Shai vs. Wemby for MVP?

Summary

The Athletic NBA Daily – March 31, 2026

Episode Title: Shai vs. Wemby for MVP?
Hosts: Dave DuFour, Esfandiar (Esperaheny), Tony Jones (guest)
Theme: Deep dive into the night’s standout NBA performances, the fierce MVP debate between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Victor Wembanyama, and a pulse check on the Philadelphia 76ers’ playoff prospects.

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Overview

This episode centers on two hot storylines:

• The razor-close MVP race between OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (“SGA”) and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama (“Wemby”) after another pair of jaw-dropping performances.
• The playoff push in the East, with specific focus on the Sixers’ vulnerabilities and remaining path as analyzed with guest Tony Jones.

The hosts break down game action, individual performances, big-picture narratives, and share strong opinions on coaching, defense, and the state of the league.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Thunder Survive Plucky Pistons – SGA’s MVP Performance

[02:17–09:32]

• Oklahoma City narrowly defeats a severely depleted Detroit squad 114–110 in overtime.
• SGA finishes with 47 points on absurd efficiency: 19 shots, 25 FTA, 21 makes.
• The Pistons were missing 4–5 of their top 6 players (no Cade Cunningham, no Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart out).
• Standout Pistons: Ausar Thompson (+19), Marcus Sasser; high defensive energy.
• Key officiating moment: SGA called for blatant push-off on would-be winner at the end of regulation.

Notable Quotes:

• “He scored 11 straight points in the fourth quarter… gets him to 47 points on just 19 shots. Like, the efficiency is absurd.” – Esperaheny [04:12]
• “That was a push off. 100% was a push off. But it was a push off four possessions before too, and it wasn’t called.” – Dave DuFour [03:23]

Analytical Take:
Hosts credit Detroit’s physicality, preparation, and coaching under J.B. Bickerstaff:

• “This was one of those games where I’m like, J.B. Bickerstaff should win coach of the year…top down, organizationally, they have an identity.” – Esperaheny [05:13]

Future Watch:

• Is Dennis Jenkins the next under-the-radar breakout backup PG, in the vein of Jalen Brunson?
• Pistons’ playoff potential without Cade: consensus is no title shot, but they “could win a first round series” [09:01].

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2. Wemby Dominates vs. Bulls – The MVP Chase Intensifies

[09:32–13:05]

• Victor Wembanyama has a “video game” line: 41 points, 16 rebounds, 3 blocks, 1 steal in only 31 minutes (blowout win).
• Hosts discuss the downside of Wemby’s light minutes, but marvel at his impact and production.
• Debate: Can Wemby close the MVP gap on SGA? Only if Spurs grab the West’s #1 seed.

Notable Quotes:

• “If you only have to play 31 minutes to score 41 points and have 16 rebounds... it’s not a bad 31 minutes.” – Esperaheny [10:03]
• “Best player on... the team that’s been the best team in the league. Now this is the third season with the injuries too, right?” – Dave DuFour on SGA’s case [12:13]
• “Sometimes feels like watching Michael Jordan.” – Dave DuFour, on SGA’s offensive brilliance [12:22]

Consensus:

• If Spurs overtake OKC, Wemby gets MVP; otherwise, it’s Shai’s to lose.

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3. Sixers’ Playoff Outlook – With Tony Jones

[16:30–28:58]

• Sixers lose 119–109 to Miami—big setback in East standings.
• Miami, “desperate,” closes the game on a 16–2 run; Sixers look tired and gassed.
• Joel Embiid is not at full capacity defensively post-injury; teams (Charlotte, Miami) exploiting him in pick-and-roll.
• Philly’s recurring issue: abysmal third quarters and inconsistent offense vs zone.

