J. Skeets (2:22)

Because Xfinity WI Fi can.

Trey Kirby (2:24)

And what if Your WI fi could fix itself before there's even really a problem. Xfinity is so reliable.

Tas Melas (2:29)

It does that, too.

J. Skeets (2:30)

What if your WI fi had parental instincts? Xfinity WI fi is part nanny, part ninja, protecting your kids while they're online.

Trey Kirby (2:37)

And finally, what if your WI fi

Tas Melas (2:39)

was, like, the smartest WI fi?

J. Skeets (2:41)

Yeah, it's WI fi that is so smart, it makes everything work better together.

Trey Kirby (2:46)

Bottom line, Xfinity is smart and reliable. You deserve the peace of mind of having WI fi that's got your back.

J. Skeets (2:52)

Xfinity. Imagine that. You know how it's never really about where you're going. It's about who you're going with. The right people can turn any drive into a great memory.

Tas Melas (3:01)

That's something Toyota really believes.

J. Skeets (3:03)

They design vehicles around real life and

Tas Melas (3:05)

real people, the ones who make plans

J. Skeets (3:07)

happen and bring everyone together inside. Everything's built with passengers in mind. Comfortable seating, smart layouts, and space that actually works so everyone can relax and enjoy the ride. There's room for the people, room for the stuff, and room for the moments that happen along the way. Because when people are the destination, your ride is important. Learn more@toyota.com and find the vehicle that fits your people. We outside every night. Just me and my girls. Hey, good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks podcast, presented by FanDuel. I'm J. Skeets here in the classic Factory. It's Friday, February 27th, 2026. This is the Drop. Hello to all our new Blackpink fans. And alongside me, as always, it's Tas Melas.

Tas Melas (3:55)

Where are your girls at? Or I guess it's not night. I guess so.

J. Skeets (3:58)

Next to him, it's my top shot, hot boy, Trey Kirby.

Trey Kirby (4:01)

I'd prefer to be called Lisa today.

J. Skeets (4:04)

Hold on. Next to Tas, it's my top shot, hot girl, Lisa Ayo. Hey. Oh, thank you. And last but not least, over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer. And I mean that in more ways than one.

Trey Kirby (4:18)

Jd.

Tas Melas (4:19)

Hello.

J. Skeets (4:19)

You get. You got to get producer credits on this new blackpink.

JD (Super Producer) (4:22)

I feel like I should.

J. Skeets (4:24)

Yeah, you have to. The horns that you laid down for the intro of this song, it's incredible. Hit the link here in the Stream team. It's pinned blackpink. New song just dropped me and my. I believe it's called and it has the no Dunks intro horns. That goes into a banger of a song, if I'm being honest.

Trey Kirby (4:45)

Thanks for using the horns.

J. Skeets (4:47)

Yeah. Next time, you know, work in, like a good morning, sweet world or something. Even an AO would be nice, but it's okay. Next song that we collab on. All right, thanks everybody. Joining us here on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners. Five star ratings and reviews. On today's drop pod, Tas is going to hit us with a best of the week. We got Whoa, boy. We got a big pick em game. It comes down to one night for these two gentlemen.

Tas Melas (5:12)

There we go. Fist bump.

J. Skeets (5:14)

And we got some rapid fire fun.

Tas Melas (5:15)

But first we'll also get to Lisa's forehead, but that's a lot later.

J. Skeets (5:20)

We are into the stretch run now, boys, so it feels like a solid time to rank the NBA's contenders and maybe decide who's a pretender out of the contenders. So for this exercise, we're going to consider any team in the top six in either conference right now a potential contender. And because this idea was entirely inspired by the Bounce newsletter, we're going to use Zach Harper's very own DDT scoring system. DDT standing for don't doubt them, which will be on a scale of 1 to 5. Siren emojis. That's what Zach Harper came up with. We loved it. So one siren for said team. That basically means they're a pretender in your eyes. Like you don't really believe they're going to make any real noise in the playoffs. Five sirens, that's a legit, bona fide title contender. Makes sense, right? All right. I did switch up Zach's rankings a little bit. I thought he had some teams maybe a little higher than I had or a little lower. So for the most part, they're pretty similar. And we'll start with his 12th ranked team. It's the Lakers. Yeah, 34 and 24. And I'll give you a little flavor from Zach for all these. He says, I don't see it with the Lakers in any scenario. And he goes on to say Luka and LeBron, when they're on the floor together, team's not very good. Throw Reeves in there. They're not very good together. They ranked 24th on defense. They lose another one last night. Tas, the Lakers, 12th ranked contender. How many sirens do you apply?

Tas Melas (6:54)

Well, just one siren, that's for sure. Okay, would I think that siren is a little bit louder than the Raptor cider? Probably, yeah. You know that that problem here is their offense is supposed to beat teams. And right now because of. Especially because of games missed, because with Austin Reeves, LeBron, and then a few with Luca, they really haven't had that chemistry to Be able to say, okay, we've got this thing working, we're going to blow teams out. So they're not there at this point. If you want to be optimistic, maybe they can get it together the last 20 games of the season. It's hard to find that possibility though. And maybe because LeBron is, hasn't played a lot of games, he's saving it for later in the season. And maybe because there's, there's just too many maybes. I mean, really, that's what it comes down to. And, and the defense is supposed to be that type of team that literally Luka called out, you know, since this 03 run here where they lost to the Celtics at first he said, we gotta be more like the Celtics. After, in his postgame press conference, he just kind of slipped that under it. The radar. They haven't been that type of team. Even with Deandre Ayton played most of the games. Oldie Marcus, smart placement, playing most of the games this season, they haven't gotten to that level either. So they just got to outscore teams and hope there's, there's some prayers answered in the playoffs. It's just, it's hard to believe. Is it possible they could win a playoff series? I mean, yeah, it's, it's highly unlikely, but I think when you compare them to the Raptors, there's more of a chance that they win a playoff series.

J. Skeets (8:24)

It's interesting. I mean, I have zero faith in the Raptors either, but they at least play defense. Yeah, they do do that, but their issue is obviously on the offense, then, hey, if you could take the Lakers and Raptors and put them together, you might have something there. But how many siren emojis are you applying to the Lakers, who I do have ranked dead last like Harper at 12th.

Trey Kirby (8:43)

Half sirens allowed or not allowed? Sure, you can do it as a half siren is there. I'll go two sirens.

Tas Melas (8:49)

Okay.

Trey Kirby (8:50)

Okay. I think they could win a first round series. Right now they're in the sixth seed. They're only a game up on Phoenix right now after last night's loss. Could drop into the play in quite realistically, but if they stay at six, if the Rockets, as they currently are, stay at three, like the Rockets are not a super scary team. We'll get into their siren count in a little bit here, but they have clutch problems. The Lakers are generally a clutch team though. We just saw them lose back to back clutch games. One not getting a shot off and 1 Reeves barely missing both good plays though. I would say by JJ Redick to get wide open shots. I just don't think they have a playoff level defense. Like they're going to run out deandre Ayton. Don't call me Clint Capella. They're going to have Luka out there, they're going to have reeves out there. LeBron's out there. You saw on the shot that the Suns hit to take the lead there last night, like LeBron was falling over, Luka got beat off the dribble. They were just running around like crazy. Turned into a wide open three from the wing. I just don't think that they can really elevate their defensive side of the ball to compete. But if they get the right matchup, I do think they could win. And they're definitely a lot of series that you can look at with the Lakers and say they're going to have the best player on the court in Luca. And I mean, that guy's hit a million clutch shots in his playoff career. LeBron has a Hall of Fame career, no doubt about that. And when they play Reeves and Luka, they're good together. It's the LeBron factor is kind of confusing. The fact that when he plays with Luca and Reeves or just with Luca, the Lakers look pretty bad.

J. Skeets (10:22)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (10:23)

So second straight year that the Lakers are losing the minutes that LeBron is on the court. But I do think they have a higher ceiling than a team like the Raptors. But the Raptors probably have a better floor.

J. Skeets (10:34)

Yeah, yeah. I mean, one is in the west, one in the east, so there's that too. Yeah. The quote they're trying to make me Clint Capella. I'm not no Clint Capella. Rough timing for Deandre Ayton's quote from the McMetamine Art article that dropped because he followed that up with two points and four boards in 23 minutes in a loss to his former Suns team last night. And The Lakers were -24 in those minutes. And yeah, to peel back the curtain, I did have the wraps as the 12th ranked team to begin with, but the Lakers played last night, so I wanted to start with that. And they lose a close one in a game where the Suns hit 22 from deep. This game started with a Royce O' Neill three and it ended with a Royce O' Nehill three for the Suns. They just got blitzed by three. I guess they were scored by 33 points last night against Suns.

Tas Melas (11:19)

Yeah, you just. As far as this Lakers team goes, we know they just have to outscore another team. Their defense just ain't going to be all that good, isn't. They're not going to turn it on all of a sudden in the postseason. This is a bottom 10 defensive team. So the question is, can old guy LeBron do it? You look at LeBron, you say, okay, yeah, he's LeBron. So he can chip in, Luca can be him. And Austin Reeves has to get back to that guy who he was in his first postseason when he was aw awesome. It was I'm him against the Memphis Grizzlies that Austin Reeves, which was only a couple years ago, he's had a couple bad ones in between. But you look at them and you say, okay, those three guys can put it together and win a playoff series. Contender no. 1 Siren. If we're sirening, sirening it like our man Zach Harper, it's at the bottom.

J. Skeets (12:04)

Yeah. One comment I saw from a Lakers fan on one of their forums was, quote, outside of the first few games of the season, when the chemistry and morale was great, this team is so joyless. I don't even get feelings anymore when they lose. Not since the Byron Scott days have I felt so detached from a team. And there was a lot of people like, you know, agreeing with that sort of take and just like, yeah, this joylessness right now, especially around this squad after a decent start and yeah, the injury bug hit, but still, there's a lot of talent that it shouldn't be, it shouldn't be this depressing.

Trey Kirby (12:36)

No, they've got a pretty poorly built team for having Luka Doncic as the star.

Tas Melas (12:42)

Yeah, yeah. And again he called out his team when he said, we got to play like Boston. Now at this point of the season, you're in the team that you played against the finals, like, they play really physical. We got to play like them. So he's literally asking for guys beside him to be physical, to be hard minded on the defensive end and he said end on the offensive end, whatever that means. But yeah, he's, he's really calling for guys like Ruya Chamura and deandre Ayton. I mean, primarily, like the Luke Canard experiment is working out. Offensively, he does look like he could be a the third playmaker coming off the bench. Like, like, you know, the, the play develops on one end and he can put it on the floor for one dribble and shoot, but it is the defensive thing that's a problem. So can all those star guys win you a series offensively? You know, it could happen.

J. Skeets (13:36)

We sort of tipped our hand here with the 11th ranked team that's the Toronto Raptors, 34 and 25. So pretty similar record there to the Lakers. Harper wrote. This team has a really good defense, one that could become truly elite in the coming years. But Toronto's offense is stuck. TK you gave two sirens to the Lakers, how many to the wraps?

Trey Kirby (13:56)

One simple siren. They can't beat the good teams. 11 and 18 against teams that are.500. They're 0 and 3 against Boston. Lost their only game against the Pistons and 03 against New York. Though if they get Cleveland, Cleveland's gotta be shaken in their cavalier boots a little bit. 3 and oh against the Cavs. But to me, the Raptors just aren't good enough to really make noise as a title contender. I think they could maybe win a first round series if they get the perfect matchup. I don't think that's very likely. I'm just not really a believer in this offensive team. And like their best center is either Purdle, who good luck if he makes it through another two months of the season, or Colin Murray Boyles, who is 2 inches taller than me.

Tas Melas (14:41)

Yeah, the only team that they line up with really because they're like, looks like they're going to finish fifth or lower. Yeah, it would be the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Knicks that they line up with. And you know, they did beat him three times. There were injuries on the Cleveland side, that is for sure. That being said, I don't think I would pick them against any team. No, against the Cavs, I don't think there's a chance. The problem is fourth quarters because Scotty and Brandon Ingram aren't really playmakers for everybody when it goes through them. They can do things and obviously Scotty can pass the ball, but they really need more of a guy who can get in the paint and create from there. And I think that's what they're lacking with Emanuel. Quickly, he needs to touch paint way more often. He just literally. It's not, it's not his game. He just literally stops before the paint or if he gets into that paint, it's a floater. He is. The percentages are going up or he's being pushed to get more in the paint like his backup Jamal Shed is. But you know, playing Jamal Shed just lacks them completely offensively if his three ball ain't there. But he makes more sense playing with Brandon Ingram and Scotty Barnes and RJ Barrett, who is a cutter but really can't make play. So that's where the problem is. It does lie in the the way that this thing is all made up. This, this roster just ain't ain't made for Emmanuel Quickley at the playing primarily what he does at the lead point guard six man, he'd kick ass.

