Andrew (4:19)

No.

Alex (4:20)

Who would you guess who would just be a team you guess has won 8 of their last 10?

Andrew (4:26)

8 of their last 10.

Alex (4:28)

It's a lot.

Andrew (4:29)

That's. That's a whole lot. I don't know, Al. I got no guesses in me. I'm sure.

Alex (4:34)

Why, it's the Milwaukee Bucks, of course. Did you know that?

Andrew (4:40)

No. That's so dumb. That's so dumb. It's like, hey, we finally picked a direction. Our hand is forced because of Giannis and now of course we're going to win him and just we're pushing ourselves to the middle as hard as possible.

Alex (4:54)

No, they're. They're going on a late season streak, Andrew. They're going to make the playoffs. Listen, hasn't been a murderous row of opponents, okay? But the Bucks have done what they've needed to do, give themselves a shot at the playing. They're now just a game and a half back from the 10 spot in the East. Giannis continues to make progress towards his return after missing the last month. He's been playing 3 on 3 and 4 on 4 this week. Giannis's return will hopefully happen soon because the Bucks schedule does pick up. They've got games against the Knicks, Boston and the Atlanta Hawks this week, who are one of the teams they likely need to pass to make the play in now. The Hawks had a very relaxing week getting to play the Wizards twice and the Nets. The Hawks won all three and have a little extra pep in their step after the debut of Jonathan Kaminga, who had 27, 7 and 4 with two steals on 9 of 12 shooting in his first game for the Hawks. He scored 17 in his second game against the Wizards, but had to take a back seat to Corey Kisper, who was out for blood against his former team, dropping a career high 33 points in the Hawks win. In other Hawks news, mark your calendar folks, because it was announced this week that on March 16th the Hawks will be paying tribute to Magic City, the legendary Atlanta strip club and will be selling the famous Magic City lemon pepper wings in arena. You know, I can remember going to a Thunder game once and it was like aerospace engineering night or something. I think we were celebrating planes. My point is special game nights have come a long way. This is shaping up to be a memorable night for all, especially for the fans who show up to this game without realizing it's Magic City night. Imagine getting tickets for just a random Hawks game in March and it's Magic City Night. What a treat that will be for everyone. The other team the Bucs could pass to get into the plan would be the Charlotte Hornets, who have won three in a row, back on track after losing three of their previous four. Similar to the Hawks, it was some dumb fun this week against a trio of tanking teams with Charlotte winning the three games by a combined 73 points. The highlight of the week came in their Thursday night game against the Pacers. Rookie con Canipple hit eight threes in the game which gave him 209 threes for the season, breaking the rookie record previously set by Keegan Murray just a few years ago. The next big game for Khan and the Hornets will be next Wednesday when they travel to Boston, the first meeting between these two teams this season and who knows, a potential preview of a first round playoff matchup. Now moving over to the west, it was not a great week for the Lakers. Rough week for the lakers. They lost three in a row. First, they could only manage 89 points against the Celtics in LA lost that 111 89. They followed that up with another home loss, this one a 1 point loss to the Magic after a late bucket From Wendell Carter Jr. Then to end the week, the Lakers went to Phoenix and lost to a Suns team who was missing Devin Booker and Dylan brooks, their top two scorers. The Lakers were down by 12 with under six minutes left. They tie it up with 108 on an Austin Reeves three with just a minute left, but in the end it was Royce O' Neal who hit a go ahead three pointer with only 1.7 seconds left, giving these shorthanded Suns the much needed win after losing seven of their previous 10. Now to add insult to injury, Dave McMenamin of ESPN wrote a long form article this week about Deandre Ayton exploring the ups and downs of the dominating experience in la. The article featured several great anecdotes including a story from this year about Ayton pulling off a Willy Wonka style prat fall into a somersault before a game against the Hawks. Just to do it. Just having some fun. We also found out about the Lakers training staff wrapping Ayton's water bottle in tape on which they write Da's crunk juice. Drink this to unleash the be. That's what they write on his water bottle before games.

Andrew (8:48)

This is the most embarrassing feature written about a player ever. I felt embarrassed for him reading it. Just like does he know all of this is happening? Does he know how this is coming across?

Alex (9:03)

I mean based on him pulling off that Willy Wonka move. My read on it is that he seems to be cool with it. This is kind of his thing.

Andrew (9:10)

Maybe. Maybe.

Alex (9:12)

There was also an anecdote after the Magic game where Ayton was yelling in the Locke for all to hear. Quote they're trying to make me Clint Capella. I'm not no Clint Capella. Now Clint Cappella actually responded to this on Instagram?

Andrew (9:25)

Yes he did.

Alex (9:25)

Saying quote you got two of the best four generals in the game. My dog lock in crying laughing emoji crying laughing emoji in that loss to Phoenix. Ayton finished with two points and four rebounds in 23 minutes. Finally, a few quick pieces of news. James Harden suffered a non displaced fracture in his ribbon straight thumb but he plans to play through the injury, not expected to miss significant time. 40 year old Taj Gibson is back for his 17th NBA season after signing with the Memphis Grizzlies this week. And Pat Riley was in LA to celebrate the unveiling of his statue outside the Lakers arena this week. And those are the top stories.

Andrew (10:08)

The NBA never stops producing just the content. That's just unbelievable. Just like, oh, this is kind of a down week. Let's drop an 8 and profile. That makes everybody but he feel even weirder about his Lakers season.

Alex (10:24)

That was great. I loved it. Okay, Andrew, it's time to talk about something we liked this week, something we didn't like, and something that left us confused in a segment we like to call Good, Bad.

Andrew (10:38)

What.

Alex (10:48)

So what is your good this week, Andrew?

Andrew (10:52)

My good this week is I was just gonna check in on who are our most efficient shooters from different areas on the court. And so I was gonna give some guys a little shout out here. So in the restricted area, the guys who are taking the most shots in the restricted area this season, Zion Williamson has actually taken the most shots in their restricted area, which is interesting. Carl Anthony Towns, number two. Tyrese Maxey, number three. The three most efficient players in the restricted area this season. Ryan Kalkbrenner, number one. 79% for the Charlotte Hornets, pretty impressive. Giannis, 78, which is still insane. That's an insane percentage for a guy who has the basketball as much as he does and is not. Ryan called. I mean, shout out to Ryan Kalkbrenner, but like he's, he's getting a lot of assists. He's not creating a ton of these on his own. And then the final player. I need you to do like a drum roll for me or something. It's Deandre Ayton at 78%.

Alex (11:59)

Wow. In our face. In my face.

Andrew (12:01)

So maybe he, you know what, maybe he is Clint Capella. Maybe someone should show him this. Be like, you know what, maybe you are because you're extremely efficient in the restricted area this year.

Alex (12:12)

I was reading all that stuff about Clint Capella and I just popped over to Clint Capella's basketball reference. Like DeAndre Aiden should go look at his basketball reference. He was really good.

Andrew (12:21)

He's a really good player. The irony of all of that is that Capella is so much better than Ayton has ever dreamed of being.

Alex (12:30)

Yeah, I mean Capella on those Rockets teams which, like similar position with Harden, you know, a great pick and roll ball handler. Ayton's got a great pick and roll ball, hardened the way that Capella optimized himself with Harden, like that's, that's what he should, that's what Ayton should be doing right now. Which apparently based on these rim stats, maybe, maybe it is happening. Andrew and the 24 line that he put up in Phoenix is just a mirage.

