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Speaker 1: Are the Hornets a lock for the playoffs? Are the

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Speaker 1: Clippers waiting for Rajon Rondo to save them? And Lakers

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Speaker 1: PG Dennis Shrewder reportedly turned down an eighty million dollar extension.

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Speaker 1: Is he crazy or is he smart? Hey? I'm tas

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Speaker 1: Mellis and this is what you need to know in

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Speaker 1: the NBA for Wednesday, March thirty first. Welcome to everything

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Speaker 1: you need to know about this wonderful game of basketball.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for joining me, everybody, Let's get to it. The

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Speaker 1: Orlando Magic came back to beat the Clippers late, very late.

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Speaker 1: They were down seven with two thirty left in the game.

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Speaker 1: In this Magic team is the Magic team that just

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Speaker 1: blew it up at the deadline when they traded away

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Speaker 1: their three best players. They foresaw losses, not wins. Magic

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Speaker 1: President of Basketball Operation Operations Jeff Weltman said by trading

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Speaker 1: away Vucevich, Gordon and four Ye, they would raise their ceiling.

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Speaker 1: But raising their ceiling means because they're bad now and

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Speaker 1: they get to use their own picks rather than the

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Speaker 1: Bulls and Nuggets picks they got in trades. In my opinion,

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Speaker 1: those won't be as good as their own right now.

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Speaker 1: That will help them so, especially in a loaded draft,

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Speaker 1: Weltlan wanted to see wins. So when he saw his

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Speaker 1: team come back from seven down in Los Angeles with

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Speaker 1: only two thirty left, it was ninety three eighty six,

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Speaker 1: looked like it was over. He must have dropped a

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Speaker 1: little McCauley culkin. Oh, no, what's happening out there? The

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Speaker 1: Clippers offense got super stagnant, extremely stagnant. Magic just loaded

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Speaker 1: up on Kawhy's and the team didn't have answers around him.

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Speaker 1: They just couldn't find anything going. I can see Rajon

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Speaker 1: Rondo playing crunch time minutes for this Clippers team in

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Speaker 1: the near future. They just acquired him. He's been practicing

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Speaker 1: with the team. He hasn't played quite yet, and the

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Speaker 1: man who acquired him, Clippers President of basketball Operations, Lawrence Frank, said,

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Speaker 1: playoff raw is a real thing. Oh, he is going

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Speaker 1: to come in and play a ton in my opinion,

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Speaker 1: especially down the stretch. They ran it down the Clippers

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Speaker 1: throat to the magic. They went on an eleven zero run,

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Speaker 1: got extra possessions. It wasn't pretty. You can't be giving

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Speaker 1: up extra possessions and having fast break buckets and crunch time. No,

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Speaker 1: that can't happen. It's ugly. Except for one Michael Carter

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Speaker 1: Williams stuck. Let's give him a little bit of credit.

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Speaker 1: This Clippers team, though in tight games, is not to

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Speaker 1: be believed at this point. It's hard to say, as

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Speaker 1: I struggle to talk here early in the morning, but

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Speaker 1: that's the case. The Clippers just don't look like they're

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Speaker 1: great seals night in and night out. Sometimes they're great,

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Speaker 1: sometimes they're not. One note a little love for tchuma Okeek.

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Speaker 1: He missed all his first year with a torn acl

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Speaker 1: but I love watching him play. In year two, the

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Speaker 1: Magic have the fourth worst record in the NBA. Just

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Speaker 1: a note there. The Lakers, well, their PG Dennis Shruter

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Speaker 1: turned down eighty million dollars over four years from the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: According to the New York Times, Mark Stein wow la

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Speaker 1: offering eighty million bucks. So is he making a huge mistake?

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Speaker 1: I say no, which surprises me to say that he's

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Speaker 1: not having his best year shooting the ball. But he

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Speaker 1: is twenty seven years old. So the Lakers won't be

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Speaker 1: able to sign a big free agent from another team

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Speaker 1: this offseason. Because of their cap situation, they can push

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Speaker 1: that eighty million dollar number higher in the offseason. They

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Speaker 1: were just trying to get a good price on Shruder here,

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Speaker 1: and I think Shrewder will get an increase on that offer.

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Speaker 1: Maybe it won't get to ninety million, but I say

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Speaker 1: get every dollar you can, especially if the Lakers are

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Speaker 1: in a situation where they can't go sign a big

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Speaker 1: name free agent point guard free agents this offseason or

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Speaker 1: a Lonzo Ball who will get a big long term deal,

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Speaker 1: Kyle Lowry who's in the twilight of his glorious career,

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Speaker 1: and Shruder that's the top of the list. So if

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Speaker 1: the Lakers say shoes to Shrewder this offseason, I think

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Speaker 1: he'll get that eighty million dollars somewhere. Else could go

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Speaker 1: to the Clippers, as we've just been talking about the Pelicans.

