Bam Adebayo scores 83 points, passes Kobe Bryant

Summary

The Athletic NBA Daily

Episode Title: Bam Adebayo scores 83 points, passes Kobe Bryant
Date: March 11, 2026
Hosts: Dave DuFour, Esfandiar Baraheni ("Es"), with guest Jay King

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into one of the most historic nights in NBA history: Bam Adebayo’s astonishing 83-point explosion for the Miami Heat against the Washington Wizards, surpassing Kobe Bryant's legendary 81-point game for the second-highest single-game scoring mark in league history. The crew also breaks down the Lakers’ recent surge, the controversy surrounding Jalen Brown’s ejection in the Celtics' loss to the Spurs, standout performances from Victor Wembanyama and Derrick White, and broader implications for the playoff race.

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1. Bam Adebayo’s Unbelievable 83-Point Game

(Main segment: 02:05–09:36, revisited 15:55–17:28)

Historic Stat Line (03:05)

• Minutes: 42
• Points: 83
• Rebounds: 9
• Assists: 3
• Steals: 2
• Blocks: 2
• Field Goals: 20/43
• 3PT: 7/22
• Free Throws: 36/43 (most free throws ever attempted in an NBA game)

Hosts’ Reactions and Game Context

• Es: “The fact that we are here and we're about to talk about an 83 point game from Bam Adebayo for the next like six, seven minutes is absurd to me, folks. It was incredible.” (02:46)
• Dave: “That's most free throws ever shot in a game.” (03:34)

The Game Flow & Style

• The Wizards are tanking, and Bam “came out just gunning, put up 31 points in the first quarter... 43 at the half... he was so aggressive. We're not used to seeing Bam play like this.” (04:00–05:14)
• Not purely “grifting” for free throws; he was hot from deep early (5-of-8 from three to start), but intentional fouling and game manipulation appeared late as both sides chased the record. (05:32–06:22)

Authenticity Debate & Kobe Comparison

• “There will be a faction of Kobe Bryant fans and Lakers fans that... want to discredit it, but I think... you can appreciate Kobe scoring 81... while also having fun and liking this Bam bio 83.” – Es (06:20)
• Noted all high-scoring NBA games (Wilt, Kobe) have included late-game stat-padding and intentional play.

Notable Quotes

• “For all of what Bam does as a player... he’s not like a great scorer... I probably would have named 200 NBA players before naming Bam Adebayo.” – Es (08:22, 08:31)

Memorable Moment

• The Lakers’ PA announcement treated Bam’s night with unexpectedly somber melodrama (“something melancholy happened in the NBA... sounded like someone had passed away...”) — Dave (11:42)

Jay King's Take (16:23)

• “Any team that allows Bam Adebayo to score 83 points should be banned from the NBA forever. Should be relegated to a lesser league.”
• “This isn’t Wilt’s gold medal. It's not Kobe Bryant... this is Bam Adebayo that we're talking about.”

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2. Lakers Surge: Luka & Austin Reaves Combo

(Segment: 09:38–12:50)

Recap

• Lakers beat Timberwolves 121–106 to move into the West’s 4th seed.
• Luka Doncic: 31-point triple-double (first 30+ point triple-double since Feb 1).
• Austin Reaves: 29 points in the second half, looking more like his pre-injury All-Star self.
• Lakers’ increased use of zone defense, credit to coach JJ Redick.

Analysis & Outlook

• “Those two together is very, very tough to stop. There's obviously defensive questions... but offensively... it makes sense.” – Es (10:33)
• “Luka can win you, you know, a series. How many series can he win? I don’t know. We’re going to find out.” – Dave (12:43)

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3. Celtics Fall to Spurs: Jalen Brown Ejection & Wembanyama’s Star Turn

(Segments: 15:55–31:36)

Jalen Brown’s Ejection (18:35–20:30)

