Thunder-Rockets Thriller, Luka Needs Help & NBA on NBC Production Notes

Summary

---

No Dunks Podcast Summary

Episode: Thunder-Rockets Thriller, Luka Needs Help & NBA on NBC Production Notes
Date: October 22, 2025
Hosts: Jayd Skeets, Tas Melis, Trey Kirby, JD
Podcast: No Dunks (iHeartPodcasts)

---

Main Theme

This episode marks the start of the 2025-26 NBA season, with the crew recapping the double-overtime thriller between the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets, the Warriors’ strong win over the LeBron-less Lakers, and their impressions of the NBA’s new partnership with NBC for game coverage. The hosts also dig into the Thunder’s ring ceremony and react to Michael Jordan’s new “Insights Into Excellence” halftime segment.

---

I. Thunder vs. Rockets: Instant Classic to Open the Season

Main Takeaway:
A wild, double-overtime battle where the Thunder celebrated their championship with resiliency, outlasting Kevin Durant’s Rockets. Both teams showed clear strengths and concerning flaws, setting the tone for the NBA's dramatic return.

Key Segments and Insights

• SGA's Second Half Takeover

  • "Five points at half, 30 points after the first half, including 12 in the fourth quarter... He was the MVP for a reason."
    (Trey Kirby, 02:52)
  • SGA (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) scored 12 clutch points in the fourth and led OKC down the stretch, sealing the game after a slow start as Rockets’ defensive intensity waned.
  • Defensive coverage loosened up, allowing SGA to shine late, supported by teammates like AJ Mitchell and Chet Holmgren.

• Chet Holmgren’s Emerging Role

  • “Chet Holmgren was carrying this team in the first half... he was freaking spectacular, hitting shot after shot.”
    (Tas Melis, 04:31)
  • Started 7-for-7 from the floor, helping OKC stay afloat during early struggles.
  • Hosts suggest Holmgren could be an All-Star if Jalen Williams remains out.

• Houston’s Offense: Too Much Through Sengun?

  • "I want to see more Kevin Durant. That's what he's here for... but he was off the ball a ton."
    (Tas Melis, 05:39)
  • Durant excelled early but faded in the second half due to lack of touches, finishing with just two buckets in the final 22 minutes.
  • Rockets played heavily through Alperen Sengun, who had a monster stat line (39 pts, 11 reb, 7 ast, 5 threes).

• Point Guard Woes for the Rockets

  • "They do need a ball handler who can get everybody involved. Because you don’t want Kevin Durant just waiting..."
    (Trey Kirby, 07:19)
  • Amen Thompson showed flashes but isn’t a true point guard. Reed Sheppard struggled on both ends; lack of Fred VanVleet crucial.
  • High turnover count (25 for Rockets) reflected lack of primary playmakers.

• Critical Ending Sequences & Missed Calls

  • Durant attempted to call a timeout the Rockets didn’t have (which should be a technical), missed clutch free throws, and fouled out after biting on an SGA pump fake.
  • "He signaled for the timeout that the Rockets didn't have... should have been a technical, should have been a shot for OKC."
    (Jayd Skeets, 08:34)

• Notable Quote

  • “He booed them right back. That was sort of funny.”
    (Jayd Skeets, 08:34, on OKC fans booing Durant)

• Other Notes

  • Amen Thompson cramped up late despite his youth (“the 22-year-old cramping up”), missing crucial overtime minutes.
  • Serge Ibaka made an appearance in support, rocking a stylish hat.
  • The Rockets’ enormous lineup (potentially “biggest starting lineup in NBA history”) gave OKC problems early.

Memorable Segment Timestamps

• SGA’s performance breakdown: 02:52–05:05
• Durant’s late-game issues: 05:39–08:34
• Timeout controversy: 08:34–10:36
• Rockets’ point guard issues & turnovers: 11:38–13:26
• Chet Holmgren’s future: 16:32–19:18

---

II. Warriors vs. Lakers: Team Cohesion vs. Individual Brilliance

Main Takeaway:
The Warriors, even after all these years, look like a complete, well-oiled team. The Lakers, missing LeBron and with a host of new faces, depend wholly on Luka’s offensive brilliance.

Key Segments and Insights

• Luka’s Herculean Effort, But Not Enough

  • “43, 12 and 9. Good start.”
    (Tas Melis, 25:12)
  • Luka Doncic puts up 43 points, but the Lakers fall short due to lack of support and missed opportunities.

• Warriors’ Balance and Chemistry

  • “The Warriors on the other side, they’re just a good basketball team. It was back cut after back cut...29 assists on 38 makes.”
    (Trey Kirby, 26:11)
  • Kaminga shines as starter (17 pts, 9 reb, 6 ast), especially in the 3rd quarter run.
  • Bench contributions from Buddy Hield, Gary Payton II; Al Horford “looked old” but that’s expected.

• Lakers’ Issues

  • Missed free throws (11), lack of a third scorer, integration struggles (“looked like they were just meeting each other”), and questions about DeAndre Ayton’s role/energy (only 6 rebounds).

• Jimmy Butler’s Veteran Influence

  • “Jimmy Butler…he lived at the free throw line. 16 for 16 there. Perfect.”
    (Jayd Skeets, 23:29)
  • Has side bet with Draymond on free throw % vs. Curry, providing veteran leadership and half-court stability for Golden State.

• Quotes & Notables

  • “It was Luka brilliance versus an entire team of good basketball players for the Warriors. And that was the difference.”
    (Trey Kirby, 26:11)
  • Curry’s gravity opens lanes for backdoor cuts; not a statistical monster night but critical to team flow.

Memorable Segment Timestamps

• Warriors-Lakers recap: 23:29–31:13
• Kaminga’s role and comparison to Shawn Marion: 30:51–32:13

---

III. Up/Down Report: Ring Ceremony, NBC Production, and MJ’s Return

Thunder’s Ring Ceremony

• Mixed feelings: cool ring features (screen inside ring, wearable small ring), but sequence/order for handouts confused hosts.
• The crowd-level energy built up towards SGA’s ovation.
• “At least, like, when Shay’s, you know, hit over 30, I want a little thing to pop out that tells me he’s at 31, 32 points. A little bit more of that, I think would be nice.”
  (Jayd Skeets, 54:42 – on scoreboard graphics, also applies to ceremony energy)

Timestamps: 40:28–47:00

---

NBA on NBC Production Debut

Graphics, Scorebug, and Presentation

• Hosts praise the “entertainment/show” feel—player intros, color-infused graphics.
  • “This is a show to some degree. This is a performance. And then you saw a great scorebug graphic. I love that.”
    (Tas Melis, 49:04)
• Scorebug is compact, vertical, designed for modern viewership/social sharing; some want more popup stats.
• “Vertical videos. I was starting to think about it because it’s right there... sort of designed for social media.”
  (Jayd Skeets, 52:59)

Pregame and Halftime Coverage

• Maria Taylor, Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady comprise “NBA Showtime” pregame.
• Audio issues noted at first, but energy from on-court set and highlight features are positives.

In-Game Commentary

• Tirico, Reggie Miller, Jamal Crawford as lead team.
  • Praise for chemistry, but wish for deeper player analysis instead of constant “this guy reminds me of…” references.
  • “Just talk about what they’re doing... how Shay is able to shed guys with his off arm and still steady himself to knock down the jumper.”
    (Trey Kirby, 51:48)

Roundball Rock, Nostalgia & Player Promos

• Plenty of Roundball Rock (theme song), drawing nostalgia for older fans, confusion/amusement from younger players.
• “Are you serious? I don't know. There's, like, Michael Jordan, like, taking a crack at it...”
  (Jayd Skeets, 58:44 – on younger players not knowing the NBC NBA era)

Timestamps: 49:04–59:02

---

Michael Jordan Halftime Segment: “Insights into Excellence”

• Segment is a multi-part, prerecorded interview with Mike Tirico, to be rolled out throughout the season.
• Jordan’s aura and storytelling are captivating; even mundane anecdotes draw viewers in.
• “I would watch him say anything... He told a story about a rich guy paying him to shoot a free throw. And I was on the edge of my seat, hanging on every word.”
  (Trey Kirby, 59:45)
• Anticipation for Jordan’s takes on modern issues (“Load Management” teased for next week) and current players.

Critiques

• Desire for more topical, reactive, or analytical content from MJ—will he ever address current superstar feats or only evergreen topics?
• “What happens when... Some guy goes for like 60, 40 and 30... you would want to get Jordan's reaction to that. But then it's a clip from two months ago...”
  (Jayd Skeets, 62:34)

Timestamps: 59:30–66:16

---

IV. Fun Moments, Notables, and Listener Engagement

• Inside Jokes & Laughs:

  • Reed Sheppard’s struggles compared to Mark Price, with note that “he looked tiny.”
  • Multiple quips about broadcast graphics (“slams,” “three-point pops,” and “wedgie graphics”).
  • Live chat reactions to overtime; pop culture references.

• Preview and Bets:

  • Hosts preview the full slate for the first “real” NBA night, place “hot dog bet” on Raptors/Hawks game outcome.
  • Discussion of Victor Wembanyama and the studio “troll challenge.”

---

V. Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• SGA’s MVP Resilience:
  “He was the MVP for a reason. He was a clutch player of the year candidate for a reason and he just made so many shots, got exactly where he needed to go, brought his team the championship in game one.” — Trey Kirby, 03:47

• On Rockets’ Point Guard Woes:
  “They do need a ball handler who can get everybody involved. Because you don’t want Kevin Durant just waiting to maybe get the ball.” — Trey Kirby, 07:19

• Thunder’s Depth:
  *"That’s the thing with this Thunder team. This is why they’re the defending champs. There’s all these stretches in games where it’s like, oh, it’s the Kaysen Wallace couple of minutes here, or Caruso on the defensive end…" — Jayd Skeets, 20:32

• NBC Production Praise:
  “You saw analysts, former players who love the game and know the game... This is a show to some degree. This is a performance.” — Tas Melis, 49:04

• On Michael Jordan’s On-Air Presence:
  “He can talk about literally anything, and he’s captivating to watch. Yeah, there’s aura and then there’s Michael Jordan. Nobody is on his level.” — Trey Kirby, 59:45

---

VI. Final Thoughts: Tone and Takeaways

• The episode is energetic, funny, and deeply basketball-nerdy, matching the excitement and newness of NBA Opening Night and NBC’s involvement.
• The group maintains their trademark blend of insightful analysis, honest critiques, and running jokes—making the episode accessible both for serious NBA fans and casual listeners.
• The addition of NBC and Michael Jordan content brings a unique nostalgic flavor, while the reactions to early-season games ground the analysis in the present.

