Thunder & Spurs Roll To Vegas, The Lakers' Troubling Defense, 'Creator or Created?'

Summary

No Dunks Podcast Summary

Episode: "Thunder & Spurs Roll To Vegas, The Lakers' Troubling Defense, 'Creator or Created?'"

Date: December 11, 2025
Hosts: J. Skeets, Tas Melis, Trey Kirby, JD (Producer)
Network: iHeartPodcasts

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Main Theme and Purpose

This episode spotlights the NBA Cup semifinals as the Thunder and Spurs advance to Vegas, with both teams’ performances analyzed and dissected, notably the Spurs’ win over the Lakers and OKC’s dominance of the Suns. The troubled state of the Lakers’ defense and depth are discussed in detail, followed by a fun segment where the hosts challenge each other in a game called "Creator or Created?" — separating real social media basketball creators from made-up names.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Spurs vs Lakers: Spurs Surge, Lakers Stumble

Timestamps: 04:11–18:41

• Game Recap: Spurs decisively beat the Lakers 132–119, leading by as many as 24 points.
• Spurs Teamwork: Seven players in double figures. Stefan Castle stars with a season-high 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. Keldon Johnson delivers 17 points off the bench, hitting 13 in Q1.
• Motivation: Keldon Johnson wants to buy a llama with the in-season cup winnings.
  • Quote: “He told reporters his extra motivation to win the cup tournament's cash prize. A llama. This guy wants to buy a llama for his farm.” — J. Skeets (05:04)
• Spurs Playstyle: Fast, athletic, with 27 fastbreak points and 16 off turnovers.
• Standout Performers:
  • Castle’s downhill attacking, likened to John Wall.
  • Fox and Harper keep up pressure on both ends.
• Spurs Chemistry: Deep rotation, everyone contributing, reminiscent of OKC’s balanced approach.
  • Quote: “The way they're buying into each other, it feels a little OKC.” — Tas Melis (10:57)

Lakers Concerns

• Defensive Woes: Lack of athleticism exposed by Spurs’ guard-heavy game.
  • “The athleticism lacking on the Lakers was truly apparent…” — Tas Melis (07:51)
  • Austin Reaves called out for slow perimeter defense.
• Effort Issues: Repeated complaints about slow transition defense and players not hustling back.
  • “When you miss a shot, stop complaining to the referee and dropping your head and maybe try and hustle back.” — J. Skeets (09:34)
• Bench Production: “...bench doesn't really exist.” — J. Skeets (12:59)
• Lineup Tweaks: Potential for JJ Redick to shake up starting/bench roles, possibly shifting Rui Hachimura to the second unit.

Coaching Insight

• The hosts discuss JJ Redick and Spurs coach Mitch Johnson being ‘mic’d up.’
  • “I thought it was kind of interesting to hear how loud they were talking out there.” — Trey Kirby (17:35)

2. Thunder vs Suns: OKC's Unstoppable Start

Timestamps: 22:34–33:47

• Blowout Game: Thunder crush Suns 138–89, leading by 50 at one point.
• Record Start: OKC improves to 24–1, tying 2015–16 Warriors for best 25-game start.
• Defense & Depth: The Thunder’s "trustworthy tip defense" and deep bench highlighted.
  • Quote: “OKC plays what I'm going to call trustworthy tip defense...I just love it, they’re like hands everywhere...because they trust another guy will grab it.” — J. Skeets (28:00)
• Chet Holmgren Shines: Described as “angular,” “pointy,” and “Frankenstein,” Chet posts 24 points, 8 rebounds, 4 threes, and 3 blocks in 25 minutes.
  • Quote: “Chet Holmgren is pointy and also Frankenstein.” — Trey Kirby (27:39)
• Suns Implode: Grayson Allen’s frustration leads to a flagrant-2 ejection.
  • “It was Grayson Allen. I mean, he was embarrassed by his team's performance and just decided to body check a guy and then ran away.” — J. Skeets (25:50)
• Team Mentality: OKC praised for its unflappable, even-keeled leadership (SGA), and system resilience — all while missing key starters.
  • “...the Thunder starting lineup from the majority of last year's NBA title run has not played a single minute together this season.” — J. Skeets (30:40)
• FanDuel’s Wagering: Discussion of betting odds for Thunder win streaks reaching historic levels.

3. NBA Cup & Vegas Preview

Timestamps: 34:00–37:43

• Matchups: Magic vs Knicks (East), Thunder vs Spurs (West). NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
• OKC Favorite: Thunder are clear favorites; speculation about Wembanyama returning for Spurs (calf strain).
• Schedule Insights: Game times debated for watch parties.

4. Mavericks’ Derek Lively Suffers Another Setback

Timestamps: 37:15–41:44

• Injury Update: Lively undergoes season-ending foot surgery, raising major concerns for his future given repeated injuries.
  • Quote: “It feels like so long ago when he was in his rookie year, going to the NBA Finals, and it was fun. Now this is going to be three years...he'll have played under 40% of his games.” — Tas Melis (37:44)
• Mavs' Outlook: Team may need to tank again for another draft pick, possibly moving on from Lively as a long-term building block.

5. Fun Segment: ‘Creator or Created?’

Timestamps: 46:31–61:01

• Premise: Skeets challenges Tas and Trey to guess which names are real participants in the upcoming NBA Creator Cup and which are spoof names.
• Game Mechanics: Hosts debate names like “Caleb Nash Feimster” (real), “Gwen Lud” (fake), “Drifty J” (real), “Quispy 2.0” (fake), “Jim Bob” (fake), and more.
  • Memorable Moment: The hosts’ humorous bafflement over modern creator names; Skeets cracks up the table with “Shrimpinator” (fake, but based on real meme person).
• Quote: “I don't know why I threw a second ‘u’ in there, but thought it might confuse you.” — J. Skeets on “Quispy 2.0” (51:16)
• Hosts’ Final Score: 5/10, humbled by the Gen Z creative economy.

6. Odds & Ends

Timestamps: 61:24–65:53

• ‘Light of the Night’: Spurs’ Stefan Castle honored for his 30-point, 10-rebound, 6-assist performance.
  • “He did all of that in 27 minutes of action.” — J. Skeets (61:01)
• Pick ‘Em Update: Hosts make their daily NBA picks against the spread, discuss road-tripping habits, and share a laugh about shrimp and New Orleans dining.
• Show Plugs: Next episode preview, Survivor recap tease.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “The Spurs, they were, I don't know, they were looking like thoroughbreds the way they were playing.” — J. Skeets (05:54)
• “People are always saying the two best days to have a llama are the day you get the llama and the day it dies.” — Trey Kirby (05:38)
• “Austin Reeves only going to the line one time in this game...but I think you can say Austin Reaves may have been worse on the defensive end.” — Tas Melis (07:51)
• “This is the guy that’s being talked about in potential Giannis trade talks. How do you trade any of these guys?” — Trey Kirby on Stefan Castle (07:06)
• “...if OKCs three pointers are falling, just take your ball, call your mom, get your ride home. You're not winning, you're not beating this team.” — J. Skeets (28:02)
• “Creator or Created?” game has the hosts doubting their internet savvy and bickering over obvious fakes and surprising reals.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Topic | Timestamp (MM:SS) | |---------|-------|------------------| | Spurs-Lakers Recap | Game breakdown, Spurs’ flow, Lakers’ problems | 04:11–18:41 | | Thunder-Suns Recap | OKC dominance, Chet Holmgren, Suns collapse | 22:34–33:47 | | NBA Cup Vegas Preview | Bracket and schedule chat | 34:00–37:43 | | Mavericks/Lively Injury | Foot injury analysis and Mavs outlook | 37:15–41:44 | | ‘Creator or Created?’ | Hosts’ quiz game about creators | 46:31–61:01 | | Odds & Ends | Light of the Night, Picks, Shrimp jokes | 61:24–65:53 |

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Takeaways for Non-Listeners

• The Spurs’ and Thunder’s advancement to Vegas demonstrates the strength of youthful, deep, and chemistry-driven basketball.
• Lakers’ issues go beyond star talent — soft bench, shaky defense, and lack of athleticism remain major obstacles.
• Thunder’s historic start is real — and their ability to plug-and-play is a model of modern NBA roster construction.
• The “Creator or Created?” game is a fun glimpse into the generational and digital divide between old-school hoops heads and the TikTok era.
• The pod maintains its signature mix of sharp basketball insight and goofy, irreverent banter.

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Tone:
Casual, jokey, with the hosts riffing and razzing each other — just as you expect from seasoned NBA podcasters with nearly two decades of chemistry.

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Summary by: No Dunks Podcast Summarizer, December 2025

Transcript

[J. Skeets]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Tas Melis]

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[Trey Kirby]

What a horrible call. Hey, ref.

[J. Skeets]

Open your eyes, ref. You're really not gonna call that? Come on. Hey, ref, why don't you customize your car insurance with Liberty Mutual and save money?

[Tas Melis]

I don't think you get what we're doing.

[J. Skeets]

Sure I do.

[Trey Kirby]

We're all just giving him advice. You guys on sports, me on saving money.

[Announcer/Advertiser]

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[Trey Kirby]

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[J. Skeets]

Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.

