Vucci Mane Calls Game, Late Whistle Saves Knicks, Cade Gets Signature Shoe

Summary

No Dunks – Podcast Summary

Episode: Vucci Mane Calls Game, Late Whistle Saves Knicks, Cade Gets Signature Shoe
Date: November 20, 2025
Hosts: Jay Skeets, Tas Melis, Trey Kirby, JD

Episode Overview

This fast-paced episode digs into a wild night of NBA action: Nikola Vucevic’s buzzer-beating heroics for the Bulls, a controversial late whistle that helped the Knicks finally get a road win, the Rockets’ impressive surge, and major sneaker news with Cade Cunningham’s big Nike deal. The crew also debates the NBA’s animated Christmas game, Team USA’s future, and unique league-wide storylines with their signature banter and deep-dive breakdowns.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Chicago Bulls’ Wild Win in Portland

• Game Recap:
  Bulls beat the Blazers 122–121 on Nikola Vucevic’s (aka Vucci Mane) clutch buzzer-beating three.
  • Bulls led by 21 in the 4th, lost the lead, but snatched victory.
• Broadcast Highlight:
  Stacy King’s call: “Put some respect on Vucci Mane’s name. Bang, bang, bang. Late game killer. We’re coming back to Chicago.” (03:36)
• Key Plays & Breakdown:
  • Bulls lit up the Blazers’ zone in the 3rd, making 7 threes.
  • Blazers responded with a 13–0 run, led by Donovan Clingan (10 OREBs).
    “Donovan Clingan was getting every single offensive rebound.” (05:12 – Trey Kirby)
  • Final seconds: Blazers missed clutch free throws, Kobe White hit a big 3, then drew a triple-team and dished perfectly to Vucevic for the game-winner.
  • “Chicago’s 10th clutch game of the season. They’ve only played 14 games so far.” (06:24 – Trey Kirby)
• Bench Praise:
  Bulls’ depth stands out, with contributions from Ayo Dosunmu, Pat Williams, and Javon Carter. (08:54 – Tas Melis)

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2. New York Knicks Survive Chaos in Dallas

• Controversial Finish:
  Knicks get their first road win after a late-game offensive foul is called on Brandon Williams, negating a potential game-tying bucket.
• Crew Debates Whistle:
  • Debate if refs should “swallow the whistle” in closing seconds or if hook was too blatant.
    • “He doesn’t even want to do anything. Shamit doesn’t want to get in front of him… it all worked out for him obviously.” (10:27 – Tas Melis)
    • “I don’t think that would be a foul if it was Kyrie Irving doing the drive. That’s a superstar play… unfortunate if you’re Brandon Williams.” (12:52 – Trey Kirby)
• Missed Opportunities:
  Knicks shot 3-of-10 on FTs in the 4th, but Landry Shamet hit two huge late threes to secure the win.
• Fun Moments:
  • Klay Thompson airballs late 3: “This is Klay Thompson… it just sucks to see him completely fall off.” (14:01 – Jay Skeets)
  • Josh Hart snacks on a peanut M&M after tumbling into the front row. (15:10 – Jay Skeets / 15:14 – Trey Kirby)

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3. Houston Rockets Keep Rolling

• Game Summary:
  Rockets win 114–104 in Cleveland—fifth straight win—driven by Alperen Sengun’s dominance.
• Cavs Struggles:
  • Despite two 7-footers, Cavs are a poor rebounding team.
    • “Too much finesse, too skinny, not clean enough feet… Cavs are 5-0 when Donovan Mitchell scores 35 or more points, 4-5 when he’s under 35. That’s a huge ask.” (19:11 – Trey Kirby)
  • Miss Garland, lack toughness and depth.
• Sengun’s Star Turn:
  • Outplayed Evan Mobley, showing elite skill and confidence.
    • “Alperen Sengun cooked Mobley… He embarrassed him, too big. He had the hook shots going, right and left hand… a lock for All-Star, flirting with All-NBA.” (21:50 – Jay Skeets)
  • Rockets look ahead of schedule at 10–3.

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4. Quick Fire: Other NBA Highlights

• Bam Adebayo’s Return Lifts Heat over Warriors (110–96, short-handed GSW).
• Toronto Raptors stay red-hot—5th straight win, 9–1 last 10, team-first playstyle.
  • “Fourth in assists, first in fastbreak points… they just all share it.” (25:10 – Tas Melis)
• Benedict Mathurin Sparks Pacers’ Second Win
• Raptors’ Box Score:
  • Balanced scoring, bench impact, great pass-and-move identity taking hold.

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5. Western Conference Quick Recap

• Timberwolves: Julius Randle drops 32, Wolves hold off Wizards (121–109).
• Nuggets: Jokic notches another triple-double; Peyton Watson career-high 32; Denver tops Pelicans. Zion returns, looking rusty. (30:10–31:26)
• Thunder: SGA scores 33; OKC beats Kings, improves to 15–1.
  • “Could they do 73 wins? They could… Will they want to? That’s another cue.” (34:02 – Jay Skeets)

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6. Sneaker News & Cade Cunningham’s Big Nike Deal

• Cade Cunningham Re-Ups with Nike for 6 Years
  • Will get his signature shoe, debuting next season.
  • Hosts speculate Nike may want him in a bigger market but praise his fit in Detroit.
    “John Morant’s in Memphis, Devin Booker’s in Phoenix, Giannis is in Milwaukee. Does this really matter in today’s NBA world?” (58:01 – Jay Skeets)
• Booker’s Book 2 Signature Shoe Debuts
  • Crew shares personal preferences and quirks of hooping in signature models.
  • Debate functionality: “I have a heavy heel strike… They got a chunky bottom.” (59:40 – Trey Kirby)

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7. The NBA’s Animated Christmas Game – “Dunk the Halls” Returns

• All hosts are UP on it:
  • Blend of actual NBA action with real-time animation featuring Mickey and friends.
  • Stitch joins the Disney cast this year.
  • “It’s hilarious… The Donald Duck McHale Bridges celebration last year was the funniest thing.” (44:07 – Jay Skeets)
  • Animated Daisy Duck will interview Adam Silver on the sideline.

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8. 2028 Olympics: LeBron and Steph Say No

• Both announce—likely not playing in LA Olympics due to age (LeBron, 43; Steph, 40).
  • Trey: “It was cool seeing these guys play in the Olympics… end of an era, man, if LeBron is finally saying no.” (50:04 – Trey Kirby)
  • A sliver of a door left open for Steph in a vet’s role, maybe even 3x3.

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9. NBA Fines Cavs for Resting Stars

• $100,000 fine for sitting both Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley ("rest") in Miami — violating NBA's player participation policy.
  • “I think they should be able to rest.” (62:42 – Trey Kirby)
  • Tas Melis connects it to forthcoming gambling regulations and stricter injury reporting:
    “For gambling, that will change… You can’t have a 6-hour game time decision window anymore.” (62:59 – Tas Melis)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• 03:36 – Trey Kirby: “Put some respect on Vucci Mane’s name. Bang, bang, bang… Bulls do it again here with a game winner…”
• 05:12 – Trey Kirby: “Donovan Clingan was getting every single offensive rebound.”
• 12:52 – Trey Kirby: “Don’t think that’d be a foul if it was Kyrie Irving… you’re Brandon Williams. Unfortunately, you don’t get that call.”
• 21:50 – Jay Skeets: “Alperen Sengun cooked Mobley… He embarrassed him—too big.”
• 34:02 – Jay Skeets: “Could they do 73 wins? They could… Will they want to? That’s another cue.”
• 44:07 – Jay Skeets: “Donald Duck when he hit the McHale Bridges three-point celebration was the funniest thing.”
• 50:04 – Trey Kirby: “End of an era, man, if LeBron is finally saying no…”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Bulls vs. Blazers wild finish: 03:02–08:54
• Knicks/Mavs controversial ending & free throw woes: 09:31–16:56
• Rockets’ win, Cavs consensus struggles: 18:59–24:12
• Eastern Conference Roundup (Raptors, Heat, Pacers): 24:12–29:17
• West Recap (Nuggets, Thunder, Wolves): 29:54–38:02
• Animated NBA Christmas Game discussion: 42:00–47:19
• Olympic Future for LeBron & Steph: 49:32–52:28
• Cade Cunningham’s Nike Deal and sneaker talk: 54:23–60:40
• NBA fines Cavs for resting stars & player rest policy: 61:52–65:13

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Tone & Style

All the classic No Dunks humor, pop-culture riffs, and “in the weeds” NBA detail. Lively, playful, but always thoughtful in analysis. Regular friendly jabs and inside jokes (food debates, shoe quirks, hair mishaps).

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For First-time Listeners & Fans Alike

This episode captures all the chaos and excitement of a packed NBA slate, sprinkling in sneaker culture, league meta, and behind-the-scenes developments. You’ll laugh, learn, and come away with talking points on every major NBA storyline of the night.

Transcript

[Jay Skeets]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Jay Skeets]

Good morning sweet world and welcome to the no Dunks podcast presented by FanDuel. It's Thursday, November 20th, 2025. I'm Jay Skeets here in the Classic Factory and alongside me as always, Tas Millis Masaya Ujiri.

[Tas Melis]

These Raptors wins are for you.

[Jay Skeets]

Next to him, it's my top shot, hot boy Trey Kirby Ayo. Hey yo. And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer jd Hello. There he is. Sounding a little better. JD did you get a good night's sleep?

[Tas Melis]

Decent night's sleep, yeah. Thank you.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay, you're on the mend.

[Tas Melis]

On the mend.

[Jay Skeets]

All right. Hello to everybody on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners, five star ratings and reviews. We got a fun show today. We'll get into last night's games and we're gonna throw some thumbs in the up down report. Debating live animated games on Christmas again Sneakers. A lot of sneaker talk on today's show and the 2028 Olympics. But first, we had a wedgie. And this is a nice snowflake wedgie here from Evan Mobley with the little turnaround jumper sort of in the mid range there and sticks it in Cleveland.

[Tas Melis]

You call it a nice snowflake of a wedgie, but horrible shot. I mean, it's like a six foot shot that he turns and misses.

[Jay Skeets]

That's why to me it was a snowflake. Cause it's like we don't see wedgies on little jumpers like that.