---

For Further Listening:

• For full game recaps, production discussion, and Michael Jordan nostalgia, listen to the episode.
• Join the “Up/Down Report” discussion on their Substack or YouTube comments for fan reactions to NBC’s production and MJ segments.

---

Transcript

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Now through November 4th. Shop the annual beauty event and save $5 when you spend $25 on select beauty products. Shop in store or online for items like Dove Body Wash Native Body Wash, Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser, Dr. Squatch body wash, Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel, Dio Liquid Hand Soap and Olay Body wash. And save $5 when you spend $25 or more. Offer ends November 4th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Kraken Crypto Advertiser]

This October, you can earn up to 2% back when you deposit $1,000 or more on Kraken, the crypto platform with over 400 assets to buy and trade. The bonus is uncapped, so if you deposit $50,000, you could earn up to $1,000 back. Download the Kraken app in the App Store or Google Play and deposit by October 31st. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to US customers through PayWord Interactive, Inc. Terms apply.

[Ryan Seacrest]

I'm Scott Hanson, host of NFL Red Zone.

[Tas Melis]

Lowe's knows Sundays are for football. That's why we're here to help you.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Get your next DIY project done.

[Tas Melis]

Even when the clock isn't on your side. Whether that's a new Filtreat filter or Bosch and Cobalt power tools, Lowe's has everything you need to feel like the MVP of diy. So get it done and earn your Sunday.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Shop now in store and online.

[Tas Melis]

Lowe's official partner of the NFL.

[Jayd Skeets]

Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks podcast. It's Wednesday, October 22, 2025. I'm Jayd Skeets here on the Classic Factory and alongside me as always, Tas Melis.

[Tas Melis]

What's up everybody?

[Jayd Skeets]

Next to him, it's my top shot, hot boy. That's Troy Kirby Ayo. Hey. Oh, and over yonder, making the magic happen. Super producer JD Hello. There he is. Here we are. Hello to everybody on YouTube in the stream team right now. Hit the like button. Subscribe Comment away podcast listeners. Five star ratings and reviews. The NBA season is here and what a start. Let's just jump right into the games. We'll do a little up down report a bit later when it comes to the production with NBC back in our lives. But we got to start with the game. The basketball. It was fun. The Oklahoma City Thunder celebrated their title run last year by beating franchise legend Kevin Durant and the visiting Rockets in double overtime. Yes, first game of the season they played an extra 10 minutes. It wouldn't end. Don't worry about the second game, the doubleheader. We'll eventually get to it. But, man, I don't know where you want to start Trey Kirby with this one because there's so much to unpack in terms of the ending of regulation, what happened in the first overtime and timeouts that were called but not called and all this stuff, that's tough to say.

[Trey Kirby]

I got like 19,000 pages of notes for this one game. And then a few things on the Lakers and the warriors as well once we get into it. Start with Shay Gilchrist Alexander, I guess. I guess five points at half, 30 points after the first half, including 12 in the fourth quarter. Went 4 of 5 from the field. Hit the game tying shot with 2 seconds left. A beautiful move. Basically all of his baskets were on great defenders from the Rockets as well. Whether it be Amen Thompson or Pump faking Kevin Durant drawing the foul, knocking down the free throws. 12 points as well for SGA. And in the last or in the two overtime periods, he was incredible. Slow start. Looked to be getting his teammates involved. I thought in the first half it kind of seemed like the Thunder were missing Jaylen Williams out there with his recovery from wrist surgery. The Rockets were taking their chances doubling sga and he was doing a good job of getting the ball out of his hands, letting other people make plays. AJ Mitchell really helped out, I thought, in the first half, keeping OKC attached. But when it came down to it, SGA was getting to his spots. He said, as things usually do, coverages loosen up as the game went on. It's just hard to keep up that defensive intensity even though the Rockets have a real huge team out there. He was the MVP for a reason. He was a clutch player of the year candidate for a reason and he just made so many shots, got exactly where he needed to go, brought his team the championship in game one. The Game one champions. Oh, wow.

[Jayd Skeets]

They have the belts. I guess they had the belt at the last. At the end of last year because they won the title and they continue to hold the championship belt right now. Rockets could have taken it off them last night.

[Tas Melis]

The Rockets almost did. The Thunder did look just a little sluggish, I suppose. It's ring night. It's night one. No Jalen Williams out there. Even though Chet Holmgren was carrying this team in the first half, I thought he was freaking spectacular, hitting shot after shot after shot.

[Jayd Skeets]

What did he start? Seven for seven from the floor?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, all seven of his Shots. As you said, Shea only had nine points going into the fourth quarter. And boom, boom, boom, here is the freaking mvp. Although on the other side, I know our chats. I know on social media there was an MVP on that side. It wasn't Kevin Durant who was Alpern Shen good. I mean, he was spectacular. Phenomenal. We watched him in Euro Basket and how he grew up this summer. He obviously put a lot of weight on his back on that team. And it looks like he's taken it into the first half of the season. That being said, I'm glad you started with Shay. Cause I know people want to rip Kevin Durant and how he wasn't used enough in this game. And I totally agree. I thought Kevin Durant just wasn't called upon enough in that fourth quarter.

[Jayd Skeets]

You think they went through Sengoon a little too much?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I want to see more Kevin Durant. That's what he's here for. That's what they signed him up for. To kill in the fourth quarters. And it's not his fault, but he was off the ball a ton. He scored one bucket in the fourth quarter. It was really a broken play. And Kevin Duran just did what he does. He scored at the end of a possession, had a bad turnover late in this fourth quarter. He really didn't do a lot. He wasn't called for. I thought. IME Udoka went to Amend Thompson twice. Immediately after a timeout. Three minutes left. Here comes Amend Thompson. What a fricking play. What a freaking finish. I don't care what the box score says about Amend Thompson. He was fricking awesome in this game. I don't care if he was 0 for 7 for 3. I thought the three ball.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I care if you can't shoot threes. I definitely care.

[Tas Melis]

It hurts.

[Trey Kirby]

Four turnovers, that hurts as well. Yes, they need a real point guard. That's a big part of the reason I think KD wasn't involved in the second half. He had 14 in the first half, 23 he ended the game with. And the guy was a bystander for most of the second half. I thought in this game, that's where a real point guard gets Kevin Durant involved. He was just standing in the corner waiting. We saw that forever with the Phoenix Suns. They didn't have a real point guard either. That's been a criticism with Kevin Durant even dating back to the OKC days. Like when Westbrook would start going haywire and shooting the ball every time. It's like, let's get Katie, the ball. He's willing to play in the flow of things, but they need somebody to get him in the flow of things. Cause you're right. This is Alper and Shen G's team. A hundred percent. We caught a little flack in the offseason tasks. I put Alperin Shenun as the Rockets best player. I was right. 39 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, a block and 5 threes. Shooting it with confidence. They're playing through him. I think it works. But they do need a ball handler who can get everybody involved. Because you don't want Kevin Durant just waiting to maybe get the ball.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, Kevin Durant did say in training camp, I can play with a point guard, I can play without a point guard. So I thought he would just be involved more. And it was up to Amen Thompson. It was up to Alpern Shengun, who is frigging awesome. That was great. He's going to have by far his most three pointers made of his career. He hasn't been an incredible three point shooter at all, but he looks so much better. Especially when you want to space out the floor for guys like Man Thompson, Kevin Durant, whoever. It would be great. I did think, you don't have a point guard, you're not a championship team. Sure. Reed shepherd just wasn't that guy yesterday. Defensively, wasn't that guy. Just wasn't fighting enough. Offensively wasn't that guy. It would be nice to have Fred. There is no doubt. I thought it would just be way more on Durant shoulders and it wasn't. He scored six in those last 22 minutes of gameplay, as you'd call it, you know, quarter plus, two overtimes. He had the one bucket in the fourth quarter. He had one in the second overtime. It just felt like he should have been involved more. And he really didn't play a lot in the fourth quarter. He was called on for the last 4 minutes and 55 seconds in that fourth quarter. I guess he's chilling and waiting for the guys to get him involved. I thought. I thought we'd see more.

[Jayd Skeets]

Well, he unfortunately helped the Rockets lose the game. Yes, Kevin Durant did. I mean, he had a rough night. We're being completely honest. It started with him getting booed, mercifully, by the OKC crowd. I think a lot of us thought now that they won the title, maybe the OKC crowd will take it a little easier on him. No, they booed him. He booed them right back. That was sort of funny. But then he did signal for the timeout that the Rockets didn't have like heaven forbid the Rockets go on to win this game in this double overtime. The NBA Internet would have been in an uproar over the obvious timeout that he and sort of the team was calling here and the officials just straight up missed. Should have been a technical, should have been a shot for okc. Then KD missed the first of two free throws in the final seconds of regulation. Let's not forget that part which allowed Shai to even force overtime with that little pretty mid range jumper. And then KD fouled SGA with two seconds left in the second overtime. The pump fake party from Shai, I mean like KD did a pretty good job. He didn't bite on the first whatever five or six moves. But Shay just kept going with it and eventually baited him into it and that fouled him out. So like he even admitted after the game like a couple of those things, like my bad, that's me. But I hear you guys this like it's going to take a little while here and it would help if they had a point guide. I'm with you Trey. To like work out the kinks in terms of like the more of the rhythm of like who's getting touches, who's getting shots. Because Shen Goon, please call him. Shane Goon was awesome. Shane Goon, man, on the broadcast they.

[Tas Melis]

Were going hard on it.

[Trey Kirby]

I like he's got a, he's got like frosted tips now. Frosted tips and a little line shaved in his head. He came in feeling himself and he played awesome.

[Tas Melis]

It was awesome. Yeah, when you look at Durant stats, pretty good. 9 of 16, 23 points. But he needed to touch it more. I do agree. I'm glad that they didn't call a technical free throw on that timeout call though. There's, there's no way you can start an NBA season, start this new NBA deal. Even Adam Silver's gotta be sitting out there saying, no, don't end the first game on a frickin technical foul.

[Jayd Skeets]

I mean it was pretty blatant. That's why the Thunder, you know, coaches and players, they were going ballistic for them. I feel like they don't usually do like go that overboard with their reactions. They were going nuts. Yeah, he finally stopped squinting for a second. His eyes were wide open going. He called a timeout, man, he did a Chris Weber. But yeah, you know, for us as basketball fans it was better they actually got to decide it I guess on the floor. I guess but they missed that one. Zach Sarbis just literally said we missed it.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, it's like the game could have ended in one overtime on free throws and instead it ended up free throws in second overtime.

[Tas Melis]

The second one.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah, that's true.