[Janice Torres]

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[J. Skeets]

Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks podcast presented by FanDuel. It's Thursday, December 11, 2025. I'm J. Skeets here in the classic factory and alongside me, as always, Tas Millis.

[Tas Melis]

Basketball fans. This is for you.

[J. Skeets]

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

And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer jd.

[Tas Melis]

Hello.

[J. Skeets]

There he is. Here we are. What is this 2013 episode of the Starters? Why is everybody wearing plaid today? Or a version of plaid? Huh? Is that a gingham? I don't know.

[Tas Melis]

Well, you say 2013. Mine is that style just. Just a straight up button up. We all do have different styles, Trey. Very much more modern. Going with the hoodie. Underneath you got an unbuttoned revealing Your shirt. So three different.

[J. Skeets]

But JD has it too.

[Trey Kirby]

Wow.

[J. Skeets]

You didn't notice that. That's like real plaid right there with.

[Trey Kirby]

A cardigan and a stack of fedoras behind him.

[J. Skeets]

That's great if you do go back.

[Tas Melis]

Thank you.

[J. Skeets]

If you go back and watch that first season of us on NBA TV as the starters. There is. There's a lot of plaid.

[Trey Kirby]

We might have had a full season streak of at least one man wearing plaid. And I would say the over under had to be one and a half for every show. You can take the a lot in.

[J. Skeets]

Hit because that's the first year we had Matty O also on.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh yeah.

[J. Skeets]

At the like, you know, extra 90% plaid shirts. Yeah, that's right.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

That's right.

[J. Skeets]

Anyway, here we are. Thanks for joining us on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners. Five star ratings and reviews. People are saying this is going to be the shortest show of the season because those games last night. Not all that entertaining. We will talk about Derek Lively's season ending surgery. And a little later I have an extremely random game that I came up with. JD has helped me out. I'm going to test you guys and everyone joining us live or watching or listening later. It's random.

[Tas Melis]

Random. It's not about plaid.

[J. Skeets]

It's not about plaid.

[Tas Melis]

Good. Good, good, good.

[J. Skeets]

Let's just say this. The kids out there watching might be good at this. And I'll leave it at that.

[Trey Kirby]

Great.

[J. Skeets]

But first we know our final four teams that will be in Vegas for the NBA cup this weekend.

[Tas Melis]

Coming.

[J. Skeets]

Cause we had the two Western Conference games last night. Let's start with the late game. The closer of the two.

[Trey Kirby]

Barn burner.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

The spurs defeated the Lakers 132 to 119 after leading by as many as 24. San Antonio team effort. Seven players in double figures. Led by a season high 30 points from Stefan Castle plus 10 boards and six assists. Sounds like a Willboy to me. Deer and Fox contributed 20 and Kelden big body Johnson putting up 17 off the bench. And he was on fire in his first stint there. I think he had 13 in the first quarter.

[Tas Melis]

That was awesome.

[J. Skeets]

Knocking in all those threes but poked.

[Tas Melis]

One from LeBron from behind. LeBron. Sweet stuff.

[J. Skeets]

And he's got something. He's playing for Kelton Johnson. Did you hear this? He told reporters his extra motivation to win the cup tournament's cash prize. A llama. This guy wants to buy a llama for his farm. So that's where the winnings will go.

[Tas Melis]

But he has llamas.

[J. Skeets]

I Don't know. Does he have llamas? He wants another llama.

[Tas Melis]

Eagle broke down the animals.

[J. Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

I thought he said llama. Or maybe he's got a lot of animals. For sure. And he's the only one who takes care of him apparently.

[J. Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Nobody else.

[J. Skeets]

How much does a llama cost, is what I want to know.

[Trey Kirby]

According to the Internet, 300 to $5,000. So he could get a llama easily. But then it's the llama upkeep after that.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. It's like having a boat.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

People are always saying the two best days to have a llama are the day you get the llama and the day it dies.

[J. Skeets]

I agree.

[Tas Melis]

That's what happened. Different animal. That's what happened to our friend Cam Stewart when he bought a horse. Yeah, it's the upkeep.

[J. Skeets]

Very expensive.

[Tas Melis]

It's the horse race type of horse.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

So anyway, that's what Kelton Johnson's playing for. And the spurs, they were, I don't know, they were looking like thoroughbreds the way they were playing.

[Trey Kirby]

Nice one.

[J. Skeets]

How about that segue? That was nice. The speed though, was on full display. 27 fast break points, 16 points off of 11 LA turnovers. But man, they. They were showing their age, I think a little bit their youth.

[Tas Melis]

Absolutely.

[J. Skeets]

In terms of getting up and down the court. So Harrison Barnes was even joining in on the fun. But what were your takeaways from this really impressive spurs win?

[Trey Kirby]

It's time to trade Victor Wembanyama.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, boy.

[Trey Kirby]

Spurs don't need him now. My main takeaway from this was the incredible growth from Stefan Castle. He doesn't look like a new player, but he looks like a guy who has figured out how to play to his strengths and has added things to his game that allow him to be an even better downhill attacker. It feels like he can get into the lane anytime. Part of that is the defensive resistance he was getting for the Lakers. Part of it was the stuff that Mitch Johnson was running. A lot of guard on guard screens that were confusing the Lakers, a lot of off ball flare screens that were open up driving lanes as well. But he was getting two feet in the lane and finishing over the top or finding teammates. Kind of reminding me a little bit of the way John Wall used to play. John Wall more of a point guard, like a true number one positionally. I think Castle is more of like a one and a half where he can kind of be the point guard, but he can kind of play off ball as well. But the way he gets Downhill. The explosiveness he has, the defensive intensity he brings on the other side. Super impressive. To the point where it's like, this is the guy that's being talked about in potential Giannis trade talks. How do you trade any of these guys that they have him? Harper was nice again, Deer and Fox is great, playing on his tippy toes all the time. Guy looks like a flyweight in the ufc the way he plays. I don't think his heels ever touched the ground. But yeah, really great game for Castle and like you said, pretty concerning, I think, for the Lakers, the way things went down.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, the athleticism lacking on the Lakers was truly apparent, especially with all these guards and guard to guard screens that were happening. It's endless with them, with Castle, with Vassell, with Fox, and here comes Dylan. Harper was for good and Keldon Johnson as well. They wanted to run and you could hear Mitch Johnson say it in one of those miked up sessions, make or miss, we're going. And it was clear they were doing that extremely well. And the Lakers weren't slowing them down on the other end by missing a ton of shots. And Austin Reeves only going to the line one time in this game. So that just hurt them in terms of slowing it down a little bit. But I think you can say Austin Reaves may have been worse on the defensive end. He just was really slow against all those guards I just mentioned. He literally left a huge gap. It's like Klay Thompson could have put a boat in the gap that he provided. He let happen between him and a three point shot put the SS Stallion in that thing. I mean, there was so much space and yeah, he was just running around the perimeter and he was lacking. So I don't know which one was worse. I know you questioned him, Skeets, when they tried to buy into him and they said, we're going with you. But then you put him against beside Luca, who's going to guard on the perimeter. And it showed in this game. Right. They were lacking there. And what Rich Paul said on that podcast recently was, was bang on in this instance where he said the Lakers are starting a challenger because they're not athletic enough. And we saw it in this game, but we also saw it against the Minnesota Timberwolves in that playoff series last year. In those five games, they just weren't able to run up and down again. They could have been. They could have slowed down the spurs by making some freaking shots in this game and Reeves could have.

[J. Skeets]

Or. Or also, when you miss a shot, stop complaining. To the referee and dropping your head and maybe try and hustle back. That happened so many times too in that first half.

[Tas Melis]

That last play of the first half that was.

[J. Skeets]

They just completely give it up.

[Tas Melis]

That was a classic Luca. Yeah, yeah, that was Luca complaining.

[J. Skeets]

It was. They were frustrated. They didn't think they were getting the right calls and they were showing it and then they were already being outclassed in the athleticism and quickness department. But doesn't help, like I'm saying, when you're like looking at refs and you're not trying to get back. But yeah, yeah, the spurs, man, they had a bunch of guys contributing too. And you brought up Fox. I'm glad you did. Like, Castle was the big story with the big points, but Fox hit like a huge three. Like the Lakers made it, what, close to a single digit there. They got it to single digit. Yeah. But fox with like 335 left, hit a big, big three. Yeah, it was down to eight I have in my notes here. So I thought that was the biggest three of the night. That sort of punched the ticket for the Spurs. But yeah, he looks springy. He's looked great. Fox has.

[Janice Torres]

Totally.

[J. Skeets]

And it's a good point about the Castle and Harper in the Giannis hypothetical trades. Like we said with what Jalen Johnson was doing with the Atlanta Hawks, we're like, I don't know. I think you got to take that name off the table. Like if you're trading for Giannis, you're not trading him. Maybe at this point. I think the same is with these spurs guys too. If there is a Giannis disperse trade, I don't think you are trading Castle or Harper. Why would you? Those two and Wemby. That's damn good. Yeah. If you can get Giannis by trading other things, sure. But not those guys.

[Tas Melis]

Agree. The way they're buying into each other, it feels a little OKC. Like where they don't have to play 40 minutes, it just ain't their thing. They just go super deep. Everybody got to the line in this game other than Fox, and everybody who played for them dropped down to frickin Kelly Olenick. Every single person went to the line in this game and you could see they were playing for each other. So Darren Fox doesn't.

