Esperahenny (3:28)

Yeah, it's funny because you look at their record and they're about 500 against teams better than.500. So they're staying afloat. But like you said, they're beating the good teams. Like if you beat the spurs and Thunder, that means you're in good position. And the one stat I would bring up is there are five teams right now in the NBA that have a top 10 offense and top 10 defense. And usually folks, when you have that, you're in really good shape when it comes to the postseason. Very, very good shape to make at the very least a long playoff run. It's the Oklahoma City Thunder, it's the San Antonio spurs, it's the Houston Rockets, who we'll get to in a little bit. It's the Detroit Pistons and it's the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves have looked excellent like you said since thanks Thanksgiving. And yeah, it's the offense clicking, it's the defense clicking. Rudy Gobert is having a very good season for them. They look really, really good right now.

Kada (4:21)

I just love the fact that Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle have like continued what we saw last year. I mean Anthony Edwards has that. He started rough, right? He had a rough shooting night to start the night last night. But then he ends up hitting that game winner in front of Wemby. It was poetic, right? Well, it was not a game winner in the time. It was still 17 seconds left or so. But you can see that he's like really grown in his poise. The Gobert mentioned postgame that like in that he probably would have taken a step back last year and he actually went to the basket on that point. And then you see Julius Randle, how much of a just tool he's been for them. Not only we could talk about the offense, right? Like he had 15 points, eight rebounds. Great. Okay. But defensively, like, we forget this guy is massive. Like he was the guy that was also like, I don't know, stonewalling Wemby. And you know, in that last play that forced that clanker. And that's what you want to see. And we know that Wemby doesn't necessarily, when he gets physical with folks, that's when his game gets a little bit off balance. And that is exactly what you want to see out of Julius Randle not only being the offensive juggernaut that he is, an organizing thing, but also kind of being like a defensive clutch guy. Like he can handle those moments. So it's huge. Both teams now what top four in the West. That's big.

Dave Dufour (5:43)

Yeah.

Esperahenny (5:43)

Tim Rolls are climbing up to your point about Randall. The, the great thing about Randall is one, he's very strong.

Xena (5:50)

Right?

Dave Dufour (5:51)

Yeah.

Esperahenny (5:51)

And so when, when like it's a Wemby type of player and we've seen what kind of defenders they throw at Victor Wembanyama, it's the stronger win players. And we saw the Celtics try to do the same thing last night.

Royal Kingdom Advertiser (6:05)

Right.

Esperahenny (6:05)

But it was Wemby who took advantage and the mid range game was open for him. Whether it was Jordan Walsh on him, whether it was Hugo Gonzalez, whether it was Kada, it didn't matter. Wemby got his game off and that's how we got those game, that game winner against the Celtics. Fast forward to the Timberwolves game and Julius Randle has that combination of strength and length that makes it a lot more difficult for Wemby to get those shots off. So that's sort of like scouting reports for teams as they want to face the spurs moving forward, even in the playoffs.

Kada (6:34)

And I don't want to give too, too, too much credit to the wolves though on that because Wemby was cooking Rudy all night.

Dave Dufour (6:40)

He was, he was going right at him.

Kada (6:42)

He was going right at.

Dave Dufour (6:44)

To get to the fade away.

Esperahenny (6:45)

The fade and then the up and under too. Yeah.

Dave Dufour (6:48)

And Wemby's mid range and we'll talk about it in a second. Just like what he's been doing offensively here the, the last few weeks. Like we talked about how he needed to grow his game. But, but back to the wolves real quick. There's a, there's a clip of Julius Randle like rubbing his hands and Looking at Wemby, like, getting ready to guard him. Right. Like, they, you know, Wemby is going to bring this out in guys. But it's good to see Julius Randle, like, take the defensive challenge. I mean, he. He also didn't have a great offensive night, but he found a way to contribute. And this is a team that needs that because one of the biggest problems they have is when Rudy Gobert isn't on the court, their defense really does fall off a cliff. And so if Julius Randle can be a guy who at least plays big in the moments that they need them, that helps him out quite a bit. And we got to note, as good of a season as Rudy Gobert is having, he's having a bad season between the ears, kind of. He got a flagrant foul. He's got enough flagrant points that he's going to miss their next game. He got suspended for their next game. It was a. A reckless closeout, which, listen, this whole reckless closeout thing is debatable anyway, but it was on Victor Womenyama. I mean, that one was a pretty clear violation by Rudy. I think he did invade that landing space, so it wasn't something totally egregious, but he did have a bad foul before. The ball was inbounds later. So just don't worry. Like, Rudy is still having a great season, but he's gonna miss that next game. Okay, let's talk about Wimy, because Wemby, you know, look, he. He was excellent in the game against the Wolves, and he was pretty incredible. He was crazed tonight, too.