[Tas Melis]

Although Shay did miss a bunch of key free throws as well that luckily they recovered. I mean, he missed four free throws. Maybe it's opening night and guys missed free throws. We'll get into the second game more missed free throws.

[Jayd Skeets]

Not from Jimmy.

[Tas Melis]

Not from Jimmy is the free throw master. I'd say he's the second best drawer of fouls in the game. Luca number one. But Jimmy's so good.

[Trey Kirby]

No love for sga.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah, he's good.

[Jayd Skeets]

He's pretty good.

[Trey Kirby]

Makeup last night, I. I thought it.

[Jayd Skeets]

Was at least promising in a way that you. That Reed shepherd, as bad as he played, he wasn't like yanked like immediately from Udoka. Like he was given opportunities. But brutal, brutal game. I mean, you said he was exploited on the defensive end. Like their eyes were lighting up. Anytime he's out there attacking him, he's just so small. And then, you know, outside of the odd three pointer that he did hit, he had a couple. He took some really.

[Trey Kirby]

He banked one in from the top of the key.

[Tas Melis]

He.

[Jayd Skeets]

He just doesn't look strong with the ball. He looks scared with the ball to me. When he's. And you're playing the Thunder, you're playing the best defense in the league, which they just run endless guys that are like going to put pressure on you. Maybe it's different against the Wizards and Hornets on a, you know, Thursday night. Yeah. But man, he's going to have to like learn here quickly because they need a point guard. Aman Thompson's great, but he's not a point guard like this. Like you think we're saying we need here or they need.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah. I thought Thompson did a lot of good stuff, but he didn't do the point guard stuff all that well. I thought the Rockets best clutch time offense was running it through Sengun or there was that time that KD ended up with the ball at the top of the key. He had Jalen Williams on him, so Caruso had to double. He dishes it over to Shengun Shangun, got a shot up. That was their best kind of clutch time offense when those two were the guys leading things rather than Amen Thompson. Even though Amen had a couple of really tough buckets in the paint, just getting guys off him, finishing over the top. That was super impressive. But, yeah, people owe Mark Price some apologies right now. Everybody was comparing Ben or Reed shepherd to Mark Price. I think it was just because he has the same haircut. You don't see that kind of haircut in 2025. That is an 80s and 90s haircut. He looked tiny. He looked like he was one inch tall. They went at him every single time. And maybe he does look good against the Wizards and Hornets. You got to beat the Thunder.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah, True.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

Eventually, you have to go through them. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Probably what I didn't like to see was from Reed Shepard. Okay, maybe you just need some. Some reps on the offensive end. But on the defensive end, he wasn't fighting enough. He wasn't fighting over screens. He was just allowing guys to be open. And so that's got to be Reed. That. That's got to be this Rockets team. They are incredible defensive. They need somebod. Amend Thompson more involved off the ball because Amend Thompson was so good at creating for himself. And I think Imei Wodoga wanted that. Again, those two plays. Three minutes left after a timeout, it was Amen Thompson doing his thing. And Dagno wanted the Thunder to play way off men Thompson. And that helps him because he's a giant and because he gets space and because he can see to be able to distribute a little bit. He's just so freaking good. They just want somebody else to be able to bring up the ball. And you said that they didn't yank him. Skeets are totally right that they gave him 28 minutes. So it wasn't like, hey, you can't play here on this team. They are going to try him a time.

[Jayd Skeets]

They almost have no choice. Like with the. No. Van Vliet.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Where's the Aaron Holiday minutes?

[Jayd Skeets]

See? Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Did he. He didn't play. He played Joshua Kogi. 20 minutes. That was crazy. I couldn't believe that guy was out there that long.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Very long. I. I thought, yes, he was way.

[Jayd Skeets]

Better than Tar Eason, and I think that's why Udoka was going with him. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. The Shane Goon. Pronunciation questionable. But the Okogi pronunciation also. I don't know, maybe it was the audio coming through the broadcast, but that one's.

[Jayd Skeets]

That one's always changing, though.

[Tas Melis]

Okogi.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah. Or G. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

Oh, that's Shen Goon. That's his name.

[Tas Melis]

That's his name.

[Jayd Skeets]

Goon sounds like a completely different person, which I do love. I want to run with Shane.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. I started looking up. There's got to be an NHL fighter named Shane who was a goon. Yeah, I could have sworn there was one.

[Jayd Skeets]

Sounds like that's a thing. What else? Any other notes from this game?

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, 25 turnovers for the Rockets. It's the Thunder, so they're going to force a ton of turnovers. They did a lot of that in the second half when they got back into the game. But that's kind of an indication of not having natural playmakers handling the ball. I think basically everybody turned the ball over quite a bit. Four for Sengun, four for Durant, four for Amen Thompson, three for Stephen Adams. Okay, fine for Reed, and four for Tar Eason, who, like you mentioned, Skeets was pretty bad. 1 for 6 from the field as well. But then the rockets shot 11 of 39 from three pointers. Okay, so you didn't shoot it much better. But Houston, I think, is going to run into perimeter problems as time goes on. That's why they're going to be active trying to get a point guard. Cause they're going to need somebody to be a reliable outside presence, I think.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I liked watching this giant lineup. I think Tirico said it was the biggest starting lineup in NBA history. Question mark.

[Jayd Skeets]

I mean, you have four guys that are like 610, 611, if not taller, in Durant, Shane Goon, Stephen Adams and Jabari Smith Jr. And then amen Thompson was the point guard and he's like six, seven. It's massive. That's probably the biggest shepherd out when he's out there. He looks even smaller with these guys.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, so Imodoka has them playing the zone, which they're good at. And also, you know, a little match zone or whatever you want to call it, a guy running up in the middle of. Of of the zone. So they were really good at. At taking away Shay at first, but then, yeah, Shea comes on 24 points in the fourth quarter in overtime. I'm Shea also. Chad Holmgren deserves a lot of love. Jalen Williams can stay injured for as long as he needs. And this could be the year because Jalen Williams is out, that Chad Holmgren automatically gets his All Star appearance. It just feels right if you're going to score this much like Jalen Williams did last year, with Chet Holmgren out, it can reverse. This guy can be your All Star. Last note. Serge Ibaka was there. Pretty cool with this cool hat.

[Jayd Skeets]

Very cool hat.

[Tas Melis]

I don't know how expensive that hat is, but it looks very expensive. I just loved how he was there to celebrate this championship with A team that he obviously played for, but he wasn't there for the championship. He's just there because he just loves OKC and just loves his guys and he's a good dude.

[Jayd Skeets]

That's all.

[Tas Melis]

Good for him. Good for him. To celebrate.

[Jayd Skeets]

In all of our love for Amin Thompson, it was a little weird that the guy that's 22 years old was the one cramping up here on opening night. I think that's what they're saying. I don't think it was a major injury of any sort. But look, he plays hard and it was a long game and it is the first game, so maybe there's the shock to the system, but he's the one that unfortunately had to leave there in those overtime periods. He didn't play a lot when we got into the extra frame, and that's the right thing to do. If he's legit cramping up, which I assume he was, you're not going to force him to play or anything like that in game one. But sort of weird to see again, the super athlete of all athletes out there is the one they had to take off.

[Trey Kirby]

The muscles are.

[Jayd Skeets]

Get some more water in that guy.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he'll get better as the season goes on. I think the chat point is really good. He was incredible last night. 2 of 5 from 3. He's shooting it from even deeper out, shooting it with confidence. Hit a big one in this one, but he scares me because that guy falls hard. He hit the ground a lot. And that's kind of how he got hurt last year, right? Was falling down, broke his pelvis. Because the dude is so skinny, he needs to take a Dwayne Wade class. Here's how you fall. Like, that's something Dwyane Wade had to learn, too, because he was going down, getting hurt a lot, driving to the hoop, but, man, it seems like his bones are going to shatter every time.

[Jayd Skeets]

He falls on the ground.

[Tas Melis]

He's super skinny. It was. It was a workout video that the OKC put out. That was an okc. Whoever put it out, I guess it was him that he was working out. And he had these little shorts and little tank top and you could see all of his bones, really, he's that thin. He was working out hard with a trainer, but everything he was doing, you could literally see how skinny he was. And I was. I questioned a little bit about the. The chest press form, a little bit like he wasn't going deep. He wasn't going deep at all. I mean, it was sort of deep but it wasn't deep. I mean, he's strong enough, he's obviously tough enough, but he's probably not going to gain a lot more weight.

[Jayd Skeets]

Sounds like Chad Holmgren needs the peloton cross training. Tread plus. I'll sell you one later. Chat. Keep listening.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, that's a good screen.

[Tas Melis]

There was a trainer literally standing right beside him. I just thought, get, get deeper. I know that tall guys have problems going extreme, extremely deep with their form. It's hard work for big guys. Our man Justin Vandenberg used to say that to me at the gym on King Street. Justin Vandenber, that name. In 15 years, me and Justin Vanderburg would work out and he. And I'd say, come on, you can do it better in that. He goes, no, I'm way taller than you. I've got more distance to travel.

[Jayd Skeets]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, that's why. That's why Ronnie Stickney was the biggest Jack dude at my high school. He was like, read shepherd height so he could bench press a ton.

[Jayd Skeets]

He said it was sticky.

[Trey Kirby]

Stickney. Oh, Ronnie Stickney.

[Jayd Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

That's true.

[Trey Kirby]

He's a little guy. Another little guy. That was really good. Kayson Wallace, 14 points, seven boards, five assists, four steals, three three pointers. Hit a clutch three in the fourth quarter, hit another one in overtime. He got the start because Jalen Williams is out with his injury. And if that's the guy you just get to throw in in a spot start, you're lucky.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah, I mean, this. That's the thing with this Thunder team. This is why they're the defending champs. There's all these stretches in games where it's like, oh, it's the case in Wallace couple of minutes here. Or Caruso on the defensive end or Dort on the defensive end. Or Hartenstein, I thought had a little stretch in this game. I guess it was in the fourth quarter where he threw an oop and then he had his little patented floater push shot and then he drew a charge. Like, they just have so many guys that they stack up here that just help, you know, all add it all together and it contributes to a winning basketball team. And then Shay's there to take you home at the end who just completely took over.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

In these shots.

[Tas Melis]

And they were able to overcome a bad three point shooting night.

[Jayd Skeets]

Oh, yeah. Because it's the first night blowout in.

[Tas Melis]

All honesty, if OKC.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

They shot 52 three pointers, 25% on 52 attempts.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

So there's, you know, how many more times this season Will they honestly shoot that bad from three? Maybe a handful over the course of 82 games.