[J. Skeets]

They're playing for the llama.

[Tas Melis]

They're playing for the LA$500 llama or a $5,000 llama.

[Trey Kirby]

He's gonna get the high end llama.

[J. Skeets]

I would hope so.

[Trey Kirby]

The beautiful bangs. What a weird creature that is.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, it looks like just a drawing a kid would come up with. Yeah, Let me draw a combination of a sheep and a giraffe and then.

[J. Skeets]

They'Re like spitting on you and stuff. Isn't that what a spitter? Yeah. Yeah. Weird too.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, these guys are weird.

[Tas Melis]

They was the Pal Gasol lookalike back in the day, right? Yeah, the split screen. I love that they look like him. No doubt.

[J. Skeets]

What were you going to say?

[Trey Kirby]

Kelton Johnson's good. He has changed the way he plays. When he was a 20 point per game Gore with the spurs, when they weren't a very good team, when they were in their rebuild era that lasted like four seconds. It feels like dude was a chucker, just chuck threes and got his way to 20, 22 points a game. Now he's taking more shots at the rim than three pointers for the first time in five seasons. Shooting 67% from two, hitting the glass. The spurs have gotten better, so his role has diminished. So he's had to figure out how to play and become an effective player and get on the court. So he's become Josh Hart and I think it's pretty cool the way he does it. Like they call him the heart and soul of the team. You hear the same thing when they're talking about Josh Hart and like offensive rebounds are backbreakers for the other team. And he was all over the court last night. Got a weird looking jumper but it was going in, came in shooting 31% from three 1, 3 for 5 last night. So now his numbers look really good for the year. But career high rebounding, just counting stats. Career high rebounding percentage wise. That's how you stay on the court. That's how you stay in the rotation. Pretty cool.

[J. Skeets]

You brought up the concern about the Lakers defense and that was something. Coming into the season we're like, are they going to be able to stop anyone? Scoring is not going to be a problem. Will they be able to stop anyone? The other thing I'm looking at the Lakers right now is like the bench doesn't really exist. I think they rank dead last in the league in terms of bench scoring, averaging like 23, 24 a game. And when you look at it, it's rough because Jake Laravia, he's had three, four really good games this season and then a lot of stinkers just like you don't really notice he's out there. Marcus Smart is the definition of hit or miss. Like he's Last night he's 8 of 14 from 3. He's had games this season where he's 1 of 10 from 3. That's just Marcus Smart. But then you're getting next to nothing. Tas, I know you love a lot of these guys, but Vanderbilt little don't connect. My God. Gabe Vincent, Maxi Kleba. And these are guys that, you know, they take, they are, they cost a little bit of money. I mean, they take up cap space and you're just getting next to nothing. So I do wonder, I wonder, will Redick think about changing the starting lineup to maybe get a little more scoring off the bench. And I look at maybe like Rui as a guy that could be in the second unit, little more usage rating. He's been pretty good this year with the three ball and do you slide him there and maybe, I don't know, maybe it is bring Smart in, bring somebody else in. Just throwing it out there.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Rui starts, sometimes he literally doesn't touch the ball. It felt like, like in this game.

[Trey Kirby]

He took what, four shots last time?

[Tas Melis]

Took four shots. It wasn't quite the one shot near Tony Snell line that he had a couple weeks ago, but he had one of those because I think the spurs did a really good job of forcing Luca to beat them one on one and taking away those other guys to some degree. That was great. But sometimes Ria disappears. So it does make sense to throw him into the second unit possibly just as the go to guy. Maybe.

I get Jared Rounder Bell. He ain't performing because he ain't playing.

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, basically not played for a month.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. So that's. That's a strange one considering what J.J. redick was mad about. He was. J.J. wanted some effort on defense. It was clear we knew we weren't having that. Jared Vanderbilt can be inserted somewhere to do that. Now the worst in part is the offensive part with that guy for sure. But if he's replacing somebody who ain't playing well offensively, it's kind of a. A trade off that you're okay with. But yeah, we could go up and down the list. Gabe, you know, wasn't that guy. Um, and you know, Dalton connect didn't even play in this game really until garbage time. So there's lots of guys you can say, hey, that guy could come score. But really, you know, it started with the starting lineup in this game who just lacking that, that oomph that Redick was literally yelling and complaining about anything to try and get his team going. And it didn't happen in this one.

[Trey Kirby]

At least against a team like the spurs. That has multiple ball handling guards. They should move smart into the starting lineup for Rui. Rui was brutal last night. He was completely out of position. He doesn't really rebound. All he does is shoot three, which is helpful when you're playing around alongside LeBron, Luka and Reeves. But when all three of them are out there, the ball's not going to Rui basically ever. It's going to go to Ayton at the rim sometimes and then it's going to be those three guys triggering all the actions and feeding each other. So get Rui on the second unit where he can play alongside just two of those guys and maybe the shots come to him some more. But yeah, he was. He was probably the worst defender on the court last night for the Lakers. They were so inattentive in transition. 27 fast break points for the spurs, second most they've given up this season. Most was against the game against the Suns when they were just running up and down the court. And that game looked exactly the same to me as the game last night against San Antonio. No physicality from the Lakers, no effort to get back on defense, just complaining. And the spurs did the same thing as the Suns. They didn't put two on the ball and they said just go out there and score. And there wasn't enough scoring for the Lakers.

[J. Skeets]

Yep. Any other random notes from this one? We did have a big LeBron dunk that was sort of out of nowhere on loot cross. That was huge. And then it continued with what did LeBron get a block on the other end. Block by sort of. Yeah, yeah. It was one of those weird ones. But then Luke Cornette had a huge block.

[Tas Melis]

Yes, he did.

[J. Skeets]

Where he like completely erased. I think it was Austin Reeves who definitely thought he had an easy two points.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

And Cornet screamed back and he got the block. So that was some high octane highlights there.

[Tas Melis]

That was the best two minutes of basketball I thought, from last night. Yeah, probably right. It got the fans the most excited in either Arena. Even OKC sports banking Phoenix by 50 at one point. They just weren't that into it. But that two minutes was fun. Iron Eagle stand van excited calling this one. Yeah, that was a great way to end that first half. But then Luca complained and then that bucket hurt going into the locker room with that.

[Trey Kirby]

That totally like Eagles on the call. He's like, the spurs are going to hold here for one. And then Harrison park for an easy Doug layup. Yeah, that was a. Lakers were bad at the end of the. Every quarter it Felt like if Doug Collins was on the call, he would have been talking about closing out quarters for sure. He always talked about that. And the Lakers were not good at doing it. The other thing that I thought was interesting was JJ and Mitch Johnson were miked up and they were just playing the audio throughout the game. You can hear these guys calling out subs and let's go, let's go, let's go. You know, like, kind of lower in the mix than if they were doing a straight up interview. But I thought it was kind of interesting to hear how loud they were talking out there.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. They even had like the little, like the box of the. Of the coach there in the corner at times.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

And showing them with the audio. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I liked it. I thought sometimes maybe they told the lead guys, you know, Stan Van to stop talking or something. Or maybe they just cut off his mic. As Stan Van would start talking, like, mid sentence, we'd hear him. Like, we wouldn't hear the beginning of the sentence. Like, I literally wrote down a sentence that he didn't start, which was really weird. But you could hear Reddick when they wanted, and it was fun. Like, you could hear him say on the pull through, that's a foul. He's complaining to the rep. Yep, that's a foul. Then they cut him off. Maybe he swore or something.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. He said, ask Eagle or Harlan, I guess. Was.

[Advertiser]

Was that.

[Tas Melis]

It was Eagle. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

He's like, that's another word for backside. Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Because it cut off right in the middle. And then Reddick picked it up and knocks him on his ass. That's why they got an open three. Yeah. And. And then. Yeah. Well, when they're going to break, he's literally telling his. The person sitting in the second row with the iPad. You told me to challenge. Even though they shouldn't have challenged.

[J. Skeets]

Right.

[Tas Melis]

So it was. It was good. It was definitely good.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

That's smart. It's smart by Amazon.

[J. Skeets]

It is.

[Tas Melis]

I think they, they're, they're, they're. They're working with the mics again. Sandman got cut off, literally.

[J. Skeets]

But that's fine. Honestly, I sort of don't care. Yeah, I sometimes find it clunkier when they're like, okay, hold on, we're gonna go to this and like, you know, like that song and dance. Like, you know who's really good at it. I will say, like, the F1 people are really good at it, but they're always having to cut themselves off, too, to go hear.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Obviously, the radios for the Teams to the, to the drivers. Because it's nonstop.

[Tas Melis]

It's literally just allowing that person to start talking. It's like us doing a summer league game or it's not a summer league, a G league game where we're like, okay, we're going to test, we're going to Trey on the sideline. Instead of doing that, the person just starts talking and just cuts. It cuts the other people off. Just let them mics go live. I think they're just cutting off. Anyways, it was fun on this one. I will say good camera angle. Baseline. Dylan Harper, you shot that free throw and somehow, some way, he just walked right in and got the offensive rebound.

[J. Skeets]

That was cool. Camera shot.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, it just worked out perfectly. That was a guy on his ass working the handheld. Oh, that's right. Yeah. And. But Dylan harbor just walked right in. Lakers, Lakers. What up with that?