[Tas Melis]

All that is fairly unique. Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. So 14 on the season on pace for 58. You can go check out all the wedgie stats@wedgie tracker.com. but let's start with a thrilling ending in Portland last night between the Bulls and the Blazers. And this one, you got to hear the Bulls broadcast on the call. Down to five, down to four, game on the line right here. He takes Murray. He ducks under boots for the win. Has done it again. Put some respect on Booty man's name. Bang, bang, bang. Late game killer. We're coming back to Chicago.

[Trey Kirby]

We're coming back home.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Stacy King with an Alzheimer there. Put some respect on Vucci Maine's name. Bang, bang, bang, too. I love that as well. So Vuch hits the three pointer at the buzzer. Bulls do it again here with a game winner. And they win 122 to 121 in a game that they led by 21 points in the fourth quarter. And they let the Blazers come storming back. But they get the W in the end.

[Trey Kirby]

I know what you're thinking, Vuch first clutch player of the year.

[Tas Melis]

That's right.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. The new Robert Ori out there, he doesn't even have FanDuel odds. Let's get on it.

[Jay Skeets]

FanDuel.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, wow.

[Trey Kirby]

You're telling me CJ McCollum at 25,000 has a better chance than Vuch? He's already had two game winners.

[Tas Melis]

This year we're for clutch player of the year. People are taking CJ McCollum over the Vuch, Vucci, Maine. Give it to him.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, King. The last time he went with an old TV reference.

[Jay Skeets]

I'm coming, Elizabeth.

[Trey Kirby]

And everybody's like, what?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, he did that.

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[Tas Melis]

But he ended this one with, we're coming home, Chicago.

[Trey Kirby]

Drive home safely. Beep, beep. That's what he says. When the Bulls win, they win a lot. Now this game, though, was kind of the definition of maker Miss League to Me. The Bulls absolutely shredded the Blazer zone in the third quarter. They made seven threes in the quarter alone, including three from Isaac Coro. Two two from Josh Giddy built a 21 point lead in this game with nine minutes and 15 seconds left. And then an instant 13 to 0 run for the Blazers. Both just went cold. They were missing the exact same shots that they were getting in the third quarter. Vch had two wide open looks from the top of the key that he clanked off. Jalen Smith had a little runner that he bricked off. On the other side of things. Donovan Clingan was getting every single offensive rebound. He finished with 10 offensive rebounds on the night. The Blazers were making their threes. They were getting out in transition. At one point Cleon gets an assist from the floor, falls down on it.

[Tas Melis]

That was awesome.

[Trey Kirby]

And finds a guy and you can see him doing the goggles. Yeah, to the side. I love that. Portland took a three point lead on an and one from clinging with 47 seconds left. Got out to a four point lead. But then Kobe White hit a big three and then the Blazers started to be the team that missed. Denny Abdia missed a free throw that could have put the game out of reach. Jeremy Grant missed a free throw that could have put the game out of reach with 8 seconds left. You saw the play inbound to Kobe White and for some reason the Blazers triple teamed him in the middle of the lane when they were up by two. The only thing you're only way you're gonna lose is a three point. I mean Bouz Ellis was cutting baseline. I guess Jeremy Grant kind of stuck with him. But Kobe was playing well enough that he drew the attention in his second game back from injury. 25 points, seven assists, five threes in just 27 minutes. He had the big three that got him within one point before the Grant missed free throw and then the game winning assist. Chicago's 10th clutch game of the season. They've only played 14 games so far.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

Six and four. I mean I think the Pistons have the best record in the clutch so far. I think they're nine and one, something like that.

[Jay Skeets]

But yeah, Vucci, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I want to pass from Kobe. White to be hanging in the air while he was triple team there and finding Vuch for that extra point to give it to him. And I thought Vuch, you mentioned the pass from Donovan Clingan's but that was right by Vuch's leg with three minutes left. Vuch didn't want to Bend over for that thing. He just wants to stand up and catch that thing. And he did because Kobe White set him up for a beautiful pass. For a Portland Trailblazers team that came back with Jeremy Grant starting Shaden Sharp was ill in this game. Illness is going around not only the NBA but everywhere. Jar JD was sick. Skeets are sick last week. It's everywhere. Everywhere. Everyone's got it. But Jeremy Grant somehow can come in and drop 33 as they were just coming back in this game and Denny had is 32. So a wild one. A wild one. To hear Stacy King do that, we always watch Chuck Schwirski who is the radio play by playman for the Chicago Bulls and his weird dance moves.

[Trey Kirby]

After games check in on the dance.

[Tas Melis]

Somebody's dancing. Oh, it was weird. I think. I think he got even weirder for the second game winner. It got just more flailing, more arms just all over the place. The great Chuck to do that. So yeah, it's just hilarious. There's actually people behind him watching.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh yeah, he's wearing a sweater vest and of course he's ending with.

[Tas Melis]

That.

[Jay Skeets]

He ends with no music, no word, Chuck.

[Trey Kirby]

Just dancing.

[Jay Skeets]

Beautiful stuff.

[Tas Melis]

But it is wild. It is wild, his dancing. But also what they do. They go and win in Utah then. Or they lose in Utah. Excuse me. Then they go the next night in Denver. A hard place to do it. They win there and in this one almost gave it away.

[Jay Skeets]

But oh yeah, absolutely bizarre road trip there for the Bulls because they started with a loss to the Pistons. Okay, Detroit's beating everybody then. You're right. Then they go to Utah. That's a 150 to 147 double overtime game. If I remember correctly, that they lose. Then they got to turn around and go play in Denver. Like you said, Tas, it's like everybody's like, well, they're going to lose that. They pull out that one. Yeah. And then go to Portland, up big, give it all away. And it's like, ooh, this is going to be a rough ending to a road trip. Giving up a 21 point lead. But then Vuch hits that huge, huge three and they go home with the split, which is like in the end, all that not that bad, two and two.

[Trey Kirby]

It's all good. But give me those odds, baby. Give me those odds for the plus 30,000 right now.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh sure. A little. A little bit too big shots. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

I don't know if FanDuel does odds for the best benches, but it is surprising to See the Bulls coming together this way on the bench. It is what Artuis Karnishev has talked about before the season. We want nine good guys. That's what we're looking for. And to see IO Dumu come off the bench like this, it's not surprising. But it is awesome to see him along with Kobe White, Pat Williams now put to the bench contributing there. Javon Carter coming out. There's just bodies that contribute this. This team is playing like a team much like our Raptors. We'll get to a little later like we. We all predicted them to be sort of in that play in realm but they're playing above it.

[Jay Skeets]

Let's move to the Knicks holding off the Mavericks in a very wild ending for their first road win of the season. They haven't played a lot of road games, but they got their first one in Dallas. And this one, we got to start at the end because Brandon Williams is called for an offensive foul on Shamet because he hits the shot to tie the game. But it's called off by the official on the other side of the screen there up top. And he says nope, nope, nope. He hooked him. And when you watch in real time tasks like that first clip, it's like what, where, where's the offensive foul? Obviously when you slow it down, he's definitely grabbing it around Landry Shammon's hip. But hip. But what do you think?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, looking at it in slow mo. A major hook. That being said, you allowed the bump from Landry Shamit to happen, which you would assume you would let happen in the last few seconds of a game. But then you kind of have to let the hook go, which she didn't really even hook anything. Cause Landry Shamit just wants to get.

[Jay Skeets]

Out of the way to hook at all.

[Tas Melis]

I don't think. Yeah, yeah, he doesn't, he doesn't want to do anything. Shamon doesn't want to get in front of him. He actually wants to not get called for the defensive call. It all worked out for him obviously. But on the close side, the referee doesn't call the bump, he doesn't call the hook. And on the far side, he also, that referee also allowed that bump to go through, which I would assume you do in this late game situation. I think you just let that shot go as well. It's a wild ending as well. Being compared to the Bulls Blazers, this one also super wild for those missed free throws for the knicks, they were 3 of 10 in the fourth quarter from the free throw line, just bang home A couple more free throws and you win this game. Shamet missed two with 22 seconds left. Mitchell Robinson also missed both of his with six seconds left. And Jalen Brunson missed his with three seconds left. And there's some awesome angles of this end of court inbound. And you could see Jason Kidd calling.

[Jay Skeets]

Get back.

[Tas Melis]

Go that way. Go that way. From the. The sideline angle. They're awesome angles to see this play it. It's a play that seems to be happening a lot in the NBA now.

[Jay Skeets]

Throw it down the floor to the big guy. And here comes the sprinter sprinting guard and like tip it to him or throw it to him. Yeah. Well designed play.

[Tas Melis]

Is it. Is a good sign? Is it a good sign for the Mavs? We're in this weird era here with the Dallas Mavericks. Do they want to lose because they. They want to hold onto this draft pick because they don't have their draft pick for several years after this one? Yeah, they're four and 12. They go into this game no Kyrie, no AD and no Cooper flag. Also ill. Do they want to do that? It's a weird scenario here because now you got Cuban coming in. We'll probably talk about on tomorrow's show about the trade possibilities. But Cuban comes in and says, no, we're not doing that. Well, Shamsher on your report is. Oh, yeah, they're doing that. Yeah. So very.

[Jay Skeets]

That's what I thought as soon as Cuban said we're not trading Anthony Davis. It's more likely you're trading Anthony Davis.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Tbd.

[Odoo Ad Voice]

I don't know.

[Jay Skeets]

That's what you say when you want a better package for Anthony Davis, I guess, in my opinion. But yeah, who knows? But weird ending. You said the Knicks missed him a lot of free throws. So did the Mavericks. Every guy that went to the line down the stretch. They were splitting them.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes.

[Jay Skeets]

It was like always hitting one or two. It happened like four or five times, so. Or three or four times at least. So there was a lot of freebies left out there and so didn't do themselves any favors. There's some other boneheaded plays too. Like the Mavericks actually should have won this game and gave it away. But Landry Shambit not only getting that call, TK but he hit two massive threes in the final. Call it 65 seconds for the Knicks as well.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Maybe should have stepped back and shot his free throws from behind the three point line because the threes were nice. And Shamet has been kind of a godsend for the Knicks while OG Anunoby has been out stepping in and making his three pointers for the most part. I don't think that would be a foul if it was Kyrie Irving doing the drive. They wouldn't call it. That's a superstar play. But you're Brandon Williams. So unfortunately JT or had a great view like he's looking straight at the play and you can see him reaches around and then looks pretty freaky, honestly, from the reverse angle. How does his arm stretch that far around Landry Shamit to where he's scratching the small of Landry Shammit's back.