[Tas Melis]

So yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

Anyway, super entertaining. We got lots more to talk about when it comes to the production and all of that when we get to the up down report, but what a start. And the live chat on Substack was buzzing. It was fun, especially when it went into overtime, then a second overtime, and then will it ever end?

[Tas Melis]

That's what Mike Tirico said. Yeah, double overtime, but might last all night.

[Trey Kirby]

Keep the gym open, he said.

[Jayd Skeets]

What is this, baseball? Okay, well, let's move to the short game now.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway now through November 4th. Shop the annual beauty event and save $5 when you spend $25 on select beauty products. Shop in store or online for items like Dove Body Wash, Native Body Wash, Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser, Dr. Squatch body wash, Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel, Dial Liquid Hand Soap and Olay Body wash, and save $5 when you spend $25 or more. Offer ends Nov. 4. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Kraken Crypto Advertiser]

This October, you can earn up to 2% back when you deposit $1,000 or more on Kraken, the crypto platform with over 400 assets to buy and trade. The bonus is uncapped, so if you deposit $50,000, you could earn up to $1,000 back, download the Kraken app in the App Store or Google Play and deposit by October 31st. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to US customers through PayWord Interactive, Inc. Terms apply.

[Tas Melis]

Limu Cable and Doug Here we have.

[Jayd Skeets]

The Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug Limu.

[Kraken Crypto Advertiser]

Is that guy with the binoculars watching us?

[Jayd Skeets]

Cut the camera, they see us.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty.

[Jayd Skeets]

Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Very underwritten by.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Liberty Mutual Insurance company and affiliates.

[Jayd Skeets]

Excludes Massachusetts in the nightcap, the warriors reminded us that they're still very much here, guys. 119, 109 victory over the LeBron. Less Lakers. LeBron looking cool on the sidelines in his glasses. Lucas scored 43 for LA, but Jimmy Butler, he lived at the free throw line. 16 for 16 there. Perfect. And Kaminga got the start. Thought he played pretty well, scored 17 points as again the warriors beat the Lakers. We'll start with you here, tas. Your takeaways from this one.

[Tas Melis]

Well, the Golden State warriors are the better basketball team number one then. The Lakers don't have a lot of offensive weapons. I will say though they were able to keep it at least somewhat close despite giving away points. They missed 11 free throws on their side. Weird stuff. They're free Luca, they're free. Austin Reeves, weird. That being said, they were able to keep fighting and JJ Redick has these guys fighting even though they got down low or got down, you know, fairly big in the first quarter. Here comes Marcus Smart to anger people on the other side. He did a great job of that. Vanderbilt chipped in to anger people and so did Jake Laravia. They did a good job of that to keep these guys fighting back. Their top two were the guys who just scored and scored a ton. Austin Reeves did look good, dropping 26 beside Lucas. 43, 43, 12 and nine. 12 rebounds, nine assists for Luca. And as we talked about yesterday, we made our bold predictions for the season courtesy of our our fans on substack who chimed in and it was Huevos Bancheros who said Luca is going to average 35, 10 and 10 this season. 43, 12 and 9 to start.

[Jayd Skeets]

Damn.

[Tas Melis]

Good start. Good start Huevos. We're almost there. So the Lakers were full of mistakes. I mean there's just odd things. You mentioned haircuts, Jake Laravia, his questionable haircut. He can't inbound the ball to DeAndre Ayton that what's going on here. Luka can't alley to Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt really struggled in this one. Free throws, missed threes. I will say I think there's, there's reasons to be optimistic considering the fight for the Lakers to get them to a point where it was fairly close till the end of the game when they went on a run. Three minutes left. Steph Curry got out to that, gave Vincent three point shot and blocked him. Steph Curry blocked a frickin shot and that was really the game for me when they couldn't put enough points together. But I do think there's optimism even though they need a third score. It ain't gonna be Gabe. I don't think on, on a night to night basis obviously would help LeBron out there but I do think there's a good fight level on this Lakers team.

[Jayd Skeets]

What did you think either of the warriors or the Lakers?

[Trey Kirby]

I thought the Lakers had two good players last night. Luca looked great. He was dominant for the most part. He was in the lane the entire night. Went 13 of 14 in the paint. Was also doing his Fine guys for lobs kind of thing. He looked good. He does look skinnier. He was less sweaty, but he played the exact same way. He was engaged on defense, I'll give him that. But it wasn't like, you know, we saw over the summer. I feel like a ton of highlight clips from Luca's first couple of years in the league where he's blowing by guys for dunks. This was still, slow down, Luka Doncic mode. The warriors on the other side, they're just a good basketball team. It was back cut after back cut last night against the Lakers. So many baskets off movement, 29 assists on 38 makes for golden State. And you can just tell that they are a team that's connected, that has a little bit of time playing together, even if it was only 27 games or whatever it was at the end of last season. Horford an easy fit. Kaminga, like you're saying, was really good. This was a team that looks like they know how to play together, whereas the Lakers, we know they barely played together at all during the preseason. They're also throwing in a whole bunch of new players to begin with. They're trying to figure out how to get deandre Ayton involved. He didn't have a very good game at all. Didn't hit the glass at all. That's something you should be able to easily do. But I think over time, Luka, Reeves, LeBron, when he comes back, will find better ways to get Ayton involved. But basically it was just Luka brilliance versus an entire team of good basketball players for the Warriors. And that was the difference. To me, they look like a connected team and the Lakers looked like they were just meeting each other.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I think that it's what sort of happens when you maybe can't or don't take the preseason as serious as some other teams. You're going to look like that maybe. And yeah, they're going to be a different squad when. If I guess when LeBron comes back. But Golden State scored 119 and 100 possessions. They played fast. They obviously got to the line a ton. I mean, Jimmy Butler, like I said, perfect. Curry got there a decent amount too. And Kaminga really blew the game open in the third quarter. Like it was close at half. Like you said, Lakers were playing hard, they were competing. But in the third quarter, Kaminga had 13 points. He hit three threes, backdoor cut, using Curry's gravity. Man, Curry didn't have a spectacular line like in the end, like 23 points hit a couple threes have four assists. His gravitational pull, it's like stronger than ever. You are taught in basketball to guard the ball, but when you play the Dubs, you guard Curry and you can just use that against them. And the warriors have done this for a decade plus now, but it's really glaring against not a great Lakers defensive team. Like there's so many times, like you said Trey, where it's just so many eyes on him and so far out, just cut back door. There's like literally nobody there because of what he can do. So that was, that was awesome. We got the fake comeback, that's what that game was with from the Lakers last night. A classic fake comeback down big. Reeves sort of got going really late, I thought, and you know, made it interesting until some defensive plays. And then Curry hit that, I don't know, that bomb, that moon ball bomb to really end it with 50 seconds left.

[Tas Melis]

That's a fair to call that a bomb. It was a deep three, that's for sure. Yeah, he sealed it then in this second quarter, I'm sure there's people who hated and loved the moments of Marcus Smart coming off the bench to just go at Steph Curry. And he was both drawing fouls on Curry and also fouling Curry.

[Jayd Skeets]

Smart moments or minutes there.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, wild. But JJ Redick basically said, as you said, just go front guard that guy, go get him. Go sick him. And he did and he helped. They, they did bring it back. It was a one point game at half. That ridiculous. Jimmy Butler catching an airball right before half and somehow getting a foul call. Really well done. Put them up just one going to the third quarter. And then here comes the perfect warriors team cycling the ball. Their bench was ridiculously spectacular. We questioned how old this team was. Here comes Buddy, five threes off the bench. I thought Gary Payton II was really, really good just knowing what he's doing out there. And will Richard Rook from Florida, also really good. Al Horford off the bench, he looked old. I mean, that's what he's going to do. I guess if there's any worry, maybe Al is not himself quite yet, but that'll come. But as there's just so many good players in the starting lineup, the Kaminga looking different. I mean, he was just cutting off the ball. The Steve Kerr comparison that the broadcasters heard from Steve, that he should be Sean Marion. I mean, yeah, he should be. That would be the, the goal, I guess, of Jonathan Kaminga. Can he be that in game one? He was.

[Trey Kirby]

He short circuited some possessions I thought in the first half, but in the second half, he was really good. They also gave him the Luka Doncic ass the entire night. And look, Luka gave him baskets all night, but he was putting in an effort. Nine rebounds is huge for Kaminga. I don't know if he's going to shoot 4 for 6 from 3 every single game. That's kind of found money, I think. But if he plays as hard as he does or as. As he did last night, he deserves the start.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

For the rest of the season, if that's a good way to preserve Horford for the playoffs as well. I do think the warriors will probably mess with lineups over the course of the year just because sometimes they'll want some more size in there against the team that maybe is tougher inside than the Lakers are. But that was what you want to see from Jonathan Kaminga after the way the summer went.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah. Six assists for Kaminga, two. One shy of his career high. So the ball was not just stopping with him. And you said nine. Nine rebounds. And he had one offensive rebound late in the game that they could not stop talking about. The warriors were loving it. They basically addressed that one offensive rebound. Draymond was going nuts. Like, yeah, you're an athletic freak. You got to make big plays like that. That's how you help us win games here. So, you know, I like that, you know, trying to at least build him up here. There is a role for you on this team. And he was awesome. You know, again, not a huge, huge stat line, but just good enough that you're like, oh, yeah, he should start. Oh, yeah. He gives us a boost of athleticism, especially now paired with Jimmy. But shooting is key. Like, that's nice.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

Because Jimmy's not going to shoot threes and hit threes for the most part.

[Tas Melis]

Draymond isn't either.

[Jayd Skeets]

No. So that's. Yeah. If he can hit or at least take and hit him at a decent percentage there from deep, that opens up some things. I love Jimmy having a wager with Draymond Green. Did you read about this? That he's going to finish the season with a better free throw percentage than Steph Curry? Yep. Steph Curry is statistically the greatest free throw shooter in NBA history at 91.1%. Butler said. This sounds like a task quote to me. I don't think it's a bad bet, but it's kind of a bad bet. So Jimmy's got a little game within the game here going with Stephen in terms of who's going to be the best free throw shooter on the team. Something to watch.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

When you're vets, you need things to keep you hungry. And obviously to see Jimmy perform like this in game one, you got to be super, super happy. I know people will question whether this is going to happen in January and February and all that, but coming off last year and the way it started for the Miami Heat, this is a incredible start that they came to training camp ready to play. This warriors team looks like they could be the first seed or the number one seed in October, November, December, like they should be. They could be. And so that's the scary thing for the rest of the Western Conference. So that good.

[Jayd Skeets]

So of the two teams that lost last night, the Rockets and now the Lakers, which one? It sounds like you're a little more concerned with what you saw from LA than you are Houston. Is that fair?