• Brown, frustrated by officiating all season, gets thrown out late 2nd quarter after arguing no-calls and not getting any free throws, continuing his season-long beef with refs.
• “They (Celtics) felt like he should have gotten a little bit of grace from the referee... They hated... that the second ref came in and gave it to him.” – Jay King (18:38)
• “I don’t love that he got ejected. I wish that we had some other mechanism besides throwing out the best players... but... it’s the baggage that’s attached... that is the thing.” – Dave (19:41)

Derrick White’s Breakout (23:48–25:41)

• 34 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds.
• “Is he secretly one of the 10 best players in the league?” – Dave (23:51)
• Kenny Atkinson’s (Nets coach) tongue-in-cheek “Derrick White’s a top five player in the league” comment referenced, but analytics do show his All-Star level impact.
• “What he does, possession to possession... always in the right spot... always creating advantages... goes lost at times because he doesn't score as much as other guys.” – Jay King (25:23)

Victor Wembanyama’s Ascendance (27:38–29:56)

• 39 points, 8 threes vs. NBA’s top defense.
• “Do teams have pressure on them now to win one before Wembanyama becomes whatever he’s going to become? If he’s this good already... what is he going to be like fully formed?” – Jay King (27:59)
• Reverence from Celtics players: “Jaylen Brown called him an alien earlier today. Derrick White was like, 'I don’t know what you do when he’s making shots like that.'” (29:29)

Experience Debate for Spurs (29:58–31:36)

• Spurs’ lack of playoff experience could hold them back, though their talent, defense, and Wemby’s emergence make them wildcards.
• “We’ve never really seen a team just show up in the playoffs and dominate their way to a Finals when they have a bunch of young guys... With the amount of guys they have with no playoff experience at all, it’s just going to be a tough task.” – Jay King (30:20)

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4. Quick Hits & Minor Storylines

Ron Harper Jr.’s Emergence with Celtics (25:42–27:32)

• Drawing “Sam Hauser before-the-breakout” comparisons from the Celtics’ staff.
• “People think he’s solid defensively... can knock down shots... he’s made himself a factor in the Celtics rotation.” – Jay King

Fun & Relatable Moments

• Jay shares his son dunking on a tub hoop at home after the Celtics game. (32:27–32:39)

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• “The fact that we are here and we’re about to talk about an 83 point game from Bam Adebayo... is absurd to me...” — Es (02:46)
• “Any team that allows Bam Adebayo to score 83 points should be banned from the NBA forever.” — Jay King (16:23)
• “Giannis even said something similar today. It's like, no one's going to care how many free throws he took... They will never take away 83 points from Bam Adebayo.” — Es (08:22)
• “Do teams have pressure on them now to win one before Wembanyama becomes whatever he’s going to become?” — Jay King (27:59)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Bam Adebayo’s 83 Points – Full Breakdown: 02:05–09:36
• Lakers’ Surge & Luka/Reaves: 09:38–12:50
• Celtics-Spurs, Jalen Brown’s Ejection: 15:55–20:30
• Celtics Without Brown, Tatum’s Return: 20:30–23:42
• Derrick White Spotlight: 23:48–25:41
• Ron Harper Jr. on the Celtics: 25:42–27:32
• Wembanyama’s Brilliance & Spurs’ Potential: 27:38–31:36

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Summary

The hosts deliver a celebratory, playful, and deeply analytical take on Bam Adebayo’s mind-boggling scoring feat, contextualizing it within league history and current narratives. The show transitions smoothly to major playoff-race stories—such as the Lakers’ sudden contention and the Celtics-Spurs slugfest—while their guest, Jay King, offers smart and sometimes biting commentary on everything from NBA officiating to Victor Wembanyama’s looming reign over the league. This episode captures the bewilderment, excitement, and skepticism that comes when history is made, keeping fans informed and entertained every step of the way.

Transcript

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[Dave DeFore]

Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily presented by Amazon prime for March 11, 2026. I'm Dave DeFore here with Esperaheny. Coming up. Bam. Wow. 83 points. We're going to talk about that. Just a huge night in the NBA. The Lakers moving up the standings in the west. And we got Jay King to talk about the Celtics losing to the spurs and Jalen Brown getting ejected. Good morning everybody. Good morning. S. What?

