Speaker 1: No, no, no, come home, no come.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, come home, come home, come home.
Speaker 1: On this episode of the Heat Check, it's Christmas Day
Speaker 1: NBA marqueat matchups. We are going to use that as
Speaker 1: a jump off for the state of the league based
Speaker 1: on those teams right now. And let me tell you,
Speaker 1: it's fascinating to look at what we all in the league,
Speaker 1: of course, because they are the ones that created the matchups,
Speaker 1: what they thought would be good on Christmas and then
Speaker 1: what we got instead, like so fast things can change. Uh,
Speaker 1: And that was only in two months time. So we're
Speaker 1: breaking down Christmas for you, So Brock, do me a
Speaker 1: favor and drop that.
Speaker 2: Min amazing because some people are out of it anyway.
Speaker 1: It is our breakdown of the biggest NBA day of
Speaker 1: the year outside of the playoffs. NBA Christmas Day Spectacular.
Speaker 1: Five games, folks. You're opening your presence early, squirrely, and
Speaker 1: then you got five games running from noon to midnight,
Speaker 1: showcasing the best of the best of Yeah, is it
Speaker 1: the best of the best of the league in front
Speaker 1: of millions and millions of fans outside of areas of
Speaker 1: China where the NBA is banned. So what we're gonna
Speaker 1: do uh today is not just break down those games
Speaker 1: because that's kind of boring. We're gonna evaluate how well
Speaker 1: Adam Silver and the league, how well they did at
Speaker 1: deciding what to schedule, how lit the games were, the
Speaker 1: state of the teams in that matchup, because this is
Speaker 1: supposed to be the best of the best. No scrubs.
Speaker 1: We don't want to know scrubs. A scrub is a
Speaker 1: team that can't get no love from me right sitting
Speaker 1: outside of the path, you know what I'm saying. Anyway,
Speaker 1: probably people on TikTok don't. So we're gonna use Christmas
Speaker 1: NBA as a way to not just gauge the state
Speaker 1: of the league, but to also see what might come
Speaker 1: for these ten teams. So let's start with what I
Speaker 1: call the disappointment bull Hawks Knicks. When when the NBA
Speaker 1: so Hawks lost a lot to the next one eight seven,
Speaker 1: who cares pillow fight in the garden When the NBA
Speaker 1: scheduled this game for Christmas Day, they imagined a rematch
Speaker 1: of Trey Young Blie cold shushing the garden, maybe some
Speaker 1: spit being thrown out of them expletives, racist words, who knows,
Speaker 1: maybe referees falling down on their ass like excitement. You've
Speaker 1: got a rematch, You've got new tension, a new I
Speaker 1: would call it a new rivalry. And they imagine Kevin
Speaker 1: Hurder turning into Cavon Herder, Trey Trey to Collins, lob,
Speaker 1: Trey fake lob to Collins floater, three after three, after three,
Speaker 1: offense after offense, pick and roll, just nasty. You've got
Speaker 1: probably you're imagining Julius Randall, Derrick Rose. And then they
Speaker 1: got a Hawks team with no Trey Young, ravaged by
Speaker 1: COVID and injuries. Hawks offense scored what we were expecting
Speaker 1: to score, what thirty five forty in a quarter? They
Speaker 1: scored fifteen in one quarter against the Knicks team without
Speaker 1: Derrick Rose, with Kemba Walker being forced into use after
Speaker 1: being benched by Tips. But we had no other options.
Speaker 1: Julius Randall, who's been largely terrible all year, just chucking
Speaker 1: and chucking and chucking some more, to the point where
Speaker 1: I'm getting texts from friends being like, Hey, do you
Speaker 1: think Julius Randall shoots too much? Just randomly Christmas Day texts,
Speaker 1: That's what I'm getting. So what the NBA got were
Speaker 1: two below five hundred teams, two below five hundred teams
Speaker 1: instead of the two top seeds what we thought maybe
Speaker 1: were the four and the five seed. Again, I mean,
Speaker 1: these are gross teams. These are gross teams. This is
Speaker 1: probably the worst matchup in hindsight, Like if we were
Speaker 1: to reschedule, this would not be on the Christmas late.
Speaker 1: You're talking about a ten seed and twelve seed. No,
Speaker 1: thank you, p U, p U yuck. Disappointing, underachieving, injury riddled,
Speaker 1: COVID ravage, terrible, And I guess I'm wondering after I
Speaker 1: watched that, Like Ken, these teams really turn it around.
Speaker 1: Knicks were a four seed last year and the Hawks
Speaker 1: were a couple of games and a referee conspiracy injury
Speaker 1: away from Trey going to the NBA Finals. And now
Speaker 1: we saw a battle between teams that like, I don't
Speaker 1: know what they are or when they're gonna get back,
Speaker 1: and it's weird. It's like safe to say, that's not
Speaker 1: the way that the NBA envisioned it getting kicked off.
Speaker 1: And then Kith, this is how you know, it was
Speaker 1: a whole thing. Kith, the fashion brand had a whole
Speaker 1: nixt Kith collaboration rollout that came out an hour before tip,
Speaker 1: so you know it was supposed to be a thing.
Speaker 1: And it's like you've got Kith who normally sells out.
Speaker 1: They can't get rid of those fucking sweatshirts. They're still
Speaker 1: there on the website right now and they're usually selling fast.