[Advertiser]

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[Tas Melis]

And Doug.

[Trey Kirby]

What a horrible call. Hey ref.

[J. Skeets]

Open your eyes, ref. You're really not gonna cur. Call that? Come on. Hey ref, why don't you customize your car insurance with Liberty Mutual and save money.

[Tas Melis]

I don't think you get what we're doing.

[J. Skeets]

Sure I do.

[Trey Kirby]

We're all just giving him advice. You guys on sports, me on saving money.

[Announcer/Advertiser]

Nope, that's not it.

[Trey Kirby]

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

[Narrator/Advertiser]

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[J. Skeets]

All right, let's move on to the other game, the first one last night. The Thunder continued their dominant start to the season. 1:38,89 was the final score. Blowout of the Suns earned OKC a trip back to Vegas for the second consecutive season. First game this season which a team had built a lead of at least 50 points because it did get to 50, I guess it ended in a 49 point victory. OKC improved to 241 this season, guys, matching the 2015-16 warriors for the best record through 25 games in NBA history. The best start in NBA history. I'll tell you who was surprised to learn that OKC was 24 and one. My wife. She's like, what? They've lost one game. I'm like, yeah, they're good. Didn't they win the title last year? Yes, they're better. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Interesting. I told my wife how good the Thunder are this week too.

[J. Skeets]

Right, right. I'm wondering if people are going to start noticing here because this isn't insane what's going on. And this was the biggest beat down in cup history.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, was it?

[J. Skeets]

I don't know. I guess it's got to be.

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, it felt like the worst cup game ever.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, at least from Phoenix's perspective, Suns had 20 turnovers and the Thunder made 22. Three pointers. Yeah, that's the entire game right there. Case and Wallace picked Colin Gillespie. Colin Gillespie's pocket at half court on the very first play of the game.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

And if Dave Grisham would have said it's over, I would have agreed. Just like that.

[J. Skeets]

He did.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Then he wouldn't splash the three. They're 13 2. Call it. Unfortunately, look, I did write in my.

[J. Skeets]

Notes, I'm not doing a bit here. First quarter notes. Pretty good fight from the Suns. I did right. Look, okc, they're a juggernaut, man. They're a buzzsaw. And I was like, all right, look, the Suns are showing me something they're trying here, but I mean, that was made to look silly as they just got cooked. Cooked?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

You wrote that after the first quarter.

[J. Skeets]

I wrote it during the first quarter.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. It was like it was 38 to.

[Trey Kirby]

22 at the end of day the first.

[J. Skeets]

I know, but there was moments where I thought the Suns were fighting.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. They brought it down to like 13 or 14 at some point. I guess it was the second quarter. It's difficult to misremer, but got it up to 50. The. The question is, number one, what is there to say about this OKC team? And number two, is anyone really going to take notice until they win 70 games? I mean, it's just. They can do it because of all these guys moving in and out of the lineup. There's not. No heart and shine. Sometimes Crusoe misses games. Jalen Williams has barely played any games.

It seems like they can. It seems like they're just. They play it so even keel. I thought the moment that we'll talk about Grayson Allen shoving Chad Holger.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tas Melis]

And the way getting ejected.

[J. Skeets]

Flagrant two foul.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you could see Jalen Williams on the mic. He's literally. It sounds like. It looks like he's saying, like, we made him mad.

[J. Skeets]

They.

[Tas Melis]

They know how to just keep it even keel. They know. They know to just turn it down. Let them fricking talk. It's spurs. Like, it's. Whatever it is, but it helps them, I think. I think they're just so locked into the plan. They don't want to. They don't want to turn it up. They don't want to fight.

[J. Skeets]

So J Dub after, he's like, nobody fights in the NBA. It doesn't matter.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

He was like, that was nothing. And it sort of was nothing.

[Tas Melis]

It was.

[J. Skeets]

It was Grayson Allen. I mean, he was embarrassed by his team's performance and just decided to body.

[Trey Kirby]

Check a guy and then ran away.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

He wanted out.

[Trey Kirby]

Even Dylan Brooks was like, come on. You can see him just saying, come.

[J. Skeets]

On, come on, come on.

[Trey Kirby]

This is ridiculous what you're doing.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. He's just pushing because we're done. We're down. We're down 35, I think it was, or something.

[J. Skeets]

But the point is, good luck trying to rattle this. Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Exactly.

[J. Skeets]

I don't know if you can.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Exactly.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

They extended their lead after that.

[J. Skeets]

Now we're angry.

[Trey Kirby]

They're like, in your face.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Their leader. The leader is Shay and he is so even keeled. Which, you know, the. The. The Twitter sphere. The media. Well, not the media. The blogosphere will question, is this guy popular? Is he just doesn't have a ton of personality or whatever? But that's who he is, and that's who everybody follows. Follows him on that roster. And that's why it helps.

[J. Skeets]

I got some notes from this game. Me too.

[Tas Melis]

Why not?

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Okay, you go.

[J. Skeets]

You go first. I bet we have some overlapping.

[Trey Kirby]

Kevin Harlan at one point called Chet Holmgren angular. Yes, the angular Chet Holmgren. I would say another word for him is pointy. Yeah, he's a pointy guy, but he had a monster game and that monster was Jacob elordi and Frankenstein. 25 minutes, 24 points, eight rebounds, four threes, three blocks, including one where he like hit an elbow drop on Dylan Brooks after blocking his shot. He also had some insane bag work to start the second half. In the left corner, he goes between his legs a few times, a couple of crossovers, drive the lane and then a spin back to his left hand for the step through. That was really nice. Also, remember at the start of last season, Chat Holmgren fixed his three point shot and everyone's like, what are you doing, man? You shot 37% your rookie year. He shot 38% last year. He's up to 39 this year.

[J. Skeets]

It's working and it's quicker. Yeah, he's leveled up.

[Trey Kirby]

He's good.

[J. Skeets]

He's an all star.

[Trey Kirby]

He's an all star easily. Yeah, that was my only notes. Chat Holmgren is pointy and also Frankenstein.

[J. Skeets]

I like that one.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, the angular. That's a backhanded compliment. Right? That's what that's. Obviously he's skinny, but that's just another way of saying he's skinny.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Without saying he's skinny.

[Trey Kirby]

Like nickname it in bones.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[J. Skeets]

That's a good way to put it.

[Trey Kirby]

Tall bones.

[J. Skeets]

I also wrote down and you Already said this, TK but if OKCs three pointers are falling, just take your ball, call your mom, get your ride home. You're not winning, you're not winning, you're not beating this team. They shot 22 of 40, 55%. And when Lou Dort is hitting goddamn moon balls from the corner, those things go so frickin high. And there's some of those were challenged, but yeah, he puts arc on it. They're dropping. They had a ton of threes. You just have no chance. And then back to something you said at the beginning. I wrote in my notes here, OKC plays what I'm going to call trustworthy tip defense. Here's what I mean by that. That's what I like. I was noticed it a couple times and you said the start of the game was a tip play there from Wallace. Like the little poke around, they do this thing where it's like a lot of teams will like when they go for a steal, the guy will go for the steal. Like I want the ball, I want to grab it to then go. OKC does this thing because. So everybody's locked in defensively, I think is a big part of it. It's like, no, I'll just slap it. I'll just hit it. And a guy will be ready even though he's on the other side of the floor to dive on it to get it to go. Because we're all locked again together. And I just. I love it. They just like. That's how they play. They're like hands everywhere. Everything's a deflection because they trust another guy will grab it. I'm convinced. I don't know if they've taught this or whatever. It's part of their game plan or it's just all of them, their MO but trustworthy tip defense.

[Trey Kirby]

That's right. They got trustworthy tips. They reach on every play. They foul on every play. Because you can't call a foul on every play.

[J. Skeets]

Exactly, exactly. And then they just keep bringing in guys after guys after guys.

[Trey Kirby]

Come on. Usman Jang and Brandon Carlson combined for 22 fourth quarter points. They outscored the Suns by themselves in the fourth quarter, literally. Who's. Who's mine? Jang and Brandon Hulson. Ridiculous, man. These guys are like the last guys off the bench and they can play.

[Tas Melis]

And another. Who is Jamari Bouyer from the Phoenix Suns. Although I was watching him a few days ago when it was Bones.

Why can't I say Bones.

Highland. Yeah. I want to call him Harlan because. Just because I guess you said Harlan. Yeah, but Bones took it to him. Jamari. Booyah. Great name. Also on the same day that ESPN released a 30 for 30 booyah. A portrait of Stuart Scott.

[J. Skeets]

Have you watched it?

[Tas Melis]

No. It was out last night, right?

[J. Skeets]

I do want it. Yeah. Or the night before.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah. I. It was either keep second half on a Phoenix Suns OKC or put on Booyah. And I picked the wrong one. I picked the second half of the sun's Thunder. But Joy Booyah looks like he's got game. He looks like he could play for the OKC and play 15 to 18 minutes and score a bunch of points. Solid, solid player.

[J. Skeets]

Just a reminder here, they're 24 and 1, but the Thunder starting lineup from the majority of last year's NBA title run has not played a single minute together this season. Just wanted to throw that out there. Despite having the best start in NBA history and they won the title last year, but actually haven't had their legit go to starting five all play together.