J. Skeets (16:13)

All that said though, have the Raptors had a successful season too?

Tas Melas (16:16)

Yeah, of course.

J. Skeets (16:17)

Yeah, sort of agree too. I mean, Even though I 100% agree and I said this on yesterday's show, I have zero faith that they win a first round series no matter who they're playing. I'll be happy with two wins in any potential first round playoff series. But there was a lot of people that thought this was going to be an absolute another abysmal season and these pieces didn't work at all. So at least they added a little defense there and some somewhat of an identity and Scotty turning into an all star again. All that there were good things. Brandon Ingram flirting with an all star consideration quickly looking like garbage for a while, then finding his groove. There's something there, but yeah, not, not advancing, I don't think past the first round. The Philadelphia 76ers ranked 10th, 33 and 26. Harper I love how this team has responded to last season and I love the Maxi Edgecomb backcourt, but we're not doing the if Joel Embiid and Paul George are healthy thing again. They got another win last night though. How many sirens on the Sixers?

Tas Melas (17:13)

Two sirens.

Trey Kirby (17:14)

Okay.

Tas Melas (17:15)

Considering Joel Embiid is back playing, I I know what Zach Harper said is primarily the the positive part about this team. We don't have to say is Joel MB gonna play, Paul George gonna play. Paltridge ain't even playing. The man is suspended. Nobody cares because of Tyrese Maxey and Vijay Edgecombe. So we're watching a team that just loves playing together as well because Vijay Edgecombe is a friggin rookie. It doesn't feel like a rookie. It feels like he's been there for six, seven years and he's out there defending his guy, Joel Embiid. After this game that they won on Embiid's late three, he said media make it seem like you don't want to play basketball. Like, come on, he's out there in pain. He made a big shot at the end of the game. He barely could raise his right hand up. It's Joel Embiid, bro. That's what we talking about right now. And so this guy's already a leader in the locker room as a rook to be alongside Tyrese Maxey. So yeah, their ceiling has grown, especially with a guy in Joel and B that we questioned Amir three days ago or whatever it was where he wasn't playing. Now he's, he's back, baby. He's at least playing. And so it feels like for the first time he's really setting himself up to play in the playoffs. I, I should I say that, But I don't. Who knows if he's going to play in the playoffs. But because he sat out so much at the beginning of the season, it feels like he's ready to be the, the third piece of a team, which is really weird to say. Yeah, I mean, he is. He, he is important. Yeah, he's. He's more important than VJ Edge come. But you know, anyway, all you're getting

J. Skeets (18:40)

at is like, there's very little expectations this year on a Joel embed Joel Embiid Sixers team. So that's maybe works in their favor. There is no like, oh, you guys better go to the conference finals or finals. This is a complete bust. There's not that at all. So maybe that works. But it's obviously Maxey's team. He broke Allen Iverson's 76ers franchise record for three pointers made last night. Caught me by surprise. He hit five threes. He had 28 points when they beat the Heat. He came in with 882 three pointers made. So a couple behind Iverson. He broke it in the first quarter, hit five threes in the first quarter at 20 points in the first. Q.

Trey Kirby (19:14)

How many more seasons did Iverson play? Double the season, at least for Philadelphia

J. Skeets (19:19)

again, Obviously Iverson wasn't taking a ton of threes like today's guys are, but I was like, whoa, already. Yeah, Maxi there. But how many sirens on them?

Trey Kirby (19:26)

Oh, one siren. Yeah, one siren. But I want to give him one and a half. Okay, Paul George will be back.

J. Skeets (19:32)

He's going to be rested.

Trey Kirby (19:33)

Exactly. He'll probably play some of his best basketball if he's able to get back on the court at the end of the season here. Getting a little bit of a rhythm and go into the playoffs. They are 18 and 15 in the clutch. They played the most clutch minutes they this season. I've seen Maxi hit a lot of big clutch shots. I've seen him make a lot of weird decisions trying to do too much down the stretch. But it's just impossible to rely on this team. I mean, Embiid can have a great three games in the playoffs and then get popped in the face, get a scar on his forehead like me. So they're just an unreliable team, but I think this has been an awesome season for them. They tanked last year with Embiid and Paul George being out at the end of the season. They lost as much as they possibly could so that they could keep their draft pick. They got VJ Edgecombe. He looks great. It'll be great for him to go through the playoffs in his rookie year. It'll be great for Maxi to have another shot at things as the number one guy. We saw him hit huge shots against the Knicks back in the day. He was like. It was like eight points in 30 seconds or something like that to win them a game at Madison Square Garden. So he's got a little bit of playoff bona fides. I think this is already a good season for the Sixers. And, you know, if Embiid is in top form, if Paul George is looking good, if you got Maxi, they got edge, Gum. They got them all out there. I would at least give them a couple of wins in a playoff series.

Tas Melas (20:52)

Oh, not even a playoff series.

Trey Kirby (20:54)

Doubtful.

Tas Melas (20:55)

It's doubtful. But if they're all at their peak, feels like they can knock off a team and it would be difficult. They're lined up probably with the. The Knicks. Depending on what happens here, it could be the Cavs. I don't think it would be all that surprising if they knock off a team in the first round. It feels like, hard to say they're going to win multiple rounds, but.

J. Skeets (21:16)

But, you know, Harden versus his old Sixers team. There we go. That's what you want. A Cav Sixers. Be fun. A lot of storylines on that Sixers team. That's true.

Tas Melas (21:27)

Yeah. Like Joe, like Joan Beads playing match him up against Jared Allen or match him up against Mitchell Robinson. I mean, the guy can hang right now.

Trey Kirby (21:37)

He's great at coming back from absences. He's perfected it throughout his career. Comes back, it's like 25 points easily.

Tas Melas (21:43)

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J. Skeets (25:46)

all right, let's go to the Rockets. They are our 9th ranked contender here, 37 and 21 after another win last night. Big win for me in the pickup game because I'm clear I will not be losing February. But Harper wrote, I love the talent and I think the roster makeup could and should work. However, the Rockets have no idea what they're doing at the end of tight games. Durant was supposed to solve that. Now he has at times solved that, but, you know, not consistently. Maybe he did have a great game last night. 40 points for this guy. He became the sixth player in NBA history to reach 32,000 career points. But the Rockets were down huge. TK they came back. They went on like what, a 20 to 1, 210 run there? How many sirens though, on the Rockets? When we zoom out and we look at them as contenders, this is like

Trey Kirby (26:33)

a one and a half, maybe two sirens.

J. Skeets (26:35)

Okay, so ballpark with the Sixers.

Trey Kirby (26:36)

Yeah, they're the Jonathan Frakes meme. No, not this time. Not going to happen. Pure fiction. Not this time. No way. Not a chance. Never happened. Not a chance. Nope. Not this time. It's just not the year for the Rockets. Fred Van Vliet got hurt right at the beginning of the season. I think it's wishful thinking that he comes back and contributes at all for Houston this year. And they need a guy like him. Cause you saw last night Reed shepherd hit a couple of massive threes in the last two minutes. One with like maybe 1:30 left and then the dagger that really put him over the edge to pull off the win. I think it's good to see you Doka trusting him in these big minutes. Now maybe part of that is because Jabari Smith went down with an ankle injury. Doesn't look like it'll be too serious, but I think at least getting a couple of reps there is important because they need his outside shooting and he's just a natural ball mover as a point guard. He pushes the pace. So I think getting him in a playoff series, seeing what he can do is good, but I just don't think they have enough offense and enough creativity in fourth quarters when it's really going to matter.

Tas Melas (27:38)

Yeah, it comes down to those last few minutes. Doesn't seem like Ima Udoka trusts Reed. Shepherd threw him out in this one, but he really wants his guy Fred Van Vliet to come back. That's his, that's his spirit on the floor for Eme dok. So it's difficult to see him trusting Reed shepherd, although he was huge in this particular game. Now I don't know if this particular game says more about the Orlando Magic falling apart and just leaving their in their ability to play half court offense off the floor or a little bit more about Reed Shepherd. Reed shepherd was the difference in this game. They just need a playmaker at the end of the games. I said when Fred Van Vliet went out that they have no chance and it feels the exact same way right now unless there's a miracle with Reed who they, they have trouble playing on the defensive end too. So I think that's what it comes down to. It comes down to Fred, Ken, Fred, come back. It's getting late.

J. Skeets (28:30)

Yeah, it's.

Tas Melas (28:31)

This is late.

J. Skeets (28:32)

But it is a conundrum for Udoka because he doesn't want to play Reed because of the defensive liabilities. And that's sort of like where Udoka like hangs his hat. Right? He wants that defensive identity. But like you have to play Reed, especially when there's no Van Vliet because there's no other player on Houston that can give any sort of gravity on the court and shoot the ball besides Kevin Durant. Like it. That's. He has to go with Reed. It's definitely not Amen Thompson. Like you saw the comeback. They're down huge in the third quarter and Udoka maybe begrudgingly or not. Reed shepherd comes in for Amen Thompson. Clint Capella comes in for Elpern Shengun, leaves Tari Eason out there and then he finally goes with Joshua Koji who is so much better than Dorian Finney Smith. It's crazy. And he sort of made that decision. And that's when they ripped off the 21 to 0 run and it looked like actual decent offense there for a second. It was Durant Reed, like I Said and Josh, they were scoring all those points. A lot of them were assisted and moved. Moving the ball started by Reed shepherd, so. But again, he doesn't want to play him a whole lot because you can go at him, but you sort of have to is my point. He's in a groove right now. Reed Shepherd, 5 and 9 from 3 versus the Jazz, 7 of 16 from deep versus the Kings. These are crap teams. I get it. But then five is seven versus Orlando. So he needs to play just for offensive reasons to give him some more spacing for a guy like Sengun who only basically gets the ball at the three point line and like drives slash backs his way in. They never give him the ball in the. Like, they rarely get him the ball in the paint. It's like he gets it and then he's got to get to the paint. So I get what you're saying though, in the Rockets, like one to two sirens, wherever. Yeah, this feels right. Even though I had a bold prediction at the end of the calendar year, I guess it was that they would win the title or be in the finals. I guess I said not looking great with that one. But it was bold for a reason.

Tas Melas (30:19)

Yeah, that was a decent ending to that game. Even the. The pick and roll with Durant and Shingoon was nice where, you know, Durant denied the pick and went the other way and set up Shangun. Cool. But it can't happen enough. They do, they do and should ask Reed to do more. But Reed hasn't been in a playoff series, you know.

J. Skeets (30:39)

Yeah. Yeah.

Tas Melas (30:40)

And now we're asking a guy to be a lot in a Western Conference playoffs. That's tough.

J. Skeets (30:45)

Our eighth ranked team is the Cavaliers, 37 and 23. Harper. They've been really good since acquiring James Harden, but I have concerns about their perimeter defense in a playoff setting. This team needs to prove it has the postseason makeup. That's fair. I mean, we've said that with a Donovan Mitchell team, Harden team before. You know, we'll believe it when we see it type of thing. TK but how many sirens?

Trey Kirby (31:07)

I would say there are three siren team to win the title, four to win the East.

J. Skeets (31:12)

Okay. Okay. It's quite some confidence, I would say.

Tas Melas (31:15)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (31:15)

I mean, James Harden brought in to help get over the hump. What's the worst that could happen? You know, I think they can be Boston for sure. Which would put them into the conference finals. You got a chance. I think they have less of a chance against a team like the Knicks or the Pistons who could perhaps out physical them like they must. Jared Allen must be seeing Mitchell Robinson in his sleep. Right? Like the guy's eaten his lunch several times. So that's the biggest question for me is playoff physicality. They did lose to the Knicks twice and then they beat them with Harden.

Tas Melas (31:44)

So I don't know.