Speaker 1: They're on stock x before you know it. No, Like,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people thought this game would
Speaker 1: be dope and it was not dope at all. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then remember that Christmas under theory, the NBA always
Speaker 1: goes under because people don't play as hard on Christmas
Speaker 1: Day because they miss their family and they'll be grudgingly there.
Speaker 1: This was the only game on the slate that went under.
Speaker 1: So going forward, I'm pretty optimistic about the Hawks compared
Speaker 1: to the next because I mean, they have everybody there,
Speaker 1: the same guys. If they're capable of doing what they
Speaker 1: did last year, they're capable of doing it again. It's
Speaker 1: just a matter of chemistry. It's a matter of injuries,
Speaker 1: it's a matter of COVID. Hopefully they get COVID enough
Speaker 1: that they buy the playoffs are fine, Like, I just
Speaker 1: want him to get COVID two three times so that
Speaker 1: by April were good to go. Uh and then the Knicks,
Speaker 1: I mean they're mostly healthy. They had almost everybody there
Speaker 1: except for e Manuel Quickly and maybe one other guy
Speaker 1: that I don't even remember, so he's not that significant.
Speaker 1: They have significantly regressed. RJ. Barrett is not He was
Speaker 1: supposed to take steps up past where he was last year,
Speaker 1: which was pretty good, and now he's taken another step back.
Speaker 1: Not great. His three pointers are down. You know, Julius
Speaker 1: Randall act the big extension. His numbers are down. Quentin Grimes,
Speaker 1: he's a nice find like he's probably the bright spot.
Speaker 1: He's a wing that can defend, he can put up points,
Speaker 1: he can assist. He had I want to say, five steals,
Speaker 1: five rebounds, five assists off the bench up. But I
Speaker 1: don't know if he's gonna make this team significantly better.
Speaker 1: They signed Evan Fournier, I mean, what do you want.
Speaker 1: Can they find a way to make Kemba fit and
Speaker 1: play defense? Probably not. I mean without a major move
Speaker 1: of the deadline. The Knicks are a flash in the pan.
Speaker 1: Nice little story that I had to say to my
Speaker 1: friend when they said, Hey, do you think Tibbs is
Speaker 1: gonna get fired after the season. I had to say please,
Speaker 1: don't say that. No, don't don't, cause it's a possibility,
Speaker 1: and that breaks my heart for Tips. This is supposed
Speaker 1: to be his last up. You know, he was supposed
Speaker 1: to get the Boston Celtics job because he largely built
Speaker 1: the house that was the dynasty of the Celtics that
Speaker 1: got ravaged by Lebron. But like, that's him, you know,
Speaker 1: he was supposed to get that job and not Brad Stevens. Right,
Speaker 1: and no, like he doesn't get the job and so
Speaker 1: and maybe he would have gotten the job again if
Speaker 1: it wasn't for the success that he had on the
Speaker 1: Knicks when they hired emy Udoka. It just hasn't been
Speaker 1: great for Tibbs. The timing for him has been awful,
Speaker 1: and now it's unclear as to whether his longevity will
Speaker 1: be there. I mean, but it's really not his fault,
Speaker 1: like because Leon Rose and Worldwide West are the ones
Speaker 1: that got rid of Reggie Block and broad In Evan Fournier.
Speaker 1: Evan Fournier is not very good. Evan four no is
Speaker 1: basically more of how I would describe him. At least
Speaker 1: we knew one thing was certain that disappointment Boll did
Speaker 1: deliver the only under and more disappointment, and you've got
Speaker 1: the Knicks winning one of their first games out of
Speaker 1: the last ten. So congratulations to you. Nick's congratulations. As
Speaker 1: you can tell, I'm not excited about that matchup whatsoever.
Speaker 1: Celtics won thirteen to Bucks one seventeen. I mean, the
Speaker 1: Celtics are trash if they probably shouldn't have even been
Speaker 1: considered in this day. Like if out of the ten
Speaker 1: teams playing on Christmas Day, the only one not deserving
Speaker 1: to eat even be in the conversation is the Celtics.
Speaker 1: It should have absolutely been and beat in the sixers
Speaker 1: versus the Bucks instead of a sub five hundred nine
Speaker 1: seed in Boston. I think Adam Silver was kidding himself
Speaker 1: to think that the Celtics would turn things around with
Speaker 1: an eme Udoka and Dennis Shrewder and who else did
Speaker 1: they Josh Richardson, I don't know, not anybody that I
Speaker 1: can think that was gonna move the needle. They got
Speaker 1: rid of their only fun piece in tackle fall like
Speaker 1: he's gone. He was a nice little thing to look
Speaker 1: forward to seeing here and there and splashes and spurts
Speaker 1: like he's now in the starting rotation in Cleveland, And
Speaker 1: I tell you what props to tackle fall. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't know what he was thinking. Basically, Adam Silver
Speaker 1: could not have actually believe this is gonna be a
Speaker 1: three or four seed in the East, but I mean
Speaker 1: he had to have if that's why he put him there.
Speaker 1: A lot of star power, Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Robert Williams,
Speaker 1: no one else, and like Boston fans are probably so
Speaker 1: delusional that they'll be the ones that will watch actively.
Speaker 1: It was in TD Garden as well, which made it
Speaker 1: even more sus to me, Like there's even more sus So, yeah,
Speaker 1: more of the same. As it turns out, typical Boston game.
