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Zena Keda
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Dave DeFore
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily presented by Amazon prime for February 9th, 2026. I'm Dave DeFore here with Zena Kada. Coming up, the Rockets barely beat the Thunder without their two best players. We're going to talk about that egregious tanking in Utah. We're going to hit that and what we're watching after the trade deadline. Good morning, everybody. What's up, Xena? Good to see you.
Zena Keda
Good to see you. How have you done since the trade deadline?
Dave DeFore
You know, it took a little bit to recover after the seven hours of live streaming over on YouTube. Thanks to everybody who hung out. Shout out to the Discord, by the way. Yeah, they were. There were multiple people that were on the stream all day long. It makes me question, like, what do you guys do for work? Seems like you got a good job out there, you know, but really, really appreciate everybody hanging out, had a good time and. And then I got the chance to do the Athletic show with Xena the following day. So everybody can go and check that out. The Athletic show has its own YouTube channel and you can see it on Amazon. Fire Zeno. There's a lot Happening. This has been, this has been kind of a crazy weekend. We got a lot of new faces and new places, but we're going to start with the Houston Rockets struggling to beat the short handed Thunder. They wind up winning 112, 106. But it was not as easy as it should have been. Now, Zena, I want to ask if you're the Rockets, are you worried or do you just tip your cap and you say, wow, the Thunder are just so deep?
Zena Keda
No, I'm absolutely worried. You have Kevin Durant, you have Alpert Changoon, you've got a healthy Houston Rocket squad who by the way, just told the entire league, we're good with this squad. We feel very confident going into the trade deadline that we've got exactly the pieces we need in order to make some noise in the west. And you're going up against a Shay Less, a Jalen William Less OKC team. A Kason Wallace is doing y' all dirty.
Dave DeFore
Like, you look great.
Zena Keda
He looked amazing.
Dave DeFore
But I kept thinking, Xena, what if the Rockets had Kas Wallace right as their starting point? I mean, this guy, he's. I mean he's a starter who mixes it starting and off the bench for the Thunder. But like this is an NBA starter.
Zena Keda
And he, he was cooking them, cooking them on defense. Buckets going from defense to offense. I mean it was, yeah, I'd be concerned. I would be concerned that it took this level of energy. It took KD like you know, scraping buckets into the paint at the end of the game, getting really great shots off that. In any other circumstance, we'd be like, wow, KD amazing. They still score like this. But we're also asking the question, why is KD having to score like this? This OKC team should not be having Houston, Alper and Changun going one on one at the end of the game, trying to get buckets. KD going one on one at the end of the game. It was just too high stakes for a team that did not have its high stakes players out there in okc.
Dave DeFore
Yeah, and I mean, look, the issues for the Rockets, it's the bench, right? The starting lineup for them, pretty good. But you lose Stephen Adams and they didn't have a men Thompson for this game. And they just don't have that much depth. You know, Dorian Finney Smith has not really been a good signing for them. Josh Akogi, he's going to play because coaches love a guy who plays that hard all the time. But it's almost to their detriment sometimes when he's out there because he's a non factors even shooting from the corners, they, you know, the space that they already don't have gets a little bit tighter. And so, you know, I, I do think it's a little bit of a missed opportunity for this team to have not gone out and find a shooter. I mean, Luke Canard winds up on the Lakers. I feel like that could have been a guy that maybe they could use because they could use another guard who can handle a little bit too. I'm not sure. I mean, I. Again, and shout out to all of our Rockets listeners. They know already. I am not high on this Rockets team once we get to the playoffs. I know you have Kevin Durant, but I just think ball handling is sorely lacking for them. And then I just don't trust their bench very much.
Zena Keda
Yeah, they don't quite have the depth you need and it sucks when you have Reed shepherd not shooting well. This is your main outside threat that automatically just warps you downwards. It automatically just your ceiling gets a lot lower. And so it, it, it was tough. I mean, I don't. Let's just be fair. They did pull out the win, so they did their job right. So we have to give them that credit. I just wish it wouldn't have taken so much effort, even with them not having Ian Thompson.