Andrew (12:56)

Yeah, if he were Clint Capella, he'd be about to get paid is what he doesn't realize. Like those comments are just so tone deaf. It is. It's unbearably tone Beth. Tone deaf. Okay, paint in the paint, non restricted area. Okay. The guy's taking the most shots. Flare range. Jalen Brown, Alpert Shangoon, Jalen Brunson, no surprises there. But the most efficient players in that range. Number one player, Peyton Pritchard, 59% in the floater range. Pretty impressive. Another guy, Najee Marshall, who's having an awesome season. Probably like one of like the most under the radar great seasons for The Mavericks.

Alex (13:44)

Played 42 minutes in his last game.

Andrew (13:47)

He did. And is putting up crazy stat lines. 58% in the paint, non restricted area, Florida range. And then Nikola Jokic of course 58 in that range, which makes total sense. Mid range guys taking the most shots are very guessable, I would say. Any, any guesses you want to throw out there?

Alex (14:08)

Kevin Durant, sga.

Andrew (14:11)

Kevin Durant. Shea would have qualified had he played enough. Kevin Durant is there. DeMar DeRozan, still number one.

Alex (14:20)

Yeah.

Andrew (14:20)

Okay. In attempts. And then Brandon Ingram is number two. The most efficient players in the mid range. Number one SGA, 53%. TJ McConnell 52% in the mid range. And then Donovan Mitchell, who's also having a pretty incredible season. Shots from the corners. We got a couple nicks here taking the most. Mikhail Bridges, OGN and Obi and Harrison Barnes are the three players that have taken the most corner threes. But the most efficient corner three shooters this season, Bobby Portis 52%. Another buck. Maybe this is why they're winning so many games. AJ Green 51%. And then con can apple 50 from the corners. Just crazy efficiency. Pretty impressive for Portis and AJ Green to still shoot that well without any like elite creator on their squad. And then finally above the break guys taking the most above the break threes this season. Tyrese Maxey, Donovan Mitchell, Luka Doncic. The most efficient above the breakthrough point shooters. I, I kept it at 200 attempts. Cam Spencer is 40, 43% from three this season. Con Canipple 42% has just been ridiculous. And then three guys are at 41. Colin Gillespie, Ryan Rollins, another buck. And Jamal Murray 41. So shout out to those guys the the most efficient shooters in the league from all these different areas.

Alex (15:55)

Yeah, I should start mentioning all those bucks because I'm going to be talking about half court offense later and the Bucks were like way higher than I was expecting and that's probably why, probably a big reason why so many guys shooting the ball well right now. For my good though, this week I want to talk about the Pelicans and how high they might rise before the end of the season. For all the talk about tanking over the last month anti tankers, they should be thanking their lucky stars that Joe Dumars made that trade because if he hadn't traded for Derek Queen, we'd have another tanker on our hands. Instead we just have a bad team, but they're definitely trying to win and they have some things working in their favor as of late. So currently Pelicans 18 and 42, they've won three in a row, five of their last seven. Okay, that's pretty good. Big news this week for the Pelicans was the return of Dejounte Murray. He started the last two games in his most recent game, Team High plus 1617 nine with four steals. It was, it was against the Jazz, but it's good to see him back and he's already contributing. Other good news includes the continued health of Zion, who has now played in 34 consecutive games, the longest streak in his career. During this recent seven game stretch where they've gone five and two, Zion is averaging 24.4 points per game on 64 shooting. Another guy who's been giving them a ton lately is Sadiq Bay, averaging almost 23 per game while shooting 38 on almost eight threes per game. And they've needed base scoring because the one bad piece of news is the continued absence of Trey Murphy. He's dealing with a shoulder injury. Looking ahead though, the Pelicans have a real shot in this final stretch to really help out Joe Dumars and do some damage control on that trade that everyone has been obsessing over since it happened. It wasn't too long ago that the Pells had the third worst record 15 wins, but they've since jumped Brooklyn and Washington, only a half game back of Utah, who they're definitely going to pass. And then you get this trio of Dallas, Memphis and Chicago. Okay, so New Orleans is four games back of Dallas, four and a half from Memphis, and then six back of Chicago. Chicago, that could be tough to pass. Six games is a lot, but credit to the Bulls. The Bulls have lost 11 in a row, so who knows, anything is possible. But let's just say they can jump both Dallas and Memphis, which I do think is doable. That would put them or Atlanta in this case, with the eighth best odds, ninth if they were somehow able to pass Chicago as well. Obviously still not great. And with the flattened lottery odds, the risk is still there. But a theoretical Derek Queen for the 8th or 9th pick swap isn't nearly as devastating as this all looked even a few weeks ago. And with Dejante back and giving them a significant boost to the point guard position, I think there's a real chance this team could finish the season strong, especially if Trey Murphy's injury isn't too serious. So that's my good go, pals. Maybe this won't be the worst trade ever. It's. It's not looking awful, wouldn't you say?

Andrew (18:52)

Yeah. They have six games against tanking teams remaining.

Alex (18:57)

Right. So that should get them to 24 wins. You would think that's where Chicago is right now.

Andrew (19:02)

If they could get all six of those. Plus like sneak in. They play Toronto twice. Like sneak in a Toronto win here. You know, they could Phoenix. They play Phoenix. They could theoretically beat Phoenix. They play Portland, who I didn't put as a tanking team, but you know, they could be Portland.

Alex (19:20)

Yeah. And there's. I was looking at their schedule. They have a few teams coming up who like have guys out right now. So I do think they, they could continue this. I don't know how good it's going to get, but they're certainly not going to be trying to lose like all the teams around them.

Andrew (19:35)

No.

Alex (19:35)

So who knows if they, if they somehow could get past Chicago and ended up as ninth best odds like that. That's pretty good.

Andrew (19:45)

Yeah.

Alex (19:46)

All things considered.

Andrew (19:47)

Yeah. And for Hawks fans, it's, it's, it's devastating to, to be your, to see your pick falling this late is.

Alex (19:55)

I know that it's a tough watch. Yeah. All the rumors about Presti calling the league. It really should be Atlanta.

Andrew (20:01)

Atlanta. I get on the phone, Atlanta. What are you doing?

Alex (20:04)

Take care of all these tankers.

Andrew (20:05)

They're killing our pick, man. Lauren Williams. I need to see some Lauren Williams tweets about the, about the Pelicans. Come on.

Alex (20:14)

Okay, Andrew, what was your bad this week?

Andrew (20:18)

So I had the, the. The good players in, in shooting. Right. Shooting areas. We're going to go to the bad now. We're going to go to the bad. The guys shooting the worst in the restricted area. These are like high volume guys. Yeah. The very worst. Jeremy Jeremiah Fierce of the Pelicans, 57 at the rim. Then Nikhil Alexander Walker is 58 and also Josh Giddy 58. Another sneaky bad guy at the rim, I ought to assume, who's only been 60 at the rim this season, which is for a guy who gets to the rim as much as he does. Sneaky bad.

Alex (20:56)

But also, I'll be honest with you though, I hear those numbers and I think back to like, I remember Fred Van Vliet was like so bad at the rim, but he was always down like near 50%.

Andrew (21:05)

Yeah.

Alex (21:05)

So I hear 57. I'm like, oh, that's not, it's not too bad.