[Esperaheny]

Good morning.

[Dave DeFore]

What a night.

[Esperaheny]

God.

[Jay King]

Wait.

[Esperaheny]

Can I just say I am so happy that we get to do this podcast.

[Dave DeFore]

It's fun, right?

[Esperaheny]

Oh my goodness. The fact that we are here and we're about to talk about an 83 point game from Bam out of bio for the next like six, seven minutes is absurd to me, folks. It was incredible. Break down the stat line for people who might have missed the game.

[Dave DeFore]

All right, so. So Bam out of bio in 42 minutes, also absurd. That's a crazy number. Against the Wizards, 42 minutes, 83 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 20 of 43 from the field, 7 of 22 from 3, 36 of 43 from the free throw line.

[Esperaheny]

That's crazy, man.

[Dave DeFore]

That's most free throws ever shot in a game.

[Esperaheny]

It is the most free throws ever shot in a game now. The second most points ever scored in an NBA game, surpassing Kobe Bryant. Sam Mitchell, you can rest now. We have the night's watch.

[Dave DeFore]

Sam Mitchell, Jalen Rose, Jose Calderon, all those rat gave up. Anyone, you know, look, let's talk about this game a little bit.

[Esperaheny]

Yeah, we'll talk about the game.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, I, I do want to say it is ridiculous to, to see a guy score 83 points. I mean, it was crazy. It was a lot of fun too. Yeah. The Wizards are tanking. This is what I want to see good teams and good players do against the Tankers. Put on a show and run up the did. He came out just gunning, put up 31 points in the first quarter. And that was, I mean, that was crazy in and of itself. If he didn't keep going, you know, he had 43 points at halftime. If they had just said, okay, well we're not going to keep doing that. And then they stuck with it. But as the thing that stood out to me because I, you know, I watched this game live, actually, and then I went back and watched a super cut of a lot of the, the foul plays.

[Esperaheny]

That's what everybody is taking issue with because there is, by the way, right,

[Dave DeFore]

who, who posted a super cut of every foul drawn over on his YouTube channel by Bam Adebayo. And listen, he was fouled, but the, the real thing is that he was so aggressive. We're not used to seeing Bam play like this. And that's what stood out to me the most, was he came out of the gate looking to get downhill, get at the basket, get to the line, honestly. And part of that maybe is just, you know, you see the Washington Wizards out there and you just think, all right, I can do anything I want. I'm Superman tonight. And Bam was,

[Esperaheny]

It's funny because 31 points in the first quarter and then, you know, having what you said, 46.

[Dave DeFore]

43 at the half.

[Esperaheny]

43 at the half. Like, to me, none of that was quote, unquote, grifting. Like, you watch the way that he got to those buckets. And it was the three point shot. He was feeling it. He was attacking. Like you said, he was being aggressive. The shots were falling for him.

[Dave DeFore]

He was five of eight from three to start. I mean, in the first quarter. So I mean, he was hot. Yeah.

[Esperaheny]

Like, at the very least, this was going to be like a 60 point game. Yeah, right. I think where people, I guess, end up starting to take issue is the end of the game when both sides are. I mean, there's sort of like intentional fouling happening on both sides so that they can get. Bam. The ball faster.

[Dave DeFore]

Okay, but the Wizards weren't intentionally falling.

[Esperaheny]

The Heat were.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, the Heat were okay. And. Yeah, but it was so late in the game.

[Esperaheny]

I agree. Look, it got to the point where it was like, he has 75 points. We just want to see him get to 81. And I'm not mad at that. I. Truthfully or not. And by the way, like, there will be a faction of Kobe Bryant fans and Lakers fans that like, see this and want to discredit it, but I think. I think you can have and appreciate Kobe scoring 81 in the way that he did while also having fun and liking this bio.

[Jay King]

83.

