TK (2:46)

Oh, that sucks for the Packers. It's the start of a new era in Chicago. And beating the packers in Soldier Field in the playoffs is just a great way to send them home with disappointment.

J. Skeets (3:01)

Okay, Saturday night. That one.

TK (3:03)

Saturday night's all right for fighting. Okay, See you on the porch.

Odoo Sponsor (3:06)

All right.

J. Skeets (3:06)

Well, he's changed his tune. He was a little worried he was going to see the packers in the postseason, but the Bears are going to come through. You're going to wear that cool white trilby hat that you have.

TK (3:15)

Oh, my playoff door. Yeah, I got to. It's one in one on the season.

J. Skeets (3:19)

No choice but to wear that. Okay, on today's show, we're going to run through some NBA weekend winners and losers as we always do on Monday's podcast. But first, we had a couple wedgies Friday night in la. We had Grizzlies rookie Cedric Coward sticking it in there while trying to corral the rebound. And then on Sunday, Drew Eubanks back at it again. Sticks his second wedgie of the season on a little, I don't know, push sort of floater there in the lane as he gets to 29 wedgies for us all.

Tas Melis (3:48)

I think he tried to Drew Eubanks it in, but Miles Turner did away.

J. Skeets (3:54)

Okay. Yeah.

Tas Melis (3:56)

And I was ready to pun. When you see a frigging wedgie, you got a pun.

J. Skeets (4:00)

So 29 wedgies. We are on a great pace. Let's keep it going. But we have so much basketball I feel like to talk about today. So let's do some weekend winners. You get us started here, Tas.

Tas Melis (4:09)

Well, Jaylen Brown had a weekend and coming into it, he voiced his concerns. He was saying, yeah, the, the first returns on those all star ballots, not good. It's a popularity contest. Then he tweeted smh. When the Eastern Conference players of the month were announced, it wasn't him. Then he tweeted, best two way player in the game. Talking about himself, obviously. And then against the Clippers, two way play was very good offensively and defensively holding Kawhi. But it was the offense, the 50 point burger that he had. He started off so well. The mid range game. Mid range game is alive. Jalen Brown just getting into it. You could hear the mesh ripping on those microphones in Los Angeles there. He kept hitting them. He actually would have had an even bigger night if he didn't get fouled by Derek Jones Jr. I think on a dunk attempt. It was a monster dunk attempt. And then, you know, the lefty mid ranges were going. I love the lefty mid ranges that he throws out there. And then he kept it going in the second half. You know, it was kind of a quiet 20 point for first half. And then the third quarter when he was splashing those threes, he was just being awesome, you know. Only had eight points from the free throw line for a 50 point game. The third quarter was where it kind of turned the 19 point game. And he said like, I felt good in the warmups. I felt great. He literally said, I did salsa the day before, so my footwork was good.

J. Skeets (5:37)

I was wondering when you were going to bring up his salsa lessons with Victoria Monet that went viral.

Tas Melis (5:41)

Oh, I didn't know it was Victoria.

J. Skeets (5:43)

It was, it was. She's an R and B singer, I believe.

Tas Melis (5:47)

I'm not familiar with her work.

J. Skeets (5:48)

She was sitting courtside, I think. Not surprising you went for 50.

Tas Melis (5:53)

Well, yeah, the shot was what I was concerned about. The way he was getting into the mid range was great and I guess part of it was the footwork the prior day doing salsa. But yes, it was great. Obviously a great performance. He just looked fantastic the way he was able to get to whatever spot he wanted. And he looks smooth.

J. Skeets (6:13)

Not only scoring 52 but also taking the defensive assignment on a guy that was on fire in Kwai Lena.

Tas Melis (6:18)

Part of it, yeah.

J. Skeets (6:19)

He was scoring like 40 points per game over the last five or six. And I guess he texted Jaylen Brown, did Joe Mazzulla on the flight to la.

Rob Gronkowski (6:26)

I heard that.

J. Skeets (6:27)

He's like, hey, I wanna, I wanna guard Kawhi. I want that assignment.

TK (6:31)

He texted him from the background.

J. Skeets (6:33)

I don't just go talk to him.

TK (6:34)

That's awesome. That's awesome. He wanted to get it on record though. He wanted to have the documentation. He said, give me Kawhi, I'm the new Kawhi out here. And he looked kind of Kawaiish if we're being honest. You mentioned the mid range game. Mid range game. By my zoom in on the shot chart, it looked like 8 of 9 on Midis for this game. He's shooting 56 from the mid range this season. It' insane. The in between game has gotten a lot better. He's super comfortable getting to the long twos but like you're mentioning, he's also throwing up these lefty floaters and his just dinker dumper game looks to be really a lot better right now as well. His handle is much better. Like he's stronger with the ball. The guy had to wear a Michael Jackson silver glove during the dunk contest because people were clowning him for his left hand. And now he's reliably getting to his left hand when he needs to. I don't know if his dribbles per touch are up this season, but it feels like they are. It feels like he is more poised with the ball in traffic. The usage has gone up. The turnover percentage has barely gone up. Jalen Brown is making a case. Certainly he's an all NBA player. That's a lock. At the worst, he's like a second team all NBA. Or he might be a first team all NBA or. And he can sneak onto some ballots for the MVP discussion.

Tas Melis (7:46)

Absolutely.

TK (7:47)

@ this point. So have a seat at the bar. Maybe you'll get to sit at the table by the end of the.

Tas Melis (7:52)

Year. Yeah, he was upset that Jalen Brunson got Eastern Conference player of the month because he.

J. Skeets (7:56)

Thinks. Which is amazing, because no one ever remembers a.

Tas Melis (7:59)

Player. Oh, no, no. But he just needs something to fuel him and it helps out. And listen, the numbers aren't all that crazy different. He actually beat Jalen Brunson in every December category other than assists. And the Celtics beat the Knicks when they did play them. Although The Knicks were 10 and 4, Celtics were 9 and 3. And the Knicks were NBA cup champions or whatever. If you want to look at.

TK (8:24)

It. They got the pump. Yeah, they got the.

Tas Melis (8:27)

Cup. But listen, this. This feels like Jaylen Brown's best season of his career. He looks like it out there. He looks more confident. It looked like going into the playoffs where he had to undergo some. Some knee procedures. I. I thought, okay, we're not going to see the best of Jaylen Brown ever again. And he looked, you know, good in the playoffs, but he was sort of up and down. No, now he looks fantastic. You mentioned the. The glove situation. I just saw a Kobe Bryant dunk over Jaren Jackson senior that I was watching because I was. I was doing current players whose dads played in the league. I'm doing a little short on that. And I saw Kobe glove dunk. Forgot about that in the NBA. No, that was that.

TK (9:08)

The. I mean, a lefty dunk he wasn't.

J. Skeets (9:09)

Wearing. What are you talking.

Tas Melis (9:10)

About? I don't remember that. No, he wasn't wearing a.

TK (9:12)

Glove. The offhand glove, like Tom.

Tas Melis (9:16)

Brady. Hold on a second. I got to go back to.

TK (9:19)

That. I actually saw some Kobe Bryant dunks this weekend as.

J. Skeets (9:22)

Well. You guys had an interesting.

TK (9:24)

Weekend. The algorithm on Instagram is serving me up a lot of things about increasing your vertical. It knows that that's what I want to do at the turn of the new.

Tas Melis (9:32)

Year. Look at this glove, man. Kobe is wearing a.

TK (9:34)

Glove. Kobe straight up wearing a.

Tas Melis (9:35)

Glove. That's a fricking glove. You'll see it in a no dunk short. That's a literally a Michael Jackson.

TK (9:40)

Glove. Peep the.

J. Skeets (9:40)

Glove. Fascinating. I can't wait to see this.

TK (9:43)

Short. Mike. Kobe was about. He's. He's the best jumper in NBA history because he could go right leg, left leg or right, then left or left and right. He's got all the jumps in his bag. So there you go. That's the things that if you watch enough jumping videos on YouTube or on Instagram, you'll get served up that great.

J. Skeets (10:02)

Stuff. Back to Jaylen Brown. He has been way more responsible, obviously for Boston's like offense here on a possession by possession basis, but he's been more efficient than ever. That is the surprising part. That's why he's maybe at the end of MVP ballots, a deserving all NBA, obviously all star guy. I saw Ziller in his newsletter make a great point too. Brown has not increased his volume three point attempts despite this big role change turning into the number one guy. And that's like a good point because shot diets I think usually get maybe even a little ugly when a second option becomes like the main option. You're tasked to do more, you're maybe going to settle more, you're going to be maybe a little more fatigued. But Brown has not done that big part. You said TK is like the guy's automatic from 16 to 23ft. He's like just on fire from mid range and so hasn't seen a huge, you know, drastic increase in three point volume. And that's good because he's not like an elite, elite three point shooter. He can catch fire. I think he's fairly average, right? 36, 37%. But I thought that was a good point from Ziller as he just continues to do what he's good at and getting here. The Celtics are gonna, well, potentially tonight could move into second place in the Eastern Conference depending what happens with the Knicks.

Tas Melis (11:08)

Pistons. Yeah, yeah. They're a half game back. Literally. Right. Which is freaking impressive.

J. Skeets (11:14)

Yeah. All right. Jalen Brown, a key winner of the weekend. What about you.