Dave DeFore
Speaking of effort in a win, the Cavs, it took everything they had to beat the Sacramento Kings in the first game with James Harden. All right, and listen, I'm not going to. We can't judge them off this one game and how it's going to work. But James Harden, 23 points, eight assists in the win, he hit some key buckets down the stretch. They went up winning by six. You know, this is not the sort of runaway win that you expect a team like the Cavs to have against the Kings. They were -14 with Harden on the court. And until that fourth quarter, really like the end of the game where he hit a couple big threes, makes the free throws, you know, to really seal the deal at the end. I, I just, you know, you, you have all these questions in your head. How does James Harden fit this team? Does, does he defend well enough? I'm not sure about that. But the last few minutes where he and Donovan were able to play, do some two man stuff on the side of the court where the defense was so locked in on Donovan Mitchell, James Harden was taking wide open threes. That does not happen very often.
Zena Keda
It does not. And I would tell you right now, the Number one thing that I'm looking at is exactly what you just laid out. Number one, that connection with Donovan Mitchell and James Harden being able to have that two man game, but particularly as well, Jared Allen.
Dave DeFore
Right.
Zena Keda
This is what we talked about is can James Harden activate Jared Allen in that two man game that he had so beautifully ran in LA with Evita Zubots. And we see Jared Allen finish this game with 29 points, 4 assists coming from James Harden to Jared. I like already what I'm seeing. Evan Mobley's not out there, so that allows Jared Allen to cook inside and he's a great screenshot setter and roller. We know that. And when you've got someone like James Harden that attracts attention to. You saw Sacramento drawing a little bit too much to James Harden over committing sometimes to James Harden, which allowed Jared Allen to get open. So I'm, I'm liking what I'm seeing so far. Yes, it did take a little bit of extra effort, a little bit more scoring out of the Sacramento Kings side than typical. But, but this is a really great start to me for the Cavs just to be able to get the three of those players, Donovan, James and Jarrett going early. That's the goal.
Dave DeFore
Yeah, I mean, listen, the fit is kind of perfect and Jared Allen is a very good short roll passer. So like this is not just a situation where the rest of the offense is, is just standing around watching these guys think you get some shooters in the corners. Obviously Donovan Mitchell is going to be able to play against a bent defense a lot. So. Yeah, I don't know. I mean I, I think the Cavs, you just worry about the Harden playoff flameout that we all know is going to happen. You know, he might be good for three or four games out of seven, but you know, you've got Donovan Mitchell. I guess for the rest of those we're going to figure it out. Also, we got to talk about Jaren Jackson in Utah and, and Zena. Look, you watch this game for the first three quarters, you probably think, wow, Utah, they're going to be too good to tank. But you'd be selling these guys short because we saw one of the most egregious and borderline genius. If it wasn't just so in our face. Tank jobs from the Utah Jazz. They had a 17 point lead on the Orlando Magic Lowry market and Jaren Jackson and Yusuf Nurkic all sat the entire fourth quarter and coach Will Hardy didn't call a single timeout as his team just fumbled away the game. And look, this Is we're going to hit this a little bit, I'm assuming over the course of the rest of the season. But we're in a situation where eight or nine teams are actively tanking and then you've just got the Pelicans and the Kings that, bless their heart, they. They can't help it. It's a natural tank. It's an ethical tank.
Zena Keda
It's an ethical tank. I'm happy that you mentioned though, they fumbled the game away because let's be real, yes, the egregious, expert level tanking happened.
Dave DeFore
Yeah.
Zena Keda
But when you've got 24 turnovers, allowing for 39 points off those turnovers, whether you're being expert or not in the tanking, that is a problem. Like they, Utah, looked discombobulated as much as they were scoring bucket for bucket for bucket. There was a lot of easy turnovers, particularly in the first part of that game. So that in itself is something that needs to be figured out. But one thing I love right now about the Jazz is this new nickname. I don't know if you've heard this just yet. The Utah Jazz Mountain range that's come about.