Notable Quotes:

• “Where he’s taken his game has taken the hit… is defensively.” – Tony Jones on Embiid [20:14]
• “They are by far the worst third quarter team in the NBA this year.” – Tony Jones [24:54]

Matchup Preferences:

• Sixers would much rather play the Knicks than Celtics in R1:
  “You want to face the Knicks, for sure... The Celtics are just much better defensively… They spam threes, make it a math game.” – Tony Jones [25:38, 26:06]

Playoff Math:

• Sixers can lock 7th seed if they clean up vs bad teams and win at least one against the following: Spurs, Rockets, Pistons, Timberwolves.
• Atlanta’s win over Boston further complicates their path to the 6th seed.

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4. Final MVP Takes & Playoff Hot Takes

[28:58–31:52]

• Tony Jones’ MVP top three: 1) SGA, 2) Jaylen Brown (“best player on that team,” weathered lack of Tatum), 3) Wemby. This is met with skepticism by the hosts.
• Spurs’ backcourt gets huge love for defensive prowess and relentless offensive pressure.
• Dream playoff series: OKC vs. Spurs in the West; Sixers vs. Knicks in the East.

Notable Quotes:

• “My MVP take is I have Jaylen Brown number two. So yeah...” – Tony Jones [29:11]
• “Castle, Fox, [Vassell], and Dylan Harper… That back court is coming at you in waves and waves and waves on both sides of the floor.” – Tony Jones on the Spurs [31:03]

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Timestamps of Important Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------------------------|:--------------:| | Thunder vs. Pistons breakdown / SGA performance | 02:17–09:32 | | Wemby vs. Bulls & MVP race discussion | 09:32–13:05 | | Sixers–Heat recap and playoff outlook w/ Tony Jones | 16:30–28:58 | | First-round opponent preferences & Celtics analysis | 25:27–28:58 | | Final MVP poll & Spurs backcourt commentary | 28:58–31:52 |

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Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• “He hit the Heisman stance... then took three steps.” – Dave DuFour, describing SGA’s controversial push-off [04:07]
• “The only way that Shai loses MVP at this point is if San Antonio gets the first seed.” – Esperaheny [11:07]
• “Jalen Brunson… the Sixers are one of the few teams that Jalen Brunson can’t hide against.” – Tony Jones [25:44]
• “Sometimes feels like watching Michael Jordan… he just carves these guys up.” – Dave DuFour on SGA [12:22]

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Podcast Tone & Style

• Language: Conversational, analytic, many direct observations from the games.
• Tone: Fast-paced, engaged, opinionated; a mix of sharp analysis and friendly banter.

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Conclusion

If you missed the episode:

• SGA and Wemby are setting the league ablaze for MVP, but unless the Spurs go on a late run, it’s still Shai’s trophy to lose.
• The Sixers, though close to healthy, are vulnerable defensively and inconsistent in the third quarter—making them an intriguing, if flawed, playoff threat.
• Don’t sleep on the coaching stories, or breakout candidates like Dennis Jenkins.
• The looming OKC–Spurs and Sixers–Knicks series have the hosts salivating.

“We need [OKC–Spurs]… that has a chance to be a series for the ages.” – Tony Jones [30:41]

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Transcript

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[Robert Mase]

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[Dave Dufour]

And welcome to the NBA Daily for March 31, 2026. I'm Dave Defor here with Esperaheny. Coming up, the Thunder barely survived the Pistons. Wemby has another MVP night and we talked to Tony Jones about the Sixers. Good morning everybody. What is up S Man, what a that was. How about those Pistons man? The plucky Pistons, super shorthanded, had one starter in okc. Yeah and they took the Thunder to overtime. The Thunder win 114, 110. I mean what are you going to do? Aar Thompson fouls out at the end of regulation. And it, it was all downhill for the Pistons then, but man, they mounted a huge comeback in this game. They were, were down 15 points at one point, had a seven point lead. Yeah, but the Thunder are just too tough, man. Shea had 47 points and was called for a push off on the potential game winner at the end of regulation.

[Esperaheny]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

Listen, I, I will say this. That was a push off. 100% was a push off. But it was a push off four possessions before too, and it wasn't called. And I just think that when you're a player like Shay Gildis Alexander, you're going to get away with whatever you can.