TK (11:18)

TK? Michael Porter Jr. A winner of the weekend for me, had 27 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and a big win in his first game ever against the Denver Nuggets. Revenge is his, yes, eighth game with five or more assists this season. For Michael Porter Jr. He had eight total games with five or more assists in six seasons with Denver. Different style. He's playing in Brooklyn. He's handling the ball more now, but I got you guys are ready for Michael Porter January because he's going to be the most interesting man in the NBA this month. I do believe he's the best realistic trade option out there for a whole bunch of teams. Like, look, Giannis might request a trade. He could get traded. We don't know what's going to happen with Trey or Ja or LaMelo, guys who are like potentially gettable. Michael Porter Jr. Is gettable and his skill set helps a whole bunch of teams. Jake Fisher linked him to the warriors, the Pistons, the Bucks, the Bulls. I don't know how they snuck into the mix for sloppy Jake, but there are teams that like Michael Port Jr. And what he's doing this season with the Nets because we've seen him do it with the Nuggets. You can be a role player. You can shoot threes. The shots he's making this year are crazy. Every team tries to guard him with a guard and he can shoot over any guard. How many baskets did he have over Bruce Brown yesterday? Just rising up and firing over him. But we've also seen him be able to fit into a role so he's somewhere in between there. But the question for me now is like, should the Nets even trade this guy? Yeah, he's 27 years old. He's right in the prime of his career. Post game he said, when I was drafted I expected to be the best player in the NBA. But then injuries caught up to me. I knew I was capable of more. And he's getting to show that he's capable of more. But like I said, 2738 million for the rest of this year, 40 million next year. Then he'll be due for a new contract. But the nets are also 8 and 6 since December 1st. Like they are winning games. Luckily they started out so poorly that they're still fifth in lottery odds. They have their own pick. They owe a swap to Houston for next season, but they get the Knicks pick in 2027 and then they have at least one extra first in 28, 29, 31 and 32. Like you might have to wow Michael Porter or the Nets to get Michael Porter Jr. There might be a bidding war for MPJ and that is great for the Brooklyn Nets. Either they're getting a great season from him or their return from Cam Johnson becomes half an awesome season from Michael Porter Jr. And then more first round picks additional to the one that they got in the trade in the first place. So cool stuff for the Nets. Cool stuff for mpj. He was just cooking yesterday. He was playing tough. He looked like the biggest guy out there. Getting offensive rebounds, inside, scoring in the paint. Like guys doing it all right now for the.

J. Skeets (13:51)

Nets. And the Nuggets had a couple guys come back in that game in that Brooklyn Nets victory. They had Aaron Gordon return off the bench. He came and he played really well. And Christian Brown did start. Didn't have his greatest games. Aaron Gordon, but a couple of guys coming back from Denver. So quality win here from Brooklyn. Who. Yeah, I've had like this suddenly elite defense here over like the last month or so. And then getting enough offense from Michael Porter Jr. Leading the way. Some of the rooks, Cam Thomas coming off the bench. And yeah, it's a good problem to have. Like TK said, it's like you're gotten to the point here. It's like, do we trade this guy? I mean, we are trying to get back to being a relevant basketball team, but if the offer is too good to turn down you almost, you should probably be malpractice, maybe not.

TK (14:29)

To. Yeah, I would be like 70, 30. They should trade MPJ and I think they'll probably get a pretty good deal as time goes on. Because, like, the honest trade, maybe Tess is right. It's seeming less and less likely as time goes on. We'll see how the Buck Bucks do in the interim. You know, they got a win over the.

Tas Melis (14:45)

Kings. Good.

TK (14:45)

Stuff. Giannis wouldn't even fight their mascot pregame. He said, I'm focused only on the game right here. So we just don't. We just don't know what's gonna happen. But MPJ does feel like a guy who could at least swing a playoff series to me. And there are teams that could use him because he slots in pretty easily. He rebounds, he makes tough shots, he shoots a ton of threes, and he shoots a good percentage on him as.

Tas Melis (15:05)

Well. That's the question if he is the best player available. Because I noticed you didn't mention Lowry market, and I know you're not a Larry Markin and.

TK (15:12)

Guy. I just think him and MPJ are the same guy. That's.

J. Skeets (15:15)

All. That's all, man. That's.

Tas Melis (15:17)

All. That's all right, mate. I'm not. I'm not trying to get under your skin, but if there is, if he is the best player available, they may get a good package, but at the same time, you're on the Brooklyn side. And you say, who are our untouchable players? Look up and down that roster. I don't think there's anybody. I know Igor Demon has looked fine in his first few months in the NBA and they just want to hold on to somebody. And I brought up a package with Igor Demon, Zaire Williams and Nick Claxton for Trey Young to kind of. Kind of swing their team in a different direction. But it is interesting with Michael Porter Jr. They. They literally don't have a lot. And because they have a lot of money coming off the books this coming season, they don't have a lot of money locked up next year. So why not keep the guy around? It is interesting, I will say just about the Nuggets, they stunk in this game defensively. They allowed ball penetration. Then they allowed back cuts after back cuts, which, you know, Michael Port Jr knows how to play with. With Jokic like, that team was just cutting the Nuggets to death and they could score. And Jamal Murray was really, really good. 14 assists through the first three quarters. And then, you know, the Nets defense was really good in the fourth quarter, but they just weren't ready. They just weren't ready. They had a great, you know, the post Jokic era was good win against Toronto. I thought it was a really, really good game on Friday versus The where they went down to the wire. They played really hard all the way there, but just couldn't score in the fourth quarter. And then this was a real stinker with a couple other guys coming back, so it was a bit disappointing for.

J. Skeets (16:48)

Them. Back to the sloppy Jake trade rumors there with Michael Porter Jr. Do you have a team that you think makes the most sense for a team to go and try and get Michael Porter Jr. Is it the Pistons? Is it the Warriors? Do you think it's Detroit.

TK (17:00)

Pistons? I think it's maybe Pistons is number one for me. I do like the fit with the warriors as well, but I just don't know how interested they are in trading away parts of their future. They've been pretty hesitant to do that, even though, you know, Steph Curry still currying it up out there. But I do think he would be a perfect fit for the Pistons. He would be what Tobias Harris does for them. But a better version of that and a younger version than.

J. Skeets (17:23)

That. Yeah, they could use some shooting for sure when they get into the postseason here. Yeah, we'll see if they're active at the trade deadline. I mean, I don't know. I keep going back and forth. Like, for a while there, it looked like it was going to be a very exciting trade deadline. I don't know. I'm losing, losing faith that there's going to be really big deals and it's going to be the type of thing where these things happen in the summer instead, maybe with some of the point guards that you listed, Trey, maybe some of these other guys, like, look, we know Jonathan Kaminga is going to get traded. I think that's the one thing we know that's going to happen. But otherwise I don't show. I don't know if there will be any sort of all star caliber like player. Not that Michael Porter jr's made it yet. Yet. Will he make it this year? TK you said you were on record early with that one. Could he.

TK (18:01)

Could. He.

J. Skeets (18:02)

Could. We'll.

Tas Melis (18:02)

See. Yeah, I have no idea. You're right. It's seeming seemingly like they're. It's not happening. Even though it started like, oh, there's trades happening. But I am looking forward to a month. Today I just, I just found a way to be positive because it is literally on February 5th. So I'm gonna wake up every day and think, is there a trade.

J. Skeets (18:21)

Coming?

Tas Melis (18:22)

Okay. And maybe they won't be at all. Maybe it's a Chaya Baji leaving the Toronto Raptors or something. It could.

J. Skeets (18:28)

Be. It probably will.

Tas Melis (18:28)

Be. It could be some teeny.

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J. Skeets (21:46)

You all right, moving on to my big winner of the weekend, Trey last week, I think it's safe to say you caught a little flack from Blazers fans. Denny Avdia fans. Probably bigger than Blazers fans. When you talked about him being seventh in the Western Conference voting first returns, you thought, oh, that's. You did make some comparisons to the Zaza Petrolia days and people were pissed. People were pissed you fired up the fan base. Let's say that. I don't know, maybe Deni Avdia himself was fired up. He had a great weekend. That's my winner of the weekend, he averaged 31 and a half points per game, 10 and a half assists and nine boards in two victories this weekend. He's put up great numbers all season long. Yeah, he's getting backed from an international vote to be seventh for sure. But he's a deserving All Star, I think as well. Friday night, 34 points, 11 assists in a win over the Pelicans. Good stuff. And then Saturday, the birthday boy on his birthday, the triple double, 29.11 boards, 10 assists to help the Blazers beat the spurs in San Antonio. Now, no Wembanyama, obviously that's a big loss for them, but the Blazers are short guys too. I mean, that's why Denny Avdi is basically their point guard. They don't have anyone else playing point because they're short of all their guys. No. Damian Lillard, of course, Drew Holiday, he's out. Scoot Henderson, do you remember him? Remember Scoot Henderson? So Denny Avdi has been sort of their point guard all season long and he was great in this game. He had a huge step back three with like 50 seconds to go, basically ice the game. So a good weekend from Denny. My favorite part, only four combined turnovers. This is the one fault of this game. And again, I think a part of it's he's been asked to do so much as almost like a forward point guard. He has a lot of turnovers, but only four. Two in each game. You're going to live with that, with how much he has the ball. So this guy is like he's leveled up. He had a great end of last year and he's done it consistently all season long. Your thoughts on the Denny Avdiya people coming for you and just how.

