Hoops Tonight - Lakers-Clippers Reaction: Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Austin Reaves trio finding a groove vs. Harden

Summary

Podcast Episode Summary

Podcast: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Segment: Hoops Tonight - Lakers-Clippers Reaction: Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Austin Reaves trio finding a groove vs. Harden
Host: Jason (Hoops Tonight Host, The Volume)
Date: November 27, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of Hoops Tonight focuses on the Los Angeles Lakers' 135-118 win over the LA Clippers. Jason deep-dives into the game’s flow, defensive adjustments, the evolving synergy between Lakers’ key stars—Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves—and the Clippers’ ongoing defensive woes, particularly against James Harden’s hot streak. The analysis centers on revealing trends, pivotal moments, and what the performance means for both teams moving forward.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Lakers Game Flow & Net Rating Trends

[03:20 – 08:30]

• The Lakers' 13-4 record is impressive, but their overall net rating is "middle of the pack", not elite.
• They start games slowly on defense, using offense to keep up before tightening up in the second half—especially in the fourth quarter and in clutch scenarios.
• Clutch stats:
  • 2nd half: +5 per 100 possessions, 7th in NBA
  • 4th quarter: +7 per 100 possessions, 6th in NBA
  • Clutch games: 6-0 record, +30 per 100 possessions, 3rd best in league.

“They do not come out with a ton of intensity and play super passionate, energetic defense to start games... then consistently... late third quarter, they start to tighten the screws.”
— Jason (05:20)

2. Defensive Challenges: Dealing with Harden & Zubots

[08:30 – 11:00]

• Pre-game concerns included handling Ivica Zubac on the glass and slowing down a scorching James Harden (averaging 33+ points, shooting near 40% from three).
• Lakers succeeded in limiting Zubac’s impact (just 7 offensive rebounds for Clippers).
• Defensive struggle: Lakers tried forcing Harden right, but Clippers’ role players (John Collins, Chris Dunn, Nic Batum) capitalized on kick-outs.
• Harden was repeatedly able to get to his left—a problem, as “if you let him get to his left hand, it's a layup like every single time.”

“James Harden is in such a groove right now that if you let him get to his left hand, it's a layup like every single time.”
— Jason (10:16)

• Down the stretch, the Lakers began blitzing Harden, forcing the ball out of his hands and rotating well, especially with Harden off court (“Clippers units without Harden did not score well”).

3. Lakers’ Adjustments: Key Offensive Surges

[11:00 – 13:50]

• After a high-scoring first half (Clippers 66), Lakers locked in for the second (only 52 allowed).
• Luka Doncic: After a cold stretch and a season shooting under 30% on stepback threes, he went 7/12 from three in this game, showing "positive regression."
• Third quarter momentum swing: Luka increased rim pressure, getting easier looks, drawing defenders, and creating for Marcus Smart and others. This spurt shifted the momentum and set up the closing knockout run.

“Nice little flurry from Luka Doncic at the end of the third quarter that started the run for the Lakers.”
— Jason (12:35)

4. LeBron, Austin, Luka—Finding Their Groove

[17:46 – 22:30]

• The “LeBron–Austin” unit to start the fourth has been "one of the best units in the NBA over the last couple of years."
• LeBron’s efficient scoring (especially mid-range off Jackson Hayes screens) and Austin’s attacking drives blew the game open.
• Key chemistry: LeBron found Austin on a tight backdoor cut for a layup, showing elite two-man game.
• Most encouraging trend: When all three (Luka, LeBron, Austin) are on the floor, Lakers can run “spread pick and roll” and consistently find efficient shots, especially with Austin excelling on weakside catch-and-shoot or attacking closeouts.

“LeBron and Austin provide that little bit of scoring. You see that two man connectedness with them. LeBron hits Austin on a beautiful back cut along the baseline in a really tight window for another layup. They blow the game out to like 15-17.”
— Jason (18:54)

• Critical to contender status: Role players (specifically Austin and Luka) need to become as reliable on catch-and-shoot as LeBron and Rui.