[Tony Jones]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

And it is weird to choose that moment to blow the whistle on the push.

[Esperaheny]

Oh, absolutely. Look, everybody just wants consistency from officiating.

[Dave Dufour]

That's it.

[Esperaheny]

Right. So if you call it earlier in the game, you apply it to the last possession and if you don't call it earlier in the game, you don't call it on the last possession. I will say that last push off was pretty egregious. Like the push off, the extension, it was all there. It was a very clear offensive foul.

[Dave Dufour]

I mean, he hit the Heisman stance.

[Esperaheny]

He basically did.

[Dave Dufour]

Yes. Yeah. And then took three steps.

[Esperaheny]

He also, like, that didn't matter because he scored 11 straight points in the fourth quarter. He had that beautiful dime to J Dub. Or not J Dub, but Jalen Williams, the other J Dub for the Thunder to knock down the corner three. And then in the. In overtime, he kind of took care of business with free throws and getting to the line and doing what SGA usually does in a manner that gets him to 47 points on just 19 shots. Like the efficiency is absurd.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. 25 free throws. 21 of 25 from the free throw line. And you know, look, the guy, he, he was attacking the entire time. Nobody else really got it going for the Thunder. And I think you got to credit the Pistons. They are incredibly tough. I thought the physicality that they showed against the Thunder last night, I mean, it stood out.

[Esperaheny]

Right.

[Dave Dufour]

There's not a lot of teams that you see that that can physically bother the Thunder, who we know are. Are known for bullying teams quite a bit. But even without Cade. No Jalen Dern, I mean, you know, B ball Paul is.

[Esperaheny]

They were missing four starters and Isaiah Stewart. So basically like four or five of their six best players were not playing tonight. The only like real starter for them was a Sar Thompson. He was plus 19. Like, yeah, the defense that he had against SGA throughout this game, truthfully, the defense, all throughout. You mentioned the physicality, but I thought he was the head of the snake in that regard. So forcing turnovers, getting in like, getting in passing lanes, mucking things up in the post for Chet Holmgren. The Pistons were allowed to like run a lot. And so that created a lot of opportunities for Marcus Sasser, Dennis Jenkins to knock down shots, Kevin Herder to knock down shots. It, it's cool to me. I honestly, I texted you this during the game, but like, this was one of those games where I'm like, J.B. bickerstaff should win coach of the year because to be this prepared for a Thunder team. And I know the Thunder are on the second night of a back to back. They're also missing Jalen Williams and Isaiah Hartenstein. But to be this prepared and to have your kind of platoon step up in this way, it's a testament to what not only J.B. bickerstaff has brought to this team in terms of like preparedness on a night to night basis, but top down, organizationally they have an identity. And that is something a lot of OKC fans can relate to because that's what OKC does, you know? Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

I mean, look, a couple months ago we were talking about the Pistons being over reliant on Kate Cunningham.

[Esperaheny]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

And now they've been forced to kind of learn how to win without him. Although this, this loss drops them to 10 and 4 on the season without Kate. So it's not like they haven't won games. But this was a, this was a primetime matchup. This is, you know, if they, if Kate isn't back for the playoffs, a lot of these guys that played against the Thunder are going to be in the rotation. Especially, you know, Dennis Jenkins. I think Marcus Sasser, yeah. His shooting was super important for them. And you know, these sorts of reps, this is the stuff we're going to be looking at for the next few weeks. What does it look like if Cade comes back with this sort of squad around him? Right. Like Dennis Jenkins, I think has taken his game to another level in the last few weeks. Didn't have the greatest game against Thunder last night, but just in general, it seems like these guys are pretty confident.

[Esperaheny]

Yeah. 100. I got a little spicy take about Dennis Jenkins again. He did not have a good game tonight. I don't deny that. But is there a world in which a couple years from now we look at this as sort of Jalen Brunson behind Luka Doncic Backup point guard thing and he ends up. I'm not saying he'll be as good as Jalen Brown, sure. But like to take a leap into all star or potential all star status. I don't know. Just throwing it out there.