[Trey Kirby]

Wow. I guess that's why FanDuel is going nuts, right?

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

They've got their own tab that just says okc and they have some of the most ridiculous things on here. Of course they've got the wins record. 74 wins right now is a plus 280. But new things added that I hadn't seen yet because right now the sun or the Thunder are also on a streak. 16 straight.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

So they have the Thunder current win streak to reach 29 or more games. The warriors team record was 28 because I guess they must have won whatever four straight at the end of. Oh God, the one streak one season.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Debate. That's plus 450. Thunder current win streak till we reach 34 consecutive games. That would be the Lake streak that they're going after. That's plus 1200. Then they get even Wilder Thunder current win streak to reach 40 plus consecutive games, plus 2200. Thunder win streak to reach 45 consecutive games, plus 8000.

[Tas Melis]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

They're like, will you do it? Will you do it? 45 straight games. If that happens, will you Continue watching the NBA? 45 straight wins. Would you even tune in?

[J. Skeets]

I will. I will continue, yes. I'll watch the playoffs to see if they can go perfect there. And then I'll wait to see if they win the number one pick in the draft.

[Trey Kirby]

They can get like back to back number one picks.

[J. Skeets]

Then if they do, I'll stop watching basketball and I'll say call me in three or four years and we'll go from there. After they win all the titles, how.

[Trey Kirby]

Early are they getting to clinch the number one seed? Like February? Like, are they going to be that far ahead that they clinch so early that they are playing Osman Jing and Brandon Carlson Serious minutes. Because you see them score and it's like that's the concern for me with them getting over 70 wins at the end of the season when games don't matter anything for the Thunder, but everybody else is actually still playing for something, it makes sense to like rest your guys.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Don't play them as much. Let the end of the bench do their thing. And when they do their thing, they're also awesome.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

So does it even matter? Does it even matter if they're starting? I don't know. Bring back Teal Maladon. Bring back all the old OKC guys that actually didn't pan out. What's Terence Ferguson up to? Poku.

[Tas Melis]

That was a quick.

[Trey Kirby]

Probably would be able to score 15 a game.

[J. Skeets]

He's very angular.

[Trey Kirby]

That guy's all angles.

[Tas Melis]

There should be a line of when they. What's the date they'll get to 70 games or what's the date they'll clinch that first seed? Because yeah, those guys, whether it's Teo Maladon or Brandon Carlson, it's different playing in a fourth quarter versus the first quarter as we saw with our man Colin Gillespie yesterday playing for the Phoenix Suns. And I know there's a debate should he continue to start if Jalen Green comes back? I know it's a. It's a little nuts, but.

It'S a different playing.

[J. Skeets]

It's a little different when you have a 40 point lead. Yes, you can play a little looser playing three.

[Tas Melis]

That was a dunk. That was a Brandon Carlson dunk. Was like a thrunk. I got a thrunk.

[Trey Kirby]

He was going insane.

[J. Skeets]

He was hooping. Incredible stuff. So let's show you the NBA cup bracket because we have our four teams, like I said, and in the Eastern Conference it's going to be Magic versus the Knicks. And on the west side there, it's Thunder Spurs. You were bringing up all those fanduel odds for the streak. What happens if the Thunder do lose in the final of the NBA Cup? A game that doesn't count. They tell us, wow, what impact does that have on those. Those winning streaks or not?

[Tas Melis]

Nothing. It has no impact.

[J. Skeets]

That's so funny. That will be so dumb if that happens. They'll have played an NBA game and lost, but we're going to pretend that they didn't. You know what I mean?

[Tas Melis]

I mean, yeah, I almost hope that happens. But that's what's going to. If they do lose.

[J. Skeets]

The problem is they won't lose.

[Tas Melis]

They are playing for something because they lost it last year.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, they are. They are. And those games are on Saturday, guys. And the first one starts at 5:30pm Eastern on Prime, that Eastern Conference game. And then followed by Thunder spurs, of course at 9 because they got to clear out the arena there, so. Oh, right, yeah, yeah, same arena.

[Trey Kirby]

So same arena. Is this a T Mobile?

[J. Skeets]

This is a weird one.

[Trey Kirby]

Is that where they were?

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, that's where they are. We stayed in the hotel right across the street. I forget the name of it. Was it MGM park?

[Trey Kirby]

Mgm.

[J. Skeets]

Okay. Yeah, park. Mgm. If you're going to Vegas, I suggest getting a room there. It's literally right across the street. It's very convenient.

[Trey Kirby]

And there's an Italy, so it's.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, great.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

East.

[Janice Torres]

It's true.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

I was gonna say my buddy Grish. Your buddy Grish. Our buddy Grish. We were thinking of getting together for one of the games this weekend, but then you see those times. It's like, which one are we gonna do? I'm like, I know it's Saturday, late game, bro. I was like, come for the early game. We'll order something. Yeah, nine o'. Clock. That's not gonna start till. That's not gonna start at nine. That's gonna start later. I'm gonna get me sleepy.

[Trey Kirby]

Sleepy at night.

[J. Skeets]

Not at 9 o'.

[Tas Melis]

Clock.

[J. Skeets]

At 10:30 on Saturday night.

[Announcer/Advertiser]

Yes, 10:30 on a Saturday night.

[J. Skeets]

Yes, I will be. Cause I'll be. Be up on at six o' clock on Saturday morning. So yes, I will be. So anyway, he's coming for, for dinner if you guys want to come over at 5:30 games. I got plans. Watch the cup game plan.

[Trey Kirby]

Got a Christmas performance.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, that's nice.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I got a pastor and a narrator going at church, so. Also playing for the district championship in soccer too.

[J. Skeets]

Wow, what a weekend.

[Trey Kirby]

I know, I know. Tough choices for young Ada Joy. What are you going to do? You going to play for the championship or are you going to narrate the Christmas performance art or something?

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Sports.

[J. Skeets]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

I know. Tough. Let's hear in the stream what she should do.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, get the poll going.

[Trey Kirby]

I told her, sleep on it. You'll know, you'll know in the morning.

[Advertiser]

Then.

[Trey Kirby]

I forgot to ask her this morning.

[Tas Melis]

But we got.

[J. Skeets]

By the way though, with that Spurs Thunder game. I know we all think the Thunder are going to just roll to this cup victory and why wouldn't you pick them? Wembanyama might join the spurs this weekend. That's the talk that he's like ramping up here. He's been off for a while now, right? He's been off like four weeks or something like that with that injury. Groin injury, Right. For him. I can't keep track of that. Calf strain. Okay, that sounds right. It's calf. But anyway, this guy could come back and if you have forgotten, he was averaging 26, 13, 4 assists in nearly four blocks of game. So. Okay, he's pretty good.

[Trey Kirby]

Can he handle Brandon Carlson? That's the question.

[J. Skeets]

That is the question. That is the question. And do they even need him? Like you said, they're nine and three without him, so maybe not. Maybe he's holding them back. Back from one big guy to another. This is unfortunate. Maverick center Derek Lively, the second undergoing season ending surgery on his right foot to address lingering discomfort. Team announced this yesterday. He is expected to make a full recovery and be available for the start of training camp. But wow, the timing. With this one task, you literally brought up your concern of Derek Lively.

[Tas Melis]

It's real.

[J. Skeets]

And his status on yesterday's show. And then this news came out soon after that.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. When we were talking about who the Mavs are going to trade, should they trade all their big men. Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford, the Derek Lively right foot ankle scenario, that whole bottom part of his right leg is a real concern. It feels like so long ago when he was in his rookie year, going to the NBA Finals, and it was fun. Now this is going to be three years. By the end of it, he'll have played under 40% of his games. Stinks. And I say that, like the bottom of his area of his ankle and foot is because it is combined. It's both of those areas. Last season, they were saying he had a right ankle injury. It was two and a half months that he was out. He said there were. The MAV said that there were stress fractures under there. And then in April, he had come back, but Nico Harrison said, well, don't you worry, he's not going to have surgery this off season. Then in July, he had surgery to remove bone spurs. That's when Nico Harrison fired everybody from the athletic training staff. He fired two people. And then this season, he doesn't play in a few weeks. For a few weeks. And then he has to undergo this. This right foot injury. Is it an ankle injury? Is it everywhere down there? It's unfortunate. This is where we are. So they probably keep Daniel Gafford at this point because he's a decent contract for a long time. And the Lively scenario is worrisome. Just Overall, again, under 40% of games played. That stinks.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, I hated reading in the Shams report, I guess. Makes me. I'm gonna get queasy just reading it. Quote, experiencing swelling and discomfort in his surgically repaired foot. There's something about surgically repaired foot that makes me, like, gross out. This sucks, though. Like, you said, he was awesome as a rook.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

He only played 55 games as a rookie, and then it's just gone down, down, down here for the big guy like you do. I hate to do it, but you start to wonder, like, is his body gonna let him make the impact that his potential showed when he was a rookie?

[Tas Melis]

No doubt.

[J. Skeets]

Hope it. I mean, obviously, hopefully you can come back.