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

I think for sure. I think almost everybody that LA brought in in the off season didn't perform well last night. They also look to be at a disadvantage athletically and this is against the warriors team that is starting the oldest starting or can start the oldest starting lineup if they want to. The warriors aren't like a crazy athletic team and they were running laps around la and I don't really know how that changes. Like Jimmy Butler has been this guy since he came to the Warriors. He's such a perfect fit for them because they love the freelance game Golden State does. Jimmy can play that game. But when it's time to like slow it down and get a bucket, you heard Steve Kerr afterwards. He's like, we love chaos, but we love the stability that Jimmy brings. He was just abusing Gabe Vincent too small all night. Five buckets in the paint for Jimmy and then 16 free throw attempts as well. That also sends Curry to the line more often once they get into the bonus. It's just nice to have like the flashy up tempo game and then the running game as well with Jimmy Butler. So I don't necessarily know what the Lakers solution is because Marcus Smart doesn't look like a good athlete out there. Jared Vanderbilt's maybe their best athlete outside of LeBron. He didn't score last night. So I don't know how you put these guys on the court and play an up tempo game. Things slow down in the playoffs, that's going to be the advantage for LA for sure. But they need LeBron back. That's the main thing. They really need LeBron back and that's.

[Tas Melis]

Going to help yeah, they need somebody to find their ability to shoot because when Luca penetrates the corner, shooters generally are open, but they need somebody to be able to do that. And the Vanderbilt shots, who I'm sure JJ Redick is thinking, man, if this guy could shoot, I would play him a ton because he is good defensively, he is long, he's super athletic. But those were air balls coming from the corner. They were, they were way off. Well, they're way off and I've got hope that he can find his shot, but it ain't looking like it right now. Who is going to do that? I mean, they just need another shooter. They were 8 of 32 from three point land. Obviously Luca had a bad night and we want to think that Gabe can do. I think that Gabe can shoot better than that as an off the ball shooter. But he's number one. He shouldn't be guarding Jimmy. He's too small for Jimmy. And the Dalton connect thing where he ain't playing at all is a question if you want better offensive players. I'm not sure exactly why he ain't in there, but him and Jake Laravia, I mean he should be able to shoot. There should. There should be enough shooters around the Lakers. That is the, that's the worry is that the three point shooting was not there.

[Jayd Skeets]

So if we're selling our Lakers stock, you're buying, tentatively buying still.

[Tas Melis]

Well, listen, the Golden State warriors are the better team. That's. That's fine. But you know, I went with the. Luka Doncic is going to be the MVP because he's going to score a billion points on this team that needs scoring. Sure worked out. But I would think that somebody else would be able to shoot the three ball around a. Obviously the DeAndre thing is a little bit worrisome because they, they need. I would.

[Jayd Skeets]

Whoever saw that.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I know. I mean Jackson Hayes looked funner out there. Like he looked like he was out there to play and out there to dunk while DeAndre, he got a couple post calls. You could see JJ Redick was literally going to him in the post. In that third quarter when the Lakers started to pull away. Excuse me. The warriors started to pull away, but I don't know if that's ever going to be.

[Jayd Skeets]

Andrew Ayton definitely has proven to be the type of player where it feels like you have to get him involved, get him some touches, get him some shots and then pray that he's like gonna give a little effort more on the defensive end and on the glass and stuff like that he won't just like naturally do that. It feels like, like where some other guys, that's their M.O. it's like, don't worry, I'll get mine in the flow, I'll get mine on the glass. Like, no, you gotta keep that sort of big man engaged and happy offensively. And I'm not saying you shouldn't, you should do that. But yeah. Not a great first game, I thought from Ayton. Even though like what he five or seven, I think.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he's got great touch.

[Jayd Skeets]

It's fine.

[Trey Kirby]

He really does. But he only had six rebounds. That's the only real number I care about with Aiden.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Is he's not going to get to the free throw line. You saw it a billion times. He's shooting hook shots and fadeaways. That's just his game. He doesn't roll hard to the rim. He would rather catch in the mid post and shoot it right over the top. That's different than Jackson Hayes. That's different than all of the role guys that Luka played with. And Gafford and Derek Lively, they got try and get to the rim and dunk it. You know, lively made what, 33 straight or gaffer made 33 straight shots. They were all dunks. You know, he's not shooting hook shots. That's just not Aiden's game. They're going to have to figure out the chemistry there with Luca reeves and then LeBron when he comes back. Lebron is usually played with a roller as well. Maybe he flashes back to the Chris Bosh days. That's kind of what Ayton plays like in the mid range game. But six rebounds is unacceptable. You're the tallest guy out there. You got to be 10 plus boards.

[Jayd Skeets]

All right, well, let's take a quick break here and then we'll get into the up down report to talk about some NBC production. Peloton is shaping the future of fitness with the brand new Peloton Cross training Tread plus. Powered by peloton iq. Are you listening, Chet Holmgren? This machine, it's smart, it's great. The new Peloton Cross training Tread plus is peloton's most elevated equipment with real time guidance and endless ways to move both alone or with your favorite instructors like Andy Rad, Rebecca Tremaine. Andy Rad, Rebecca Germaine. Andy Rad, Rebecca Germaine. There's something there. This is cross training reimagined with features designed to make your workout more personal. Peloton IQ plans your workouts, tracks your progress, corrects your form corrects your form. Chet Holmgren. And offers insights and guidance that help you unlock new breakthroughs. And that swivel screen. Come on already. That swivel screen offers endless ways to train and level up. So you can go from running on the Tread plus to strength training or yoga off of it with one smooth little spin. So nice. Peloton is built for breakthroughs. Let yourself run, lift, sculpt, push and go explore the new peloton cross training tread [e-mail] that is something that peloton.

[Tas Melis]

Does not have is a chime, a song. Like, it's just like a, you know, little, little Chinese.

[Jayd Skeets]

You liked my Andy Rad. Rebecca Jermaine.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, why not? That's one thing they're missing.

[Jayd Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

We're working on.

[Jayd Skeets]

Love it.

[Kraken Crypto Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

Okay, let's get into the up down report. The up down report. If you are new. I asked the guys a question and they tell me whether they're up or down on it. Thumbs up. Thumbs down. Play along in the stream team right now on YouTube or in the YouTube comments or tweet at us o dunksync. First one, guys, I just want to know up or down on the Thunders ring ceremony. So them getting the rings, them raising the banner, maybe the rings themselves. Shout out to Justin's.

[Trey Kirby]

Shout out to Justin.

[Jayd Skeets]

Oh my God. Unbelievable. That's back in our lives. What'd you think overall TK up or down?

[Trey Kirby]

No complaints.

[Jayd Skeets]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

It was fine.

[Jayd Skeets]

So you're like in the middle, basically.

[Trey Kirby]

Are these ever exciting if you're not a fan of the team fair. I mean, they just go out. You see a guy like be wowed at the ring. It's cool that there was like a screen on the inside of it so they could watch their highlights. I do like that it comes with a more wearable ring on the inside. Yo, dog, we heard you like rings. So we put a ring inside of your ring. But the one inside is more like it. No, just like a standard little circle with their numbers on it. You're probably gonna wear that more often than the big fist size ring.

[Tas Melis]

Yep, yep.

[Trey Kirby]

But the bomber jackets were pretty cool.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

The thing that really had me scratching my head was the order of the way that the players were brought out. It's like, okay, we're doing Dylan Jeans first. Pull your pants up, bro. Come on, man.

[Jayd Skeets]

Come on.

[Trey Kirby]

Dylan jeans shows up then. Then Brandon Carlson is there. Okay. I'm like, okay, these are like the bit players at the end. Nicola topic gets a ring. Then we start Getting into, like, the fan favorites. Huge pop for Isaiah Hartenstein. Huge pop for Alex Caruso, Kayson Wallace. Then suddenly we're back to J. Will and Isaiah, Joe and Usman Jang. Guess what's next. J Dub Chat.

[Jayd Skeets]

Cool. Where did the starters. Nope.

[Trey Kirby]

Aaron Williams or Aaron Wiggins and kenrich Williams. I was like, how does this make any sort of sense? We were going up and down, up and down, up and down. It made sense to me that Dort and SGA were the last guys, you know, the first guys there, I guess, outside of probably kenrich Williams. But long timers who have really kind of been culture guys for okc. So that was really throwing me off. I also thought a boring banner. NBA Champions, Oklahoma City Thunder. It's Navy. It wasn't all that exciting. But, like, this is not for the casual fan. This is not for even the die hard fan. This is for OKC fans.

[Tas Melis]

I think I do like how they all put their hands on the.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah, I did like that moment.

[Trey Kirby]

That was cool.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, that was good. And then they took the good photo in front of it.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They all took that photo. They all looked at their rings more. So like an Instagram photo, you know, more than other teams, I think.

[Jayd Skeets]

Let's do our thing where Kayson Wallace having some fun with that moment.

[Tas Melis]

No, I didn't.

[Jayd Skeets]

He was putting up the middle finger. You can see him chuckling like, look at this. Look at this, Leon. Just bring out his middle finger.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah. I got to go up. I felt good. Yeah. The jacket with the gold, I'm always jealous of whenever a team puts that on. Looked great. I mean, other than that, they seemed excited. Chad Holbren loved his new ring, as you said, the double ring. Smart.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah, that's cool.

[Tas Melis]

It's pretty cool.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah. I do like the rings. I can't believe they're from Justin's. That's so good. The only thing I would add is I wrote in my notes, is there any guy in the league with a bigger and more permanent smile than big Jalen Williams? He is a smiley guy.

[Trey Kirby]

Always cheesing.

[Jayd Skeets]

Always cheesing. I love the crowd leveling up, of course, the pop for sga. I was with you, tk. I was like, what is the order here? What is going on here? But save the loudest ovation, obviously, for their MVP and their finals mvp. That was cool. And I just wrote one of the weirdest DAP trains ever. You're dapping up Adam Silver. Then you're dapping up Sam Presti, and you're finally dapping up owner Clay Bennett. That's a weird dap train in my mind. But that's how they got their ring at the end. Sort of cool that every guy is basically still on the team too.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

It was like, you know, usually after a championship, there's people leaving, new guys, whatever. I know the new guys in wouldn't get a ring, but you know my point, right? It's like, yeah, they're just all there still. They're basically all playing except Dylan Jeans.

[Trey Kirby]

Dylan jeans? Yeah. Tyler Frederickson here in the stream team says it was based on how long they've been with the team. That seems about right.

[Jayd Skeets]

You did say Dort and sga, right?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, they were the last guys. Okay. And Kenrich Williams was near the end and he's been there a long time as well. Do you think SGA misspoke at the end of his thing when he says this ring is as much ours as it is. As it is yours. You think it was supposed to be flipped?