[Esperaheny]

None of those. Those two things aren't mutually exclusive. I. I will also say, just for the ethical versus unethical conversation, just for the sake of having this conversation, stat center. My guy, Dave, he actually covers the Hornets.

[Dave DeFore]

He.

[Esperaheny]

He brought this up. In Wilt's 100 game. Philly was letting New York score quickly in the fourth quarter so they could get the ball back and feed Wilt again. Kobe in the 81 point game took 13 of the Lakers final 17 field goal attempts and all 13 of their free throw attempts in the fourth quarter. Now, it was a much closer game than this one and there. There was more gamesmanship, if you will. But it doesn't matter. The dude scored 83 points.

[Dave DeFore]

And by the way, like, who's Bam Smush Parker from last night?

[Esperaheny]

Oh, man. Who is this Smush? That's a great question. Like Hame, I don't know. This is what you get for hating on the Heat earlier this week, Dave.

[Dave DeFore]

That's my fault.

[Jay King]

I brought it.

[Dave DeFore]

I brought on this very fun and cool thing that happened last night. Yeah, yeah. Look, it was great. But if you would have. If I would have said to you s. At the start of the Year. Someone's going to score and they're going to. They're going to pass. Look, look, Kobe, Dave, how far down the list is Bam out of bio?

[Esperaheny]

I'm being honest with you. I. And by the way, I love Bam. He is a wildly underrated player. I am super happy he scored 83 points.

[Dave DeFore]

So much fun.

[Esperaheny]

It will go down in history. No one will ever be able to take away from him. Giannis even said something similar today. It's like no one's going to care how many free throws he took.

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Right?

[Esperaheny]

They will Never take away 83 points from Bam out of bio. Yeah, but I probably would have named 200 NBA players before naming Bam out of bio.

[Jay King]

I mean, I would have.

[Dave DeFore]

You would have named a couple guys.

[Esperaheny]

Simmons with PRP injections would have a better chance of scoring 83. Just because, look, Bam before this game was averaging 18 points per game. He's only averaged 20 points per game in his career once.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Esperaheny]

Okay. For all of what Bam does as a player, as a defender, as a passer, as this, like, utility knife player, he's not, like, a great score. He's not this superb score for him, of all people, like Cam Thomas. I would have. I would have been less surprised with Cam Thomas.

[Dave DeFore]

Well, I mean, made that prediction, you know, about.

[Esperaheny]

She did.

[Dave DeFore]

Right. Like, Luca would. Would. Would break the Kobe record, and he seemed like the most likely guy to do it. Bam out of bio. How about that? It's so funny. It is random. Should we go to the Lakers who have, yeah, I guess, somehow moved into the four seed s?

[Jay King]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Another team that we. We kind of just decided, hey, look, they're not serious. And all of a sudden they get a big win. They. They beat the Timberwolves121. Oh6. It was never really close after, you know, halftime. I feel like this is one of these performances where we look at it and we say, oh, okay, so now Luca and Austin reeves move to 10 and 2. They get another win against a good team because we watched them beat the Knicks the other day, and we have to ask the same question that we asked the other day. Is this team, do they just make more sense when it's just those two guys?

[Esperaheny]

I. I will say, I think this is also Austin Reeves kind of getting back into form. You know, he. He had been out with an injury, and he came back and didn't look exactly himself like he was. I think he was on an all star pace before he got hurt with that calf injury, I believe it was.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Esperaheny]

And so when he came back. He wasn't that same guy. Now he's looking more and more like the all star version of himself again. And he had 29 points in the second half in this one to help them completely shut the door on the Timberwolves. His scoring punch next to Luka Doncic, to me has always made sense. There's obviously defensive questions about those two guys at the point of attack and on the perimeter, but like, offensively, those two together is very, very tough to stop.

[Dave DeFore]

Funny enough, Luca, I thought, defended, okay.

[Esperaheny]

It was a good defensive game for the Lakers.

[Dave DeFore]

He came out looking to defend. Luka had a 31 point triple double, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, first 30 point triple double that he's had since February 1st. So maybe that's a sign that he's getting healthier too.