[Trey Kirby]

That's the question. There have been big guys who have foot problems early in their career and come back from it. I'm thinking as a druna silgauskis I'm thinking Tyson Chandler, who's kind of like a good Derek Lively cop, being an athletic, defensive minded big man. But yeah, the Mavericks are gonna have to answer a couple of questions like can they count on him as a piece of their future because he would be a guy that you think is a long term piece alongside Cooper. Flag. But if he's going to be missing 50% of the games every year and having to deal with recurring foot problems, it's harder to keep him around. Which then does throw the Gafford question in as well. But it could also just accelerate the Mavs deciding we're tanking away this season. We need that first round draft pick coming in 2026 and we need it to be good because we've talked about a lot. They don't really have anything in the future that would allow them to get a player of Lively's caliber because the guy is a difference maker, at least on the defensive end. I think he needs somebody to set him up on offense. I think that's why he played so well with Luca. I don't know if it's been quite the same since Doncic has been traded, but if you can't count on Lively and you obviously can't count on them for the rest of the season, maybe you do want to be looking for your big man of the future because Gaffer's a good starter. Like he's a fine starter, can be a great backup big man as well, but not really a building block kind of character. So I don't know. Just another bad thing that's happened for the Mavericks. 2025 has been a brutal year to be a Mavs fan.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. And the Tanking is interesting because that's how they got Derek Lively. It was that end of series, Right?

[Trey Kirby]

Very true.

[Tas Melis]

At 23, 2023, when they sat Kyrie Irving those few games, they got fined for it, but they going for it and they ended up getting it via trade from OKC. That quick. Drafted at 12. That quick thing that happened. But that's exactly how they got him. Yeah, we could be flashing back, split screen, Tank to get Lively, Tank to get whoever they got to get here.

[J. Skeets]

I mean, you would Tank, right? And then just like pray that you have luck again in the draft lottery and get a high pick because then look, it would work if he could come back and you have Cooper and you have then Lively. Let's say he can come back from this and is healthy and they say that by training camp next year and then you could draft like your future guard, be it a point guard or two, whatever a score, a wing guy that they have. There are a couple, obviously in this draft class. I mean, that's not a bad three there. Now lively's on. Sorry. He has one more year on his $22 million rookie contract. So he is under contract next season. That would be the final year. But yeah, maybe they will. And maybe that means like obviously not rushing to bring Kyrie back and all of these things. We'll see. All right, let's take a quick break and when we come back, we're going to play a very weird game.

[Advertiser]

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[Tas Melis]

Limu Emu and Doug.

[J. Skeets]

Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating.

[Tas Melis]

It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

[Trey Kirby]

Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[J. Skeets]

Cut the camera.

[Tas Melis]

They see us.

[Janice Torres]

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

[J. Skeets]

Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Ferry Unwritten by.

[Janice Torres]

Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates excludes.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

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[Tas Melis]

When it comes to betting on your favorite NBA players, nobody does it like FanDuel. The unique line I wanted watching Lakers spurs last Night was over under on JJ Redick saying ass. How many times is he gonna say ass? It was only one. I don't know where you'd set the line. Probably a little higher. Maybe it's just JJ Redick curses. You think they'd allow curses on the Amazon broadcast? Felt like they're kind of rolling with.

[J. Skeets]

It because it's more like. Because it's streaming and not on a national broadcast.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, very interesting.

[J. Skeets]

They should.

[Tas Melis]

They should.

[J. Skeets]

People would be a lot more. Oh, you can tune in. Here's some cuss cussing allowed.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, go the way of ufc. Anybody can swear in ufc. They're doing well, basically.

[J. Skeets]

I didn't know you could do that, but that makes sense.

[Tas Melis]

It sure feels that way. Kerr was just allowed to swear the other day. He said exactly that. Anyway.

[J. Skeets]

Well, hold on. F1 is going to Apple TV. I wonder if they'll allow more cussing from the drivers and the teams and stuff on the radios because it was on ESPN and you weren't getting that.

[Trey Kirby]

So true.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, sorry.

[Tas Melis]

From points and rebounds to threes and assists to cursing, FanDuel is the best place to build your player or head coach prop story. I guess combine your favorite picks into a same game parlay or track every stat live all in one, easy to use Apple. And right now is the perfect time to join because new customers get $150 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. So bet on the players you love the way you want. FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, you're joining us on YouTube and you haven't done it already. Hit that like button, please. Thumbs up for your boys in plaid today and leave us a five star rating and review. If you're a podcast listener, just imagine four guys wearing plaid. The NBA.

The NBA Creator cup returns for its second season to the T Mobile arena on Friday. Hold on, hold on. Let's go. So, the Creator Cup. This is the night before the cup semifinals. They play this game on Friday night at the arena there. The event features a diverse lineup of top social creators with a combined total of over 130 million followers and will stream live across the NBA app and on NBA YouTube and NBA4Facebook. But here's the thing. I'm old and I know next to none of these people that are playing in this game. I know the coaches. I know Agent, I know Lethal Shooter. Those are the coaches. Okay, but that's basically it. I know one other guy, but I want to know how well you guys know.

[Tas Melis]

Well, now you Know them well.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Well, I know them, but I'm testing you.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I get it.

[J. Skeets]

So let's find out how well you guys know this year's Creator cup players. We're going to play a little game called Creator or Created. So it's pretty simple. Some of these people that I'm going to say are actual creators, they're playing in the game on Friday. Some of them are made up, and you guys can talk it out and try and figure out whether it's a creator or I just created.

[Tas Melis]

That's great.

[J. Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

That's great.

[Trey Kirby]

Excellent.

[Tas Melis]

I think I can get there. It's way better than just, do you know this person? That's way better. Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

First name here. And I think we have lower third, so everybody can see the name. First name. Creator or created? Caleb Nash Feimster.

Creator or did I just create it? Caleb Nash Feemster. Oh, boy. Oh, bear toe.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, boy. I wanna.

[J. Skeets]

Hold on, let me check Fanduel here. Yeah, the line. I have 10 total names. The line is set at six and a half, so you guys can get your bets in. Will the guys get seven or more, Correct or under? All right.

[Tas Melis]

I can't think that this is an actual name.

[Trey Kirby]

You don't think that it's the Feimster?

[Tas Melis]

We've also. I don't know. Yeah, maybe I'm combining names I've heard recently. We've, you know, there's a Caleb Love out there on the Portland Trailblazers. There's a Nash on the Amazon broadcast. And I think Skeets came up with this. I know those two names. And he's like, okay, what silly name? All right. Created it as Maybe. Maybe it's believable. I don't think so. I'm guessing no.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, you're going Created.

[Tas Melis]

Created.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, yeah, that's incorrect.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, man.

[J. Skeets]

That's a creator. Guys.

Caleb Nash Feimster is a trick shot specialist.

[Trey Kirby]

Aren't they all?

[J. Skeets]

Well, some are more gamers, some are more trick shot people. Okay, so you're 0 for 1.

[Tas Melis]

All right, I got tricked.

[J. Skeets]

Your next name, it's a female. Gwen Lud.

[Tas Melis]

Gwen Lud, Double l, double D.1.

The spelling. Does spelling come into this? Do you change it? Spelling? I don't know.

[J. Skeets]

Either I create it or it's a real person. It's a crazy. I thought you guys were on the Internet. You don't know Gwen Lud.

Gwen Lud with the double Ds.

Probably has a lot of followers.

Real. Real. They're real.

J. You agree with your.

[Tas Melis]

I I'm going with Trey. I don't care if we got to take a double L on this one. I missed the first two. Okay, I'm going double L, double D. Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

You're saying creator.

[Tas Melis]

Creator.

[J. Skeets]

That's incorrect.

Come on, guys.

[Tas Melis]

Come on.

[J. Skeets]

Focus and focus.

[Trey Kirby]

Themster as a real name.

[J. Skeets]

Ludd could be a real name. That's why it's a good fake name. I feel proud of that one.

[Trey Kirby]

Themster.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, next name, guys. Creator. Quispy 2.0.

[Tas Melis]

Can I get the. The origin, please?

[J. Skeets]

You want me to use it in a sentence?

[Tas Melis]

Yes.

[J. Skeets]

Quispy 2.0 has 100 million followers.

[Tas Melis]

Is that the correct pronunciation?

[J. Skeets]

It can be said koispy or crispy. 2.0.

[Trey Kirby]

Can I get the country of origin?

[J. Skeets]

No, I can't give you that.

[Tas Melis]

U, U, I S, p, e. Yes. 2.0. That's why there's no double E. So I.

[Trey Kirby]

This one's fake. Oh, this one's fake for sure.

[J. Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

All right, I'll go with you, Trey. Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

The guys are on the board. That's a fake name.

[Tas Melis]

There you go.

[J. Skeets]

I thought I'd get you at the 2.0.

[Tas Melis]

It's fun to say.

[J. Skeets]

Well done, guys. I don't know why I threw a second you in there, but thought it might confuse you. All right, next name here.

Creator or created. Drift J. Excuse me. Drifty J. Not to be confused with Drift J.

[Trey Kirby]

Drifty J. Drifty J. Juggalo adjacent.

[Tas Melis]

I'm not sure now that.

[Trey Kirby]

Where's the clown face paint while playing?

[Tas Melis]

I. I think it's real.

[Trey Kirby]

I think Drifty J's real as well.

[J. Skeets]

I like it.

[Trey Kirby]

Does a lot of hesitation dribbles, you know, drifting from side to side. Really glides out there on the court.

[Tas Melis]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

May not even be a basketball, but real.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, you guys are leaning.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

You're leaning real here.

