NBA Weekend Winners & Losers | Healthy Sixers, Tatum's Best Game Yet, Orlando Tragic

Summary

No Dunks: NBA Weekend Winners & Losers | Healthy Sixers, Tatum’s Best Game Yet, Orlando Tragic
iHeartPodcasts | March 30, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of No Dunks, hosted by Skeets, Trey Kirby, and the crew, brings their signature blend of wit and detailed basketball analysis. The team digs into the NBA’s weekend action, spotlighting the biggest winners and losers—from surging squads like the Cavaliers and Sixers, to struggling outfits like the Heat and Magic. They hit on seeding shenanigans, tanking debates, and memorable individual performances, keeping it fun and insightful throughout.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. March Madness Bracket Banter (02:43–06:46)

• The hosts begin with their NCAA bracket destiny:
  • Despite confusion over their actual ranking (fifth or ninth?), they’re excited to have three of the Final Four.
  • UConn’s dramatic win over Duke is dissected, including strategic game management errors ("Duke just throws a bunch of passes, including a guy, other Boozer, jumping and throwing in like a one-hand baseball pass into two defenders."—Skeets, 04:15).
  • The value of sticking to their bracket guns is celebrated, even if they can only finish second.
  • Lively banter about bracket logistics, and the drama of last-second tourney moments.
• Memorable Moment: The hosts’ lighthearted confusion over their own bracket performance provides a familiar, playful start.

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2. NBA Weekend Winners

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a) Cleveland Cavaliers: “Healthy” and Strategic (07:02–13:36)

• Winners of the Weekend: Cavs' Big Four (Mitchell, Harden, Mobley, Allen) finally play together post-trade deadline and destroy the Heat.
• James Harden’s fit as a “pure point guard,” Max Strus’s 8/11 from three, and dynamic ball movement all highlighted.
• Secondary assists, “tic tac toe passing,” and staggering Harden with the second unit cited as key improvements.
• The hosts discuss seeding incentives:
  • “Fourth place is where you want to be in the East right now...” (Skeets, 09:01), due to a preferable first-round matchup.
  • Resting starters is strategic, not panicky: "Losses aren't bad for the Cavs... they're going to be in shenanigans mode here." (Skeets, 10:27)
• Notable Quote: "It looked like those four guys had played together way more than, I think, like 48 minutes together."—Skeets, 07:54

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b) Philadelphia 76ers: Finally Healthy, Finally Scary? (13:36–16:43)

• Trey’s winner: Sixers, now with Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid actually sharing the court.
• They close out the Hornets impressively:
  • Paul George’s clutch offense, defense, and hustle on the boards highlighted.
  • Embiid: “He looked like he was wemby as a pass goes out to Brandon Miller from the paint... able to get out there. Fantastic on that side.” (Trey, 15:26)
  • Maxey returns from injury, brings energy (“He was shot out of a cannon on this one.”—Skeets quoting Eric Collins, 17:27)
• Sixers called "the definition of a dark horse” due to volatility but “really scary matchup” potential if their Big Three are healthy.
• Debate: Whether the Sixers could overtake a top-four seed and how they'd stack up in a playoff series vs. the Cavs or Knicks.

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c) Denver Nuggets: Clutch Factor & Seeding Maneuvers (23:39–26:49)

• Nuggets pull out a comeback vs. Jazz and blow out the Warriors.
• Jokic’s late-game heroics, Tim Hardaway and Bruce Brown contributions, and "six-game win streak" spotlighted.
• Playoff seeding gamesmanship (“shenanigans alert”) discussed again.
• Nuggets could angle for the “beat-the-Rockets first round” seeding.
• Classic Moment: “I like to see that from the Cowboy himself. Bruce Brown, good celebration.” (Skeets, 25:27)

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d) Boston Celtics: Jason Tatum’s Best Game Yet? (27:01–32:55)

• No Jalen Brown? “Jason Tatum goes full alpha”—delivers his “best game of the season”: 32 points, eight assists, five threes.
• Hosts praise Tatum’s flexibility attacking mismatches and operating as a distributor.
• Conversations around Celtics’ offensive continuity and Tatum’s improving form post-injury.
• Notable Quote: "If they get this level of Tatum... this is probably the team to beat in the Eastern Conference."—Skeets, 30:50

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e) Indiana Pacers: Next-Level Tanking? (32:59–39:01)

• Rare “winner” slot for Indiana, but only for “figuring out an ingenious way to lose” (33:05).
• Wild finish vs. Clippers: failed last-second plays, intentional fouls and missed free throws, and ultimately, a loss that secures better lottery odds.
• Discuss tanking, lack of success with Siakam playing, and “timing the tank” only after the season falls apart ("They have started the tank again"—Trey, 37:26).
• Tanking Debate: Whether fewer games would “fix” tanking (consensus: probably not, economics always win).

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f) Detroit Pistons: Post-Cade Surge (40:31–42:45)

• Pistons go 5-1 without Cade Cunningham, fueled by a suddenly stingy defense.
• Maintaining control of the top seed despite injuries.
• Skeets: “Even with Cade coming in as a question mark, recovering from a collapsed lung.” (41:10)
• Trey: “They held onto the one seed. It ain’t going anywhere. There’s only eight games remaining. They’re up four on the Boston Celtics..." (42:45)

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Quick Mini-Winners

• Marvin Bagley (44:54): Game of the season, great free-agent prospects.
• Scotty Barnes (45:40): Only NBA player with 100+ blocks & 100+ steals this season.

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3. NBA Weekend Losers

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a) Miami Heat: Defensive Meltdown (47:30–52:20)

• Two terrible losses: “Zero defensive resistance... gave up 149 points” (Skeets, 47:36).
• Since Bam’s 83-point game, Heat are 2-7, giving up monster scores (e.g., 136 to Hornets, 134 to Lakers).
• Defensive slide partly coincides with Norm Powell's return.
• Play-in tournament seems inevitable, top-six hopes fading fast.
• Quote: “They had this win streak… Hero was back... got as healthy as they possibly can and for whatever reason they’re just falling apart on the defensive end.” (Skeets, 49:28)

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b) Orlando Magic: “Tragic” 52-Point Loss (52:22–59:19)

• “They lost by 52 points. 52 points. And the Toronto Raptors had a 31-0 run against the Orlando Magic.” (Trey, 52:22)
• Magic’s effort and cohesion trashed on air:
  • “What effort? I think is what I would say. This is the kind of effort that does get a coach fired.” (Skeets, 54:39)
  • 28 turnovers, 44-point deficit in paint points.
  • Coach Mosley’s future debated, given the team’s core is locked for years—“Does he give them next season?” (Skeets, 53:44)
• “A disaster class” for Paolo Banchero and entire squad.

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c) Knicks & Deuce McBride Injury (63:00–64:56)

• McBride re-injures himself in his first game back (hernia area).
• Knicks looked shaky, lost to Hornets and Thunder, and “lost their last four against playoff teams.” (Skeets, 64:47)
• Chemistry, rotation concerns, and not “peaking at the right time.”

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d) Steph Curry's Uncertain Status (65:29–67:39)

• Upcoming second post-season in a row where Curry is not fully fit.
• Hasn't played since late January; if no return this week, he’s unlikely to participate even in the play-in.
• “Steve Kerr said, ’We’re not bringing him back for the play-in game. He needs to play some games, and we need to give him a runway if this is going to work.’” (Skeets, 66:54)

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4. Other Segments & Notable Moments

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Stat Line of the Night (69:59–70:22)

• Alperen Sengun:
  • 36 points (5 threes)
  • 13 rebounds (7 offensive!)
  • 7 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks, 0 turnovers

Lively Banter & Quick Hits

• Fun asides about Max Strus’s Miller Lite moment (“like he’s Luka Doncic going to the NBA Finals.”—Trey, 12:19)
• Mention of Steve Kerr sending Toronto Blue Jays’ John Schneider a congratulatory card.
• Brief “D&D” table sidebar.
• Reflection on tanking fixes; skepticism about NBA owners ever reducing games for competitive balance.

Closing Banter

• Pick’em standings drama
• Jokes about restaurant staples in Indianapolis (St. Elmo’s)
• Fun with names—Lamar Skeeter, coaching careers

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:43–06:46] NCAA March Madness/Bracket chat
• [07:02–13:36] Cavaliers’ return to health and playoff seeding
• [13:36–16:43] Sixers’ Big Three debut
• [23:39–26:49] Denver Nuggets clutch wins, seeding implications
• [27:01–32:55] Jason Tatum’s outstanding weekend
• [33:05–39:01] Indiana Pacers: creative tanking and the lottery debate
• [40:31–42:45] Detroit Pistons’ run without Cade Cunningham
• [47:30–52:20] Miami Heat’s defensive freefall
• [52:22–59:19] Orlando Magic's historic blowout
• [63:00–64:56] Knicks/McBride Injury Update
• [65:29–67:39] Steph Curry’s health woes
• [69:59–70:22] Stat line of the night: Alperen Sengun

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Memorable Quotes

• “Fourth place is where you want to be in the Eastern Conference right now...” —Skeets (09:01)
• “He looked like he was wemby as a pass goes out to Brandon Miller from the paint... able to get out there. Fantastic on that side.” —Trey (15:26)
• “If they get this level of Tatum... this is probably the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.” —Skeets (30:50)
• “This is the kind of effort that does get a coach fired. It’s pretty rare to happen this late in the season, but it happened twice last year…” —Skeets (54:39)
• “They lost by 52 points. 52 points.” —Trey (52:22)
• “Steve Kerr said, ’We’re not bringing him back for the play-in game. He needs to play some games and we need to give him a runway if this is going to work.’” —Skeets (66:54)

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The No Dunks Tone

Throughout, the crew balances nuanced NBA analysis with laughs, impressions, and warmth. Even tough critiques are served playfully (e.g., “Orlando Tragic,” jokes about coaching names). Fans get the key facts, strategic breakdowns, and enough personality to feel part of the crew’s group chat.