Trey Kirby (31:45)

I think they got a little bit of a chance. They are the fan dual favorites in the Eastern Conference now. I was a little surprised to see that +270 right ahead of Detroit. But they've got a great flow on the offensive end with Harden and Mitchell creating for themselves, creating for each other. We'll see how they are able to formulate their team with both Mobley and Allen out there, but they've got a great chance to stagger each other. I just need to see Jared Allen have a good playoffs because he's kind of shrunk away from the moment quite a few times at this point in his career. So I think I've got probably too much faith in the Cavs. This is. This is my all time time to buy into James Harden when it's. The weather is just. Just starting to turn warm. You know, he's heating up himself. And then when it's really hot outside, it's. It's not good. Not good for James. But I like him right now.

J. Skeets (32:34)

Do you think the Cavs could get sneaky with Jared Allen? Maybe in the locker room. Just put up the old calendars and keep it on February. It's a great idea, right? Why not give it a go?

Trey Kirby (32:43)

Hey, it's February 65th.

J. Skeets (32:44)

Jared keep saying something about like Punxutini, Phil Shadow. He keeps thinking it's February.

Trey Kirby (32:49)

Six more weeks of February.

J. Skeets (32:50)

Ball and in February. But okay, three or. Yeah, three to four sirens. Really? From tk. Where are you going?

Trey Kirby (32:57)

That's. That's the thing. It's like the Eastern Conference is easier.

Tas Melas (33:00)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (33:01)

It just is. So you got to kind of elevate these teams. Like I would have them ahead of the Timberwolves in my personal rankings because I think it's easier for the Cavs the Finals than the Wolves.

J. Skeets (33:10)

Sure, sure. And maybe Zach Harper had him higher because he's a Wolves fan too. He was a little lower on the Cavs, I think, than some people, especially tk but what about you?

Tas Melas (33:18)

It is surprising to see that they are the leader in the house when it comes to fanduel. Yeah. As far as Eastern Conference teams, I know we're getting into the point of the discussion where you can throw as many sirens as you want for The Cavs, Nicks, Celtics or Pistons, because you could see one of those teams doing it.

J. Skeets (33:34)

Sure.

Tas Melas (33:35)

So, yeah, I mean, I, I'm still, I, I don't like the idea that Harden's going to be out for multiple weeks here because it's going to be multiple weeks and they say he's going

Trey Kirby (33:46)

to play through it, right?

Tas Melas (33:47)

Yeah, he's gonna play through it. No surgery, just gonna look at that thumb for. It's approximately 17 days and not play. But yeah, after that he'll be able to play. But I'll throw three sirens on this team. It is easy to buy into what they've thrown together as the starters and then the bench because Harden, Mitchell with Wade sort of the swing man between those guys and Mobley and Allen and then Jalen Tyson, Dennis Schroeder, Keon Ellis off the bench. If you need some defense, there's an acorn Tomlin to throw at somebody. I, I, it feels like you can, you can believe that chemistry is really working as accent. Since they've made the move, they have looked in sync. Now they come out and win at the end of games and put it together in the fourth quarter at the end of the last few minutes. But you could see Donovan Mitchell doing that as long as the other guys helped get him there, which is what they couldn't do last year. Jared Allen couldn't do that last year. Darius Garland couldn't do that last year. Can Harden do that this year? Huge question.

J. Skeets (34:49)

One thing I'll say about the Cavs is earlier in the season when they were struggling, we kept saying, especially you and me, tk, like they need a dog on this team. Like they need a bit of a prick. You know, they got one intruder. Yeah. Kean Ellis. I don't think he's like, you know, it's not, you know, a dog, like in that sense, like a dick, but he brings intensity at least. So they did add that a little bit here.

Tas Melas (35:10)

I think they get it from Jalen

J. Skeets (35:11)

Tyson got rid of DeAndre. Oh, yeah, sure.

Tas Melas (35:14)

I mean, he before, even before that,

J. Skeets (35:16)

you know who you were getting it from? DeAndre Hunter.

Tas Melas (35:19)

Yeah. all.

Trey Kirby (35:20)

Darius Garland.

J. Skeets (35:22)

Yeah. Because he doesn't even play. And yeah, not nearly his MO either. So I'm saying this is a positive, like at least these guys, even in bench roles, I think that helps them with your star guys in Mitchell and Mobley and Harden here as your three main guys. And it'd be nice if Jared Allen can perform in the playoffs.

Trey Kirby (35:37)

How about this next book club book for Jared Allen? Stephen King's Cujo, a psycho dog that just destroys everything.

J. Skeets (35:45)

This is a great recommendation.

Trey Kirby (35:47)

Why is he reading Misery about a guy getting his foot cut off?

J. Skeets (35:49)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (35:50)

True. We know he doesn't wash his feet.

J. Skeets (35:52)

Oh, yeah.

Trey Kirby (35:52)

Wow.

J. Skeets (35:53)

Good poll.

Trey Kirby (35:54)

I think about Jared Allen every time I take a shower. Unbelievable. He doesn't wash his feet. So I think he should read Cujo, change his mindset. Go into the playoffs angry.

Tas Melas (36:03)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (36:03)

Okay. And he said he didn't wash his feet. Basically. It was like too far down there. Right? Yeah.

Trey Kirby (36:07)

He doesn't want to hurt his back washing his feet. Of course.

Tas Melas (36:11)

So they get rinsed in the shower.

J. Skeets (36:13)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (36:13)

Yeah. Right. Not washed.

Tas Melas (36:15)

That's very funny.

J. Skeets (36:16)

Timberwolves, the seventh ranked team on our list here. 37 and 23 after a victory last night. Harper. They've had two straight deep playoff runs and surprised a lot of people. Anthony Edwards is getting even better. But they'll need to stop making mistakes with turnovers at the end of tight games. And you know how you do stop making mistakes with turnovers at the end of games. Don't pass it.

Trey Kirby (36:37)

Don't pass it.

J. Skeets (36:38)

That was amazing. That step back three over two Clipper defenders to give them the four point lead with like 43 seconds ago. And he's just screaming at Finchy, I ain't passing shit, man. He talks about it after. He's like, we got a great relationship. He's always told me to pass the ball. He's usually right, but like not on that one. So he has 31. They beat the Clippers. No Kawhi. So it's obviously a shorthanded Clippers team. A bit of a. Bit of a rock fight that game though. 94.88. Do you see the second quarter was 15 to 11. Second quarter, always the worst quarter of an NBA game. But that one especially. But they improved to 5 and 1 tasks since mid February. 31 since the all Star break. How many sirens on the Wolves?

Tas Melas (37:17)

This is when they do their thing, they start to pick it up. It's almost playoff time. We're six weeks away. That's when the Wolves ended their season on a 174 run last year. Feels like they could do that same thing. Give me three sirens. I start to believe in this team because of Anthony Edwards. And it feels like he is in that routine of his where he comes prepared and will everybody else follow suit behind him? Huge question. Will Jaden McDaniels be a playoff performer? Extremely consistent. Huge question. But I do like the. The setup. I would assume is still learning how to play a team that's not really five guys out like the Bulls were. And so that's. That's still a hiccup. But he can bail out Anthony Edwards when he's cornered like he was against the Los Angeles Clippers. He can do that. And so I think the chemistry is there. Yeah, I'm just buying in. I'm buying into Ant as a leader.

Trey Kirby (38:14)

I think they just signed Kyle Anderson as well.

J. Skeets (38:16)

Right. Yeah.

Trey Kirby (38:17)

I wonder if that's good for the chemistry. Didn't he fight Rudy Gobert once on the bench?

Tas Melas (38:21)

He fought. He fought Rudy Gobert happened for sure. Yeah.

Trey Kirby (38:25)

And then Jaden McDaniels punched a wall

J. Skeets (38:26)

and broke his hand.

Tas Melas (38:27)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he would fight. Yeah, he would fight within the roster. Like he would be that dog for this team. You know, you look at Kylie, you don't think. You don't think of him as a dog, but he would call for the right play. So, yeah, he's agreed to a buyout

J. Skeets (38:42)

with the Grizzlies, and he does plan to sign with the Wolves once he cleared waivers there and he played two seasons. Like you're saying with Mini, I'm like,

Trey Kirby (38:50)

I'm two and a half sirens, but you can bump me up a little bit. If they prove some things here. They play Denver at okc, at Boston, Houston, Denver again, and at Detroit in basically the next month. And those to me are like, prove it games. Show up and beat some good teams. Right now they're 12 and 14 against 500 teams. This year, they have won five of their last six. Their best wins are against like, like the Clippers and the Trailblazers. So decent competition, but some cupcakes as well. But like Tessa's saying, they strung together a nice stretch heading into the playoffs last year, rode that momentum and good matchups to the Western Conference finals. And I could see it happening again. They are ninth on offense, they're eighth in defense. Those are pretty good hallmarks for playoff success, but I need to see them play well against these good teams they got coming up. And I need to see how Anthony Edwards handles when a team is game planning to take the ball out of his hands because it's been too easy for teams to do that in the past. Put two on the ball and say, we're fine with Julius Randle trying to beat us. We're fine with Jaden McDaniels trying to beat us. Ant needs to figure out a way to be an effective playmaker and an effective scorer because it feels like he can do one or the other when it comes to the biggest moments.

J. Skeets (40:01)

Boston Celtics 38 and 20. Some of this is up in the air because of Jason Tatum's potential comeback, but they have so much outside shooting and a really good offensive system to combat east defenses. Harper had them, I believe, at four sirens. Tasks, same lower, higher.

Tas Melas (40:19)

Definitely not lower. It all depends on Tatum, whether you're not. Whether or not you want to add a siren. Because. Because if they, if Tatum is there, I would go five sirens because I not only just understand what Tatum can provide to that team and his playmaking before his scoring, but I also assume that he's going to be extremely healthy now, again, not a doctor, but I just assume he's going to be extremely great out there. Looking at this team and what Joe Missoula has set up these this last month for Peyton Pritchard. You're on the bench, played most of the season as a starter. Now you're on the bench because we're getting ready for Tat Vuch. Don't even sniff the starting lineup. You're on the bench, my man. We've got a great center in Keda. Tatum's coming back. We got our lineup. It just feels right that he's coming back. And they're, they're super duper close. So it's super high. 4. Tatum, you come back. Fiverr for me.

Trey Kirby (41:16)

You're saying a full siren. Tatum's a full siren player.

Tas Melas (41:19)

He is a full siren player.

Trey Kirby (41:20)

Sirens over a replacement player. Sorp. Eat your heart out, Zach Low. We got a new stat. 18 and 13, the Celtics are against 500 teams. They're second in offense, seventh and 10 defense. That's a pretty good start. They've kind of struggled in the clutch, but overall are a good fourth quarter team. Tatum raises the ceiling, makes the team a lot more flexible, a lot more versatile. It's like they can play K as their big man, they can play vouch as their big man. Two totally different styles. They can play a five out style. When Tatum comes back with him as like a small ball five and just, you know, play five out a little bit, I got confidence in this team as well. I would probably say they're like a three and a half siren team. So I'll go four with Tas here.

J. Skeets (41:59)

Okay. There's been a lot of talk recently about this whole 40, 20 mark. Right? The Phil Jackson rule. Get to 40 wins before 20 losses. So if you looked at just these this season, it's the Thunder, the Spurs and the Pistons. I bring that up. The Celtics would be a team that just came short of that mark. But only four teams have won the title since 1980 without reaching that, you know, mystical 4020 mark. The 95 Rockets, the 04 Pistons, the 06 Heat, and the 21 Bucks. What's interesting about those four teams is like they represent like an outlier for a lot of them when you go through them. The 95 rockets were the defending champs, and then they added Clyde Drexler in a mid season trade. The 04 Pistons, they were a good team, but they added Rasheed Wallace at the trade deadline. The 06 heat, a little different. They had like a hot streak from an emerging superstar in D. Wade at the exact moment the Lakers were sort of falling apart because they had just traded Shaquille O' Neal to the Miami Heat. And then finally, the 21 Bucks. Weird times. It's the second year of the COVID summer, so it was just sort of an odd one. Paul Flannery made note, though. The Celtics could be the fifth team that would make sense as an outlier if you added Jason Tatum. So they didn't hit the 4020 mark. They're close. They're right there anyway. But you know, you add him here in the mix and like you said, it's a full siren, especially in an Eastern Conference that looks open. So it changes people's expectations. That was a great point from Flannery there that maybe, maybe, maybe they could be fifth team here since 1980 to do it, to win it all without hitting the 40 20.

