NBA Weekend Winners & Losers | Luka, Kawhi & Grumpy Ja Morant

Summary

No Dunks Podcast: NBA Weekend Winners & Losers | Luka, Kawhi & Grumpy Ja Morant

Date: November 3, 2025
Hosts: Jay Skeets (A), Trey Kirby (C), Tas Melis aka "Troll Man" (B), JD (producer)
Episode Overview:
The crew breaks down the NBA weekend's biggest winners and losers, digging into standout performances from Luka Doncic, Kawhi Leonard, the OKC Thunder, plus the controversy swirling around Ja Morant’s reported disgruntlement in Memphis. They also touch on league trends, fun side stories, and more—all in the irreverent, insightful style No Dunks fans love.

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Main Theme

Purpose:
This episode focuses on highlighting the NBA’s weekend winners—players and teams on the rise—as well as the losers who struggled, with a signature mix of sharp analysis and classic banter. Special emphasis is given to Luka's hot start, Kawhi's clutch heroics, Ja Morant's apparent "quiet quitting," and surprising team trends as the 2025-26 NBA season kicks into gear.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Weekend Winners

1. Luka Doncic & The Los Angeles Lakers

[03:42 - 09:27]

• Luka returned early from injury ("Are they just throwing us off?"), leading the Lakers to two wins:
  • 44 PTS, 12 REB, 6 AST vs. Grizzlies (snarling, smirking, “even impressed with himself”)
  • 29 PTS, 1-11 3PT vs. Miami, but Jackson Hayes steps up
• Role Players Shine:
  • Jake LaRavia (25 PTS, 10-13 FG, “such a good cutter...Luka's wide receiver out there”)
  • Marcus Smart excels in absence of Gabe Vincent
  • Bronny James gets crunch time run: "JJ Redick literally played Bronny James in crunch time...That is a heck of a lot of...confidence in Bronny."
• Austin Reaves Note: Two strong games after Luka's return, including an “alley-oop to both LeBron and Bronny”—possibly an NBA first.

Notable Quote:

"He looks awesome doing it...snarling a little bit more when he's doing the step backs because he's even impressed with himself."
—Tass Melis, [04:18]

2. Kawhi Leonard & The Clippers

[09:30 - 13:12]

• Game-winner: Buzzer-beating, “wet ball” three vs. Pelicans after a tough turnover.
• Media Moments: Harden gazes admiringly post-shot; Kawhi deadpans “game winner, chicken dinner.”
• Stats: 34 PTS, 5 REB, 5 AST, 6 STL, 11-16 FG, 5-8 3PT — “Not a 50-40-90 guy, but basically 50-40-85.”
• Supporting Cast: Derrick Jones Jr. and John Collins shine; Harden looks “pretty quick” despite loss.
• Candy Corn Debate: Clippers players (and the hosts) trash candy corn—“Candy corn sucks...out of vogue.”

Notable Quote:

"Game winner, chicken dinner."
—Kawhi Leonard, after clutch shot [10:17]

3. Mexico City Pistons (Detroit Pistons in Mexico Game)

[15:10 - 19:44]

• Jalen Duren: Career-high 33 PTS (“Grant Hill compared him to Amar’e Stoudemire”), 10 REB, 7-of-8 FT (85% on the season)
• Cade Cunningham: 21 PTS, career-high-tying 18 AST (“only one turnover...28 assists to one turnover over two games”)
• Duncan Robinson: Finds form as shooters figure out spatial dynamics with Cade and Duren.
• Spanish Flavor: Cade greets Mexico City crowd in Spanish; new court design gets Coco/Día de los Muertos comparisons.

Notable Quote:

"That was the main thing...28 assists to just one turnover for him in back-to-back Pistons wins. That is amazing."
—Jay Skeets, [17:52]

4. Portland Trail Blazers

[21:03 - 25:50]

• Overcame early deficits and a shot clock malfunction (17-minute Halloween delay, Waldo sighting!)
• Beat Denver Nuggets with clutch plays: double Murray/Jokic, blocks from Kamara and Sharpe, free throws by Jeremy Grant.
• Fastest pace in NBA (“third fastest”), “fifth in defense”—rare combo.
• Jeremy Grant thriving off the bench, team running and gunning to maximize limited shooters.

Notable Quote:

“They're playing extremely fast...you wouldn't expect that of them. So guys like Young Hansen...G League!”
—Tass Melis, [23:56]

5. Houston Rockets

[26:13 - 30:43]

• Destroyed Celtics, led by 36, starters sat 4th Q.
• Key narrative: First in offensive rating when Sengun & KD on floor; offensive boards at 36.8% (“highest in 30 years...since the ‘95-96 Bulls”)
• Multiple threats in lineup, bigs dominate glass (“when they miss, they just get the offensive rebound”).
• “Big ball” style working; Jabari Smith Jr. flashes elite defense (4 blocks).

Notable Quote:

"When the Rockets miss, they just get the offensive rebound.”
—Trey Kirby, [28:43]

6. Oklahoma City Thunder

[30:47 - 33:37]

• Only undefeated team left (7–0) despite injuries to Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren.
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 20+ points in 79 straight games (“flirting with Wilt Chamberlain”)
• Elite Defense: 1st in defensive rating, defensive rebounding, steals, and limiting fast breaks.

Notable Quote:

“They just continue to be a juggernaut on the defensive end.”
—Jay Skeets, [33:04]

7. Other Quick Winners

[34:47 - 36:45]

• Toronto Raptors: Two wins, “helped out by shorthanded opponents,” CMB coming into his own
• Phoenix Suns: Two wins, contained Wemby, Booker “awesome”
• Pacers: Quinton Jackson with career-high 25 in upset over Warriors
• Kyle Lowry: Joins the exclusive 20-season club

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Weekend Losers

1. Ja Morant & Memphis Grizzlies

[42:46 - 54:30]

• Friday Night: “Quiet quitting”—8 pts, 7 ast, leaves bench early, “unmotivated,” posts “go ask the coaching staff” in presser
  • “Probably don’t play me, dude.” —Ja Morant [43:18]
• Suspended for Sunday (team issue, “conduct detrimental”), as Grizzlies drop to 3–4.
• Major Discontent: Ja’s friction with new coach Thomas Isolo, history of suspensions, on-court effort questioned, “third straight year suspended.”
• Trade Rumors: “All the talk...are the Grizzlies going to trade Ja Morant? Would anyone actually be interested?” [44:46]
• Hosts’ consensus: Team did right suspending him; outlook bleak for Ja’s future in Memphis. “History says unlikely” he re-integrates; value at an all-time low.

Notable Quotes:

"Just a lazy, unmotivated performance...basically standing around chucking jumpers."
—Trey Kirby, [42:46]

“Will he be able to bounce back? History says unlikely.”
—Tass Melis, [47:13]

2. New Orleans Pelicans & Their Brutal Schedule

[55:42 - 60:36]

• Six straight losses vs. tough competition, multiple blowouts (three by 30+), about to hit another rough patch.
• “If they don't beat the Hornets (next game), Willie Green [coach] probably gets fired.”
• Defensive rating: 29th, giving up 120+ every game.
• “Easy team on the schedule for everybody else in the West.”
• Hosts see no remedy even with Zion, Herb Jones, and Trey Murphy all healthy.

Notable Quote:

“They're done for. Willie Green probably will be fired this week and I would take the Hornets.”
—Trey Kirby, [56:55]

3. Joel Embiid – $50,000 Fine for DX Chop

[60:53 - 64:22]

• Fined for crotch-chop gesture vs. Celtics (“got away with five chops vs. Wizards, but only one on-court vs. Boston”)
• Embiid’s tongue-in-cheek defense: “You gotta start fining the refs for doing the lewd blocking foul...I’m not doing the DX suck it. I'm doing a version of the referee's blocking call.”
• Hosts: Unlikely to stop (“It’s awesome. That’s $50,000. Who cares? Worth every penny.”)
• Hosts riff on wrestling culture, WWE, and fantasy booking "Troll Man" as a wrestling character.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [04:18] Tas Melis: "He looks awesome doing it...snarling a little bit more when he's doing the step backs because he's even impressed with himself."
• [10:17] Kawhi Leonard (via Trey Kirby): "Game winner, chicken dinner."
• [43:18] Ja Morant (recapped): “Probably don't play me, dude.”
• [62:44] Joel Embiid (via Skeets/Tas):

  "You gotta start fining the refs for doing the lewd 'blocking foul' since I’m not allowed to do it..."

• [28:43] Trey Kirby: "When the Rockets miss, they just get the offensive rebound."
• [33:04] Jay Skeets: "They just continue to be a juggernaut on the defensive end."

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Timestamps for Major Topics

• [03:42] Luka and Lakers' strong weekend/run of form
• [09:30] Kawhi Leonard’s game-winner & Clippers media moments
• [15:10] Pistons’ Mexico City win, Jalen Duren breakout
• [21:03] Trail Blazers upset Nuggets, unique style
• [26:13] Rockets' huge win, rebounding stats
• [30:47] Thunder: 7–0 start, SGA’s streak, defense
• [34:47] Quick winner round: Raptors, Suns, Pacers, Lowry
• [42:46] Ja Morant/Grizzlies debacle
• [55:42] Pelicans’ woes, risk of 0–10 start
• [60:53] Joel Embiid fined for DX chop
• [67:36] Pick’em segment, banter, show wrap-up

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Final Thoughts

• Signature Tone & Language: The crew blends deep NBA knowledge with playful ribbing, cultural references (WWE, candy), and off-beat observations (Halloween costumes, court designs).
• The episode underscores unpredictability this NBA season—from breakout players to team-wide meltdowns.
• The Ja Morant saga looms largest—a crisis that could reshape the Grizzlies.
• Lighter moments: candy preferences, "wet ball" banter, and "Troll Man" antics—including musings on him as a wrestling character.
• Next show teased with a "special guest" and hints at the next fun “pick’em” punishment.