Andrew (21:09)

There's not a lot of guys that are shooting really poorly that go to the rim a lot, which is what these guys are. So yeah, 58%. We've seen much worse on the Thunder through the years. You see much, much worse in floater range. The paint, non restricted area shots. It's, it's an all star trio. And in the least efficient players, the worst in a tie is Zion and lamello. Ball at 37, the floater range. And then, and then Paulo 39 in floater range, which is just brutal. Then we go to the mid range, least efficient players, Shaden Sharp 33% in the mid range as well as Alperin Shangoon. Sneaky, sneaky, bad, mid range shooter 33%. And then our guy Paulo makes another appearance on the list at 34% which is just absolutely brutal to, to essentially. And what do we think about, when we think about Paulo, what kind of player do we think of? He's a mid range maestro. He's like the new age Carmelo Anthony. But when you're shooting 39 in the paint, non restricted and then 34 mid range, like those are, those two stats in itself are kind of why a lot of people have been out on power.

Alex (22:36)

Yeah. You know the ringer does their like top 100.

Andrew (22:39)

Yeah.

Christian Clark (22:40)

Update it.

Alex (22:41)

They just updated it last week and you can go through and kind of look at how guys have trended over the year, which I think is just like, it's a fun way to just think about how we're thinking about these players from the beginning of the season till now. And I definitely was. I immediately went to Palos because I assumed it would be a big fall. And yeah, his timeline, you know, at the beginning of the season started out ranked 19th in the league. And at this most recent update he's down to 42. I, I just find him to be like one of the most fascinating cases going forward because he's young and because he's been relatively healthy, obviously the rest of the team hasn't been healthy. But the, what the magic do this summer is like one of the stories I'm most interested in.

Andrew (23:28)

Yeah.

Alex (23:29)

Getting into the off season and also

Andrew (23:30)

specifically what does Paolo do? Like, does he like, like really work to correct these things? Does he stay in this mode? There's been, and there's been a lot of stars. I mean, going back to like the Zion Lamello Paolo group, it's like there's been a lot of guys who have like risen really fast in the league and then they just like plateau or they, their career goes down. John Morant, another one is like, what, what are the, what are the things that are pushing those guys in that direction? And like, what are the, like what are the things that are pushing guys like Shay, you know, to become better and better? I think it's just really interesting. He's definitely one to watch because I'm not, I'm not out on Paolo, but he's gotta like change his own trajectory somehow and shade and sharp really quickly.

Alex (24:23)

Andrew.

Andrew (24:23)

Yeah.

Alex (24:25)

Just want to point out that in his first three seasons he was very good in the mid range. Like I'm looking at cleaning the glass in the long mid range. 42, 42, 47. And then fell off a cliff this year to 36.

Andrew (24:40)

What's the reason for that?

Alex (24:43)

I mean, he is, he is. I was really hopeful, as I think I mentioned multiple times, that this would be finally be the season that shade and just put it all together and it just hasn't happened. It hasn't happened in the way I had hoped. I, you know, going into the season I could make the case to myself that like he just has to hit his threes because this guy is already like a good score in the mid range. He's great around the rim. Shot 71% of the rim last year. 70% this season.

Andrew (25:13)

Yeah.

Alex (25:14)

But yeah, he's definitely taking a step back and with all their injuries right now, I mean, now he's out four to six weeks. Denny's been in and out of the lineup ever since he got hurt. He had like a low back injury against the Knicks. It's just the season has taken a turn, I would say for the Blazers.

Andrew (25:31)

Yeah.

Alex (25:32)

So it's, it's kind of affecting everything.

Andrew (25:35)

Well, this isn't the last time I'll be mentioning the Blazers, so just hang on.

Alex (25:38)

Great.

Andrew (25:39)

Just hang on a few more. Few more Blazers mentions here. Okay. Worst corner, three point shooters on high volume. Ron Holland, 21 from the corners. Just an absolutely brutal season for Ron from the corners. Jake Laravia 29 and then to Monica Mara is only 30% from the corners this season who was pretty good the year before. Yeah, he was. And then finally above the break, the least efficient, minimum 200 attempts, Derrick White 32, Denny Abdia 32 and Shaden Sharp also 32 from above the break. Yeah, sorry Shade sounds correct. My computer kept wanting me to autocorrect it to Sharon. Just Sharon Sharp

Alex (26:29)

for my bad this week I want to take a look at half court offense because we're getting closer and closer to the playoffs. Means I'm starting to think about, you know, how much certain narratives about specific teams really matter when it gets to the playoffs. And half court offense is one of those things that people seem to think matters a lot. We always hear about how the game slows down in the playoffs. You have to be able to execute in the half court. So how much does your regular season half court offense really matter? How bad can you be and still win in the playoffs? So I went Back to the 0304 season on cleaning the glass. I looked at the half court offense rank for every team that made the conference finals in the last 22 seasons. So 88 teams in total. How good were they in the half court offense in the regular season? And this won't be surprising, but to win the whole thing, half court offense does appear to matter. There are exceptions of course, but the average rank of a champion's regular season half court offense was 5.7. The only NBA champion in the last 22 years who had a bottom half half court offense was the Bubble Lakers who ranked 16th in 2020. The 2010 Lakers ranked 15th, the 2004 Pistons ranked 13th, and then the 2022 warriors ranked 12th. The other 18 champions all ranked in the top eight for half court offense during the season, 12 of those 22 finishing top five in half court offense. Now if you expand it out to not winning the whole thing but just making the Finals, you do get a few more outliers. The 2005 Pistons, who lost to the spurs, they were ranked 24th. Fourth half court offense, 2007 Cavs, who also lost to the spurs, ranked 25th. And then the 2023 Heat, who had their miracle run to the Finals, lost to Denver. They ranked 23rd. But in general, the average rank for a half court offense that just made the finals was 6.3. And in total, out of the 44 teams to make the finals over the last 22 years, only four had a bottom half half court offense in the regular season. If you look at all 88 teams that at least made a conference finals, only nine teams had a bottom half half court offense and the average rank that you needed to make a conference finals was the seventh best half court offense in the league. So now I want to take a look at the current standings, see how this year's crop of teams stack up. So I'm just going to read you the top 10 half court offenses in order. So we're starting off with Denver, the Lakers, Milwaukee, number three, Surprise to me. Okc, Boston, Cleveland, San Antonio, that's seven, Golden State, Minnesota and the Knicks. Now there were four teams currently in the top six of their respective conference who are not in the top 10 for half court offense. That would be Toronto at 15th, Philly at 17th, Detroit at 18th and then Houston at 19th. Now clearly the most interesting name there is Detroit because if this ranking held and the Pistons won the championship this season, Detroit would have the worst ranked half court offense of the last 22 years. I do want to say though I do think there's some beautiful symmetry however with the fact that two of the outliers to make a finals were the 04 and 05 pistons. Like this is in their DNA to some extent. But the whole reason I started thinking about this was because of that Spurs Pistons game and seeing how the spurs were able to absolutely shut down Detroit in the half court. They held them to 65.6 points per 100 possessions in the half court, which is in the first percentile. Now the spurs are obviously unique that given Wemby's presence. So it's not like I expect the Pistons to completely stall out in the playoffs. But I do think the lack of additional creation beyond Cade is the biggest question mark regarding their ceiling in the playoffs. The defense is going to give them a floor that'll help them overcome some of those issues. But as of now, when thinking about championship equity, I do think it's worth considering how much of an outlier Detroit would be among recent champions based on their current half court offense. And so that is my bet. But the season isn't over so we'll check back into the end of the season, see what their final ranking is.