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For New Listeners

If you missed this episode, you’ll walk away knowing:

• Who’s hot and who’s not in the NBA right now.
• Which teams are peaking (or tanking) before the playoffs.
• The inside jokes, offbeat basketball tidbits, and expert observations that make No Dunks a staple for basketball lovers.
  Skip the commercials—focus on the lively hoops talk!

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

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[Trey Kirby]

Lady Jennifer of Coolidge.

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Well many thanks good sir. Here is my Discover card.

[Podcast Host]

They accept Discover at Renaissance Fairs?

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Yeah they do.

[Lori Siegel]

Here.

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Discover is accepted at the places I love to shop. Getth with the times.

[Podcast Host]

With the times.

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You're playing the loot. Yeah, and it sounds pretty good right?

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Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide, based on

[Skeets]

the February 2025 Nielsen report.

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[Trey Kirby]

Podcast listeners, this is for you. Welcome to no Dunks here in the Classic Factory. I'm Tess Moss. With me, it's the man in the middle, Trey Kirby. Yes. And the man making the magic happen. Who had a good AO right there, it's J.D. well, thank you very much. Been working on it all week, mastering it. I was watching basket all weekend.

[Skeets]

Hey, I was watching basketball all weekend.

[Trey Kirby]

Same, same, same. Mostly NBA. But that's just a segue to the NCAA and our bracket where we're ranked fifth, surprisingly, because we had Yukon. Really fifth.

[Skeets]

We're also ninth, you know.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I saw it as ninth.

[Skeets]

Yeah. Unfortunately, we only have our best we can do is second because I think Adam Patterson is a little bit ahead of us. He's maybe tied for third or fourth, something like that. Also has Michigan over UConn in the finals, so we can't catch Adam. So still this is. We're trending towards our best finish ever.

[Trey Kirby]

Right. Big reason why is because we had UConn. Why so high?

[Skeets]

Yeah, definitely beating. Beating Duke. This one's on Doug Miller. Absolutely. He we said if Doug doesn't have a beard, we're taking Duke to lose at some point. Called him up clean shaven. Says he wants to feel clean, wants to feel fresh. Understandable. Skeets was hesitating. He was like, oh man, we got Doug on the phone right away. Maybe we should put Duke through. But we stuck to our guns and we took Yukon and Duke just with an all time panic mode moment there. I don't know what was going on. Boozer catches the ball like down in the bottom right corner. There's under 10 seconds left. Couldn't they just held the ball, waited to get fouled. They were up one. So Yukon's got to do something to get the ball back. Instead, Duke just throws a bunch of passes, including a guy other boozer jumping and throwing in like a one hand baseball pass into two defenders.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, you can see the coaches shot. Hands, hands, hands. There's gonna be hands there. You know it's coming.

[Skeets]

Yeah, that was a crazy move. It looked like they could have just stayed there. Hey, foul us. Foul us. Foulis. I know they want to get the ball across half court, but still wild play from Duke and then an amazing shot by Mullins from UConn. That was a deep, deep bomb to send them through to the final four. Crazy stuff.

[Trey Kirby]

Braylon Mullins, What a great.

[Skeets]

Mullins.

[Trey Kirby]

No relation to Byron Mullins, former NBA player at all. But I guess the only thing, the only question I have is they're trying to advance it. Is there an eight second rule in college?

[Skeets]

10 seconds in college.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay, so I guess they could have called it with like 01 left because there wasn't there like 10.1.

[Skeets]

Was it 10.1 when they ended?

[Trey Kirby]

It seemed like.

[Skeets]

Exactly. I think they. So I guess I think what they should have done was nothing.

[Trey Kirby]

Uhhuh.

[Skeets]

Just turtle up.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, but found me. Yeah. And I think Alex Caraban who made the pass. Yeah. To Mullins, a good three point shooter. He could have forced it. It was literally like 2 seconds left. He could have just let that thing rip. He's a good shooter, but there was somebody in front of him. So just real to make that pass. But we've got Yukon to go all the way, so.

[Skeets]

No, we have Michigan to go all the way.

[Trey Kirby]

What?

[Skeets]

We have Michigan to win it, man. Oh, we've got Yukon in the finals.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, the finals. Okay. Yeah.

[Skeets]

And don't worry, Michigan's gonna win. They look incredible. They dominated yesterday. They had the easiest matchup for sure.

[Trey Kirby]

This thing, this bracket is confusing me here.

[Skeets]

No, it's not, man. On the left it says Yukon versus Illinois. Yukon going into the finals.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, right.

[Skeets]

We've got Arizona versus Michigan. Michigan going into the finals. You know we picked.

[Trey Kirby]

No, I know, but we're ranked ninth. Yes, but also Skeets was in the slack today. He said we're ranked fifth. How are we ranked fifth?

[Skeets]

But also we're ranked ninth.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, very odd. Yeah, everybody's.

[Skeets]

There's eight teams ahead of us. There's eight teams ahead of me. We are ranked ninth, though. We're the fifth number. There's a first, there's a third, there's a fourth and there's a ninth.

[Trey Kirby]

I think we are. Nice. Oh, okay. I guess that's this. I. I can't log in, so I can't actually see that. But anyways, I saw the ninth and then I saw fifth and then. Anyways, we have three of the final four.

[Skeets]

We're snacking it right now.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, we're. We're cooking a great ending to that game for non Duke fans.

[Skeets]

Yes, yes indeed.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes. Very fun. All right, let's move on to the NBA. We got the winners and losers as we always do on Monday. Trey, get us started here.

[Skeets]

I got the Cavs as a winner because they're pretty healthy. They got Dean Wade out. They got Jalen Tyson out. But these are small injuries. They're also apparently going to be resting a bunch of guys tonight against the Jazz cause just a good time to get us some rest in before the playoffs. But the Big Four all played on Friday against the Heat. Just the fourth game together for Mitchell, Harden, Mobley and Allen since the trade deadline and they completely destroyed the Heat Friday night I saw a plus 36 was the biggest on the diff there in Cleveland. A huge plus lineup for the Big Four altogether. And that's even with Mitchell and Harden having pretty poor shooting nights. I thought they did everything else offensively for the Cavs. Mitchell 6 assists, 4 steals. Harden had 14 assists, just one turnover and I thought he was awesome setting the table. He's kind of a pure point guard for this Cavs team, especially when they have everybody in the lineup. The main beneficiary was Evan Mobley. He went for 23 on 10 of 15 shooting and Jared Allen 18 points on 8 of 10 from the field. The Streus Goose was hot as well. Went 8 of 11 from 3:29 points, 38 assists in the game for Cleveland. Great ball movement. It looked like those four guys had played together way more than I think they're like 48 minutes together. Something a small, small number just because of injuries to Allen and Mobley has kind of made it so their Cavs can't actually see what they've got going forward. But this was a great win for Cleveland. Looking like a well oiled machine. I like that they basically keep Harden attached to Jared Allen. So when they're playing with the second unit it's just like all pick and roll with Harden and Allen and we know Allen's a great role man, Harden's a great setup man. But there was a lot of secondary assists for James Harden as well. A lot of tic tac toe passing from Cleveland. They just dissected the Heat defense which we'll talk about them in the second half of the show because they are big time losers and they can't guard anybody right now, Cavs included. But after the weekend shook out, the Knicks lost a couple of games Thursday and Sunday. With one and a half games back of the third seed right now are the Cavs. But I'm wondering you think they're going to want to stay at four. I think fourth place is where you want to be in the Eastern Conference right now because first round you're getting one of the Raptors, Hawks and Sixers. Then you're either playing a play in team or a Pistons squad that we don't really know what they're going to look like with Cade Cunningham returning from his collapse lung. They've been great with him out. It's different in the playoffs. Then you got the conference finals. If you finish in third, you play one of the Raptors, Hawks or Sixers. We'll see who ends up in the sixth seed and fifth seed there. But then you either have to play the Celtics or the Knicks in the second round, followed by the conference finals. I think the four seed is preferable for everybody.

[Trey Kirby]

I think so. Yeah. When you're looking at it in terms of the first round, for sure. Yeah. The old we don't recede in the second round hurts in this situation here. You like it if you're four or five and then going up against the Pistons who are going to make a winner of the weekend because they have been absolutely cooking. That being said, I do find the Cavs odd here. Why aren't they playing their guys tonight? Well, they need their guys.