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Summary prepared for those who couldn’t listen—get all the week’s NBA highs, lows, and the banter you didn’t know you missed!

Transcript

[A]

Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks podcast, presented by FanDuel. It's Monday, November 3rd, 2025. I'm Jay Skeets here in the classic factory, and alongside me, it's my top shot, hot boy, Trey Kirby. Hey, hey, over yonder, making the magic happen here on a Monday. Super producer, jd.

[B]

Hello.

[A]

There he is. And finally, he's under the table, paying off his pick' em loss. It's Trollman, Tas Melis.

[B]

Hey, everybody.

[A]

There he is.

[B]

There I am.

[A]

What's up, troll man?

[B]

Well, this wig has got some loose hairs, some wispy hairs on my face. So if you hear this, that little. That's me pulling the hairs off my face with my microphone. It's kind of annoying, but either way, I'm just hanging out here. It's kind of comfortable.

[A]

Okay, interesting.

[C]

So you love how we can see your eyes through the tiny gap between the table and the sign on the front.

[A]

I also didn't realize we were getting a troll man upskirt shot here with the camera angle, but great work, JD for everybody listening to the podcast. Yeah. Come check out Tas on YouTube dressed as the What I guess I refer to as the Justin Timberlake troll.

[C]

That's Branch for show.

[A]

That's Branch.

[B]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. My daughter would be proud. She dressed as a Branch. That's pretty cool. It's pretty fun. I gotta admit, we didn't have a.

[A]

Lot of options when it came to the type of troll costume or the size of troll costume, which is maybe why it's a little tight on Tassie under there. But anyway, it looks great. I love the hair tassel.

[B]

Just chillin.

[A]

Yeah. We got NBA weekend winners and losers to tackle today. But first, we did have some weekend wedgies. We had two more on Friday night. We'll show them to you. First one was special. Matas Buzelis on the alley oop dunk attempt.

[C]

Real nice.

[A]

Now, he was fouled, but we count that if it results in free throws, we usually count the wedgie. So that's good. And we got a nice shout out there.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

I mean, again as well. So awesome stuff. Then we had Jordan Goodwin sticking another one on Friday night. So two cup wedgies with the baseline jumper up to seven.

[B]

That ball was different.

[C]

Yeah. What's up with that ball?

[A]

That was an NBA cup ball. Yeah.

[B]

Cool.

[A]

And then Tas, Troll man, Tas, gotta get your opinion on the World Series wedgie from game six. Yeah.

[C]

What do you think?

[B]

Well, this feels like years ago because that's game six. This thing goes seven games, extra innings. What a series. I will say I don't have really good TV access here in introl land, so I haven't watched many World Series before. I was lying down. Yeah, I needed a quick rest during the wedding.

[A]

Come on, wake up, wake up.

[B]

I'm being a little biased, but I would say this is the best World Series in the last 20 years. Cause I again, I haven't watched many under here, under a table. Right, but that was phenomenal. All the way till seven games in extra innings. Although that ninth inning, bases loaded, one out. The Jays just have to score one run to win this fricking thing.

[A]

Oh yeah.

[B]

Isaiah Kiner Falefa on third base.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

What kind of leadoff was that?

[C]

What kind of leadoff was that?

[B]

I would say the third baseman was further away from third than Falefa was. And the secondary leadoff. And then the slide at the plate. He could have scored. Yeah, he could have scored.

[A]

Tough loss for RJS fans out there.

[B]

What a game though.

[A]

But hey, the Raptors won both games. We'll get into that. Okay, so let's get into NBA weekend winners troll man tasks. Why don't you start us off? We'll do a couple rounds of winners and eventually move our way to losers.

[B]

What do you got a winner this weekend? Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers. Luka back early. They won both games with Luka in there. We didn't expect Luca to come back this early. The Lakers came out and said on Oct. 26 he'll be reevaluated in a week, which means Nov. 2 we'll evaluate him. We'll see he comes back on Halloween early. Are they just throwing us off? Did they just say he's out for a week just so nobody would ask questions about it? Well, it worked. Nobody was asking questions about it. Luka came back and was phenomenal against the Grizzlies on Friday. A scoring machine, dropping 4412 board, six assists. I think he's smirking more, doing a little snarling a little bit more when he's doing the step backs because he's even impressed with himself. He looks awesome doing it. Passing to DeAndre Ayton in that first half, that great pass. He just kept going. Footwork. Where am I going to go? He didn't know where to go. And then he dropped it to DeAndre Ayton who left in the second half for Jackson Hayes, who played really well. They didn't need everybody to score a ton in that game. But they did in the second game because Luka didn't score as efficiently on Sunday against the Miami heat, just had 29, only one of 11 from three. But that guy, I said Jackson Hayes, who came in for deandre Ayton, played the entire game because Ayton was out on Sunday. I thought this was his best game as a Los Angeles Laker. He was a rim deterrent. He was bumping properly in the defensive lane when guys had to come back or way up top. I thought this literally was his best game as a Laker, along with his Slovenian brother, Luka Doncic there. And then the supporters are the story. We didn't expect all these guys to be very good for the Los Angeles Lakers. But Jake Laravia, who looks like he's taller than Luka at 6 8, is such a good cutter on this team because he knows he's not going to get the ball. He cuts extremely well. He can shoot the three, he can defend really well. He's Luka's wide receiver out there because those outlet passes are for Jake. He passes, Luka gets that outlet pass going and Jake is running. And so Jake coming off with 25 points on 10 of 13 could not have been expected. He's done a couple of those. He's going, coming off the bench now. Marcus Smart is starting. He had two games this weekend, played 35 minutes and then 26 minutes. Gabe Vincent is out. And somehow Marcus Smart looks far better than we expected. He was happy playing against Memphis on Friday, happy to play against a team that he didn't want to be playing for, as he has recently along with the Wizards. Didn't have a great time there. Those three guys, phenomenal. And then Bronny James was playing crunch time and they still win. Bronny James has to be learned to be a little bit more decisive with the ball and score the ball because he's going to have that opportunity. But again, going down to crunch time, he had that one. Cool. Alley was freaking cool to have one of those. But to have this problem for the Los Angeles Lakers, you'd consider it a problem with LeBron out, even with Gabe Vincent out now with Deandre Ayton out, but still guys performing and they win both games. This is a good problem to have for J.J. redick has got these guys.

[A]

Performing 5 and 2. The Lakers despite no LeBron, the banged up Luke at a start, you know, Gabe Vincent, other guys out of the lineup and they're racking up the wins here. Anything to add to Troll Man? Tass's Breakdown of Luke and the Lakers.

[C]

There two and one without Austin Reaves. And then Reaves had two great games once. Luka came back as well. We've talked a lot about how he can scale up to be a number one option when he needs to be and when he is the secondary playmaker. Still really good as a catch and shoot player, so not surprising that he was able to slide back down. But the Lakers are just awesome right now. They're unstoppable on offense. It feels like Luka gets wherever he wants to, can make any shot that he takes. Doesn't matter if he's on balance or not. I don't know how you check this, but he must lead the NBA. And baskets made after a pump fake because he's so many times gets into the lane, just stops pumps once. See, it's what the guy's going to do. Maybe throws a second fake. Oh, you didn't jump. Fine, I'll just shoot a little mid ranger over the top. I think it has made for a little bit of an awkward development period alongside deandre Ayton, alongside Jackson Hayes, because Luka likes to keep the ball and just stay patient in the lane until maybe somebody comes open in the corner or maybe it ends up being an alley oop to the big guy with Austin Reaves. He gets off the ball immediately, sees two, gets it to the big guy, let them make the play. Luka is going to figure out how to play alongside Ayton and Hayes. I agree with Tas. Hayes was great against the Heat. I thought he was even better in the previous game. Had five assists, was making reads that you wouldn't expect from a guy like Jackson Hayes. So if they're able to get decent production from their big dudes, Marcus Smart has looked good and Larabia has been one of the best signings of the offseason. Yeah, to start the season. So good stuff from the Lakers. They haven't had their whole team yet this year and they look like one of the five best teams in the league. Probably.

[A]

And did Austin Reaves make history? Troll man on becoming the first player in NBA history to throw an alley oop to both a father and son combo now in his career.

[C]

Interesting.

[A]

He's thrown one to LeBron.

[B]

He's gotta be.

[A]

And now he threw one to Bronny. It's gotta be. I mean, yeah, yeah.

[B]

I don't think there's any question. No, I don't have a computer service down here, so I can't fact check it, but yeah, for sure. And again that Bronny one was nice.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, Bronny running again. I think he has to grow a little bit, but JJ Redick literally played Bronny James in crunch time, basically until a little under two minutes left. That is a heck of a lot of number one confidence in Bronny alone, but just in the supporting cast. He's got them all cooking. And Luka, it all starts with that guy scoring 41 points per game now through his four games that he's played. He's now officially in NBA scoring because he qualifies now. But this guy should lead the league in scoring when it's all said and done this season. Yeah, it's got to be him.

[A]

All right, let's keep it moving. TK Your big winner.

[C]

Kawhi Leonard is my big winner. Had the buzzer beating game winner on Halloween. A pump fake, two guys fly by. Shoots it over the top of basically three Pelicans Wet ball. What he said afterwards. Great comeback from Kawhi after he turned the ball over. A pretty brutal turnover on the sideline. Got trapped with about 12 seconds left. Zion made a couple of free throws, and then Kawhi ended the game. Maybe a weird winner since the Clippers did have a gigantic lead in the second half. Basically gave it all away. The Pelicans came back to tie the game. But I loved every piece of media following this game that the Clippers put out. There's Harden staring lovingly at Kawhi after making the shot. Very funny image. Kawhi in the hallway walking down. You can tell the social media person is asking for him or some sort of reaction. He just says, game winner, chicken dinner.