Dave DeFore
Oh, because they're huge.
Zena Keda
Because they're massive. They're huge. But particularly Larry Markkanen, Yusuf Nurkic, and then of course Jaren Jackson Jr. There was a two man game between Jaren Jackson Jr. 6, 9ish. Yeah, yeah. 7 footer. And the person coming off the screen is Larry Markkanen. This is scary times. And the fact that they're tanking is like, you guys are so good. Are you kidding me? But the tank was, it was aggressive. It was, it was one of those where it would, to me, it would be level, like expert level. If you didn't have Larry Markkin and Yusuf Nurkic laughing on the bench while they're like clearly losing while they finish the game and they're losing, it's like, hmm, are you really that upset? Keante George goes down with a rolled, rolled right ankle. I. He didn't come back in the game. I hope that he's all right, but it's. You have Keon George out, you pull your top three scores for the entire fourth quarter. Make it a little bit of a game for us. Will Hardy, like, make us guess a little bit just what's happening here.
Dave DeFore
Well, that's the thing, right? They had to take the guesswork out. And because players don't tank, right. They just, they don't. You can't expect, no matter what you might think about that, that bad Inbounds pass at the end of this game. Bad shot. That shot from Isaiah Collier. Players don't tank, they just don't. And so you have to do things like pull your best players if you're trying to lose. To me, it's just bad for the sport. It's a bad thing when you have teams actively trying to lose. I feel like Zeno, we need to come up with some sort of a, a, a tank score for these games because I do believe with like a third of the league tanking, we are going to see more and more of this sort of stuff where it's just the stars are, they're there but they're sitting and I'm just not sure what to do with that.
Zena Keda
Let's ruminate on that because I do think we have a good scale that we can talk about probably on the other side of this break. But before we go, I just want to give a little bit of love to Isaiah Collier because he's been balling out.
Dave DeFore
He has. He had a 20 assist game.
Zena Keda
20 assist game comes into this the other night had 25. His career high had 20 and 10. I believe in this game against Orlando, like he's been balling. Outrageous. And I'm just a fan of Isaiah Collier. So shout out to him. Yeah, but let's talk about the tanking soon.
Dave DeFore
Yeah, yeah, we, we definitely got it. We're going to be hitting this all season long, guys. Stick around after the break. We're going to talk about some of the things that we're watching this week after the deadline.
Zena Keda
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Dave DeFore
This is one of the weirdest times of the NBA calendar because you're right after the trade deadline and you're a week out from the All Star Game and it feels like, I don't know, a lot of people not playing, especially people who have just been traded. A lot of tanking happening right now. So I thought I could take a minute and we could talk about some of the stuff that we're paying attention to this week, the Charlotte Hornets. We're still watching them. They're. They've won nine straight, Zeno. We're gonna. We're gonna jinx them at some point. I'm. I'm sure of it. But for so far, they are rolling. Number one offense, number four defense. Over that stretch of the last nine games. This team, like, the vibes around this team are excellent. And then they make a trade for Kobe. White, vibes wise, perfect fit on the court. Amazing fit. He can play with every single combination of. Of the guards that they have on that team. You can play him with Trey Mann. You can play him with LaMelo Ball. I think he's going to be a really nice spark plug off the bench for them. Right now he's out with a. With a strained calf, so we haven't seen him yet. But this is what I'm watching. I want to see how this team reacts. When teams treat them like they're not pushovers. Because you win nine straight, people are starting to. They're going to sit up straight when you come through. And the way that they're doing it, the way that they're scoring, I dare say Charlotte can embarrass you on any given night, Xena. So I think, like, we're going to see them get a little bit more, I would say, competitiveness out of their opponents than maybe we've seen so far.