Andrew (30:35)

Yeah, and I mean I don't think anybody thought Detroit was supposed to be the favorite going into this season, you know. No, it's the the east, the east just almost propels seems and it's not like the Pistons did anything to propel themselves like they made like this massive trade or whatever. Like their best players just developed and they are kind of Like a normal, really good team, but, like, somehow the east will do things to you, like propel you into, like, the front of the line and be like, all right, now you have to perform. It's like, yeah, the Pistons are kind of still in process of figuring, figuring out who they are to a large degree.

Alex (31:11)

And part of it is that they have such a defined identity.

Andrew (31:15)

Yeah.

Alex (31:15)

Everyone totally like, oh, this is the physical Pistons. They're great defensively, and I think because of that, because their ID identity is so well defined, it's easier to think about them as a contender, like, winning the whole thing.

Andrew (31:27)

Yeah.

Alex (31:28)

But I still do think that half court offense will be something really interesting to watch in the playoffs as teams get to see them night after night.

Andrew (31:35)

Yeah, it feels like they need that secondary score still. And yes, everything they've tried, you know, has not worked with some of the bets that they have.

Alex (31:44)

Andrew, wrap us up with. What is your.

Andrew (31:48)

What? What? My. What is just like the. The Lakers are just not good with LeBron anymore. And it's just. It's just. It's. Maybe it's not even that weird because the guy is over 40 years old, but like, you. You literally, you go into cleaning the glass and you just start sorting, like, Luca and LeBron negative four, Luca and Austin, or Austin Reeves and LeBron negative four. And then you put Austin Reason Luca without LeBron on the court, plus 10.6. It's like, it's so obvious and it's so awkward. There are so many, like, obvious things that the Lakers need to do or should do this summer in order to just make their team better, including letting dominate and go. And like, to me, like, number one on the list is like, they should, like, fully give themselves permission to let LeBron James go wherever he wants, whether that be Cleveland or the warriors or wherever he wants. Because there's a good team in here. There's just like simply a good basketball team in here. And it's hard whenever perhaps the best player of all time is the one that's like, holding it back. And it just, it's. I think it puts the Lakers in a tough spot because what if LeBron go back to the table and he's like, hey, would love to come back for another season for a farewell season. Like, you want to waste another, like, Luca year. You want to waste another Austin Reeves and they got to pay Austin too, which I think they will. But I just think that the Lakers are in just a really awkward spot, you know, where this. This season, I think, is just this season's kind of done for them. They don't have enough good role players. They have only one way role players essentially. And then these like stars like these like they're mega stars in Luca and LeBron and then Austin Reeves is like right behind them. But it just does, it does not work. Whatever combination with LeBron in the lineup, it's, it's just weird. Like it makes me, it makes me feel weird to look at the numbers. Watching them is awkward. They're losing. I mean they lost to Phoenix in embarrassing fashion and it's a massive loss

Alex (34:06)

because the difference between potentially playing like a team like Houston in the first round in a 3, 6 matchup.

Andrew (34:13)

Yeah.

Alex (34:13)

Versus falling to the play in and having to just get blasted by the Spurs.

Andrew (34:19)

Yeah. I mean you have to play the spurs or the Thunder in round one. Like you're, it's, it's done like you're toast.

Alex (34:29)

And I think those types of matchups would make all of this a lot clearer. Like just how big the difference is between the Lakers right now and some of these top teams in the West.

Andrew (34:40)

Yeah, it would be kind of a disaster if they got, if they like beat Houston in round one and they're like all right, let's make another run at this. We were, we were just right there. We were just right there and say no, no, you're not Ayton, you are

Alex (34:54)

not a huge series because Stephen Adams isn't there.

Andrew (34:58)

Hey, we're talking about one of the most efficient players around the rim in deandre Ayton.

Alex (35:02)

That would be a very funny outcome. My why this week is a stat about Con canipple who I mentioned broke the rookie record for made three pointers this week.

Andrew (35:11)

Week, yeah.

Alex (35:11)

Breaking a record set by Keegan Murray during the 2223 season. I can remember covering that on slam and jam a few years ago as it came down to the wire. Seeing if he was going to do it. He eventually broke Donovan Mitchell's record in the 80th game of the season. He hit five threes in a game against Portland. And now we're talking about Khan breaking that record in 59 games played. Forget rookie records. Like what we're seeing from Khan canippel is rare, period. He has 209 threes through 59 games. I looked it up on stat head. There are only 15 other players in NBA history, I don't care what year of their career it was who reached that number through their first 59 games of a season. And to really put this in perspective, Klay Thompson Clay. Splash, brother. One of the greatest shooters of all time. He only did it once in his career, reaching 293 pointers by his 59th game.

Andrew (36:06)

Game.

Alex (36:06)

I triple checked that because it sounded so wrong, but it is true.

Andrew (36:10)

That's crazy.

Alex (36:11)

And Khan is doing that as a rookie at 20 years old. Those other 15 guys I mentioned, the youngest to ever do it, just hit 209 through your first 59 games. It was Anthony Edwards last year at age 23. Khan is 20. We may very well be watching the first chapter in one of the greatest shooters in league history.

Andrew (36:31)

Yeah.

Alex (36:31)

And I think that is well deserving of a.

Christian Clark (36:33)

What?

Andrew (36:35)

Yeah. He's been unbelievable. It's been. It's been really cool to see what he is and on a team that, like, was not good last year.

Christian Clark (36:44)

Yeah.

Andrew (36:44)

You know, I mean, Clay got to play with Steph Curry. Yeah.

Alex (36:48)

That was nice.

Andrew (36:49)

That is very helpful. You know something else is helpful is talking to our friend Christian Clark, which we're going to do about the Dallas Mavericks right after this quick break.

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Andrew (37:55)

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Alex (38:29)

All right, Andrew, it's time for The Wheel of Fandom. The weekly segment where we spin a wheel, it lands on a team and we become fans of that team for the next week. Last week, the wheel landed on the Dallas Mavericks and their exciting rookie, Cooper Flag. Oh boy. Finally a chance to lock in on Cooper Flag for a week. And by Cooper Flag, I of course mean Chris Middleton and Naji Marshall because Cooper Flag did not play this week. The Mavs came into the week on a nine game losing streak and pushed it to 10 after a loss to the Wolves, but then had a couple of thrilling, and I do mean thrilling, wins over the Pacers and Nets, who both have 15 wins. Mavs fans who are cheering on the tank right now were probably not happy after those games. But the Mavs made it up to them on Thursday night by somehow finding a way to lose to the Sacramento Kings. Despite Najee Marshall putting up 36, 10 and 6 in 42 minutes, the loss brings Dallas to 21 and 38, 11th in the west and seventh in the reverse standings. Per cleaning the glass, the mavericks have the 26th ranked offense and 15th ranked defense. Andrew, if the Mavericks are a favorite team, who is our guest?

Andrew (39:37)

It's my guy, Christian Clark of the Athletic. Christian, welcome to the slam and jam.