[A]

Wow. Big pause, big pause. He's like, I don't know.

[C]

I guess I'll say chicken dinner. And then afterwards, they're asking him about the wet ball, and they're like, was that a wet ball? He's like, you didn't see it? Yeah, I saw it.

[A]

I had a good view.

[C]

Did it hit the rim? No, no. Wet balled in. Wet ball then. And then apparently when he was over in China during the off season, they learned how to say wet ball. I forgot to throw it into Google Translate then. But then he did his thing. He said wet ball in Chinese.

[A]

Very cool.

[C]

Yeah, Shin Hao. I don't know what he said. I'm going to look it up. But wet ball. Wet ball is just a funny term for it anyways. But that thing was pure.

[A]

It was.

[C]

That was a very wet ball. Soaking wet. Like a stream running underneath a bridge. Where A troll man lives. Monster mash. Monster game though for Kawhi in this one. 34 points, 5 boards, 5 assists, 6 steals. Went 11 of 16 from the field, hit 5 of 8 from 3. He's having an awesome season so far. 24 points per game, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and a couple of steals. He's shooting 51 from the field, 44 from 3 and 95 at the line. Not a guy that I think of as a 50, 40, 90 candidate, Kawhi Leonard, but basically when he plays, he's 50, 40, 85. And if he's able to knock down the free throws like he has to start the season, pretty cool for Kawhi. I think he could get to 50, 40, 90 and you know, he just got those big old fingers to shoot those weapons. So the Clippers got the Heat tonight, they got the Thunder tomorrow. These are the best teams they've played. They've kind of beaten lesser competition to start the season. But when the Clippers look bad, we trash them. When they look good, I like them.

[A]

There you go. Anything to add, Troll man?

[B]

Yeah, listen, Kawhi had semi quiet games. I'm not trying to make a pun, but he was super efficient. Yeah. To hear those numbers that he could be pulling off a 54, 90. My head's off and wigs off to him because he may need a wig. His hair is running away from his head a little bit. He's got a bit of a receding hairline, so I could give him my troll hair if he needs it.

[A]

You got a lot there.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, if he needs it. So they got the Heat on a back to back. Good for them.

[C]

That's true.

[B]

That's awesome for the Clippers considering the Heat actually have to travel a little bit within LA from the Lakers arena to the Clippers arena and play a back to back that's set in traffic.

[C]

It's to be a really tough back to back for them. But Beal came back good for the Clippers. You know, he's on a minutes restriction, But Derrick Jones Jr. Was great. Caught a ton of alley oops. John Collins, I thought had one of his best games for the Clippers so far. Had a ton of alley oops as well. They just look good and harden, I think looks pretty quick. He was getting to the rim quite a bit on this one as well though they did give up to 30 to Jordan Pool off the bench. But you know, it's the Clippers, I don't really think. Or it's the Pelicans, I don't think the Clippers were given the hardest effort out there. They looked like they were pretty much in control of things. Even though scary times right at the end.

[A]

To go back to the social media job from the Clippers team too. I saw the clip going around the classic. Hey, blind rank these Halloween candies. Okay. A lot of the Clippers players not in on candy corn. Derrick Jones Jr. Was in fact insulted it was even an option. So they had candy corn. Dead last from what I could tell across the board. And then it was more Snickers Skittles. I'm just saying that's a. That's another positive for them. Candy corn sucks according.

[C]

Yeah, it does suck. I didn't see a single kernel of candy corn. Really, this whole weekend.

[B]

Really.

[C]

It's out of vogue.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

Were nerds clusters on that ranking? No, they weren't number one. Yeah, they killed it on Halloween.

[C]

They're good.

[A]

They were popular on Friday night.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Everywhere. They're everywhere. And they were still around on Sunday. And I had no problem going double dipping. Going on Friday, going on Sunday. They were so good.

[A]

Yeah. You guys just realized. Yeah. You dads must have had a lot of candy or chocolate this weekend.

[C]

Oh, yes.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Was there something that you were like, oh, nice to see you. Nice to have you in my life again, man.

[C]

I gotta give a big shout out to my daughter, Ada.

[A]

I said, give your dad a piece of candy.

[C]

She gave me a full size Reese's peanut butter cup. You didn't have to do that, Ada. I would have accepted an Almond Joy. In fact, I stole one from your bag later that night after you went to sleep.

[A]

Damn.

[B]

A single cup you gotta be proud for as a dad for a single cup. I thought you were the big ones, though.

[C]

If I were in her position, I'm giving me the worst piece of candy I can find. I'm looking for the candy corn.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Take this old man.

[A]

Here's a Werther's old man.

[C]

Yeah, for sure.

[A]

Knock yourself out, grandpa.

[B]

You're right. My daughter was throwing her Milky Ways my way. Yeah, she wasn't having it. You're right.

[C]

According to the Stream team, Shiki is wet ball in Chinese. Shiki.

[A]

Shiki. Yeah, wet ball. Should we throw that on a t [e-mail]?

[C]

Wet ball then is a good sign.

[A]

All right, so we got Luka and Kawhi. I mean, Lakers and Clippers starting us off here as NBA weekend winners. I'll go with the Mexico City Pistons as my winner of the weekend. These guys balled out down there in Mexico City because yeah, they had a game against the Dallas Mavericks that sort of snuck up on everyone, at least myself, like what they're playing in Mexico City this weekend. Jalen Duran, Cade Cunningham both had career nights though down in Mexico to lead the pistons to the 122110 victory over Dallas on Saturday night. Let's start with Jalen Duran. Career high 33 points, 1316 shooting, pulled down 10 boards. He was catching multiple lobs early in this game and then as the second half rolled around it was more pick and roll action run into the rim. He had Grant Hill comparing Jalen Duran to Amar' E Stoudemire on NBC. Especially the comparison of like Nash Amari, their chemistry to Cade and Jalen Duran, at least in this game. And Duran finished I love this 7 of 8 at the free throw line where this guy has drastically improved TK. He came into the season as a sub 70% free throw shooter for his career. This season he's doubled his free throw attempts per game and right now is shooting 85% at the line. That's a monster double digit free throw attempted and made games already. So the bottom line is best start of his career. I know it's a small sample size here, six games but Tas Jalen Duran really, really solid. We can get to Cade and some other guys helping the Pistons, but this guy's jumped off the page to me early in the year.

[B]

Yep. And preseason he was lumped in at the back end of the young guys for the Pistons that could grow. It started with the Sar Thompson, Jaden Ivy and even Ron and I was mentioning. But he has to be put in there. He's still not even 22. He'll be 22 soon. He's a fourth year player and I guess we all sort of just thought of him as kind of plateaued, kind of peaking. But it is dumb to do that. He's getting better and as Jannis said in his Greek interview during the off season, the first guy he thinks about as a monster man in the middle is Jalen Duran. And to see him with his shirt off a few weeks ago, he is a monster man and he's showing a little bit better defensive chops. I'd say that's something that has always been questioned about him. And now he's catching more lobs like he's Mari Stoudenbire.

[A]

Yeah, he was great.

[C]

I thought this was pretty easy for Jalen Duran. He had Dwight Powell on him for a lot. Dwight Powell's old enough that he played against Amari Stoudemire, so he is probably having flashbacks. They put him in the pick and roll every single time in the second half and Cade would just get into the lane and wait until Duran had enough Runway and throw it over Dwight Powell's head. Yeah, Dwight Powell can't turn backwards and jump at the same time at this point in his career.

[A]

Well, it's great you brought up Cade Cunningham. He had 21 points. Okay. But tied his career high with 18 assists. I think seven of those went to Jalen Duran. And my favorite stat in the box score when it comes to Cade because we always bring it up and we knock him when he turns the ball over. But only one turnover on Saturday night. Trade. Despite all the pick and roll action, despite all the bodies they threw at him, cade now has 28 assists to just one turnover for him in back to back. Pistons wins. That is amazing. So love to see that if you're a Pistons fan, that he's like taking control of that a little bit more. And then Duncan Robinson, I think is starting to get comfortable in his role with the pistons. He's averaging 14 points per game on 53% shooting from deep over his last three games. He started really slow, probably again trying to find his space in that offense where he should be. He's figuring it out, especially when the pick and roll action is happening. He's deciding, am I sliding down to the corner, am I staying up top above the break? What's going to be the best angle for generally Cade to find me and he's starting to knock him down. He even has figured out with Jalen Duran just do the hito Turkoglu missed layup where you sort of botch it almost on purpose. But all the defense has collapsed and Duran's gonna like obviously use his athleticism to go get it. That happened once or twice in this game too. So good stuff.

[C]

Yeah. That couldn't keep Cade out of the lane. That was the main thing that really stuck out to me was he did get 18 assists and a lot of them were to Duran over the top, but it was because of Cade's dribble penetration. I love seeing a 1 turnover between two games, especially when he's handling the ball against decent defensive teams. Right. Dallas should be a good defensive team. I think they're top 10 right now, maybe eighth. The Magic have struggled a little bit out of the gate, but they're a team that's based on defense as well. And Cade was completely carving them up now he just needs his shot to come along. He's kind of struggled to start the season, but eventually he'll put it all together and rip off an MVP like Run.

[A]

At some point this year, TAS did or Trollmance. Excuse me. Any thoughts on the Mexico City court that they sort of tweaked the design this year? I mean, they always had a pretty unique court on the floor there in Mexico City, but I don't know if you had a chance to catch this one. We'll show it to everybody on YouTube.

[B]

The first instant I saw it, I went. I started singing Coco.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You like it? Yeah. So, of course, I do like it a lot. And I heard Cade Cunningham speaking Spanish Un poco Spanish before the game when he took the mic and I was going, poco loco. Looking at this court. I mean, it is. It's very nice. I like it. Do you guys disagree with that?