[Tas Melis]

Got to.

[J. Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

I think the mispronunciation that you had at the beginning used to call them Drift J. Yeah, kind of. That sells me.

[J. Skeets]

Sells you on being a real person?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Okay. Yep, you're correct. Yes, Jordan. Drifty J Lewis keeps fans entertained with park takeovers. One versus one. One on ones, AAU events and a steady dose of comedy challenges. So Drifty J is really. Guys got two out of the four correct here. Here we go.

[Trey Kirby]

Are they funny? Have you seen the comedy?

[J. Skeets]

I have not seen a single thing from any of these people. The real people included. Hey, look, it's not for me. I get it.

[Tas Melis]

The broadcasters gotta say something when he air balls. It is a Drifty in this building. Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, next one here. Pretty simple name.

[Tas Melis]

Yep.

[J. Skeets]

Jim Bob.

Jim Bob. Is that a real creator that's gonna be playing on Friday night in Vegas or is that a created name that I came up with?

[Trey Kirby]

Could Jim Bob be the Hooper from that photo of the Amish kid shooting like a beautiful fade away? It would be a cool name.

[J. Skeets]

I know what you're talking about.

[Tas Melis]

In the photo. That could be called Jim Bob.

[Trey Kirby]

I don't know. Just people standing around to just like playing on the playground.

[J. Skeets]

Dude.

[Trey Kirby]

In like full Amish.

[Tas Melis]

There was a creator or something recently. Recently, Right. I thought there was a game. They did something.

[Trey Kirby]

They always do Creator Cups now.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, but recently. Not. Not last year. I mean like last.

[J. Skeets]

Probably on House of Highlights. Yeah, probably.

[Trey Kirby]

Probably.

[J. Skeets]

Jim Bob, real or fake?

[Trey Kirby]

I think fake. I don't know, it just. Just seems too clean.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Not sure. I'll go fake.

[J. Skeets]

That's correct. Jim Bob is fake. I thought I was gonna get you. I should have went maybe with Amos or something. What's more of an Amish name?

[Trey Kirby]

I think Amos is good.

[J. Skeets]

Amos. Amos. I guess that's how you say it. Jim Bob's fake. All right, you guys got three out of five here. All right, our next one here, Pika.

[Trey Kirby]

Pika.

[J. Skeets]

Pika Chew. Not Pikachu, just Pika.

[Trey Kirby]

Couldn't get the rights. Pokemon, very, very protective of their rights.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

That's right.

[Trey Kirby]

Pika's real.

[Tas Melis]

You know Pika?

[Trey Kirby]

No, no. But it seems like now's the time for a real one. I'm going off order strategy at this point. Pika seems like it could be the real name of a creator though, to me.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Real, correct.

[J. Skeets]

Nice playing. Five foot three, California based creator, known for her basketball and gaming content.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep.

[J. Skeets]

Pika's big in these streets.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I believe it.

[J. Skeets]

She's small, but she's big in the streets. All right, that's a four out of six. Okay. Okay. This is gonna be tight here with that Vegas line. That's fan dual line. All right, next one. Alexis Mickens.

[Tas Melis]

Sounds like.

[J. Skeets]

Sounds okay. That's a good one. That is tough.

[Tas Melis]

Sounds like a jokey. A jokey laugh. Last name Mickens.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I've never heard of a Mickens for sure. Never heard of a Feimster though.

[Tas Melis]

For today. Alexis. L E X I S. Alexis.

[Trey Kirby]

They call her the. The Nexus. The finder. You can pull up old articles, you can do your research. Lexus Mickens, what do you think?

[J. Skeets]

This Mickens, is that a creator or created?

[Tas Melis]

I think it's. I think it's created, I think. Yeah, yeah. The. The last name just sounds like SK Would want to. Want to come up with this one.

[Trey Kirby]

Mickens.

[J. Skeets]

Mickens, you're going.

[Trey Kirby]

I'll. I'll agree with task created, though I would say I would have personally gone with this is a real one.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, guys, we're split here, but official bet is created. Okay.

That'S incorrect. Yeah, yeah. Lexus Mickens is a real person.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Former collegiate athlete turned corporate America worker.

Is the bio I saw and then is in the creator game now.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay.

[Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Got a job. A lot of us did.

[J. Skeets]

Yes, yes. Okay, this is tight. So Lexus Mickens is real. That's a creator. So you guys are. You got four out of seven correct here.

[Trey Kirby]

Let's go.

[J. Skeets]

So to get all three, you got to get all three to hit the. Over which. That line. Maybe I made that line a little too harsh anyway. Chris Staples.

Ooh, ooh.

[Trey Kirby]

Chris Stapleton, country music artist.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, correct.

[J. Skeets]

But Chris Staples.

[Trey Kirby]

Chris Staples.

[Advertiser]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, that. That is. That's a. That's a real person name.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

That's a name you could have.

[Tas Melis]

Well, yeah, that's why it's. It sounds created to me, not a creator. Yeah, it's too related. It's not Vince Staples, it's not Stapleton, but it's a, you know, both at the same time. So.

I say it's created.

[J. Skeets]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

I. I could get in on that.

[J. Skeets]

Created is your final answer. Yeah, that's incorrect.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, no, I gotcha.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, I mean, I included that one. This is a real person. Former Harlem Globetrotter and world class dunker, Chris Staples. So he's going to be throwing down.

[Trey Kirby]

Some dunks in this game. I wonder if, similar to the wwe, the Harlem Globetrotters own the rights to the names that they use on the court. Moose.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, easy.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Dribble man, whatever it may be.

[J. Skeets]

I don't know. Yeah, I would. Maybe. I would think so. But it could be. Yeah. It's like wrestling what his name was. Wow. So you guys will not be hitting the. Over here, here. But can you end with. With a positive score, I guess here because you're four for four or four and four.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

So you're four out of eight. Final two.

[Tas Melis]

It's my bad. Trey, you jump in on this next name here.

[J. Skeets]

Creator or created. Noah Black.

[Tas Melis]

Too easy. It sounds too easy.

[Trey Kirby]

Too easy.

[J. Skeets]

That it's real.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, Yeah, I think it's real.

[Tas Melis]

Sure.

[Trey Kirby]

I don't know if it is, but nice going. Real.

[Tas Melis]

I'm good with that.

[J. Skeets]

Nope, I Created that. That. That was the real name that I create, you know. Created.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

So got you on that one. You just had the Chris Staples and Noah Black switched, basically.

So you guys are. Yeah. Too bad we're falling apart here. You're falling apart. Noah Black is completely fake. Final one, though. Creator created the Shrimpinator.

[Trey Kirby]

Please. His name is Geez Jerry. The Shrimpinator is real. He's a real creator, but he's not invited to the Cup. I just hope we have a photo.

[J. Skeets]

So you're saying. You're saying it is obviously a created name. Yes, it is. J.D. you can go full screen if you want. That is the Shrimpinator himself. This is from the expanded Mo Vernie universe. Trey already said his name. Geez Jerry. And he loves shrimp. And, yeah, he is a creator, but he's not playing in the Creator Cup. So that was a. That was a fun one at the end, and we'll give that to you. So you guys went five out of 10. 50%. Oh, bad. And here's a. Here's a look at the real list of teams here from all the people playing in the game on Friday night. There's your squad there, Obviously. Some of them I pulled from, and a bunch of other names I've never unfortunately heard of.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, they got Mika and Pika.

[J. Skeets]

They do, my friend. Yes, they do.

[Trey Kirby]

All right, well, Jalen Williams is playing in this game.

[J. Skeets]

Yes.

[Trey Kirby]

Wow. He's gonna dominate, I think.

[J. Skeets]

I would think so. I would think so. Chris London was the one person I knew. You know what I mean? Yeah, Chris, he played last year. I know him. He's the big 611 guy or everything. He's really quite tall. I don't know if it's 611 Cam.

[Trey Kirby]

Wilder I've seen as well.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, that name does sound familiar, too. So, anyway, go.

[Trey Kirby]

I'll be cheering for Team Lethal personally.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, me too. All right, thanks for playing. Creator or created? How'd you do out there in the YouTube land? Did you. Did you go 10 for 10? You probably did if you're 11 years old or something like that. The Shrimpinator.

[Trey Kirby]

Shrimp Inator, bro.

[J. Skeets]

We showed a picture of Geez Jerry on the show. I couldn't believe I found that photo.

[Trey Kirby]

You're not getting this anywhere else.

[Tas Melis]

I hope not.

[J. Skeets]

That guy was celebrated on Mo Verney's Instagram page for National Shrimp Day. That's what that photo was for back in May.

[Trey Kirby]

You went back six months to find.

[J. Skeets]

A picture of Geez Jerry. I didn't think I was gonna be all fine. I was like, aw. And I didn't want to hit you up. You probably have it saved on your computer. But I was like, I can't ask you because I want it to be funny live on air. But I found it. That's good.

[Tas Melis]

There's no shrimp in that photo, which is classic of that Mo Vernie world. Just not to do it. I don't think those are dumplings.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, he already ate the shrimp. He's the shrimp in it.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, they wouldn't last long.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

We don't even know this guy, but he loves shrimp.

[Trey Kirby]

I know a guy who loves shrimp. Met several guys will go crazy, crazy shrimp. And they're not even the shrimp.