[Jayd Skeets]

I think so. I would, yeah. Yeah. Also, no. Not even, you know, for. They hold themselves with some confidence. SG SGA does as he should. He's the mvp. Not even a hey, let's go get another one. Let's run it back. Nothing. Absolutely. It was very muted, I thought in his little talk to the crowd. Nothing.

[Tas Melis]

That's who he is. He's always been like that.

[Jayd Skeets]

He's very consistent in his life.

[Tas Melis]

He's very consistent in his life.

[Jayd Skeets]

Okay, so overall.

[Tas Melis]

Overall, whatever. Yeah, it was good. Hey, you mentioned the DAP line of went Silver Presti, Bennett. Yeah. Odd order. They had to switch. The production guy had to say, hey, Bennett Presti switch spots. But after Adam Silver handshake, both those guys, they were ready to hand it out. They had to switch. But I do like as we'll get to the NBC production. I did like the little name keys. The graphic that came up that said Clay Bennett, Sam Presti. The colors were good. You don't see that, do you? And past.

[Jayd Skeets]

I can't. I can't remember.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I know. But it was just good. It was just well done. Production wise.

[Jayd Skeets]

I thought I can't remember the Brad Stevens lower third. I'm sorry.

[Tas Melis]

I'm only human, man. Nice colors. I know we're geeks and we're getting into the NBC production and so maybe I had my. My eyes focused on that. But it was solid. It was great to see Clay and Sam and Adam.

[Jayd Skeets]

I didn't think they booed Adam Silver hard enough either.

[Tas Melis]

And they Boo that guy. Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

Not as. Not as hard as most crowds. Well, it was funny. They. Sam Presti. Yay. Clay Bennett, the owner. Yay. He was even shocked you could see him. He's like, well, you know, as an owner, you don't usually get a nice reception like that. Thank you. And then obviously, you go to Commissioner Silver. That's when you usually boo. There was booze. I think it was over the top.

[Tas Melis]

Booze, right.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah. There's two Nice in Oklahoma, I think is the point.

[Tas Melis]

Was Adam trying to cry? What? Adam seemed extremely emotional. Not trying something.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah, he was.

[Tas Melis]

He was being emotional and hugging Clay and hugging Sam and he had a.

[Jayd Skeets]

Really nice hug for sga. He's like, oh, thank you, man. Thank you. Appreciate you. You're so consistent.

[Tas Melis]

I want to know was.

[Jayd Skeets]

I don't think he was trying.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Was he? Somebody. Somebody asked him.

[Jayd Skeets]

Allergies, maybe.

[Tas Melis]

He looked like he wanted. He wanted to.

[Trey Kirby]

What was the pollen count?

[Tas Melis]

Joking.

[Jayd Skeets]

See yesterday, Tumbleweed to the eye.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway this fall. Take care of the little ones in the family with Baby Club Savings now through November 4th. Spend $25 on select Baby Club products and save $5. Shop for items like Pedias shore bottles, Pedialyte powder packs, Huggies baby wipes, Huggies diapers, Gerber puffs and Gerber pouches. And save $5 when you buy $25 or more on participating products. Offer ends November 4th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Kraken Crypto Advertiser]

This October, you can earn up to 2% back when you deposit a thousand dollars or more on Kraken, the crypto platform with over 400 assets to buy and trade. The bonus is uncapped, so if you deposit $50,000, you could earn up to $1,000 to back. Download the Kraken app in the App Store or Google Play and deposit by October 31st. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to US customers through PayWord Interactive Incorporated. Terms apply.

[Jayd Skeets]

Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug Limu.

[Kraken Crypto Advertiser]

Is that guy with the binoculars watching us?

[Jayd Skeets]

Cut the camera. They see us.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty.

[Jayd Skeets]

Liberty, Liberty, Liberty Savings.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Very underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Affiliates.

[Jayd Skeets]

Excludes Massachusetts. All right, let's go. Next one here. Next one. We're already teasing it. Let's finally talk about it up or down on the NBA, on NBC's production. So there's this. This encompasses a lot, right? Maybe the pregame show, the. The graphics, the score bug, the commentary, everything, all in TASS will start with you here. What do you think, up or down?

[Tas Melis]

I'm up. First of all, you saw analysts, former players who love the game and know the game. I think that's nice. Then you saw player introductions. All right here. This is a. This is a show to some degree. This is a performance. And then you saw a great scorebug graphic. I love that. I think they just did a great job of packaging as this entertainment element, this entertainment feature of who they are and what they are. And I think Adam Silver and the NBA made that a goal when they sat at the table here with NBC and ESPN and Amazon. We want to make this more of a show. I think we see it in other leagues. I'll bring up baseball again because I did talk to somebody who said that they, along with their partners, had this discussion about making it a bigger performance because you gotta feature your stars, and they've done that more in baseball than ever in the past. Cameras are all over them. They find them on the field. They find them in the dugout and in the NBA here. Now, in the first part of this deal, I think that was a. Definitely something that was a priority for both the NBA and the partners, and I think they did a great job.

[Jayd Skeets]

Do we think they're going to continue with the player introductions when these games are on NBC? Or was this opening night ring ceremony type of special thing?

[Trey Kirby]

Or they're doing Sunday nights, right?

[Jayd Skeets]

Eventually, yes.

[Trey Kirby]

I think they will probably do it then. I think those will be the marquee games because it's kind of hard to judge because we didn't really actually see the beginning of Lakers, Warriors. Right. But opening night, game one, Thunder, Rockets, that felt like a huge game. I think part of that is having Mike Tirico, the guy's like an NBA Finals vet in the past, he does the Olympics. So it felt big having him on the broadcast. Catching up with Game two midway through, that just felt like another regular season game to me. But maybe they did the. If you actually got to see the full thing, you see the full starting lineups, you see the pageantry of it. But. But it definitely felt like a big production, I thought, from NBC for Ring night.

[Jayd Skeets]

What did you think of Tirico, Reggie Miller and Jamal Crawford on the call with that. With that first game specifically?

[Trey Kirby]

I like it. I like that Reggie and Jamal Crawford clearly like basketball. Like they are very enthusiastic about watching. I thought a little too much. This guy is. This guy, you know. Shake El Justice Alexander made two mid range jumpers and at one point he got compared to Jamal Crawford and the next one he got compared to Sam Cassell. The guy is the best mid range player in the game. Compare him to like maybe some of the greats. If you're gonna compare him to anybody. How about Michael Jordan, the guy that's on your network.

[Jayd Skeets]

Right, right.

[Trey Kirby]

The Sam Cassell. Come on. Other than that, I thought that was a bit of a crutch. But you know, that's an easy way to talk about the game and an easy note going forward. Like just talk about what they're doing. Talk about how Shay is able to shed guys with his off arm and still steady himself to knock down the jumper. Yeah. Who else?

[Jayd Skeets]

There was. Shen Goon was compared to Dirk at one point because he was on fire from three.

[Tas Melis]

And Jokic.

[Jayd Skeets]

And Jokic, which is fair enough. There were other. Some Penny Hardaway was mentioned. Was that Amen Thompson. I don't know who. Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Which was fun.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

You know, I forget. I forget who. But it's. It happened a couple of times. Guys getting fouled on three pointers. How can you not compare him to Reggie Miller and Jamal Crawford who are like the two best four point play guys up until, you know. Basically James Harden got going. So I can understand that one there on the broadcast comparing each other to the guys that are out there for sure. But there was a. There was a lot of. Remember this guy?

[Jayd Skeets]

Oh yeah, there was.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

And what did you think of the score bug that TAs really liked? Obviously it's a lot smaller than we've seen on some of the other broadcasts. Were you a fan of it doesn't matter. Yeah, I think it's pretty small.

[Trey Kirby]

I thought it was tall.

[Jayd Skeets]

It's fine. It might be tall, but it doesn't take up a lot of screen. In fact, I actually think it's sort of designed for social media. Vertical videos. I was starting to think about it because it's right there and it doesn't like go all the way possibility. Instead of putting a score bug in a corner or something like that, then you're gonna not have it.

[Tas Melis]

But I like the length of it. I thought it was really solid. I like how the colors of each team popped behind their names. They're pretty bright. I thought it just looks super clean.

[Kraken Crypto Advertiser]

Great font selection.

[Tas Melis]

Even when they went to the player stat Lines. It just looked good because it was a little taller. I guess you're right. It was. They're a little. The font was a little fatter. I was totally fine with it.

[Jayd Skeets]

What did you think about the little slam and three point shot graphics that would pop up after a particular play? Cheesy.

[Tas Melis]

A little cheesy. But I like so much of it. I was okay letting that roll. The question also was under the peacock logo, which is dead in the middle, it looks like sort of like a chalkboard wipe. Like it looks whitey slash black. That's kind of weird. Okay, but. But I think overall.

[Jayd Skeets]

You mean where it said like American Express tip off and all that?

[Tas Melis]

No, no, like right behind the peacock. Okay.

[Jayd Skeets]

I didn't notice. Business.

[Tas Melis]

What's that color all about? I did, but I did like the colors of the teams. They. Look again, it kind of looked like this was a bigger deal. I just think it was a solid logo. I loved when I saw Clay Bennett, Oklahoma City owner, and that score bug bug that. The key graphic underneath him. I just thought. I think they did. They did well with their. Their scorebook. Now, I don't like the long ones. I'm not a big fan of them. Monster left to right.

[Jayd Skeets]

My. My one knock on the scoreboard. Overall, I thought it was fine, but I could have used a little more like pop outs, let's call them. For how many points does Shea have? How many points does Duran have? What's he shooting? Like, we would see a lower third, like a low, low bar with some of their stats. I need, I like, at least, like when Shay's, you know, hit over 30, I want a little thing to pop out that tells me he's at 31, 32 points. A little bit more of that, I think would be nice. But I didn't mind the little slam and three point graphics. I wonder if there's any other ones. Like we were wondering in the chat last night, is there a wedgie graphic?

[Trey Kirby]

What else do they have?

[Jayd Skeets]

Is there a little underwear that pops up when we get a wedgie? It'd be hilarious. But yeah, I don't know.

[Trey Kirby]

It was playful. I like that. And it wasn't minimalist. I like that. What I didn't like it. Didn't have timeouts. Like it should have all the information.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah, it doesn't have that. You're right. It kept it very.

[Trey Kirby]

But it did have the score, which is the important. Do we need a score bug? Didn't used to have them game from the 80s. They flash it up like every five minutes. That's weird.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

But also you can see the whole court.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah. So maybe just bring it up. Bring it up every once in a while.