Tas Melas (43:34)

No love for PJ Tucker added to the Milwaukee Bucks.

J. Skeets (43:37)

Sure, man.

Tas Melas (43:38)

Pretty important.

J. Skeets (43:39)

Yes, absolutely. Played a part.

Trey Kirby (43:42)

How many sirens you think he was worth? He's like a quarter siren.

J. Skeets (43:44)

Yeah, maybe at that time.

Tas Melas (43:45)

Yeah, well, he was the dog that they needed. The dog.

J. Skeets (43:49)

Knicks 37 and 22. Trey, you start us off here. How many sirens?

Trey Kirby (43:54)

I'm only like a three sirens on the Knicks. I'm a little down on them. They're six and three and three point games. They've been really good in the clutch. They're okay against 500 teams. But let me ask you something. Do you trust Carl Anthony Towns?

J. Skeets (44:08)

Do you trust.

Trey Kirby (44:09)

Do you trust them? I don't. Sorry. I mean, like, I've seen Towns have great playoff series and as soon as he has a great playoff series, he has a dud. And the first one isn't remembered. Like he defended Kevin Durant. Awesome. In a first round series. Timberwolves versus the Suns. And then he got lit up in the next round. It's like, this guy sucks. Just throw it away right away. I just don't think that with Brunson and with Towns, you're going to be able to have a good enough defense to win the title. They can still make a conference finals. I think depending on who they play, they could still go to the finals, but at the ultimate level against one of the best teams from the Western Conference, whoever it may be. Not for me, Doug.

J. Skeets (44:49)

Not for me, Cat.

Trey Kirby (44:50)

Not for me, Cat.

Tas Melas (44:52)

Yeah. To go all the way, it's, it's, it's hard to put faith in this team as they're, they're just kind of fluttering around now.

J. Skeets (45:01)

Well, it's funny you say that because Harper wrote, the Knicks do seem to be dying to just be in the playoffs already a little bit. That sort of speaks what you're saying. They're sort of just like spinning their wheels right now and it's like, will they like, once the playoffs start, is it back to the Knicks that we sort of were starting to fall in love with, or is it just the same of this? Listen, they don't have an extra.

Tas Melas (45:17)

I'm buying into Jalen Brunson being their leader. He still believes and his words say it. His body language says it. The Carl Anthony Towns thing. Yeah, it can be an issue. I know. That's why my weird perspective at the beginning of the season was put him at the four, let Gershon Yabuzeli play the five just to take some pressure off him the way Rudy Gobert did with Minnesota Timberwolves. Gershon Rudy, different. Both French, but very different. But at the same time, I think Mike Brown knows that we know that he, that Carl is better not being the five at all times. And that's why when Mitchell Robinson plays, it's ideal. But you can't start Mitchell Robinson just because of worries about how many minutes he's going to play. And also, yeah, they want, they want to be able to move the ball. And so, yeah, I understand Carl Anthony Towns is an ideal in pick and roll situations. That being said, there are good series. He did a great job against Nikola Jokic a couple years ago when he was had to guard him. And they went to the conference finals in that first time in the, the only time that he went to the conference finals with the Minnesota Timberwolves. But there's just pressure now. You're the five. There's a lot of pressure, man. And so I, I, I still have belief that they can get to the finals, win three rounds, do it again. It's all about the Finals, getting to the Finals. Then things go fall apart for every Eastern Conference playoff team, probably.

J. Skeets (46:45)

I mean, they still have an elite offense here. They're top three in the league, and they're, I think, around top 10 defensively, you know, net rating. They're good. Like, this is a good team, but it's. It is a weird, like, part of the season here. I know they had a stretch there where they were winning some games, but before that they were like, in the malaise and it's like a little up and down. But is this just, like a habit of a team that's been here a couple times now? And it is a bit like, as an older team, too, like, okay, let's just get there. Everybody try and be as healthy as possible. And then we like our chances against anybody in the Eastern Conference.

Tas Melas (47:14)

And they don't like these breaks in the season. They don't like after post NBA cup, post All Star. That's their time to stink. And part of it. They win the NBA cup and there's. Yeah, we're great. Let's hang the banner. And they go two and nine after that.

J. Skeets (47:26)

They wouldn't hang the banner.

Tas Melas (47:27)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

J. Skeets (47:27)

It was their problem.

Trey Kirby (47:28)

No banner. Hang a banner for that or the Shooting Stars. Compared to competition, Silver's building in the NBA.

J. Skeets (47:35)

You're wrong, man.

Tas Melas (47:36)

It's routine time. So it'll be a different team routine six weeks. Six weeks from now.

J. Skeets (47:41)

Right. But, yeah, I guess, like, with any team like that, you'd like to see them build some momentum as you get it going for the playoffs here. Get some.

Tas Melas (47:49)

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

J. Skeets (47:49)

Get some quality win.

Trey Kirby (47:50)

That's what I'm saying now.

Tas Melas (47:51)

Without an All Star. Yeah, yeah, it's time. It's time to get into that routine.

J. Skeets (47:55)

Right?

Tas Melas (47:58)

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Trey Kirby (49:02)

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J. Skeets (50:57)

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Trey Kirby (51:44)

I'm going four sirens for the Pistons and I would say a five siren Eastern Conference team. As in I think that they should be the favorites going into the playoffs here. Even considering the fact that they don't have a great three point shooting team. They're 28th and threes made per game. 21st in percentages. And a lot of those come from Cade pulling up on his own. They tried Kevin Herder, one of the weirdest jerseys out there. A Kevin Herder number 27 Detroit Pistons jersey.

Tas Melas (52:14)

Wow.

J. Skeets (52:14)

Sia Coachella.

Trey Kirby (52:16)

Yeah, no doubt.

J. Skeets (52:17)

45.

Trey Kirby (52:18)

I think that would actually be a big hit here at shaky knees as well.

J. Skeets (52:22)

See you in September.

Trey Kirby (52:23)

See you in September. See you at the geese show. Yeah, wearing my Kevin Herder 27 Pistons jersey. People like oh yeah, I remember game seven, Kevin. I do.

J. Skeets (52:31)

Is that Friday night Geese.

Trey Kirby (52:32)

Oh man. Friday night strokes and geese. There will be some long dirty haired boys in that audience and maybe a gray bearded man as well. We shall see. The question for the Pistons is can you win a championship with zero playoff series wins heading into it? Tom Ziller basically says no. The only team that has happened for in the past 15 years is the Lakers bubble team. A they had LeBron B, they got Anthony Davis in the off season prior to see they had a massive layoff to get healthy. D, they played in the bubble where it was the easiest place to play and also the hardest place to play. Mentally hardest. Physically easiest.

Tas Melas (53:16)

But they had so much chemistry these reports that they played video games all night long. Recently they had the chemistry just because they had rooms beside each other, I guess.

Trey Kirby (53:26)

Well, in that case the Pistons need to get PlayStation 5.

J. Skeets (53:30)

Okay.

Trey Kirby (53:31)

And probably play NBA 2K as the Pistons. Each man holding a remote of their own player to figure out a way to generate offense and get three pointers up. Because the other question is who is the second man? Yes, Cade Cunningham. He is the man. Jalen Duran, you're the man for three quarters. It's harder for a post player to contribute in the fourth quarters just because you Got to rely on somebody to get you the ball. That being said, we saw him play really well against Victor Wembanyama.

Tas Melas (53:58)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (53:59)

Just recently, he was maybe their most effective player against the spurs in that game. So maybe he can elevate his game come playoff time. But, you know, I think winning one to two series, one series, I think would be a disappointment at this point for the Pistons with how well they've played, but making it to the conference finals would be a huge win for them.

J. Skeets (54:20)

Yeah. Who steps up when. When Cade inevitably has a game or two where he shoots 417 in a playoff game? It's coming. It'll happen. Maybe even more shots, like, he'll. He'll. Look, he never gets afraid to keep shooting, which I do love. Like, he just had the 5 of 26 right. The other night. So there's going to be a game or two. But Ken Duran. Can somebody else and these other guys step up tasks and help them get, like, a rare victory in those performances?

Tas Melas (54:43)

Well, probably not. The. The thing is, Kate Cunningham has to win those games where he's hot and everybody else has to fall in line. So you can have those bad games, but you're going to lose those.

J. Skeets (54:53)

Just can't have four of them.

Tas Melas (54:54)

Yeah, and that's. That's the question. Getting into those fourth quarters as. As you said, Trey Jalen Durant's gonna. It's gonna be tough for him to be able to do that. Who is going to chip in altogether? As I constantly say about this team, no one's going to take over. Tobias Harris not going to take over. Duncan Robinson not going to take over. The worrisome part is that, you know, he doesn't have a good start to that game. That seems to be his thing and can't end it. Well. A Sar Thompson not going to take over. All these guys all the way down the roster. So that's the problem. That is a problem. Everybody's got to contribute. That being said, that's what they've been doing all season.

J. Skeets (55:27)

That's right.

Tas Melas (55:27)

Can they take it into the postseason? It's a fair question, but four sirens for me, I'm starting to buy in. In all those guys chipping in just a touch. Four out of seven. To me, it's like they won a playoff series last year. I know they didn't, but those games came down to the wire, and against the Knicks, it feels like they're. They're there, man. They're there. So I am shocked that, again, that FanDuel line doesn't have the Pistons as the lead. I know it's hot to bet on the Cleveland Cavaliers because they're the most recently made a story because they went and got James Harden. But still, this is the team.

Trey Kirby (56:05)

Pistons are second plus 350, tied with the Celtics. Disrespect.

J. Skeets (56:09)

Yeah. Okay. The spurs are our third ranked team here, 43 and 16. This recent ascension, writes Harper, has people wondering if San Antonio can grab its sixth championship this season. San Antonio is 10 and three against the Pistons, the Celtics, the Knicks, the Thunder, the Nuggets and the Rockets combined. Really good record against some really good teams. Trey, how many sirens?

Trey Kirby (56:34)

Was it John Sakata who sang I Believe or who wasn't? I believe, I believe in the Spurs.

Tas Melas (56:42)

I believe.

Trey Kirby (56:43)

You know that.

Tas Melas (56:44)

Was that his second song? Because it's just another days. Just another day's number one.

Trey Kirby (56:49)

I don't know John Sakata.

Tas Melas (56:50)

I believe I'm gonna.

Trey Kirby (56:52)

I'm gonna figure that out after I vampire for a little bit. But you know the spurs had the exact same knock as Detroit with the added caveat.

Tas Melas (56:59)

Right? You're right. Believe is a John Cicada song. I mean that could be.

J. Skeets (57:02)

Do you believe in us Sad the name of the song.

Tas Melas (57:04)

Yep.

Trey Kirby (57:04)

That's not the song I'm thinking of at all. I'll figure it out at some point. But they, like I said, they haven't even made the playoffs together as a unit. At least Detroit does have a hard fought first round series last year. You look at the playoff experience for this team, they do have seven guys who are on the roster that have playoff experience. Led by Harrison Barnes, 71 games won a title in 2015. Which is kind of a similar team to the San Antonio spurs in that that warriors team saw an ascension in Steph Curry, went into the playoffs and ran through the west until they got to a Cavs team that was pretty banged up and took advantage of that. You know the Spurs I think are similar. Seeing Victor become an absolute superstar here. But other than Barnes, It's a linic. 48 games cornet 43 games. Biyombo has the fourth most playoff experience on this team. He's played 40 playoff games. Wow, what a long career Bismack Biombo has had. After that it's Jordan McLaughlin 13 dear and Fox had his 17 game series against the Warriors. And Lindy Waters got three games for the Oklahoma City defenders. So it's going to be fun to watch the spurs in the playoffs. It's going to be interesting to see how teams game plan them because when you Think about it. It's like Castle's not an outside shooter. Fox is not really an outside shooter though he's probably the best guard they have. Harper is definitely not an outside shooter as well. How will they deal with being schemed against. How will Victor deal with getting knocked down a thousand times per game? He always responds to that. But like maybe John Sakata said, I do believe they can win the title this year. I got a lot of faith in them. Maybe it's because they're dominating right now. Just went undefeated for a month on an 11 game win streak. They're playing at their peak. They would want the playoffs to start in March. Absolutely. But I mean outside of beating Team usa, Victor Wembanyama can do anything.

Tas Melas (59:00)

It's true he can. Like John Sakata, who had multiple. Multiple songs. Well, you didn't give him credit for the song Believe because like John Scott, he can do.