[Skeets]

Two reasons is. First is they're playing the Jazz.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, but still you want these four guys who haven't played all together. You just got James Harden, Jared Allen's hurt. Play them.

[Skeets]

Sure.

[Trey Kirby]

I think you want that.

[Skeets]

I understand wanting them to get some reps together. I kind of agree with you there. Maybe they should do like a minutes limit sort of thing every play. These guys, 24 minutes. But also losses aren't bad for the Cavs. They've got an 80% chance according to basketball reference of finishing at 4, 20% of jumping up to 3. But only the Nets in the Eastern Conference have an easier schedule remaining than the Cavs. So they're going to be in shenanigans mode here. If they got a chance to rest some guys, they're going to take it because they would not mind losing. I know the Raptors had their number. I think they played all of their games before the end of November was early. So you can kind of toss those ones out. Certainly the Cavs would want to take their chances with the Raptors rather than getting one of these better teams that is near the play in tournament. And then like we're saying, second round matchup. I think you would rather play the Pistons than either the Knicks or the Celtics just because of an experience factor. But yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to see some strategic rests from Cleveland right now.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, watching them, they looked fantastic. The four of them. I. I couldn't tell what. What I liked more was it that Evan Mobley was up top a Lot with Jared Harden, James Harden to start possession. So Jared Allen was hanging out way down at the baseline. And because all the attention was on Harden and Mobley, Allen was paying off. Whether he was just doing some little cuts from the dunk spot and Harden was able to find him, or that Mobley was drawing attention himself in separate plays. So they just were working off each other really well. Or the fact that Max Struse dropped eight threes in a game this weekend and then had a Miller Light afterwards in the hallway during the post game interview like he's Luka Doncic going to the NBA Finals. Just chilling, just chilling, having a beer. He's. He's in a fantastic mode himself. And everybody else drawing attention because it is on Harden, it is Mobley and then there's an Allen and don't forget about Donovan Mitchell and then Max Sch is just there to catch and shoot. So yeah, perfect chemistry right now. And so I guess it makes sense. You just sit against the, the Jazz. Cause you know you're cooking, you know, you're just giving the ball primarily to Harden, as you said, whether it's with second units or not, or it's dino time. They do have a fantastic offense. Obviously it showed this weekend.

[Skeets]

Yeah, they look good and we talked about them a ton right after the trade deadline. They added Harden look like they could be a favorite in the Eastern Conference. Then, you know, Cade goes down, the Celtics get Jason Tatum back, Jared Allen and Evan Mobley kind of trade going out with injuries. And it felt like we didn't talk about the Cavs hardly at all. Just waiting for him to get healthy. We were mostly talking about how good Max Streuss looks, headband or not.

[Trey Kirby]

Physically, right?

[Skeets]

Yeah, physically. But yeah, to get him back. I think the Cavs, you know, we got two weeks left of the regular season here. It's going to be a balance of playoff seating and getting a rhythm going forward because they definitely have a chance. I feel like the Eastern Conference, all of the top four teams maybe have pretty close to a 25% chance. You would break the pie up in different sort of ways, but it feels like there's four favorites in the Eastern Conference. Take your pick for who you think is actually on top. The Cavs were impressive though against the Heat.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, throw the Philadelphia 76ers in there. Cause I'm looking forward to watching them

[Skeets]

in the favorites now.

[Trey Kirby]

But I'd love to see them in a series against the Cavs. Maybe it's just Mickey Mouse March where I'm feeling good about the teams below them. But yeah, my winner is the Philadelphia 76ers because yes, I would love to see them against the Cleveland Cavaliers especially. There's a good storyline there. Embiid, Donovan Mitchell, one of them wins, one of them could be onto their first conference finals in in their NBA career. But I like the way they beat the Charlotte Hornets this weekend, specifically the way they looked to end the game where they've got Paul George, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid playing together. They're big three playing together, which doesn't happen very often. So they get out there and in the last couple minutes it looked like that Paul George that they signed away from the Los Angeles Clippers to be a max guy to come up with a big offensive rebound on, on a missed free throw to get the ball back for them. And then on the inbound, he's running off a screen and splashing a three from the corner. Three of his 26 points, 13 rebounds. And then he had a huge steal on the next play where they're doubling out close to half court and he's able to race back and steal the pass. Four steals for him. So he looks like that guy. And then Embiid, really, really big defensively. Late seven seconds left, he had his back to the shooter that was sort of in the corner on that side of the floor. It was Brandon Miller and. And he was able to get out there looking like he's wemby as a pass goes out to Brandon Miller from the paint again back to Brandon Miller, but able to get out there. Fantastic on that side. The offense, I don't know if he's always going to be a first half guy, but he had 21 of his 29 points in the first half and then able to do that defensively. Tyrese Maxey also good on both sides. He had 43 minutes first game back from his finger injury. I thought his dunk early in the fourth quarter that was on a fast break really was able to turn this game. So those three guys in the way they beat the Charlotte Hornets, I thought was impressive in that. Yeah, I would take most likely the Cavs or the Knicks, depending on where the Sixers fall, if it's five or six, hopefully for them as they continue to move up here, if they can get up there. But because those guys are the big three. No disrespect to VJ Edgecombe, but that's why you feel good about this team because they've got big three and they've got VJ Edgecombe. And they continue to to beat teams right now. They are getting it together again because their big three hasn't played together in two months. So this was very, very big for them. They're getting right at the right time. I know it sounds really weird when you're talking about Paul George and Joel Embiid. The guy was also Paul. One of them also had 25 games that he was suspended, so that was a part of it. But Joel Embiid looking good. So here we are. I would love a series with them and the Cavs.

[Skeets]

This was a silver lining to the Maxi injury and the Paul George suspension. Like, it kept Paul George healthy. Like he's got his legs underneath him right now. He's got enough chance to get in rhythm. And Maxey was playing the most minutes in the league. Like he sat out for three weeks and he's still top 10 in total minutes play. That's how many. How much of a load he's carried for this team. So gets him a little bit of a rest as well. And Beat has been in and out of the lineup, but every time he plays, he looks awesome offensively. And like you're saying, he made a couple of big defensive plays in this one. Sixers, to me are like the definition of a dark horse team. You don't expect them to win. There are too many variables for this team going forward. But they're a really scary matchup because when you're talking about top three talent, there's not a lot of teams in either conference that can really match Maxi Embiid and Paul George when they're all going, when they're all playing well. Like, I think they played okay in this game against the Hornets. I thought Maxi was kind of the best. Like, you can tell that he was missing time with a finger injury rather than a knee injury or something. That's going to hamper his burst going forward because this dude was flying. That donkey had. Like, you're talking about the lefty one there in the fourth quarter. I heard Eric Collins say he was shot out of a cannon on this one. He used that phrase multiple times on Tyrese Maxey. So that's how you know Maxi was playing pretty well. He looked like his old self. Paul George can hit big shots when needed, can take a little bit of the responsibility from Maxi. And then Embiid is pretty steady. And I thought he was bringing it on the defensive end against the Hornets as well. After kind of letting you know, Moussa run wild with getting the offensive rebounds, that kind of stuff. They're a super talented team and if they get the right matchup, people will take them in a first round playoff series. The key now is just to get out of the play in for them. And they're pretty close. Right. I think they're a half game out of the succeed. With the Hawks playing tonight. We'll see what happens. But 76ers gotta feel like they did a decent enough job of like holding the fort with Paul George suspended Maxi going down with injury. Like they didn't fall too far out of the mix.

[Trey Kirby]

No.

[Skeets]

In the Eastern Conference that they could still win a first round series.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, it is. It's a scenario if they get up to face the CAS where it's not quite a coin flip. I would still probably take the Cavs, but it almost feels like 52, 48. It's easy to take the Sixers in that battle when Tyrese Maxey is back healthy playing 43 minutes in that game. I think Paul George on both sides looking like that guy. He can play on both ends. And then Kelly Oubre also back. Quentin Grimes also Ballin. They have a lot of talent on that team to go up against. Whether it's the Cavs, if they're able to move up. Like you said, the Hawks are only a half game ahead of them. They got Boston tonight. Their schedule gets tougher on the Atlanta side and even the New York Knicks. I said it last week, I love the matchup of Embiid. And whether it's Cat or you're going to see a lot more Mitchell Robinson, they're going to have to coordinate who they're trying to guard Joel Embiid with. He does look healthy. I mean that's obviously the huge question, but the Sixers look like a great team.

[Skeets]

Did you like Kelly Oubre's half red, half black hair?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I guess.

[Skeets]

Kind of like a two faced look.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's his thing.

[Skeets]

That's his thing.

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[Lily Herman]

Ready for a different take on Formula one? Look no further than no Grip, a new podcast tackling the culture of motor racing's most coveted series. Join me, Lily Herman, as we dive into the underexplored pockets of F1, including the astrology of the current grid.

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[Skeets]

He started getting all this attention and

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And plenty of other mishaps, scandals and sagas that have made Formula One a delightful, decadent dumpster fire for more than 75 years. Listen to no Grip on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Lori Siegel]

I'm Lori Siegel, a longtime tech journalist, and consider my new podcast, Mostly Human, your bridge to the future.