[A]

No, I love it. And we're not even showing you. Like, the design in the paint was very cool, too.

[C]

This is the best part of it. The Dia de los Muertos skull. I personally hate a light outside, caramel inside. I think it looks so bad, but I do love the skull at half court.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And it was Dia de los Muertos this weekend. Parties happening all over Atlanta. It was a fun time.

[A]

You're getting comfortable.

[B]

Yeah, well. Well, I need to relax. I got a little shoulder problems up here. This is nice.

[A]

Yeah, just lie straight on your back.

[C]

Your abs are going to be under tension for 90 straight minutes here.

[B]

Very much core workouts.

[A]

All right, Tas. Troll Man, Tas, back to you. Let's do another round of winners.

[B]

The Portland Trailblazers only played once this weekend, but they got a victory against the Denver Nuggets in Portland on Halloween on their NBA cup court. The dark gray. I thought it looked good, and it didn't start well. They actually only scored 18 in the first quarter, and they had a 17 minute delay because there was shot clock problems. They were literally having to think about, we might have to do a stopwatch throughout the entire game for the shot clock. And it was on Halloween, so one of the Blazers employees was wearing a Waldo costume, running around trying to figure this out. So it was very funny. They got it done. So they still had a clock, but it was a problem. Going all the way into the fourth quarter. They're down 10 in the fourth. Going into the fourth against the Nuggets. Flash ahead to one minute left. Aaron Gordon hits a tough step back against Jrue Holiday of the Blazers. So they're up 5, then you go the other way. And this is the great thing about the Portland Trail Blazers so far this year. They're playing extremely fast and this is how they got points back. Deni Abdia getting the ball from Jrue Holiday basically on a run way outside the three point line. And he goes into his dribble package, gets that very low dribble, goes crossover spins on Aaron Gordon, scores. So it's now a three point game. Thiago Splitter, the new Blazers head coach, all of a sudden decides Murray and Jokic are going to run that pick and roll. Of course, let's double it and get out of Murray's hands because he hit a great shot with 130 left. So they get it out of his hands and they're still hanging out with Jokic. So whoever else wants to beat them, go ahead. Christian Brown gets the ball in the Corner, Mrs. A3. Blazers run again immediately and they go to the foul line. So they tie it. They tie the game at the free throw line. And then you got Murray and Jokic again running the pick and roll on the other side. Double cam Johnson, go ahead, try and beat us. The drive is helped out by Tamanik Kamara Kamar with a huge block, what a fantastic block. But the Nuggets get it back because it's out of bounds on them. Aaron Gordon goes into the post turnaround blocked by Shane Sharp, who helps out because the shot clock is down. So Blazers got a go ahead chance with three seconds left. They give it to Jeremy Grant. Jeremy Grant pulls up and Aaron Gordon fouls him. So he goes to the line and hits his free throws. They're up two. Jokic gets a bomb of a pass to try and win it. And he gets a great pass and he looks like he has a great look. And Jeremy Grant probably bumped him early running back from that foul line. He gave him a bump, but no foul called and Jokic misses. So the Blazers win. Deni AVD and Jeremy Grant with the longest hug I've ever seen in Portland Trailblazers history. Danny Abdia probably saying, all right, I took your starting job, Jeremy Grant, but we're still buds. The greatest thing, as I said, they're playing fast. They're the third fastest team in the NBA. You wouldn't expect that of them. So guys like Young Hansen, sorry, you're not going to play as much.

[C]

G League.

[A]

He's going to the G League.

[B]

He's going to the G League to practice. At the very least to try and get better. And Robert Williams made his return. Remember Robert Williams? He's part of that Drew Holiday trade from Boston. Playing in his first game, he was the backup center. But even Don Van klingen just playing 24 minutes in this game, as Thiago Splitter has said, we're going to size down and just try and run. You wouldn't expect that of the Blazers, but because they don't have a lot of scoring options, this is their way to score. And coming back from five with one minute left. Big win for them.

[A]

Yeah, huge fourth quarter, 38 to 26 for Portland to get that cup win and to improve to four and two against obviously a really good Nuggets team. And they sort of look dead in the water for a good chunk of this game as Tass took us through.

[B]

How'd you like the dark Dirk Gray?

[A]

Very hard working. Yeah, they worked hard. They did. Taz saw a great court and he says teams work hard on that. Yeah, they did. At least for this one.

[C]

I mean, you throw in a gray court in Tiago Splitter, there's no way this team could possibly lose. They've beaten the warriors, the Lakers and the Nuggets so far this season. Like Tass is saying, third in pace and also fifth in defense. That usually doesn't go hand in hand. Playing that fast and actually still being able to compete defensively. We talked last week about picking the ball up early. Teams are starting their offenses against the blazers with like 17 seconds left. They're under pressure once it starts. And Jeremy Grant, man, he's doing all right. The on off numbers are ugly, but he's very productive coming off the bench. And at least he's coming off the bench. Like Tass is saying, he made a bunch of plays down the stretch, made some big free throws, including one where he tried to miss it and banked it in anyways, which gave. I mean, I guess it wouldn't have really mattered that differently. The Nuggets got to take the ball out of bounds rather than chucking it. So I guess a little bit of help. But Blazers look like they did last year, which I think is impressive because they put together a nice run in the second half of the season. You never know if that's going to translate when it comes to the first half of the next season.

[B]

So far it has, yeah, four and two, surprisingly. And you mentioned the teams you have, the Warriors, Lakers and the Nuggets. Now people will criticize and say, yeah, they beat an Austin Reaves led Los Angeles Lakers because Luca was out LeBron was out, but the warriors and this Nuggets win especially I thought was their best win of the season. So that's a great start. No matter what, you got to beat those in front of you.

[A]

That's right. Great start for Portland. What about you, tk? Your second winner.

[C]

Houston Rockets for me. Slow weekend for them. They only had one game, but they destroyed the Celtics on Saturday, led by as many as 36. And most of their starters didn't even play in the fourth quarter. Kevin Durant had 26 through three quarters. Alperin Chengun played 30 minutes, put up 16, 10 and nine seven. Rockets were in double digits. I got him as a winner though, because we pretty much haven't talked about Houston since opening night. They didn't look good on opening night. Then they lost. They lost to The Thunder and 2 OT on opening nightly. What a terrible loss, huh? Double over the league. Then they lost to the Pistons and now they've been playing lesser competition. They beat the Nets, the Raptors and the Celtics, but they're destroying these teams and they're first in offense overall. When they have Sengun and KD on the court together, they're unstoppable. They're putting up crazy offensive numbers. It's a great pairing for them because both guys can handle the ball, both guys can set screens. You see inverted and reverted pick and rolls. I don't know if what you would call the normal one when it's K.D. handling, but KD's never played with a big like Sengun ever in his career. A guy who draws two defenders just like KD does. Pick your poison is kind of what it's been. They did make a bunch of three pointers against the Celtics. That's not necessarily been the Rockets calling card, but they went 19 of 29 from 3, their 30th in attempts so far this season. Not a surprise. All their guys are gigantic, but they do make them fifth or first in percentage. Right now Sengun shooting 53 from the three point line, KD shooting 41. I think KD's will stay near 40%. I don't know if Sengun is a 50% shooter, but the good thing is when the Rockets miss, they just get the offensive rebound. Yeah, 36.8% offensive rebound rate so far this season. That is the highest in 30 years since the 9596 Chicago Bulls. According to Basketball Reference, the top 200 offensive rebound rates when you sort it by descending order an offensive rebound rate. Only five teams in the 2000s even make the List. People don't offensive rebound right now, except for the Rockets. They're obviously the highest. It's working for them. Everybody offensive rebounds because they are a gigantic team. They get a lot of free throws because they're getting a lot of offensive rebounds. Stephen Adams is the leader there, but Capella is doing it. Amen. Thompson's doing it. Sengun is a great rebounder. So they seem to have found a mix that allows them to have a real efficient offense. I don't know if they finished the year being the first ranked offense without a point guard, but so far, to start the season, big ball is working.

[A]

Yep. Anything to add there? Troll man Task to the Rockets improving to three and two and yeah, dominating the glass all season long here.

[B]

It's an interesting thing that they're trying to try and do it because they were so successful at it last year. When you mentioned that number, I thought of last year when they were like 40 plus in terms of grabbing rebounds when Stephen Adams was on the floor because that's what he does. It's a ridiculous percentage. They can. They can. Yeah. The question is the guard play. I think that still remains a question. Taking care of the bad teams, that's what you got to do.

[C]

Shepherd's playing all right. Like, he's up to 44% on three. He's got to make three pointers for him to be effective and, you know, move the ball. But who cares? If you miss right now, they're going to get it.

[B]

That's fine.

[A]

That is the strategy and it's working.

[C]

Jabari Smith Jr looked awesome. He had four blocks and three of them, I think were highlight blocks.

[A]

Yeah, but you're right about the Rockets getting overlooked, I guess is the best way to put it. Early in the season, there just feels like there's so many other, like, talking points about these other teams, either because they're kicking ass or they had like, undefeated streaks or they're struggling. Like, we've gotten to so many other teams ahead of Houston, but that was just a clinic. I thought Udoka going back and punking the Celtics. I think they won every quarter. You know, obviously I comfortably took control of the game. Just crushing teams on the glass.

[B]

Yeah. Jab.

[A]

It's very frustrating to play them. You get the stop and you're like, God damn.

[C]

The worst feeling, man.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. Jabari Smith, no, is a great point because he literally. The help blocks. I didn't think that was part of his defensive ability. Really? Those blocks were so great. He is also a giant. That will be Overlooked. We overlook the Rockets. We got to overlook his height. I'm sure on this team because you mentioned everybody else before this guy, he's still a monstrous player, but he's just not known as a defensive player. But if he is, somehow taps into what IME Udoka is doing, like Alpern Sengun was able to tap in defensively last season. That could be Jabari Smith this year they are literally getting bigger, but better defensively as well.