TK (23:44)

He'S played, I don't take it back at.

J. Skeets (23:46)

All.

TK (23:46)

Okay. He's an All Star. Absolutely. I totally agree with that. The team is built around him. He gets to handle the ball a lot. The point guards going out has helped him put up stats. I'm just saying he shouldn't be higher than Alper and Shenun in.

J. Skeets (23:58)

Voting.

TK (23:58)

Right. Shen's on a better team and a better.

J. Skeets (24:00)

Player. Yeah, significantly.

TK (24:01)

That. That's all. He's just getting the backing of an international fan base and that's why we have fan voting. And if his fans want to see him, that's very cool. And I do think he should be an All Star. And look, I love to see the Trailblazers getting wins. I thought Clingan was awesome in both of these two games. He's like 15 rebounds in one 11 in another. He's passing the ball nicely. He's able to stretch out and shoot some threes here and there. It seems crazy that the Blazers drafted a center after drafting Donovan Klingen. Clinging is a really good player and he's got a nice fit with Abdia as well. And then you look at where the NBA seems to be going trend wise with bigger and more skilled players being on every team. Like, Abdia is a big win, big dude. Clingan's a huge dude as well. They've got the makings of something there. They just need to get some guards happening because, you know, Scoot, he ain't even playing. It'd be great to see him turn out to be anything but. Who knows what's going to happen with that guy. But yeah, Abdia, great stuff. Dude gets a superstar whistle. I think he's leading the league in free throw attempts. That's what happens when you drive.

Tas Melis (24:59)

Every single, nearly 10 per game all the.

J. Skeets (25:01)

Time.

Tas Melis (25:01)

Yeah. Yeah. That's huge numbers, just like his fan votes were. I, I am surprised by the international fan votes and how they're great for one guy and not so great for another guy. I mean, Turkey is a big country. Why didn't, why did, why did Alper and Sengun have far fewer than half of the votes for Daniel? Because Sengun is a great player. Abdia, really, since he left Washington, has been cooking. He was great in his last year in Washington. The question was when his shots go up and the attempts go up, will he still be that guy? Last year he was just as good and then this year is the surprising part where there's so much on his shoulders and he's still good. And when it came down to this game at the end of the fourth quarter, he just needed to be taking shots because he's the guy. And so it wasn't an incredibly efficient night. But you need somebody like that, like the gloved Kobe that we just talked about. You need somebody to be able to do that. And he does it and he does it well and he's super efficient. So great, great season for.

J. Skeets (26:03)

Him. I'm glad you brought up Donovan Clingan because yeah, like his contributions are becoming more regular, which is great. He's being more consistent. The Blazers are 16 and 20 as they are sort of piecing this together here and he's a terror on the glass. Like he might lead the league in offensive rebounds per game at least. And suddenly has he added a three point shot because over the last 10 games he's shooting 15 for 27 from deep. Small sample size. I get it. But that game against the spurs, like, Luke Cornett's like, all right, I guess we'll let him shoot the three. And he like hits three threes in like 90 seconds or like two minutes to start the game. So. And it looks good. He shoots it with confidence. So that's huge. If a big guy that can rebound and block shots can be a bit of a threat on the perimeter because it's going to open things up. And then Caleb, love this guy. He's played well, Kamara's played well. I'm with you, T.K. they get themselves like a point guard, like a really good guard, maybe two way guy. There's something here I am curious to see when Dame comes back, how he fits into a team that like, is a fast breaking sort of defensive identity team, you know, not really Damian Lillard strong suit at this point of his career. So that's. We'll worry about that when he's back next year. And maybe I forgot about him. I know, I know. But in theory, he's gonna play for.

TK (27:20)

Them. 36 next.

Tas Melis (27:22)

Year. Super.

J. Skeets (27:22)

Old. Right?

TK (27:23)

Right. I don't love that. Now that you're.

J. Skeets (27:25)

Saying. I know, I know. It's, it's. I don't see how it.

Tas Melis (27:27)

Fits. But anyway, Drew Holiday will fit in. He's another guy who doesn't play for them in nearly two months. But he'll be fine. It'll be good because he'll play off the.

J. Skeets (27:35)

Ball. My final note on the Blazers, and I love this guy. I mean, he's Canadian, so of course I love him. But Shannon Sharp, this guy needs to spend an entire off season working on his handle. He needs to put on these gloves and work on his game. I'm seriously like, like, it's the one thing. I'm like, oh, it's sloppy. He just does not have a tight handle. He's obviously an athletic freak. I think he is still going to be a good player in this league. But do what I remember as a Raptors fan, demar Rosen used to not be able to dribble. Like there were a couple of years early in his career, like, ooh, it's not a great handle. He got better at it. Jalen Brown, of course, comes to mind. A guy that has improved his handle. At least Shane Sharp, he needs to get whatever those guys did. Maybe Shane Sharp needs to hit the bottom of a pool with Laird Hamilton or something like that, but he needs to work on that. I think for him to like, go to the next level in my mind. So that was my final note on the Blazers. But they're a winner of the weekend. Let's do another round. Who you.

Tas Melis (28:29)

Got? We got to give the Phoenix Suns a winner of the weekend. They beat OKC and what a win it was. They were down big time, 18 in the second quarter. And they go on their 182 run between the second and the third quarter to bring it back. And it was all Devin Booker driving and driving and driving and get it out to the three point shooters because he only had five made shots in this game. A game they beat okc. But he did what he was supposed to do. And when he was taken away by OKC at the three point line, he drove hard. A lot of his points were from the free throw line. He set up those threes for his teammates, including Jordan Goodwin. What a game for that dude. Off the bench, career high. He splashed eight threes. Just sitting there out there at the three point line was huge. Dylan Brooks, same thing, 22 points and kudos to Jordan Otto, head coach of the Phoenix Suns, playing those guys playing specifically Jordan Williams. Mark Williams had a quiet. Or Jordan Goodwin, excuse me. Mark Williams had a quiet game. He only had eight points in this game. They went small basically for the entire game to try and battle OKC's athleticism. And it worked. And in that fourth quarter, splash, splash, splash. Jordan Goodwin 11, Dylan Brooks 14 in that quarter. To that much. The Dylan Brooks three point shot that the form looks fricking nuts. He splashed that huge one in under a minute left. And then it took Devin Booker's first three of the game to win it. The game.

J. Skeets (29:52)

Winner. Ice cold. Ice cold on him. Dort coming over super deep. Yeah. And he hasn't been shooting the three ball at all well this.

Tas Melis (29:59)

Year. No, it was his first three of the game. Yeah, it's 29.5% from three. That was a 35 footer. You start to look at the shot. What are they doing? It looks like he's settling just for, for a pull up three. But he's felt so confident. He was so confident this whole game. Even though again he didn't splash a three. Only five made shots. He was just leading his team and what they should do on the other side. I mentioned Jordan Goodwin did a very good job on Shea who had a quiet game. Dylan Brooks did. They all took turns. It was Brooks, it was Royce o'. Neill, it was the big guys helped out in Don Iguodaro. There was an Isaiah Livers in there for a.

J. Skeets (30:33)

Bit. These are the big.

Tas Melis (30:35)

Guys? Yeah, yeah, they're fairly small. Those couple guys, they had a couple guards missing. And Grayson Allen and Jalen Green who's still out. I wonder, do they trade Grayson? I wonder, I wonder if they do trade him before the trade down. They got a lot of guards they got to resign. Colin Gillespie. I guess they want to keep Jordan Goodwin around. I imagine they.

J. Skeets (30:57)

Do.

Tas Melis (30:57)

Maybe. I know, I know, I know that Grayson Allen is a good player and you want to just keep guys who are good. But you know, maybe some again if. If there aren't a lot of guards available in the trade market, maybe Grayson Allen will get you something. Yeah, I don't know. I'm not sure what Mattish B is thinking over there. Maybe he's thinking, I got money, no problem, keep paying Grayson Allen. But Jamari Booyah is playing as a two way player. It'll be cheap I imagine, but yeah, I just wonder, I wonder going into it, but these guys playing above their friggin heads, playing so hard. You could have easily folded against OKC but they.

J. Skeets (31:31)

Fought. Sun's now 21 and 14 TK and that was good because the Minnesota Timberwolves picked up two wins this weekend as well. So like staying are somewhat attached to them as they chase down the sixth seed there. Any thoughts on the.

TK (31:42)

Suns? This was a fun game to watch. I couldn't believe Jordan Goodwin was shooting this well with a mask on his face. Eight threes with a mask on his face. I wonder how many guys have career highs while their vision is obstructed. But he was so on fire that that broken play at the end where like Booker just found him for a random mid Ranger. Switched it, you.

J. Skeets (31:59)

Know. That's a tough ass shot. Totally. That was a grenade. He handed it to him because he lost it and then he's like here you shoot it and like to hit, hit that like in the mid range. He switched it.

TK (32:07)

Right? Yeah, it was like he was just fire. He's like, I'll throw up anything and it'll go in. And it did. Dylan Brooks, like you mentioned, huge shot then brutal turnover. Just a brutal turnover. Spinning.