Christian Clark (39:43)

Hey guys, thank you for having me on. Let me paint a little picture of the state of the Mavericks right now. So when you walk into American Airlines center, the media entrance side, there's an enormous banner. And there at the beginning of the season, there was two Mavericks players on that banner. It was Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis. Makes a lot of sense, right? Well, the Mavericks had their first home game in three weeks on Thursday. So it's been a while since I've been at the aac.

Andrew (40:09)

Wow.

Christian Clark (40:09)

Walking in, I see Kyrie Irving still there, but there's a different face up there in Anthony Davis's place. It's none other than Najee Marshall in front of the Dallas skyline.

Andrew (40:18)

No way.

Christian Clark (40:19)

This is a Najee Marshall city now.

Andrew (40:21)

Yes, I think, I think that's part of your contract. Whenever you move to Dallas, like, Najee must. Must be here with me. Like I've got it.

Christian Clark (40:30)

That's right. I wrote it in. I've covered him literally his entire career. I was there during his rookie season when he was an undrafted two way guy, during COVID playing for Stan Van Gundy in an empty smoothie center.

Alex (40:41)

So wild.

Christian Clark (40:43)

I can write Naji Marshall book.

Andrew (40:45)

That's a. That's an NBA mad lib. That can't be real. Okay, Christian, so we didn't get to see Coop this week, but he's had an awesome rookie season. In the six games prior to this injury, Flag was averaging 32 points per game, including a 49 point masterpiece. Offensively, where has Coop improved the most this year?

Christian Clark (41:09)

Yeah, I mean, I think the first two weeks of the season, you know, Jason Kidd effectively put the ball in his hands and made him the point card. And he looked uncomfortable and he said he was uncomfortable and you know, I think a lot of that was him obviously playing out of position. I think a lot of it was the, the players around him. I mean, Anthony Davis was playing the four. Anthony Davis can't really shoot jumpers that well, you know, next to another like Gafford and Lively, who also, you know, are not really outside shooting threats. But, you know, Cooper Flag has gotten more comfortable with the ball in his hands, initiating offenses. The season has gone on his jumper, you know, like we saw at Duke, like there's been an uptick in his efficiency. He's actually been, you know, decent from three in the new year. It was pretty rough to begin the season. He's really good at going left. I think he's, he's almost, he's one of these weird guys where I mean, he identifies as a right hand dominant. He obviously shoots with his right hand, but he's a better left handed driver than right handed driver. And I think, I think it's a weird thing that throws defenders off sometimes. I mean he's, he's better going to that left and he's so good at the rim, finishing with either hand.

Alex (42:16)

So the, the Mavs don't have a ton of young players, but Max Christie is one of them. And he's, he's had a really nice season for The Mavs. Age 22. He's increased his true shooting to 62%, hitting over 42% of his threes. As you think ahead to next season and his future with this team, where are the biggest areas of improvement needed for Max Christie to take that next step?

Christian Clark (42:36)

Yeah, I mean, he's, he's had a really nice season. I think he's a guy the Mavericks, you know, will look at potentially extending his contract this summer. I think, you know, one area the Mavericks would say is he shot the heck out of it and we love it. We want him to take more. You know, he's kind of a medium volume guy and they've pushed them all season. We want you to be a high volume guy, you know, we want you taking eight or ten threes per game because they Just don't have a lot of shooting on this roster.

Andrew (43:03)

They.

Christian Clark (43:03)

They need him to do that. I would, I would say that's honestly the biggest thing, you know, that Jason Kidd has emphasized throughout the season. You know, I think he's a pretty good defender. You know, there have been times this season when, you know, like, they put them on lead guards, but they've even put them on, like Michael Porter Jr. They'll put them on, you know, much bigger players than him from time to time. And I think some of that's just the Mavericks personnel, but I think he's. He's good playing off Cooper Flag. He's a guy who obviously can hit spot up shot, and he's pretty good attacking closeouts. I think the, the big thing is just, you know, that volume, really.

Alex (43:40)

Yeah.

Andrew (43:42)

So Christian, there's. There's still 24 games left, and we don't know if Coop's going to play the rest of this way. I mean, hopefully we get to see him play. But is there anything that you're looking forward to or, like, anything interesting that you're watching for over this final stretch? Like, are you excited for some AJ Johnson minutes? Like, is there, like, what do you. What are we watching for in this final stretch for the Mavs?

Christian Clark (44:05)

AJ Johnson? Yeah, a good stretch last night. The best stretch we've seen in a Mavericks uniform. I've enjoyed watching Chris Middleton in the six games he's been a maverick. I mean, we still don't know if he's going to be a Maverick past March 1st. You know, they've got a decision to make. Is he going to. Are they going to buy out his contract or not? You know, he's got to decide do I want to finish the season in Dallas or, you know, go ring chase, essentially. I mean, I like watching his game. He's got, you know, the old man game, great with pump fakes. I hope we see a lot of Cooper Flag because it's. It's pretty brutal without him. I mean, I've got. I've got Charlotte and Dallas coming up in early March. Circle to my calendars, potentially. Cooper con kidnappel part two. And then there's a game on March 6th where Cooper, hopefully, who's going to be back in the lineup soon, will play in Boston for the first time. You know, we should have story coming out that day. But, you know, everyone around Cooper Flag is an enormous Celtics fan. You know, the story has been out there that his mother, Kelly Flagg, you know, drove the flag boys around in her minivan, put on the 85, 86 Celtics championship DVD. And just, you know, that was, that was their propaganda basically. Like that was, that was how Cooper learned about basketball. So I think that could be a pretty cool scene of Cooper playing in Boston on March 6th.

Alex (45:26)

So for a lot of Mavs fans, I'm assuming attention is shifting towards the NBA draft, if it hasn't already. Let's imagine a world where the Mavericks jump up again and they're able to grab one of these top three prospects. What is your, your feel for kind of the fan base, how they're ranking those three prospects who they think would fit the best next to Cooper?

Christian Clark (45:49)

That's a great question. I, I would say, you know, just my pulse on the fan base is the Banson number one. You know, I think just because he, he's so, you know, good at scoring and Cooper is this guy who is so good at everything like Cooper. You know, I think they view it as like, they could be excellent complements to each other. I think the Bance is the biggest one. You see. I don't really have a feel after that. I mean, I think one of the interesting things that the Mavericks is we don't even know who's going to be running the draft for them. I mean, they still have a co interim GM situation with, with Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley. You know, their messaging has been, hey, we know we have to have Nico Harrison's permanent successor in there before draft time. But that's a, that's a huge question that needs to be answered. You know, this spring who's going to be the Mavericks full time general manager? We still don't know.

Andrew (46:48)

Yeah, and like these guys are at games right now, like the GMs are going to college basketball games, watching and deciding who they like and like forming their big boards. And I know that you can still have your scouts and get all your opinions kind of scraped together, but to not know who the decision maker is. And luckily it's not the most important draft because they did get Cooper flag, but it is a very important draft for them to get this right. Whether it's.

Christian Clark (47:16)

Can I ask you guys one draft thing?

Andrew (47:18)

Yeah.

Christian Clark (47:19)

Okay. What, what's your best read on what's going on with Darren Peterson?