[C]

Spurs on Friday. That'll be an awesome game.

[A]

Here we go.

[C]

Big boys.

[A]

Big boys indeed. My final winner. At least you know, my main winner. Got to give it up for the perfect Oklahoma City Thunder. They're the defending champs and after the Bulls and the spurs lost for the first time this season on Sunday, OKC is our last remaining undefeated NBA team. They're seven and oh, they've played the most games too and are still undefeated. And this is all despite missing Jalen Williams, who was an all NBA third guy last year. It was amazing in the playoffs. He hasn't played yet. He's recovering from surgery on his right wrist. And then Chet Holmgren, who when he does play looks like an all NBA big. He's missed three of the Thunder seven games. He's got lower back sprain issues. And it doesn't matter. They continue to rack up the W's. Shay, now he's like flirting with Wilt Chamberlain, like streaks here, I guess. He reached 20 plus points for the 79th straight game. That's tied him for the third longest such streak in NBA history. I think it tied him with Oscar Robertson. And Wilt has number one and two in terms of that type of list. 20 plus points per game. He has two separate ones because it was Wilt Chamberlain, but man, it's tough. Despite an injury to Shea, unfortunately seeing that streak ending anytime soon, the guy is just the most consistent. Hell, 20 plus, it feels like 30 plus. It's always like 30 or 31 with him. He just racks it up. TK I mean, it's like just a steady flow. Feels like every quarter of that classic thing Michael Jordan used to say, like, yeah, just get eight every quarter.

[C]

Simple.

[A]

Yeah. You get to 32. It's like that's sort of what Shay does here.

[C]

Yeah, and he looks unstoppable and he basically is unstoppable. Chad's been playing really well. They've had a really easy schedule. You know, they had a couple. They had the Rockets on opening night like we talked about. That was tough. They had the tough game against the pacers it was Pacers opening night that went to 2 OT as well. Since then it's been a cupcake schedule, but it'll get harder hard eventually. They've played the most clutch minutes in the league so far this year because those first two games were two overtime. So that counts as 20 minutes right there. But now they're destroying these bad teams. They beat the Wizards by almost 20 and they beat the Pelicans by 30. Those teams don't stand a chance against OKC. Maybe they would if AJ Mitchell was the only guy playing. But this guy's good too, so it doesn't really matter. They'll get Jada back eventually, though he's out for a little bit longer as well.

[A]

Yeah, and their defense still ranks number one task at 104.2 defensive rating. That's well clear of the second place Spurs. They lead the league in defensive rebounds per game, so they end possessions. They rank second overall in steals per game. We know them to do that. They're top 10 in blocks per game and they're tied for the lead when it comes to giving up the fewest fast break points. So again, task they just like continue to be a juggernaut on the defensive end. Like where they take care of the ball. They get back, they. They obviously shore up the defensive rebound and then they're just a terror when it comes to turnovers. Yeah, they're awesome.

[B]

The rotations are ridiculous. I think Alex Caruso's leading the league in defensive highlights for me, even though Victor Wembanyama is out there playing. I think Caruso's kind of just overlooked at how good he is helping out a year after he asked or he said that people don't watch a lot of games anymore. They don't get what we're doing. He's making people take notice of how good he is defensively in the highlight. He is so good. I will say Jalen Williams can stay out as long as he wants, really, with this team playing the way they are. But the Chet Holmgren thing is a tiny thing to worry about because he did miss a chunk of games last year and I'm sure they're just trying to be safe. But I don't know about his trainer who works out with him specifically. You remember that video during the off season where his exercises I think lacked a little bit of form. Yeah. Not to get all personal. Anyways, I'm sure he'll be fine and he's just sitting. I was just thinking you're about to.

[A]

Have back issues that's what I was just.

[B]

I was thinking, I am not trusting Chet Holmgren's trainer. No. I got shoulder problems really is what's going on here. They're so tired.

[A]

Some other just like quick winners of the weekend. The Raptors did improve to three and four this weekend. Two wins for them. I mean, the Blue Jays lost two games. The Raptors won both of them. Now this was a team that was seemingly coming apart at the seams defensively. I talked about it. I wondered if Coach Darko was going to make it the rest of this week. These wins probably helped out his chances to stick around. But they got pretty lucky against the shorthanded Cavaliers. I mean, they didn't play anybody. They do not respect the cup. No respect for the cops. No respect for the Cup.

[B]

No Donovan Mitchell.

[A]

Yeah. And Raptors got that. And then they also got to play against the Ja Morantless Grizzlies, which we'll get into John Moran, the Grizzlies side of things. So the Raptors were helped out a little bit about who they were playing tasks, but they got those wins. Yeah.

[B]

If there's any positives, I will say it's nice to see Colin Murray Boyles come into his own a little bit like those, those five assists on Sunday. It shows. Obviously he can pass, but he, he's. He just shows that he's pretty hungry on the drives. He feels like he can get physical with people and get into people's space. So good sign for cmb, as they're calling him on the broadcast because the name's too long, I guess.

[A]

Too long. It is too long.

[C]

CMB and BI3.

[A]

Yeah, that's notorious, says Matty D. That's right.

[B]

Why is he saying notorious?

[C]

Because it's like big.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

That's all it took for our guy, Matty D. The Suns picked up two wins this weekend too. They needed them. They beat the Jazz. Okay. And then they beat the spurs and really did a good job containing Wembanyama, who struggled in that one. Booker's been awesome here. They're back to 3 and 4 2. So it's worth noting that, yeah. Pacers guard Quinton Jackson, a small winner of the weekend. He scored A career high 25 points to help spark the Indiana's Pacers huge comeback. 20 to 5 run to beat the warriors. And the Pacers got their first win of the season. He hit a clutch jumper, Trey and I mean, there's a lot of people that'd be like, who are you talking about?

[C]

Yeah, it's not even Isaiah Jackson? No, the guy that people act like he's good. It was Quentin Jackson. Jackson, the other Jackson? Yeah, from Indiana. Interesting Jackson too. Something to think about. You know, Matt Devlin would say it.

[B]

If it was the reference.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

But yeah, that was a weird one. How did Indiana beat a full strength warriors team?

[B]

Yeah, we're already starting to see.

[C]

What was that about?

[B]

We're already starting to see teams go into other people's arena or play other teams that don't have their superstar and not show up enough. You know, we've seen it with the Warriors. We saw it with. It's happening. It's happening all over the league. But the Pacers keep on tapping somebody else to come play. Quinn Jackson, you know, an old 27 year old player bangs home that big game. Huge big game.

[A]

They followed up with a decent performance too. Mac McClung is playing heavy minutes for this team again. Pacers have nobody crazy as well. Yes. So good stuff from them to get their first win there against the Warriors. And then Kyle Lowry officially joined the 20 season club. He got into the game over the weekend for the Sixers. He's a big boy right now. Whoa, Kyle Lowry's a big boy.

[C]

He's grilling on the roof.

[A]

Oh yeah, he is. He's the 12th player though ever to reach that mark of 20 seasons played. So that is something. I mean, he's also a part time analyst, I guess for Prime. He's working two jobs, this guy, man. Yeah, but yeah, just wanted to note that.

[C]

Shooting 1000% from the field.

[A]

Hell yeah.

[C]

One for one from three.

[A]

So those are our Bulls.

[C]

They're going to win the NBA championship.

[A]

Start a championship.

[C]

Yeah, they started 5, 0 for the third time in franchise history. The last two times were 1995. 96 and 96. 97.

[A]

Damn.

[C]

So they got jobs.

[A]

They got jobs. What happened on Sunday? Yeah, I was going to say because.

[C]

They had to play the same team twice on the weekend. They beat the Knicks pretty easily on Friday night and then the Knicks got their lick back on Sunday. That's how it's supposed to go. Right, but the first one counts more.

[A]

So you're upset, you're upset with the schedule makers there.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Putting them back to back.

[C]

Completely unfair. Has it happened for any other team.

[A]

So far this season?

[C]

I don't know.

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

Maybe.

[C]

Should also been the game on prime that night.

[A]

That was weird.

[C]

We said we had to watch Ja Morant mail it in against the Los Angeles Lakers.

[A]

Stay tuned after the AD break That's right. Right. We'll get into J. Morant after a quick, quick break. The NBA season's a grind. Games every night, night schedules packed. I'm a busy boy, which is why I'm fired up about the new peloton cross training tread plus powered by peloton iq. Peloton IQ plans your workouts, tracks your progress, even corrects your form. It helps me get my workout done and dusted in half the time. And with the silver and with the swivel screen, you can go from a ride on the bike plus to a quick yoga stretch or ab workout in seconds. I'm mixing it up with Dennis Morton for yoga. Alex pushing me on the tread and Emma Lovewell crushing my core.

[C]

Crushing it.

[A]

Let yourself run. Let yourself lift. Let yourself flex. Let yourself push. Let yourself go. Check out the new peloton cross training tread [e-mail].

[B]

It's NBA tip off week and FanDuel is your home for live betting. So even if you missed the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. However you want to play. Now is the perfect time to join because FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets. If your first $5 bet went wins, play your game with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA.

[A]

Good stuff, troll man.

[B]

Yeah, not a problem.

[A]

If you're just joining us on YouTube, task. Paying off the short months of October's pick' em battle, where we pick a game every night and he came in last place, had a bad record for October, so that's why he's under the table dressed as a troll. Not a trouble. Short month, troll man. Not a problem though.

[C]

Not a problem.

[A]

I love that shot. That might be my favorite shot. You see the eyes through the.

[B]

The. The little.

[A]

No dunk board there. Yeah. Gap. And then you got the legs. You got the legs. It looks comfortable. Like the outfit itself. Like it looks like pajamas almost.