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Speaker 1: If Lonzo Ball leaves or the Knicks could be willing

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Speaker 1: to sign him, go get that. Dalla Dalla Bill, Dennis Shruder,

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Speaker 1: Charlotte beat Washington. Charlotte continues to impress. They're treading water

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Speaker 1: very well since LaMelo Ball's injury. Last five games, they

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Speaker 1: won two in Texas, beat Miami, went to ot with

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Speaker 1: the Suns, and now they beat the Wizards. The combination

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Speaker 1: of the way they play plus the nostalgia for the

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Speaker 1: teal has every NBA die hard wanting them in the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: They are alone in the four seed. I picked them

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Speaker 1: as a long shot for the playoffs this preseason because

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Speaker 1: they were a long shot, even though they're in the

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Speaker 1: four seed right now. The team people said, myself included

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Speaker 1: that overpaid for Gordon Hayward services and the four seed

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Speaker 1: is no by no means a lock for the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: Uh huh. Only two point five games up on the

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Speaker 1: ninth seed. They looked like one of the steadiest teams

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Speaker 1: in that Eastern Conference, glut Hayward and scary Terry leading

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Speaker 1: the way scoring the ball. In this NBA, a scorer

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Speaker 1: like Terry Rozier can score. They got it done against Washington.

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Speaker 1: And one note on Russell Westbrook. A night after his

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Speaker 1: thirty twenty triple double, he had a much more modest

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Speaker 1: triple double, but a not so modest dunk on Bismack

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Speaker 1: biyonbo ooh late in the game, a crusher. Let's enjoy

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Speaker 1: thirty two year old Russell Westbrook as he plays like

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Speaker 1: a twenty two year old. While we can, we can't

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Speaker 1: have many more years of this. Russ can we I

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Speaker 1: don't know he's Russ. Maybe we'll see a few more.

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Speaker 1: One NBA story that's kind of been flying under the

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Speaker 1: radar for me is how good Michael Porter Junior has

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Speaker 1: been for the Nuggets. Second year players started off his

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Speaker 1: rookie season hot, played off the floor in the playoffs

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Speaker 1: though because of his defense. Many started this season contracted

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Speaker 1: COVID nineteen, so he's out for ten games. He's involved

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Speaker 1: a lot of trade rumors, but now he is steady.

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Speaker 1: You never consider the word steady with Michael Porter Junior,

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Speaker 1: but he has had twenty d straight games in double figures.

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Speaker 1: That is significant for him. And he's got better defensively.

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Speaker 1: You'll never be a one on one stopper, but he's

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Speaker 1: shown he's capable of being part of a good defensive

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Speaker 1: team staying in front. Last year's when he got played

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Speaker 1: off the floor because of that defense, it seems like

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Speaker 1: eons ago, because everything last year seems like eons ago.

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Speaker 1: In this game on Tuesday Night against the Philadelphia seventy

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Speaker 1: six ers, he had twenty seven points on eleven of

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Speaker 1: sixteen shooting in a blowout win. He was working off cuts,

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Speaker 1: getting passes from Nicole Jokic, it was beautiful. He's playing

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Speaker 1: that third star perfectly. He's playing off those cuts, just

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Speaker 1: like new acquisition Aaron Gordon did in his first game.

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Speaker 1: And the most noteworthy thing Gordon did in his second

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Speaker 1: game with the Nuggets is try and block Dwight Howard.

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Speaker 1: It was like the guy who made a documentary about

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Speaker 1: losing dunk contest, trying to block all of those who

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Speaker 1: won it before him, like Dwight in eight. There were

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Speaker 1: some Superman vibes, So that Dwight donk right there. Philly,

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Speaker 1: by the way, is now in a tie with Brooklyn

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Speaker 1: for first in the Eastern Conference. Here come the Nets.

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Speaker 1: A last game I want to talk about on Tuesday

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Speaker 1: because it was the last game of the schedule. Phoenix

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Speaker 1: beat the Hawks, who continue to fight on a tough

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Speaker 1: road trip. Yeah there's some moral victories there. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: think there's plenty of moral victories for the Hawks here

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Speaker 1: on this road trip. Even for a Hawks hater like myself,

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Speaker 1: I got to applaud them. They went down to the

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Speaker 1: wire with the Phoenix Suns, and it's tough to win

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Speaker 1: on the road in the NBA. And yeah, they're my

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Speaker 1: hometown team, so I'm tough on them. We're tougher on

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Speaker 1: the ones that we love, aren't we. The Hawks continue winning,

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Speaker 1: notching victories in the moral victories category. That's it for me.

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Speaker 1: Make sure you check out the full No Dunks episode

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Speaker 1: here on Wednesday. We also have a Beach step In

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Speaker 1: podcast coming to you today. I'll see you tomorrow. Span

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Speaker 1: Express Expect Expect Experience, Trains Experiences, trainspot