figuring that out with the Brooklyn Nets, well, Luka Doncic

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Speaker 1: plays all of those positions for the Dallas Mavericks, and

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Speaker 1: he was godlike over the weekend, forty six points on

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Speaker 1: Friday and then forty four points on Sunday versus the Blazers.

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Speaker 1: Although he missed the most important shot time tacking down

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Speaker 1: five seconds on the clock, he is wide open for

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Speaker 1: a three, needs it to tie this game and to

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Speaker 1: send it to overtime, and it rattled in and out.

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Speaker 1: I think he was too open on the play. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it gets into your head a little bit. Maybe I'm

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Speaker 1: getting into my own head trying to overanalyze it. He

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Speaker 1: just missed the shot. Forty six, forty four, ninety points

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Speaker 1: both on national TV. A good weekend if you didn't

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Speaker 1: have league pass, but you're able to catch the nationally

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Speaker 1: televised games because Friday, Saturday, Sunday, ESPN, ABC, ESPN all

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Speaker 1: great games. Let's bounce around the league a little bit here,

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Speaker 1: because all this LaMelo ball talk has overshadowed any other

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Speaker 1: rookie in the league. And Anthony Edwards, the number one

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Speaker 1: pick with Minnesota, has been playing well since he became

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Speaker 1: a starter ten games ago. You'd think he's a bust

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Speaker 1: with the lack of coverage that he's getting, but he

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Speaker 1: played decently throughout this stretch, and versu the Raptors on Sunday,

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Speaker 1: he showed a lot of strong moves to the hole,

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Speaker 1: going hard to the bucket. You want to see that

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Speaker 1: from a wing like Anthony Edwards. Although the Raptors were

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Speaker 1: allowing a lot of those drives to the bucket. They

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Speaker 1: just look flat going back home after a six game

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Speaker 1: road trip. That's the old adage in the NBA first

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Speaker 1: game home after a long trip, you just don't have

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Speaker 1: your legs. And is it exacerbated with a team like

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Speaker 1: the Toronto Raptors that don't have a permanent home. They're

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Speaker 1: playing in Tampa every single game this season as their

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Speaker 1: home court. I don't know who knows. We're all experimenting here.

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Speaker 1: Mason Plumley had his first career triple double. The Pistons

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Speaker 1: are an entertaining bad team. Yah Skeetz said it on

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Speaker 1: the show a few weeks ago. I can't agree more.

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Speaker 1: They are a fun eight and nineteen team, although the

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Speaker 1: Pelicans didn't show up defensively in this one, kind of

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Speaker 1: like the Raptors against the Wolves. Speaking of bad teams,

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Speaker 1: the OKAC Thunder are the only actively tanking team in

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Speaker 1: the league, that's fair to say, and they sit at

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Speaker 1: eleven and fifteen after beating the Milwaukee Bucks. There are

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Speaker 1: far worse teams than the OKAC Thunder. And that's how

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Speaker 1: good a program they have in Oklahoma. I just wanted

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Speaker 1: to say program flashbacks of the Bucks looking like that

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Speaker 1: playoff team that couldn't execute down the stretch in this

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Speaker 1: one versus Oka, see some nasty flashbacks if you're a

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Speaker 1: Bucks fan. Sacramento, Memphis. The Kings have hit a rough patch.

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Speaker 1: We've been fawning over them, but they've lost three in

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Speaker 1: a row. They were stopped by the seventy six Ers

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Speaker 1: last week. Understandable, the Sixers are a good team. Then

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Speaker 1: Dearon Fox sat with an injury. Teammates couldn't pick it up.

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Speaker 1: First the Magic okay, and then Fox's return. They got

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Speaker 1: blitzed by the Grizzlies on Sunday, a little disappointing, and

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Speaker 1: Yon's found Tunas and the grizz they weren't taking any

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Speaker 1: funny business, like when Chimezi Metu sat on Valid Tunas's

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Speaker 1: shoulder after a dunk. It was a quick ride on

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Speaker 1: the Lithuanian Lift. As Metu was hurtled to the floor,

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Speaker 1: people jumped in, but cooler heads prevailed. Thanks for listening

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Speaker 1: to me today. I'll be back tomorrow to give you

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Speaker 1: the news as fast as I possibly can. Make sure

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Speaker 1: you check out the full No Dunks episode on Monday.

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Speaker 1: We'll be going through the winners and losers of the weekend.

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Speaker 1: I'll see you tomorrow