[Jay Skeets]

Right.

[Tas Melis]

It is quite.

[Trey Kirby]

I saw, I saw a great clip of Brandon Williams learning how to finish at the bucket from Kyrie Irving. That's a Kyrie like move and if you're one of the best players in the league, they let you get away with it.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, you're probably right.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, he was bumped so he kind of reacted to that. I think like, I need space to get to this rim. Give me some space here. So the bump does happen first. If you're going to call something, you call that I assume swallow it.

[Trey Kirby]

Swallow a jt.

[Tas Melis]

Jt. But also good referee Nick.

[Trey Kirby]

It's a good referee shot for the last four and a half minutes game. So that's really where it was lost.

[Jay Skeets]

And one of those misses and at this point I hate seeing it. Klay Thompson airballing a three point attempt with like, what was that? 30 seconds to go. Like a decent look for Clay. Like this is. I mean I hate it. I love Klay Thompson's career. Huge fan of his and it's just sucks to see him like completely fall off here. That was bad, man. This is Klay Thompson. This is one of the greatest three point shooters ever, period. And it's like not even close. It even feels like the fans know it too. And it's going like, ah, I don't know about this.

[Tas Melis]

But anyway, he's not a November shooter at the, at this point of his career. He did come around in December and January last year. We'll see. Obviously I think that Dallas fans will say he's not supposed to be playing this role. You throw in a couple stars in front of him.

[Jay Skeets]

He's not supposed to be playing the role where you need a big three hit at the end of a game.

[Tas Melis]

Exactly what he's playing that particular shot. Sure. Yes. Yes. Overall doing. Yeah, that's unfortunate. Obviously it's Clay.

[Jay Skeets]

Did you see Josh Hart fall into the front row of this game in the crowd? And while he Was getting up and going back into play. Snuck a little, I guess. Peanut M and M, I think the broadcast said.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, they know it's type of M.

[Jay Skeets]

And M. That's what Breen said.

[Trey Kirby]

Are the yellow peanut MMs the worst ones?

[Tas Melis]

God, no. The best.

[Trey Kirby]

Do they taste different?

[Jay Skeets]

No, not at all.

[Tas Melis]

Well, they're more fun to eat, I think. Yeah, but he was a Mike and Ikes man. Is that. It's called.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

He's got like a. An endorsement deal with Mike or Ike. I don't know.

[Tas Melis]

Sounds so weird saying Mike and X as I said it. Like. Is that what it's called? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what it's called.

[Jay Skeets]

I've never had it.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm like a Nike.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

It's not a candy.

[Jay Skeets]

Was it not in. I mean, I don't think it was, but I don't remember seeing it as a growing up and just have refused to have one.

[Trey Kirby]

It's a nice movie theater. Candy.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Not a big candy guy.

[Tas Melis]

A lot of chewy.

[Jay Skeets]

Just straight popcorn for me.

[Trey Kirby]

Corny.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Anything else on Maz? Like you said, we might get into the ad Cuban Mavericks plan of it all tomorrow, but. Anything else on the game? No.

[Tas Melis]

Listen. Yeah. I want to see what the Knicks are. I know it's just their first road win, but they sit here now at 9 and 5. They're below a couple teams in the Eastern Conference when they should be running away with it. I know they're we. Yesterday we talked about the Detroit Pistons and what tier they're in. But the Knicks are playing so well in terms of the Mike Brown touches, the passes. We'll get to that, how they're playing. Yeah. It's fun. It's fun to watch that. That's all.

[Jay Skeets]

And Brunson was back. That was a good sign. He only missed what, two games with the ankle sprain and Kat had some big dunks and you know, they're missing OG but the Landry Shamon of it all. This guy's been amazing for me.

[Tas Melis]

It's been hot.

[Jay Skeets]

It's been so good.

[Trey Kirby]

Right now they need somebody to shoot threes and he's doing it, so that's good. Eastern conference right now, two through 11 separated by two games.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

There's been one good team in the east so far and a lot of okay teams.

[Tas Melis]

Mm.

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[Jay Skeets]

Let'S go to El Prince scoring 28 points as the Rockets top the Cavaliers 114104 Houston's fifth straight win TK your takeaways from.

[Trey Kirby]

Houston going into Cleveland Houston is better at being big than the Cavs are. I don't understand how the Cavs are a bad rebounding team. They start two seven footers 17th in defensive rebounding rate. Too much finesse, too skinny, not clean enough feet. And if Donovan Mitchell isn't carrying the Cavs they don't really have a chance right now with Donovan or with Darius Garland missing the majority of the season. So for a lot of this one, the Rockets were double teaming Donovan Mitchell. He got on tracked a little bit in the fourth quarter for sure, but as soon as they double team him, there's nobody else to make a play like Garland's the only guy who drives and creates for others. Lonzo likes to stay around on the outside, move the ball and shoot threes. He hits them eventually, but it turns into a lot of DeAndre Hunter and Naquan Tomlin. These guys are trying to make plays off the dribble getting into the mid range game. Sometimes it's hitting, you know, DeAndre Hunter very up and down, but they just right now they don't have enough without Garland out there. Cavs are five and oh, when Donovan Mitchell scores 35 or more points, four and five when he's under 35. That's a huge ask for Donovan Mitchell to score 35 a night to win games because that's the only way they're able to generate enough offense right now. So I don't know what's going on with Cleveland. We talked with Jason Concepcion last week, like are they a realistic threat? And for me, not without Garland. And that guy's banged up every single playoff. So we'll see if he's able to get back on the court. But they need some toughness. They don't have any tough guys.

[Tas Melis]

That's a fair assessment. We saw Jared Allen with a monster throw dunk, a throw down yesterday. Speaking of an offensive foul was called for the offensive foul. But I didn't even like his demeanor and that's even talking about a frigging huge throwdown where he just continued to look at the video board and watched the replays of him getting called for an offensive foul. There is something lacking there. And yesterday in particular, they're. They dropped off in the middle of the first quarter. When they went to their bench, Donovan Mitchell sat. I thought the Lonzo ball led minutes for that team were horrendous. I thought Lonzo ball got into his dribble package and shooting way too often for that team. And they were missing Darius Garland. Of course Sam Merrill had to miss this game. A guy that they basically chose over Ty Jerome this off season. They, they missed his three point shooting and Max Stru isn't around, hasn't been around all season. So there, there's lots of factors there. But this team is supposed to be deeper and they lost the game to Me in, in that first to second quarter bridge there where they just, they just fell off and they lost their lead. So the Rockets are yeah are tough team to play no matter what. Alpern Shangun is just freaking fun, fun to watch.

[Jay Skeets]

That was my takeaway from this game. Alperin Shen Goon cooked Mobley.

[Tas Melis]

He did.

[Jay Skeets]

He kicked his ass last night. That's the defensive player of the year. I mean it was brought up after the game. They asked him about it. He's like, I don't care. I'm going to go at everybody. And he embarrassed him too big. He had the hook shots going both right hand and left hand. He was hitting little fade away baseline shots. He must have scored like basically one on one, eight or nine times on Mobley just like, all right, I'll just out duel you here and did so great game from him. I mean he's going to be, he's a walk for the all star. He's going to be flirting with all NBA great season. The rockets are 10:3, which you know, it's like maybe you gotten lost in the sauce here a little bit. That's a damn good start. Good team.

[Tas Melis]

And including a loss to OKC in that double overtime game. And yeah, when Shen Goon got double teamed, he was ready to fire away. He's such a good playmaker. Reed shepherd was there one pass away. I'm not sure why that happened to the Cavs. But one pass away and Reed shepherd was, was coming through for that team. But they, they were so desperate for Donovan Mitchell, they just pulled him off the bench. Oh, we're struggling get Donovan Mitchell. It's hard to see it. It is very similar to last year's playoffs when Darius Crown goes out and Mobley goes out. Oh, we need Don Mitchell to score 40 and we still lose, unfortunately. That's, that's the scary thing here with the Cavs.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm a little underwhelmed by Mobley this season. I agree he's a little bit too much on the perimeter. He was in the paint. I thought a lot in this game playing bully ball. He is a good driver. He's got a nice spin move and nice touch inside, but he doesn't feel like a go to guy to me at all. And when he's the only one out there on the starters playing with the second unit, it's just not working very well. So I know you're always asking for him to do more in these fourth quarters. I just don't think it's there.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, it's not happening. He doesn't have a go to move, whatever you want to call it. Just something that he can just rely on because he does have handle. He can get to the rim. He obviously has the shot as that's why he's hanging out there on the perimeter. But it's not there. It's not all clicking. There's talks about him whether it was doing yoga or the mental part of it. And that seems to be the thing. I think that's lacking because the skills are there. Something's not connecting to the dribble package. He's got it, but it's not there and it's not relied upon. And I don't know if it's just being the one two with Donovan Mitchell and it just not working in that way, but maybe it's just not there, period.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, he got to the line a ton last night, but this seems to be the theme of today's show. He missed a ton of free throws last night. Four of 10.

[Trey Kirby]

He's 60% this season.

[Jay Skeets]

That's crazy. Why?

[Trey Kirby]

I don't know. I thought he could shoot.

[Tas Melis]

He can.

[Jay Skeets]

Not this year, but that is. That's just perplexing. Yeah, didn't hit a three last night either, but Rockets bully ball got it done. 10 point victory. Okay, the other games last night, let me check the Eastern Conference games at you. Then the west, but we had Bam Adebayo returning to help the Heat surge late. They beat the Warriors. Very shorthanded Warriors. I mean their main guys not playing right. Curry, Draymond, Jimmy Butler, he get the victory. 110. 96. We had the Raptors winning their fifth straight. They're 9 and 1 in their last 10 games. Huge third quarter for them. They beat the Sixers 121, 112. And then Benedict Matheran back sparking the Pacers to their second victory on the season. They beat the Hornets. I needed that in the nut Dust bowl standings. So thank you, Benedict Matheran. Of those three Eastern Conference games, which one do you want to highlight? The raps?