Zena Keda
Yeah. Over the last eight games, Charlotte is third in the NBA in their net rating. So they're scoring the ball well and they're defending well. And they're the only team in the league right now with five players averaging at least 18 points. Do you know how many teams would die to have an average of five players scoring 18 points? Like, that's insane. And you're talking about this win streak nine games in a row. They have a chance to take it to 10. The last time they did that was 1998. It is important to note that their top three scorers, Brandon Miller, LaMelo Ball, Colin Canuppel, were not born the last time that the Charlotte Hornets won nine games in a row. That is crazy. But this is also part of what's so special about the Charlotte Hornets. They're doing all of this without vets.
Dave DeFore
Right.
Zena Keda
They're doing all of this with players under 27. And you add Kobe White in there, who's also young. All that tells me is the. The lights are bright in Charlotte. The future is bright for Charlotte. And they're clicking. Now. These are the type of teams that we see come up, right? They kind of go through the tensions together. They figure out, oh, all these teams around the league don't sit up when we come to their towns. They don't take us seriously when they come to our town. Now teams are going to start paying attention. And all this reminds me of is we've look at okc, right, A little bit, right.
Dave DeFore
And they're not quite there yet because they just don't have that. That number one guy, like, shape. Brandon Miller has been amazing this season. I mean, kind of the health issues that he's had the first couple years of his career, it seems like he's just more healthy this year and we're seeing a more confident version of him. Con Canipple's been good since, like, December, which is crazy for a rookie. And Lamelo has trimmed so much of the. Just the stuff that makes you. It makes you love him, but also it makes him like some of the stuff that he does drives you crazy, but it is the same stuff that I love about him. But he's cut these bad decisions out. It feels like he's really, like, embraced, I think, just looking for the best solution rather than what's the. What's the most creative thing I can come up with. And I think about, like, the end of games when I see him start to attack and drive when he gets a switch that didn't happen before. He would like to settle into that. That step back that he loves so much. So I just feel like with the job Charles Lee done of galvanizing these guys and getting them to take him, take the game seriously. Seriously, which was an issue for them previously. And, and it helps when you add, you know, some of the rookies that they've added. I mean, Con Caniple has come in and it feels like he's a little bit of, like, pushing these guys. Oh, is this Khan's team? I mean, people were saying that at one point, and I. I assume Lamelo can hear that or sees it. You know, he seems like a guy who's probably on YouTube. So I would guess that this team, I mean, you look at the standings, they are. They're currently the 10 seed. They're in the play. I think that they're going to stay there because most of the teams behind them, none of them want to be in the play. And including the Chicago Bulls, another team we add to the tank list, they've got a shot. I think they pass Atlanta probably this week. They've got a shot of catching the Miami Heat. They could theoretically, depending on what happens with Orlando, be the seventh seed and host a play in game in Charlotte.
Zena Keda
That would be wild, like, considering where this team started, considering how we viewed this team. But I'm happy you called out, you know, Lamelo kind of trimming the fat to his game. Um, we know fat is very tasty. It makes things a little bit more, I don't know, just succulent in the way that you just. You like to enjoy it that way, but sometimes it could be unhealthy for you. And that's how we could look at some of the things that we saw with Lamelo's game. But when I say, when I bring up the comparison to OKC, LaMelo is a perfect example of. You're seeing Lamelo have fun right now. He ain't worried about whose team this is. He's not worried about do I need to be the guy. We've seen him default to Brandon Miller to con Knippel to put the last shots up. He has put up. He's set up his teammates in order to try to win games. And so I just love to see these guys right now are battling together for respect in this league and to win games and to have fun while doing it. And you got to give a lot of credit to Charles Lee for that, but you also have to give a lot of credit and Moussa Diabate and.
Dave DeFore
Musa Diabate love him, but you just.
Zena Keda
I just love to see that these guys are really locked in on playing for each other. And that is something that I think OKC has modeled and exemplified really, really well for the last few years as they came up on their trajectory. Yeah, Charlotte's. I mean, we're having fun.
Dave DeFore
We are having fun.
Zena Keda
I just don't want this to become the Sacramento Kings light the beam team. I need this to continue.