[J. Skeets]

I am so looking forward to the Matt Austin text that we'll receive later today when he hears or watches that part. All right. Lovely, lovely. Up the night, unsullied by sponsorship for, I don't know, a day, day and a half. Who knows anymore? J.D. do we have it here today, my guy? Are we bouncing back probably from Temper boy Skeets yesterday, hopefully. Because it's going, it's going, it's going to spurs guard Stefan castle. Team high 30 points. There it is. He went 10 of 14 from the floor. He hit three threes, seven, nine at the charity stripe, 10 board, six assists. He did all of that in 27 minutes of action. I know Shea had a monster line in limited time yesterday in that blowout, but Castle didn't need a lot of time either. Put up 30, 10 and 6. So Castle gets it.

[Tas Melis]

Shout out to Mitch Johnson for not taking him out too early in the second quarter when he was in foul trouble. He had three fouls. He said, mitch, you stay in. You stay in. And he didn't score a ton after that, but it was the second half. He had 21 of his 30 points, so he's still in his flow. Shout out to Mitch if you like shrimp, Mitch, we'll get you some. What?

[J. Skeets]

He's got a hookup. So tonight's pick him test. We only have four games on a single nationally televised game. Where are we going?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, three of those four lines. Biggie. Boston at Milwaukee favored by nine. Houston at home to Los Angeles. Clippers favored by nine and a half. And the Nuggets in sacramento favored by 10. Which I thought maybe we could go with that because Denver does play down to their opponents at some point. But I went with the smallest one. Portland visiting the Pelicans, where Portland is favored by four and a half. So the Pelicans getting those four and a half points Myself and Trey, happy to take those Pelicans. Four points. Why are you taking those, Trey?

[Trey Kirby]

You really want to know?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I looked up the Portland Trailblazers various against the spread records, and they're only one in four as road favorites. Just the thing I know now that's.

[Tas Melis]

How you do it. And it's the last I. For me. It's kind of adding up to your. Your take is that it's the last game of their road trip, so I think they're gonna slow down a little bit. But you got Portland.

[J. Skeets]

I was shocked to see that you guys were in there there before me, and you took. Both of you took the Pelicans, who might be the worst team in the league, maybe consideration for the worst team.

[Trey Kirby]

At least in the Western Conference.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

And so you left me Portland. Not left me. But I didn't want to take. I wasn't taking the Pelicans. I was shocked. I was shocked. Not that big a line.

[Trey Kirby]

Not. Yeah, you're right.

[J. Skeets]

So I'll take the Blazers, who I do think are a better team, but they got to win by five for me to get it right. And I'm on a slide right now. Task doing well, having his best month of the season so far. You're six and two. I'm four and four and trade. Two and six here.

[Tas Melis]

So doing bad.

[Advertiser]

I'm doing.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, it's all right.

[J. Skeets]

It's all right. Lots of December left.

[Trey Kirby]

I'll be paying this one off.

[J. Skeets]

Christmas is in two weeks, though. Saw that today.

[Tas Melis]

Yep.

[J. Skeets]

I have one of those little things where, you know, you move in the date a little Santa man. Moving the date. How many days till Christmas? And I was like, whoa, little Santa man. Yeah, two weeks. Does it feel like it?

[Tas Melis]

No, no, not at all. No. But it also feels like I have a ton of time. I haven't bought a thing.

[J. Skeets]

Well, yeah, we had no money for a while.

Goodbye. Anything without money.

[Trey Kirby]

You did mention it is the end of the road trip for the Blazers, which I noticed as well. But what have they been doing? Yeah, they haven't played since Sunday.

[J. Skeets]

Did they go home?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, they probably.

[J. Skeets]

Probably.

[Trey Kirby]

Last game was in Memphis. This one's in New Orleans.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, you got to go home.

[Trey Kirby]

Far flights, right? Maybe that's what they were doing.

[J. Skeets]

Enjoying their time down here in the South.

[Trey Kirby]

Hanging in the Big Easy.

[Tas Melis]

No doubt.

[J. Skeets]

Could think of worse places to be.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

That's right. Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Okay. Well, go Blazers.

[Tas Melis]

Let us know.

[Trey Kirby]

Let us know. Caleb love.

[J. Skeets]

Maybe that's too much time, though. Yeah, we will see. We will. Be back tomorrow maybe to talk about some of these games. Maybe have worst of the week nominees. I feel like there are some nominees, some glorious ones. Okay. Maybe we'll have a big topic or two to tackle. Black Hole. Join us at 10am Eastern for the Drop podcast here from the Classic Factory. If you're a Survivor fan. Well, season's almost over but we'll be recapping episode 12, the penultimate episode of Survivor 49 around 1pm Eastern. No buffs own YouTube feed, its own podcast feed. Come join Trey, JD, Nora and myself.

I don't know what the takes are going to be like on Nova Bluffs today. I know, I know. Nora was quite frustrated with what went down last night. I thought TK might be angry, but we'll see.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, look, I mean foolish plays happened all around, but I thought it was a fun episode.

[J. Skeets]

Fun episode. Yes. Maybe some frustrating non plays or incorrect plays or flipping onto votes. Yeah, we'll break it all down.

[Tas Melis]

Or bag tosses or ridiculous bags. Ridiculous. Steven looks like my homie Mike Nomi, I would say. I think he does. Danielle then says, no, he doesn't. I don't care anyways. Mike Nomi would toss that little thing onto the pedestal. Way better than that.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he's good.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, is Mike the homie Mike know me?

[Trey Kirby]

He's got some loft.

[J. Skeets]

Put him on Survivor. Yeah, he would be good on Survivor.

[Tas Melis]

He's funny. He's a funny guy.

[J. Skeets]

A great character. Okay, that's no bus later today. Otherwise we'll see you guys tomorrow. Until then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.

[Trey Kirby]

Have a great time. Turn up.

[J. Skeets]

Love you guys.

[Trey Kirby]

Awesome.

[Tas Melis]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, were the Portland Trailblazers hanging out in New Orleans before the game or not? Where do you guys think they would eat? I mean, we could say Cafe Dumont. You know, they hang out there. But where would they eat?

[J. Skeets]

There's a lot of good restaurants. I couldn't tell you a name of one off the top of my head.

[Tas Melis]

Is that like a crochone bouchon? Yeah, it ends with C H O N. That's the one. That's one that's got the diner and then it's got the, the lunch spot, the deli shop at the same time. That's the best one. I'm glad you said it because I literally just wanted to say that. Kashon. It's so good.

[Trey Kirby]

I bet. Geez. Jerry loves going to New Orleans.

[J. Skeets]

All the shrimp, baby.

[Tas Melis]

Shrimp everywhere.

[J. Skeets]

Oh my goodness. And as we go off the air here, pick one. The. The Question was the poll was soccer or Christmas program? This is for ADA Joy. It was 50. 50.

[Advertiser]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, thanks for the help.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, she's screwed. That's no help.

[Trey Kirby]

It's a tough call.

[Tas Melis]

You gotta throw a third one in. Or the early bird that you're throwing at your house. Skeets, it's an early bird dinner. It's like five o' clock like you said. Would you rather eat super early?

[J. Skeets]

Well, guys, we're doing shrimp. We're ordering shrimp for the first cup game on Saturday, so come on over.

[Trey Kirby]

Are you thinking like fried shrimp or shrimp cocktail? Both good or shrimp two ways?

[J. Skeets]

I like fried shrimp. Yeah, I'm not a big shrimp cocktail guy.

[Trey Kirby]

Cold shrimp?

[J. Skeets]

Not really. I don't like a lot of cold food. Interesting. Yeah, yeah, you do.

[Trey Kirby]

Always heat something up.

[Tas Melis]

Hot shrimp.

[J. Skeets]

Hot shrimp. Grace. Today, people.

[Eva Longoria]

Amazon five Star Theater presents real customer reviews, performed by Eva Longoria. Tonight's review, sports briefs.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, boy.

[Eva Longoria]

Where do I even start with these performance mesh boxer briefs. These boxer briefs are like a magician's trick. You know the one where you go, where did that rabbit come from? So if you're looking for underwear that not only performs well, but also gives your package the attention it deserves, then look no further. 5 stars. Nickalicious Shop the perfect gift this holiday season. Season on Amazon.

[Announcer/Advertiser]

What a matchup we got, y'.

[J. Skeets]

All.

[Announcer/Advertiser]

This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance echo drum beat. Everybody showing that school pride game like this. Yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, Crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there.

Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere, and an ice cold Coca Cola. That's a winning combo. No matter the sport, no matter the yard, Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going.

[Janice Torres]

Janice Torres here, and I'm Austin Hankwitz. We host the podcast Mind the Business. Small Business Success Stories, produced by Ruby Studio in partnership with Intuit QuickBooks.

[Tas Melis]

We're back for season four to talk.

[Trey Kirby]

To some incredible small business owners. The big thing about working at Tech is that it's ever evolving, ever changing.

[Tas Melis]

Everyone's a rookie.

[Trey Kirby]

That's how fast the industry is changing.

[J. Skeets]

So what I'm really excited about is.

[Trey Kirby]

To be part of that change.

[J. Skeets]

So Listen, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple.

[Janice Torres]

Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Tas Melis]

This is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human.