J. Skeets (32:16)

Baseline. Hey, at least it went out of bounds. That's all I thought.

TK (32:19)

About. That's a great.

J. Skeets (32:19)

Point. You're gonna turn it over against okc. Make sure it goes out of bounds. He can set up your.

TK (32:23)

Defense. Couldn't run it back the other way. That's a great point. And it forced OKC into taking a jumper and they got cold down the stretch shooting jumpers like Jalen Williams was having a great fourth quarter and then until the last two minutes he couldn't make a shot. She'll go with Alexander. Couldn't make a shot. Chet did finally get that one from the baseline. And a weird missed free throw from Shea Gil. Just.

J. Skeets (32:42)

Alexander.

TK (32:42)

Yeah. Late in the fourth quarter here where it looked like maybe Dylan Brooks faked him out with a lane violation. Like he's leaning towards the lane but doesn't step in. And Jay gets really mad because he missed the free throw. But then you see him saying smart. Yeah, smart. His teammate, Dylan Brooks. I guess that's what happened. But OKC now is 6 and 5 in their last 11 games. Is the 70 win pace done.

J. Skeets (33:08)

For? Oh yeah.

TK (33:09)

It'S. It's Jover just like.

J. Skeets (33:10)

That? I think so. Yeah, that's what we said. It takes like one or two weeks and the things are wrap. Yeah, I think so. Still they're going to win probably mid to high 60s. But 70, I mean there's obviously no chance any records being set of all.

TK (33:25)

Time. That's a wrap plus 220 on FanDuel right now for 70 or more regular season wins plus 2,500 for 74 or more. That would be two more losses the rest of the.

J. Skeets (33:35)

Season. That's a, that's no.

TK (33:37)

Way. That seems like a.

J. Skeets (33:38)

No. You think 70. Would you be betting on OKC to win 70? What are they, 30 and 6.

Tas Melis (33:42)

Here? Yeah, I like a plus 220 odds but it's unlikely. It's unlikely. Now we're sitting at. Yeah, they'd have to. They'd have to roll it. I mean they'd have to rip.

J. Skeets (33:56)

Off another like 18 game win streak or something like that for us to sort of like crank this back up. I think at this point that talk of 70 and I don't see it, it's like they're playing really good teams here and like their records more representative of these really, really good teams. Everybody obviously wants to give them their best shot too and they come to town or they go.

TK (34:14)

There. So yeah, I don't think the warriors had their sixth loss until March I think is the stat I saw going around during the 16 season. They'd have to go 40 and six the rest of the way. It doesn't sound impossible, but it me it makes those games in the last week of the season that aren't going to mean anything for okc. It means they would have all out for that. So it seems unlikely I guess at this point that they would win 70 or more games and as a noticer, I noticed 12 to 2 on the offensive glass for the Suns in this one. I think in their loss against the Timberwolves, the Thunder were out rebounded on the offensive glass, like 18 to 12. If memory serves correctly, the spurs beat them on the offensive glass. That's the key. You gotta get as many possessions as you possibly can against the Thunder and then make threes as.

Tas Melis (35:01)

Well. Yeah. And the Suns keep fighting again. They could have just. They could have faded in this game. So they had plenty of offensive rebounds. You know, Isaiah Hartenstein's not in the game, out with injuries, so that would play it a part. And what we thought of OKC's chance of winning 70 games, we thought the guys deep in the rotation would play and. And play well. And Brandon Carlson, the guy who's preventing. Supposed to be preventing those offensive rebounds, Not a good game, no.

TK (35:29)

Points. Step it up. Man's on.

Tas Melis (35:31)

You. Carlson. Yeah, he only played seven minutes, but either way, yeah, the fight level with the Suns is just. Is really fun. And yes. Okay, so he gets the best effort from teams. There's no doubt. That's. That's what's happening. You.

J. Skeets (35:44)

Should. But you're the.

TK (35:45)

Champs. Yeah, yeah.

J. Skeets (35:46)

Yeah. The Suns are one of the best stories of the NBA right now. Like, it was. It was cute for a couple weeks. I'm like, whoa, you know, less talent, but. But got some moxie to them. Obviously, Dillon Brooks has come in here and they're playing with an edge, but you're like, how long will this last? This is now. We're getting near half the season here, and they are one of the good teams in a loaded Western Conference. And if you watch them night to night, yeah, they fight hard as hell. I mean, Dylan Brooks is. It's just unreal how much he's changed the attitude of this team, the new coach and all this. So, yeah, they're for real. And they're a fun watch. 21 and 14. That's. What about you, TK, your final.

TK (36:22)

Winner, Joel Embiid, winner of the weekend, got his first dunk of the season.

J. Skeets (36:26)

Yay. Amazing.

TK (36:28)

Man. Yeah. 25 seconds left in this game. Sixers had been handling the Knicks pretty easily throughout. The Knicks are in desperation mode, pressing the Sixers break the press and beat is wide open underneath the hoop for a gentle dunk. And he celebrated it like he won an NBA championship post game. Tim bonted Femps, talked to Nick Nurse, got a quote from him, and he said, you saw Joel wanted to get a dunk. It was a pretty Cheap way of getting it, I think. But at least we know he can still dunk and he can check that off his list. Great response from Nick Nurse because this dude has been trying to get a dunk. He threw the ball off the glass to himself trying to get a dunk. There's a drive that VJ Edgecombe has late in this fourth quarter where you can see Embiid like gearing up for an alley oop and Edgecombe like face the pass and then goes in for the layup. He was desperate it to get a dunk. So we finally did. And I mean, it was not an impressive dunk unless it's your first dunk of the season. But 26 for Embiid. He scored 20 or more in eight straight games. He hit a low key crotch chop in the first quarter. This one got an and one on Mitchell Robinson. I don't know if his hands even rose above his belt. He's like, I ain't getting fined for that. He's not a big time and one in the fourth quarter. Mitchell Robinson again, like on a pump fake. He kind of stepped through, got nailed and he went and they just ravishing. Mcrum 100 true. He's like, I'm not giving away any more of my money on these cross chops, but this is okay. Sexy man. This was a great game for Embiid though. He looked really comfortable. He looked like he was in the flow of the offense. He had a great screening.

J. Skeets (38:05)

Game.

TK (38:06)

Wow. Eight screen assists for.

J. Skeets (38:07)

Joel. He was.

TK (38:08)

Sicko. This guy was just blocking him out there. 5 real assists as well for an Embiid. He was like playing in the pick and roll. So sometimes it was a screen and roll and Maxi or Edgecom could get to the hoop. Sometimes it was release valve mode and he was finding guys underneath with these little drop offs. Great stuff from him. Ten boards as well. One of the best games he's played so far this season. Maxi had 36. This is just like a regular thing for him at this point. The better and better Embiid looks on the court, the easier things get for Maxi and he's already making it look easy out there. Edgecombe was special. 26 points for him. Just like Embiid. He was hitting threes, he was snarling. He had that awesome sequence. I think it was in the fourth quarter where he blocks and Mikhail Bridges corner three, gets the ball back on the fast break, takes it the other way for a dunk. The speed that the Sixers played within their backcourt looked like a real problem. I thought for the Knicks. We know Brunson ain't a quick guy. He's gonna have trouble staying with Maxi. But Edgecombe looked like he was quicker than Mikhail Bridges as well, which kind of caught me by surprise. I thought Paul George was also pretty nice in this one. 15 points, eight board, six assists, three threes. He's like doing the little things for the 76ers right now. He's up to a whopping two dunks on the.

J. Skeets (39:15)

Season.

TK (39:15)

Wow. So that's pretty nice for.

J. Skeets (39:17)

Him. Two to one right now is the.

TK (39:18)

Race. Two to one, Paul George to Embiid dunks. Who will have more dunks at the end of the season, Paul George or Joel.

Tas Melis (39:23)

Embiid?

TK (39:24)

Embiid. I think so.

J. Skeets (39:26)

Too. I do.

Tas Melis (39:26)

Too.

Odoo Sponsor (39:26)

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TK (39:27)

Now. You gotta put up like one or two at this point. I would have to imagine. But a great win for the 76ers. They're 2 and a go against the Knicks this season in Madison Square Garden. Both of them in MSG. They played that great first round series in the 2024 playoffs where Maxi went crazy at the end of regulation, hit a 35 footer to send it to overtime. I like the Sixers. I like watching them like. And they're looking better and better and more cohesive together because I thought at the beginning of the year it was like when Maxi and Edgecombe are out there, they're a fast guy team, they're a young team. And then Embiid and George get out there, slow things down. But they do seem to be blending a lot better at this.

Tas Melis (40:05)

Point. Yeah, I did think it was a disappointing game for Cat up against Joel Embiid just in general. And that's why New York's gotta win tonight. In our pick em game that we're selecting a little bit later today, they got to. They've lost three games in a row. They don't look great. They didn't look as athletic. You're totally right about.

J. Skeets (40:22)

That. They miss Josh Hart.

Tas Melis (40:24)

Man. Yeah, they miss the.

J. Skeets (40:25)

Heart. Important to them. I'm telling you. It's.

Tas Melis (40:27)

Crazy. He is. Yeah, he definitely is. There's no doubt about.