“For this team to achieve the level of unguardability that they need to achieve to compete for a championship, they need every single sequence to end in the hands of a player who is going to consistently make you pay.”
— Jason (19:38)

• Jackson Hayes’ improved passing and vertical defense, plus the addition of Maxi Kleber, have greatly elevated the Lakers’ center rotation.

5. Spotlight on Team Trends, Notable Stats, & the Clippers’ Defensive Meltdown

[22:30 – 25:30]

• Clippers’ defense: 10 games allowing 120+ points in 18 games—didn’t reach 10 such games until the 65th game last year.
• Main culprit for Clippers’ struggles: team defense collapsing, not adjusting to the James Harden-led offensive engine.
• LeBron’s overall stat line: 25 pts (9-15 FG, 2-5 3pt), 6 rebs, 6 asts, +18 in 32 min, including strong second-half defense.
• LeBron has improved defensively after early struggles in the season and anchored key late-game stops.

“If LeBron can get to the point where he's routinely hanging out around that 25–6–6 kind of range, that's where we're starting to talk about a guy that's in the conversation for All-NBA.”
— Jason (25:02)

• Lakers' 3pt shooting: 13/29 (45%); key variable is whether Luka (on stepbacks) and Austin (catch-and-shoot) can continue to provide this “positive regression.”

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Lakers' clutch defense:
  “A lot of the pathway for the Lakers has been, they've been kind of a maddening, frustrating type of defense to watch. But then consistently, late third quarter, they start to tighten the screws.” (05:20)

• On Harden’s current form:
  “James Harden has been frying the entire NBA for like three weeks now... If you let him get to his left hand, it's a layup like every single time.” (10:16)

• On Austin Reaves' importance:
  “You need every single sequence. If it ends in a catch and shoot for LeBron, that's going to go in, right? ... But you need it to feel the same for an Austin catch and shoot...” (19:20)

• On LeBron’s evolving role and team direction:
  “LeBron is the hallmark... If LeBron continues to trend upwards and by the time we get to late January, he's still healthy... now, it becomes a much more complicated conversation.” (25:30)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:20] — Episode begins, Lakers’ net rating and season-long trends
• [05:20] — Clutch stats and defense tightening up late
• [08:30] — Game plan vs. Zubac and Harden; defensive rotations
• [10:16] — Struggles containing Harden, role players stepping up
• [11:38] — Lakers’ adjustment: blitzing Harden
• [12:35] — Luka Doncic’s late third-quarter uptick
• [17:46] — LeBron/Austin unit opens fourth quarter run
• [18:54] — LeBron finds Austin on key backcut
• [19:38] — On need for reliability from catch-and-shoot options
• [22:30] — Clippers’ defensive collapse, 120+ points stat
• [25:02] — LeBron’s contribution and All-NBA level play

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Summary Table: Lakers vs. Clippers (Key Takeaways)

| Player | Highlights | Importance | |--------------------|---------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------| | Luka Doncic | 7-12 from three, late-game aggressiveness | Sparks third-quarter run, positive regression on outside shooting | | LeBron James | 25/6/6, +18, strong defense in 2nd half | Efficient scoring, late-game defense, leadership for win-now moves | | Austin Reaves | Impactful off-ball; catch-and-shoot, cuts | Crucial for “unguardable” offense when big three are on floor | | Jackson Hayes | Improved passing and defense | Center rotation is “much, much better than last year” | | James Harden (Clips)| Kept torching Lakers until Lakers blitzed | Clippers struggle without him on floor; current engine of their offense| | Clippers Defense | 10 games allowing 120+ points already | Team’s main flaw, fell apart compared to last year’s formula |

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Final Thoughts

• The Lakers continue to follow an established pattern: sluggish starts, then timely, high-intensity defense late.
• The Luka–LeBron–Austin trio is developing a dangerous offensive dynamic, with steady improvements from supporting bigs.
• The Clippers’ defensive collapse is their primary issue, overshadowing even James Harden’s recent brilliance.
• For the Lakers, LeBron’s health and sustained high-level play may determine whether the front office pursues an aggressive win-now trade before the deadline.

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[End of Summary]

Transcript

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The volume.