Andrew (47:24)

I, you know, some of like the stuff you hear about him is that he has like a really good like family and he's got a good history as like everything really before this year. Everything this year has been very weird. And I think like the, the read that I get on it is that teams don't really know what to do. Like, they've seen what they've seen on the court is pretty amazing. I think most teams are not going to shy away from that. But I also think that teams want to sit down, like, get in the room with this guy before any decisions are made, because there's been guys that have had weird seasons. Jalen Johnson had a ridiculously weird season at Duke where he just left. Kyrie Irving did not have, like, the. The greatest year either. And so. And then there's other cases where guys had weird years and they were guys you shouldn't have drafted. And so I think the interview portion of this draft cycle is going to be outrageously important, especially for the team that's picking number one. Because if he ends up being a guy who is flaky and is not willing to do the things you need to do to be one of the best players in the league, then, like, you're. You're missing out on Debancer. You're missing out on camera Boozer. Caleb Wilson, Kings of Kings of Flemings, is going to be an awesome point guard. Think. But Peterson is like, he's. He's still, to me, like, the top level talent here. And I. There are safer picks, certainly. But, yeah, I think, like, a lot of the intel like, before this year was all really good. And so I think it leaves people really confused. And so, like, that. That's another reason why you need to have a GM in place, because when you can sit down with them, like, you need to know, like, you need to know, like, what kind of person am I bringing into my organization? And was this just kind of a weird year for him because he was getting bad advice? Like, I don't. I don't know the answer to all that.

Alex (49:28)

Yeah, I want to shout out our good friend Sam Bassini, because he had kind of an extended segment on Darren Peterson this week. And his basic point was, like, if you go back and look at the high school tape, like, there's aspects of it that look like two completely different players. Like, in his opinion, Darren Peterson's clearly injured this season. And for all the questions about, you know, his competitiveness and his toughness, he kind of reframed it for me as, like, I think he wants to play and he's trying to play, but he really does have some type of injury. Because you can look at the tape in high school and it looks like a completely different player in terms of explosiveness. And so maybe it's more of a question of like, okay, well, then how serious are these injuries? And that's really what the question should be about rather than any like, personality concerns, because by all accounts it seems like he's a super hard worker and super competitive and he just looks different from how he looked in high school while still being pretty awesome when he does play at Kansas.

Christian Clark (50:26)

Yeah, I watched that first half of, of Kansas, byu. I was like, oh my God, I don't know how you, how you couldn't take this guy number one and then he doesn't play in the second half. And I think that point is true. It's like when you watch, you know, his high school tape, it's like this is, this is just a. He's playing a much different style of basketball than he's playing at Kansas. I mean, he's just way more explosive. So, yeah, I don't know what he's going to look like at the NBA level, but his talent just obviously looks unreal. And I think, you know, like you said, Andrew, that that pre draft process will be super important for teams.

Andrew (50:57)

Yeah, yeah, it'll be. It'll be interesting to see how those rankings change because they always, they'll shift a little bit, you know, once the closer we get to the draft and like people's opinions change and a lot of it is just based on like what NBA teams think about these guys personalities and who they are. So looking ahead further into the off season, what's your expectation for how the Mavericks will approach this summer? The big man logjam is still there. Kyrie should be back next season. What do you think are like the biggest priorities for the Mavs as they kind of shape their roster?

Christian Clark (51:31)

Yeah, number one, as we talked about hiring whoever is going to have the vision or we, we need a, we need a lead basketball decision maker in here.

Andrew (51:41)

Yeah, we gotta, we gotta stop saying that in Dallas. We gotta stop talking about the vision.

Christian Clark (51:46)

Sorry, sorry for using the V word. That was triggering. My bad. Yeah, we, we don't know who's gonna be running the show. You know, look, Kyrie Irving has got one more year on his deal and then he's got a player option the year after that. I think it makes sense to bring him back. Their biggest flaw right now is just they've got no guard creators basically. You know, d' Angelo Russell was brought in to address that and we know how that turned out. I think another interesting thing is Derek Lively is extension eligible. You know, do the Mavericks still view Derek Lively as like part of the core? Because he's awesome when he plays like he's so good when he plays. You want him to be your starting center. He just hasn't played that much and he's had, you know, a ton of injury issues, some right foot stuff, which is. Can be a little scary for big men. I think. Max Christie, potential extension. You know, I think the biggest thing they got to do is, I mean, Kyrie will help a lot with the guard creators, but, like, they got to do something to address the backcourt because that's been their biggest problem this year.

Alex (52:48)

All right, well, Christian, thank you for answering all of our Mavs related questions. It's now time to play Andrew versus the Beat, our weekly trivia show where Andrew goes head to head against an NBA beat writer this week, Christian Clark of the Athletic. Now, Christian, what I've done is I've come up with eight questions about the Mavs. You're going to give me a number between 1 and 8. It will correspond to a question. If you get it right, you'll get at least two points. And if you get it wrong, Andrew will have a chance to steal for one. And we'll go back and forth until all the questions have been asked and answered. So to start us off, I just need a number between one and eight. I will go three questions. Number three. Cleaning the glass. Has Dallas's offense ranked 26th in the league? The last time their offense was this bad was the 201617 season when they ranked 27th. Who led the Dallas Mavericks in total assists in the 201617 season?

Andrew (53:47)

This is crazy.

Christian Clark (53:48)

Oh, man.

Alex (53:51)

A memorable Mavs team.

Christian Clark (53:55)

Man, I. I'm probably going to, like, name somebody who wasn't even on the roster. Collection of guys, 2016, 17, man, they had so many different. They cycled through so many different people here in those. Those last Dirk years. Man, I don't know. I'm. I'm stumped.

Alex (54:23)

Is that a pass, Christian?

Christian Clark (54:24)

I'll pass.

Alex (54:26)

Andrew, do you have any guesses?

Andrew (54:29)

I think this is the New Orleans Noel hot dog team. Is that right?

Alex (54:36)

He was on the team. Was he only there one year? Was there a hot dog year and a non hot dog year?

Andrew (54:43)

That.

Alex (54:43)

That is what I'm trying to figure out.

Andrew (54:44)

Yeah. I don't know. I don't know.

Alex (54:46)

He was on Dallas two seasons.

Christian Clark (54:48)

I think Tim McMahon took that picture. By the way of the hot dog. I think he was in the media room and he got the famous photo of neurons going for that dog.

Andrew (54:55)

So funny. The hot dogs are good. Like, I don't fault him. Those are. There's some good dogs.

Christian Clark (55:02)

More of a timing issue, you know, at halftime.

Andrew (55:05)

It's definitely a timing issue. It's not the dog. This is not the dog's fault. Okay? I don't know. J.J. barea, he was on the team.

Alex (55:13)

That's good. It was Darren Williams.

Christian Clark (55:16)

Oh, my God. He's a DFW guy. I should have got that. He's from.

Andrew (55:25)

That is wild.

Alex (55:27)

All right, Andrew Board is yours.

Andrew (55:30)

Number one.

Alex (55:32)

In the last 30 seasons, there are only three Mavericks rookies who played more minutes in their rookie season than Cooper Flag. Flag. Who are they? You get one point per correct answer.

Andrew (55:46)

In the last 30 seasons. Yeah.

Alex (55:49)

Only three Maverick Strokes who have played more minutes than Cooper Flag has, which, I mean, he's only played, you know, 50. Whatever games.

Andrew (55:56)

Yeah.

Alex (55:57)

There's only been three to play more minutes than that.

Andrew (56:00)

That is 30 wild years. Wow. Devin Harris.

Alex (56:08)

No, no, no. That's a bad guess.