J. Skeets (40:30)

That. And Mikhail Bridges playing. Playing poorly right now.

Tas Melis (40:33)

Too.

J. Skeets (40:33)

Yeah. Bad time here. I think for him to play below.

Tas Melis (40:36)

Average. Yeah. So them against the Pistons tonight should be absolutely fine. One versus two, with the Knicks coming off three losses. Although it is great to see Joel and be just smiling, you know, this is a new Joel Embiid literally was bringing the ball up the floor once. Where he got Mitchell Robinson with that pump fake. He brought it all the way up the floor. Got him with the pump fake. Mitchie bit. And then a big smile from Joel Embiid. You don't see that very often. And they've played it extremely well here with the slow play to start the season coming, you know, coming through, playing one game of a back to back and it's picking up. Will Joel Embiid go down? It is possible. But Kohai Leonard last year and what he did, he didn't play in the first couple months of the season, only played after the calendar turned. And he was his best Kawhi Leonard towards the postseason. They didn't last very long, but. But he picked it up. So maybe we're watching the same thing here with Joel Embiid. He looks freaking.

J. Skeets (41:30)

Good. Obviously it must be nice for Joel Embiid now at least to enter into a game going, oh, I don't have to do everything. It's not going to be really on my ass whether we win or lose because it's Maxi's team. Vijay Edgecombe, man, this guy will be in the Rookie of the Year race as well if he continues this play along with Cooper and Knipple. And then you still got Paul George, you got other pieces, but it's like, like, you know, that's gotta feel very different. Probably in a good way. Maybe that's why he's smiling. It's like a little more fun here for Joel Embiid to try and get going. Trying to ramp up here physically. And obviously continued good play. But it's not all on his shoulders like when you watch them. Just like Maxi, man, that guy loves playing in Madison Square Garden against the.

TK (42:10)

Knicks. He was killing him in the fourth.

J. Skeets (42:12)

Quarter. Holy crap, he's good. All right, final winner of the weekend here. Just a quick one. Dell and Steph Curry have now played more games than any other father son duo in NBA history. They set the record when Steph played on Saturday night in a win over the Jazz. It took Draymond Green getting ejected from the game for Golden State to turn it on and get the win. And Steph did Steph things. But that was his 2,135th game together when Steph played. So that's him and Delta. And they passed hall of Famer Dolph Shays and his son Danny, who had totaled 2,134. This surprised me, though. Dell Curry still has played more games than Steph Curry. Yeah, that just shocked me. Dell played 1,800. Excuse me, 1083 games played for Dell Curry. Steph, 1052 games played. Now Steph did miss an entire season, basically an entire season in 20, 19, 20 when he played like five games with the, with the injury. But yeah, it still shocked me. So good on you, Del Curry and Steph Curry and then you throw in Seth Curry and this guy, what, he played over 500 games, good three point shooter. It's a whole lot of three pointers made. Apparently Seth Curry is like 53 three pointers short of 1000 threes. Seth Curry, Seth Curry. Okay, so if he gets there, which he probably will at some point, maybe that would be all three of them. Over a thousand three pointers made. That's cool. Steph's obviously that's cool. You'll be flirting with 5,000, but.

Tas Melis (43:49)

Still lots of surprises.

J. Skeets (43:51)

There. Yeah, thank you.

Tas Melis (43:52)

Dolphin. Danny didn't see that one. Yeah, yeah.

TK (43:55)

Yeah. Danny played a long time. I randomly found that out doing a Danny Short.

J. Skeets (43:59)

Research.

TK (44:00)

Okay. Had a long.

J. Skeets (44:01)

Career. Okay, so let me ask you this question. You guys like sports, right? Other.

TK (44:04)

Sports. I do like other sports.

J. Skeets (44:06)

Yeah. I was thinking are the Currys as a family, are they more like the Alomars in baseball or the Mannings in football? Let me explain, okay. Baseball. Sandy Sr. Was a solid player. Sandy Alomar senior, solid player. But then his sons, Roberto Alomar, obviously you know him well for the Jays, hall of.

Tas Melis (44:30)

Famer.

J. Skeets (44:30)

Yeah. And then Sandy Jr. Alomar, all star catcher, like he was good. Not Roberto Alomar level. And then Archie Manning, two time Pro bowl winner over a very long career, didn't win a ton of games because he was on sort of a shitty Saints.

TK (44:46)

Team. Two time Pro bowl.

J. Skeets (44:48)

Winner. Yeah, yeah, Pro Bowler. I should have said that's what I'm saying. He's a two time. Okay, two time. Also I'm saying that because that's sort of to me, I guess more of a comparable to a Dell Curry like career though even probably better. But anyway, Peyton Manning, first ballot hall of Famer, he's the step of this conversation. But then Eli Manning, I mean he's better, he's better than Seth Curry because you know he's going to make the hall of Fame and he won two Super.

Tas Melis (45:16)

Bowls. So anyway, really tough.

J. Skeets (45:18)

One. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's the Alomar.

TK (45:20)

Section. It all comes down to me. I just don't know how good St. John Senior.

J. Skeets (45:24)

Was. I don't think he was incredible.

TK (45:27)

But hey, one time All Star though, he was solid as well. Sandy Senior Was Sandy.

J. Skeets (45:33)

Senior. So did Del Curry make an All Star game or.

TK (45:35)

No? No, but he did win a sixth.

J. Skeets (45:36)

Man. Okay, so that's not bad then. I think it's the.

TK (45:39)

Olivars. I think so too. That's absolutely.

Tas Melis (45:43)

Right. I don't know. Sandy Jr. Is better than.

J. Skeets (45:45)

Seth. I know, but it's not going to be perfect. I think it works.

Tas Melis (45:48)

Better. It's not. I don't remember much about Sandy's game. Is there anyone else with.

TK (45:53)

Cleveland? Really? What about the Matthews in football? All the linemen? Bruce and Clay and.

J. Skeets (45:59)

Jake? Yeah, blind spot for me. Defensive football players. I got no clue. The only other one I can think of was like. But I don't think Brett Hull had a brother. Okay, Bobby Hull, good player. That's the dad. Brett hall, the golden boy himself. That would be the Steph Curry of it all. But I think Bobby hall had the brother. I think that was Dennis Hall. So, like it was the older generation were the.

TK (46:25)

Brothers. Wow, you're exactly.

J. Skeets (46:27)

Right. So it doesn't.

Tas Melis (46:29)

Work. Throw it out, man. Brett doesn't win. He didn't want to be Canadian. He doesn't win.

J. Skeets (46:34)

Sorry. Damn, you're right. He was born in Canada, wasn't.

Tas Melis (46:37)

He? Yeah, he.

J. Skeets (46:37)

Was.

Tas Melis (46:37)

Yeah. Wow. I forgot about Dennis Hall. Now I do. Now I remember him. It's a good nickname name. That's a good last name. I should.

J. Skeets (46:47)

Say. My name is Brett Hall. I score a lot of goals. All right, that's our NBA weekend winners. We'll do losers in a second. First, a break to hear from a.

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Tas Melis (50:14)

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J. Skeets (51:02)

NBA. Okay, we've done winners. Let's do a batch of NBA weekend losers and I'll get us started. Because I don't think there was a bigger loser of the NBA weekend than Magic guard Jalen Suggs. To quote or paraphrase Bill Simmons, he truly hit the poop fecta on Friday night. Jalen Suggs did because it started with a little slap on the wrist. Or should I say a little slap on the neck? Because we learned that the NBA had told Suggs, you must wear your headband on your head at the beginning of games. You cannot start with it around your neck like a choker. And I hate to say I told you so, but I did call this one. I was worried about this and we talked about this weeks ago. We're like, wow, that's funny. Jalen Suggs starting games with the headband around his neck. I was like, you watch. Lee's gonna tell him, cut this out. You can't do.

Tas Melis (51:55)

This. But he did change it for a while. That he was starting games with it.

J. Skeets (51:58)

On. Yeah.

Tas Melis (51:59)

Yeah. At some point. I saw.

J. Skeets (52:00)

It. I know, I know. So that.

Tas Melis (52:02)

Sucked.

J. Skeets (52:03)

Yep. Okay. Then his night got much worse because he made a bad business decision in the second quarter versus the Bulls. Suggs decided to jump with Bulls high flyer Mata Spuzelis on the fast break. And he got absolutely posterized. Oh, that's right. Stacy King, instant nominee for dunk of the year. And that's not just because 2026 was a few days old, I think even dunk of the year season. So that was bad. But look, you get dunked on it. He's challenged it. Exactly. To add insult to injury or, I don't know, to add injury to poster assault, I guess. Suggs ended up suffering a Grade 1 MCL contusion in his right knee during that game, during the loss to the Bulls. The injury occurred late in the third quarter and this was just a second game back, by the way. So he just come back from injury. He had a really tough landing after getting fouled. When he drove to the basket, Jalen Smith basically, like, landed on him. Didn't look good. Suggs looked so Frustrated, like, so pissed off when he was shot. His free throws before he left the game. You could just tell on his face, like, oh, my God. So we'll see when he returns to action. It's going to be dependent on how he responds to treatment. This guy struggled with injuries his entire NBA career, so this is nothing new. But Suggs, man, guy got told to stop wearing the cool choker headband. He got his ass dunked on and then he got hurt, and now he's out here. The only positive news is the Magic did bounce back on Sunday, but they played the Pacers. So there are three guys. Paolo, Desmond Bain and Anthony Black scored a ton of.