[Jason (Hoops Tonight Host)]

All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the Volume. Happy Tuesday everybody. I hope all of you guys have had an incredible week. Well, the Lakers keep their winning ways going as they improve to 13 and 4 with a game where they struggled a little bit guarding James Harden, but they pull away late for a comfortable double figure win, 135 to 118 over the Clippers. It's the only thing we're hitting today. Just going to cover that Lakers win over the Clippers. You guys know the joke before we get started, subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Subscribe Follow me on Twitter at_jason lt so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast fee wherever you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight and it's always super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. Jackson's doing incredible work on our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tick Tock. Make sure you guys follow us there for more content throughout the season. Last but not least, no mailbag this week, but we will be having a mailbag next Friday. So if you want to get your questions in for that mailbag, you can drop them in this episode or any of our other full episodes on YouTube and we'll get to them in our Friday mailbags throughout the remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball again. Not going to go too long tonight. Just like 10, 10, 12 minutes or so on the game. Just to give my quick breakdown. Again, we were live on playback. We're doing two playback streams every single week. We will have another one on Friday night for the Dallas Mavericks on the road against the Los Angeles Lakers. Again, you can follow us on YouTube for that, but you can also head over to Playback Playback TV Hoops Tonight. We can have the game on the screen. It's easier for me to take Callers there. I can still get questions from the chat from YouTube, but if you want to actually come up on the stream as a caller, we got to come over to playback. So make sure you guys head over there again. Playback TV hoops tonight. So this game followed kind of a similar flow to many of the Lakers games that we've seen this year. I've been kind of intrigued by this concept of the Lakers net rating compared to some of the other teams around the league. And you know, for a team that's 13 and 4, you'd expect them to be near the top of the league in net rating, but they haven't been. They've been in middle of the pack type of the type of net rating team. And one of the reasons for that is that they do not come out with a ton of intensity and play super passionate, energetic defense to start games. It seems to kind of ease their way into games. They try to outscore you. And this has very much been a team that has played timely defense. This has very much been a team that has been about having a brief stretch at the end of a game where they tighten the screws and they make the plays that they need to make and they get out of there with the win. And that is shown in those net rating numbers. So for instance, and again, these numbers do not reflect what has happened in this. These numbers do not reflect previous before tonight. So anything from tonight's game is not in there. But before tonight, the Lakers again middle of the pacnet rating team for full games, but in the second half, outscoring teams by five points per 100 possessions, which ranks seventh in the NBA. In the fourth quarter, outscoring teams by seven points per 100 possessions, which ranks sixth in the NBA. And in clutch situations where the Lakers are now 6, 0, obviously not counting tonight, not a clutch game in this particular instance. But in the six clutch games they've played this year, they're outscoring teams by 30 points per 100 possessions, which is the third best net rating in the league. So a lot of the, the pathway for the Lakers has been, they've been kind of a maddening, frustrating type of defense to watch. But then consistently throughout these, this early part of the season, late third quarter, they start to tighten the screws. Luca starts to up his aggression towards the basket. Then they go into that fourth quarter unit, it's LeBron and Austin, they tighten the screws on defense and they've been able to maintain control of games. And that game tonight against the Clippers followed a Very similar flow. Really, really struggled to guard James Harden Tonight. We talked about a couple of specific things that the Lakers would be dealing with with this matchup. Matchup with the Clippers. Before the game started on playback, if you guys remember, for instance, deandre Ayton being out, I talked about the Lakers needing to handle Evita Zubots on the offensive glass for a couple different problems that could present. So for starters, just having Jackson on an island versus a guy like Zubots, that's a problem, right? Like he's giving up a lot of muscle mass there. That's really difficult for him to handle. But also if you're going to be switching, if you're going to allow James Harden to pull Jackson out in a switch or something along those