[Tas Melis]

Well, Benedict Matheran's playing for a contract. He's got lots of opportunity here on this team. Fire away, Ben. You go get those points and you can get that big contract. As far as the the Heat go, they're playing the small warriors team and they allowed 20 second chance points. At is their problem is that they allow so many second chance points. They are worse in the NBA in terms of allowing second chance points. So they needed Norman Powell to come save the day. He had 11 fourth quarter points. He helps win it. Yeah, the reps, they're awesome. They keep sharing the ball. They're the only team in the Eastern conference to have three guys who have 100 made field goals. Because they keep passing. That's what we asked for with this team. Come on in. Come on. Pass their fourth and assist. Their first and fast breakpoints. Is that because they're the fastest team? No, it's because they push it, but they move it. And you saw it coming down the stretch here. Scotty Barnes was awesome in this game. The pass from the. From the key to the three point line, the touch passing. But when it came down to it, Brandon Ingram, who you don't consider a passer, had to make passes out of the post. He got doubled. I'm not sure why Nick Nurse was doubling him there, but one pass. Emmanuel quickly saves the day with a big three and then quickly had another one. RJ Barrett's great at cutting. They just all share it. And then the bench came through too. So they were. They're pretty deep in this one for some reason. The. The Sixers, I heard it on the broadcast. They were worried about the third quarter and they stink.

[Jay Skeets]

They called their shot.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

They've had a 44 to 26 for the Raptors in the third quarter last night.

[Tas Melis]

They lose the third quarter by an average of eight points throughout this season. They're 30th by far the worst team in the NBA, which is just strange.

[Trey Kirby]

But I think they're the best fourth quarter team in the NBA.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, that's why.

[Trey Kirby]

Pretty weird. But they're under.500 this month. I think the Sixers may have been our fake good team for the first half of the season. Who knows? We shall see. My only takeaways from these Eastern Conference games were some interesting celebrations. Bam. Adebayo hit a late 3 and did like a little birdie. That was funny. And then in the Raps games, Jared McCain made his first shot of the season because he's kind of struggled since coming back from injury. Literally jumping for joy down the court. That's hilarious. Crowd goes wild. And then Scotty Barnes had a fast break, turned, blew a kiss to Jared McCain before a dunk.

[Tas Melis]

That was amazing. While he's going to dunk the ball, just sees Jared gives him a kiss. I will say we. We noticed Andre Drummond's hair. The broadcasters who's. Which broadcasters were. They were. They were saying that his Clippers broadcast. Yeah. That his hair looks like it's exploding in a cartoon.

[Jay Skeets]

Like dynamite. Just went off when he opened up a box and his hair went like.

[Tas Melis]

That, that's what they said. Watching Yaka purdle on the other side of the floor. His hair is a poor. Drummond's hair.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, his hair is insane. I shared a screen grab once on Blue sky, like last week and like, look at this guy's hair right now. It's nuts. It's wild. It's.

[Tas Melis]

It's just. It doesn't flare as much as Drummond's hair.

[Jay Skeets]

No, he's balding, but he has a lot of hair. Yeah, it's the best way to put it.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, you like drumming, but poor man's, I would say.

[Jay Skeets]

But it's got a little Runway again, man. Like, you look at the Raptors box score and like, this is what they're hoping for. It's like Ingram with 22, Barrett with 22, Barnes with 16. But filling the rest of the box score, especially defensively, obviously assists and boards. Hurdle with 19, 8 of 10. Fantastic. And then quickly, you know, with 18 himself. And he hit the two big threes. And one of those threes, guess what, it came off a portal screen. He sets great screens.

[Tas Melis]

He gives you a little bit of screen twice.

[Jay Skeets]

That's right. And he banged that one home and it sort of iced it, but that's what he wanted. And then like a little bench contributions. I mean, Jacoby Walter was the star, I guess, last night for the Raps, but it's a big win. It's amazing. They're 105 after a 1 and 4 start. And like you said, Darko implemented this whole move the ball, everybody touch it like a couple years ago and it's finally coming to fruition. And part of that is like they didn't have a healthy team. You kept saying if they ever get their team back, they might be good. They didn't have them last year. They never played together. Now they're all out there and they're racking up wins here and are one of the. Probably the most, One of the most surprising teams, at least in the league at 10 and 5.

[Tas Melis]

That's all we asked the starters just to score, distribute all five guys, 16 or more points. All he asked. Didn't even know a MAMU was coming out off the bench and helping out. Like everybody is contributing now. Their wins aren't significant wins. Like they haven't been beaten. A lot of competition to get a.

[Jay Skeets]

Couple big names under their belt for sure.

[Tas Melis]

And here comes the weak part of the schedule.

[Trey Kirby]

Easy schedule.

[Jay Skeets]

You gotta rack up those W's now.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

For sure. Wizards, Nets, Cavs on the second night of a back to back. That might be tough, but they always beat the Cavs. Pacers, Hornets up next.

[Jay Skeets]

Holy crap. Their first soft part of the schedule.

[Tas Melis]

Yes.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. Let's see how they finish in the Western Conference. Trey, Julius Randle having a really good year. He dropped 32 points. Wolves held off the Wizards 121:09. Jokic, another triple double. Peyton Watson, career high 32. Pushed the Nuggets past the Pelicans. Zion returned. Right.

[Trey Kirby]

Zion in that game. Yes.

[Jay Skeets]

And then SGA. Tell me if you heard this before. Scored 33 points. A little more than he sometimes scores. Thunder beat the Kings. OKC's 15 and 1.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, they're pretty good.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

And what they blew like a massive lead in their one loss. I think they could easily be undefeated right now. Crazy. There's a lot going on with their City Edition court though. Oh yeah, it's like a light wood on the left side, dark wood on the right side with a big ziggity zag down the middle. That does not look like an OKC corner at all.

[Tas Melis]

No, that was pretty cool. I like the jersey matchup. The jerseys are good though.

[Jay Skeets]

The little City Edition.

[Tas Melis]

Yes. Yeah, it's better than what they got.

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, I think you're probably right.

[Jay Skeets]

Probably true.

[Trey Kirby]

But yeah. I thought the Pelicans Nuggets game was kind of interesting with ZION Coming back 146 and 5 in 29 minutes. Didn't look like he had full explosion out there, like he had a nice finger roll. But that could have been a dunk a couple of weeks ago. Derek Queen, 39 and 4 in 30 minutes going against Nikola Jokic, who had his eighth triple double. Had a beauty dime to Peyton Watson down the middle of the lane. Found him with a behind the backer look like Mark Jackson out there. 8th triple double of the season for Jokic. And like you said, 32 for Watson, who stepped in for Aaron Gordon.

[Tas Melis]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

And put up big time numbers in a pretty easy win for Denver.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I thought Cam Johnson also looked good in setting guys up. The passes were there. That's all you can want, or I shouldn't say all you can want from Cameron Johnson, but it's an important part of this team to be the glue guy in their starting lineup. He had five helpers to set up some of those Peyton Watson threes. I don't know if we'll ever see a Peyton Watson five three game again. That's all. That's a lot. Great question for him. Yeah, it Was a fantastic, fantastic performance for him. That was. That's. It's an all timer for him.

[Trey Kirby]

Cam Johnson has played pretty well in the last two games. The previous one was against the bulls. He had 19 hit five threes. He had a really slow start for the Nuggets trying to fit in as just the guy who's going to be a catch and shoot guy. But he can do a little bit more for sure. Five assists in this one three against the Bulls. As long as he's good at the end of the season that's really what matters because the Nuggets bench is still a weakness for him. It really hasn't changed. Bruce Brown hasn't done much for Denver so far. Things were different in this one with have with Peyton Watson having to start. But like Valentunas is up and down. Still going to be these starters that carry the way for the Nuggets when it comes down to it. But if they can be decent enough to save Jokic and have him play low minutes like he has been this season, that's really all that matters.

[Jay Skeets]

I don't think we ever shared the news about Christian Brown, did we? Yeah, maybe sort of slipped through the cracks here on no dunks when we were going through injuries and all that. But he's out for a pretty significant amount of time, four to six weeks if I remember correctly. So you know, going to miss him for a couple months here and that's why you, yeah, you're getting like Zeke Najee starting and then you know, Peyton Watson obviously last night because of no ag. It was a weird starting lineup but. But they still win and they're still fucking awesome and I can't wait. Like it just.

[Ryan Seacrest]

I don't know.

[Jay Skeets]

The Rockets are great. We have other good teams including the Wolves. I'd still include them there but man, I hope I pray we get at least some Nuggets Thunder action in a postseason matchup at some point. Be it in a second round or a conference finals again.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, let's do it one more time. The Nuggets have better depth than last year. The bench still struggles, but it ain't as bad as last year. And that's the great sign. It was minus 8 points per 100 possessions last year. It's minus 4 per 100 possessions when Jokic sits this year. They still lose points, but when they're healthy, when Christian Brown comes back, it seems like they got enough guys. But even Aaron Gordon, I don't know. One day Aaron Gordon will be old. I mean like he's Hanging in. He's hanging in. But he had the hamstring injury yesterday, which is what held him back a little bit last year in the playoffs. So I don't know. I'm just pointing it out. When you see multiple times the same injury, hamstring injury, it's just something to note.

[Jay Skeets]

And as for the Thunder, we've reached the point, it feels like with them being 15 and 1, they're sort of like a baseball pitcher has got the no hitter going through, let's say, seven innings or six or seven innings, and it's like, just don't talk to them. Don't look at them. Don't jinx anything. Let him cook. He's going back out there for another inning. That's where I'm at with them. It's like, there's not much more to say about this dominant team, but I don't want to even bring it up because, like, could they do. Could they do 73 wins? Like, they could, I guess, will they want to as another cue. But they're just so good. So good. Also from that, I was thinking about this. Maybe you guys can help me out. I was thinking of guys we've barely talked about at all this year. Maybe they're on a crappy team. Maybe they've been poor Malik, like. But a good player in general. Malik Monk came to mind. I was like, yeah, it said Malik Monk's name once that I can remember. And fair for good reason. I mean, they're not winning. They're bad. I don't think he's been all that great.