Royal Kingdom Advertiser (8:24)

Yeah.

Dave Dufour (8:24)

Saturday against Boston, he went on a 90 run by himself against the Timberwolves in the second quarter. And I mean, literally by himself. He was making defensive plays and offensive plays. And these are the sort of stretches, Xena, that we. We've talked about a lot, where he just can take it over 16 points in the second half against Boston had the game winner.

Siemens Representative (8:45)

And.

Dave Dufour (8:45)

And when. When we talk about him as this defensive player of the year guy, he's the best defender in the league. And a lot of that's just. He's 7 6. But the offensive part of his game, we see these. These moments. He started to string these together where it's multiple possessions, you know, five, six, seven, eight possessions in a row. Him calling for the ball and making a play.

Kada (9:07)

Yeah, he had 29 points in 27 minutes. That's wild. I was laughing as you were saying, the string of plays that you put together, because if you watch those clips back, it's so funny. But it's just Rudy Gobert. Whether he's getting blown by or just Wemby's pulling back for a shot. Rudy just stares at the ball go through the basket. But the ball goes through the basket and he just kind of takes an extra pause. And you think about like this French Connection. If there's anyone on the floor that knows him best, oh yeah, it's Rudy, right? So I'm just thinking like, what's going through your head? As this guy is. It's. It wasn't just being able to shoot the outside shot. What we know he can do, shoot it, shoot the mid range, which we know he can do. It was like going between his legs and going by very methodically. Rudy Gobert. And we saw this against Boston. He was more so, I think shaded to the mid range against Boston more so than, you know, having his way with Rudy. Mainly because Rudy is a big man that probably shouldn't be on someone that could handle the ball as well as. As Wemby. But overall, he. You've seen him take more control. We saw that. We were at the NBA cup, right? We saw that game against okc and then we saw Wemby kind of fall apart in the championship and not have quite the same level of production as that game. And that's been the concern. Can he string these things together, right. Of being able to have these massive offensive nights where he just takes over games. This was cool to see back to back games against really good teams. Right. And being able to. His performance being the contributing factor to the win. Right. Even in last night's game against the Wolves, they lost by one point. Okay, sure. But he was plus 17 in that game. That's huge.

Dave Dufour (11:04)

The Wolves were 3 of 21 when he was on the court in the first half.

Kada (11:09)

That's like shooting.

Dave Dufour (11:11)

That's not fair.

Kada (11:12)

So like you're. So you're seeing him being able to impact the game consistently even in a win or loss. Like, that's. That's great for his growth and the evaluation of his game of like, okay, he is on the right track. He's getting better. You know, he's been on restricted minutes, but he's. He's getting back to, I think the, the. What's the word? Conditioning that you need. And also just like the cadence he needs out on the floor.

Dave Dufour (11:36)

And he started, which is a good sign, right? Fourth start since. Since he picked up that, that injury previously. The, the calf injury on November 13th. Look, the Nuggets guys, they keep winning without Nicola Jokic. They Also didn't have Jamal Murray last night. They moved to 4 and 3 since Nicole Jokic went down. They beat the Bucks 1 08, 1 04, in spite of Giannis having an amazing game. Giannis was plus 16 in this game, 31 points, 11 assists, 8 rebounds. But, you know, he just can't do it alone. And the, you know, the Nuggets, they're winning these games on depth. You know, they came into this year that was the story of the season for them. Coming in, they picked up all these guys. They're finding guys that were on the roster that I didn't even know that they had, that maybe they didn't know they had.

Kada (12:26)

I mean, is there a name that comes to mind?