[Dave Dufour]

How about starter? Can we see him be a starter?

[Esperaheny]

I would like when they're involved to be a starter.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. Yeah. I think that this is the move for them actually when we get to the playoffs, like I'm. And we're all hoping that Cade Cunningham is going to be there, but you know, who are their best five guys?

[Esperaheny]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

Is Danis one of them?

[Esperaheny]

Without Cade? I think so.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. Well, without Cade for sure. I think you have to have him. Yeah, he needs to be there with Cade.

[Esperaheny]

It's, you know. Yeah, it's Tobias Harris, it's Jalen Duran. Isaiah Stewart is probably in there too. I don't know. I guess Duncan Robinson for the spacing. Like that's, that's a question of how do you get as much spacing as possible around that group. The function of everything changes without Cade. But I will say to your point, over the last week, like Dennis has done a pretty good job of assuming the Cade role, which is just, again to my point, little spicy take here on March 31st to give you a little bit of something to think about here for March hoops. But I don't know, I think they can, they can survive a little bit here without him.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, I mean they're not winning a title.

[Esperaheny]

No, of course not. Do you think they could win a first round series without Cade?

[Dave Dufour]

I think so.

[Esperaheny]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

This seems pretty good. I mean if everybody else is healthy and you know, and again Dennis Jenkins is out there, I, I do think

[Esperaheny]

I would love for winter first. I would love to see a Thunder Pistons finals. I think the physicality would be awesome. Hopefully Kate is obviously back that that would be the only way they make it to the finals. The physicality would be awesome. I think the, the defense would be on display for both teams and yeah, like let's see which team can just get more foul calls called on them. That's basically what it'll be.

[Dave Dufour]

There's so many. We said, we talked about Shay, 47 points. Yeah. All right. Now earlier in the night, Victor Wimanyama had the Chicago Bulls not nearly as good as Detroit Pistons.

[Esperaheny]

Right.

[Dave Dufour]

Like not nearly as tough.

[Esperaheny]

No, no.

[Dave Dufour]

They're dealing with 41 points, 16 rebounds, a steal in three blocks. He did that in 31 minutes. Again, he doesn't, doesn't play a ton. Didn't have to because it was blowout. But what do you think about Wemby trying to go head to head here?

[Esperaheny]

Bring up. Look, Tony Jones and you, you brought up the conversation. A little sneak peek here, preview of the conversation afterwards. But you guys were talking about Wemby not being able to play as many minutes or not playing as much as some other stars. If you only have to play 31 minutes to score 41 points and have 16 rebounds, it's not a bad 31 minutes.

[Dave Dufour]

It's efficient.

[Esperaheny]

You know, that's fair.

[Dave Dufour]

That's fair.

[Esperaheny]

You know.

[Dave Dufour]

Okay, what do you think about Wimby? Look, Wemby's numbers have, have seemingly increased, right? Like they're, they're now eye popping. And, and we, we've talked about Jokic and how he's just puts up video game numbers every night. There may be a little bit of home cooking going on with those books in Denver. You know, on the assist, it's hard to fake rebounds, but assists, you know, they're very like, you know one when you see one. But no one could actually define it right. With Wemby, I mean, he's just. He can just do so many things, but it does seem like he's purposely sort of gunning a little bit now since he said that he wanted no doubt that he was the mvp.

[Esperaheny]

Well, I'll say this. I think the only way that Shay loses MVP at this point is if San Antonio gets the first seed, which is probably. It's possible. I mean, OKC has the hardest record or strength to schedule remaining. They play a lot of good teams, and we'll see if they can get to 65 plus wins. You know, that was that record I was telling you about a couple weeks ago. If San Antonio catches them, I'm totally down for Wemby to win mvp. If he doesn't, I think it's Shay.