[Tas Melis]

3 and 12.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Are there any other names you can think of that's like, here on our show that we do daily, an hour plus every day, talking a lot about most games, who's a player just like, I don't know, hasn't come up.

[Trey Kirby]

Lou Dort. I mean, he missed some time with an injury. He's shooting like 30% from 3, but it doesn't matter.

[Jay Skeets]

No, yeah, that one doesn't matter.

[Tas Melis]

It doesn't matter.

[Trey Kirby]

It doesn't matter.

[Jay Skeets]

You know, we have not talked a lot in general about the Wolves or Anthony Edwards or Randall even, who is, like I said, having a good year. But, yeah, that's like. That's not because they've been bad or anything.

[Tas Melis]

But, yeah, yeah, it is odd with Sacramento because it seemed like their front office didn't want to talk about Malik Monk because they went and got Dennis Shooter. They went and got Russell Westbrook to fill that hole. And I know Malik Monk was injured to start the season, but they just didn't plug them in there. Now they are 3 and 12 and yeah, it's a thunder last night, but 3 and 12, we will be talking about them. When does trade deadline talk start? I guess it's too early, but I assume they're front office about three weeks. Yeah. When everybody's tradable, I assume their front office is taking calls right now at 3 and 12. They have to be now. Malik Monks, we had him. We had him as part of the package going to Memphis for John Morant. Right. He was the primary player that may be the best player that the Memphis Grizzlies get for John Morant. If they trade him anyway, the Kings got to make some moves. Yeah, they do.

[Trey Kirby]

Good luck. Timberwolves, I would say, are the team that's good that we talk about the least. For sure. They have played a pretty weird schedule. Antwin out of the lineup. Randle has been good for him. I feel like DiVincenzo has been one of their biggest stories. He's just chucking threes. Why can't Rob Dillingham shoot, you know, like, what's going on. Jaylen Brown, guy's averaging 28 points a game. The only time we ever talk about it was one of his hair smears off on somebody else.

[Tas Melis]

Good one.

[Jay Skeets]

Good one. Yes. This is what I mean. Now this makes sense. These are teams that have been good for a while and you know, there's a lot of other storylines we want to talk about new teams, teams on the come up and they get all the headlines right now. But yeah, the Wolves, maybe the Celtics to some extent. It's like, yeah, these are good teams still. We'll get to you. Yeah, just hold on. Stay on the line.

[Tas Melis]

I was. I know we want to move on. I was surprised by Dante DiVincenzo and how he's come along with that starting lineup. And Jaden McDaniels is freaking awesome. I mean, can he keep doing this? He's shooting literally over 50% from 3. Okay, that can't. That can't keep up, can it? But somehow they get things done on offense. Yeah, we've just been busy talking about Wemby and Friends. I mean, he's taken over. He's taken over all the conversation. But the. It will be interesting to see where they end up in the standings on top of the west because, yes, the Spurs, Wolves, they're all going to be there, I assume, hopefully when we comes back.

[Jay Skeets]

Still including the spurs with that group, eh?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

I'm not They're a tear down to me and that's fine. That's okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Who's in the top tier in the West?

[Jay Skeets]

Well, it's Thunder.

[Trey Kirby]

That's it.

[Jay Skeets]

In their own tier.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Well, I mean, then in the next tier is the real question, how many teams are you putting?

[Trey Kirby]

It's.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, you're putting the Nuggets. You're probably putting the Rockets. And then, and then you're like, are you including the Wolves or anyone else at the Lakers? I mean, yeah, I think it's the Wolves.

[Tas Melis]

The Wolves have to be over the Lakers.

[Odoo Ad Voice]

Yeah. Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Okay.

[Jay Skeets]

Save it for another show. Got a lot of shows to do. Let's take a break and when we come back, we'll get into the Up Down Report.

[Tas Melis]

The NBA season's a grind. Games every night, schedules packed. That's why I'm fired up about the new Peloton Cross Training Tread plus. Powered by Peloton iq, I can have games on and work out at the same time. It's doable. Peloton IQ plans your workouts, tracks your progress, even corrects your form while you're watching an NBA game. And with the swivel screen, you can go from a ride on the bike plus to a quick yoga stretch or ab workout in seconds. I've been mixing it up with Dennis Morton for yoga, Alex Toussaint pushing me on the tread, and Emma Lovewell crushing the core. Jess Sims schedule is packed but she's back. She's got game day for college football and she comes and works out. If she can do it, you can do it. Let yourself run, lift, flex, push and go. Check out the new peloton cross training tread [e-mail] we love the NBA and.

[Trey Kirby]

We don't care who knows. From the NBA cup to the Nut Dust bowl, Few love the NBA. FanDuel is your home for live betting. So even if you missed the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. However you want to play, now is the perfect time to join Skeets. You mentioned the Thunder maybe going for an NBA record 74 wins. We talked about it on our November 7th show. The odds were plus 2,800 for the Thunder to get to 74 wins, plus 580 to get to 70 or more wins.

[Odoo Ad Voice]

Today.

[Trey Kirby]

On our November 20th show, Thunder 74 plus regular season wins plus 1100. The odds have had.

[Tas Melis]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

To get 70 or more wins plus 225.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, wow.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Wow. It ain't gonna be too much longer until they're on the negative side of things.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Jesus. I don't think they're doing it still, but what do I know?

[Trey Kirby]

You only lose seven more games the whole year.

[Tas Melis]

I know.

[Jay Skeets]

That's the. That's the funny part. It's like they're 15:1, right? Like one loss, like, happens in the next week. Suddenly it's like, oh, wow, now your runs are really tough. But anyway, they're good.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, they've made it through almost a quarter of the season with one loss. Pretty good. FanDuel's giving new customers $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. So just visit FanDuel.com to sign up today. Play your game with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA.

[Jay Skeets]

Alright, before we get to the up down report, JD maybe do me a favor. I don't know if you can zoom out a little bit or zoom down, but we got a new sign at the front of the desk. Look at that bad boy right there. That's from our guy Josh at White Birch Woodworks up in Canada. Good old Canadian boy did an amazing job on this.

[Tas Melis]

He really did.

[Jay Skeets]

He reached out to us. He says, hey, why do you have that old logo still hanging off your deck? Can I do something for you? Hey, yeah, man. You want to cook?

[Tas Melis]

Go ahead.

[Jay Skeets]

I didn't think he'd be this good. Blew me away with how good this is. Like. It's like raised a little bit too. It's 3D.

[Tas Melis]

It's great.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, there it is.

[Tas Melis]

Look at that.

[Jay Skeets]

That gradient on it. Yeah, that's good work. White Birch Woodworks.

[Trey Kirby]

Thanks for the sign. Holler at them.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, we weren't familiar with their game. I'm thinking I'm gonna throw this out there. We reach back out to Josh. We get one for no buffs. We get one maybe for thumb war. Yeah, just.

[Trey Kirby]

You want to switch out signs?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, just pop it off, put on another one.

[Trey Kirby]

It was so easy to put it on.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, I know. I think we can fix that. We can fix that. Okay, let's get in.

[Trey Kirby]

That's our specs. That's our specs.

[Jay Skeets]

That's on us.

[Trey Kirby]

That's not us.

[Jay Skeets]

Let's get into the up down report.

[Tas Melis]

It's the up down report.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. It's been a while since we've done the up down report, so thumbs up or Thumbs down. Play along in the stream team podcast listeners, let us know as well. I got four or five for you here, guys. First one, this is a Fun 1. Disney, ESPN and the NBA are teaming up once again to present Dunk the Halls, the second annual real time animated NBA game. It's on Christmas Day at noon. It's Knicks hosting the Cavaliers. So the virtual live recreation of the game will once again unfold on Main street usa. We got Mickey Mouse. We got Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale are in attendance. I think we got a new character joining the crew. Stitch.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, baby.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Stitch is in the mix this year. So, Tas, we'll start with you up or down on ESPN's Dunk the Halls live animated NBA game returning.

[Tas Melis]

Listen, I'm up. I'm not familiar with Stitch's work, but I'm looking forward to Stitch. Will I be watching for myself? It's one of those things I turn on. I see what's going on. Whoa. Like, Carl Anthony Towns looks like Goofy. That was pretty cool. I don't know if I'll watch the whole game, but I do like the premise. Just suck some people into the casual world on Disney or whatever. I think it's smart. So, yeah, of course I'm up. I'm just surprised. I didn't know that the broadcasters are also animated. Yeah, I didn't know that Drew Carter and Monica McNutt are animated as along with the sideline. What? I didn't know that. That is. That's pretty cool. As they talk, there's just an animated What?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, they go to them every once in a while. Yeah. I mean, I know where you stand on this.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, big up your thumbs up.

[Jay Skeets]

I'm so thumbs up too.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Like we were wondering last year, the first time, they were like, what's this gonna be obviously for kids, blah, blah. I ended up like watching it.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I watched the whole game and loving it.

[Jay Skeets]

It was hilarious.

[Trey Kirby]

Very funny. I feel like Josh Hart was Mickey Mouse last year, maybe. Played really well.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, well, the best.

[Trey Kirby]

M. Bridges took over.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, Donald Duck when he hit the male Bridges. Three point celebration was the funniest thing. And then, yeah, the cat as Goofy is perfect.

[Trey Kirby]

So I'm glad they're running that back. They got to match them up again. And I hope Darius Garland gets healthy for this game. A garland on Christmas? Got to have it.

[Jay Skeets]

Good point.

[Trey Kirby]

B. He's the perfect Stitch. Very small.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, Stitch. Now you're more familiar with Stitch's game than Tass and. And me.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, Stitch has a new game. They did a live action Lilo and Stitch this year. I only know the animated version, but I did happen to be at the movie theater the night it was released. I forget what else came out maybe 28 days later or 28 years later, but there were so many people there in Stitch gear.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, Stitch is big. Stitch is huge.

[Trey Kirby]

Stitch is huge.

[Jay Skeets]

Now, Stitch is a gear. Stitch is a troublemaker.

[Trey Kirby]

Stitch is an alien. Stitch is an alien who bonds with Lilo. There's surfing involved, if I remember correctly.