[B]

Yeah, it feels like them as well. They're super soft. Starting to get hot under here. I don't know if I was going to blame the pajamas, but maybe it's just the temperature down here. The carpet looks super comfy and plush, I'm sure on camera. Although, you know, we're lacking a little padding underneath, so the bows are taking some. Some scabs.

[A]

Well, I Can't. I can't speak for Trey, but lucky for you, I'm not. I'm not feeling very gassy today.

[C]

I mean, same.

[A]

Yeah, Unfortunate. We should have ate a lot of beans this weekend or something.

[C]

We should have ate a lot of beans, man. I literally ate 15 different kinds of chili yesterday.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

It was a. It was a chili cook off at church.

[A]

Oh.

[C]

You guys want to say perfectly prepped for this?

[B]

All.

[A]

All you ate this weekend was Halloween candy and chili, and you don't got one single fart in you for troll, man.

[C]

It was a disaster weekend in the bathroom. Good for Tass.

[B]

Great for me. I wish I had a camera on my face because I'm looking directly at that zone we're at where I could see plenty of farts.

[C]

Dx.

[A]

DX down here.

[C]

You're right.

[A]

In the light of fire if. If the chili starts kicking in here.

[B]

That's funny. Yeah, I had plenty of beans myself this weekend. I. I had a. I had a haman, if anybody's familiar with that. And. Yep, that was bad. 24 hours for me. Everything looking good now.

[A]

Okay, good. Well, that's that costume we hope to return, so.

[B]

Okay. Yeah, we're safe for now.

[A]

Okay. Yeah. Let's get into some NBA weekend losers. We've been teasing it all so long here, Trey. I mean, you get us started here on John Moran.

[C]

The Grizzlies could have very easily started the show with this because I think it was the biggest story of the weekend. Just a disaster for the Grizzlies over the weekend on Friday night night, a fall from a head loss to the Lakers. And the big story coming out of it was John Morant. Quiet quitting on the team. Yeah, basically just a lazy, unmotivated performance from him. There's clips of him leaving the bench during a timeout. He finished with eight points and seven assists. Looks even worse when you consider after halftime. Three assists, zero points, barely dribbling.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Just standing around chucking jumpers. He only played 31 minutes. And in the post game interview, he just kept saying, go ask the coaching staff. Go ask them. Go ask the coaching staff. So eventually the reporters are like, okay, other than the coaching staff, what could have been done to get enough and outkill him? And he responds according to them, probably don't play me, dude. Seemed very unhappy. Got called out by Blake Griffin very eloquently, I thought on Amazon Prime. So so much buzz around Ja that he was suspended for Sunday's game. Conduct detrimental to the team. This was a team suspension via The Grizzlies, they already have Scottie Pippen Jr. Out. They already have Ty Jerome out. So they started Cam Spencer and let me tell you, Cam Spencer was setting the table on Friday, but it didn't matter because they lost to the Raptors on Sunday. The grizzlies right now 3 and 4 and their wins are not that impressive. They beat the Pelicans, they beat the Pacers, they beat the Suns. They're 22nd in offense, they're 23rd in defense. Outside of the suspension, Ja's been playing. Jaren Jackson Jr. Has been playing and he also kind of mailed it in. I thought on Friday. He wasn't given a full effort, though it wasn't as bad as Ja was. Ja definitely overshined him. So all the talk over the weekend is, are the Grizzlies going to trade Ja Morant? Would anybody actually be interested in Ja Morant? Saw a lot of Photoshops. Maybe he goes to the Heat, maybe he goes to the Timberwolves. I don't know what it is, but it seems bad in Memphis. And if the team isn't winning, maybe they do decide to move on.

[A]

And what do you think happened? Like, do you think something went down in halftime of that game where he was called out in front of his teammates and the coaching staff maybe about Jaws play and get off the ball and whatever. And then he almost basically pouted for the rest of the game and then.

[B]

Took that into the ball.

[C]

He pouted. So maybe that happened. But there was definitely a confrontation post game. Thomas Isolo called him out to his face and apparently Ja had a very dismissive response to him. That was in the press release about his suspension, that the tone was. And he wasn't hearing basically what Isolo was saying, which is pretty bad because the only reason Thomas Isolo is the coach is because Ja Morant didn't want Taylor Jenkins to be the coach with nine games left this season. So a lot of drama in Memphis and people are starting to say this could be the end of Ja in Memphis, period.

[A]

What does the troll man think on that? Is this the beginning of the end here of John Morant with the Grizzlies or can they sort of move past this? Okay, you had to sit him for a game and he can come back with a better attitude. What's your read?

[B]

My read is they are trying to get past this by giving him a one game suspension. I think they are doing the admirable thing. The only thing they can do, they have to give him some sort of Punishment for talking back to the coach or disagreeing with the coach in the way he did. I don't know exactly how that went post game, but it's obviously clear that he wasn't respecting the coach. And what are you to do as a franchise if you're going to try and move forward with this guy as your lead player, as a guy who's going to lead your team unless you do something about it? And so I think they had to, they had to call him out. Will he be able to bounce back? History says unlikely. But considering the last couple years were just sort of tumultuous with other things off the court court injuries and then he was able to move on from Taylor Jenkins to Tuoma Csolo because he would have rather that I guess there is a possibility that he does come back for Isolo. That is a huge question mark though. That being said, I think that's the only way to do it. And so you have John Morant signed for this year plus two more years. And if it doesn't go well, it is time to move on and decide that Jaren Jackson Jr. And the rest of the organization is what you have to go on and be led by. I think there's no other choice. I think you want a basketball organization that is respected around the league and you can't have all these in fights for something that again, when the disrespect is there against the coach, I think that ends it.

[A]

Yeah, he's obviously frustrated. There's going to be very little public support for John Moran because of his history, obviously with the gun incidences and then the firing of Taylor Jenkins last year and all of that. It's going to be a lot of people saying, come on man, what? You're supposed to be the leader of this team and you've basically given up. Like you said, quiet quitting and then taking into the post game, I mean just a bad look overall. So that's why they gave him the one game. So he's openly criticizing the staff. The team is not playing well. As you took us through Trey, they fired a coach already. So it's like unlikely you do that again. Desmond Bain was sent out during the summer for really more financial flexibility. And so that has people wondering, you know, the trade machine sickos are all fired up because like that's a recipe for trading John Morant maybe moving off him because he's also not playing at the level where you like can sort of stomach this, if we're being honest. Like he's not the player he once was. At least he's right now. Now he thinks it's probably because how they're running things, the attention on them, whatever, and that he's getting blamed unfairly. But it's just not worth the headache is my point.

[C]

He's not that good right now.

[A]

He's not that good right now. Where you're like, okay, well, I don't know, do we want this sort of cloud hanging over us or do we rip the cord on this? But you know, it'd have to be a lot of money coming back and maybe you'd have to do the just two bigger contracts to fit the one John Morant size contract. And teams will talk themselves into being the one that can like salvage John Morant, get him in a better situation. But it's a mess. This is bad, bad, bad. And Tass, you said it. This usually doesn't bounce back for a lot of these situations. Just most recently the Jimmy Butler one of it. All right. It's always, it's just like it starts to unravel and it's like tough to patch it back together, it feels like.

[B]

And because he's been there for a very long time. That being said, I think he's got the capability of playing that great. We know that he's that talented. And he started the season well in game number one because that's what he always does. He has an incredible start to the season. Of his six opening season games, he's had four 30 point games in them. One was a rookie year. Meh, you can write that off. And another one was a 24 point game. So he starts the season well. Here we go. Looks like John Morant is going to play to his abilities. But it's clear he has already decided that he's not seeing eye to eye with Thomas Isolo, which is extremely unfortunate because this is early in the season here. But I mentioned the two years left on his contract after this season because it's not a, a terrible untradable contract money wise. But it all depends on what the other, the other team's front office sees in John Morant. So maybe it's do it sooner and you get more back for him rather than watch another 20 games. And his value has got to be.

[C]

About its lowest right now. Probably he's not playing very well. He's been a Malkinter. At least with the media right now there's some sort of beef going on with him and the coaching staff. That was the case last year. This is now the third straight year that he's been suspended and his production is tailing off and he's a guard who relies a lot on his athleticism and he doesn't necessarily look like the same athlete. The Grizzlies offense looked much better with Cam Spencer getting in the lane and passing the ball rather than Ja just standing out there dribbling and chuck in a three like he caught the ball at the free throw line. Luka Doncic was two steps off him at the free throw line. Just pass it up. He didn't care at all. There's a lot of great point guards in the NBA. Ja doesn't make a ton of money relative to some of these other guys, but he's still got a big contract. It's just like, who's going to actually want to invest in him right now?

[A]

Yeah, Troll man. Do you have a team or two that would be calling here on Monday morning? Like, oh, what's going on up there, Memphis? You guys not getting, getting, getting along together? We'll take them off your hands. Do you have any trade destinations?

[B]

I've had no NBA trade machine access since John Moran had. I keep going back to the well for that joke. I love it on Friday. I just did not consider this after watching him opening night. I didn't consider 10 days into the season, literally a Friday after opening week, that he would be in this scenario. Now maybe that's me being naive and thinking that he would be able to bounce back after the gun incidents plus the injury. Just the last two years he hasn't been the guy he was the two years before those two years. He's two years in the past of being two years in the past. Fran for Schiller. Try anyways. But those two years he was voted for mvp, so I thought there'd be a bounce back. But again, 10 days in now, I didn't expect this early to be thinking about other teams. So I haven't done the the Sport track/espn research on this one. Is there other teams out there?

[A]

I mean, there are teams that like the Brooklyn Nets that would be like, hell, get a, get a franchise guy, sell some jerseys type of thing. I mean, maybe them the heat you already brought up. There's sort of always one of those teams that's like flirting with the idea of a superstar getting added to the mix.