[Esperaheny]

They are leaning more on that zone too, I will say. And, and that's something JJ Redick has leaned on more, especially towards the second half of the season with the Lakers. The funniest thing from this Lakers game, and you were the one who brought it up to my attention, was the, the PA announcer for the Lakers. Yeah, like the way that he announced the bamboo scoring 83 points was hilarious.

[Dave DeFore]

In the pregame, the Lakers in, in Arena Pennsylvania, they made an announcement that something melancholy happened in the NBA. And it, it really sounded like someone, like they, like someone had passed away. I was like, oh man, did I miss, did, did.

[Esperaheny]

So you missed something? Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Did someone in the front office pass away? And I'm listening to this, you know, in the, in the lead up to the game, melancholy footnote and NBA history occurred. Miami forward Bam Adebayo scored 83 points and it's about Bam Adebayo scoring 83 points. Pretty amazing stuff. Yeah, absolutely.

[Esperaheny]

Look, I guess, I guess the win for the Lakers fans tonight is that they, they beat a really good team and that they're now fourth in the Western Conference. And truthfully, despite me, you and basically every other person right now saying, are the Lakers good enough to, to do anything this year? Probably not.

[Dave DeFore]

But they keep playoff time. Luka can win you, you know, a series. How many series can he win?

[Esperaheny]

Sure. Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

I don't know. I don't know. We're going to find out. All right, guys, stick around after the break. We got Jay King to talk about the Celtics. Figure out what the heck happened with Jalen Brown and the referees.

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[Dave DeFore]

One of those nights last night where there's just almost too much happening in the NBA. We get a Finals preview. That means we get J. King on the show because he was down in San Antonio with the Celtics when they lost the Spurs. 125, 116. Before we go to that, Jay, I know you're gonna have a take. Maybe not a take about Bam and his 83 points itself, but what do you think about Bam scoring 83 against the Wizards?

[Esperaheny]

So I can't believe that's a thing.

[Jay King]

I wasn't able to watch it. So I don't know about any of the shenanigans that happened from. From what I can tell, it was. It was very reminiscent of the night that Devin Booker had 70 points and the Suns were calling timeouts and fouling and doing whatever they could to extend the game and get him buckets. My only takeaway is that any team that allows Bam Adebayo to score 83 points should be banned from the NBA forever. Should be relegated to a lesser league, should never be allowed to compete against these teams ever again. They. They should have bio. This isn't Wilson gold medal. It's not Kobe Bryant. It's not any of the game's top scorers. This is Bam out of bio that we're talking about.

[Esperaheny]

They should actually lose their pick. They should lose their pick this year.

[Jay King]

They should lose every pick. Okay?

[Dave DeFore]

They should never pick again.

[Jay King]

They should be in the G league. They should be somewhere overseas. They should be anywhere but the National Wizards.

[Dave DeFore]

They're basically a G league team right now. You know, let's swing to the points

[Jay King]

of Bam out of bio.

[Dave DeFore]

Let's swing to the Celtics, who. Who gave up 30, 39 points to Victor Women Yama in the loss. We gotta start with with Jalen Brown getting ejected in the second quarter of the game. Walk us through it, what happened? And then let's talk a little bit about the post game fallout from this. Because, like, Jalen, I don't know, does he have his phone on the bench? Cause he was tweeting what felt like. Must have been tweeting from the tunnel.

[Jay King]

Yeah, he. He must have gone immediately back to the locker room and tweeted shortly after. So this is part of a running theme of the entire season where Jalen Brown has just been fed up with the refs. The last time they played the spurs, he didn't take any free throws. And after the game, he went off about the officiating. Said the Celtics, anytime they play a quality opponent, get a bad whistle and haven't been treated fairly. And so this has been a running thing for him. He didn't have any free throws in this game. He, he was ejected with 342 left in the third quarter or the second.

[Dave DeFore]

He's having a great game.