Dave DeFore
I don't think that they're going to make the free agent money mistakes or the trade mistakes. This. This feels like this group is going to take their time to put a team together again. It's. You watch the Wizards and what they're doing right now. I think that this Charlotte team could eventually do that. But.
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But they.
Dave DeFore
Their starting lineup is pretty young. Like, they've got five, well, four guys really, that are extremely young and talented that you can just build around. I don't know if they're going to have to go the. The Wizards route where they try to rehabilitate pieces. They may add a piece at some point, but I. I don't think that they're going to Be in a rush. Zeno, what, what are you paying attention to after the deadline?
Zena Keda
I mean, we've talked about a few of them. The new faces, new places, right? James Harden, Jiren Jackson Jr. I'm still waiting for that Jaylen Johnson, Jonathan Kaminga situation. I really want to know what that's going to plan out to. I think everyone in the Bay is looking for that. And then also when Steph comes back and Kristaps Porzingis isn't available, what does that look like? So I think I'm a little bit biased towards the warriors angle a little bit being out here in the Bay. I'm also wondering what teams are going to try and break through in the east because as you just mentioned, you know, Charlotte having this nine game win streak, you're like, hold up, what's, what's going on here? I'm looking at the New York Knicks having that terrible loss against Detroit. 118, 80, 80. The east is always going to.
Dave DeFore
The Knicks are supposed to score Zenith.
Zena Keda
They're supposed to score. Exactly. And Jalen Brunson was available for this game, guys, just in case you didn't know, played 31 minutes in this game, score 12 points. I understand that Detroit is incredibly good at defense, don't get me wrong. But keeping the Knicks offensive or supposedly, you know, offensive power team to 80 points, I feel like the east continues to be wide open and Boston just continues to kind of sit there. Detroit's considering to, you know, you know, continue to sit there. So I'm curious as to what's going to happen in the east in terms of what teams are, are going to try and break through the ranks.
Dave DeFore
One last thing, I'll swing it to the west for this one. The Minnesota Timberwolves, we keep saying they are confusing team. This is now like the third season in a row we've said this confusing team. They lost a game to the Pelicans. That is just again, the Pelicans are, are not tanking on purpose. They're just bad. There's no excuse for this for, for a team like the Timberwolves, period. They are 5 and 5 in their last 10, 13th in offense. And this is the worst part to me, Xena 12th in defense.
Zena Keda
Just like we just talked about, New York's supposedly being this offensive power team. Minnesota's supposed to have defense on lock. That is supposed to be their bread and butter. So you've got this 14 win team in New Orleans getting a win over Minnesota. I understand why Rudy kind of lost it and talked about accountability being necessary for this team. And he was saying in an article with John Krasinski on the athletic right now, go read it if you like. That it wasn't just about the basketball aspect of things. Like mistakes are going to be made. I'm paraphrasing. But he's talking about effort, straight effort. And we've been hearing a few teams talk about effort, especially in these months, right. Leading up to the All Star break, talking about people losing their jobs, people being moved. Effort comes to mind a lot of how much do you really want this? And I understand it is the few games right before the All Star break. So you feel like maybe people are taking a seat or trying to coast a little bit. Trying to coast a little bit, Exactly. But Minnesota doesn't have the room to coast in the Western Conference. They've got to bring it every night.
Dave DeFore
I mean, this should be a home court team in the West. In my opinion, right now they're, they're only a game back on the Lakers and the Rockets or two games back on the Nuggets. The sky is not falling, but it doesn't look good. You've gotta. This is a team that should just be hammering teams like the Pelicans. Every single time they play them. They are 20 and eight against teams under 500, 12 and 13 against teams over 500. But you gotta, you gotta like clean up when the Pelicans are playing like.
Zena Keda
They were just 18 points on the Pels in the third quarter. Like that's inexcusable.
Dave DeFore
Yeah, inexcusable for a team that's supposed to have title aspirations. They've gone to the Western Conference finals a couple years in a row.