Dave Dufour (12:28)

I mean, there's, there's a bunch of names. I mean, Peyton Watson, I mean, see Julian Strother, I mean, who else had a great game? Tim Hardaway Jr. Had 25 points, you know, and we talked about him coming in as a guy who was going to benefit playing from Jokic. The truth is with the way that they're playing offense, I mean, they're just rolling like everyone's open.

Esperahenny (12:49)

Yeah, the, the interesting thing about the Nuggets is I thought that their offense would crater with Jokic, naturally, because that's what happens when Nikola Jokic is off of the floor. But it, it, that hasn't been the case. And I think part of that is you're seeing the development of Peyton Watson, who's shooting his shot well, like the three point shot is developing. He's looking more aggressive. He had this really nice drive tonight where he got downhill and finished on the same side. Overall, he just looks more comfortable creating, creating his own shot, which is a development that I don't think any of us could have predicted. But it just, it's happening because they. There's more opportunity. To your point about Zeke Najee, he was out of the rotation. He was not getting any minutes. But Jonas Valentunas is out. Nicola Jokic is out. Boom. You are now a backup center for us. Can you provide? And I think one thing Zeke has been able to do throughout his career is lock in defensively. So the defensive level that the Nuggets have been able to kind of tap into over the stretch is higher than what they regularly at. So depth is really helping Denver and it's, it's making me be, I don't want to say cautiously.

Dave Dufour (13:58)

For the second half of the show. We'll get to it. Yeah, Yeah.

Kada (14:01)

I just want. Do you know that Peyton Watson is averaging just under 24 points per game over the last seven games.

Esperahenny (14:07)

Yeah, it's absolutely.

Kada (14:08)

That's wild. It is. Yeah, it is absolutely.

Dave Dufour (14:11)

They.

Esperahenny (14:12)

There's a lot of questions about like him and his, you know, free agency decision.

Dave Dufour (14:17)

Can they keep him?

Esperahenny (14:18)

Can they keep him? It's not a Can they have to keep him?

Dave Dufour (14:21)

I mean, we talk about this a little bit. If the shooting for him is real, if he's a 37% three point shooter now with that defense. Oh, man. Yeah, that's. That guy's good again. Calvin Booth, Great job. Raptor. Sixers s. You were in the building for this. A bit of a wild game, man. It's the battle for the fourth seed. The Raptors came into the game with a half game lead. They leave with a full game lead and they're going to play again tomorrow or I guess tonight. Man. What happened at the end of this game? I thought for sure that the Sixers had this thing wrapped up.

Esperahenny (14:57)

Yeah, look, the Sixers were up four with 15 seconds left. And the Raptors used their challenges really well. There was an out of bounds call where darker react which won a challenge and then they got two points out of that and then won another out of bounds challenge and then were able to tie the game on a Jamal Shed shot. So just kind of luck. They. They fought.

Dave Dufour (15:17)

Hot potato shot, by the way.

Esperahenny (15:18)

Very hot potato shot.

Dave Dufour (15:20)

Cmb Colin Murray Bowles should have probably taken the shot. Yes. It reminded me of the Lamello Colin Sexton play from. From last week where Lamelo had like a layup and he dumped it off to Colin Sexton who had a worse shot. But Jamal Shed somehow banks this. This. I don't. It wasn't all. It was a floater.

Esperahenny (15:39)

Yeah.

Dave Dufour (15:42)

Absurd, by the way.

Esperahenny (15:44)

Cmb, I will say column. Murray boy, great game for him. 17 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, three steals, three blocks. Can I just add.

Dave Dufour (15:52)

Do you know what time to get traded to Memphis? Is that what you're gonna add?

Esperahenny (15:55)

Not yet. No, no, no. When was the last time you actually think this game might have took. Taken him away from all those trainings? Okay, when was the last time a rookie had that can. Can you guys guess?

Dave Dufour (16:07)

Oh, man.

Esperahenny (16:08)

Can you guess a year?

Dave Dufour (16:09)

17.15 rebounds.

Kada (16:11)

I think it's Shaq 2002.

Esperahenny (16:14)

That's a good guess. It's a great guess, but it's not right. It's 1990. David Robinson, the last time someone did that.

Dave Dufour (16:25)

So that's amazing.

Kada (16:26)

Incredible.

Esperahenny (16:28)

Yeah. By the way, we at the NBA Daily got our first bit of all Star merch.