[Esperaheny]

Yeah, he was having a great game.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Jay King]

Even before the game, in the locker room, an hour and a half ish before tip off, he was talking with an assistant coach and brought up how he didn't get any free throws against the spurs last time and was clearly like already thinking about that, remembering what had happened last time. So that's like setting the scene. And then he thought he got pushed out of bounds, went kind of wild about it. And the Celtics as, as much as they were frustrated about the second technical foul, they didn't think he deserved that, especially in a national TV game after they, they felt like he'd gotten shoved. They felt like he should have gotten a little bit of grace from the referee. They hated, apparently, that the second ref came in and gave it to him rather than Tyler Ford who gave him the first.

[Esperaheny]

That was the lame part about the whole thing, you know, like if, if it is going to be an ejection, let it be the ref that he is going off against and not like a guy who was watching.

[Dave DeFore]

Not to be a refender here, but I will just defend this. Look, I actually think two, two texts for that. Totally fine. Jalen, Jalen Brown's gotta, he's gotta be above it and get out of there faster or whatever. I don't love that he got ejected. I mean, I actually hate that part. I wish that we had some other mechanism besides throwing out the best players that people paid money to see and that make the game great. But no, I mean, I, I think that the ejection itself, I mean, is warranted. It's the baggage that's attached to it, Jay, that is the thing. Because this is. I mean, I would say that that last spurs game with Jaylen Brown not shooting free throws and, and in this game he was attacking. It wasn't like, you know, he was sitting out on the perimeter just shooting threes. I, I think that there maybe is a little bit of a bone to pick here. What do you think about it?

[Jay King]

Yeah, so it's, it's tough. I, I thought tonight he, he was getting to the rim and then he was being smart about not attacking Victor Wembanyama. And yeah, the kickouts. He had success in the spurs with, with kickouts. And there were one time in transition when Benyama was back and instead of going at the Rim Brown circled around, found Derrick White for three. There was another time. Great, great play. Where Brown was doubled in the corner.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Jay King]

By Wembanyama. Found Ron Harper Jr. Cutting Harper Jr. Kicked it back to Brown. He drew the double again on Wembanyama and then found Sam Houser for wide open three. I just thought it was a great, great floor game from, from Jalen Brown before the ejection. And it's a shame because these are two of the best teams in the league, the two best defenses in the league over their last 15 games, and you don't want to see them at less than full strength. Listen, Celtics were already without. They were already without Payton Pritchard, who was out with the neck spasm. And then once Jalen goes down, it puts a lot on their other guys. Obviously, Derrick White was fantastic during that third quarter. And Jason Tatum had a run early in the fourth, but he's on a minutes restriction. They had to take him out after he went on a 7, 0 run, which was. He was frustrated about the minutes restriction has frustrated him throughout the first three games. Back from a torn Achilles. Even though he's playing 27 minutes, it's more than I expected him to be playing at this point. But. But yeah, it was, it was just too bad that it kind of marred the matchup of what could have been a great matchup. And it was still an exciting game.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, it was a great game.

[Jay King]

Yeah. And Wembanyama was just ridiculous.

[Esperaheny]

We got, we. We still got a great game. We still got a great, like, competitive, I guess, third and fourth quarter, particularly from the Celtics, who, Who found a way to score without Jalen Brown. What have you thought about Jason Tatum's first three games here back because he scored 24 points tonight. You mentioned, like the run that in the fourth quarter. Obviously the minutes restriction is still there, but this was. This was technically his best scoring game of the season so far. So what'd you think of it?

[Jay King]

Yeah, the. The thing that matters the most to me is just he's moving really well. He's moving defensively. His lateral mobility is there. He's able to close out. He's able to rotate. He's able to do all that stuff when he's going to the basket. He's able to accept contact and finish through it. That's the stuff you want to see at this stage of the recovery. And the fact that he's doing all of that and able to play 27 minutes a game already is really promising for the Celtics. He still has rust to Work through that. That's, that's obvious. He was 10 for 24 tonight. He shot a one legged three that was like, where did that come from? This is, you came back from mellow

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ball

[Jay King]

and he missed that one badly. He had a fade away that went off the side of the backboard. So there's obviously rust that he has to work through and he's acknowledged that. But, but I think you can't help but be impressed and, and optimistic about the way that he has just moved. I, I, I did not expect him to be this advanced with all that stuff. Already.