[Dave Dufour]

I just don't think they've got the time. I. I mean, yeah, you know, the Thunder only have six games left. They've got a two, two and a half game lead right now. I just. I just don't think there's enough time. Yeah, no, you know, it's too late. By the way.

[Esperaheny]

I think it's completely fine for this to be a close race and to, to acknowledge that, like, Shay is having a better season than he was last year offensively, like genuinely having a better offensive season than last year. And he's an underrated defender. I think it's completely fine for SGA to win MVP twice in a Row know, like that's not a hot take.

[Dave Dufour]

Absolutely. Not only that. Best player on the. The team that's been the best team in the league. Now this is the third season with

[Esperaheny]

the injuries too, right?

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, this is. This guy. He's got the pedigree for it and clearly has the numbers again. It sometimes feels like watching Michael Jordan, that 11, that, that 11 straight points that he put up, he just carves these guys up. As soon as he gets to his spot, he just rises up and. And can hit that mid ranger makes him so hard to guard and. And you know, we could talk about this push off at the end of regulation. We can talk about the push off in general with Shay. He's not doing anything that the rest of these guys don't do.

[Esperaheny]

No, of course not.

[Dave Dufour]

And. And again, it's up to the league to figure out how to call that move so that it's not illegal. But that being said, I, I still think he's the mvp. I. I just don't. No one's knocked him off yet.

[Esperaheny]

No.

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[Esperaheny]

Winning defensive player of the year is not bad for Wemby.

[Dave Dufour]

No, it's not. Absolutely. I think it'll be a nice consolation prize for the next 15 seasons. Guys, stick around after the break. We've got Tony Jones. We're going to talk about the Sixers. Is Joel Embiid looking right on defense? I don't think so.

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[Robert Mase]

This is Robert Mase from the Athletic Football show. Mezwarehouse is here to make you look and feel good no matter the occasion. From formal to casual, dressed down to dressed up. Their in store experts will help you find the right outfit for that thing you got on the calendar and their on site tailors will make sure the fit is perfect for your body suits, tuxes, sport coats, jeans, shorts, chinos, T shirts, polos, loafers, sneakers, sandals, underwear. Get ready to look and feel good for anything from head to toe by visiting Men's Wearhouse today. Men's Wearhouse Love the way you look.

[Dave Dufour]

Well, the Philadelphia 76ers are back. Actually, they're back. They're healthy, but big loss for them last night against the heat. 119. 109. Our man Tony Jones is here to talk about it. How you doing Tony?

[Tony Jones]

I am good. I am good. How's everything going? What's, what's going on?

[Dave Dufour]

Not too bad, man. We're gearing up for the playoffs and we've been excited over here because the the Sixers finally getting healthy. Paul George coming back from that suspension. They've had a nice few games and then man, they just ran into what I think is actually one of the teams that is designed to bother them, the Miami Heat. They play fast. Joel Embiid not at full speed right now and I was not surprised by the end of that game that the Sixers look pretty tired.

[Tony Jones]

I mean I, I wasn't and I was, I mean they, they, if you watch the game, they obviously ran out of gas, right? They take a 107103 lead. And then from there the, the Heat closed the game 16 to 2. And in the middle of that run, if you look at that run, there were just several possessions where long jack three pointer, long rebound, Davion Mitchell or Tyler Herro gets the rebound and then just pushes and you either get a floater at the front of the rim or you get a wide open three pointer because they're pulling the heat of playing at numbers. So you know, the surprise for me was that the Sixers were the team that was playing on the second hand of second end of a back to back. They were the team that actually traveled on Sunday, on Sunday night. And you know, they were the team that looked fresh down the stretch and they, they were the team, you know, they looked like they knew exactly what I mean. The Heat were playing for their season. Yeah, in, in a lot of ways on Monday night and won the tiebreaker

[Dave Dufour]

with this one with the six.