Andrew (56:11)

He was a top pick, wasn't he? He was like.

Alex (56:13)

I know, I know, but that's a bad guess. Is it?

Andrew (56:16)

Okay, I don't know why I think he was a top 10 pick.

Christian Clark (56:23)

What about our friend Luka Doncic?

Alex (56:25)

That is why it's a bad guess. Andrew? Yes. Luka Doncic.

Andrew (56:28)

Correct. See, you say 30 years. It just like sends my brain just like as far back as I can go. Dang it. That is a bad Christian.

Alex (56:37)

You could get two more points here if you could name the other two players.

Christian Clark (56:45)

I can't. I can't think. I can't remember if the game's played total, but how about Dennis Smith Jr.

Alex (56:50)

Oh, there's another one points on the board. Could you name the third and final name to steal all three points from Andrew and leave him ruined?

Christian Clark (57:01)

Let me see here. I feel like. I feel like, am I right that you got to go way back or you got to go pretty far back to get this one or.

Alex (57:08)

No, I can't tell you that.

Christian Clark (57:09)

Okay.

Alex (57:10)

Can't reveal that information.

Christian Clark (57:11)

No hint. Dirk Nowitzki.

Alex (57:16)

It was Dorian Finney Smith. All right, Christian, you're up too. And the board is yours.

Andrew (57:25)

What about Rodrigo

Alex (57:28)

of Rodrigo Untradable, Untouchable.

Andrew (57:32)

Untouchable. That's right.

Christian Clark (57:34)

I'll take five.

Alex (57:35)

Hey, but for real, though, I genuinely, genuinely felt like devastated that he was not on the Thunder. I thought.

Andrew (57:42)

I know. Because they selected him with the Thunders pick and they traded Byron. Don't call me BJ Mullins to get that pick destroyed. I know.

Alex (57:50)

Okay, question number five. Cooper Flag. Averaging 4.7 free throw attempts per game among active players. Only 10 averaged more free throw attempts per game during their rookie season, and we're going to name them all. So, Christian, you'll give me a name, then Andrew will give me a name. We'll go back and forth. So these are active players who, during their rookie season averaged more free throw attempts per game than Cooper flag, which is 4.7. So, Christian, start with you.

Christian Clark (58:20)

I'll start us off with Luka Doncic again.

Alex (58:23)

Luca, number four on the list.

Andrew (58:25)

Andrew, number four. LeBron.

Alex (58:30)

LeBron did not.

Andrew (58:32)

What?

Alex (58:34)

Wait, that doesn't sound right. Hold on.

Andrew (58:38)

Give me LeBron did not.

Alex (58:40)

That sounds. That sounds wrong. How many free throw attempts per game did LeBron have?

Andrew (58:44)

His.

Alex (58:44)

Yeah, he had 5.8. Sorry about that.

Andrew (58:46)

Okay. I was like, wait a minute.

Alex (58:49)

Yeah, that didn't seem right. It didn't seem right. Okay.

Andrew (58:52)

Okay.

Alex (58:53)

You're still alive. Christian, back to you.

Andrew (58:55)

Okay.

Alex (58:56)

Okay.

Christian Clark (58:57)

How about Kevin Durant?

Alex (58:58)

Kevin Durant. He's on the list. Andrew.

Andrew (59:02)

That's a good guess. Kevin Durant, LeBron James. We're doing so good.

Christian Clark (59:10)

Plug in the low hanging fruit.

Andrew (59:12)

Yeah, I know. You have to.

Christian Clark (59:18)

How about Darren Williamson? I'm just kidding.

Andrew (59:22)

What about. What about Anthony Edwards?

Alex (59:31)

Not on the list. Also going to check it because that sounds real, too. Let's see. As a rookie ant, Average, oath, only 3.8 per game.

Andrew (59:43)

Oh, he's so close.

Alex (59:45)

Wow. You can get both points. The other names. Number one, Joel Embiid in 34 games or whatever it was.

Andrew (59:52)

Oh.

Alex (59:53)

Paulo Banchero. Zion.

Andrew (59:56)

Yeah.

Alex (59:56)

Benedict Matheran.

Andrew (59:59)

Dang it.

Alex (60:00)

Andrew Russell. Westbrook.

Andrew (60:02)

Yeah.

Alex (60:02)

Victor Wembanyama. Trey Young. And Jaden Ivy.

Andrew (60:08)

Jade and Ivy.

Alex (60:09)

That's kind of interesting.

Christian Clark (60:10)

Could have given me a million guesses and I never would have gotten Jaden Ivy.

Alex (60:13)

Yeah, me neither. Andrew, board is yours. You're down by four.

Andrew (60:17)

It's not good. Two.

Alex (60:19)

And the hardest question I came up with.

Andrew (60:22)

Okay.

Alex (60:22)

And that's a. That's a hint. Kind of. Cooper Flag currently leads the Mavs in total points, total rebounds, and total assists. Who was the last rookie to do that to lead their team? Total points, total rebounds, total assists.

Andrew (60:44)

Huh.

Alex (60:47)

And the hint was. This was hard.

Andrew (60:51)

It's a hard question. Goodness. I don't know. It's gonna be a weird one if it's.

Christian Clark (61:07)

I guess we can't guess. LeBron the first.

Alex (61:09)

Yeah, it's not. It's not even weird. It's. You'll, You'll, You'll. You'll see.

Andrew (61:13)

Blake.

Alex (61:14)

Oh, that is correct.

Andrew (61:16)

Oh, yes.

Alex (61:18)

Look at that. Yeah, it's weird because he only averaged like 3.55 assists or something per game.

Andrew (61:25)

Well, that Clippers team was weird because they didn't have CP yet.

Alex (61:29)

Yeah, yeah. And so he ended up doing it because I think Baron Davis was still on the team, but he didn't play nearly as much as Blake, so. Good job, Andrew. Good job.

Andrew (61:41)

I needed that.

Alex (61:42)

Okay, Christian, board is yours.

Christian Clark (61:46)

Number seven.

Alex (61:47)

Question number seven. How many career dunks does Tyus Jones have? Now you get to choose who answers first. You can make Andrew answer first and then you go higher or lower. Or you can answer first and then Andrew goes higher, lower. If you make Andrew guess and he gets exactly correct, he would get a bonus point. So something to consider. Career dunks, Tyus Jones.

Christian Clark (62:11)

All right, Andrew, I'm going to give you the floor, give you the first shot here.

Andrew (62:14)

All right. These are tough. These are tough because these are you. You'll name guys that I can't even imagine dunking. Like I have no imagination for it. And Tyus Jones is definitely, definitely one of those guys. I'll say three.

Alex (62:30)

All right, Andrew has set the bar at three dunks. Christian, would you like to go higher or lower?

Christian Clark (62:36)

I think I'm going to price his right him and just go higher.

Alex (62:40)

Andrew got within one dunk of the correct answer.

Christian Clark (62:45)

Was it four? Two.

Alex (62:47)

And the correct answer is two. Andrew gets the point.

Andrew (62:53)

Two dunks. When were they in his career? It could not have been recently.

Alex (62:59)

They were both in the same season. Both when he was playing for Minnesota in the 1718 season.

Andrew (63:05)

Oh, a long time ago.

Alex (63:07)

Long time ago.

Andrew (63:08)

Yeah.