[C]

They're running Memphis's offense from last year, the one that Ja hated.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[C]

They literally hired the coach that he wanted gone, Noah LaRoche. I don't think Brooklyn would do it because they're trying to be bad.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I can't get a guy who could actually help him win games. And they're nailing it right now. When it comes to tanking. They're great at tanking.

[A]

They are.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

We've talked about the Raptors needing maybe a point guard. They have contracts that could make it work. But that's. I mean, this is a big decision for a franchise to like, want to obviously even try and put something together. The Kings, I guess, you know, they're. They're of course, always waiting on them for. Just to blow it up.

[B]

It feels like a Zach Levine type of move that the Kings were able to pull off in that I know they're different players, but a couple years left on a contract of that's being paid high for a guy who isn't producing that same way. So it's hard to really. Even though I think it's not that long a term left on this contract that it is tradable. It is hard to find a team because, yeah, I do not think the Brooklyn Nets do it. There's really no answer for me on an NBA cup night. You start like that. I mean, I thought the court looked damn good. I like that light gray.

[C]

That was gray.

[B]

Yeah, it was gray.

[A]

This guy loves a gray gray man.

[B]

Yeah, I love shades of gray. There's so many shades of gray out there. This one was a light one. So it's nearing white. No, not that far. But yeah, we had that Memphis one. Dark Portland. I'm still waiting for the Sacramento Kings to debut. That's a beauty.

[A]

I think with the John Morant and trade rumors of it all, we see what happens in the next game here. We see how he actually takes this one game suspension and he's like, oh, maybe I was wrong and let's get back to work here. And if that's not the case, then, yeah, then we're firing up the trade machine and we're getting to work. But I think we can give it at least that. They play tonight versus the Detroit Pistons, so he should be back in action with them coming to town.

[B]

I admire them for the effort they though the one game suspension. What else are you supposed to do? Yeah, allow this fighting to happen, especially.

[C]

With the new coach. Like, you got to give him a little bit of power and respect as the head guy.

[A]

Right, right, right. Because if you don't, then it's. Everybody's like rolling their eyes in the locker room and stuff like that. That's a good point. All right. Another loser of the weekend. I'll give it to the New Orleans Pelicans, but also the schedule makers for the New Orleans Pelicans. They can't win. They're bad. We've talked about that. But man, they've had a rough schedule. They lost on opening night to Memphis. Troll Mantess already told us. John Morant, he balls out on opening night. Okay, that's a tough one. Then they lost two home games to the spurs in overtime. Close one. And the Celtics. Then they had a three game road trip to Denver, Louisiana versus the Clippers and okc. So that's six pretty good teams in all honesty, part of the reason why they're 0 6. But three of those losses they've also lost by 31 points or more. So just got shellacked. It's bad. Right now the Pelicans tomorrow night host the Hornets. This one feels like it has to be a must win for the Pelicans because after that they have another three game Western Conference road trip. So if they don't beat the Hornets, you're looking at a potential zero intent start here and likely a Willie Green getting canned type of thing. So I just bring that up. They're bad tasks and this has been very tough. I mean they're in the Western Conference. It's going to be tough. But it's equally exceptionally tough for them right now. But they got to beat the Hornets tomorrow night.

[C]

Have to.

[B]

This is a win for them. It feels like it's going to happen because the Charlotte Hornets are coming off a victory themselves. So I think the schedule makers have succeeded here because the Hornets will not be playing as hungry basketball as they they would have if they're coming off a loss. That being said, yeah, the Pelicans number one the six games prior to this, very tough. But even after the Charlotte Hornets game, it's very tough. So it's. How will they be able to bounce back as a team, as a unit, as a locker room? That's the big question with this team.

[A]

Yeah, they're one of the only two teams, the Brooklyn Nets who are dominating Tank job right now that are undefeated or excuse me, winless still here in the NBA. Them, them and the Nets.

[C]

At least the Nets have their pick. Yeah, the Pelicans don't. That's the silver lining to the Trey Young injury is that the Hawks are getting a great pick because the Pelicans aren't going to bounce back. They're done for. Willie Green probably will be fired this week and I would take the Hornets. The Hornets are great on Offense, the Pelicans can't guard anybody.

[A]

That's fair. They've given up 120 in every game, haven't they?

[C]

Exactly. 29th in defense. I saw Nate Duncan had a stat that they're the first fastest team ever to three 30 point losses. It's been literally six games. So not super surprising, their 30th and net rating. So yeah, the Nets are bad in the tank race, but the Pelicans have been worse and it's going to continue to be worse for them because unfortunately for them, they are in the Western Conference. It doesn't get easy. Yeah, they're the easy team on the schedule for everybody else in the West.

[B]

New Orleans, Charlotte take the over, whatever that line is. Because Charlotte ain't stopping anyone. And so it'll be a high scoring basketball game. Game in. As you said, Skeets, you broke down the schedule. It was tough to start. Yeah, it is.

[A]

Those are good teams. Majority of them.

[B]

Yeah. And I will say, you know, I'm a, I'm a D. Anthony Melton fan. I'm a Glue Guy fan. I think Kevon Looney's absence hurt. He still isn't playing. So those little teeny tiny things of just having guys that are in and around the locker room to keep things going, to keep Jordan Poole as a former teammate of his in Golden State, to keep him and his head right, that hurts. But the question is, can they bounce back? We haven't seen that before. We haven't seen them just start poorly and then be able to bounce back. Now last year Zion went out and he physically was able to bounce back most of the way as he says. But they decided after this terrible start, we're not bringing you back 100% of the time. There's no way we can win any games. So let's keep that traffic. Let's stay down there. So they kind of bounced back last year. So there is a chance, I suppose if it's not what they did last year. Again, no computer down here. They started something very poor like 8 and 24. I mean they can't be that bad and bounce back. But it still is, it's doable at this point.

[A]

Yeah. The scary part is Zion is for the most part playing Trey Murphy. The third is for the most part playing Herb Jones is playing. I was confident in like if those guys play, they're not going to be that bad. Right? Well, I'm getting proven wrong. I mean their pick and Jeremiah Fears, he, they're like sort of throwing him into the fire. I mean they're down Dejounte Murray so he gets a chance. He's been okay. I mean he's a rookie point guard on a bad team right now, but at least there's some promise there.

[C]

He just made his first three pointers over the weekend.

[A]

Yeah, he attacks. He definitely attacks, attacks, attacks. He's going to have to add the shit.

[C]

But this is like the healthiest they've been in years.

[A]

Yeah, I know, I know. And they're still not winning.

[C]

Yeah. And I mean, sorry Troll man, I know you have no Internet down there.

[B]

Yeah, no problem.

[C]

They had 21 wins last season.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It wasn't a big bounce back.

[B]

No, it wasn't a big bounce back.

[C]

That was that high.

[B]

No, but Zion physically was able to bounce back and they kept him out of so many games because they knew that after that terrible start they weren't going to to come back to 500. So there was no chance really of coming back. Yeah, I would say. I'm definitely. I leaned on last Monday's show we did our first weekend. Winners and losers. I leaned. Pelicans are not being, are not able to come back. But when you got Charlotte on the schedule. Woo wee. There comes a W. That should be something of positivity for this team.

[A]

I think it has to be.

[C]

I mean I know again that's a must win game. I know you can't beat the Hornets. The Hornets have a positive net rating. Like the Hornets are not a good team. But they ain't the Pelicans.

[A]

No, I know, but it feels like, God, they gotta win that because otherwise Willie Green, I can't imagine him surviving that little mini Western Conference road trip following that. Which are against all really good teams. It's bad. Okay, final one, Troll man. What do you got for a loser of the weekend?

[B]

Joel embiid got fined $50000 for his DX chop. His suck it chopped. But you want to get away with that and it doesn't work, fine. Okay, that's up to you. It was just a one time chop against the Boston Celtics in the first quarter. He's a loser because he did get away with it days prior to the Washington Wizards. He did it towards the crowd. He did it multiple times. I'm counting this clip watching. He did it 1, 2, 3, 4 and then a fifth. Boom. And his teammates loved it. You see Kyle Lowry, you see Eric Gordon, you see Andre George, even the kids, Jared McCain still loving it. I was skeptical. Do the old guys only like this DX chop because it's an Old school move. But if Jared McCain and his TikTok habits like it, then everybody should like it. But I don't know why he did this against the Boston Celtics in a first quarter when you literally just got away with it against the Washington Wizards. I guess because that one wasn't on the court. He was doing it towards a fan who was talking trash to the Wizards. That's why he got away with that one. One and Sixers Reddit threw that one up. And that's where we got that video from. It's from a fan's phone. But that other one against Boston Celtics is literally in the middle of the court. And it was just a quick one timer. And Joel Embiid mad.

[C]

What?

[B]

Joel be mad saying, well, you've gotta. You've gotta find our fans because of the way they do their blocking call.

[A]

No, no, no, no. He said you gotta find the officials.

[B]

Excuse me. That's what I meant.

[A]

Yeah, you gotta start finding the rest for doing the lewd. He threw that in air quotes. Blocking foul. Since I'm not allowed to do it. So Joel Embiid is saying I'm actually not doing the DX suck it chop. I'm doing a version of the referee's blocking foul.

[B]

No, you're not. You're doing the suck it.

[A]

So wait, who's the loser here? Joel Embiid or the NBA? Or a little bit of both.

[B]

I would say it's Embiid because he got away with it. He got away with five chops or five blocks, as he called it against the Washington Wizards. Doing it towards a fan. His team loved it. They're riding a high. Just quit.

[A]

You say he's gotten away with it? He did after that game or during that game. But this is like the third or fourth time he's been fined for this gesture.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. Like over the last couple of years, he's done it a handful of times and gotten $25,000 fines or $75,000 fines.

[C]

It's crazy.