[Tony Jones]

Won the tiebreaker. You know, it's, it's. You know, if the Heat lose on Monday night, they are really relegating themselves or in danger of relegating themselves to the 10 hole. And if you relegate yourselves to the 10 hole in the play in the plan, it's extremely difficult to win two playoff games playing games on the road, you know, so that was a desperate Miami team and they play like it. And you got to give them credit for, for, for that close last on. On. On Monday night.

[Esperaheny]

Yeah. And to Dave's point earlier, like the pace was obviously a big part of this game on both sides. Like when the Sixers were dictating the pace and playing in the half court, especially in that second quarter, early third quarter, it felt like this was Phillies game to win. Right. Start of the fourth quarter felt like a lot of that too. Once they got there, I think it was like the maxi plus bench group was really dominating a really big way. If you look at how this Sixers team is supposed to guard in a playoff setting, what does an ideal defense look like? And I guess what does an ideal matchup look like on the other side of the ball? Because I don't think Miami and their pace was.

[Tony Jones]

Was it really, you know, so if you look at the games this weekend, both Charlotte and Miami spam picking roles involving Joel Embiid and if you look at Lamello ball on Saturday night, in the game that the Sixers won, Lamello ball on Saturday night had a big night because you, you come off the pick and roll and Joel Embiid is in the drop. But he's limited mobility laterally. So he's playing way deeper in the job than at any point in his career. Remember, athletic Joel Embiid can play in the drop, can play to the level of the ball.

[Esperaheny]

Absolutely.

[Tony Jones]

And absolutely. And chase the guard around the screen. He can't do that anymore with the knee injury. Everybody talks about how back Joel Embiid is. It's offensively he's very far from the defensive player that he used to be. Now he's very close or still the offensive player that he used to be. But where he's taken his game has taken the hit that not many people talk about is defensively. So Lamelo ball comes off screen, he's getting wide open. Three pointers because Joel Embiid is at the free throw line and has dropped. Same thing with Tyler Herro on and Davion Mitchell on. Monday night was awesome, man. Yeah, hero was awesome. Only this time Miami was able to win. And you know, it's, I think it's an unfortunate loss for the Sixers because I think if they win on Monday night, they set the floor for themselves at 7 in the Eastern Conference. Now we. With this loss, 7 is still in play with teams like the San Antonio spurs, the Houston Rockets, the Detroit Pistons and the Minnesota Timberwolves still on the schedule. Had they won on Monday night, it probably wouldn't have mattered if those teams were on the schedule or not because they would have been three up over. They would have been three up over Orlando and three and a half up over Charlotte and Miami with tiebreakers over all three of those teams. Now the seventh spot is still in play and likely the Sixers have to take one of those four games against those Titans and then clean up the three games against the teams that they need to be, which are the Washington Wizards on Wednesday and the Indiana Pacers in the Milwaukee Bucks to close out the season. There can't be any slip ups there. And they probably have to take one of those four games against. Against the four good teams that they're playing.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. And Atlanta picks up a win over the Celtics, which just, it darkens the hopes of getting to that sixth seed, which I, I think that the Sixers could be scary, you know, in a playoff series once you get in the half court stuff. I want to talk a little bit about their half court offense down the stretch of this game. Miami goes into a zone and I felt like the Sixers really got as they usually do. Right.

[Esperaheny]

Miami loves, they play a ton of

[Dave Dufour]

zone and, and the sixers kind of got rolling with Joel Embiid working around the free throw line and then all of a sudden they go five out and nothing happens. Is this just. Maybe they're just trying to work Embiid back and they don't want to tax him too much. You know, I, I don't want to put too much stock into 1/4 minute stretch of a basketball game, but I just can't understand going away from what was working when it was working.

[Tony Jones]

So the five out allowed Embiid to hit the one three to put the, the sixes up. Four.

[Esperaheny]

Yeah. 107. 103 at that point.