[Skeets]

Anyone can now be an entrepreneur. Anyone can build an app, and it's very empowering.

[Lori Siegel]

Each week I'll speak to the people building that future, and we're going to break down what all of this innovation actually means for you.

[Trey Kirby]

What I come to realize is that when people think that they're dating this AI companion, they're actually dating the companies that create this.

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We're experiencing one of the greatest tech accelerations in human history. And let's be honest, that can be messy.

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[Skeets]

The reason I say agency is because

[Trey Kirby]

if we can give power back to people, then I think that's probably the

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[Lori Siegel]

Listen to Mostly human on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Trey Kirby]

All right, moving on. Your next Winner of the Weekend I

[Skeets]

got the Denver Nuggets. Would they have been a winner of the weekend if they lost to the Jazz on Friday like they almost did? Absolutely not. But guess what? They pulled it out down 10 with 5 1/2 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Quarter Nuggets locked in. They forced a bunch of turnovers from the Jazz. Jazz finally started missing some shots and the Nuggets heated up. Got four threes in the last two and a half minutes from Jamal Murray and Cam Johnson. It was just go to the Yokich and Murray two man game and get some sort of a wide open shot on the Nuggets side. Jokic played great, 33, 15 and 12, but somehow his touch completely abandoned him in the last two minutes. He was smoking layups that he makes all the time. Wide open little flippers and dumpers. He had a couple of free throws that he missed that made the game even tighter than it should have been, but Nuggets pulled it out. Then Sunday against the Warriors. Golden State led at the half, but Denver gave up only 40 points to the warriors in the second half. Turned into a blowout because Denver hit 13 second half threes. I thought Tim Hardaway was really good in this one. He had 16 points, Bruce Brown had 15 points. He had a three and at one point he tipped his cap. I like to see that from the Cowboy himself. Bruce Brown good celebration. Denver is on a six game winning streak. They're two games up on Minnesota for the fourth seed in the Western Conference. Denver has a tougher remaining schedule. They do have the tie break over Minnesota however. That would be an interesting first round series. 45 Denver Minnesota. They've played a lot of really tough games in the past two or three seasons. Denver also only one game back from LA for the third seed. The Lakers though do have the tie break that they got when they played their great win streak recently. I think both teams are going to want to play the Rockets in the first round. I think most teams will be gunning for the Rockets, whether it be a 3, 6 or 4, 5 matchup. So that's another one when where I'm on shenanigans alert. It feels like that last week of the season, a lot of gamesmanship of, we need this win, you need this loss, you need this win, we need this loss. We will see how it all shakes out. But I think Denver's put themselves in a pretty good spot to kind of influence the postseason matchup that they want going forward.

[Trey Kirby]

They're bacon. It's funny because you watch this matchup against Kristaps Porzingis on Sunday night and it was like I was flashing back to Euro basket and like, this is the Kristaps Porzingis I thought was coming into this season splashing five threes against the Denver Nuggets. But then those are the games where Nikola Jokic really wakes up and he says, come on, man, he splashed four threes himself. Standing out there saying, this is where I get my assists with my handoffs doing his thing. But you gotta guard me. That's why I get assists. Cause I can splash threes. But they can say our offense can beat you at any time. You said Tim Hardaway, who's, who's obviously flowing the Bruce Brown three from literally mid court, you know, plus Jokic, plus Murray, plus a Cam, plus a Christian Brown. They have all the, all the, all the ingredients. They look like they're ready to go.

[Skeets]

They also got three guys named Jones. Now, I didn't realize that Spencer Jones didn't play yesterday against the warriors, but they also got Curtis and Tyus Jones. Three Joneses forgot about the Curtis.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, you forget about Curtis always. Always forget about Curtis. Moving on to the Boston Celtics, Jason Tatum is absolutely a winner. No Jalen Brown this weekend for both games. So Jason Tatum could go into that number one role. And excel didn't start great against the Atlanta Hawks, but in the fourth quarter he took over and it was just Jason Tatum time where you could rely on that guy. He had 13 in that fourth quarter. Then against Charlotte, his best game this season. He just looked like he could use whatever option he had, whatever matchup he had, if he had LaMelo ball on him, he said, all right, I am absolutely taking him to the rack. He went by him. He had some nice duck where con canipple was on him. All right. I'm literally shooting over you or the passes sometimes. He had Brandon Miller on him, couldn't get by him. But the great Jason Tatum is able to find wherever a guy is to score. So Brandon Miller took him out of the play. Peyton Pritchard, beautiful cut. Nami Ishkada in a pick and roll. And that's where Jason Tatum rolls, is perfected because he is so good at those assists. He had eight assists yesterday, season high to go along with this. 32 points a season high, five threes a season high. And that's where he's going to operate from. Whether it's beyond the three point line, whether it's making his way into the lane for beautiful passes, he's just perfected it. So that's 11 games here into his season. Looking very, very good most of the time and looking like a guy who could be Jaylen Brown's number two. That has to be that way because Jaylen Brown is excelling in, in that role. I'm not, I'm not worried about Jaylen Brown sitting out a couple games. It was just sort of a knee discomfort thing that he just chilled out for, it seems like. But it also allows Jason Tatum to get back to who he was. So looking like that championship Jason Tatum,

[Skeets]

I thought, yeah, he looked like Jason Tatum. He, you know, pick and roll every single time down, hunt the mismatch and exploit the mismatch. Sometimes it's in the post like you're saying a bunch of his of assists were also on like baseline out of bounds plays that were just cooked up by Joe Missoula. Easy dish underneath, but he was good. This is a great win for the Celtics to be able to beat a hot Hornets team in Charlotte without two of your top guys in white and brown. Two of your favorite colors in white and brown as well. But yeah, I mean you can just slot Jason Tatum and guess what, you get to be the number one today. Peyton Pritchard, you're back in the starting lineup. You get to be the number two today. 28 points from him, 32 from Tatum. If they get this level of Tatum, I'm not saying 32 and 8 every night, but like the level that he's been playing at. As long as they're able to stay away from the things that have always been a problem for the Celtics when they look their worst during the Tatum and Brown era, it's been disjointed offense taking turns. Your turn, My turn. Getting too much into one on ones, too much. Settling for threes. But I Think that the level that Tatum is playing at since his return is good enough for me to look at the Celtics and be like, this is probably the team to beat in the Eastern Conference. Just because they've got such a long track record, they've got the continuity together. The team has definitely changed over the years, especially this year with Porzingis leaving, Jrue Holiday leaving, Luke Cornet being gone. They lost significant parts of their top seven. Horford's gone as well. They haven't missed a step because they've got Jason Tatum now back with Jaylen Brown. Assuming these two guys are healthy, I think they're going to get enough from Tatum this year that, like, he's going to be an influential player in the postseason. Like, prior to his return, it was always like, oh, if they get 80% of Jason Tatum, they're going to be tough. And I feel like they're getting, I don't know, 90% of Jason Tatum. So far, he's getting better. It looks like he was getting downhill in this. He was trying to jump off of his bad legs. Some of his more awkward takes I thought were that way. And I also thought he was kind of stretching himself a little bit. He started this game 10 for 17, then in the fourth quarter went 2 for 6. And it just felt like to me, he was like, how much gas do I actually have? Trying to empty the tank and see how deep he can go. Because the games are going to get harder in the playoffs. But Tatum has looked pretty solid. If the three pointer comes around like it did against the Hornets. Scary stuff.

[Trey Kirby]

It is true. It is what Michael Jordan said in that interview earlier on the NBA NBC broadcast with Mike Tirico, that people have to play together and there's load management just doesn't work. And Jayson Tatum has to play more to get to his peak. And you saw it on Friday night. The first three quarters were not good for Jason Tatum. In the fourth quarter, he peaked. It's important. And so, yeah, I said that Jaylen Brown is the number one guy on that team, even though he definitely wasn't even in the championship run. And that's why there's people here in our stream team like Big Mayo xm saying, oh, no, Jason Tatum is number one. Don't ever call him number two. This season is different. I think that's. That's. That's very apparent. Although I don't know what's going on with YouTube. We literally have more likes on this live stream than we do people watching something going on.

[Skeets]

You don't have to call out the audience numbers, man.

[Trey Kirby]

Geez. No, I know, I know look bad. No, I didn't say number. I didn't say a number. I said more likes. Okay then, listen, things are weird. You said that we could see our championship for the ncaa. I didn't see it. I mean things are just weird. But anyway, Jason Tatum is just doesn't have to be. It's all me for four quarters. He doesn't have to. Offensive, they have too many options. But again, the assists there, whether or not they're on inbounds or not, plus splash and threes obviously looking really, really, really good. I can understand why, even though we're going to talk about the Pistons, people will be picking the Boston Celtics as the team coming out of the Eastern Conference.

[Skeets]

Oh yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Moving on here. What you got for another winner?

[Skeets]

I got the Indiana Pacers. Yeah, when was the last time they were a winner of the weekend? It might be the first time this entire season.

[Trey Kirby]

Could be.

