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The Ringer NBA Show
Are the Thunder the Biggest Threat to the Spurs in the West? Plus, a Lackluster Lakers Christmas.
01:04:19
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- [00:00]
A
Foreign.
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B
Post Christmas Edition. I'm Howard Beck, senior writer for the ringer.com Logan is off today, taking a little family time, but with me from South Florida, he is the heat miser to my cold miser, Raja Bell. What's up, Raja?
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A
What up, Howard? Fresh off of Santa duties? Yeah, it was a wild one yesterday, man. We had. Let's see, do we have five kids segue at six kids, two under the age of nine, four teenagers. So we were. Yeah, it was a good day. Busy.
- [00:47]
B
That sounds slightly chaotic. A happy chaos, but definitely a little chaotic.
- [00:52]
A
Yeah, I mean, it's a good chaos, right? Like, I wouldn't change it. We're going to be losing one of them to. To school soon. It just makes it hard to really sit and, like, focus on basketball. Right. Like we talked about that pre pod. Do you want to sit? You're there for five minutes, and then inevitably, you're something. Something comes up.
- [01:10]
B
Listen, we all love the game. We all love the NBA, but 13 straight hours of basketball from noon Eastern until basically 1:30 Eastern, and a whole lot of Shaq and Chuck and Ernie and Kenny in between, which thank. Thank God for that. I welcomed them back. But, dude, that was a lot of NBA for what? I'm not sure. This is actually good. I know everybody loves the game, basketball. I'm starting to, like, reconsider the sanity of this all. Could we just do three games? Like four? Even Five.
- [01:40]
A
Four. Five is crazy. Five is so crazy, Howard. And you know, to the point, like, if you give me some comedic relief in there, I'm good. But because I couldn't really catch it all live, I had to cram it all into, like, you know, before I went to sleep last night. And, like, I fell asleep five times before I said, I quit. I can't watch it. I'll just do it in the morning. I don't even get that. So I'm just watching straight hoops from seven until we get on. It's crazy.
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B
I. I checked out on the last game at a certain point because I was just getting too tired. And then as I was like, wrapping everything up and trying to get things clean to put away and everything, I went, oh, wait, this game's tight. I should watch. So then I did watch down the stretch of the fourth in the overtime, and Jokic was awesome, per usual. Roger, how long.
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A
What. What time did that finish? I'm sorry, before you get into it, what time did that actually finish?
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B
Like, like 1:30. And I didn't stay up for, like, the, like, the late Late, late night of. Of Chuck and Shaq and the gang. I. I just. I. I was like, okay, I saw the end. We're good. I. I need some sleep at this point. Raj, I don't remember if we discussed this a year ago, but do you recall your. Your NBA Christmases? I. I found two. They were against the Lakers and they were both losses.
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A
Yeah. One with Philly and one with Phoenix.
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B
Probably Philly and. Yeah, Philly in 01, Phoenix in 07.
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A
Yep.
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B
First game, you scored two points in 12 minutes for Phillies. Yeah, not. Not. Not the dude W8. 82 game, though. So, I mean, two points is actually.
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A
Two points is not crazy percentage. I remember that one because it was. It was. My dad was working for the University of Miami at the time in the athletic department, and the Hurricanes came out, I believe, that year to play in the Rose bowl for. I think it was a national championship. So, like, my whole family, my mom, my dad, my sister, her boyfriend who played for the Hurricanes were out in. In la. They actually were able to come on the team playing with us. Nice. Philly took a bunch of people out to that. So I remember that one for that reason, clearly not for my contributions to the game. And then I remember the next one because I think we had had my first son, and he did Christmas like he was too young to really realize it, but Christmas was done in a. In the hotel in the Beverly Wilshire.
- [04:06]
B
Nice. So not. Not all bad. Being on the. I always think that's a. That's a mixed thing. I know players and coaches are very dutiful sticking to the talking points for the league when they say, oh, it's an honor to play on Christmas. And I grew up watching these games and everything, and I think there's probably a little bit of truth to that, but I think given a choice and given a little truth serum, everybody would just prefer to be at home rather than in the arena that day, Right?
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A
Yeah.
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B
Especially on the road.
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A
Yeah, on the road and especially when you have kids in their. In their good. You know, Santa believing this is a great experience. You know, little timeline like that, it's tough to be away for those times.