Speaker 1: Like they got out early, You're thinking, oh my god,
Speaker 1: is this a good team? And then they just choked
Speaker 1: on their meat like late they did, that's what they did.
Speaker 1: It's fifteen point first half lead, Bucks forty seven points
Speaker 1: and then they pissed away the entire lead, ending up
Speaker 1: scoring nineteen points only in the fourth quarter and they
Speaker 1: lose by four. And it was like sort of dramatic
Speaker 1: at the end, but not really. They had one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirteen one to eleven lead with a minute left
Speaker 1: and then they just didn't score again. They just didn't
Speaker 1: score again that said as them, it's the Bucks, though
Speaker 1: they should get credit for this gritty win. With the
Speaker 1: possible exception of KD. I don't know that anyone plays
Speaker 1: in bigger games and gets up more for them than
Speaker 1: you're honest, Like what you saw from Gianness in the finals,
Speaker 1: and that tran it was nothing short of a transformation,
Speaker 1: Like that's what it was. He turned himself into a
Speaker 1: ninety percent free throw shooter with an with some knee
Speaker 1: injury that I don't know if it was real or not,
Speaker 1: but anyway, like he transformed him into a point guard
Speaker 1: free throw shooter overnight, and that's him. He's got ice
Speaker 1: water in his veins. He put up thirty six, twelve
Speaker 1: and five. He had a huge block on Robert Williams
Speaker 1: with twelve seconds left on the clock, putting the entire
Speaker 1: team on his back, showing that, Okay, we are still
Speaker 1: very very good when we need to be, which is
Speaker 1: on nationally televised games that everyone is watching and in
Speaker 1: the playoffs outside of that. Not really sure what you're
Speaker 1: gonna get from them, but that's what the NBA wanted,
Speaker 1: so not like a horrible game to schedule when it
Speaker 1: goes down to the wire. But even Adam Silver had
Speaker 1: to have known that the Boston were gonna puke on
Speaker 1: their own shoes like they had to with giving it
Speaker 1: given enough like advanced notice, Hey, this is what you do, Boston,
Speaker 1: just like look great and then puke. Now they choked
Speaker 1: it away. If folks in that are fans of the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics don't know this by now, well, this was
Speaker 1: an opportunity in front of millions upon millions upon millions
Speaker 1: of fans nationally audienced, like everyone's watching. There's nothing else open.
Speaker 1: You can't even get coffee anywhere. It's just you and
Speaker 1: your family on a little like cold afternoon day watching
Speaker 1: the Celtics choke on their own meat. Like that's it.
Speaker 1: What am I gonna do to predict the Celtics? Nothing
Speaker 1: like I'm not going to It's gonna be the same
Speaker 1: unless they trade Jalen Brown. This team is garbage. I
Speaker 1: don't know, Like, you gotta trade Marcus Smart. Can't have
Speaker 1: him be the point guard. This team is not good.
Speaker 1: They've never been good. That one little nice run in
Speaker 1: which other teams so this year is a wash. As
Speaker 1: for the Bucks, they're going to the finals is that's
Speaker 1: what I know. Dante DiVincenzo is coming back. Brook Lopez.
Speaker 1: The new news is that brook Lopez will be back
Speaker 1: well before the playoffs. So Brook Lopez coming back from
Speaker 1: already had back surgery, He's coming back well before the playoffs.
Speaker 1: You got Dante de Vincenzo back, he didn't even play
Speaker 1: outside of the first round last year. You've got a
Speaker 1: dog and Grayson Allen he's there. You've got multiple new pieces.
Speaker 1: Wes Matthews contributing. This team is easily the best in
Speaker 1: the East. I don't think it's close. I don't care
Speaker 1: what you say about the nets. That's just what it is.
Speaker 1: And like they're gonna skate through, this is gonna go
Speaker 1: be a skate skate through. And with the Hawks being
Speaker 1: a disappointment, I think the only team that really will
Speaker 1: give him fits is the Caves. I think the team
Speaker 1: that's gonna really give him fits is the Caves. No,
Speaker 1: I know this team is one hundred percent Finals bound,
Speaker 1: unless me saying it MUSHes them. Warriors one sixteen sons
Speaker 1: one of I mean, we got lucky. We got lucky.
Speaker 1: I don't know that Adam Silver knew that this was
Speaker 1: gonna be as good as it was, because there's just
Speaker 1: no chance that he thought that the Warriors would be
Speaker 1: a one or a two seed in the West and
Speaker 1: that without Klay Thompson that they would be just just
Speaker 1: demolishing everyone just like a buzzaw through the rest of
Speaker 1: the league. Like this is the matchup everyone wants, wanted
Speaker 1: and didn't even know that they wanted. Like we all
Speaker 1: now on Twitter, hey need seven to this seven and
Speaker 1: the seven of this, Like I needed this to be
Speaker 1: the Western Conference Finals. That's what it is. He pulled
Speaker 1: Adam Silver pulled this matchup out of his ass. Let's
Speaker 1: be honest, it's Steph and at that point, Plumbers right,
Speaker 1: at that point, it's Steph Draymond And like Otto, Porter,
Speaker 1: you think that's a good idea, You think that's a
Speaker 1: good move? Was our part? Porter fucking bald, Like this
Speaker 1: isn't even wasn't even a rivalry game. These two teams
Speaker 1: didn't even play in at all in the playoffs last year.