J. Skeets (59:10)

Who didn't give him credit? I didn't give you credit.

Tas Melas (59:12)

What are you talking about? You call the song do you believe in us? He had multiple songs with the word believe in the title.

Chris Bosh (59:18)

Okay, great.

J. Skeets (59:19)

For John Sakana.

Tas Melas (59:20)

Yeah, you called it out. You said he didn't have that song.

J. Skeets (59:24)

It wasn't that song.

Trey Kirby (59:25)

It wasn't that song. I was thinking of Blessed union of souls.

Tas Melas (59:30)

Anyways, the point.

Trey Kirby (59:31)

Sorry, sorry, John.

Tas Melas (59:33)

The point is that the spurs can do it in multiple ways. Like John Sakata can. He can have songs that have the title. Have believe in the title multiple times. You can, you can. So the spurs can do it multiple ways. The Dogs will be defensive and shooting that three ball. I'm not concerned with this team. I think they can. The problem is. Yeah, multiple series here, doing it have. Nobody's done it. No disrespect to Bismack biombo who played 40 playoff games. It's half of those were with the Toronto Raptors when they went to that conference finals. What a run against those LeBron led Cavaliers teams in 2016. That was a run. That was a run. But yes, I have lots of faith. But listen, the conference finals, whoever it is, whether it's Spurs, Thunder, Nuggets, Thunder, all these teams can advance to the finals. So this is a three or four siren team.

J. Skeets (60:33)

The spurs have roughly the same average age as last year's championship Thunder team. So they are a young team. That's good. But where they differ from the Thunder team that won the title last year is they don't have that one playoff run of experience to sort of learn from and lean on. Obviously the Thunder the year before the championship run, you know, got some reps and went through some tough series and obviously lost. That's why I feel like the spurs have like a 10 chance to win the title this year. And I'm like convinced they have a 70% chance to win the title next year. I think this will obviously pay dividends here. Whatever happens. A series, a two, three, you need that experience. Usually as you went through tk, it's just very, very rare. I'll say. It's nice that they're winning games where Wembanyama is not even having big games anymore. Like everybody is contributing. He had a second straight quiet night offensively last night. They're playing the Nets. Okay, okay. But it also feels like to me with this team, Julian Champagne and Devin Vassell are like they're going to decide playoff series for this team. They want to start the playoffs now. These guys are on fire from 3. Champagne is shooting 53% from deep since the All Star break. Devin Vassell is even better. He's shooting 62 and a half percent from three. And these are a lot of takes. They've combined those two guys to hit 37 three pointers in the last five games. And the good thing with the spurs is like there's a couple other guys even that like can have big games from three. Like, you know, even Harrison Barnes still has a couple games in where he get a whole bunch and Fox every once in a while and Kelvin Johnson and so they don't need one guy to do it every single game. They try and hope that a guy can be the guy to hit 5 plus 3. So I just feel like those guys are going to decide a lot of games for them because if they're on, they do look unstoppable because they still have a great defense led by Wembanyama and obviously other star guards in Castle and Harper, but. And Fox. But you know, there's pressure on those guys.

Trey Kirby (62:27)

There's pressure on those guys. But like an Atlanta Hawks Magic City Monday promo. What a delicious wing combo.

J. Skeets (62:33)

That's right.

Trey Kirby (62:34)

That is to our. Vasel and Champagne are like the perfect fits aroundside what they've built with Wembanyama and attacking guards. I think they're both at like 37 and a half percent for the year. So even though they've had a hot streak, like that's league average three point shooting, they both have quick triggers. They never turn over the ball. Champagne is like a surprisingly good rebounder and we've seen Vassell recently have a lot of like takeover moments when the offense is kind of sputtering and he just gets to a mid range jumper or hits back to back threes. He's been a really key piece for them during this win streak.

J. Skeets (63:07)

But they wouldn't be the first like shooters scorers who have awesome regular seasons who then get into playoff series and where the pressure is ramped up a little bit. Yeah, come up short. Right.

Trey Kirby (63:17)

I think Champagne is more in danger of that since he's kind of a standstill guy. He gets most of his shots in the corner for three and teams will just be smarter about sticking to him. We saw that with game seven, Kevin Herder, we've seen that with Kyle Korver in the past. Duncan Robinson as well. Vassell at least like moves around the court and can get to his own shot a little bit more.

J. Skeets (63:39)

All right, the Nuggets second ranked team here. You love this team 37 and 22. Are you a five siren man like Zach Harper is?

Tas Melas (63:46)

Yeah, I'm a five siren man. There is some worry here that they haven't been absolutely clicking here late in the season. Not so much worried about Jokic not playing to his level but a little bit down the roster. I know Zach said if they don't have Aaron Gordon who is injured currently, then they can't win it. He's gonna come back. He will be Aaron Gordon. I don't think that's a worry. I am a little bit more worried about a guy like Cam Johnson being able to produce. He just hasn't been himself. Christian Brown, as great as he is as a perimeter defender, he just has to be a little bit more consistent shooting the three ball, which hasn't been his thing. But I, of course I have entire faith in this team. When OKC was 25 and 1 or whatever they were, I still thought Denver could beat them. I made that the prediction going into 2026. You said the Rockets are going to finals. I thought the Nuggets could win it all. I am a little bit more worried now because of just a bunch of injuries and they're just not absolutely clicking. But the best offense in the league and that's not going away. And I think they can pick it up defensively. It just has to be. It just has to be for a quarter or a half to win us win a game against any of these teams that they play in the Western Conference because they're that good offensively.

J. Skeets (65:03)

But you agree with Harper on the Aaron Gordon has to play and has to be Back to some capabilities.

Tas Melas (65:08)

Yeah. Yeah. He hasn't. Yes, no doubt.

J. Skeets (65:10)

Yeah. What about you?

Trey Kirby (65:11)

This is a four siren team for me and maybe like you two, I'm stuck in a moment and I can't get out of it. I would have them behind the spurs right now. The Nuggets have not looked impressive to me at all since Nikola Jokic came back. Now I go back to the 23 title team. They went 9 and 10 combined in the months of March and April. They had an absolute swoon going into the playoffs, and then everything clicked perfectly for them. They got the best basketball of Bruce Brown's career. Christian Brown ascended in the playoffs and Aaron Gordon was awesome. I think they can probably win without contributions from Peyton Watson, but they absolutely cannot win if Aaron Gordon isn't at his peak. And that's what has me a little bit worried for this team. Hasn't played since January 23rd. He's only played 10 games since November. Like, it's not just this stretch for Aaron Gordon. He was banged up at the start of the season as well. He was banged up during the playoffs last year. It's turning into a recurring theme with him. So they're going to probably hold him out as long as they feel comfortable during the regular season. But that's like a push pull as well because they need to be the third seed. Every team needs to be the third seed so you don't run into Thunder in the second round. So there's definitely a catch 22 there of how, how much are we pushing during the regular season versus how much do we want to preserve for the playoffs. They've tended to err on the side of preserving for the playoffs, but Adelman was talking recently about like, yeah, we actually are looking at the standings right now and times are getting tough in the Western Conference and seating is going to be super, super important. So maybe prisoner of the moment, but I'm, I, I think spurs ahead of Nuggets right now, personally.

J. Skeets (66:54)

Yeah, look, it's, I think everybody agrees it's going to be thunder, Spurs, 1, 2 in whatever order you want to put them. Spurs are like only a game and a half back of OKC, which is pretty wild. But they're going to be 1, 2 and then it's this race to that third seed. Like you said, Trey, it's Houston, it's Denver and it's Minnesota. It's likely going to be one of those three teams that get the third seed. The other two probably in a four, five series. You know, the Lakers are a little Bit more back and the Suns are as well trying to get in there. So yeah, those three should be battling out. I assume they have games against each other left which will be huge games and you'd have to get into the tiebreakers and stuff like that because very possible we could have some ties here. And then it's like, oh well, we beat them three to four times or whatever this season. So yeah, I'm not. We get to bump up.

Tas Melas (67:35)

I'm not so concerned about the Nuggets playing the Thunder in the second round. I think they can knock them off. They're a great road team. They're an incredible road team. More concerned about Aaron Gordon's hamstring because it is a recurring injury since last year's playoffs and it's the same type of injury and those hammies just don't die. And so that. That is a huge issue. But the spirit of guys like Bruce Brown has been really good recently. That and he has been their spirit when they won the title. You got to bring that back one more time. And also Peyton Watson can be that defensive guy just to throw at somebody with his length just to kill him for. For six minutes. Just slow somebody down for six minutes so they've got the pieces.

J. Skeets (68:20)

But problem is he has a hamstring injury as well. For weeks. Right.

Tas Melas (68:24)

But those are young hamstrings. Yeah, he is. He should be ready to come back versus Aaron Gordon.

J. Skeets (68:29)

That is.

Advertisement Voice (68:29)

Is.

Tas Melas (68:29)

That's definitely worry. This is. He's an older player now.

Trey Kirby (68:32)

My guy play for the Blazers. Young hamstrings.

J. Skeets (68:36)

I was not getting to that. I'm glad you told us. All right. The number one team here, super glad when it comes to ranking is the Oklahoma City Thunder. They are 45 and 15. They're still the most dominant team in the NBA this season. And that's with SGA and Jalen Williams missing so much time though. We just learned that SGA is coming back. He should be playing in their next game. But can they get healthy for the playoffs? That's what Zach Harper's wonders might be their biggest hurdle. Five sirens. Does everybody still have them there despite this sort of weird season with the injuries to their main guys?

Trey Kirby (69:13)

Five sirens. This is the only team to me that I think can definitely win the title because we just saw them win the title. They brought everybody back. We're hot to start the year. The general question is health. Is everybody back on the court playing? But more specifically for me, the question is how is Jalen Williams wrist? The hamstring is what's keeping him out right now. But if he gets back on the court, can he return to form? Because you look at his three point shooting numbers this year, 31% from three, that's a career low. Two and a half attempts from three, that's a career Low. He's also taking the lowest three point rate of his career. That to me says he doesn't trust his wrist, his shooting wrist. They need his pull up jump shooting huge for the Thunder. They need just like the Pistons they need a second guy. I don't think Chet is necessarily a self creation guy. He has some moments for sure but in high leverage situations you would be much more comfortable with the guy who had a 40 point finals game, had a chance at finals MVP. We know that Shea is going to be good. We know that the defense is going to be good. The question is supporting offensive players and that comes down to Jalen Williams wrist.

Tas Melas (70:21)

Absolutely. Yeah. His wrist has been an issue this entire season as he was literally sitting for so many games and he had that. What was he using as a device to help his wrist? Like it was like a. Was it some sort of heat device, like some sort of mechanism to try and get it right? Like he's shooting half the threes that he shot last season. There's something going on. He needs to be the second best ball handler on that team. It is great. Shake could be coming back tonight. The core which is very important to his wiggle should be right. But the secondary part of this team is Jalen Williams and so that is a huge worry to be in and out of the lineup and to produce somewhat of what the Boston Celtics were last year. When we're all sitting here thinking that they would be able to replicate their championship team and what happened to them was there's ups and downs and I know the, the Thunder are totally fine at this point but they do add up these little number one injuries. Number two, just lack of chemistry. So here we are at this point.

J. Skeets (71:24)

So there it is. Those are our 12 teams throwing sirens on it again thanks to Zach Harper. I'll say em in order here for you. The order we tackled them 12th was the Lakers, 11th, Raptors 10th, 76ers, 9th Rockets 8th Cavaliers 7th Timberwolves 6th Celtics, 5th Knicks, 4th Pistons, 3rd Spurs, 2nd Nuggets and then 1st obviously our defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Let's hear from you guys. I know you are here in the stream team. Let us know in the comments. How many sirens are you dropping on those contenders or are they pretenders in your mind. Let's take a break. And we come back Best of the week. Your Friday nights just got a little louder because NBA Happy Hour is live on FanDuel every Friday, which is today from 6 to 7:30pm Eastern. FanDuel's running limited time specials to pregame your weekend. We're talking boosts, we're talking bonuses, we're talking surprises all dropping right in the app. My Friday routine right now. Record no dunks.

Tas Melas (72:29)

Yes.