Dave Dufour (16:35)

Oh, yeah.

Kada (16:36)

Wait. What's up?

Esperahenny (16:37)

The PR team. The PR team from the Raptors.

Dave Dufour (16:42)

This is a very royal way here. It seems like the S got a T shirt.

Esperahenny (16:47)

I can. No, I can. We can. We can share this if you'd like.

Xena (16:50)

Well.

Dave Dufour (16:52)

Star propaganda. I don't think we'll be doing any of that here on the show. Guys. Stick around after the break. I'm gonna ask these guys if if they're still taking the thunder to come out of the west or if the field has moved them.

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Dave Dufour (18:40)

Last week we did kind of a deep dive on the playoff race in the east. Because, you know, we talk about the west every night. All the stars are there. I figured it was a good time to check in. And before the show, I reached out to Law Murray to check on the power rankings. I tried to see if he would leak them to me. You know, I mean, but he acted like they were classified. He did tell me that Oklahoma City is still number one. They have been the number one ranked in our power rankings at the athletic.com, which you can go and read while Murray does that. They've been number one since they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers almost a year ago. That huge game. I mean, when you think about it, that was the game they. They kind of took pole position in the NBA, and they've, you know, they won the title, and they're going ever since. I. I thought maybe the spurs had a chance, but that loss to the Wolves probably held them back quite a bit. And we're going to get Thunder spurs again this week on Tuesday night. And what if this is a game that's for number one in Law Murray's power rankings? Think about that. Wow. Prestige. Now guys go and go and read his power rankings. Law works really hard at it, and I did really try to get him to help me cheat on this segment. Look, Minnesota, we talked about him. Sixteen, six since Thanksgiving. The Rockets, look, they've been a little bit shaky. Obviously, Shingoon was out, but then he comes back and they still lose to the Kings. They've been losing to bad teams.

Xena (20:05)

Yeah.

Esperahenny (20:05)

Which not 9 of their 14 losses are against the worst teams in the west, which is.

Kada (20:10)

That is wild.

Dave Dufour (20:12)

The Nuggets all of a sudden. Look, we just talked about them again, super deep. They're treading water without Jokic. They're doing even better than. Than we maybe even expected. Just finding new guys every day. So I'm gonna ask you, before the season, I think we. Most people would have said they would take the Thunder over the field to. To come out of the West. Now, I didn't say that, but a lot of people would.

Esperahenny (20:40)

I did. I'll. I'll go ahead and say that's right.

Dave Dufour (20:43)

Yes.

Kada (20:43)

I don't remember if I did.

Dave Dufour (20:44)

It's fun.

Kada (20:45)

I don't know.

Dave Dufour (20:46)

Would you guys take the Thunder or the field at this point, as the field move you, you know, like, do you feel as if it's. It's closer than. Than we expected?

Esperahenny (20:57)

I think it's one of those things where the field has moved closer to the Thunder and the Thunder have moved closer to the field, if that makes sense. You know, they both kind of gravitated towards each other in the way that I think some of the other teams in the Western Conference are clearly up to beat them. You know, you. You talk about the Spurs. I think the Nuggets, who they have not played yet.

Dave Dufour (21:21)

This is.

Esperahenny (21:21)

That's one of the most anticipated matchups over the next couple of weeks, and hopefully Jokic ends up coming back for that. But Thunder Nuggets is another matchup that I think works really well. We just saw it in the playoffs last year. I think there are some valid questions about Jalen Williams and how good he can be to finish this season, what the OKC's offense looks like and how predictable it it can be to try and repeat as an NBA champion. You know, it's one of those things where it's like if you come at the King, you best not miss, but also you're going to get every team's best shot. And I think who's the most well equipped Western Conference team to do that? I think it's the Denver Nuggets. You saw the depth that they had on display over this last little stretch. Jamal Murray is playing all star level basketball and for the most part, knock on wood, has been healthy. And then you look at the development of the rest of their guys. I think Cam Johnson, before he got hurt, was really finding his stride with the group. Peyton Watson, as we just discussed, is breaking out. Christian Brown figuring things out for them as well, had some good internal development and they have the depth necessary.

Royal Kingdom Advertiser (22:31)

Right.