[B]

And going through the catalog of chopits, I had forgotten about the one he pulled out when he came got the gold medal put around his neck at the Olympics. He literally got the gold medal. Oh, this is the most worse.

[A]

I remember that.

[B]

This is the most respectful, apolitical moment. You just, you just have to be diplomatic and just take the medal around your neck. He literally pulled out a chop it Immediately.

[A]

Immediately giving him the award. The medal.

[B]

No, he just kind of did it to the crowd. Odd. And he actually did it during the tournament as well. He pulled one in the tournament, on the court, in the Olympics. I had forgotten about those. And they kind of just go under the radar because.

[A]

Fined by the ioc.

[B]

Yeah. That's a weird one. Very weird. Very odd.

[A]

Do you think he's gonna stop? No, no, no.

[C]

He's been doing it for 10 straight years, and it's awesome. That's $50,000.

[A]

Who cares?

[C]

Yeah, it's worth every penny.

[A]

I mean, at this point, like, Triple H and the WWE should just, like, pay the fines for him. Yeah. Like. Oh, yeah. Thanks for keeping this at top of mind for everybody. Yeah, we'll pay your fines. Chop away, boy. Chop away. I mean, what?

[C]

Taz showed us the clip. He did it five times when he got subbed out. Maybe he just changes where he celebrates.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Suck it on the bench.

[B]

You mentioned Triple H. I think he did. Did it alongside him in Philadelphia. When they ring the Liberty Bell. I mean, I don't have that clip ready to go, but literally it's either him or Triple H banging the bell and the other one doing the dx.

[C]

Chop the.

[B]

Suck it. Chop the new celebration in the NBA. But I guess can't be done on the court. No.

[A]

James Jones does not like it. That is. Who's in charge of.

[C]

He's the new guy.

[A]

Yeah. Putting these fines on guys used to be Joe Dumars, but he's Busy with his 06 team now. James Jones is in charge of, I guess, vice president of head of basketball operations when it comes to the league.

[C]

And he's not a big fan of wrestling, I guess.

[A]

I don't know. He may not be. Maybe he's more of an AEW fan.

[C]

Yeah, maybe. So he preferred the Nation of Domination to Generation X.

[A]

Possible.

[B]

I must ask, I'm like James Jones. I've lost touch with the wwe. Do these chops happen?

[A]

No. I mean, I don't think so. I don't think anybody's really doing it.

[C]

I mean, I do feel like they bring DX back every year for the Nostalgia Pop. And of course, they're pulling out suckets. You didn't know?

[A]

Yeah. When they're there, I mean, is there. Yeah. I thought Taoist asked here. Has anybody adopted it as a move? No, you can't.

[B]

Well, I didn't know the DX was back either. I didn't know.

[A]

One, two.

[B]

Well, you know, it's wrestling.

[A]

They always bring the old guys.

[C]

They're gock. Sometimes they're gone and they're always back.

[B]

Yeah. Every show is bringing everything back. It's not just wrestling. But I guess the 1, 2, 3 comes back. Back. Does it. Chop it. Yeah, that's who I'm thinking of.

[A]

Yeah. Xbox.

[B]

Xbox, yeah.

[A]

One, two, three. Kid you went with. Wow, real.

[B]

Oh, yeah, he's both.

[A]

Yeah, he's both.

[B]

But yeah, he's Xbox and wcw. Excuse my.

[A]

You could actually be a wrestling character as Troll Man.

[B]

Troll Man, Yeah, for sure.

[A]

Always under the ring.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Coming out, always popping out. Oh, yeah.

[A]

But your legs are always sticking out like that, so we know you're there. Will he be attacking tonight? We just decide. Yeah. Is the Troll man asleep tonight during this match or not? Will he attack? Don't wake the troll. Yeah, I like that.

[C]

Slam was too big.

[A]

That's a free idea for you there.

[B]

Triple H. Yeah, that's shocking. There's been one. There's been somebody underneath a ring that has a character.

[A]

Oh, there's been guys that. Well, the Undertaker would famously, from time to time, show up from under the ring. But there's been no Troll man, to my knowledge.

[C]

Good gimmick, actually.

[B]

Yeah, I think. I think Mick Foley immediately, because he's that kind of strange.

[A]

Mankind. Yeah, I had some Troll like qualities, big time. Okay, a little wrestling divergent there. Let's get to tonight's pickup because we are all 0 and 0 again, Tas, so longer month here for November. We have a very fun payoff on the line. I'm not going to tell you right now, I'll tell you later this week, but it's going to be a good one. What's our game tonight, Troll Man?

[B]

Well, it's the Milwaukee Bucks going into Indiana as a six and a half point favorite. Indiana only getting six and a half points. It seemed a little low. When I saw it, I immediately jumped on Milwaukee. I thought the last time they played was when they lost in Indiana in the playoffs. That was John Halberton, Tyrese Halberton's dad, approaching Giannis Teta Cooper. So I felt this is an easy line pick for me. Milwaukee Bucks are doing it. Trey is with me, Skeets is on the other side. Plus six and a half. Are you in that mindset that you were last week when you saw that odd line, that this is the same, that it's too low? Because I feel like it's a little too low.

[A]

You're saying you thought the Bucks would be favored by. Yeah, I think the line is okay. I think that's right where I would have it, somewhere between five and seven, and that's where it is. But right now, my strategy earplugs Troll man. It's just go the opposite of you.

[B]

Yeah, it's good move.

[A]

You know, sometimes it works sometimes you don't need to overthink this thing like someone.

[C]

I did it all last year and had the best record.

[A]

Yeah. So that's the.

[C]

That's the way to go sometimes.

[A]

So right now.

[B]

But hey, look, you guys can come here.

[C]

Yeah, occasionally when you. When you're up in the air.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. I had a good roll around of several years, but somehow things have turned poor last year. So. Yeah, sometimes you just gotta chill and pick the opposite of troll, man. Makes sense. Yeah. Why did you pick the Bucks tonight, Trey?

[A]

Fade the Troll should be a light on fandom. Fade the troll. Like you just are encouraged to take the opposite side.

[C]

Yeah. I thought it was a slightly small line as well, which made me think that Yan Dennis must be playing because he didn't play against the Warriors. Right. He did play against the Kings. He's listed as questionable. They barely squeaked by the Kings, who are kind of like same quality level as the Pacers.

[B]

No, they lost to the Kings.

[C]

Yeah, that's what I mean.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So that's beat him by two.

[B]

So that's why the Bucks were an easy pick for me as well. It's a bounce back.

[A]

I think it's bounce back.

[C]

I think Giannis hates the Pacers.

[B]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

That's true.

[B]

Yeah. This is gonna be.

[C]

Turner really hates the Pacers. This guy's going in so hard.

[B]

Hard.

[A]

Yeah. A little too hard, man.

[B]

He verbally says. Said he's angry that he said.

[C]

I think his. His most recent quote is that he feels like the Pacers gave up because they came in knowing Halliburton's not going to play, so they didn't give him.

[A]

A big time contract.

[C]

But I just feel like he's taken a very anti Pacer stance after being there for a decade. A lot of love lost, it feels like. And I thought that that was a pretty good relationship though apparently undead poor.

[A]

I mean, I assume tonight though he gets like the huge welcome back pop right video. He should. He's there a long time, had some success. So. Okay, you guys have Milwaukee to win by seven or more. That's the important part here. I just need the Pacers to keep it close even if it is a loss. Good stuff, Troll Man. How's the back feeling?

[B]

Oh, it's feeling great. Yeah, the core is feeling tight. Feeling like I just did an Emma love war. Well, hardcore core workout.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Feeling tight.

[A]

Well, feel free to Take a nap down there if you want. You look comfy.

[B]

Yeah, it's super comfy again.

[A]

You got the carpet like you said.

[B]

Carpet looks plush. Yeah, looks plush. I should have put a padding under my butt butt. But here we are.

[C]

Butt butt.

[A]

All right, hit the like button for Troll man tasks and JD for making it all happen here with pick and pay off. That was a fun one for the short one month Troll Man. And again later this week, we'll tell you what the punishment is or the payoff will be for November's pickup. I think it's going to be pretty good. We're going to get a little contentious, I think, when it comes to the picks as the month goes on. If it's tight. Oh, I can't wait. High stakes. Yeah, high stakes for the next one. But again, we'll tell you later this week.

[C]

Yeah, if you liked wrestling in the 90s, you're going to love this payoff, right?

[A]

Oh, nice tease. Well, I mean, that could be a lot of things. Yeah, but good tease. Okay, we will see you guys tomorrow. Special guest, you'll have to find out. Join us tomorrow morning at 10am Eastern.

[B]

Find out who it is.

[A]

Come on, man, you gotta come back. You're trolling now. I'm trolling now, baby. You gotta come back. We'll see you then. Clipper Bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys.

[C]

Awesome.

[B]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, come on back later this week. We'll announce what our pick and payoff loser is going to have to do at the end of this month. But will they? What they won't have to do is eat a pumpkin pie. Cause I saw those this weekend at Costco. They're out. They're out. Of course they are out. So I bought one.

[A]

You bought one? Oh, yeah, the big one.

[B]

Unlike last year when you had to finish it in a week, I'm leaving a month for our house to finish it.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Have you started?

[B]

I think we can do it. Oh, yeah. A few bites.

[A]

A few bites already a bite a day. It's like an advent calendar. Wow. Okay. Yeah. I literally got shivers up my spine when you said that. Pie from Costco and me having to eat it last year. It took me three days, right? Three and a bit, maybe.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. It didn't even take you the whole week.

[A]

No, I got it done.

[B]

It's so odd. I picked one up and it's got this liquid on top. It's like dribbling all over the place. It's kind of weird you wouldn't think of that as a pumpkin. It's good. Yeah, it does taste good.

[A]

All right, well, enjoy your bite tonight, troll Man. We'll see everybody tomorrow. Brazen apiece, people.