J. Skeets (72:29)

Then it's record no buffs. Then it's maybe eat some dinner. Maybe we'll order in tonight. A Nora don't feel like cooking. Nor do I cuz I never do. So if you ain't cooking, we're ordering in. That's fine with me. Then I'm firing up the FanDuel app before the start of the NBA games to see what kinds of boosts that they got cooking. If Nora ain't cooking, the FanDuel app is, baby. It's the perfect way to kick off the weekend. A little basketball, a little action and a whole lot of Friday energy. That's NBA Happy Hour every Friday from 6 to 7:30pm Eastern, only on FanDuel. The official official the official sportsbook partner of the NBA. Visit FanDuel.com to get started.

Trey Kirby (73:11)

What do you think you'll order?

J. Skeets (73:14)

We haven't had Indian in a while. I could see some tie in our immediate future. Probably those would be the front runners right now. Let me check the FanDuel odds on

Trey Kirby (73:24)

what Skeets is going to oh wow.

J. Skeets (73:28)

Italian +350 surprising to yeah, like surprising to me. All right, let's get to best of the week, ladies and gentlemen. The best of the week.

Tas Melas (73:40)

I had to go with best of the week because Chris Bosch received some good news in that he survived a medical scare. So all of us hearing about this, reading what Chris Bosh had to say on his subsect this is part of it. It I will read it. I was walking from my closet into the bathroom, getting ready for an evening out when my body turned on me. A number, a numbing sensation shot down my left leg. That sharp electric feeling you get when you bump your funny bone. Before I knew it, I was on the floor. And here he is talking about it on his Instagram page.

Chris Bosh (74:16)

So I woke up covered in my own blood. It was crazy. It was fast. It was instant. There was no warning. I didn't have any time to prepare for it. I was getting ready to go on a date with my wife and the next thing you know, I was on the. I was on the ground. It was a scary thing, and it came fast, and it made me really have a different outlook on life and how things go, what we do for ourselves, what we do for our family, how we live our lives. And no matter what it is, make sure you don't wait. That's the thing that I get from this. Don't wait to take action, because it could come fast, it could come quick, and I'm lucky to be alive. So that's what I get from all this. Don't wait for it. You might want to start a business. Don't wait. Just do it. You might hit the deck. I don't know. I'm lucky I came back. I mean, it was just darkness. It wasn't anything else. I came. I went to the darkness. I came back. I have no recollection. I have no memory other than coming back here. So don't wait.

Tas Melas (75:48)

Chris Bosch, on his Instagram page there, he got more into it on his substack page where he wrote about it. He didn't reveal all the details because he didn't want to get, you know, too graphic, but obviously very, very scary and incredible news. And he's. He's just mere days after it, and you could see it in his face. And he talked about it, how he's physically trying cover still, but he wanted to voice that to people out there and to, you know, be that sort of point of motivation for people, and that was his message there. So great news for Chris Bosh that he survived this, but obviously extremely scary.

J. Skeets (76:28)

He's not even 42 years old. He's got a birthday coming up, couple weeks.

Trey Kirby (76:32)

Yeah, definitely scary stuff, especially considering the way his career ended with blood clots making him basically physically unable to perform for the Miami Heat and never make it back to the NBA. So, yeah, it must have been super scary for him, for his wife to find him, surely. And for him to, at this point, have no idea what happened. But like you said, he dusted off the sub stack. I saw he hadn't written in, like, three years.

J. Skeets (76:59)

I was gonna say, I didn't even know he was on substack writing now.

Trey Kirby (77:02)

It's like, just do it. Don't wait for anything. He's a good guy. He seems like a great guy. Of course he loves his wife.

Tas Melas (77:09)

They're going out on a date.

J. Skeets (77:10)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (77:10)

And he was getting dressed up for it.

JD (Super Producer) (77:13)

Yes.

Tas Melas (77:14)

Obviously, very, very difficult to hear that, because he is. And it's. It seems like such a young guy. It seems impossible that this would Happen. But as you said, the blood clot issue is what prevented him from playing longer. And again, he didn't get into the absolute details but as he said, woke up with blood around him. So yeah, very, very difficult to hear.

J. Skeets (77:41)

Chris Bosh there. Best of the week. I'll throw in another little minor one here. Hornets rookie con caniple eight threes in a blowout wind last night broke Keegan Murray's NBA rookie three point shooting record. Murray hit 206 three pointers in 80 games back in 2022-23. Knipple. He's already at 209 this season. He's played in less than 60 games. He could shoot the basketball.

Trey Kirby (78:04)

He can really shoot the basketball. A beautiful shooter of the basketball. I think they called him King Khan on the broadcast last night.

J. Skeets (78:12)

That's good. King Khan.

Trey Kirby (78:14)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (78:14)

Right. But it's very similar to the Klingon nickname that he also has a bit of an issue.

Trey Kirby (78:20)

Yes. And I mean Clingan is physically bigger.

J. Skeets (78:23)

Yeah, it does suit him a little bit. I agree, I agree. It's good. It's good.

Trey Kirby (78:28)

They got to play one on one for the nickname.

J. Skeets (78:31)

All Star weekend event. Put nicknames on the line.

Trey Kirby (78:33)

Nicknames on the line. Yeah, it's like pink slips in the Fast and Furious universe. We're playing for nicknames here.

Tas Melas (78:40)

Another basketball one related. Just zoom out back to the trade deadline and. And now that the Timberwolves have picked up Kyle Anderson, the Timberwolves turned Mike Conley, Rob Dillingham and Leonard Miller into Mike Conley because they got him again. Which was also accompanied with $15 million in tax savings IO Dumu and Kyle Anderson. So Conley, Dillingham, Miller turned into Conley to sumu Anderson and money saved pretty good by Tim Connolly.

J. Skeets (79:11)

Yeah, not bad. But you gave up on Leonard Miller too soon.

Trey Kirby (79:14)

See that big dunk he had last night?

J. Skeets (79:16)

I saw. I may. I'm keeping my eye on every Leonard Miller box score. Four or five last night. You know, couple rebounds, couple assists, couple blocks. 11 points off the bench. He's gonna have a triple double here at the end of the season in Mickey Mouse. Wow. Convinced if he just gives a little bit more opportunity there. As the Chicago Bulls continue to lose. Right. What are they at now?

Trey Kirby (79:37)

Is that they're 11 straight. 11 straight. I think 14 is going to be the number. I think they're going to 14 straight. Okay. They lost every game in the month of February.

J. Skeets (79:46)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (79:47)

Not cool. Leonard Miller, how many assists do you think he has this season?

J. Skeets (79:53)

Oh, it's probably not even enough to make a triple double. I don't know.

Trey Kirby (79:56)

It's not. He's got eight.

J. Skeets (79:57)

Okay. He had two last night. Come on, man.

Trey Kirby (80:00)

He's got 16 career assists. I'm hoping he gets a triple double. Now that'd be exciting.

J. Skeets (80:05)

The victory lap I'm gonna take when he gets a triple double here in mid March or late March when nobody cares.

Trey Kirby (80:11)

Lenny.

J. Skeets (80:11)

Can't wait. Lil boy of the night sponsored by Landon Bennett. Now Landon writes in. I'm doing this to give a shout out to a longtime listener and the person that put me on to no dunks, Andrew Peck. My first episode was the Kyrie emergency pod after he got traded to Dallas. So Andrew gets married this year and the bachelor party wanted to a give him a shout out. So shout out to Andrew congratulations and support our show since y' all are the best pod in the space. Salute to Landon Bennett. Great sponsoring there of Whoa boy. We had three different guys last night score 40 plus Luka in the loss Durant. So they were in the running for Whoa boy. But it goes to Sadiq Bay. Whoa boy is Whoa Bay. Sadiq Bay scored A season high 42 points to lead the Pelicans to a win. Very efficient night. 14:20 from the field, 5, 9 from deep 9, 9 at the line. Dished out 7 assists, 5 rebounds as he again helped the Pels get a win. So Sadiq Bay with the wobe of the night sponsored by Landon, seems like

Tas Melas (81:27)

he could have earned this honor multiple times this year.

J. Skeets (81:31)

He's had some big ass games. This guy catches fire and that was very efficient night.

Tas Melas (81:36)

Season high though for 42.

J. Skeets (81:38)

Yeah, but he has a 50 burger in his career.

Tas Melas (81:40)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

J. Skeets (81:41)

I assume he's got a couple other 30 plus games under his belt at the very least.

Tas Melas (81:46)

Three 30 point games this season.

J. Skeets (81:47)

This season. Oh my God. Okay, well, definitely in his career then. He's got more than that. All right. Great stuff for Sadiq Bay. So tonight's pick' em task. This is huge. I had the Rockets to cover against the Magic last night. Down big. They do the big run. It was close. Down the stretch, Houston gets it done. I'm in the clear. I'm nine and six. You guys had Orlando, so you're both seven and eight. Final night for February in the pickup. So it all comes down to this.

Tas Melas (82:13)

It was easy to pick the game when I saw Denver and OKC cold.

J. Skeets (82:18)

How many sirens on that game? Ten, I guess.

Tas Melas (82:21)

Many?

J. Skeets (82:21)

Nine. Nine or ten?

Tas Melas (82:23)

Yeah. Considering this could be a Western Conference finals, absolutely.

J. Skeets (82:27)

Absolutely.

Tas Melas (82:28)

I let Trey pick first because he's been so cold. I said, you pick.

J. Skeets (82:34)

Ouch.

Tas Melas (82:35)

I said, you picked.

J. Skeets (82:38)

I'll let you pick the loser first. Here.

Tas Melas (82:40)

Go nuts. That's how it works.

Trey Kirby (82:42)

We're both one and one in our last two. Thank you very much.

Tas Melas (82:44)

Yeah, Right. I don't know what I'm doing either, so I let you pick.

Trey Kirby (82:48)

Are you a shot caller or are you a strategist?

Tas Melas (82:54)

So you took the Nuggets at OKC to cover Big line.

Trey Kirby (83:00)

Humongous line.

Tas Melas (83:01)

Thunder have to win by nine or more, while the Nuggets, you just lose by eight or less. So great pick, but I'm taking Shay and the newly revamped core because his body is ready to play again. He looks like he will be playing tonight. Well, the Nuggets have a ton of injuries themselves, so, you know, may the best man win.

J. Skeets (83:23)

All right.

Trey Kirby (83:24)

The best man win.

Tas Melas (83:25)

Oh, full handshake.

J. Skeets (83:26)

Potentially. Smelling salts on the line.

Tas Melas (83:28)

I know.

J. Skeets (83:28)

It's been discussed. You like it?

Trey Kirby (83:30)

I do.

J. Skeets (83:31)

So he really wants to do it if he loses. How you feel about smelling salts?

Tas Melas (83:35)

I'm willing to take a risk. Absolutely. Okay.

J. Skeets (83:39)

All right.

Tas Melas (83:39)

It's like four seconds.

J. Skeets (83:41)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (83:41)

And it's over.

J. Skeets (83:42)

Yeah. It's just gonna pop you.

Trey Kirby (83:45)

You might have the best show of your life.

J. Skeets (83:47)

Yeah. Maybe you'll start getting locked in. Oh, man. When you start getting addicted to them or something, people say that can kind of happen. Yeah. Yeah. You like that buzz. You're like, I really brought it today. I got my John Cicada lyrics. Right. I gotta do this again. Suddenly you got an issue.

Tas Melas (84:03)

It'll help you. You'll start. You'll Google John Cicada.

Trey Kirby (84:07)

Better.

Tas Melas (84:07)

I'm just trying to help you. Googling, man. You're Googling. You'll get better.

Trey Kirby (84:12)

You're Googling.

J. Skeets (84:13)

But. But I ended up being right. It wasn't the song.

Tas Melas (84:16)

Oh, that's. Yeah, we.

J. Skeets (84:17)

But you're just saying. I should have known. John Sakata has two songs, if not more, with Believe in the.

Tas Melas (84:22)

It has nothing.

JD (Super Producer) (84:23)

It's not.

Tas Melas (84:23)

You ended up being right. He said, is it believed by John Sakata? You said believe.

J. Skeets (84:27)

Anyways, I told you the title of what I saw. Yeah, well, the more popular of the two that you actually.

Tas Melas (84:33)

That's right. That's right. Yeah. People have multiple songs these days. And in 1997. Yeah.

Trey Kirby (84:40)

I want to see John Sakata's discography to see if he's still putting out the hits.

Tas Melas (84:44)

Good question.

J. Skeets (84:46)

He's still with us.