[Tony Jones]

107, 103. That was pretty much their final good offensive possession of that basketball game. You know, there was Embi turning the ball over against Tyler Hero. There were a couple of, of maxi misses. There were a couple of possessions where the ball just kind of floated aimlessly around the perimeter. Then all of a sudden there's five on the clock and you gotta jack something up. And then. But the problem was in between all of those possessions, the Heat were pushing the ball on the other end and getting, and getting easy baskets and it just kind of got away from Philadelphia that way. It's something that, that has to be cleaned up and, you know, and I think it's, it's, it's. You know, I can point to a lot of things, not a lot of things, but I can point to multiple things. I thought it was kind of curious that Paul George wasn't in that game until very, very far down the stretch, especially defensively. You know, I think the answer to that was, you know, Quentin Grimes was having a heck of a game defensively. So you didn't want to kind of choose between George and Grimes or George and Kelly Oubre, who were both. You know, Kelly was having a pretty good game as well, but it was definitely noticeable that Paul wasn't in that game, you know, for, for, for what he had been in the. And, and I think the other thing is, you know, the third quarter quarter woes keep biting. The Sixers in the behind, they are by far the worst third quarter team in the NBA this year on Saturday.

[Esperaheny]

That's what happens in that locker room at halftime.

[Tony Jones]

I don't know what happens in the locker room at halftime, but they just keep coming out and they get bludgeon in the first six minutes of every third quarter. And they, they were down 15 against Charlotte on Saturday, came back and won that game. They were down 15 against the Heat on Monday, came back didn't win the game. You know, you can't tempt the basketball gods too many times with 15 point deficits. You can't make them up all the time.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Esperaheny]

So look, if the Sixers do end up in that 6, 7 spot, they're probably either playing the Celtics or the Knicks. If you're the Sixers, who would you rather face?

[Tony Jones]

Oh, you want to, you want to face the Knicks, like, for sure.

[Dave Dufour]

Because I would agree.

[Tony Jones]

Yeah, I would agree there, you know, Jalen Brunson. The Sixers are one of the few teams that Jalen Brunson can't hide against. Like, he's got to guard somebody.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Tony Jones]

And, you know, that's one of the reasons why Vijay Escombe has big games against the Knicks. Because you're guarding them with Jalen Brunson.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Tony Jones]

You know, I just think those two teams are. Are two, two this year. You know, ironically enough, the Sixers and the Celtics are also 2, 2. I just think the Celtics are just much better defensively against the Sixers than the Knicks would be. And I think, you know, I think the Sixers in. In the Knicks would go at least six, maybe seven, and the Sixers would have. Definitely have a chance of winning that series. I just think that the Celtics match up so much better with the Sixers than the Knicks do. And, you know, they, you know, the fact that they spam threes, they make it a math game and. Yeah, and you know, a math game is not what the Sixers do because you have Joel. So Joel's scoring. He's scoring 30, but he's scoring 30 inside the arc against the team that's, you know, trying to trade twos for threes and then defend you on the other end. Then, you know, there's, you know, there's no one to really pick on defensively. If you're the Sixers, maybe you can pick on Peyton Pritchard a little bit, but he's at least. He's the least competitive defensively, you know, so it's. Overall, you know, the. Jalen Brunson might score 30, but he's got to be on the floor for 39 minutes.

[Esperaheny]

He's got to work. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[Tony Jones]

He's got to be on the floor and, you know, so you can give up 30 to him, but you can also cook him for 39 minutes. So, you know, I would take the Knicks if I were a Sixers fan.

[Dave Dufour]

Are the Celtics the best team in the east to you right now?

[Tony Jones]

Yeah, yeah, I think they're the best team in The East, I think they're the best team that has, they're the team that has a shot, the best shot at the NBA title kind of overall on aggregate. Ironically enough, the Knicks match up pretty well with the spurs and they match up pretty decently with, with Oklahoma City as well.

[Esperaheny]

Yeah, we saw that, right?