Speaker 1: Like it would have made more sense if it was
Speaker 1: Laker Warriors, which is what they did in the opening game,
Speaker 1: or if it was Warriors Grizzlies. I mean, you'd have
Speaker 1: to put the Suns in there. Somewhere, but like maybe
Speaker 1: it's maybe it's Suns Bucks and then you've got Warriors
Speaker 1: Grizzlies instead, as like a little like up and comer thing.
Speaker 1: But this made sense, even though at the time when
Speaker 1: the matchup was scheduled it didn't make no damn sense.
Speaker 1: And boy was it a home run, I tell you what.
Speaker 1: Like these teams have played three times in the span
Speaker 1: of a month, and none of them were disappointments. Like
Speaker 1: they're getting up for all of them. It has the
Speaker 1: intensity of a playoff game. The first game probably the
Speaker 1: best regular season game I've seen in a very long time.
Speaker 1: I literally brought bags and bags of popcorn to watch it.
Speaker 1: Coaches making changes, alterations, chess match happening in game. You've
Speaker 1: got literally guys going to zone in the middle of
Speaker 1: the game, like you just don't see this. So and
Speaker 1: then also, by the way, probably the reason that the
Speaker 1: Warriors ended up destroying the Suns on Christmas Day was
Speaker 1: because they were low key, actually high key pissed that
Speaker 1: they didn't get to play at home. They're like, this
Speaker 1: is the second game in a row now that we've
Speaker 1: played Christmas Day on the road, and this is our
Speaker 1: ninth Christmas Day game in a row. Can we get
Speaker 1: a home game or no? And they're like, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: but the Suns were in the finals and you were not.
Speaker 1: You were not in the playoffs, so fuck off. Like
Speaker 1: the last two years, you guys have been blipped like
Speaker 1: you guys like in the Marvel Land you Thanos snapped
Speaker 1: his fingers, did the rock thing, and you guys were
Speaker 1: just nowhere, like you were not a team that existed
Speaker 1: in the standings. And so you come back, prove yourself.
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll give you a home game next year. And
Speaker 1: that's what happened. This is what Churs said. It's an
Speaker 1: honor to play on Christmas. It's a showcase and everybody's watching.
Speaker 1: But I do think there should be a rule that
Speaker 1: you can't be on the road two years in a row.
Speaker 1: Just making it clear. Last year we were in Milwaukee
Speaker 1: and this year we're in Phoenix. Doesn't seem right. I
Speaker 1: would imagine Draymond said, well, hey, I have a five
Speaker 1: year old and a seven year old and a one
Speaker 1: year old. I'd like to spend some time at home
Speaker 1: with my kids too. We're not playing against the defending champion.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Shade, they did go to the playoffs
Speaker 1: or they did go to the finals. If we're playing
Speaker 1: against the defending champion, you understand it, but we're not
Speaker 1: who It's a but bit frustrating. I have to go
Speaker 1: on the road a second year in a row. So
Speaker 1: now I miss my daughter's first Christmas and I miss
Speaker 1: her second one. It's kinda fucked up, but that's the reality.
Speaker 1: That's what we're faced with. You have to do your job.
Speaker 1: But we're human beings. So like I said, I missed
Speaker 1: her first one, I'll miss her second one. I can't
Speaker 1: that explain that to her, So it sucks. We're not robots,
Speaker 1: we're not machines. We're actual human beings with actual feelings
Speaker 1: and with actual families. Draymon Green was hot, hot, and
Speaker 1: so with even without Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins, Damian Lee,
Speaker 1: Andrea Gudala, Moses mood who cares? And of course Clay
Speaker 1: I wrote down on my notes Moses Moody parentheses who cares?
Speaker 1: I just wanted everyone to know for the record, who cares?
Speaker 1: Honestly that's he was out. But no, but that is
Speaker 1: not meaningful. And then they were six point dogs, six
Speaker 1: point dogs on the road and they blew the Suns
Speaker 1: out in Phoenix without anyone. Auto Porter, folks who I
Speaker 1: called a non factor lovingly, had nineteen point six rebounds,
Speaker 1: three assists, and a steal Jesus Christ. Auto Porter on
Speaker 1: a minimum deal, playing like a fucking all star like
Speaker 1: he used to be before he got hurt when he
Speaker 1: was a Washington Wizard. I had people in my mentions,
Speaker 1: this is so funny, this is how well the Warriors played.
Speaker 1: I had people in my mentions that cover the Warriors
Speaker 1: that said, this isn't really much of a rivalry in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, it will be Golden State and four like
Speaker 1: that's how bad the Warriors destroyed the Suns on Christmas Day.
Speaker 1: Is now they don't even think it's a real rivalry.
Speaker 1: They don't even think they should bless the Phoenix Suns
Speaker 1: with a seven game series like legendary. How could you
Speaker 1: even say this was legendary. We didn't have anyone and
Speaker 1: we fucking pounded them with all their stars playing. That's
Speaker 1: what they're your high at. Fuck Warriors fans, Like, if
Speaker 1: you don't think many Williams is gonna go in and
Speaker 1: play chess. And also and also it begs like the
Speaker 1: it begs the question, like did the Suns just say
Speaker 1: we're only gonna put all of our vanilla stuff out
Speaker 1: we know we're gonna play them in the playoffs. Why
Speaker 1: would we blitz Steph? Why would we show what we
Speaker 1: want to do to Steph when we play them in
Speaker 1: the playoffs? Why would we want to give them anything
Speaker 1: other than just normal go out and play scrimmage regular
Speaker 1: season hoop. We've already beat him once and they beat
Speaker 1: us without book. We beat him with without book in
Speaker 1: the first game. They beat us without books. I can
Speaker 1: get third game. That is where it is, like, why
Speaker 1: roll out all of the stops if you know you're
Speaker 1: gonna play this game? This team seven games otherwise none.