Trey Kirby (84:48)

Also a good question. 64 years old. Part of the Miami Sound Machine.

J. Skeets (84:52)

I didn't know that. Very nice.

Tas Melas (84:57)

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Trey Kirby (86:01)

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J. Skeets (88:56)

All right, before we go here, this is the drop. So let's have some rapid fire fun. Tass, you've got the questions. Please tell me there's no John Sakata questions in here that I can botch.

Tas Melas (89:07)

Don't worry, I'll help you.

J. Skeets (89:07)

Okay.

Tas Melas (89:08)

Per Dave McMediman, the Lakers training staff wraps Deandre Ayton's Water Ball water bottle in tape and writes DA's Crunk Juice drink this to unleash the beast on it to keep him motivated. What's something you would write on your go to drink to elevate your drive? And no sniffing salts allowed, right? Just put it on the drink. What are you doing?

J. Skeets (89:31)

So I have the water bottle. What am I writing on it to I guess pump me up or motivate me, inspire me. Whatever I am putting on it. 360 jump fart juice for two reasons, I don't think anybody's going to take my drink there. That's what it says on it. And two, it gives me the power. It's, you know, to do my 360 jump fart, which I created and I bring that up because somebody sent me, you know, one of these, like, zany kids on the Internet on Instagram is like doing my bit now. Doing 360 jump farts. Wow. I couldn't believe it, but I was like, I have been doing this for decades, so I'm excited to see it. Like, you know, pass the baton off. Pass the fart off.

Trey Kirby (90:14)

The butt on.

J. Skeets (90:15)

Yeah, yeah, the button. But. But remember who created the 360 jump fart? And who does it with such style and grace as. As one does. So anyway, that's why I'm putting on my water bottle.

Tas Melas (90:27)

Well, you're gonna be making videos, I assume if this other person is.

J. Skeets (90:31)

I mean, I should rival. Yeah. I should jump on it. You're right. Yeah. It's true.

Trey Kirby (90:35)

The hardest thing is the audio, I assume getting.

J. Skeets (90:39)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (90:39)

The fart to come across.

J. Skeets (90:40)

Yeah. Timing. Timing is the big part. And the comical nature of said fart. The jump for me is the easiest part. Yeah. But not for everybody else would say. I don't think people can just easily pull off a very fluid 360. Am I wrong? I don't know what the percentages of

Trey Kirby (91:00)

people, but I think they're right about that.

Tas Melas (91:02)

Yeah, but everybody can add a fake sound effect, which I think can be anything.

Trey Kirby (91:06)

Great point.

J. Skeets (91:07)

Yes, that's true.

Tas Melas (91:08)

Anyways, so when yours doesn't work out sound wise, you just add. Add a little fart.

J. Skeets (91:14)

I never had to folly a fart on a floor. 360 jump for. Thank you very much. That's like the most disrespectful thing you've ever said to me.

Tas Melas (91:22)

Oh, the sound. I'm not.

J. Skeets (91:24)

Yeah, the sound. That's what I'm saying. These are all real farts.

Tas Melas (91:30)

You're an airman. Sometimes they just don't. They just don't sound right. That's why they call you air skis. I heard. Trey, what's something you would write on your go? To drink, to elevate your people see it?

Trey Kirby (91:41)

It's orange is my TK's water stay dripping.

J. Skeets (91:44)

Nice.

Trey Kirby (91:45)

You know, it means like, put on cool clothes and also your pits are wet.

Tas Melas (91:48)

Oh, yeah.

Trey Kirby (91:49)

That's how it is.

Tas Melas (91:50)

No doubt.

Trey Kirby (91:50)

So it is. You get talking, lights are bright, takes are hot. Stream team's on you for every single thing you say.

Tas Melas (91:58)

Jeez.

Trey Kirby (91:58)

Okay, tell me I'm a mean boy these days. Everybody saying I'm a mean boy. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I need to drink more water. What, you guys don't get nerves? You don't get nervous.

J. Skeets (92:12)

Oh, God. Sweat through shirts.

Trey Kirby (92:14)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (92:15)

Nervous.

J. Skeets (92:15)

It's impossible not to. I don't know why I'm not nervous, so to speak, but it's. Yeah, it's this live nature of television or podcasting your pits. Just go. Yeah.

Trey Kirby (92:25)

Putting it on the line.

J. Skeets (92:27)

Oh, man. People have the guts to do this. It's nice to see Bill Simmons finally has the guts to go live. I respect to him.

Trey Kirby (92:32)

Do you guess what he puts.

J. Skeets (92:37)

He's in the comfort of his own home a lot of the time. I don't know.

Trey Kirby (92:40)

I sweat less when I'm.

J. Skeets (92:41)

He's doing a lot of sauna work recently.

Tas Melas (92:42)

I don't know.

J. Skeets (92:45)

Yes. I think the answer is yes. I think it's tough not to bring in tastes. He does as well. Yeah, you get sweaty. Drink water.

Tas Melas (92:51)

Jd what do you write?

JD (Super Producer) (92:54)

Maybe it's just because of Chris Bosh's speech this morning that I watched Early. Early. And just my attitude in general these days, but it just doesn't matter, you know? That's what it says on my water bottle. None of this matters. You're gonna be dead soon anyway, so who gives a. You know what I'm saying?

Trey Kirby (93:11)

I know what you're saying.

Tas Melas (93:12)

I know what you're saying.

JD (Super Producer) (93:15)

I hit the wrong button over there. Who cares? Like, honestly, who cares?

Tas Melas (93:19)

Who cares?

JD (Super Producer) (93:20)

Nobody has the guts to do this. This pickleball point. It doesn't matter. This just doesn't matter.

Trey Kirby (93:25)

Look at the next one.

JD (Super Producer) (93:26)

Exactly.

J. Skeets (93:27)

He doesn't even care about the next one, though.

JD (Super Producer) (93:29)

Okay?

J. Skeets (93:29)

I don't care. I'm in the moment.

JD (Super Producer) (93:32)

Doesn't matter, man. It just is the great Bill Murray and the hilarious comedy Meatballs back in the 70s. It just doesn't matter. You know what I'm saying? That's it. It just doesn't matter.

Tas Melas (93:43)

Meatballs was on my TV recently. Yeah, that's great. Classic. Great seatbelt. All right, great answer. Next one here. Timothy Chalamet, LeBron James and Steve Nash are doing a live recording of a Mind the Game podcast episode. Pick one of the three and the question you would want to ask him. Skeets.

J. Skeets (94:03)

Well, I did notice he said live recording. Sounds like three guys don't have the guts to just go live, right? To whatever platform because they're doing in front of a live audience, and then they'll.

Tas Melas (94:16)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

J. Skeets (94:16)

Package it, I guess, for.

Tas Melas (94:19)

I don't know. Anyway, that's the plan.

J. Skeets (94:20)

Pick one of the three, ask him a question. Here's what I'm doing. Got my hand up. Yeah. You there in the Pink hoodie. Yeah. LeBron. I want to know, were you under the influence of drugs or alcohol when you told TNT's Cheryl Miller during the All Star Weekend in 2009 on national television that you were preliminarily putting your name down to compete in next year's dunk contest in Dallas?

JD (Super Producer) (94:49)

You took my exact answer.

J. Skeets (94:51)

No way.

JD (Super Producer) (94:52)

Yeah, I said more of a statement. You never win in the dunk contest. Wtf, man.

J. Skeets (94:58)

Wow.

JD (Super Producer) (95:00)

Sitting next to each other. Yeah.

J. Skeets (95:02)

You know, like, what was going on? Like, I watched the clip again. He absolutely implies that he is. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He was hyped, man. He's watching Dwight Howard do his dunk contest thing.

Tas Melas (95:14)

Preliminarily.

J. Skeets (95:15)

He did say preliminarily.

Tas Melas (95:16)

What a word.

J. Skeets (95:17)

I know. He legit. He says it twice.

Trey Kirby (95:20)

I think I'm on the short.

J. Skeets (95:21)

So he is trying to like hedge a little bit. Right. He's not saying I am going in a dunk on theories like I am preliminarily. But he was implying. And we were all like, pumped and.

Tas Melas (95:30)

Oh, yeah.

J. Skeets (95:31)

Never did.

JD (Super Producer) (95:31)

In my memory, he is holding a cocktail like it's a small rock box class.

J. Skeets (95:36)

I thought he had a little. Yeah, I felt he a little loose.

Trey Kirby (95:40)

He was.

J. Skeets (95:40)

To him, I think he was feeling good. And I'm not judging as you should. All Star weekend.

JD (Super Producer) (95:44)

Yeah, of course not.

J. Skeets (95:45)

But how drunk were you? Because I almost respect it more if he goes, oh, skates. I was shit face drunk. I was off my rocker when I was caught up in the moment. Dwight Howard's got a cape on. I'm going, I can do this. But. Yeah, that's what I'd ask.

Tas Melas (96:05)

Okay, good answers. Skeets and J.D.

J. Skeets (96:08)

yeah, right.

Tas Melas (96:08)

What do you got?

Trey Kirby (96:09)

I would ask Timothy Chalamet if he likes the song Black Betty. Oh, who doesn't?

J. Skeets (96:15)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (96:16)

I think this song has 100 approval rating.

J. Skeets (96:19)

It's a great song. It's a great song from the 70s.

Trey Kirby (96:22)

From the 70s for me. I was introduced to the song via the the movie Blow starring Johnny Depp. There's a great scene where he's like walking through his drug end money house. The song is blaring. And then there's a lot of videos that we were watching through today of person listens to Black Betty for the first time. And as soon as the riff hits, they're like, w. And then the bambam's

J. Skeets (96:48)

hit and it's like, whoa.

Trey Kirby (96:49)

They say bamba lamb. And then they get to the part way down in Alabama. Bamba la lamb. Everybody goes crazy for this Song. Caitlyn, who's doing a lot of these short videos for us now, says it's her rage song that she plays when she's working on something and needs some extra motivation, and it works every time. I think Black Betty is the smelling salts of 70s rock music.

J. Skeets (97:11)

Fascinating.

Trey Kirby (97:11)

Turn it on and you're fired up.

J. Skeets (97:15)

It's a great.

Trey Kirby (97:16)

Timothy Chalamet likes it.

Tas Melas (97:17)

Timothy Chalamet heard it.

Trey Kirby (97:18)

Has he heard it?

Tas Melas (97:19)

It? Yeah.

Trey Kirby (97:20)

He may have seen Blow.

JD (Super Producer) (97:21)

Yeah. Yeah, he's definitely seen Blow.

J. Skeets (97:24)

Yeah.

JD (Super Producer) (97:24)

Yeah, you're right.

Tas Melas (97:25)

You're right.

Trey Kirby (97:26)

That. That's a. That's a good introduction for him. Is that movie any good? I. I like.

J. Skeets (97:30)

I liked it when I watched it.

Trey Kirby (97:31)

Exactly.

Tas Melas (97:32)

When I watched it.

Trey Kirby (97:33)

But I think it's good.

J. Skeets (97:34)

I think so, too.

Trey Kirby (97:35)

In my brain, at least.

JD (Super Producer) (97:36)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a nice sort of, like, biopicky sort of like, ah, this happened.

Tas Melas (97:41)

Yeah.

JD (Super Producer) (97:42)

You know, the Verizon fall of the drug dealers always hits.

Tas Melas (97:46)

All right, last question. The Atlanta Hawks are having a Magic city night on March 16. Magic City, the strip club. The Hawks are even teaming up with what they're calling a cultural institution on a hoodie. There's going to be a lot of things going on. There's Lou Williams. Wings are happening. Lemon Pepper. Wings are happening. Tomatoes.

J. Skeets (98:11)

They are celebrating a strip club.

Tas Melas (98:14)

Yep.

J. Skeets (98:14)

And I love it. We're here for it. This is our city. We have been to Magic City. It's great. The Wings are good, but, man, it is pretty funny when you think about it. The Raptors are doing Brass Rail night down here. I think, like, it's crazy, but it's awesome.

Tas Melas (98:30)

Brass Rail. That's what it's called.

J. Skeets (98:31)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (98:32)

I thought Zanzibar closed, didn't it?

JD (Super Producer) (98:34)

No.

J. Skeets (98:35)

Zanzibar still open?

Tas Melas (98:36)

Hell, yeah.

J. Skeets (98:37)

Oh, okay.

JD (Super Producer) (98:37)

I haven't been there in years.

J. Skeets (98:38)

Okay.