Zena Keda
That's what Rudy said.
Dave DeFore
It's supposed to be better anyway. That's going to do it for the show, folks. Thank you guys for hanging out and listening. For Xena Keda, I'm Dave Dufour and this has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us. If you're the purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant, you know having a trusted partner makes all the difference. That's why hands down, you count on Grainger for auto reordering. With on time restart, your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift. And you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.
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Episode Title: Harden’s Cavs Debut + Blatant Tanking
Release Date: February 9, 2026
Hosts: Dave DuFour & Zena Keda
On this episode, Dave DeFour and Zena Keda recap the biggest NBA stories of the day, focusing on James Harden's debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Houston Rockets' struggles despite a win, and the Utah Jazz’s “egregious” tanking tactics. They also spotlight rising teams like the Charlotte Hornets post-trade deadline, and flag teams to watch or be wary of as the playoff race heats up.
Game Recap: The Houston Rockets narrowly defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-106, but the Thunder were missing stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams.
Rockets’ Flaws:
“This OKC team should not be having Houston, Alperen Sengun going one on one at the end of the game, trying to get buckets. KD going one on one…It was just too high stakes for a team that did not have its high stakes players.” — Zena Keda (03:43)
“The last few minutes… he and Donovan were able to play, do some two-man stuff on the side of the court where the defense was so locked in on Donovan Mitchell, James Harden was taking wide open threes. That does not happen very often.” — Dave DeFour (06:53)
“Can James Harden activate Jarrett Allen in that two man game that he had so beautifully ran in LA with Ivica Zubac? … I like already what I’m seeing.” — Zena Keda (07:06)
“We saw one of the most egregious and borderline genius... tank jobs from the Utah Jazz. ...They had a 17 point lead... all sat the entire fourth quarter and coach Will Hardy didn’t call a single timeout…” — Dave DeFour (08:03)
“To me, it would be expert level if you didn’t have Larry Markkanen and Yusuf Nurkic laughing on the bench.” — Zena Keda (10:20)
After the Deadline: Attention shifts to teams trending upwards or downwards post-trade deadline.
Charlotte’s Streak: The Hornets are on a 9-game win streak (longest since 1998), currently the hottest team in the league with the #1 offense and #4 defense over that stretch.
Brandon Miller, Con Knipple, and LaMelo Ball:
“All that tells me is the, the lights are bright in Charlotte. The future is bright for Charlotte. And they're clicking now.” — Zena Keda (18:52)
“With the job Charles Lee’s done of galvanizing these guys and getting them to take the game seriously. . .” — Dave DeFour (19:25)
On the Rockets’ Struggles:
“This OKC team should not be having Houston, Alperen Sengun going one on one at the end of the game…” — Zena Keda (03:43)
On Harden’s Cavs Fit:
“The last few minutes…James Harden was taking wide open threes. That does not happen very often.” — Dave DeFour (06:53)
On Utah’s Tanking:
“We saw one of the most egregious and borderline genius...tank jobs from the Utah Jazz.” — Dave DeFour (08:03)
“To me, it would be expert level if you didn’t have Larry Markkanen and Yusuf Nurkic laughing on the bench.” — Zena Keda (10:20)
On Charlotte Hornets:
“All that tells me is…the lights are bright in Charlotte. The future is bright for Charlotte.” — Zena Keda (18:52)
On Timberwolves' Frustration:
“They are 5 and 5 in their last 10, 13th in offense. And this is the worst part to me…12th in defense.” — Dave DeFour (25:24)
You’ll get a lively, rapid-fire sweep through last night’s top NBA games, sharp analysis on trade deadline impacts, and entertaining banter about the best and worst team strategies at this moment in the NBA calendar. The blend of granular game analysis, future projections, and discussion of league-wide trends makes this a can’t-miss episode for fans wanting to keep their finger on the pulse of the league.
(Ads, sponsorships, and promotional reads have been omitted for clarity.)