[Skeets]

Yeah, it's definitely possible. They actually got a win on Sunday. Blew out the Miami Heat. That's bad for Indiana, unfortunately. They're tied with Washington at 17 wins for fewest in the NBA. Brooklyn has 18 wins and then Sacramento and fourth place in the tank of thon standings. 19 wins. Indiana though, wants to stay in the bottom three because then they get a 52% chance at keeping the pick in the top four versus only a 48% chance if they finish in the fourth. Slot lottery odds, all because of the Zubots trade. They got to finish in the top four. So unfortunately a bad win for the Pacers on Sunday. I'm giving them a winner though for figuring out an ingenious way to lose on Friday against the Clippers. 24 point lead for the Pacers in the second quarter. Gave it back like that.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Skeets]

Then we played basically a back and forth normal style basketball game in the second half. Came down to the final few possessions. Kawhi Leonard hit a jumper to cut Indiana's lead to three. Then Ben Shepard misses a three pointer, files. Darius Garland makes a couple of free throws. Now it's a one point game. Siakam misses a jumper. Clippers get it back. Set. Kawhi up for a game winner. Simple sideline, out of bounds play. Get him the ball on the left block. He gets to a leaner, takes the lead with 0.4 seconds left. Then more happened in these.4 seconds than you can possibly imagine. First Hard Dog tries to put the ball on the rim for the Jay Triano tip. You throw the ball over the rim. There's no offensive goaltending on an out of bounds play. You can basically touch the ball in the cylinder. We saw him do this with Tyson Chandler. Is that the guy who caught the alley? Oops, I don't know who it was. It was on the Suns a million years ago. Yeah, it was a cool rule loophole where you're like, whoa, just throw a lob to the hoop. Unfortunately for Hard Dog, he banked in the three, banked in the out of bounds pass, which is a turnover. So Clippers get the ball back. Indiana files Ben Matheran immediately on the inbounds, almost before the ball was inbounded. But they take a look at the review. They say, all good. Ben Matheran, you're going to the free throw line. Make two, this game is over. He misses both. So the Pacers have another chance. I think they have 0.1 seconds left on the clock. Trying for the Triano tip again. This one works better. They at least get a shot. And J. Huff gets fouled, goes to the line. One free throw to win or one free throw to tie, two to lose. And he misses them both. Just a clutch loss for the Pacers because they have the exact opposite incentives that the Clippers have. The Clippers want the Pacers to win some games so that the Clippers chance at getting a 5 through 9 pick is better. The Pacers. It's better for them to lose. And they came through when it mattered. That was crazy. That was a crazy last one second of basketball.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, that J. Huff drawing a foul, which was not a foul. He flopped on that one for sure. Was a real ball. Don't lie with him going to the free throw line to miss both. And it ended up being a Kawhi Leonard game winner. Which awesome for him as he continues to roll. I, I know people have brought him up in the conversations. Is this an MVP type of Kawhi season? You could argue that for sure. You could also argue that it's almost been his. His healthiest season in that he scored 20 in over 20 straight. 20 or more in 51 straight games. Most he's done that in his career. Only the 14th player in NBA history to score at least 20 in 50 straight games. So good for him. At the same time, these Pacers are so funny because. Because I don't buy the. Oh, the Pacers tanked this season at all. Like Pascal Siakam has been playing all the time.

[Skeets]

True. I mean they had a ton of injuries.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, that part of it. Nembert Got hurt in the first game. Halberton hasn't been playing.

[Skeets]

And then Miles Turner walk and replace them with a backup center.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, but that's a CBA thing. That's. You can't. You can't pay everybody. So, guys, you're not going to pay

[Skeets]

anybody knowing your number one guy is up.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, that was part of it for sure. But also, I tried to agree they

[Skeets]

shouldn't have been this bad, but, you know, they basically never had their full team healthy. And then in the second half of the season, they traded for. They traded a lot of the rotation for Zubots and didn't play Zubots.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Skeets]

So they tanked.

[Trey Kirby]

I find the tanking. They're. They're. Yeah, exactly that. They're this bad. They haven't been tanking all season, but they have started. They have started the tank again. Pascal Siakin was an all Star and He's played in 60 games. You could tank way easier than that. But when it came down to it, they said, yeah, I mean, we'll give up picks and try and get a center who can replace Miles Turner, because we can't. Couldn't pay Miles Turner. And it's. It's worked out really, really well. So, yeah, there was tanking towards the end of the season, and if there was fewer games, there'd be less tanking.

[Skeets]

There will never be fewer games. There never will.

[Trey Kirby]

I know it's bogus. It's bogus. But, yeah, there. It's. I don't know. I don't know. It's very unlikely. There's 30 people, 30 governors who want to keep making money, and they see gates as money. I understand that, but Adam Silver also embraces the European game. Europe, every sport out there doesn't play three to four times a week. You could just slow it down, Adam, and still have a desirable product here. Doesn't have to be 82 games. There would be less tanking if there was 65 games. Those games. Every game would matter more. Like, there are a lot of teams out there. Like, the Sacramento Kings didn't tank. They're playing LaVine and DeRozan and Westbrook and Intruder. They just sucked. There are going to be stinky teams out there anyway. We'll get to tanking tomorrow when we discuss the possibilities of how they remedy this. The thing that's never been fixable in the history of the game. But we shall see.

[Skeets]

Yeah, I just don't think there will ever be games. Players don't want to give back money either. You know, they did the Athletic anonymous NBA poll. They asked them, if you had to give back salary, would you want fewer games? And it was like 90% said no.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, I don't think that. I don't think.

[Skeets]

I mean, and there's also, like, there's a lot of economic reasons why there will not be less games, fewer jobs, etc, etc, etc. Fewer dates for whoever owns the arena. Like, there. There's so much money at play that it'll never change.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, players can still make the same amount of money. I mean, it's all about the TV deal. It's all about the TV deal.

[Skeets]

What owner is going to be like, yeah, we pay you $100 million for 82 games. We're going to pay you $100 million for 65 games. It doesn't make sense.

[Trey Kirby]

It doesn't matter to the, to the owners if the TV deal is still a gigantic.

[Skeets]

Well, the TV deal means they signed a deal for 82 games per season. So we're talking 11 years from now.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, we're talking about money that the. That the other side pays. I mean, it'll never happen. The NFL plays. The NFL plays 18 games a year. Was it 17? 18.

[Skeets]

They played 17. They're adding games.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah. 17 compared to 82. And they make a ton of money. It's.

[Skeets]

Yeah, I mean, that's the biggest sport. Well, exactly. And they're adding games, which to my point is like that everybody wants more.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, everybody wants more.

[Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

But if you can't remedy tanking, then maybe you have to make it less to help out.

[Skeets]

We'll see.

[Trey Kirby]

82 games. A lot.

[Skeets]

82 games is a lot. Absolutely. Is a lot. It's a lot.

[Trey Kirby]

All right, moving on to our final winner of the weekend, the Denver. Denver. The Detroit Pistons are five and one without Kate Cunningham. Surprising. But I think the biggest thing is that they've had the second best defense over those six games. They held the Wolves to 87 points this weekend. Now, the six games that they played, not incredible competition. The Wizards, the Warriors, they beat the Lakers in that Dennis Jenkins game. The Hawks was an OT loss, their only loss. They beat the Pelicans and the Wolves. So five and one without Cade. Defense showing strong. How do you feel about these Pistons overall, Trey?

[Skeets]

Well, I mean, these wins don't mean a whole bunch to me because they're playing without Cade Cunningham. However, they're beating some decent teams. Like four of the teams you listed are playing pretty well. I'm including the Pelicans. Even though they've recently been eliminated. They can't even make their fake play and push, but at least they're the healthiest. They have been and are trying to win. You know, the Wolves don't have Anthony Edwards, but. But they're still trying to look good going in to the play in or going into the postseason. So I still give the Pistons credit for winning, especially when like nobody played incredibly well on this team. They just played well as a team. And like we said last week, the silver lining is that Duran gets to do a little bit more Danish Jenkins gets to do a little bit more and maybe going forward they can be relied on a little bit more in a playoff situation. But I think the main concern with the Pistons when Cade went down was are they going to lose the first seed in the Eastern Conference in the meantime, especially when you factor in Tatum coming back. Like signs were pointing to the Celtics being able to take a step forward. Meanwhile, Detroit goes out, wins five out of six, locks down their seed and now they're pretty safe. I mean, I suppose they could collapse in the last two weeks of the season. I suppose the Celtics could win out from here and they could flip flop. But Detroit's been playing well enough and has been giving such a good effort that I don't think that's going to happen. So I think good on the Pistons to be able to hold on to the spot that they worked so hard all season to get gives them the best chance they have going into the postseason. Even with Cade coming in as a question mark, recovering from a collapsed lung.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, they held onto the one seed. It ain't going anywhere. There's only eight games remaining. They're up four on the Boston Celtics and people questioned is anybody going to score on this team? And they have done very well scoring 113 against the Lakers. It was 129 against the Hawks, 129 against the Pelicans, and just 109 needed against the Timberwolves that they held to 87. So enough points on one side. Again, the second best defense over the six games. So they're just waiting for Cade to come back and get to the end. A couple quick, small minor winners. I like that. John Schneider of the Toronto Blue Jays got a card from Steve Kerr, okay. In his office. He came back and he got a card and it was from November. He sent it right after the World Series, but had been sitting there for five months and he got it and he opened it up.