Esperahenny (22:32)

With Jonas Valentunas and Tim Hardaway Jr. And all these guys who just punch in and give them, you know, 10, 15 minutes of very good basketball. I think that's the perfect type of team to go out and face the Oklahoma City Thunder. So I think the field has gotten close, if not is available to pick. Yeah, that makes sense.

Kada (22:54)

I agree with that.

Esperahenny (22:54)

I'm taking the field. You know what? I'm taking the field. I'm not dancing around this.

Dave Dufour (22:59)

Field is a smart bet.

Kada (23:00)

Yeah, I think the field is a smart bet. I did not know. I don't think I knew that you were gravitating towards that all the way until that very end. So I'm happy we're there though.

Xena (23:11)

We got there.

Esperahenny (23:11)

I want it to be defined.

Xena (23:12)

Yeah, exactly.

Kada (23:13)

Yeah, no, I'm with that too. I think you laid out the case very beautifully for the Denver Nuggets. And I don't know if I have to lay out the case for the spurs, who have already beaten the Thunder three times. But I just appreciate the fact that the spurs are the ones that kind of showed us, oh, the Thunder are gettable. Like there is a factor of the fact there is a factor of a team that good that can't shoot threes very well or, you know, a team that good that. That suffers some injuries or has some rotation lineup, you know, discrepancies and all of a sudden they're human. It's like we Appreciate you Spurs. You made them human again for us. Now. I do think that there was such a gap and a chasm between how good the Thunder were in comparison to everyone else that they've just now become an average top team. I would say that I now I'm looking at it like it's not so obvious that it's the Thunder of the field. They're gettable. And so if I put my money on something I would look at, if there's any team in the field I'd look at, it's the Spurs. They've done it before. But I'm with you on the, the final decision of the field overall.

Dave Dufour (24:26)

Yeah, I mean, look, this is a hyperbolic conversation. I mean, the Thunder, it's a. There's so much parody and the Thunder did get pushed so much last year, but they did, they felt like a freight train to start the season. And so I think that when you look now and it's like, okay, they are kind of in this, it's. It's more of a cluster of, of contenders in the west now. And what did you say as the, the four of the five teams that are top 10 in offense, top 10 in defense are in the west, it's OKC, Minnesota. Yep.

Kada (24:59)

Houston.

Esperahenny (24:59)

Okay. See Minnesota, Houston, San Antonio.

Dave Dufour (25:02)

And then the only other team doesn't include the Nuggets. Right. So like I actually, you know, I picked the Nuggets to win the title coming into the season. I love this newfound depth. My concern about the Nuggets is the defense and especially when Jokic is out there, because what we haven't seen is them, you know, be a top 10 defense with Jokic on the court. And I think that's probably something that, that you at least have to be able to touch that, you know, that sort of level. And we've seen them crank it up in, in clutch time situations before, but.

Esperahenny (25:35)

Especially in the playoffs. We've seen.

Dave Dufour (25:37)

Especially in the playoffs.

Esperahenny (25:38)

Right. And.

Dave Dufour (25:38)

But this is where that, this experimentation coming in again, having Zeke Naji knowing that, you know, this is a guy you might be able to come in to play some spot minutes as a defensive center, I, I think that that's a pretty big thing for them. But yeah, this is, I don't know, it's shaping up to be a pretty fun season. I cannot tell you who's going to win. Like as you said last last week, it's. It's going to be about Styles making the fights.

Esperahenny (26:00)

That's the West.

Dave Dufour (26:02)

If the wrong team, if you catch the wrong team early. You're going to go home.

Esperahenny (26:06)

That applies to the Thunder too, right?

Dave Dufour (26:09)

Yeah. So anyway, it's great. It's. Man, it's a really good time to be watching the NBA because I think that right now is the playoff race. This is it. Like, we've probably got another six weeks and then it's. That's a wrap. So hang on to your hats, guys. It's about to get pretty competitive if these guys can stay healthy. All right, that's going to do it for the show. If you were watching on YouTube, like and subscribe, you know how it goes. And if you're listening, wherever you're listening, leave us a five star review and join our discord. It's in the show description. We're hanging out, watching games over there, making jokes, all kinds of stuff like that. Thank you guys again for listening. For Xena, Kada and Esperahenny, I'm Dave Dufour and this has been the NBA Daily. Y' all be good.

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