Alex (63:09)

Okay, Andrew, you've cut the deficit to one. It's now four to three. And the board is yours.

Andrew (63:17)

Number four.

Alex (63:18)

Question number four. There are eight two man lineups featuring Cooper flag that have logged at least 400 minutes this season. Which teammate has been the best combo with flag with a -0.2 net rating. When they play together, that was the best. Still minus. But that's the best. So it's Cooper plus this teammate is the best. Cooper Flag related two man lineup.

Andrew (63:47)

Nashi Wrong.

Alex (63:51)

All right, Christian, you could steal a point here.

Christian Clark (63:53)

I was going to be my guess. Naji the face of Dallas Marshall, 400 minutes. Anthony Davis. Did they play 400 minutes together?

Alex (64:12)

I think, I think they did. The correct answer though. Brandon Williams. Oh, Brandon.

Andrew (64:19)

Interesting, huh?

Alex (64:21)

Brandon Williams. Okay, Christian, your turn. Six or eight?

Christian Clark (64:29)

Give me eight.

Alex (64:30)

Question number eight. How many players have had a 30 point game for the Mavericks this season? You don't have to tell me who they are, just the number of players who have had a 30 point game for the Mavericks this season. I'm gonna say four, and that is correct.

Andrew (64:52)

Wow.

Alex (64:52)

And that will make it impossible for Andrew.

Andrew (64:55)

No.

Alex (64:56)

To get the win. I'm sorry, Andrew, you do still get first dibs on the final question. No, Final question is which of the following is not a basketball reference official nickname for a Dallas Mavericks player? I'm going to give Read you five nicknames, okay? Four of them are real, one of them is false. Here we go. The main event. Pistol, WD40, Billy Willy, or Big Smokey. Once again, that was the main event. Pistol, WD40, Billy Willy or the Big Smokey? Big Smokey. What do you think?

Andrew (65:39)

Billy Willy. Who is Billy Willy? I guess I'll say Billy Willy.

Alex (65:50)

Oh, you found me out, Andrew.

Andrew (65:51)

Yeah.

Alex (65:52)

Billy Willie is the nickname of Brandon Williams, the defensive tackle. Recently retired, played for the Ravens.

Andrew (66:00)

Okay.

Alex (66:00)

I was looking up Brandon Williams nicknames, and he popped up. I said, I like Billy Willie. That's a fun nickname. So the final score is 6 to 5.

Christian Clark (66:09)

You would make up a nickname like Billy William. Throw that in there.

Andrew (66:12)

Yes, yes, he would.

Ad Voice (66:14)

Would.

Andrew (66:14)

He absolutely would. Go read Christian at the Athletic Christian. Thanks for coming on.

Christian Clark (66:20)

Thanks, guys.

Alex (66:24)

All right, Andrew, that was Mavs week. We're going to spin the wheel of fandom again and pray that we do not get another tanking team, please. Because there's. There's. There would be some if. If we got the Pacers this week. Yeah, that would be a rough one.

Christian Clark (66:40)

One.

Andrew (66:40)

Yeah.

Alex (66:40)

Kings would be a rough one.

Andrew (66:44)

The Kings. Hey, the Kings are winning games.

Alex (66:47)

That's true. They just. I. I should have mentioned that in the week, the top stories that they did. I know, their 16 game losing streak, that was a. That was big news.

Andrew (66:55)

Yeah.

Alex (66:56)

All right, let's spin the wheel, see who we get.

Christian Clark (66:59)

Man.

Alex (66:59)

It'd be nice to get the Hornets. Would that be nice? Wheel. Here we go. Or not this week.

Andrew (67:06)

Oh, okay, okay, okay.

Alex (67:09)

76ers.

Andrew (67:10)

Ooh, the Philadelphia 76ers. The endlessly interesting 76ers. They are. They are nothing but interesting all the time. I feel like.

Alex (67:24)

I mean, they're the only team that would have two separate fan podcasts. Schedule a trip. Trip to another city for the same game. And then you would hear on the broadcast, fire Maury Chance.

Andrew (67:38)

That's so true.

Alex (67:40)

Only team where that would happen.

Andrew (67:41)

Shout out. Shout out to Rice, Ricky Sanchez and, you know, Ball. It's. What a. What a delight, you know, and he was there. He was there. Yeah. Took a picture with. With our. With our guys, Spike and Mike. So.

Alex (67:56)

Oh, listen to this. Oh my gosh, what a great week.

Andrew (67:59)

Finally.

Alex (68:00)

Good week. Oh my gosh. Sunday at Boston.

Andrew (68:04)

Yeah, let's go.

Alex (68:06)

Tuesday, San Antonio at home. Peacock. Wednesday, Utah. Okay, but those first two games, pretty good.

Andrew (68:15)

Yeah. Maybe they'll beat Utah. Feel pretty good about it in the Tony Jones Bowl, I guess in Utah.

Alex (68:23)

So.

Andrew (68:24)

So what they're calling it, that's what everybody's trying to call it. Hey, leave us a five star review on Apple podcast. We'll read it on the show. Just like this one. This is from Milo's dad. Okay, if you don't remember, Milo left us a review earlier this year. He's a 13 year old that loves the Blazers and so we ended up actually talking about the Blazers randomly and Milo wanted that. So shout out to Milo. This is from Milo's dad that although he could be prone to hyperbole, Milo said hearing you read his comment on your podcast, the best thing that's ever happened in his life.

Alex (68:59)

Wow.

Andrew (68:59)

He may have forgotten a few other significant events in his 13 years like the birth of a sibling, a trip to Hawaii, etc. I love that this is such a dad dad comment. But regardless of this, regardless, this is up there for him. Thank you for making a show for NBA fans of all ages and at minimum making his day. Go Blazers. Loved that. Love that review. This one From Thomas Paint 5 stars NBA Slam and Jam. I really enjoyed the positive vibes of Slam and Jam. I could be wrong here, but I'm fairly persuaded that Andrew Schleck is a Christian, which is true. I'm also a Christian and it comes through. And how he carries himself on the pod. Well done sir. Alex is a hoot and the dynamic between the hosts is fantastic. Thank you so much for that review from Al Pac Nose Ball. Greatest B ball pod noseball. Yeah, not. Not like your nose, but like he knows ball. Greatest. Greatest B paw pod ever. Low star reviews are for a low star people. Keep it up. Thank you for the reviews and then I think this one is for who to protect in the in the draft that we're doing. It'll be this next week on the morning shoot around but five stars for the Knicks. These are the guys that should be protected. Brunson, Cat Bridges, Heart in and Obi Robinson Deuce and Tyler Kolik, which I think is close to what we had. I need to re look and see what ones that we didn't have.

Alex (70:38)

Oh Andrew, correction to last week's pod. Yeah, I said that Jaylen Brown had his first career triple double and I said, well, it doesn't sound right. It wasn't. Oh, it wasn't.

Andrew (70:48)

He's had six. Oh, he's had six.

Alex (70:51)

Yeah. So sorry to Jaylen Brown.

Andrew (70:54)

Sorry to Ryland as well.

Alex (70:57)

It wouldn't have affected that. Promise.

Andrew (70:59)

Okay. No, we're all good. We're all good. Hope everybody's having a great, great weekend. Hope you're enjoying the basketball. And we will talk to you guys again next Saturday.

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Can I make my sight firmer? Can we sleep cooler?

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