[Trey Kirby]

It means you have to pay attention more.

[Jayd Skeets]

Big time.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Well, that's why I kind of like that it's small. There's just the score. That's all you see. You don't see anything else. And it doesn't take away a lot of the court.

[Jayd Skeets]

Right. I have some notes on the pregame show and, and the team that they've got here. I guess one of their A teams, Maria Taylor, was with Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady. I don't know how much you guys saw of the hour, pregame show or jd. They had some brutal audio technical difficulties to start. I don't know if Tracy McGrady's earpiece was working. He kept like he had no idea what people were talking about. It was cool. They were on the court. I sort of liked it, like it gave it more energy, that big game feeling. I liked the little circular bird nest looking desk they had even, which I think can change colors. So it looked cool. But yeah, they just had some audio technical difficulties which they seemed to figure out. But I had a note. They did a thing. They showed this clip about the OKC guys, Chet J Dub sga talking about fashion, of course, and like grading each other's fits. Okay, awesome. Then they came back and then Maria Taylor and the production team showed some old fits of your Melo, of your VC and of your McGrady. And they did not show McGrady in his big ass pantsuit. Like, this is where you differ from tnt. This is why those guys are legends, because they will take shots at those guys and they take it in stride. And that's hilarious. But it's like I just couldn't believe they didn't show it. Come on, you got to show them a Grady pants.

[Trey Kirby]

He's not talking about.

[Jayd Skeets]

No, I know, and that's what I'm getting at. It's like you could tell like that it was talked about in a pre production meeting.

[Trey Kirby]

Don't show my pants.

[Jayd Skeets]

Hey, can we show Tracy McGrady's big ass pants? No. Not on night one. Absolutely, absolutely not. No. Come on.

[Tas Melis]

You're. You're right, you're right. I don't know about the pants, but you could have easily had plenty of meetings with Vince Carter and saying, how can we make fun of your cuz? How can we do it Something right, right. I mean, play together with them.

[Jayd Skeets]

But those guys Have a great spirit. They do love the game. I actually think it looks cool with Maria Taylor and her height. She's actually at the same height as all them. It sort of just looks better on television. I'm sure she has heels on, of course, but she's a tall woman, too. I thought they did pretty good. Pretty good for the first one here.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

And we got the whole, obviously, round ball rock and that NBC peacock logo with the lasers.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, they were. They were pressing the round ball rock button a lot, but who was mad?

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Give me the basketball. I'm gonna dunk it.

[Jayd Skeets]

I saw you tweet about this, so I gotta get your opinion on it. For the people watching live and listening, they did have a video off the top of the production, like, right when we were getting to the game. And it was basically them asking all current players, who are all super young, hey, what do you remember about NBC back in the 90s? And, like, the whole answer, and they're leaning into it, right? It was like, what? I don't know. I wasn't born.

[Trey Kirby]

Are you serious?

[Jayd Skeets]

I don't know. There's, like, Michael Jordan, like, taking a crack at it, and then they sort of, like, that dovetailed into the old guys. Your Durants, your Currys. You're LeBron, I guess. Did they have LeBron? Anyway, the whole point is, like, oh, the old guys remember. It's sort of funny, but it made us feel old.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, yeah. I was like, I remember all of this vividly. I remember when I thought that getting HD was the most HD it could possibly be. Like, with the screens expanded, nothing will be better than this, I thought back then. So, yeah, it's a good way to feel old having every important player now be like, what? There's no way I could know anything from 30 years ago. It's like, all right, well, pull up a chair.

[Jayd Skeets]

All right, final one here in the up down report. Let's get to Michael Jordan's halftime segment. It was called MJ Insights Into Excellence. Tk you get started up or down on this new MJ segment?

[Trey Kirby]

100% up. It's just great to have this guy back in our lives. I would watch him say anything. He told a story about a rich guy paying him to shoot a free throw. And I was on the edge of my seat, hanging on every word when he said, absolutely. It felt like championship seven for the Chicago Bulls. It's apparently, it's just one long interview with Mike Tirico, and they're gonna cut it up and bust out the MIDI clips. Like, it's a podcast on YouTube and I don't care. He can talk about literally anything, and he's captivating to watch. Yeah, there's aura and then there's Michael Jordan. Nobody is on his level.

[Jayd Skeets]

Tough to disagree. The story is hilarious when you think about what he's actually talking about. And him giving back to the league is doing one interview with Mike Tirico that they're gonna chop up into a million segments at his house, by the way. So that's funny. But then, Trey, you're right. It's like, it's impossible to take your eyes or obviously tune them out at all when he is talking. He is just so damn good at telling a story. And that voice has that gravitas. Doesn't matter what he's saying.

[Tas Melis]

He is going to do more than the standard interview next week.

[Jayd Skeets]

He's talking about load management.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I know. Yeah, but from the same interview.

[Jayd Skeets]

Tass. Why? How do we know?

[Tas Melis]

I don't know.

[Jayd Skeets]

I assume he sat down with Tirico in his house. They talked for two hours. They've got things that obviously Tirico brought up. Load management, how the game is different, how would you play or fare in today's game? Who's your favorite? Like, I assume there's all these, and they just are going to, like, sprinkle them in every broadcast.

[Tas Melis]

Every broadcast, there's going to be 30 parts of that interview. 30 times 4, 5, 6 minutes.

[Jayd Skeets]

Probably because the first one was him about hitting a free throw.

[Trey Kirby]

Like, hey, what you been up to? Just two guys catching up.

[Jayd Skeets]

Mike on Mike.

[Tas Melis]

Like, well, that's why you're not gonna remember a guy and the way he hit a free throw on another guy. And Tim telling that story, obviously, he's spectacular and it's captivating. Yeah, but the story was just.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

There wasn't. There wasn't a breakdown of any play or whatever. Not that he needs to do that, but just something, you know, other. Other than hitting a free throw at his age, he can still do it. And that made his week hitting that free throw. I mean, he's awesome. So we're all just waiting. You can say whatever you want.

[Jayd Skeets]

Are you.

[Tas Melis]

You going to tell us about your alcohol? I hope not. You know, like, I don't care. What?

[Jayd Skeets]

So I, like, talk about the scars. Tequila. Let's go.

[Tas Melis]

Tequila.

[Jayd Skeets]

You know that I don't know what he has.

[Tas Melis]

Anyways, it's great to see him at the love seat, just chilling and talking. I just thought there'd be more at Some point.

[Jayd Skeets]

Here's what you're saying, I think, because I thought this. What happens when. I don't know, Jokic, SGA, Luka, whoever. Some guy goes for like 60, 40 and 30, like the night before or the game before, whatever. And it's like, you would want to get Jordan's reaction to that. But then it's a clip from two months ago where he's just talking about some random thing. That part might be a little weird because I don't think he's going to be like, talking live is what we're getting at here.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, well, I don't care if he talks about a current play or game. I. I think that's asking a little bit much of mj because I don't think. I don't think he wants to do that. Clearly he doesn't want to do that. He just wants to do what he wants to do.

[Jayd Skeets]

But, hey, he's not doing it for money.

[Tas Melis]

Right.

[Jayd Skeets]

But literally said that.

[Tas Melis]

I don't care if it's about a play that Jokic does or Shay does, but he could talk about the modern game. I guess he will.

[Jayd Skeets]

That's coming, I guess. Guaranteed.

[Tas Melis]

But. But something. But it's just gonna be Tirico and him in his house. I don't know. It seems like it could be a little bit more involved. A little bit.

[Trey Kirby]

No basketball hoops at his house.

[Jayd Skeets]

Amazing.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, hopefully they do it like a second interview. Like, maybe this one will be the first half of the season.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Things transpire, we go back and record another two hours and then chop them up.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Into bits. And you can get him talking about maybe not something that happened the night before, but something that's been transpiring during the season, I think is kind of reasonable to expect.

[Tas Melis]

Okay.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah, exactly. Like, if you went last year, you should be talking to Michael Jordan about the Cavs starting 15 and all. Right. Or the Thunder challenging 72 wins or something like that. Like, that's a natural thing to be. Like, what was it like when you guys or the Bulls were going for the record and all that? Like. Yeah, but maybe. Right. Maybe there'll be another one.

[Trey Kirby]

We'll see.

[Jayd Skeets]

He's seemed to, like, really get along with Mike Tirico.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

Mike Peacock, as we call him now.

[Tas Melis]

Honestly, why are we calling him Mike Peacock?

[Jayd Skeets]

It came up on yesterday's show and I like calling him Mike Peacock.

[Tas Melis]

Now, listen, Tirico is a great pick. Jordan wants to talk to him, he respects him. And so that is going to evolve and it's going to be clear that Michael will share what he wants to share because of the guy sitting across from.

[Jayd Skeets]

I was getting flashbacks to Michael Jordan talking what felt like only with Ahmad Rashad back in the 90s.

[Trey Kirby]

The main man.

[Jayd Skeets]

That was the main man. That's his guy. I was like, maybe Tirico. Mike Peacock's the new guy. New main man, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Is Ahmad a. I mean, they could get him.

[Tas Melis]

I think he's available.

[Trey Kirby]

Was it inside stuff?

[Tas Melis]

Was that.

[Jayd Skeets]

I don't know.

[Trey Kirby]

NBC.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, of course.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

They gotta get him back. And look, Jake Random makes a good point here in the Stream team. He's got to talk about LeBron James at some point.

[Jayd Skeets]

Oh, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Got to ask him about it.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah. So that's going to be. That'll be one segment, obviously, during the Lakers game. Maybe that's the one they were even going to go with until LeBron's out with sciatica and they're like, hey, get the free throw clipping.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, yeah. People really want to hear about your free throw versus talking about the other guy that they say is the greatest player ever. We will hear something from him about the greats, hopefully.

[Jayd Skeets]

Well, they tease. Next week, it's load management. So, you know, he's going to talk about how he felt like it was his duty to play all 82 games. We've heard this before. He's going to talk about that. But I'm interested to see if he criticizes any of the current players on how they approach a regular season or will he be more on their side now? We'll find out.

[Tas Melis]

And clearly he has the right to air what he wants to air.

[Jayd Skeets]

He's got a final say.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah, it's Michael Jordan. You know, this is my house, my.

[Jayd Skeets]

Rules, my editing bay.

[Trey Kirby]

That'd be crazy if at the end we find out he's the one cutting the clips.

[Jayd Skeets]

What he's learned Premiere pro the last.

[Trey Kirby]

20 years, he's like, yeah, I got to pay $40 a month to use it, but don't worry about it.