Speaker 1: Steve Curry just knows what you're up to. So that's
Speaker 1: so much fun. Two of the best three teams in
Speaker 1: the league outside of the box. And I think it
Speaker 1: showed that the Warriors are a fucking wagon truthfully without
Speaker 1: all their guys. It doesn't matter what you showed, what
Speaker 1: you didn't show. You got your ass handed to you
Speaker 1: at home with a bunch of scrubs like Otto Porter,
Speaker 1: Like that's it is what it is, Like I can
Speaker 1: make excuses out for them but they just couldn't get
Speaker 1: it done. And something tells me that this is not
Speaker 1: the last time we're gonna see this game in primetime
Speaker 1: on Christmas Day. I think this is gonna be a
Speaker 1: year after year after year thing. Nets one twenty two
Speaker 1: Lakers one fifteen. It seems close, doesn't it. But it wasn't.
Speaker 1: This Lakers team, as you know, as I've said, as
Speaker 1: I continue to say and will continue to say, is garbage.
Speaker 1: Like it's so garbage. Lebron is just out here lying
Speaker 1: at press conferences, which I'll get to the game that
Speaker 1: everybody was dead certain should be the last game of
Speaker 1: the night, Like this is the two teams that should
Speaker 1: go to the finals. YadA YadA. Lakers are so good,
Speaker 1: the Nets now have Kyrie Harden and KD. It's like
Speaker 1: meant to be. This is what we would call the
Speaker 1: chalk matchup. Like I fucking hate chalk teams like Kansas.
Speaker 1: They always underperform. And that's what this was. It's like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, Brooklyn Nets pick three LA Lakers Lebron James,
Speaker 1: and then they like no no no no no no
Speaker 1: no no no no no, and then they're like Lebron
Speaker 1: KD matchup on Christmas ks like, this is garbage. KD
Speaker 1: didn't even play. It did not work out like they thought.
Speaker 1: Let's just say that like Adam Silver when he booked this,
Speaker 1: he was like, yo, I killed this matchup and no Kyrie,
Speaker 1: no KD, fat James Harden, Lebron out here doing everything, dude,
Speaker 1: here was starting five of the nets Paoti Claxton, Bruce Brown,
Speaker 1: Patty Mills, James Harden, and DeAndre Brembrie. DeAndre fucking Bembrie
Speaker 1: starting on Christmas Day in primetime. Should not be? Should
Speaker 1: not be? And then on the other side of the court,
Speaker 1: it was Lebron, James Russell Westbrook, Dwight Howard, Wayne Ellington,
Speaker 1: and Taylor Horton Tucker. Yeah. And then there's the same
Speaker 1: Lakers team that is sub five hundred playing in primetime
Speaker 1: against a fat James Harden with a few stray milkmen
Speaker 1: that decided to show up in nets uniforms, like what
Speaker 1: are we doing? And shockingly, shockingly, the Lakers got the
Speaker 1: doors blown off like nets work twenty going to the
Speaker 1: fourth this game sucked like I did not watch. I left.
Speaker 1: I left in the middle of it, and the Lakers rallied,
Speaker 1: but like, I see that they lost what by seven? No,
Speaker 1: they didn't, Like that's just not the case, Like that's
Speaker 1: what it says. But you got your doors blown off
Speaker 1: and it was never close. Every net starter was plus
Speaker 1: five or better. The plus five was Harden, who had
Speaker 1: thirty six, ten and ten. The Lakers single handedly allowed
Speaker 1: a fat James Harden to come out of his season
Speaker 1: long slump. They woke the Sleeping Bear into like triple
Speaker 1: double on Christmas Night where he's literally trolling the Lakers,
Speaker 1: being like safe to say today was a good day
Speaker 1: in La, literally dropping ice Cube references with photos of
Speaker 1: him bamming on the Lakers on Christmas Day just to
Speaker 1: be like, hey, we owned you. Lebron. Epic Night thirty nine,
Speaker 1: nine and seven and Russ Russ had a perfect Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook primetime Christmas game stat line four for twenty from
Speaker 1: the field, rim checking himself on a dunk and it
Speaker 1: then goes massively viral. After the game, he then proceeded
Speaker 1: to shower and leave never did the postgame presser, shocking,
Speaker 1: and then Lebron had to fill in and basically play
Speaker 1: captain save Ah to Lebron to Russell Westbrook, making up
Speaker 1: excuses about how Russ continuously impacts the game outside of
Speaker 1: just scoring, like c the Ben Simmons notes, folks like, hey,
Speaker 1: you don't understand Russ a really special player, Like you
Speaker 1: don't know all the things that he does for our team,
Speaker 1: Like that's what's going on. That's this is what Lebron
Speaker 1: had to say.
Speaker 3: What are you ask me?
Speaker 4: I don't quite understand your question, I guess, I mean, okay,
Speaker 4: Coach Fitz was just saying, you know, he's feeling a
Speaker 4: lot of pressure with guys out. Maybe my question is
Speaker 4: do you see that as well? And do you see
Speaker 4: that affecting how he plays.