[Skeets]

Wow. Never goes into the office to check his mail during the off season. I guess not.

[Trey Kirby]

I guess that's not where he lives, so he just doesn't go there. I guess not. But cool. A cool card for Steve. Basically saying, loved your coaching, how you got through it. And I know it's heartbreaking. We lost the 31 series in 2016 and all that, so good start for John Schneider.

[Skeets]

What was Steve Kerr's advice? To just sign one of the best players in the history if you want to bounce back from losing in the finals? What I would do is sign a top 10 all time player.

[Trey Kirby]

Listen, I mean, he mentioned that. No, he didn't mention Kevin Durant, but he mentioned, you know, just fighting through and all the adversity. It was just. It was more. More of it was less. I mean, I'm telling the story like it was about the 2016 finals, but more of it was just admiring his ability to manage and coach through the ups and downs. He just likes him. He likes him as a coach.

[Skeets]

Yeah. Everybody wants to take down the Dodgers, you know?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Skeets]

So Steve Kerr is like crossing sports. He's like, we got to do anything to get these guys out of here.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. It's smart. He didn't mention the Kevin Durant thing because then it'd be like he's the Dodgers.

[Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Trey Kirby]

2016.

[Skeets]

Exactly.

[Trey Kirby]

Right. Other quick ones here. Marvin Bagley, he had his game of the season. 26 points, 11 to 14. Three threes, nine boards. That guy looks springy for the mass. He's a free agent this offseason. Offseason? He's 27 years old. The Mavs may not be able to pay him. That's what the CBA is all about. Okay, parody and last one here. There's only one player that's got 100 blocks and 100 steals this season. So this guy a minor winner.

[Skeets]

More than that.

[Trey Kirby]

No. 100.

[Skeets]

100 blocks, 100 steals. I know. Wemby and Matas Buzz Ellis have done it. Who? Somebody was. Somebody just got added. Derek White. Derek White. Did he get.

[Trey Kirby]

No, Wendy doesn't have 100 steals.

[Skeets]

Oh, 100 blocks, 100 steals. I was thinking three pointers. You're right.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Yeah. So there's just one player.

[Skeets]

100 blocks, 100 steals.

[Trey Kirby]

Only one in the NBA.

[Skeets]

A one and one. Is it Derrick White?

[Trey Kirby]

No, no. Scotty Barnes.

[Skeets]

Scotty Barnes.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Skeets]

Nicely done. Nicely done.

[Trey Kirby]

Good for him. Good for him. We'll get to him when we talk about those Orlando Magic. Yikes.

[Skeets]

After.

[Trey Kirby]

After the break. But first, a quick word from our sponsor here on no dunks, we always tell you the deals. Right? Now, new fanduel customers can get $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days. If your bet loses money for losing, here's how it works. Place a tournament bet using the token and if it doesn't win, you'll get up to $300 back in bonus bets every single day for 10 straight days. That's 10 chances to play all tourney long from game props and money lines to spreads, totals, futures and more, however you want. You can even mix things up with same game parlays for a shot at a bigger payout. FanDuel makes it easy to stay in the action day after day, so visit the FanDuel Sportsbook app today. FanDuel it's time to really dance here as we get to the Final Four.

[Skeets]

Really dance.

[Trey Kirby]

It is time. Where's the Final Four?

[Skeets]

Indianapolis.

[Trey Kirby]

It always is. Yeah, they love it. Not always.

[Skeets]

It does feel like it's always there.

[Trey Kirby]

It does.

[Skeets]

It's going to be exciting when it's Illinois versus Michigan and Indiana. Midwesterners delight. Bring your corn. Bring your tenderloin sandwiches.

[Trey Kirby]

They are going to be everywhere in that city. This can be a full city.

[Skeets]

It's going to be a full city.

[Trey Kirby]

People will be going to. Yeah, eating their tenderloins. Going to. What's that place called again?

[Skeets]

St. Elmo's.

[Trey Kirby]

Of course.

[Skeets]

The only restaurant anyone knows in Indianapolis. They probably have other restaurants, but there's just one as far as I can tell.

[Trey Kirby]

Let's get to Losers of the Weekend. There's not just one loser, there's other ones. But what's your first one here?

[Skeets]

Welcome to Miami. Benvenito Amiami Loser of the weekend the Heat 2 bad losses Friday. We talked a little bit about it. Blowout loss against Cleveland. Just zero defensive resistance, I thought. From the Heat gave up 149 points on Sunday against Indiana. It was a one point game heading into the fourth quarter and the Heat scored 11 points. Turned into a blowout loss to a Pacers team that isn't needing any wins right now. Since Bam's 83 point game, the Heat are 2 and 7 and have completely given up on the defensive end. They've gave up 136 to the Hornets, 134 to the Lakers, 136 to the spurs, then 149 to the Cavs, 135 to the Pacers this weekend. They've held an opponent under 120 once in those nine games and they're 26 in defense in their last nine. Hasn't coincided perfectly with Norm Powell returning. He didn't play yesterday against the Pacers, but it's pretty close when you're looking at when the defensive turn really started for the Heat. This is not a team that is good enough offensively to cruise through things here and try and just outscore teams. They got to give an effort on the defensive end. Right now it's looking like the best they can do is eighth in the Eastern Conference. I think that's pretty disappointing considering two weeks ago they were on their seven game win streak, had gotten into sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Would have been nice for Miami to not have to go through the play in tournament once again. You know, it looks like the Bulls aren't going to make the play in tournament this year. Hawks might get out, Raptors might get out. Just the lonely old Heat sticking around in the play in tournament. Don't think this is the way they thought their season was going to go. Especially like I'm saying, they had this win streak. Hero was back. They're getting Norm Powell, Wiggins came back from a little time on the shelf. They got as healthy as they possibly can and for whatever reason they're just falling apart on the defensive end. I don't know if it's just trying to get to the playoffs and hope something good can happen, but this is a team I think that probably should have been in the top six, especially after they hit that win streak. Instead they are going the other way and just don't look like a. A connected team at all.

[Trey Kirby]

Blame the BAM83 game.

[Skeets]

Blame the BAM83.

[Trey Kirby]

Maybe after that they did beat Milwaukee. But then. Yeah, the defensive effort, especially yesterday, I thought was funny against the Pacers. The Pacers were splashing threes. 12 threes from the bench. Micah Potter splash and four threes in the first quarter for Guy off the bench, two for TJ. It doesn't shoot the threes. There was open opportunities for them. So 12 threes, that's. That's a ton. I don't know what the TJ McConnell celebration from the bench is for his threes. It's like it's a sprinkler, like the old man sprinkler. But it's. But there's less of the. The stopping and starting. It's just kind of goes across.

[Skeets]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

I don't know. I don't get it. I don't get what it is. Exactly. Like I said, is that the sprinkler part where it does the, you know, the few moves to one side. Yeah. And then comes all the way back. Maybe, maybe Maybe. Maybe it's the sprinkler.

[Skeets]

I bet he's got a nice lawn.

[Trey Kirby]

T.J. mcConnell.

[Skeets]

Yeah, I bet he cares about his lawn.

[Trey Kirby]

It's a good point. I totally agree with that. I think he does care. I think he gets out there, gets down on his knees and looks at the granulars. What's going on here?

[Skeets]

Check the granulars.

[Trey Kirby]

77.

[Skeets]

Potter was hooping.

[Trey Kirby]

He was good, man.

[Skeets]

21 points, five threes.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he had.

[Skeets]

He had enough that they got like a wide open dunk off of it, too. Pump faked. I don't know. Maybe bam came out. I don't know where. I thought. Pretty poor performance in this loss to the Pacers, but, yeah, you can't lose to the Pacers if you're trying to be a serious team at this point in the. Late in the season.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I do want to say sometimes Micah Potter, that was a standout performance like that just does not happen. Yes, it is rare, and Pacers once 77 to 30 in terms of bench points, but, yeah, I think it just. Overall, it is bad for the Heat that these things all have been occurring over the last couple weeks. It isn't just one isolated performance here for their opponents because everybody was splashing like Pascal was hitting deep threes. He doesn't do that. Nemhard was hitting that. That one that kind of sealed it with a minute or two minutes left and was at the end of the shot clock. So this one, I think, was kind of a standout in that. Those threes again from Micah and TJ and deep from Pascal. And deep. Odd one at the end of a shot clock for Nemhard don't happen a lot, but it has been happening a lot to the Miami Heat.

[Skeets]

Yeah, they're getting smoked.