JD (Super Producer) (98:39)

It's definitely.

Tas Melas (98:39)

I haven't been there in years. Okay, so what's an unconventional landmark your hometown team would tie into a promo? And it can't be Zanzibar or Brass Rail.

J. Skeets (98:49)

Can't be. Can it be House of Lancaster? I didn't want to go strip club from Toronto, even though there's obviously a bunch you could pick from. So I went with a weird one. I found this to be a difficult question. Unconventional, conventional landmark in Toronto. Do you guys know the Bearski Dog park fountain in Toronto? It's behind the Flatiron Building. Oh, yeah. It's this whimsical. Yeah, it's a great fountain. Nice fountain. Honoring dogs. It's got three tiers and there's 27 different breeds. So I think the raptors could do something where, like, you just unleash all 27 breeds of dogs, like during a game or something in honor of this great waterfall. Cool. Because who doesn't like dogs? I mean. I mean, I don't trust you if you don't. So. Yeah. The Bearski park dog fountain in Toronto. Tas familiar with this whimsical fountain.

JD (Super Producer) (99:41)

Where?

Trey Kirby (99:42)

Where is it?

J. Skeets (99:42)

It's that the. You know, the Flat Iron building.

Tas Melas (99:45)

Oh, the Flatiron.

J. Skeets (99:45)

It's right behind there. Yeah, it's right.

Trey Kirby (99:47)

We stayed at a hotel really near there during the All Star game, I think.

Tas Melas (99:50)

Right?

J. Skeets (99:51)

Yeah, yeah, you can swim of see it in the photo there. It's all the dogs are looking up at a golden bone on the top. That's cute. And there's one cat in the sculpture. A great fountain, man.

Tas Melas (100:03)

Great.

Trey Kirby (100:03)

A really great fountain. I didn't know this was so good.

J. Skeets (100:08)

Okay, good.

Trey Kirby (100:09)

Like a Buckingham fountain. It's, like, got jokes in it, so.

J. Skeets (100:15)

It's better.

Trey Kirby (100:16)

It's better.

Tas Melas (100:17)

All right, Trey, what would you tie into a promo?

Trey Kirby (100:20)

I would like to see the Bulls do something bean related. Cloud Gate, the sculpture. In Chicago, everybody calls it the Bean. This beautiful metal bean. But, like, what are they going to do with it? I don't know. Like, shiny silver spacesuit uniforms. Says Bean on it instead of bulls.

J. Skeets (100:39)

Bad.

Trey Kirby (100:39)

I like the Bean. I love to go to it. I love to look at it. Walk underneath it, look up, take photos in it. Oh, man. Take photos in it. Photos walking up to it.

J. Skeets (100:49)

Oh, we have been to the Bean. Oh, yeah, I've seen the Bean with you. Yep.

Trey Kirby (100:52)

Yeah, we've laid eyes on the.

J. Skeets (100:53)

There's a fountain. There's a fountain at the Bean to sort of an art installation, if I remember correctly.

Trey Kirby (100:58)

Yes, there is. Yeah, there definitely is. There's also these. Water. A water installation that's like a tall video board. Oh, that's what I'm thinking. Faces is like.

J. Skeets (101:07)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Trey Kirby (101:08)

Creepier than the dogs.

J. Skeets (101:09)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (101:10)

This one's a little creepy. Creepy, yeah.

J. Skeets (101:12)

But it's, you know, interesting.

Trey Kirby (101:14)

We found that Grant park is very near as well.

JD (Super Producer) (101:16)

Last time I was there with the kids, we'd spent hours there. The kids were just playing in the water.

J. Skeets (101:20)

Yeah, sure.

JD (Super Producer) (101:21)

Yeah. Like, it was a night. It was awesome.

Trey Kirby (101:24)

Night water.

JD (Super Producer) (101:24)

Night water. It's great.

Tas Melas (101:26)

I'm. I'm sure they could structure something where the bean is essentially, like, hanging over the court, like. I know, I know. It's wow. I mean, I Don't think you're not bringing that bean. But you know something?

J. Skeets (101:38)

Hey, Bean, do you think you could play, like, take a basketball and make it the shape of a bean. See if they could play with it. It would bounce all weird, but it'd be fun.

Trey Kirby (101:47)

Yeah. A lot of people are talking about they should be able to draw home teams should be able to draw the three point line however they want. Let's let them do the basketball however they want. And the Bulls are going with a bean.

J. Skeets (101:58)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (101:59)

Play the bean ball. Good luck. That's actually why they have the worst

J. Skeets (102:03)

often in the league. They're playing with a bean ball.

Trey Kirby (102:05)

They're playing with a bean ball.

J. Skeets (102:06)

Whoops.

Tas Melas (102:08)

JD what are you doing?

JD (Super Producer) (102:11)

How about EXO karaoke on in Koreatown?

Tas Melas (102:14)

Wow.

JD (Super Producer) (102:15)

Just a hole in the wall. I think it's actually called Echo now. And they may have moved.

J. Skeets (102:21)

Yeah, they did.

JD (Super Producer) (102:22)

But many a great night there. I think I might have been the one that introduced you guys to it. And then you guys went crazy.

J. Skeets (102:30)

Oh, yeah. We had some insane nights in that place.

JD (Super Producer) (102:33)

And I don't know. And have some sort of karaoke installation at the Scotiabank center, you know, where rather than a DJ playing or whatever, it's just somebody gets up and does a karaoke number. And they could do like the. The usual stadium rock type stuff, like, you know, Seven Nation army, but it's some dude singing really bad rendition of Seven Nation army. But yeah, that's a great spot.

Trey Kirby (102:59)

That's a great spot.

Tas Melas (103:00)

It is a great spot.

J. Skeets (103:01)

Exo karaoke.

JD (Super Producer) (103:02)

I've not been there in years.

J. Skeets (103:03)

Oh, a long time.

Trey Kirby (103:05)

You do like the karaoke videos on the Jumbotron. Yeah, it's like where they get these backgrounds.

Podcast Host/Announcer (103:11)

Oh, yeah.

J. Skeets (103:12)

The videos are always going on there. Yeah. Good. Unconventional landmark. At least to me for sure. Exo karaoke for sure.

Tas Melas (103:20)

Legendary. Sucks. The. The things that the Hawks are doing with Magic City. I mean, they are involved. There's so many things. We're doing a podcast about the. The five part docu series. The Magic series Docu series. So a podcast with. With a bunch of great people. This is. This is gonna be a night. There's so many things happening on March 16th.

J. Skeets (103:42)

Underrated. Part of the Magic City night is they're playing the Magic.

Tas Melas (103:47)

Oh, wow.

J. Skeets (103:47)

So good. I didn't notice it for the first three times and then I looked at the ground. He said it says Orlando. Oh, my God. It's brilliant. That's awesome, man.

JD (Super Producer) (103:57)

I was at Madison Yards for the premiere of that doc. It was wild. Like I didn't go to. I wasn't there for the doc. We were there to just randomly see a movie. I'm like, why are there a lot of scantily clad women everywhere? In movies are usually visual and movie theater.

Tas Melas (104:15)

It's crazy.

J. Skeets (104:16)

Was it one of our first times at Magic City before we even lived here? Maybe, like, Charles was there. Matty O's.

JD (Super Producer) (104:24)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (104:25)

Friend.

Trey Kirby (104:25)

We lived here.

J. Skeets (104:26)

Oh, that was after we lived here. Okay. Early though, when we moved here.

Trey Kirby (104:29)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (104:30)

Didn't a stripper, like, spill his Champagne or something? 30 bottle or 30 glasses? It was something insane. I remember. And it was a weird situation. Oh, I thought of that. Matty will correct me if I wrong. So let me. We'll keep you updated on that Magic City story. All right, that's rapid fire. We got one more thing to do before we go. We got a new founding member on our substack. I don't know if Chris Bosch has founding members, but we do. And we got to give a shout out to Adam Spadaro. Coming through. Supporting the boys on substack. We appreciate it. We will have what we like, volume 18. I think we're up to dropping later today our links and recommendations saying we're things we're into recently. So keep an eye out for that and join our substack. You don't have to be a founding member like Adam. You can. We would appreciate it, but you can just be a monthly subscriber as well. $5 a month and you get a couple articles a week from us as well as add free episodes of this show. So check it out and thank you, Adam. Salute to you.

Trey Kirby (105:35)

I bet his boys call him Spads, don't you think? Hey, you coming over tonight?

J. Skeets (105:42)

Hey, Spads, you coming over to play spades tonight?

Trey Kirby (105:45)

Oh, call a spad of spade.

J. Skeets (105:49)

All right. Coming up later today at 1:00pm Eastern, an hour and a half from now, Nora will be back here in the classic castle we call it when we talk about the Traitors, which had its season finale last night. We'll talk about that and the reunion that followed as we wrap up our traitors coverage. Season four of the US version, of course, we're underway with Survivor 50. Did that yesterday. Had a blast. Thanks, everybody. Who's checking that out? A lot of people I saw in the comments like, what do I do? Do I have to watch 49 seasons of Survivor before I watch? Like, no, just get in. Yep, just get in.

JD (Super Producer) (106:23)

It's a great time to get in.

J. Skeets (106:24)

We'll hold your hand. We'll get you through it. We take you through every episode. Did you watch, I know you've been a Survivor fan recently. Did you watch the premiere episode of S50?

Tas Melas (106:33)

Yeah, I'd say I watched two and a quarter hours, three hour match. I missed the, the opening. But then, yeah, I got into. Everybody went through their story and all that. Oh, yeah.

J. Skeets (106:47)

So you'll be watching probably for the most part because you're, I guess, Danielle into it, right?

Tas Melas (106:51)

Yeah, she is. She's big into it.

J. Skeets (106:55)

No, no, no.

Tas Melas (106:56)

Yeah. Well, that's a tough. That's a tough ask.

J. Skeets (107:00)

Yeah, sure, sure. I get it. I get it. We'll wrap it up tonight. There were some funny part. It's funny. I will say that. It's a, A silly show. Yeah.

Trey Kirby (107:10)

Some great moments last night.

J. Skeets (107:11)

There were, There were. Ah, the reunion was a little disappointing.

Trey Kirby (107:14)

Oh, I was like Tas on that one. I watched probably, probably 2 1/4 hours of.

Tas Melas (107:19)

I was like, okay, it's.

Trey Kirby (107:20)

It's bedtime.

J. Skeets (107:20)

I was getting angry with Nora last night. I was like, you got tricked? Because remember, Nora was like, the Internet is saying the reunion's spicier than the finale. And like she was getting me excited. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It sucked.

JD (Super Producer) (107:33)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (107:34)

It's like, okay, guys, you're not the Housewives. Even though there's a lot of housewives on Traders. This ain't the same.

Trey Kirby (107:40)

The housewives were the only ones bringing housewives.

J. Skeets (107:42)

Yeah, they were like, oh, we do this. This is our thing.

Trey Kirby (107:45)

That was a.

J. Skeets (107:45)

But everybody El, what do we do? Why are we yelling at each other? It's a freaking stupid game we just played. Anyway, we'll talk about it all here at 1pm no, Buffs has its own YouTube feed, its own podcast feed, and appreciate it if you go and subscribe on any platform of your choice. All right, great week of shows. We'll be back on Monday. NBA Weekend winners and losers. Until then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys.

Trey Kirby (108:08)

Awesome.

Tas Melas (108:09)

Thanks for joining us. And remember, the rapper Young Hamstrings just dropped a great track. That's not true. But I, I could be persuaded that there was an artist named Young Hamstrings.

Trey Kirby (108:22)

How did that punch down on the Huffman?

Tas Melas (108:24)

Right?

J. Skeets (108:25)

How many song titles does he have with Believe in the Title?

Tas Melas (108:30)

He's not really. He's not really about that life, you know?

J. Skeets (108:33)

Embrace the weekend people.

Tas Melas (108:39)

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Tas Melas (110:14)

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Trey Kirby (110:20)

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Honestly, I needed that. I'm feeling a little foggy.

J. Skeets (110:25)

That's your body talking.

Trey Kirby (110:26)

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J. Skeets (110:28)

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Tas Melas (110:31)

Maybe for a second, but I know the others. Thirst, nausea, fatigue, headaches, irritability and dark pee.

J. Skeets (110:38)

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Tas Melas (110:57)

Wrong. It's sugar free. Mango Pineapple.

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