[Tas Melis]

Okay, okay, well, stitches there, but very small.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Okay.

[Jay Skeets]

This is my favorite thing from the PR release on this. Daisy Duck returns for her reporting duties with a special sideline interview with Adam Silver.

[Tas Melis]

Yep.

[Jay Skeets]

Now, think this through. You imagine we got an animated, of course, Daisy Duck grill and Silver on the illegal sports betting scandal, like, taking his feet to the coals. Like, answer the question. Like, Daisy Duck be amazing asking, why.

[Trey Kirby]

Didn'T Kawhi Leonard plant any Christmas trees?

[Jay Skeets]

Answer the question, Silver.

[Trey Kirby]

They did have a animated Adam last year. I would like to see him be live action, Roger Rabbit style, Michael Jordan Toon Squad style.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, but there's.

[Trey Kirby]

There's ideas.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. When will Ballmer be taken to the coals? What's going on? There's a lot of questions for Daisy.

[Jay Skeets]

Duck to ask Silver. I hope she does. She's got some reporting integrity.

[Trey Kirby]

Did you guys see virtual Mike Malone yesterday on espn? He put on, like, the VR, and then they put him into the Rockets versus Cavs game. He was, like, calling out an action where Shen Goon throws an alley oop to Amen. Thompson is like, amen. Thompson's going to give me a high five as he runs on by. And then they come back to the studio, and he's just standing there with his goggles on. They gave him handsome Mike Malone as well. They said, grow out your beard.

[Tas Melis]

Grow out your hair.

[Trey Kirby]

It's going to look better on your me character.

[Jay Skeets]

That's right.

[Trey Kirby]

People are changing the game. Now that Amazon and NBC are in the mix, ESPN's like, we got to do something here to explain basketball. So, Mike, get in the computer.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, Shangun can be a flamingo. I know he's not a character, but he does the flamingo shot that they're calling. It's perfect.

[Jay Skeets]

Also from the press release, quote, fans can look forward to surprises, including whether it'll snow on Main street and how many churros Goofy can eat. Remember that?

[Trey Kirby]

How many did he eat last year? What's the line?

[Jay Skeets]

Let me check.

[Trey Kirby]

Fanduel line.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, check the fanduel line. I will guarantee you it snows. You don't put that in.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, obviously.

[Jay Skeets]

And maybe it doesn't snow. It's snowing at some point.

[Trey Kirby]

Minus 10 million for snow on Christmas here. Interesting.

[Jay Skeets]

All right. Well it's definitely snow snowing. Anyway, we're excited we'll be watching this again. And I hope Donald Duck does hit the McHale bridges celly again. Pretty funny. Oh it was so good.

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[Jay Skeets]

Or or Google Play.

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[Jay Skeets]

All right, next one. Here. In the second installment of a Mind the Game podcast conversation featuring LeBron and Steph Curry, the future hall of Famers made it clear that neither plans to compete for the men's national team at the 2028 Olympics in LA. LeBron's going to be even older than he is now. He'll be 43 by the time that Olympics is happening. That Summer Olympics, Curry will have just turned 40. So, Trey, we'll start with you up or down on LeBron and Steph unlikely playing at the 28 Olympics.

[Tas Melis]

Down.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, it was cool seeing these guys play in the Olympics. It was awesome. It's awesome to hear him talking about it. It's awesome to hear Steph Curry laughing about not passing to Kevin Durant and LeBron James, like, yeah, that's a crazy shot, and I still took it.

[Jay Skeets]

I still made it.

[Trey Kirby]

I will say I feel like Steph kept the door open a little bit. Yeah, he could play at 40 in the Olympics. The Jason Kidd roll, move the ball, shoot threes. Nobody would complain about that. But I would be up if this does somehow turn into these guys playing 3x3.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, yeah, you said that before.

[Trey Kirby]

That'd be very cool. But end of an era, man, if LeBron is finally saying no, he's played in, what, their last however many four Olympics.

[Jay Skeets]

He had the bronze in 04 and then gold in 08, 2012, and then 2024. Yeah, he didn't play the 20. That's right.

[Trey Kirby]

21.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, he didn't play in Tokyo for sure. And I guess 16. He didn't play either, though. I don't remember that.

[Trey Kirby]

Maybe not.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, he was busy.

[Jay Skeets]

Anyway, your thoughts on them? Thumbs up or thumbs down on no LeBron or Steph? Maybe at the 20?

[Tas Melis]

Well, I. I assume Steph is gonna play if he wants to. It's all up to him. You put them side by side. Old man may not be there, Lillian. LeBron James.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, he said he's not. Yeah, I believe that.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, sure. Yeah, he'll be there. He'll be hanging out.

[Jay Skeets]

Although, didn't he say he'll be on. He'll be watching from, like, from island. Some island somewhere, I think is what he said.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, but it'll be different in 2028. He won't be playing basketball. He won't be occupied for the other eight months in general. I think he'll be Retired. I think he'll be there either way. That's totally different than what Steph Curry is. Steph Curry? Yeah. Could be playing if he wants to be playing. And when we look at the actual roster, it's not going to be a premium roster where he can't play. Like, he can't be there. He could be number one, useful. Number two, be important. He could be hitting shots if he wants. It's all. Damn. That's. That's all it comes down to. And we know he can't play. He could hit some shots. He doesn't have to create them.

[Jay Skeets]

He can play, but he shouldn't. He made one Olympic appearance, and it was the most legendary performance ever. Leave it. He's not going to top it. There's no possible way to top that. I'm sorry. You can't. In Paris, beating France, I guess he would do it in America, let's say beating France. Yeah, sure. But I think it's unlikely. I do. So leave it at this. In my opinion.

[Tas Melis]

You want to write the story. I get it. But at the same time, you can still write the story and forget about what he does in 2028. You just won't remember it.

[Jay Skeets]

I won't forget. I'll be live at this desk with my wife talking about it.

[Tas Melis]

Okay.

[Jay Skeets]

Doing the Olympic podcast. On Tuesday afternoon, USA Basketball did unveil the 12 players who will represent the country in the first two games of the World cup qualifying tournament in late November and then early December. So this roster is like G League players and American players playing overseas for World cup qualifiers. Marjon Beauchamp, Kessler Edwards, Tory Craig. TK Is like those type of players.

[Trey Kirby]

Double dunker himself. Brandon Knight.

[Jay Skeets]

Right. Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

Brandon Knight was like, high school player of the year, and then he got crossed up every single time he went on the court.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. And they're still, of course, great players, great professional basketball players, but they don't even. They don't even need to qualify because they're hosting the Olympics. Really?

[Trey Kirby]

This is for World cup qualifiers.

[Jay Skeets]

I think that's true, but my point is, they don't. There's no qualifying for the Olympics. Really.

[Trey Kirby]

Host country gets in.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. So they're good.

[Trey Kirby]

They do play here, though. Team USA literally plays a gateway center arena.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

What?

[Trey Kirby]

December 1st against Nicaragua. Their second game. 56 bucks, including fees.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, that's interesting.

[Trey Kirby]

Go down and see Kyle Guy.

[Jay Skeets]

Yes, Kyle. Guys on the right. I saw that. I was looking at the roster.

[Ryan Seacrest]

A guy.

[Trey Kirby]

I was thinking a guy USA jersey.

[Jay Skeets]

That'S like, take sides Go, guy.

[Trey Kirby]

Just support all of the USA guys. God.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Gateway Center Arena. That's awesome. Yeah. Where the Skyhawks play. And there's a connection there. Langston Galloway, who we've seen play for the College Park Skyhawks and G League, also play for this American team. I think it was last year or two years ago.

[Jay Skeets]

He was right on this roster.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, it doesn't look like it. Maybe he's even too old.

[Trey Kirby]

He probably is at this point. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, he's early 30s, not gay.

[Jay Skeets]

Pretty fun to go check out 33 because the arena's so small.

[Trey Kirby]

Like, you'll never get to see Marjon Beauchamp that close again.

[Jay Skeets]

But, you know, you could put on an American jersey. Or, Ella, you should wear your American Speedo and go down to the Gateway side.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay, now I'm in.

[Jay Skeets]

That'll be good payoffs. All right. Cade Cunningham is staying with Nike and will soon have his own signature shoe. Kate has agreed to a new six year endorsement deal with the Swoosh and will have a signature shoe that is expected to debut in the second half of next season. Not this season. Next season. Tas Melis, let's start with you here, Cade. Getting a signature Nike shoe up or down?

[Tas Melis]

Oh, obviously way up. This is the season to do it. MVP votes will also be way up. He's going to be up there in MVP votes. His shoe looks very solid, I would say.

[Jay Skeets]

What do you mean? I've seen the shoe.

[Tas Melis]

I thought we have.

[Trey Kirby]

He's got a new logo out. The logo turns into a star. But I think he wears GT cut.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, I thought he did, too.

[Trey Kirby]

Team shoe.

[Jay Skeets]

So I don't. Yeah, they'll eventually be designing something, but.

[Tas Melis]

I'm swayed either way. Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Suede shoes.

[Trey Kirby]

No gross suede on Court in 2025. It's unusual.

[Jay Skeets]

Don't get sweat on it. What do you think here, T.K. you're up.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. This feels to me like maybe they're eyeing a Ja Morant replacement for the signature line because they're saying Cade will be the sixth guy to have a Nike signature shoe. Do you know the other five?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Well, LeBron.

[Trey Kirby]

LeBron.

[Jay Skeets]

Devin Booker.

[Trey Kirby]

Devin Booker.

[Jay Skeets]

Giannis.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes.

[Tas Melis]

It's a beauty shoe.

[Jay Skeets]

Luke is Jordan Brand.

[Trey Kirby]

Jordan. Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Who we forget?

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, Ja Moran and one other guy.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, he's got a million. Kevin Durant.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Yeah, he's got 18. I believe they're on right now.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, the 18. Now. What I'm concerned about with this Kate Cunningham is somewhat related to the Durant. Durants are always super tight Ridiculously tight. Like they're too. Because they're made for his narrow foot, I guess.