[Dave DeFore]

Get you to talk about the Spurs a little bit in a second. But I do want to hit. Derrick White had a amazing hit.

[Jay King]

Derrick White.

[Dave DeFore]

I want to hit on Derek White.

[Jay King]

Yes.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. Okay. On that one he had 34 points, seven assists, five rebounds. You know, is he secretly one of the 10 best players in the league? He certainly feels like one of the most important players as we're looking ahead to the playoffs, like going into the playoffs, he's definitely one of the most important guys.

[Bill.com Advertiser]

Right?

[Jay King]

Yeah. So obviously Kenny Atkinson made made waves the other day when he said Derrick White as a top five player. And you can find certain advanced analytics that, that suggests he's there or close to it. Like if you go to epm, he's, he's close to it. If you go to a lot of other catch all metrics, like Derrick White is criminally underrated. The way he's perceived and I think it's probably like somewhere in the middle. Like he should have been an all star this year. To me, he absolutely should have been an all star. The, with the way the Celtics have succeeded with everything he's doing as a rim protector. Never mind the load he carries offensively, the way he's able to handle the ball and never turn it over, which is a huge deal for this Celtics team that wins the possession game pretty much on a nightly basis. He's been able to, to shoulder a big load on both ends and obviously you look at the shooting percentages and they're not pretty. And you look at the, the scoring average and it's not what a lot of the top guys are averaging, but what he does, possession to possession. He's always in the right spot. He's always making the right read. He's always creating advantages for the Celtics. I just think that, that a lot of that goes, goes lost at times just because, you know, he doesn't score as much as other guys.

[Bill.com Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Jay King]

All right.

[Esperaheny]

So Dave wants me to ask you about the Spurs. But I do want to ask you about Ron Harper Jr. That's right.

[Jay King]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Because he won the battle play.

[Esperaheny]

Yeah, no, listen, we, we talked to Jay like, I don't know, like a week ago and he slipped in Ron Harper's name and I'm like, oh, that's intriguing. He believes in Ron Harper. He had a great game tonight.

[Dave DeFore]

He really did.

[Esperaheny]

And, and he won the Harper Jr battle. What were your thoughts on, on Ron and maybe his, his spot on the Celtics team? I, I know this is, yes, like low down, the kind of pecking order conversations.

[Dave DeFore]

Ron Harper Jr. Before we get to Victor.

[Jay King]

So it's, it's very, it's eye opening that he has gained Joe Missoula's trust the way that he has. And when you talk to people in the Celtics organization, they speak about Ron Harper Jr. The way they spoke about Sam Houser before he started getting an opportunity. And everyone seems convinced Sam Houser is an NBA player. And people would tell you that before he got a chance. Same with Ron Harper Jr. Like, people, they just think he's solid defensively. They think he can knock down shots. They think that he can contribute in a bunch of different ways. And he's shown that during limited minutes. He's, he's had a couple of spot starts. He's delivered in those tonight with Peyton Pritchard out, they, they went to him and then obviously Jalen got ejected, so more minutes opened up on the wing and, and so he, he's made himself a factor in, in the Celtics rotation. It's too bad for him that they're so tight up against attacks because if they weren't, I think it would be a no brainer for them to just convert his contract to a standard deal right now. But they're so close to it that, that they have to do some cap shenanigans. So.

[Esperaheny]

Okay, the main Celtics need him for the playoff.

[Jay King]

I've said shenanigans twice. Twice in this podcast. That's gotta be a career.