Tas Melis (53:45)

Points. It's a headband. Put it on your head. It's not a neck band. Just put it up. And he does wear pregame, apparently. I saw this quote. He said it really originates as football drip because he played high school football and basketball and that's where he had.

J. Skeets (54:02)

It. There's definitely photos of Deion Sanders, one of my favorite athletes of all time, wearing it around his.

Rob Gronkowski (54:07)

Neck.

J. Skeets (54:07)

Yeah. Now you're wearing a head. You're wearing a helmet in football, too. I don't know. Yeah, a little.

TK (54:12)

Different. If you're gonna show off the drip, there's nowhere else to do it but the.

J. Skeets (54:15)

Neck. That's.

Tas Melis (54:15)

Right. That's the problem with.

TK (54:16)

Football. That's the number one problem. Saw them. You only see their necks. You don't consider the neck a part of the.

Tas Melis (54:22)

Head. Do I? No, as a matter of fact, I.

J. Skeets (54:27)

Don'T. I never thought. Me neither. I literally have never.

Tas Melis (54:30)

Thought. It's not part of the.

TK (54:31)

Head. No, that's its own.

Tas Melis (54:32)

Thing. Its own.

J. Skeets (54:34)

Thing. I have to ears up. Poor.

Tas Melis (54:37)

Socks. Poor socks. Although they're calling it. Yeah. A right knee, grade one MCL contusion. So a contusion on a ligament. I don't know how long that lasts, really. It's indefinite is the term. But, you know, a bruise to a ligament, maybe it's fine, maybe it's.

J. Skeets (54:54)

Not. I guess it was funny because he actually, earlier in the third quarter, I was watching this one, he got. He banged into Boozelis again, of all guys, early in the quarter, like sort of going for a rebound or a loose ball in the lane. And he came up like. He sort of came up limping. He's like, ah, crap. But he fought through it. He stayed out there. He did his normal shift. Then he came back, like I said, in the third quarter. And then this is when he actually seem to really get hurt or even Injured even more, I guess with Jalen Smith falling on him or as he went and planted in the lane. So, look, he's important to the team. I mean, they're a better team when he plays. I've compared him to Josh Hart with the Knicks. He's that type of guy. So this is a good news for the Magic, but they did get the win on.

TK (55:33)

Sunday. Yeah, I think he's plus 11 points per 100 possessions when he's on the court, and the offense doesn't look quite as good when he's off the court as well. Luckily for the Magic, Anthony Black's been playing pretty solid this season. Seen some decent flashes from Jace Richardson. So as long. Long as it's a short stint for Suggs, maybe the Magic can survive it. They're pretty good at surviving injuries based on the past couple of seasons. But it does feel like this is going to become a feature, not a bug with Jalen Suggs just because of the way he plays. You know, he plays a high impact style and he's running all over.

J. Skeets (56:04)

The. You can tell he played football absolutely.

TK (56:06)

Right. It would be hard to tackle if he was the quarterback, but first thing I did when I saw the Boozelis dunk next morning, had to check the dunk.

J. Skeets (56:13)

Score.

TK (56:14)

Yes. Number six of the season. Number six this season.

J. Skeets (56:17)

Yeah. Okay. Interesting. I'm. I'm drawing a blank on ones that are even bigger. I mean, it was.

TK (56:22)

Huge. It was big time. Let.

J. Skeets (56:25)

Me. Let me. I know we've had a big, sharp season, but wasn't really.

TK (56:28)

On. Champagne is the best one. Sharp is number.

J. Skeets (56:30)

Two.

TK (56:31)

Okay. Yep. Jalen Smith had a monster.

J. Skeets (56:33)

One. Oh, yeah. That.

TK (56:34)

One. Yeah, I was there. I saw that one with my own.

Tas Melis (56:37)

Eyes.

TK (56:37)

Wow. I was looking at the date. It was right on top of.

Tas Melis (56:40)

Joel.

J. Skeets (56:40)

Embedded. You didn't stand up and yell to the crowd, a 1:12 dunk score, everyone.

TK (56:46)

Guaranteed. I was.

J. Skeets (56:48)

Just. Oh, I just.

TK (56:49)

Had. Yeah, it was big time. But what does the dunk score go up.

J. Skeets (56:53)

To? 120, I thought. I think. Yeah, I think. So did I. They change.

TK (56:58)

It. Justin Champagne's got a 127 and Shaden Sharpe's got a.

J. Skeets (57:01)

120.8. I'm wrong. We're.

TK (57:03)

Wrong. They updated it. I thought it was out of 120 last year, but yeah. Great call from Stacy King. He went through like eight different catchphrases in the course of the dunk and the replays. How do you post videos to Facebook? Facebook's been around for 20 years. Stacy's still struggling. You can go to www.myface.com to see that. What a great one. Where's my poster.

Tas Melis (57:26)

Machine? Hold on a second. He asked how do you put something on.

TK (57:30)

Facebook? That's his thing. I mean that literally started like Derrick Rose era of dunks. How do you post videos to Facebook then? It was a legitimate.

J. Skeets (57:37)

Question. Yeah.

TK (57:38)

Exactly. We're beefing up the feed. We've got the wall. You don't just have to poke people anymore. You can put up videos. Stacy didn't know how and he hasn't bothered figuring it.

J. Skeets (57:46)

Out. Would you like to see Buzzelis back in a dunk.

TK (57:50)

Contest? Oh yeah. I love.

J. Skeets (57:53)

It. He's just an in game dunker. I think.

TK (57:55)

We. I think so.

J. Skeets (57:56)

Too. It looks awesome. I think he looks amazing when he.

TK (57:59)

Dunks. Yeah, he's got a blankie. He's got a nice.

Tas Melis (58:00)

Whip. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How do you upload to Facebook? How do you find scores from this weekend's dunk on dunk.

J. Skeets (58:06)

Score. Oh.

Tas Melis (58:07)

Jeez. I don't want it because that's.

TK (58:09)

A great point.com stats and in the top thing, it's like stats number two thing is dunk score. You click on it, it takes you to headlines about dunk Square.

J. Skeets (58:17)

Yeah. Take me to the dunks.

Tas Melis (58:20)

Yeah. It's on the wrong platform. That's the problem. We've been@NBA.com have seen all those desks. There's. There's a problem with their platform. Yeah. They gotta deal with.

J. Skeets (58:31)

It. Oh, no, no. This is the best it's ever.

TK (58:34)

Been. I'm.

Tas Melis (58:35)

Saying. Yeah, but there's, there's just two rows, two roads. You can go. You can go on one of their platforms that it's like, oh, these videos not so.

J. Skeets (58:43)

Good.

Tas Melis (58:43)

Yeah. Then you go to the stats.

TK (58:45)

Nice.

J. Skeets (58:45)

Yeah. That's all Schumann's.

Tas Melis (58:48)

Running. John Schumann. Yeah. I got a John Schuman stat coming up very soon. Can't wait to talk about desk.

TK (58:53)

Score. And I made.

J. Skeets (58:54)

Actually. What that means, but I like it a lot. John Schuman has the highest desk desk store@mba.com. i don't.

TK (59:08)

Know. He's got a 120.8. I thought it went out to 115, but no, it goes.

J. Skeets (59:12)

Higher. Hold on, let me check. Sean Powell here. Let me see. He might have a good.

Tas Melis (59:16)

One. Good.

J. Skeets (59:18)

Desk. Yeah.

Tas Melis (59:18)

Good. All right. Hit me up shoe, you know, or. Or Powell. What was Cody Williams dunk score this weekend? That was on qp, on Quinton.

TK (59:29)

Post. Speaking of dunk scores, since we are talking about it right now. Embiid's dunk score, it's got to be the lowest. It is very low. It was like a 19.9. Wow. And also dunk related and Steph Curry related. You saw the Jazz game. He had a breakaway, went up for a dunk. He touched the rim and the shot went in and he celebrated like, oh, it was almost a dunk. He doesn't have a dunk yet this season. They didn't count it as a.

J. Skeets (59:53)

Dunk. Oh, they.

Odoo Sponsor (59:54)

Didn'T.

TK (59:54)

Okay. Which.

J. Skeets (59:54)

Is. Which is good.

TK (59:55)

Right? Because I can do that. And I also don't think I can.

J. Skeets (59:58)

Dunk. Right, right.

Tas Melis (59:59)

Right.

J. Skeets (59:59)

Okay. Okay. That'd be a fun short. Put together the worst dunk scores of the season. Lowest dunk scores, because we always see the highest dunk scores. But let's see the worst of the.

TK (60:08)

Worst. Yeah, that's. That's.

Tas Melis (60:09)

Ours.

TK (60:09)

Don't. Nobody else can take.

J. Skeets (60:10)

That. You can't take that. That's ours. We called it. All right, Taz, who's your big loser of the.