[Jay Skeets]

Except his shoes always falling off, which is the ironic baggie.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. But I saw there was a pe of another player wearing a Durant and I thought, whoa, that thing is cool. I don't know if it was Jackson Hayes, but I thought, oh, I want that shoe because it looked cool. It's purple and gold. So I think it was a Lakers Jackson Hayes P. But those things are too tight. The Cade Cunningham looks nice. I mean, it's hard to put on a Durant shoe. And if you've ever tried to put them on, tried to slip them on.

[Trey Kirby]

I haven't worn one since the nine.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, it's been a long time for me.

[Tas Melis]

I could be wrong.

[Jay Skeets]

Super skinny ass feet, so it wasn't a big deal to me.

[Tas Melis]

They may have changed somewhat.

[Jay Skeets]

The weirdest, humble brag of all time.

[Trey Kirby]

Very skinny feet.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, I could put on a KD pair of shoes, no problem.

[Tas Melis]

I mean, they're fine when you. Once you put them on. Yeah, but man, just friggin.

[Jay Skeets]

No, I agree, I agree. I actually like them. So you said LeBron, Ja Morant, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Giannis.

[Trey Kirby]

That's right.

[Jay Skeets]

Then Cade in the mix here and Jordan Brand, guys. Luka Tatum, I guess Zion. There you go. But I want to get your thoughts on this. Did you see what Gilbert Arenas said about Cade Cunningham getting his own signature shoe? He said, quote, this is Gilbert Arenas. People are going to hate that. I'm going to say it. If you are a Pistons fan, you should be worried. Nike has its own agenda. And I'm pretty sure Cade staying in Detroit isn't a part of their agenda. End quote. Spicy Gil saying, you don't want this Pistons fan. You don't want him getting a signature shoe. That means they got plans to get him in a big market. I guess I assume Gil is getting out here. Your reaction, your thoughts?

[Tas Melis]

I think Kate is his own man. He can play wherever he wants. Gil could be right about Nike, I suppose. Right, right, right. But does that mean that they're picking him up and putting him somewhere else? Because they're offering him whatever they want to offer him. I don't know. Ever since the day he was drafted and he wore those Detroit like sunglasses, I think he's wanted to be there. He's shown that.

[Jay Skeets]

I don't know.

[Tas Melis]

What's your take on Gil?

[Jay Skeets]

I mean, it's sort of like John Moran's in Memphis, Devin Booker's in Phoenix, Giannis is in Milwaukee. Man, does this really matter in today's NBA world? Less so, I think. Would Nike want him in a big market? Yeah, I guess so, but I don't think it's because.

[Tas Melis]

Sure.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Keep winning.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, keep winning. There's no reason to leave.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, There you go.

[Tas Melis]

What shoes do you have on, J.D. that you loved? I know we don't have a shoe cam.

[Trey Kirby]

He's got a Tatum on right now.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, those are the Tatum Jason Tatums.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow.

[Tas Melis]

They're cool. They're very comfortable. How was your pickleball game? Trying to figure out how to. How to get a camera shot.

[Jay Skeets]

Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Moving on. Sticking with shoe news, because we have more shoe news. Thanks. Devin Booker debuted the Nike Book 2, his signature shoe. J.D. i think you have some photos here. In a game against the Blazers this week, the Suns all star guard wore the orange ones during shoot around. And then these black ones. The rising colorway in the game itself. Those are two oranges.

[Tas Melis]

This is messed up. Okay.

[Jay Skeets]

It doesn't matter. They're shoes. Yeah, they're shoes.

[Tas Melis]

They look like this, but black.

[Trey Kirby]

Imagine a black version of an orange.

[Jay Skeets]

Shoe with an orange thumbs up or thumbs down.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm like, thumbs sideways. I think they're okay. I think Book one definitely better. I like the black version better than the orange version because I don't like the fake foamposite look of the orange. But they're fine.

[Jay Skeets]

They're fine. You've played ball in the book one.

[Trey Kirby]

I do play in the book one.

[Jay Skeets]

And you're a fan?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I have a heavy heel strike and they got a chunky bottom.

[Jay Skeets]

Pretty good for running.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, so they're good for you?

[Trey Kirby]

They're good.

[Tas Melis]

Being that they're chunkers.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes.

[Jay Skeets]

They're brutal. I'm wearing them right now. These are one of my favorite shoes just to wear. I'm wearing the book ones, but playing in them. Not for me. They're like a skater shoe to me.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, that's what I mean.

[Jay Skeets]

They're super comfy. But not for me playing. But I understand. TK And I play a little differently.

[Trey Kirby]

That's right. That's right.

[Jay Skeets]

He's a big man.

[Tas Melis]

He's a heel striker.

[Jay Skeets]

He's a heel striker. I'm on my tippy toes, I guess. I don't know. But what do you think of these? But please picture them in black.

[Tas Melis]

These ones look less like a skate shoe to me.

[Jay Skeets]

I agree. They look more like a basketball shoe. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I Think they look like a K. Swiss shoe.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

A little bit too solid. Solid one color.

[Jay Skeets]

I'm gonna try them. I love that because of his name. Of course. I do like the chapter one, Chapter two. That's cool. It's like says chapter on these, I think on the back on the heel. Yeah. That's cool, man.

[Tas Melis]

That's cool that it says chapter one and chapter.

[Trey Kirby]

I don't know if yours have it, but the. The ones I have, I specifically got them because I like that the pull tab looks like it has book pages on it. I don't know if you're.

[Jay Skeets]

I don't. I mean, these are filthy, by the way, because I'm all the time.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Here.

[Trey Kirby]

It's. It makes it look literally like a book.

[Tas Melis]

That's pretty smooth.

[Odoo Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

And then it does pages in there. Can you stick your finger in those pages? Looks like there's so many pages.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, you can barely.

[Trey Kirby]

You're right.

[Jay Skeets]

You barely can get through there.

[Tas Melis]

That's cool, though.

[Jay Skeets]

But you have no problem putting your foot in this thing, man. Yeah, I don't like that.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

What do you mean you don't like that? What do you want, a skinny shoe or a fat shoe hole? Which one is it?

[Tas Melis]

Man, there's.

[Jay Skeets]

Hey, there's the blacks.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. People who make shoes, they know how to not have. You don't have to have a. A skinny glove or a skate shoe. There's somewhere in between. Yeah, you're right. Those skate shoes, I mean, those are sort of like tai chi's. Like, monster thick opening hole to just slip on. You're like slipping on. Yeah. When you do your. Your Armenian father in law talk about the shoe. The shoe that he slips in, that's a slipper. But you couldn't play in those. They don't look like they have much of a heel cap.

[Jay Skeets]

Exactly. I could not play in these. I wouldn't feel safe. Too exposed in them. Final one here. The Cavaliers were fined $100,000 by the NBA for violating the league's player participation policy by sitting both Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley for the team's Nov. 12 road game in Miami. The Cavs listed both players out for rest. NBA, they don't like that. TK slapped him with $100,000 fine. Are you up or down on the NBA doing that?

[Trey Kirby]

Down.

[Jay Skeets]

Down.

[Trey Kirby]

Completely forgot about the player participation policy. They just said it. They just brought it out. I had to look up the rules today. They could have gotten around this by playing either Mobley or Mitchell in one of these games. And then resting them for the next game. They did have a back to back and they both played the next game.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, I think they played six games in eight days or something like that.

[Trey Kirby]

They should be able to rest.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. And you said, you said it because they're like designated as star players. Right. So that's.

[Trey Kirby]

They made the all star game last year.

[Jay Skeets]

That's what it is.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, they fit the criteria.

[Jay Skeets]

So what do you, what do you think? You guys. Well, play by the rules. Thumbs up.

[Tas Melis]

I think we're rolling into a different way that teams have to declare when players will be out. And I'm speaking specifically about gambling. That's what is going to change in the NBA. There has to be a clear injury statement report coming out way earlier. They can't have this like 6 hour game time decision window anymore or 6, 7, 8 hours. Quite often that's it coincides with everything that's going on with the allegations and what's happening on that side. So that's going to change as far as this.

[Jay Skeets]

So talk me through that. You think there should be almost a rule in place like I don't know, 10am or whatever, noon time, let's say or six hours prior to tip that you have to lock in whether that player is playing or not and that's it. There could be no questionable.

[Trey Kirby]

Basically it's going to happen.

[Tas Melis]

It's going to happen. It, it has to happen. Quite often they go through morning shoot around, they know that player X is not playing. But for gamesmanship to say hey, oh this guy's not coming. But that obviously leaves a huge window for gambling to happen. That being said, when you're talking about gambling, are we talking about player props? That's a whole other scenario. But that's basically what it's about. And so yeah, that has to be done. It has to change if gambling is going to be a part of the league and it will that this has to happen. So you are ultimately as far as this one goes. Yeah, I had forgotten about it.

[Trey Kirby]

I think it's only the second time anybody's ever been fined for it.

[Jay Skeets]

Really? Yeah, in the last couple years.

[Trey Kirby]

It's only existed for the last couple years but the last I could find is Trey Young missed a Cup game. 1126, 2004.

[Jay Skeets]

Don't disrespect the Cup 2020 get fined a million dollars for that.

[Trey Kirby]

It's like the, it's like the flop thing. It talked about it, it happened for a little bit but now that they signed the big TV deal they don't really care.

[Jay Skeets]

I can't disagree with you. They care less.

[Trey Kirby]

But, like, hey, remember this. Don't. Don't get back in the habit of resting. I know everybody's getting hurt, but don't rest that much.

[Jay Skeets]

Right?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, that's quite the callback. Oh, so it was for a November 12 game? I thought it was earlier. My bad, my bad, my bad.

[Jay Skeets]

All right, that's up. Down report. Thanks for throwing your thumbs up or down in the stream team, let's get to Woah Boy. Woah Boy of the night, presented by Peloton. You can hit the music, J.D. i ain't afraid of it. Whoa, boy. We pick the line of the night. Show it some love. Again, presented by Peloton. And we're giving it to Denny Avdia of the Portland Trailblazers. Woahboy does not need to come in a win. Your fantasy team does not give a damn whether your team won or lost. Usually they care about stats. And Avdia came through 32 points on 50% shooting from the floor. He did like everybody last night, left a few freebies on the table at the free throw line. He missed five free throws, but he hit three threes, 11 boards, 11 assists, two steals and a block trip. Dub for Avdia, continuing to put up just. Just unbelievable numbers for Portland this year. A worthy Woe Boy. Again, it can come in a loss and it did. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Do you have issues with that? How I go about that?