lines, that could cause problems for Zubots on the back line battling against smaller defenders. All game long. The Lakers scrapped with Zoo and they kept him off the offensive glass. They allowed just seven offensive rebounds in the game. A lot of really good work there. First of all, not as much switching with Jackson as you would think. And then anytime that Zoo had inside position, they were bodying in with somebody and coming swarming in from around the ball to just to kind of like gang rebound those situations, to convert those defensive stops into opportunities to go the other way and play. But the flip side of that was going to be how are they going to guard James Harden, right? And we talked about it before the show. I thought that they were going to heavily emphasize funneling James Harden to his right hand and trying to help off of him. And it didn't go well, like at all through the first two and a half quarters on the handful of possessions where they did a good job funneling James Harden to his right hand. The, the Clippers did a really nice job moving the ball through that. And all of the Clippers role players were making them play, making them pay for it. John Collins hitting open catch and shoot threes out of the corner. Chris Dunn hit a couple of threes in the first half. Nick Batum hit a couple of threes. Chris Dunn did damage as a cutter in those situations. They weren't having too hard of a time scoring out of the possessions where James Harden dribbled to his right. And then way too many times they let James Harden get to his left hand getting into that little easy finish off the rim. James Harden is in such a groove right now that if you let him get to his left hand, it's a layup like every single time. And for the record, I don't want to Be too critical of the Lakers defense here. James Harden has been frying the entire NBA for like three weeks now. For eight games coming in, he was averaging over 33 points per game on sky high efficiency, shooting damn near 40% from 3 on like 113 point attempts per game. James Harden has been on a vintage heater and so he was going to be a difficult challenge under any circumstances, but he was certainly giving the Lakers problems scoring. And then on the possessions where they did appropriately funnel him, he was making every read and the Clippers were making him pay. And so one of the things we saw down the stretch of this game as the Lakers started to take control is the Lakers were like, screw it, let's just start blitzing him. And they started just essentially getting the ball out of James Harden's hands. Did a really nice job rotating out of it. The units when James Harden was off the floor did not score well. Kawhi Leonard obviously still coming back from an injury, didn't look like he had much from his legs, had a couple of his like patented little midis and hit like a wide open transition three on the left wing. But for the most part was like leaving things short, struggling to see double teams. The Lakers were throwing a lot of doubles, especially with LeBron in the first half. Just as soon as Kawhi would turn his back, LeBron would throw a double team. And so a lot of it fell on James Harden. So when the Lakers were able to get the ball out of James Harden's hands to end the game and successfully rotate out of it, that allowed them to get the stops that they needed. And again after giving up 66 points in the first half, they gave up just 52 in the second half. This has been a Laker defense that has been about timely defense, getting stops in the stretches of the game when they need to take control. And then one of the consistent trends that I've seen, like Luka's been settling for a lot of tough step back threes this year. And by the way, we did see a lot of positive regression on that front tonight. I think he was 7 for 12 from 3. He had come into the, come into this particular game shooting just 29.9% on those step back threes off of the dribble. He had not been good with them. And so getting that positive regression tonight, that was a good sign if him starting to get back to his normal percentages there. 7 for 12 from 3 tonight. But ultimately in that third quarter as the Clippers actually briefly took the lead a few times, Lucas started to go cold and so when the three is not going, does he have the ability to bully his way closer to the basket for easier shots? Well, one of the consistent trends we've seen through the early part of the season here is when Luka needs to as things get tighter towards the end of games, he's been able to drop his shoulder, get more penetration, get closer to the basket, gets an and one gets a short easy floater, gets all the way into the charge circle, draws two defenders, drops it off to Marcus Smart for a layup. Nice little flurry from Luka Doncic at the end of the third quarter that started the run for the Lakers. Today's show is brought to you by our new presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet. Hoop season is heating up just in time for the holidays. 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[Jason (Hoops Tonight Host)]