Tas Melis (60:13)

Weekend? Well, it's the Clippers. They gave up 146 points to Boston, open three after open three. And that's the thing with this team. I thought they were playing better perimeter defense. And Boston hit 24 threes in this game. Now, they are a good three point shooting team. They can line those babies up. So maybe it was just a bad night. But then you add on that Derrick Jones Jr. Is now injured for six weeks at least when he'll be reevaluated for a MCL sprain. And he was out there in the Celtics game guarding people really well, guarding Jalen Brown when he had to be out there. Even though he's coming off the bench, he was out there. I do think for the Clippers, he is a bit of an energy spark off the bench. He'll guard. Anybody saw him guarding Jaylen Brown. Jaylen Brown didn't get called for a travel when he picked up that pivot foot when doing that little step through three thing. Anyway, I think Derrick Jones Jr. Is important to this team. Just guarding the perimeter, guys. He left early in the fourth. He had 19 points. Just 24 minutes played in this game. So he's out after coming back from a similar right knee injury, I think was the exact same thing that he suffered against Boston. And this one, Peyton Pritchard kind of dove for a ball and got him out. So now he's out. Now you can say the Clippers were rolling and all that. And that's true. And he And Derek Jones Jr. Doesn't start. It's. It's Chris Dunn and John Collins along with Brooke Lopez along with their big two in their starting lineup. But I think he is important and you could point at other things for why the Clippers are losers of the weekend. I saw Chris Paul dunk. You see that clip going around Chris.

J. Skeets (61:49)

Paul. Oh, in a gym. Yeah, Yeah, I can see.

Tas Melis (61:52)

That. I don't know who's. It was a bounce pass. So Chris Paul didn't do have to do anything except run up and catch and dunk. He looked good doing it. I think it was a bounce pass from Kenny Smith. I couldn't see who it was anyway. I don't know, man. I'm confused. I don't know if it's just my algorithm, but somebody bounced it to him. I'm like, who is that? Is that Mike Woodson? Is that Kenny Smith? I couldn't tell. It was difficult to tell. But they had Zubot's back and it was a bad loss. Maybe it's just one bad loss. But I do think Derrick Jones Jr. Is an important dude on that team because again, he'll guard anybody and if you need athleticism, oh yeah, that guy will come in. But now he's out for a long period of time here. For an older basketball team, the.

J. Skeets (62:35)

Clips did win six in a row before that loss to the Celtics. And this week they have a lot of games. They play the warriors tonight. They're at home still for that one as they finish up their home stand and then they have a three game road trip to the east coast. Play the Knicks, play the Nets, obviously scrappy bunch right now. And then they play the Pistons. So two of the top teams in the east and the. And the solid Nets, especially on the defensive side of the ball. So we'll see here if the Clips were for real. Get back on the in the winning ways because they still have a lot of ground still to make up here. Get back in the conversation. But that sucks about Derek Jones.

TK (63:06)

Jr. Yeah, Tess is right. They need his athleticism. Him and Kawhi together on the court. The Cliff spurs are a positive this year and that's not the case for a whole bunch of their lineup. But just the variety of players that him and Kawhi together can guard gives them a chance on defense because I thought Zubots looked pretty slow in this. He was getting beat off the dribble on these switches or you know, him trying to hedge and this kind of stuff. They need any sort of resistance out There and then basically for the Clippers, like they can't just be fallen off fall off immediately again. They had that seven game win streak but that was right after a five game win streak. They had another I think maybe six game losing streak earlier in the season. They've just been so inconsistent it felt like they were putting it together. Kawhi finally had a down game and they took the L. So I don't know. I think they they still have a chance to make a run at the play in tournament but health would be.

Tas Melis (63:58)

Helpful.

J. Skeets (63:58)

Yep. Let's wrap it up here. TK Your loser of the Weekend.

TK (64:03)

One of the reasons the Clippers are going to have a chance to make the play in tournament is because the Memphis Grizzlies are struggling. They're my loser of the weekend. They lost to the Lakers Lakers Friday and Sunday and it was almost the exact same way in both of these games. Close early in the fourth quarter and the Lakers pull it out in the clutch. Shouldn't be a surprise. Lakers are now 120 in clutch games this season. Meanwhile, Memphis is 8 and 13 is their fourth straight loss. For the Grizzlies, all of those have been clutch games and when you watch them just nothing comes easy on offense. I think that's more so the problem than the defensive end of things. It was Luka and LeBron killing the Grizzlies in the fourth quarter of both of these games. But on the offensive end for Memphis, it feels like on Friday I guess Jaw was playing. It was either him taking a tough shot or a jumper which you don't love to see, or Jaren Jackson Jr. Trying to play volleyball. But as Kirk Goldsberry recently pointed out, he's shooting like 50% on layups. Jaren Jackson Jr. Everyone seems like there's somebody contesting it or he's having to go through a body or a double team. Just not a lot of clean looks for him and he's struggling to finish over the top. He's not like a super athlete. He's more of a strong guy than a quick guy or a vertical athlete or anything like that. Also 64 minutes this season, this weekend for Jaren Jackson Jr. How many.

J. Skeets (65:20)

Rebounds combined in the two games? Two.

Odoo Sponsor (65:24)

Games?

TK (65:27)

Four. Come on.

Tas Melis (65:28)

Bro. Holy.

TK (65:29)

Crap. Those are their two best players. Ja didn't play on Sunday. Everybody else is is. You're happy with them having the ball in their hands. So I don't know. It's bad stuff for the Grizzlies. They're 2 and 17 this season against 500 teams, I do think that the noise has definitely died down around Ja Morant. Like, he's been in and out of the lineup, came back like I said, now he's out once again. But the play hasn't improved. They're 6 and 12 with jaw playing 9 and 8 when he's 6 minus 9 points per 100 possessions on the court. They're barely positive when he's off the court. So I don't know that there's going to be suitors from a rant, but he definitely hasn't been helping this team win. I think Jaren Jackson Jr. Seems checked out. I've mentioned it a few times. Cedric Coward went out with a sprained ankle. Maybe it won't be a long absence for him, but this has been just a disappointing season for Memphis. They had Ja coming back. They had Jaren Jackson Jr. We knew their team was going to be different with the KCP trade for Desmond Bain, but they shouldn't be this bad and they shouldn't be this. This.

J. Skeets (66:29)

Uninspired. Looking interesting staff here from Hollinger that I couldn't believe before that Lakers game on Sunday. John Morant's absence tonight ends his latest consecutive game streak at four. John Morant has not played more than six in a row since February and March of 2023. I couldn't believe.

TK (66:50)

That. That's like two.

Odoo Sponsor (66:51)

Weeks.

J. Skeets (66:52)

Yeah. Six games. Yes. He's never in a very long time, has not strung together that many games for a number of a myriad of reasons. So, yes, that was wild to.

Tas Melis (67:03)

Me. Yeah. The suitors for John Moran. It's a very interesting thing when I would love to be on these calls to hear what is being offered for John Moran. He literally. Those stats are good. Literally. I just think of him as a guy who's playing half the season. I mean, he's played 18 games of what I think the wizard, excuse me, the grizzlies have played 35, if I'm correct here. So. Oh, they've played 34. So, yeah, super close. That's who they are and that's who he is. So do teams want him? And as soon as this John Marine Morant noise happened, I wondered, will Jaren Jackson Jr be extremely happy playing on this team going forward? So what's going to happen with Triple J and this team? It's such an interesting thing going on because, you know, you look every single season, 50 games played last year for John Morant, nine. The year before that, 61. The year before that, 57. The year before that, 63 and 67 at the beginning of his career. Will he play more? It's a very good question. I have no idea. And Triple J, as you said, the boards were low. Deandre Ayton, I thought, played a far better game in game number two. After getting sat in the fourth quarter of game one, he played harder. And the Lakers have an easier schedule here in January, so they've moved up to the third seed. They could go all the way up to the second seed. When it's All Star Weekend, we're talking about teams. That Lakers team literally could be the second seed because they play a league low for January games against teams that enter the month with winning records. And they're 13 and three against the 14 teams below.500. So it's kind of an easy month. And they take care of the business against those under 500 teams, as I said, JJ Reddick gets them ready for those sub.500 teams and they play hard. And so that's why they could be the second seed. Shout out to my man John Schumann for that. The stat that they play against poopy teams and they're good at.

J. Skeets (68:53)

That. And Reddick said that game plan in that second game was to get eight and more touches and to hope it would pay off as the game went on. And it did because this was a good eight game. And then he had a great quote after the game, deandre Ayton said, quote, bigs can't feed themselves. I just try my best to do what I can to bring the effort and I trust my playbakers out there to find me. End quote. I love.

TK (69:15)

That.

J. Skeets (69:15)

Yep. It's like, hey, you got to get me the ball.

TK (69:17)

Man. It ain't my.

J. Skeets (69:18)

Fault. Give me some touches and I'll play like little harder. Anyone that's played basketball knows that's somewhat true. With your big guys, man, you.

TK (69:24)

Gotta keep them happy, keep em interested. And I do think the Lakers were kind of coming into this series with the Grizzlies sputtering a little bit. There was a lot of Talk about does LeBron like playing with Luca? There was the Ayton thing hanging over things. Do they need to make starting lineup changes? Should they trade Reeves, who's out with injury right now? So they were sort of similar to the Grizzlies. To me, even though the Lakers are having a better season and you could just tell which team was a little bit more connected, had a little bit more desire for things. Weird stuff though for the Lakers. They've given up the exact same amount of points as They've scored this season. They have a zero margin victory and they're third in the Western Conference because they've got Luca and LeBron in the clutch or Luca and Reeves in the clutch. That makes them a more dangerous playoff team to me. When you think that come down the fourth quarter, you got to beat those three guys just.