[Trey Kirby]

No.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay, good.

[Trey Kirby]

Absolutely not.

[Jay Skeets]

Good.

[Trey Kirby]

I love fantasy sports.

[Tas Melis]

All right. It is amazing that this guy has jumped from 17 to 26 points per game from last year to this year.

[Jay Skeets]

Hell of an increase.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

When you're already. That's a hell of an increase. When you're already in the teens, like mid teens. Yeah. To jump up that high.

[Tas Melis]

And he's doing it super efficiently as well. Big increased role, but also the efficiency has gone up.

[Jay Skeets]

If you're keeping track, that's two international players winning. Low boy. Let's see who the first American that can get a little boy is.

[Trey Kirby]

Let's see.

[Jay Skeets]

Keep your eye on that.

[Trey Kirby]

Just to clarify. Ting Tings. Just to clarify ting. Like a Drake.

[Tas Melis]

You're a good Toronto boy find for.

[Trey Kirby]

Player participation last year. And apparently the Nets were fined in January 2020.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. So a handful of times. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you for play.

[Tas Melis]

Your boys, the Jazz players.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. They sat Lowry Markkanen late in the 2025 season.

[Jay Skeets]

How did the Nets get ding then? If it's an all star or it must be a designated star, I think.

[Tas Melis]

Well, that was 2024.

[Trey Kirby]

You said Brooklyn sat Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian, Finney Smith, Cam Johnson and Nick Claxton.

[Ryan Seacrest]

What?

[Jay Skeets]

Those were their best players. Maybe some of them.

[Tas Melis]

I don't get.

[Trey Kirby]

Let me read this whole.

[Jay Skeets]

I think it's designated star, which is usually an all star, of course, but the other teams that don't have all stars obviously have to pick some players.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Or it was a foursome of players and that's their entire starting, basically.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Let's get to tonight's pick em game. Tass, I have unfortunate news for you though. You got a goatee coming at the start of December. Because you lost last night, you technically can't catch Trey and I. So it's a done deal. He's growing it out a little bit. I can see already. It's very nice of you. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. You're growing it.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. It's really nice.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. It's funny. Yeah. We're willing to try anything here. No dunks. Been around a long time doing the pick and payoff. Not a goat to have happen is what I'm trying to say. Not a goat to be seen.

[Jay Skeets]

This will be our third hair related pick and payoff though.

[Tas Melis]

Lee's haircut.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Body.

[Tas Melis]

Yep.

[Jay Skeets]

Chest hair waxed off. And now. And now the goatee. We could still do eyebrows.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, that one's bad. You think a goatee is bad?

[Tas Melis]

Anyway, is that what the guy the waxing. Is that what the guy. Joanne is his name Juwan.

[Jay Skeets]

On Survivor there's a guy named.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Well, he's either shaving.

[Jay Skeets]

I don't.

[Tas Melis]

He's shaving his chest.

[Jay Skeets]

He's not shaving his chest.

[Tas Melis]

Before he came on survival. Maybe not.

[Jay Skeets]

I don't know.

[Tas Melis]

His hair's far. Maybe not. Maybe I'm wrong. His back is far hairier than his chest, which happens to people. Oh. But they're very short. Very short on the front. Very short. But that would have mean that it's growing pretty quickly. In seven days since he's been on.

[Jay Skeets]

No, he's been out there two weeks now.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, he's not skinny. That's what's happening.

[Jay Skeets]

And he is getting skinny.

[Tas Melis]

He is.

[Odoo Ad Voice]

Yep.

[Tas Melis]

We're missing a hair related pick him.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, hold on, hold on. We are.

[Odoo Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

You had your nose hair.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow. What a J.D. wow.

[Tas Melis]

Shout out to Barbara Jason.

[Jay Skeets]

Barbara Jason. He did like multi camera shoot for that one.

[Trey Kirby]

Pretty funny.

[Jay Skeets]

Pulling my nose hair out. That was a good one.

[Tas Melis]

That's a good one.

[Odoo Ad Voice]

Wow.

[Jay Skeets]

This will be Our fourth hair related pick and payoff. We have to do eyebrows, we have to do a shaved head and we gotta do pubes.

[Trey Kirby]

Gap.

[Tas Melis]

2.

[Jay Skeets]

Gotta get a Brazilian.

[Tas Melis]

You think Perjane's gonna be up for that?

[Jay Skeets]

Honestly, it's a good sport.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I think he would.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm going to Sweet Peach.

[Tas Melis]

Sweet Peach is the hot spot. That's a hot spot.

[Jay Skeets]

I go to Jason.

[Odoo Ad Voice]

Sweet Peach.

[Tas Melis]

I think they're chaining. They've become a chain. There's more. There's more peaches out there. Would you rather have your chest waxed or your nose waxed? I think I'd rather do chest the noses. That sounds harsh.

[Jay Skeets]

I don't have a lot of chest hair, so I would go chest. The nose was. I mean, my eyes were watering. It stung a little bit. And I have a lot of nose hair. I mean, we all do.

[Tas Melis]

I think the nose is nothing. I do it every once every two months.

[Jay Skeets]

Do you have a lot of chest hair, though?

[Tas Melis]

Not really.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, okay.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. But the nose is. Yeah, you weep a little bit, but that's it.

[Jay Skeets]

I did.

[Tas Melis]

That's a good word.

[Jay Skeets]

All right. It's more the anticipation for it.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. But when you're doing it yourself, it's just.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you're not doing what I did where Jason stuck all like that. Blue wax up.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, Yeah. I have a little pot upstairs we could do. We could wax anything.

[Trey Kirby]

Personal pot, for waxing pot.

[Tas Melis]

I don't know, waxing, whatever I want to wax.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow.

[Tas Melis]

I got. I got some ear hair. I'm an old man now.

[Jay Skeets]

So you'll just throw that blue wax in your. In. In your ear and then go. Yep.

[Odoo Ad Voice]

Wow.

[Jay Skeets]

I mean, I. What about the hair on the outside of your. That's where it gets me.

[Tas Melis]

You didn't do that.

[Jay Skeets]

No.

[Tas Melis]

Damn. Heat it up for you.

[Jay Skeets]

Let me borrow some wax after this show.

[Tas Melis]

No problem.

[Trey Kirby]

All right.

[Tas Melis]

Take you to the pot.

[Jay Skeets]

Music's done. But what's tonight?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Four games this evening.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

I thought I went with one. Where the Clippers are. They're in a bad spot right now. They're going into Orlando. And Orlando a five and a half point favorite. So you can take the Clippers as Trey is just lose by five and still come out of Victor, while Skeets and I have the Orlando Magic to win by six or more because they're playing well.

[Jay Skeets]

That's a good line. Good line. Well done. Fanduel. I went back and forth. Yeah. Whether the Clippers could honestly could outright win or at least Keep it close enough like Trey's going with, but I'm going magic. They've been playing better.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, they have been for sure. And unfortunately, there's some injuries in the other games, so this was the one. Sacramento, Memphis, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Atlanta, San Antonio.

[Jay Skeets]

Tonight, we know you're obviously doing the goatee cuz you can't come back, but we are playing for first place for the month of November between Trey and I. We have identical records, 9 and 4. So here we go. May the best man win.

[Trey Kirby]

You want to put.

[Jay Skeets]

You want to put an eyebrow on it?

[Tas Melis]

No.

[Trey Kirby]

Do I. I'll put an. I'll put an ear hair on.

[Jay Skeets]

I mean, yeah, I'd like.

[Tas Melis]

Exactly.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Laura's been getting on me. She's like, oh, you got ear hair now.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, man, Nora's always getting on my ass.

[Trey Kirby]

Stop looking at our ears.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, that's what I say. She's like, oh, you can see them when the light hits it just right. There's so many.

[Tas Melis]

I'm like, oh, God.

[Jay Skeets]

Nobody's looking at my ears. Except you.

[Tas Melis]

I agree.

[Jay Skeets]

Except you. Why? Look at my eyes. Look into my soul.

[Tas Melis]

I can fix you right up there.

[Jay Skeets]

Speeds. Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet. All right, let's call it there.

[Odoo Ad Voice]

Woo.

[Jay Skeets]

Got away from us at the end, didn't it?

[Tas Melis]

That was good.

[Jay Skeets]

That's okay. We're back tomorrow with the Drop podcast. Maybe talking about some of those games tonight, but the big plan for the Drop tomorrow, worst of the week nominees.

[Tas Melis]

They're there.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. And one month in awards. Let's hand out some hardware for the one month of NBA basketball that's been played. So that's always a fun one. So we'll do that on tomorrow's Drop podcast.

[Trey Kirby]

We pick in clutch player of the year.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

You know mine.

[Jay Skeets]

Take a boogie, baby. So join us at 10am Eastern here in the classic factory for the Drop podcast. We'll end the week in style together. Later today we have no Buffs Survivor recap podcast episode nine last night. We'll talk about that. Nora will join us in here. She'll be looking at my ear hair all podcast long as we get into that episode from last night. So join us at 1pm Eastern. No Buffs has its own YouTube feed. It's on podcast feed. Okay. Till tomorrow.

[Tas Melis]

Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.

[Trey Kirby]

Have a great time. Turn up.

[Jay Skeets]

Love you guys.

[Trey Kirby]

Awesome.

[Tas Melis]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, let the men's ears stay hairy.

[Jay Skeets]

Embrace the day people.

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[Tas Melis]

Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line, but first.

[Kraken Legal Disclaimer Voice]

There the last one.

[Tas Melis]

Enjoy a Coca Cola for a pause that refreshes.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. As winter approaches, make sure you set aside some time for self care. Now through December 2nd. Get great savings on personal care essentials when you shop in store or online. Buy two participating self care items and save $3. Shop for items like Tresemme Shampoo, Dove Shampoo, Dove Men's Care Body Wash, Dove Body Wash and Axe Shower gel. And save $3 when you buy two or more items. Offer ends December 2nd. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Tas Melis]

This is an iHeart podcast.