[Trey Kirby]

The next loser, also from Florida, the Orlando Magic. They lost by 52 points. 52 points. And the Toronto Raptors had a 310 run against the Orlando Magic. That's the largest in the NBA since they started tracking play by play. So 30 years, we haven't seen a 310 run. And the run started with RJ Barrett, Mamu Kalashvili, Grady Dick, Jamal Shedd and Yaka Purdle on the floor. So no Barnes, no Ingram, who wasn't playing this game. No Manuel Quickley wasn't playing this game. No cmb, who wasn't playing this game. No, no Jameson Battle. Even they had to go deep. And I mentioned all that in that start. And then A.J. lawson, the first guy to come off the bench for the Raptors during that run to say the Magic just weren't playing. They were. They literally just were not playing. There's no excuses. Orlando had two days off before this game. Again, all those injuries for the Raptors, and that was in the first half. But it got even worse in the second half. I mean, the first half. The Raptors won the fast break battle by 23. They won the game by 32. Points off turnovers also went up. They won by 26 after winning the first half by 22. And they had 32 more points in the paint, or excuse me, they won the points in the paint in the second half by 32 after winning the first half by 12. So they're plus 44 and points in the paint. They're killing them everywhere. That's just an effort thing. It strictly is an effort thing for the Orlando Magic. For it to get worse as the game went on, it was. It was just difficult to watch for anybody, if you like the Orlando Magic for their president, Jeff Weltman, who was in the, in the stands. Just wondering, what am I going to do here? Am I going to give Jamal Mosley this season? I assume he's going to give this season and the playoffs just because of all the injuries they've had, but does he give them next season? Because they're starting. 5 is basically signed for the next three seasons. Wagner, Bancaro, Bain, Suggs, all signed. There's a team option for Jamal or for Wendell Carter at the end of it, but that's. That's it. This is their team. Trey, so what, what did you make of that effort and the, the Magic going forward?

[Skeets]

Yeah, what effort? I think is what I would say this is the kind of effort that does get a coach fired. It's pretty rare to happen this late in the season, but it happened twice last year, so it wouldn't be completely surprising. I mean, it would still be very surprising if it happens, but not out of the realm of possibility, because I just thought 0 get back from the Magic at all. They turn the ball over 28 times. You mentioned the points in the paint, and that's because every single shot was either a wide open three for the Raptors or a dunk. 37 points off turnovers for Toronto. At one point, they get a steal. They're on a four on one, and Grady Dick tries to throw an alley oop. There's only one Magic back, so he throws it way up in the air over his head. Scotty Barnes catches it on the ground, catches, looks around. It's still a Four on one. So he just simply puts it in.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, that one.

[Skeets]

That was, that was brutal from the Magic. 28 turnovers. Like I said, they had 18 in the first half. I don't know which half was worse. They gave up a 31 to 0 run in the first half. So I tend to be on that side. But it was like bad passes dribbling into double teams, a shot clock violation, offensive fouls. I don't think they got an eight second call, but that's probably the only style of turnover they didn't have against the Raptors. So, yeah, I mean, the Magic need to change. You know, Suggs was back. But the run that the Raptors went on was when Suggs was on the bench. Franz Wagner. I don't know if he's going to play. Maybe he will, maybe he won't. I don't think it's really going to matter for this Magic team, but just absolute disaster. Class Paolo is really, really bad. And this as well. Everybody was bad for Orlando and I don't know what it is. Maybe a late night in Toronto. Used to call it White Vegas back in the day.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, that would be my only potential reason as well because again, they had two days off. They'd look like there was no effort. And for it to get worse after the first half, 31 oh, run into the second half is a sign of. Yeah, maybe it was party time or just guys not connected because yeah, Jalen Suggs was off the bench for Most of that 310 run and Javon Carter was out there. But you know, Javon Carter is least gonna fight. That's what he does. They just weren't getting back. And man, Mukelesh Veli running it down their throat again. They're. They're missing Ingram and quickly. They're missing two starters and Barnes was on the bench for, for the start of that run. They're pulling out Grady Dick because Jameson Battle was out and Grady Dick setting picks. It was a dick pick. And nothing, nothing else after that. It was, it was horrendous. Just the whole thing. The whole thing. It was funny hearing Jack Armstrong on the broadcast saying after the half, I saw Jeff Waltman as I was going to the bathroom. He called it a washroom. Like a real Canadian. Thanks, Jack, for representing Canada. I went, I went to the washroom and I saw Jeff Waltman. He just looked. He. I didn't want to interrupt. I didn't want to bother him because he just looked so distraught. He didn't look altogether. And it got worse again. Again, he was out there and they put the camera on him right then and there in the, in the third quarter for it to get even worse.

[Skeets]

Look in the bathroom. For somebody to notice.

[Trey Kirby]

Now it was on. I think it was on the way. So it was like by the bathroom. I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna criticize. Accuse Jack Armstrong for looking at somebody else in the bathroom. Never want to do that.

[Skeets]

Hello.

[Trey Kirby]

Hello. How are you?

[Skeets]

Cheer up. Yeah, I mean, Jeff's gotta be sad. He's gotta be thinking, I got a

[Trey Kirby]

lot of work to do. Yeah.

[Skeets]

Got a lot of work to do on the court, on the sidelines. And will he be the one to do the work? I think all question marks for the Magic because they've had this team together for a little bit. They did the Bain move over the summer. It was widely hailed by myself.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Skeets]

By many. You know, it seemed like the missing piece, but it's been. Injuries have prevented the Magic from seeing exactly what they got. And when they do play together, it just hasn't been that great either.

[Trey Kirby]

I do think Jamal Mosley gets the rest of this season because of the injuries, because they just won seven in a row recently. Yeah. Not long ago. But it all depends on what happens in the playoffs. And they will try to make the playoffs. That's true. There'll be. Yeah. If. If there's an out when it comes to the plan, they're done. Mosley's the one guy who's done. I. I do think because of. Everybody's locked in for multiple years. So it's. It's coming down to these last couple weeks. But yeah, they will try and integrate Franz if he is able to come back. But Mosley will be the one biting it. I don't understand what was going on. Bankero looked super sad.

[Skeets]

He looks sad.

[Trey Kirby]

You're exactly right. That was very, very confusing. Did not get that effort whatsoever.

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[Lily Herman]

Ready for a different take on Formula one? Look no further than no Grip, a new podcast tackling the culture of motor racing's most coveted series. Join me, Lily Herman, as we dive into the underexplored pockets of F1, including the astrology of the current grid.

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[Lily Herman]

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[Skeets]

He started getting all this attention and

[Lily Herman]

he maybe started to think, I'm bigger

[Skeets]

than this, I'm better.

[Lily Herman]

And plenty of other mishaps, scandals and sagas that have made Formula One a delightful decadent dumpster fire for more than 75 years. Listen to no Grip on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Podcast Host]

If you're trying to keep up with everything happening on and off the court, we've got you covered on the podcast. Flagrant and funny. You look at the top four number one seeds, what do you think UCLA is gonna do? Break down that for me, my friend. Obviously, UConn is the overwhelming favorite in this tournament, but I'll be honest, I think people are kind of sleeping on Texas. Experts are suggesting that UCLA is the number one challenger to UConn and that right after that would be Texas. SEC is so deep and so thick in just about everything, it really is annoying. So it's UCLA, Texas, South Carolina, LSU, only ones that could possibly upset UConn on flagrant and Funny. We're giving our unfiltered takes on the biggest moments, the conversations everyone's having. So whether your bracket is busted or you just want the latest on the tournament we got, you listen to Flagrant and Funny with Kerri Champion and Jemele Hill on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports

[Trey Kirby]

any other losers this weekend?

[Skeets]

I got Deuce McBride as a loser of the weekend. He played his first game yesterday since the end of January, recovered from hernia surgery, worked his way back, played against the Thunder, dove for a loose ball, made some contact with Lou Dort and left the game for good. Grimacing, holding. I don't know what area you would call this, the hernia slash area. Haven't heard exactly what the problem is for Deuce McBride if he's re aggravating an injury or if this was a new thing. To be clear, I don't think this was anything really involving Lou Dorrit. It looked like the dive was the thing that took the problem or took the was the problem for Deuce McBride. He was grimacing before him and Dord even got near each other, so didn't look good. Landry Shamma also didn't play. He's a little banged up right now. I do think Alvarado has been a pretty solid replacement for Deuce McBride, but they need somebody at the point of attack defense that's either going to be McBride or Shamet. You saw in the fourth quarter, OG was just getting screened off of SGA way too easily. I think Shamet and McBride give you a better chance there. You would. At the very least you would prefer McBride to be playing over Jordan Clarkson, who didn't give the Knicks very much. He's just a good two way role player. I think he's had a really solid impact when he's been healthy for the Knicks this season, but we'll wait and see how long this guy's gonna miss after he just missed two months. Knicks also, I think are a minor loser. They lost to the Hornets on Thursday. Not technically the weekend, but it happened then they also lost to the Thunder on Sunday. They've lost their last four against playoff teams, teams with winning records, and they barely squeaked by some of the tanking teams during Their nice stretch here, they're just not playing their best going into the playoffs. They got rotation questions and the guys that are playing I think haven't looked as cohesive as they did when they went on their win streak. So if you're trying to peak right now, the Knicks are not doing that.