J. Skeets (70:16)

Completely. And like, their record in the clutch is amazing. But then every loss is like wax. That's why they have this. Yeah. Like even point differential. We also got an incredible JJ Redick graphic meme that'll be used a lot, I think. Did you see it? He's got his head like this doing this and it says the quote is, I don't know what else to do. That's how I felt when we're trying to come up with pick and payoffs. I don't know what else to do. So it's so good I'm looking at it right now. It's one of my favorites from recent.

TK (70:47)

Memory. Didn't he also, like, blame the Lakers lack of offensive cohesion on the.

J. Skeets (70:52)

Holidays? Yes. Yeah, he says a lot. He really.

TK (70:56)

Does. This guy should be on a podcast or.

J. Skeets (70:58)

Something. All right, so that's the winners and losers of the NBA weekend. I'm sure we missed a few of your favorites, so let us know in the comments below or in the stream team right now. But let's go to of the night. No sponsor. It's.

TK (71:11)

Okay. Well, well.

Odoo Sponsor (71:12)

What?

TK (71:13)

What? We got a sponsor. A sponsor came in. Top Shot Hot Boy said, can I sponsor Whoa Boy on behalf of Thumb.

J. Skeets (71:21)

War? Whoa boy. JD's other podcast. Talking.

TK (71:27)

Movies. How about.

Tas Melis (71:28)

That?

J. Skeets (71:29)

Wow.

Tas Melis (71:29)

Incredible. I can't believe I didn't think of.

J. Skeets (71:31)

This. Yeah. Great publicity for your podcast. Everybody check out Thumb War.

Tas Melis (71:36)

Yeah. Yeah. We got a banger episode coming up. Stranger Things.

J. Skeets (71:40)

Finale. Oh, I've got.

Tas Melis (71:41)

Thoughts. Oh, me too. Me.

J. Skeets (71:43)

Too. Okay.

Tas Melis (71:44)

Great. You'll. You'll enjoy.

J. Skeets (71:45)

It. Skeets, I did enjoy your recent podcast. What the hell was it, Bonia? Yeah, yeah, I liked it cuz you guys did a quick like. I don't know, it was like 25.

Tas Melis (71:55)

Minutes. Yeah, we were trying shorter. Stranger Things not short. But they're going to be.

J. Skeets (72:00)

Shorter. Okay. Okay, great. All right. Well, well Boy. Sponsored by not Trey Kirby, but another Top Shot Hot Boy. That's right. It goes to Heat sharpshooter Norman Powell. What a game from Norm on Sunday. Made a career high nine three pointers in a 34 point performance as the Heat beat the Pelicans on Sunday. Powell shot 11 of 15 from the field, 9 of 12 from deep. He added three boards, three assists, two steals. Just. This guy's on fire, man. He really should be at least all star consideration. He's averaging 24 and a half points per game. He's shooting 42% from deep. He's probably gonna go back in the three point contest, won't he? He was there last year, he competed. But he's almost, he almost has to. Here's why haven't the Miami Heat had like five guys win the three point contest? I think they have the most guys. Well, Tyler Hero won it last year and I remember us talking about like Glenn Rice has won it, James Jones has won it, Jason Capono has definitely won it. And Daquan, Daquan Cook. So that's five guys. Make it six. Norm, go in and win this thing. And now you especially because you've got a little experience under your belt. Having competed last year. I don't remember how you did, but you didn't win. I know that. So did he make the final? I can't.

TK (73:19)

Remember. Oh.

Tas Melis (73:20)

Yeah. I remember talking to Daquan Cook when he was in his three point contest. There's lots of, lots of room around him. No disrespect to Daquan Cook, but I wasn't fighting media like you're fighting other guys. Yeah. If Norm Powell says, listen, I play for Jamaica, as far as his national team goes, put me in the All Star game on the international team. Just get me there. I'll be on the three point contest. I'll do it all, man. I'll have a great weekend. That should be the PR pitch for the Miami.

J. Skeets (73:50)

Heat.

Tas Melis (73:50)

He. Get him there, get him.

J. Skeets (73:51)

There. Yeah, we'll see. Look, the Heat had a couple wins, I believe over the weekend and have a decent record. And if anybody is going to be a representative for them, I think it's got to be Norm. It's got to be Norman storming Norman himself. So good weekend. Whoa, boy. To him. All right, pick him. Task. You already alluded to the game. It's a big.

Tas Melis (74:08)

One. Yeah. Knicks are going into Detroit. They're favored by two and a half points. Fairly, fairly close line. I'm sure people want gonna pick the Pistons at home being the number one seed. This is the first time the Pistons and Knicks are playing. But the Knicks are coming off three straight losses and Detroit is a back to back. Although I'm sure they got home quick and early last night because it was an afternoon game in Cleveland. I'm sure they got their Sleep in their own bed. But they just had a great performance by their benching against Cleveland. That's why I'm comfortable taking the Knicks. It was just a magnificent game for their bench. Eleven threes, six of them by Dennis.

J. Skeets (74:51)

Jenkins.

Tas Melis (74:55)

Jenkins. I can't not say Dan is Jake. It's so fun. I always have to look at that name and wonder if it's Janice Dankins just to make sure. But those two guys, those two, these two teams at the top of the Eastern Conference should be really really fun. I'm sure pretty taking the Knicks just because I don't think they can lose four in a row. But yep, as you alluded to earlier, they do miss Josh Hart SKS as their, as their.

J. Skeets (75:20)

Heart. Everybody's coming in banged up here though. Like the Pistons are without Jalen Duran. No Tobias Harris I think as well. Yeah. But the Knicks missing some guys so yeah, I, I, I got into the document this morning. I saw that you had the Knicks and Trey had the Pistons. I was like I didn't know. I honestly went with New York cuz I thought the line was a little, a little strange. I was like oh, they're favored by two and a half. Interesting. The line has moved since we made the pick. I think it's three and a half Knicks now. So I think that's why I went with it. I was like what do you know? What do you know? So I went.

Tas Melis (75:49)

Next. But is that just because people bet the net nicks more than they bet on anybody else? Let us know. Fanduel let us know. That's I, I imagine that's a big part of it. But also the Pistons are on a back to back. Yeah, yeah, maybe that's.

TK (76:03)

Whatever. No dirt I think is.

J. Skeets (76:05)

Big. Yeah, yeah. This one is on the cock.

Tas Melis (76:09)

Peacock. It sure.

J. Skeets (76:10)

Is. Seven o'.

TK (76:11)

Clock. There's a clock on the.

J. Skeets (76:12)

Cock. We got three games on the cock tonight. That's too many. Too many games to get on.

TK (76:16)

One. How's that.

J. Skeets (76:17)

Possible? Yeah, Knicks, Pistons, Nugget, Sixers obviously. Unfortunate. No Jokic otherwise we maybe would have had a joke. It should be game and then Warriors, Clippers. Is the late one all on Peacock, none on NBC. You're actually that work?

Tas Melis (76:30)

Yeah. When they cross over like that. Well today's Monday because we got a 7 Eastern and 8:30.

J. Skeets (76:35)

Eastern. Oh yeah. I got no idea. But I mean it's a streaming service so it's like the NBA app. It'll be like you can bounce between them. I.

TK (76:42)

Guess.

J. Skeets (76:42)

Yeah. It's not on.

Tas Melis (76:43)

NBC.

TK (76:44)

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's not on NBC. These aren't national games then.

J. Skeets (76:49)

Huh? No, no, just on.

Tas Melis (76:51)

The. Well, they, they just care for. Remember at the beginning of the year when they're airing games at 11.

J. Skeets (76:58)

Eastern? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Got away with that. God.

Tas Melis (77:01)

Did. Yeah. They do the coast to coast.

J. Skeets (77:03)

So. But that's Tuesday nights, isn't.

Tas Melis (77:05)

It? Yeah, but they, they're, they're overlapping games here that are an east coast game and a west coast game because they know some people aren't gonna tune into that last one from the east coast. You know what I.

J. Skeets (77:15)

Mean?

Tas Melis (77:16)

Sure. So, you know, people watch games at different.

J. Skeets (77:20)

Times. All right, so true. Well, lots of basketball games on tonight. We'll be here tomorrow to talk about them. Talk about some NBA news, maybe some trade slop. I will in theory be paying off my December pick them loss on tomorrow's show. What else is there to do though? Well, we got something. I think it'll be pretty funny. So join us Live at 10am Eastern on YouTube if you want to see what I'm doing for tomorrow's pick and pay off for my brutal month of December till the new year. It's a new year. Hey man, I'm undefeated. You and I are undefeated it right.

TK (77:56)

Now. How's it.

J. Skeets (77:57)

Feel? One and zero already. Clover, bro, you heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you.

TK (78:06)

Guys.

Tas Melis (78:06)

Awesome. Thanks for joining us. And remember, the neck is not part of the.

J. Skeets (78:11)

Head. Embrace the day.

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