Speaker 3: A thin at all? Shooting night, I mean, he missed
Speaker 3: so many shots around the ram Dad he'd been accustomed
Speaker 3: to making, brought his career throughout the season, so not
Speaker 3: worried about too much of that, you know, I think
Speaker 3: his decision making with spectacular night and eleven assists. You know,
Speaker 3: he had twelve rebounds, five of them offensive, uh, and
Speaker 3: we know where not one of the better offensive team
Speaker 3: offensive rebound teams in this league, so he gave us
Speaker 3: extra possessions. He just missed a lot of looks around
Speaker 3: the basket, which I know that you can't stand as well.
Speaker 3: But you know, as far as the effort piece on,
Speaker 3: a guy plays hard and the guy leads it on
Speaker 3: the floor, You're got no problem with that.
Speaker 1: It's making miss League also during that pressure, nobody's.
Speaker 3: Gonna feel sorry for you. No one's gonna feel sorry
Speaker 3: for our record, or nobody's gonna feel sorry for guys
Speaker 3: because everybody, you know, besides I think like Golden State
Speaker 3: in Phoenix, everybody has guys out, you know, so you know,
Speaker 3: you just gotta, you know, when you get your opportunity
Speaker 3: to get your number called, just make the most of
Speaker 3: it and go out and play play our system. And
Speaker 3: it's even challenging for some of the guy new guys
Speaker 3: because you know they haven't been in the system long
Speaker 3: enough to know exactly what we're going to execute. But
Speaker 3: you know, tonight they just you know, they just play hard.
Speaker 3: DC came in, played at streamly hard obviously, you know,
Speaker 3: Stanley came in and then also League even though he's
Speaker 3: been a part of our systems been out for you know,
Speaker 3: two weeks. So it's just good to have that that,
Speaker 3: you know, that energy that we was able to to
Speaker 3: to give our fans and our fans to give it
Speaker 3: back to us.
Speaker 1: Excuse me pause, Uh, that night, which we discussed earlier,
Speaker 1: This is now Lebron James just making random things up.
Speaker 1: Golden State on Christmas Day, had Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole,
Speaker 1: Andre Iguodala, Damian Lee, Moses Moody, Wiseman, and Clay all out,
Speaker 1: they might be one of the most significantly impacted and
Speaker 1: decimated teams. And I do not know why Lebron James
Speaker 1: is lyingly, or maybe he's just because Golden State seems
Speaker 1: like they're still a wagon with eight guys that are
Speaker 1: normally in the starting rotation out. So that's where the
Speaker 1: Lakers are right now, Like they are to the point
Speaker 1: where not only is Lebron James caping for Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: and lying about who has full rosters, he's also playing
Speaker 1: center on defense and point guard on offense. Like that's
Speaker 1: not a lie that I didn't make that up. That's
Speaker 1: not for jokes, that's facts. That is absurd. Here's where
Speaker 1: I remind folks, he's thirty seven on Thursday, Happy Birthday,
Speaker 1: Lebron James, and he complained about like I just don't understand.
Speaker 1: And then David Fizdale had to come out interim coach
Speaker 1: right now because Frank Vogel has COVID, another person who
Speaker 1: has COVID. He said, hey, They were like, how do
Speaker 1: you think you can fix this? And his response was,
Speaker 1: we can clone Lebron James. Do you guys know any
Speaker 1: scientists can we make a duplicate? I don't know. That's
Speaker 1: where we're at, that the only solution to the Lakers
Speaker 1: is something scientifically impossible. I don't know, and I'm not
Speaker 1: even I'm sure two Lebron's make this team a championship contender.
Speaker 1: I don't know, like two thirty seven year old Lebrons.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Let's just I need some shooters here.
Speaker 1: Let's get back to Russ. If you ask someone if
Speaker 1: they wanted Russ, because there's a lot of people who
Speaker 1: are like, Tristy, you're mean to Russ, And I love
Speaker 1: Russ and I always preface everything that I say about
Speaker 1: Russ to say he's one of the hardest working guys
Speaker 1: in the league. And that's something that you cannot you
Speaker 1: cannot discount because there are so many talented athletes that
Speaker 1: don't try nearly as much as Russ, and they're like, well,
Speaker 1: you don't understand all of his gifts, Like, you don't
Speaker 1: get it, You're just mean because he doesn't shoot the
Speaker 1: way you want him to. Blah blah blah. And GM
Speaker 1: say that too, and to that, I say, I agree.
Speaker 1: Russ has a lot of special gifts. But do you
Speaker 1: want to take on Russell Westbrook as your marquee point
Speaker 1: guard for forty six million dollars each year for the
Speaker 1: next two years, where he is your primary ball handler, scorer, facilitator.
Speaker 1: Do you want that? Because I'm all here for the
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook party. I love Russ, but I, for no
Speaker 1: seconds want him on my team like none. I like
Speaker 1: watching Russ like a Tasmanian devil through glass in the Sahara, right.
Speaker 1: I don't want him in my house. He's going to
Speaker 1: break shit. I only want to see him in the wild,
Speaker 1: Like that's where Russ belongs, Rucker Park, that's where he belongs.
Speaker 1: He does not belong as a marquee point guard. If
Speaker 1: you want to pay Russell Westbrook seven million dollars to
Speaker 1: come off the bench and provide a spark at this stage,
Speaker 1: totally fine on any roster. I think everybody would agree.