[Tony Jones]

Yeah, yeah, but you know, this, the Celtics, they have the infrastructure of, you know, defense combined with coaching combined with, you know, the star power combined combined with, you know, their system of, of spamming, spamming threes to where, you know, they're the one team that I'm comfortable, I would be comfortable with if I were Eastern Conference fan, coming out of the east and matching up comfortably with any one of, you know, four or five teams out west. Yeah, you know, if it were the Knicks, then it depends on who, right? If it were, if it were the Detroit, it depends on who, but if it were Boston, it kind of wouldn't depend on who. I would kind of just bank on a six or seven game series. Regardless.

[Dave Dufour]

You want to give me an MVP take before we get out of here? I'm trying to take a poll here, unofficial poll. I just want to see where people are landing. Are you out on Shay as number one? I, I don't know how people have gotten there, but I'm, I'm curious.

[Tony Jones]

I got Shane number one, but my, my MVP take is I have Jaylen Brown number two. So yeah, how about, I mean, you know, Twitter would disagree with me.

[Dave Dufour]

Give me the case here. Come on. Might disagree with you, but yeah, the case, the cases.

[Tony Jones]

I mean, with no Jason Tatum for 85 of the year, Jaylen Brown has had, had Boston in the top three of the east the entire year. You know, and you can come back and rebut and say, hey, you know, on and off and whatever, you know, and analytic, analytic that you want to use. But you know, the fact is Jalen Brown's the best player on that team and you know, the, the Celtics were the number two team in the east for 85% of the season in a year that was supposed to be, supposed to be a gap year. So I have Jalen Brown number two in my MVP over Wemby though.

[Dave Dufour]

I, hey, listen, I don't hate it. Wemby doesn't play a lot of minutes. S, I'm telling you, people, people are starting to pick up on this Wemby doesn't play 30 minutes a night thing. I, I, I don't know if that's part of Tony's, you know, I mean, sort of process here, but Wemby's great

[Tony Jones]

and Wimy is the best defensive player in the league. Wimby also has the best backcourt in the league that he's playing with, and he's also got the best defensive back court in the league that he's playing with.

[Esperaheny]

I like that you called him the best.

[Dave Dufour]

Two hot takes. I like it.

[Tony Jones]

I don't think that's a. I don't think that's a hot take.

[Dave Dufour]

You. You feel like the spurs can win the title, right?

[Tony Jones]

I think the spurs in Oklahoma City, that's, that's. That has a chance to be a. A series for the ages.

[Dave Dufour]

We need it. I. I'm hoping that we get it. Yeah, yeah.

[Esperaheny]

OKC's back court, though.

[Dave Dufour]

I don't know.

[Esperaheny]

I. Look, I love San Antonio's backcourt, don't get me wrong.

[Dave Dufour]

But just, I mean, let me get a playoff.

[Tony Jones]

Castle, Fox, the cell.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tony Jones]

And, and. And Dylan Harper. I mean, you know, you could swing Keldon Johnson back there. I mean, they, I mean, they just come. That back court is coming at you in waves and waves and waves on both sides of the floor. Not only are they lethal offensively, not only can they shoot the ball, not only are they lethal off the dribble, they lock you up. Stephen Castle locks you up. Dylan Harper has been so much better defensively poa than I thought that I thought he would be coming out of Rutgers. Fox has always been, you know, at least a decent defender and he's a disruptive defender. And Vsel has stayed healthy. When is the last time Devon Vassell stayed healthy?

[Dave Dufour]

I mean, he wasn't even healthy for a good chunk of this this year.

[Esperaheny]

Spurs, okc, man.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, we're rooting for that. Also a. If we can get Sixers next, I'm into that.

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Sixes.

[Tony Jones]

Knicks would be.

[Esperaheny]

Well, it was a classic last time we got.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, it would be fantastic. Anyway, always great. Tony Jones. Thank you for hanging out for Tony Jones and Esperahenny. I'm Dave Dufour and this has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us. Thanks for listening. Make sure you hit the subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed it. Drop a. Like leave a rating or let us know in the comments. Thank you guys for waking up with us.

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