[Jayd Skeets]

He's like, hey, Mike Peacock, can I get your Getty Images account? I'd love to download some photos, add to this. All right, J.D. i'd love to get your thoughts on the overall production and the MJ thing here. If you. I don't know if you watched any last night.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Test. It's not test, it's me.

[Jayd Skeets]

Hello.

[JD (Super Producer)]

I thought it was great. It was. Felt like a finals game. You know what I mean? Like, they pulled out all the stops. Obviously, it's the first night out. I don't think the intros are gonna stay. I hope they do, but feels like. Feels like special occasion, you know what I'm saying?

[Trey Kirby]

Could be.

[Jayd Skeets]

Maybe. Maybe.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

But then I mean, like last night, that pregame show which was called NBA Showtime, like with Maria Taylor and all those guys, mellow VC and T Mac. They even said like, we're gonna show you the. We're showing you the whole ring ceremony, which years prior. Broadcast prior. We don't get it all. Sometimes you get little pieces here and there. So maybe they'll always with that pregame show be like, show you the intros.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

It saves us a block of having to talk. People seem to really like it. So we'll see.

[JD (Super Producer)]

100%. And that sailor could sing that.

[Jayd Skeets]

Oh, yeah, Sailor could sing. He was moving with some pace though, wasn't he?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Yes.

[Trey Kirby]

It was quick.

[JD (Super Producer)]

I actually had to turn the volume down on my TV because it was.

[Tas Melis]

Just like his pipes.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Pipes were just like billowing off the rafters and coming back.

[Tas Melis]

Wow.

[JD (Super Producer)]

It's crazy.

[Jayd Skeets]

Shattering windows that Sailor can save.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Here I have a pitch, a crazy pitch for the score bug. You know how they used to have the shot clock like chromaed onto the floor? The floor?

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah. Tnt. Yeah.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Well, what if we did that? Put the scoreboard on the floor.

[Jayd Skeets]

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

[JD (Super Producer)]

And you only caught a glimpse of it when you passed by it.

[Jayd Skeets]

It's at half court.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Or something.

[Jayd Skeets]

You know, gotta rewind it.

[JD (Super Producer)]

You know, there's like. There's the corporate logos on the floor.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, right.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Yeah, but digitally put the scoreboard on there.

[Jayd Skeets]

Okay.

[JD (Super Producer)]

And then you just. You catch a glimpse of it every time you pass by it. I don't know.

[Trey Kirby]

Is that crazy?

[Jayd Skeets]

I don't hate it. I wouldn't mind to see it, you know?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

Gotta see if it works. But.

[Tas Melis]

So you have the scorebug graphic like normal, but then you've got the digital.

[JD (Super Producer)]

No, he's saying just get rid of it off the screen so it's not blocking anything. It's just on the floor. Guys are like literally running over.

[Jayd Skeets]

This guy wants more floor.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

With a digital.

[Tas Melis]

Floor.

[Jayd Skeets]

Floor. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

People were complaining about how the shot clock came onto the score bug. Their fans were upset, there's no doubt about that. And listen, the production definitely listened to fans to say, okay, player intros. Players who love the freaking game are going to be sitting at our desks. So, yeah, they're listening. They're listening.

[Jayd Skeets]

Round ball rock 24 7. They love it.

[Tas Melis]

Just keep hitting Play a digitally imposed.

[Jayd Skeets]

Picture this, Tess. Clay Bennett's handing out rings instead of putting up a score bug on the floor. On the. On the ring box, it says Clay Bennett.

[Tas Melis]

Those are nice boxes. Those guys loved those boxes.

[Jayd Skeets]

Okay, well, let's hear from everybody out there. Podcast listeners, everybody on YouTube, your thoughts on the production and MJ's halftime show. Pick em. Good win for you and me, tk. We had the warriors covered by two and a half. Task goes down in our very short month here. You said it was like nine nights. Short month. Troll man. Whoever's in last place will have to do the show from underneath the desk. Dressed as a troll gets to get kicked. So where are we going tonight? Task because this is really our first real night of crazy. So many basketball game.

[Tas Melis]

Tonight's kind of opening night night. 212 games. So 24 teams saying hello to the NBA season. Excited for that? The game I picked is. I thought it was. Well, was it. Was it reassuring? For me, I. I took Dallas at home against the Spurs. It's a two and a half point line, the Mavs favored at home. I picked Dallas as a lock for an over selection. So I was backing it up and I was excited about that. And now you guys both picked the spurs on the other side. So really I could be down two games after two nights or we could.

[Jayd Skeets]

All tie it up.

[Tas Melis]

But I do expect Dallas to be a very, very good team this year. Maybe I'm just full of optimism because it is October 22nd when we're all supposed to be optimistic about things. Hey, it's the Spurs.

[Jayd Skeets]

You excited for the Eastern Conference tonight?

[Trey Kirby]

Can't wait. Of course I'll be taking in an Eastern Conference match up tonight.

[Jayd Skeets]

I'll see you down there.

[Trey Kirby]

Hawks Raptors at the Fortress, minus five and a half line. Hawks favored.

[Jayd Skeets]

The disrespect too big, you think? Hell yeah. Raptors are winning. Raptors are going to win by 15 tonight.

[Trey Kirby]

Ooh, I'll take the flip side.

[Jayd Skeets]

Will we get a hot dog on the line or something?

[Trey Kirby]

It's a hot dog bed. Hot dog. Hot dog. Hot diggity dog. Yeah, we got one hot dog on the line for tomorrow. Somebody will be eating a frankfurter here in the studio, stinking it up. He's gonna have to open the windows, open the garage door. Yeah, I'm taking the spurs tonight because I can't imagine Victor Wembanyama fitting under this table. Imagine him trying to be a troll. Couldn't do it.

[Jayd Skeets]

He wouldn't be dressing as a troll for Halloween. This year.

[Trey Kirby]

That's right.

[Jayd Skeets]

Can't imagine that.

[Tas Melis]

Super flexible, though.

[Trey Kirby]

He is very flexible. That's a good point.

[Tas Melis]

You could do the splits under this thing easily. I think he could sit in the splits for an hour.

[Jayd Skeets]

I believe it could, too.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, but a hot dog on it.

[Jayd Skeets]

Okay. Okay, let's go there. That's tonight's game. You said a lot of games are on TAs. You're gonna be on playback tonight.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

You will not be down at the fortress. You're going to be on playback. That link is in the show notes. You can actually join and watch the games live with Tess. And you're going to be bouncing around. You're the maestro of the remote. So people were calling you in the substack chat last night. So you're starting at 8pm Eastern. Is that correct?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I think so. I think I got to put the kids to bed today. So 8pm is my free time and I'm ready. Yeah. Everyone, if you tune in on playback, everyone can hear us and, you know, read the chat. If it's a league pass game and you got league pass, you will see it. Obviously, the national games will be seen by international fans or if you get a VIP on playback. But either way you can hear everything.

[Jayd Skeets]

The game's on national television tonight on ESPN. Cavs nicks at 7 o'.

[Tas Melis]

Clock and skip that one for the pick them.

[Jayd Skeets]

Yeah. And then Spurs, Mavericks is the second one. Yeah. Like you said. But we got Raptors, Hawks. What else? Lasers. Oh, my God.

[Trey Kirby]

I will be putting my eyeballs on.

[Jayd Skeets]

Holy moly. Yep. And Survivor. There's a lot on the television screen tonight. NBA is back. New season, new merch. Order our latest no dunks shirt crew neck today. Get 25 off with promo code. No Dunks 25. That's no Dunks 25. Put that in at the end. You'll get 25 off that new item. Go to no Dunks.com or you can hit the link in the show notes. All right, great to be back talking about real NBA hoops. And we'll be here tomorrow at 10am Eastern to recap as many games as possible. Till then, Clipper Bros, you heard it here first. Have a great time.

[Trey Kirby]

Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome.

[Tas Melis]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, Olympic weightlifters are not tall people. That's all I gotta say about that. I know you watched every single event at the Olympics, right, everyone? The weightlifters.

[Jayd Skeets]

That's why I watch some weightlifting, because our Armenia does quite well in those type of events. They are Short squat people.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, part of the world. Really good. Maybe they. They're not. No one's tall, right?

[Jayd Skeets]

No, no, no, no.

[Tas Melis]

As far as weightlifters, I don't think so. Listen, let's get in with. With NBC broadcasts, obviously NBA games and the Olympics, they should put the height of every weightlifter.

[Jayd Skeets]

That was actually funny last night as we go here, there was a moment where Tirico is doing the Olympics on NBC. The Winter Olympics are coming. Like they're this winter. Right. And they were showing rowing and he even had to note, we're showing you rowing here because you see in the Summer Olympics in 2028, there'll be some events in Oklahoma.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, yeah.

[Jayd Skeets]

And one of them is rowing. So that. That's how he got there. But I thought it was really weird talking about the Winter Olympics showing us people rowing. That is weird. I'm glad he noted it.

[Trey Kirby]

It will be there.

[Jayd Skeets]

He's a pro.

[Tas Melis]

Why are they going to row in Oklahoma?

[Jayd Skeets]

You can't. You can't row in the ocean.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, they, they've got some huge like rowing setup. I don't know. It's like where us Rowing is headquartered. Why? No idea.

[Jayd Skeets]

But it is there.

[Tas Melis]

Okay. You're traveling. You're going to Oklahoma to row.

[Jayd Skeets]

Praise the day people.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Get ready to power up your play with Nintendo Switch 2. Power up the visuals with 4K support and a bigger, more vivid screen. Power up the fun with exclusive new.

[Trey Kirby]

Games like Mario Kart World.

[Ryan Seacrest]

And don't.

[Trey Kirby]

Donkey Kong bonanza, Nintendo Switch 2 all together, anytime anywhere. Games rated E to E10 plus games and systems sold separately. Compatible TV required for 4K display.

[Tas Melis]

Thursday night Football is on and it's only on prime video. That's gonna be fun. This week, the Minnesota Vikings head west to face the Los Angeles Chargers.

[Jayd Skeets]

They will take that all day.

[Tas Melis]

Coverage will begins at 7pm Eastern with football's best party TNF tonight presented by Verizon. Not a Prime member. Not a problem. Simply sign up for a 30 day free trial. It's the Vikings and the chargers Thursday at 7pm Eastern only on Prime Video.

[Trey Kirby]

Restrictions apply.

[Tas Melis]

See Amazon.com Amazon prime for TJ.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Now through November 4, shop the annual beauty event and save $5 when you spend $25 on select beauty products. Shop in store or online for items like Dove Body Wash, Native Body Wash, Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser, Dr. Squatch body wash, Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel, Dio Liquid Hand Soap and Olay Body wash and save $5 when you spend $25 or more. Offer ends November 4th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.