[Trey Kirby]

No. And that's why I'm sort of excited to see a potential 36 Knicks Sixers series because obviously the Sixers are playing a little bit better right here in this moment. It's hard to pick against the Knicks considering their top five offense and defense for most of this season. They've slightly dropped offense, they're the third best team and defense, they're the sixth best team. So are they one of those teams that just kind of turns it on in the playoffs? No, they are going to have a better record than they did last year when they went to the conference finals.

[Skeets]

True.

[Trey Kirby]

So we shall see if they're playing in the second series, second series of the playoffs on the road against Boston. That's tough one if Boston is playing well. Last loser Steph Curry, looking human. Unfortunately, this could be the second playoffs where Steph Curry is not a hundred percent as we lost him in the first game of the second round last year and now here we are where he's just not able to get on the floor. Missed both games this weekend, 25 consecutive games with a sore right knee and he'd been ramping it up and it looked like he was coming back because there was talks about it. He was on the road with this team, he was practicing, but he wasn't in five on fives and he hasn't been cleared for that. So him not playing since January 30th just feels like he's mortal, unfortunately. I do think he's. He's that type of guy who's going to try and play if he starts working out again with a week left or something like that. But he's got to play in the regular season. He can't just play in the play in as. As they've said.

[Skeets]

Yeah. Steve Kerr said, the way I would phrase it, as we're not bringing him back for the playing game, he needs to play some games and we need to give him a Runway if this is going to work. Curry has said, if we've got something to play for, I want to be playing. That's great. He's not playing and I don't think he's coming back. Seven games remain.

[Trey Kirby]

Seven games.

[Skeets]

We're still waiting to see if you can play Five on five.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, that's.

[Skeets]

And do they have something to play for? Technically, yes. There's a play in spot guaranteed for the Warriors.

[Trey Kirby]

Right.

[Skeets]

There's a chance they could make it to the playoffs. You're either going against the spurs or the Thunder at that point, they've locked in their seeds. So you're playing for a first round playoff appearance. Does that count? Or would you rather be as healthy as possible going into next season? I think the latter is the case. I think they're just not saying it.

[Trey Kirby]

Well. They did say coming into this weekend, he's out for two games, out for these two games on this weekend. So maybe that's a sign that if he's unable to play in their coming games here, you know, after those two games are done, then. Then it's over. Because that's that. This is.

[Discover Card Ad Voice]

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[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, this is it. Wednesday, April 1, against the spurs and then Thursday, April 2, against the Cavs. Their next two games. He's got to be playing this week. There's one more game after that on Sunday. He's got to be playing again this. This coming week or the following week because there's. Yeah, but there's only seven left. So it's. It's getting pretty limited for Stephen Curry, which stinks as a basketball fan. All right, anything else to mention there? Do you want to throw in anything?

[Skeets]

No other losers? I mean, I think the Timberwolves would have been losers if we didn't pick the Pistons as winners. You know what I'm saying? That was a bad loss.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. No IO right now. No. And of course. But yes, they're. They're one of those teams that. Would it be shocking if they turn it on the last week? Not so much because they are the Timberwolves, but. So, yeah, to score 87 points when you still have Julius Randall and others. Disappointing. All right, time for stat line of the night. This is for Jacob York, who wrote in and said, I'd love to plug my play initiative at metro Atlanta's Aurora Theater. It's a story about Dave, who, after being diagnosed with cancer, sits down with his friends at the DND table to play through moments he is worried he may not get. It just opened and runs till April 19. JD even grabbed a screen grab from it. He'd love to see some no Dunk fans out there. The link is in the YouTube description if you want to join some DND. Any D's here. JD did you play D and D? Oh, sure. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, yeah, of course.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm surprised. I didn't know you did, but I thought there was. I don't know. I didn't know.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Back in my ute, we play with the boys as well as they're growing up for sure.

[Skeets]

Our girls play with their friends.

[Trey Kirby]

Still kicking.

[Skeets]

Creating a character. Come on. There's nothing better.

[Trey Kirby]

That's 75.

[Skeets]

Totally.

[Trey Kirby]

Right.

[Skeets]

My kids at least spend a lot more time drawing and writing out, you know, various traits and attributes than they ever do playing. The Prep work goes 10 times. The actual gameplay, I think that's the fun part.

[Trey Kirby]

Sounds like. All right. The character who made it all happen last night was Alperin Shengu.

[Skeets]

That's right.

[Trey Kirby]

Stat line of the night goes to him. 36 points, splashing five threes, 13 boards, seven of them offensive. The guy's getting after it. Yeah, it is a funny photo of him hanging out. Seven assists, three steals, three blocks and zero turnovers. That's a good stat line.

[Skeets]

That's a good stat line. Shangu just recently got a Whoa. Boy as well. I think he had a like a 30 point game last week.

[Trey Kirby]

I think so.

[Skeets]

Some numbers.

[Trey Kirby]

I think I saw a photo of of him once.

[Skeets]

Yep. Also a funny face photo if I'm not mistaken for Shengoon. He's a good face guy.

[Trey Kirby]

Funny thing we got going on is our pick them because it's come down to the last two days here. I mean really, it's. Well, it could be both days. I. I take that back. It's March 30th. There's a one game difference between Skeets and Trey here. They've got opposing picks, the Boston visiting Atlanta here. So I mean, this is it. Well, what if you're tied after tonight?

[Skeets]

Yeah, exactly. This is. It could be two games. But if the Hawks win by two tonight, it's over.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes, yes, yes, yes. You've got the Hawks to win. They can cover if they do win by two or more because it's a one and a half point favorite line for them. Yeah. Skeets has Boston. You guys just one game apart.

[Skeets]

Just one. Yeah. I've completely fallen apart down the stretch here. I've been the Miami Heat, Orlando Magic. Okay. The pick them payoff in March. We shall see. I'm happy to have the home team though. I've been losing a lot with picking too many road teams.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. And they went into Boston and got hit on Friday, so.

[Skeets]

Right. Bounce back game.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. We're picking this back to back and just like Boston is on a back to back. They played yesterday. Yeah. Land has rest, so could come down to night. Or our man Skeets will be back tomorrow and it could be tomorrow night. I'm starting already. Look at games. You never know. You never know.

[Skeets]

Any exciting matchups tomorrow? Yeah, on Tuesday.

[Trey Kirby]

Knicks, Rockets, Raptors, Pistons. Exciting for some.

[Skeets]

Cleveland, La. That's a big game, LA comma, Lakers.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Skeets]

All right, Nice. We got nice sky dun, choose.

[Trey Kirby]

We got a nice skid. What was I looking at here? I also wanted to see something about the injury report tonight on Boston Atlanta is interesting. That's what I wanted to get to. Because I don't know, is it a guarantee that Tatum plays in a back to back.

[Skeets]

Good question.

[Trey Kirby]

Or Jalen Brown coming back after two games off. I don't know this. The Celtics could be one of those teams that says Peyton Pritchard, Derek White, if you're healthy, you guys go get it. We'll see.

[Skeets]

This is the first back to back that the Celtics have had since Tatum has come back. So I wonder. That's a great question. Will he play? Especially after having the most responsibilities had at all since returning. So that's a question mark. I assume Jalen Brown will play. It seems like they're just being precautionary with him and you know, he's an Atlanta guy, so probably wants to play here.

[Trey Kirby]

That's a good point. All right, we'll see. We'll be back tomorrow to talk about that game. And others will also talk about the tanking solutions, the proposals that it. The governors will be talking about the three options they got out there or more.

[Discover Card Ad Voice]

I don't know.

[Trey Kirby]

They talk about more than those three.

[Skeets]

I've only seen the three, but I mean, the third one was something that I'd never even considered in my life. So I wonder what else they got in their bag.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, the one you brought up, we were in Austin, I was sitting on a couch with you and the one that you were advocating for it. That's not part of them.

[Skeets]

That's not part of it.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

That's a good one. All right, Skeets will be back tomorrow. The three of us sitting at this table once again. But for now, Clipper Bros, you heard it here first.

[Skeets]

Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome.

[Trey Kirby]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, Skeets will be back tomorrow. He just was off because he took an assistant coach job with the Charlotte Hornets. Oh, no, that was Lamar Skeeter. That's his. When you see a name Lamar Skeeter, you gotta say it. That's a great name. Yeah, he's young.

[Skeets]

It's like he just in the NBA. Like, I mean he had maybe cup of coffee.

[Trey Kirby]

Did he?

[Skeets]

I don't know. Maybe he's been coaching somebody else. I've heard the name Lamar.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, no, I think he's been. I think he's been just a coach.

[Skeets]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he go he'd be coaching and he's Lamelo's guy. It's like those two guys work together and he's doing well. He's only 36. Younger than our own skier. Cool. See you tomorrow, folks.

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[Skeets]

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[Skeets]

Wasn't that delicious? So good. Your bill, ladies.

[Podcast Host]

I got it.

[Skeets]

No, I got it. Seriously.

[Podcast Host]

I assist.

[Skeets]

I assisted first. Don't be silly.

[Podcast Host]

You don't be silly.

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[Trey Kirby]

credit card prefer to pay because they

[Skeets]

earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases.

[Podcast Host]

Okay. Rock, paper, scissors for it.

[Skeets]

Rock, paper, scissors. Shoot.

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No.

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[Podcast Host]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.