[Dave DeFore]

You're from Boston. You know, we assume that's just like one of the, one of the words you say all the time. All right, talk to me about Wimby. 39 points, eight threes. We all keep saying if he figures out the offensive end, he's going to be, you know, this huge problem. Like, what does that look like? What does it look like, Jay?

[Jay King]

That dude is already a huge problem. Yeah. And it's to the point where it's like it truly is. Do teams have pressure on them now to Win one before Wembanyama becomes whatever he's going to become. Because if he's this good already and this impactful already, like, what is he going to be like, fully formed and how badly will the rest of the league be in trouble when he does reach that level? It's scary. And obviously he doesn't shoot like this all the time, but when he does, there's not much you can do about it. And just the way that he's able to totally take away the rim, you can just see guys just like get afraid of him. And like Jalen last game against the spurs, he took a lot of tough shots and Wembanyama was there to kind of impact him. And he took a totally different approach, a much better approach, and they were able to get good shots. But, but even like he's guarding Sam Houser on the perimeter and he's, I don't know how many feet off and Hauser can't shoot because Wembanyama is going to block it. If anybody else in the league was that far off, Sam Houser, he's shooting the ball and it's probably going in. Instead, Wembanyama just deters that shot just by being somewhere in the vicinity. He's. He's ridiculous. And like I said, assuming he does figure it out offensively, look how much better the guy has gotten in already in years.

[Dave DeFore]

Like the last three months.

[Jay King]

He's stronger, he's a better shooter. He's just, he does everything. And even the way the Celtics talk about him, like Jaylen Brown called him an alien earlier today. Derrick White was just like, yeah, I don't know what you do when he's making shots like that. Yeah, they, they speak about him in a way that is usually reserved for like the elites of the elites. And they seem to just marvel at the stuff that he can do.

[Bill.com Advertiser]

So.

[Jay King]

And it's just, there's a.

[Esperaheny]

There. There's a lot of conversation about this spurs team of like, experience, obviously the lack of experience and maybe that holding them back from being true championship contenders. Do you feel that might be the case here with this first team or, or does experience not matter when you're this maybe deep and talented and have a top, I don't know, three player in Wemby?

[Jay King]

My questions are like, do they have too many non shooters for a playoff setting? How much does that bother them? And I do have questions about the experience. Like that stuff matters. We've never really seen a team just show up in the playoffs and dominate their way to a Finals when they have a whole bunch of young guys who have just never done it before. And so could they win? Absolutely. It's a super talented team. They're so fast, so athletic. All their young guys, it seems like they love to defend. They're just physical. They get after guys and then they have wembanyama at the rim just doing ridiculous things that nobody else can do. So I have a lot of respect for them. Obviously, they've given a ton of teams trouble, including the very best teams in the league. Like they. In a lot of these primetime matchups, they seem to step up and deliver great performances. So I'm not writing them off at all, but I do want to see them prove it. And with. With the amount of guys they have with no playoff experience at all, it's just going to be a tough task, I think, in the playoffs.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, I mean, I think this was a big test. Beating the Celtics, you know, even without Jaylen Brown for over half the game. I think, you know, that's something we're going to probably look at when we get to playoff time. Hey, look at how they stepped up in these big games. But also parody. You know, I think that the experience factor, it maybe it doesn't mean as much to have the more experienced guys, you know, the guys that have done whatever before. I mean, OKC hadn't done it really until last year. And so I'm not saying that the spurs are that good, but I don't know. They beat the Celtics. All right, Jay, so you got OKC Thursday night, another big one.

[Jay King]

Cleveland, San Antonio. Okay, Jason Tatum just came back. Jalen Brown just went wild and got ejected

[Dave DeFore]

on the little tykes rim.

[Jay King]

And my son is dunking. We just put. We just put a hoop in his. His bathtub so he can get buckets while he's getting clean. So that's big. Gotta have.

[Dave DeFore]

That's a very important thing. All right, everybody go and read Jay's story about Jalen Brown over at the Athletic. Thank you to Jay King for hanging out. Thanks, Esperahenny. I'm Dave Dufour. This has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for hanging out with us.

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