And then this is the, this is the dynamic you struggle with with the Lakers. It's like okay, you weather the storm with Luka. Here comes a LeBron Austin unit which has literally been one of the best units in the NBA over the last couple of years. LeBron and Austin check in to start the fourth quarter. Lakers still defending really well. They start to, they start to get going. Austin attacking the basket with a ton of force tonight, did a ton of damage in his drives. LeBron hits a little mid range jumper off of a Jackson Hayes ball screen off the left side. He had two mid range jumpers off of that specific action in the second half. LeBron really nice scoring tonight and I really good to see that LeBron still has some real scoring pop. LeBron and Austin provide that little bit of scoring. You see that two man connectedness with them. LeBron hits Austin on a beautiful back cut along the baseline in a really tight window for another layup. They blow the game out to like 1517. Then when Luca comes back in. Now you're dealing with Luca. Now Austin standing off the ball in the corner. And this is probably the most encouraging thing from this entire game. Out of all the different things that went the Lakers way, the Lakers ended up going to that spread pick and roll with Luca and Jackson off the top down the stretch, in that middle stretch of the fourth quarter. And Austin Reaves was consistently situated in that right corner. And we talked about this a lot in the show on Monday. But one of my concerns with the Lakers to this point in the season has been, you know, for all the talk about their shooting woes, like, I'm not sure that there are. They have a lot of guys that we would consider to be knockdown shooters. A lot of these guys are streaky shooters that are very rhythm based, that can go cold, right? And so it's one of those things where like a lot of these sequences are ending in the hands of a guy like Austin on the wing or ending in the hands of a guy like Gabe Vincent or a Marcus Smart or sometimes even Luca. And if you look at their rotation, it's really LeBron and Rui that are like the reliable, you know, stereotypical catch and shoot guys that you would expect to consistently knock down those shots at a high clip. And so I have my eye on specifically with the starters, Luca and Austin's catch and shoot play, because bench guys are. Bench guys are going to be in and out of the lineup. It's not that big of a deal. But ultimately, for this team to achieve the level of unguardability that they need to achieve to compete for a championship, they need every single sequence to end in the hands of a player who is going to consistently make you pay. Do I think their bigs, whether it's deandre Ayton or Jackson Hayes, are going to finish vertical spacing reps? Yes, they do. Especially deandre Ayton is a healthier or is a deandre A, when he's healthy, is a much better threat against switching schemes too, because he can do damage on the offensive glass and he can catch and hit a short little hook shot in the lane. Right? But you need every single sequence. If it ends in a catch and shoot for a LeBron, it that's going to go in, right? You, if you have a catch and shoot for Rui, you feel like it's going to go in, but you need it to feel the same for an Austin catch and shoot or the same for an Austin Cat or for a Luca catch and shoot, right? We talked a lot about that in the Monday show. Well, Luca was facing some pretty aggressive coverages in that middle fourth quarter. He got blitzed once. There was an at the level coverage and in those sequences they consistently got the ball to Austin in the weak side corner one on a Luca skip. A very beautiful skip pass from Luka in another one on a feed to Jackson in the short roll on a blitz, who then fed it to Austin. In both cases, Austin's man came over to tag the roller. Austin had an opportunity to attack out the corner. He knocks down the catch and shoot three on the first one. He drives the closeout on the second one and hits a little short bank shot. He had another one later on where he scored on a back cut, just cutting along the baseline, ended up getting a wide open layup. Jackson had another short roll read off of a full court pressure sequence where he hits Rui Hachimura for a lob along the baseline as he gets a dunk. By the way, shout out to Jackson Hayes, his connective passing there in the middle of the floor has been a revelation to start this season. When he catches in those four on threes, he is consistently making the right read. That improvement as well as him just getting a little bit stronger and a little better at defending with verticality without fouling has been a big step for this, for this Lakers team getting, getting a better production out of their center rotation. And then you add Maxi Kleba and the work that he's done in the last week or so. Lakers look like they have a better, a much, much, much better center rotation than they did last year, but essentially that was the path of the game and they ended up blowing it open. So like they start to defend well, they find a coverage that works okay. We're blitzing James Harden, that's working on the other end. Late third quarter, Luca brings real rim pressure, much more aggression towards the basket. You go into the third quarter, obviously at that point, James Harden's out of the game briefly. It's a Luca Austin unit. Luca and Austin, or excuse me, a LeBron and Austin unit. LeBron and Austin bring the scoring pop, they blow the game open. Here comes Luca back. Now it's about your ability to score out of the action. When all three of your stars on the floor, which they were consistently able to do