Speaker 1: But he's making forty six million dollars a year, impacting
Speaker 1: the team's flexibility to do anything about winning. And then
Speaker 1: when he fails, he does not end up hanging around
Speaker 1: the team whatsoever. He he just hits the showers and
Speaker 1: fucking leaves. That's broun Is defending him like he's in
Speaker 1: a slump. But that is who Russ is. We love
Speaker 1: Russ because he's the most prolific trick chucker in fifteen years.
Speaker 1: He will not stop shooting no matter what I mean.
Speaker 1: And here's not what's being Here's what's not being discussed
Speaker 1: nearly enough. This is not a Russ problem. This is
Speaker 1: a Rob Polinka problem. Rob Polinka is what's a synonym
Speaker 1: to trash. He is so inept, he is he is
Speaker 1: so significantly over his head at his job that he
Speaker 1: allows his marquee stars to make decisions for him. Like
Speaker 1: the greatest mistake a GM can make is that thinking
Speaker 1: just because they have a player who's a Hall of Famer,
Speaker 1: has an incredible mind for basketball and understands the game
Speaker 1: in a way that someone who's never played it at
Speaker 1: that level never can, doesn't mean that they know shit
Speaker 1: about constructing a roster of people who fit together with
Speaker 1: chemistry and all the things that you must do in
Speaker 1: order to win basketball games. That's not what they do.
Speaker 1: They play their individual role and they help make their
Speaker 1: teammates better. They don't know how to draft, they don't
Speaker 1: know how to scout, they don't know how to fucking
Speaker 1: recoup the right players to create a roster that makes sense.
Speaker 1: And that's what happened. Like Rob Polenka listened to Lebron
Speaker 1: when Lebron James said I need Russ and he did
Speaker 1: it like a fucking lemming. That's what he did, and
Speaker 1: he deserves to be held accountable for that, not Lebron.
Speaker 1: That's not Lebron's fault. Lebron can say his piece, and
Speaker 1: then a GM with a spine can say, no, that's
Speaker 1: not what we're doing here, love you, we're creating friction
Speaker 1: like this. We're gonna get through this, but we're not
Speaker 1: bringing this chucker who makes forty six million dollars who
Speaker 1: doesn't shoot at all, onto a team with you to
Speaker 1: create space or no space for you. No, like they
Speaker 1: needed Demart Rosen. They needed a playmaker. Yes, to give
Speaker 1: Lebron on a break, but they also need a play
Speaker 1: maker that can shoot. And Russell Westbrook can not shoot.
Speaker 1: Lebron was recruiting everyone like he was trying to tell
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard, I want you. You know, Bradley Beal, I
Speaker 1: want you. It was like The Bachelor. He was giving
Speaker 1: everybody roses in the early stages. And we don't even
Speaker 1: know who Lebron wants to be his wife, obviously Russell Westbrook,
Speaker 1: who it's not working out, and what he needs is
Speaker 1: different than what he wants. I'm sure he wanted Russ
Speaker 1: to come home and to be a nice story and
Speaker 1: the Brody to be there and them to just be
Speaker 1: rocking out, drinking wine and eating tacos. But this is bad,
Speaker 1: and this is all Plank's fault, and he's a former
Speaker 1: agent who his entire reason for existence as a Laker
Speaker 1: GM is just because Kobe put him there, and nobody
Speaker 1: talks about that nearly enough. Is it's nepotism. It was
Speaker 1: a relationship with a snake who does a terrible job.
Speaker 1: I know, I'm just like laying into Rob plinkt, but
Speaker 1: he really is not good. If you dissect, which we
Speaker 1: have in the past, all of the decisions that Rob
Speaker 1: Plinka has made. He took and dismantled a team that
Speaker 1: won a title, all the things that they did well
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty when they won in the Bubble,
Speaker 1: a Mickey Mouse ring as people call it, all of
Speaker 1: those things they just worked for the last two years
Speaker 1: to dismantle, like all of the good things are now gone,
Speaker 1: and what you have left is a forty six million
Speaker 1: dollar Russ and a million quajillion contract with Lebron James.
Speaker 1: And now you it's so bad that people are saying
Speaker 1: he should force his way back to Cleveland. So and
Speaker 1: they're not joking at all whatsoever. MAVs Jazz I think
Speaker 1: this is a strange fit. I think when Adam Silver
Speaker 1: scheduled the MAVs and Jazz on Christmas, people thought Luca
Speaker 1: would emerge as an MVP candidate coming off of the
Speaker 1: Olympics with Slovena runaway. But you know, when we saw
Speaker 1: what Luca did in the playoffs was tremendous against the Clippers.
Speaker 1: He can ball, and then, you know, let's be real,
Speaker 1: probably the Clippers would have been playing the Jazz if
Speaker 1: it wasn't for Kawhi getting injured, or if the Nuggets
Speaker 1: had a healthy Jamal, we might see Jazz play La,
Speaker 1: or we might see the Jazz play Denver, but alas Luca,
Speaker 1: who draws a shitload of eyeballs, was their Constellation Prize. Whoops.
Speaker 1: Uh because no Luca on Christmas Day. He's been out
Speaker 1: pretty much all season with either an ankle injury, COVID,
Speaker 1: or OBCD, like pretty much all three of those are
Speaker 1: comorbidities for one another. Uh. So that's how it's been,
Speaker 1: and what we ended up though, was getting probably maybe
Speaker 1: one of the best games of the day. Surprisingly, I
Speaker 1: don't know how. I didn't know that I needed a
Speaker 1: steady dose of Jalen Brunson, but I did. He had
Speaker 1: twenty seven two and six, had prozingis continuing his I
Speaker 1: Hate Rick Carlisle tour. He had twenty seven nine and
Speaker 1: three and fucking Frank Melakina legend no legend had seventeen
Speaker 1: points discarded Nick and Frank Nilikina the Jazz. They won.
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell is playing out of his mind right now.
Speaker 1: He's out for two games now with a backstrain. But
Speaker 1: I think the thing that's the most interesting to me
Speaker 1: about this game moving forward is that the MAVs without
Speaker 1: Luca competed with the Jazz all the way to the end.
Speaker 1: And the Jazz have tons of talent, they have sharpshooters,
Speaker 1: they're getting healthy. They got Bojon. Bojon had twenty five points,
Speaker 1: four rebounds in a steal, four for eight from three
Speaker 1: my man, Bojon back. I mean that should not be.
Speaker 1: The Jazz are a three seed, and the MAVs are
Speaker 1: all over the place, like on any given day, they're
Speaker 1: somewhere new on the standings. And this is why I
Speaker 1: continue to question the Jazz. Frankly they have do they
Speaker 1: have what it takes to make a real deep run.
Speaker 1: Because if your team can allow Jalen Brunson to give
Speaker 1: you the business, to Frank Nola Kina to give you
Speaker 1: the business, Dorian Finney Smith to give you the business,
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert had only ten eleven and one that's unacceptable.
Speaker 1: That is on it. You are seven feet tall and
Speaker 1: it's supposed to be a defensive player of the Year.
Speaker 1: And Porzingis gave you all the buckets, all of them.
Speaker 1: Rudy plays well against traditional centers and against guys that
Speaker 1: he needs to switch on and off of. He struggles
Speaker 1: like flex lineups, like the Clippers, like the MAVs like
Speaker 1: when they run at him. He's a liability. So while
Speaker 1: it was a fun game to me, it showed me.
Speaker 1: Probably this game showed me the most about a team
Speaker 1: and where they are headed. I think the Jazz are
Speaker 1: headed for a first or second round exit. Like they
Speaker 1: need the one seed as bad as I need some
Speaker 1: free bet credits, So I bet MGM account like they
Speaker 1: need that because otherwise they're getting bounced. Like if they
Speaker 1: are a three seed and they play a six seed
Speaker 1: in the MAVs with the healthy Luca, healthy Luca on
Speaker 1: the MAVs on Christmas Day would have beat him. They
Speaker 1: literally had to fight and claw to beat a fucking
Speaker 1: trash mass team with Dorian Phinney Smith. Like, okay, so
Speaker 1: they are in trouble and Luca and the MAVs are
Speaker 1: in a lot better spot than even I think they knew,
Speaker 1: considering where the West is right now, which is probably
Speaker 1: the softest that it's been in five years. So when
Speaker 1: do we make these Christmas Days fun day? We didn't
Speaker 1: have Omicron completely destroy Christmas, which was nice. It shows you,
Speaker 1: and I think the thing too is it shows you
Speaker 1: how fast and and like how immediate you can see
Speaker 1: teams rise and fall, like we saw the Hawks and
Speaker 1: the Knicks looks so good, and we imagined that it
Speaker 1: would continue, especially the Knicks, who really didn't make a
Speaker 1: ton of changes, especially the Hawks. The didn't make a
Speaker 1: ton of changes, right, and in the age of COVID,
Speaker 1: you've got injuries, you got COVID, and things just flip
Speaker 1: on their head faster than you can even look up.
Speaker 1: Like I thought that the Warriors weren't gonna be good
Speaker 1: until they got Clay back. The Warriors with like milkmen
Speaker 1: are really really good because of the coaching that they got,
Speaker 1: because of how healthy they've been, because of the Traymond
Speaker 1: Green being the leader, and bringing back Andre Goodala, all
Speaker 1: these things. That shows you how the league can be
Speaker 1: so interesting. And again, like the Orlando Magic, you have hope.
Speaker 1: Like teams, you can go up and you can go
Speaker 1: down in a matter of two months, you know. The
Speaker 1: I honestly thought the Knicks would be great, thought that
Speaker 1: they could probably take another step up from four seed
Speaker 1: to three seeds, and now that I might miss the
Speaker 1: playoffs all together. And that's what makes this league so interesting.
Speaker 1: I think you can find new teams on Christmas Day,
Speaker 1: and I hope that we find I hope we see
Speaker 1: the Calves on Christmas Day again without Lebron James to
Speaker 1: rub it in his face. That's all the time that
Speaker 1: we had for the Heat Check. We'll be back Wednesday
Speaker 1: morning early with a new episode. We'll be talking more
Speaker 1: about the Kings and Alvin Gentry just completely not giving
Speaker 1: a fuck anymore. He's just railing on him, completely embarrassed
Speaker 1: by their lack of effort. So don't forget to download,
Speaker 1: subscribe to all your friends, follow us on the Heat Check,
Speaker 1: this Heat Check and Trista Criek on TikTok. We will
Speaker 1: see you folks Wednesday.
Speaker 4: Come on