down the stretch of the game. Really, really impressive game for the Lakers offense. They hang 135 points on a pretty bad Clippers defense. I'm going to bring up a stat. This was from my buddy Law Murray, who Covers the Clippers. The LA Clippers have allowed 120 plus points 10 times this season in 18 games. They did not give up their 10th game of 120 plus points last season until March 11, the 65th game of the season. So the Clippers obviously having some major issues on defense. I had a question in the chat. Someone asked me, is there one thing that you could say that explains why the Clippers have struggled so much to start the season? It's their defense. It's that simple. They've gone to become a bottom five defense in the NBA when last season they had a very similar, similar formula, right? Like James Harden, the offensive engine, floor, floor raiser. Zubots is the two man game partner. Athletes around them that can play with an advantage and that can defend. The difference is last year they were defending while James Harden was providing that offensive floor. This year they're not and that has been the big drop off for them. Couple other quick notes. LeBron scoring again. Perhaps the most encouraging thing is he was better on defense in the second half. His first three halves of, or his first, I should say five halves of defense in a Lakers jersey were not good. Just looked like the game was moving a little too fast for him. He was consistently getting caught out of position. Had a couple of brutal mistakes down the stretch of the second Jazz game that almost caught them, that cost them the game. Much, much better defensive half in the second half from LeBron. He won some one on ones with James Harden. He was flying around in help side rotations forcing some misses. The Lakers as a team forced a couple of Zubots misses on catches right underneath the basket late in the game. There were an example of that swarming to overcome the size disadvantage that I was talking about. And again the defensive rebounding was a revelation all night. But LeBron's a big part of that and I thought he was excellent in that second half defensively. But also 25 points, 9 for 15 from the field, 2 for 5 from 3, 6 rebounds and 6 assists plus 18 and 32 minutes, got a steal, got a block, had an offensive rebound like 25, 6 and 6 on super high efficiency with a like with the work that he was doing on the glass and the work that he was doing defensively in that second half. That's a really nice game from LeBron James. If LeBron can get to the point where he's routinely hanging out around that 25, 6 and 6 kind of range, that's where we're starting to talk about a guy that's in the Conversation for all NBA. He won't get all NBA this year because he won't play enough games. But it's more just in terms of the level that he's reaching. And we, you know, we had someone ask us in the chat like, what will the Lakers have to do in order to justify making a super aggressive win now type of trade? You know, to me, LeBron is the hallmark of that. If you get to late January, early February and LeBron doesn't look like he's near that level, then you have to start taking the long view. But if LeBron continues to trend upwards and by the time we get to late January, he's still healthy and he's playing at a super high level now, it becomes a much more complicated conversation because it's like, when is the next time you're going to get an all NBA level talent alongside Luka in this team construct? At that point it becomes much more complicated. It becomes much more of a, of a, of a, of a decision for this Lakers front office in terms of whether or not they want to make a more aggressive win now type of move. That's where you have to start considering the Andrew Wiggins type of contract that is like a little bit bigger in his early 30s, a little bit more complicated of a decision, but somebody that you might have to consider if LeBron clearly looks like he's playing at that level when he gets to that point. The positive regression from three in general from the Lakers, they ended up shooting 13 for 29 tonight. That's 45% obviously a strong indicator, but I do think they're going to be pretty streaky. I think the key guys again like, like when you look at their actual shot diet, so many of their threes are Luka, tough step backs. So like Luca improving on his step back three and Austin improving on his catch and shoot three, those are going to be the two main kind of swing factors for the Lakers and their jump shooting if they're going to get up into that more in that middle of the pack range as a shooting team that as we know they're capable of getting to. All right guys, that's all I have for tonight. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show again. I hope this is all we have for our Wednesday. So if you guys have a, I guess it's technically Wednesday here in Denver too, so. But again, as always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us. I hope you enjoy the holidays. I pre recorded a show with the Nerd Sesh guys covering contender rankings. So just like kind of an update on how I feel about the top the top two tiers of contenders. Carson and Logan were awesome. We got into some debates, got into some good stuff there. So make sure you guys meet us over on on the YouTube channel on Friday and then our next playback stream Friday night Dallas at la Gonna be a fun one. The Lakers have a chance to go 40 in the play in tournament or in the in season tournament with a chance to compete for the in season tournament championship. Should be a fun one. I will see you guys then.

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