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B
I should note, since I pointed out your modest stats in, oh, one, your December, your Christmas 2007 game, Suns at Lakers, which Lakers won 122 to 115. Look at that. The scores markedly up by that point in NBA history. You started that game, played 33 minutes, 15 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 4 of 6 from the arc, 5 of 11 overall. And I Should just note that KOBE Bryant had 38 that day. But he, he played.
- [05:14]
A
You should know that. You should. Or you, you feel. How many free throws. That's all I care about. How many free throws.
- [05:20]
B
I actually did not jot that part down. Sorry. 38 points in 41 minutes, which is more than you played. So somebody else gave up all those points. Clearly, those are the non Raja minutes. All of it. I'm sure of it. He was, he did.
- [05:31]
A
I remember. Remember that. I think I remember that. He went. He went. There's a viral clip of me, top of the key. I'm pretty sure Brian Skinner is coming up as my defensive help in a pick and roll. And I'm like, I'm in a position where you would normally force someone to a pick and roll, and at the last minute, I switched my stance because we were supposed to be in, like a, in a blue coverage, which was like, sending him away from it. And skin stayed on the, on the other side. And Kobe goes right down the middle and, like, pipes it over Boris Diao. And it's viral. I saw it the other day, and I'm pretty sure that was a Christmas Day game. Wow.
- [06:07]
B
All right. On, on the, on the plus side, again, in the Rajabel column, Kobe had eight turnovers that day, which, again, I'm just going to say all eight of those were yours. Five. Five. Five of those. Were you just taking charges? Probably, but.
- [06:22]
A
I don't ever. Yeah, I was never going to get five charges on him. But I appreciate your, your efforts.
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B
I want to, I want to get to yesterday's Christmas games. But before I. How long can this, the Christmas light, stay up in the Raja Bell household? How long until the tree goes out? Because I'm holding onto this tree as long as I can, Raj. I love, I like the smell. I like to look. I like the way it makes the living room feel. And it just feels depressing once we take it out. Plus, the cats miss it because they love hanging under it.
- [06:49]
A
Yeah, I'm with you. I, I mean, that bad boy will stay up until my wife tells me to take it down, which could be a month. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. It could be forever. We had, we had a Christmas tree once in Dallas as young adults that, like, lost all its needles and everything. It just stayed in, just stayed in the corner, man, until it, it became a fire hazard. So they can stay up in this house for a while.
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B
Bro, I'm with you. I, I, I endorse it. There's a certain point where it feels like it's getting. Everything's getting a little stale, but I'm hanging onto the tree until the, you know, just every last needle has fallen off. If, if I can do it. All right, we will get to the full slate of yesterday's Christmas games, but we will take a short break first.
- [07:26]
A
Be right back.
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B
The Ringer NBA show is presented by FanDuel. FanDuel's got it all. Same game parlays, quick bets for jumping in live and your way so you could build the bet that fits your play. Plus, don't miss out on holiday offers and surprises all month long. Download the FanDuel app or head to FanDuel.com RingerMBA to get started. 21 plus and present in select states or 18 plus and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800- gambler or visit rg-help.com, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut. All right, so as we said, Raja, 13 hours of NBA basketball yesterday, mostly great games. Only really one dud in the batch and that was the Rockets routing the Lakers. But Knicks comeback thriller at the Garden against the Cavs. The Cavs actually look pretty damn good until that fourth quarter collapse. Spurs beat the Thunder again, this time in Oklahoma. Warriors. The warriors got peace on earth for, for a day with Steve Kerr and Draymond. They beat the Mavericks, Mavericks lost Anthony Davis again. And the day closed with, as we mentioned, another Jokic masterpiece with the Nuggets beating the Timberwolves in overtime. There are a lot of places we could start here, Raja, and we'll. I'm gonna, I'm gonna go negative first. I know it's the, it's like the season of joy and hope and all this stuff, but I'm, I gotta, the Lakers just seemed like they were meltdown. So we'll start there. We'll get to positive stuff. I mean, frankly, the flip, flip side of this is that it's great, great day for the Rockets. So. But The Lakers, Raja, J.J. redick seemed just beside himself. I think he's already there. There are JJ Redick crash out headlines flying all over the place this morning. Three straight losses now for the Lakers by an average of 21 points. Six losses in their last 10 games. Austin Reeves aggregate aggravated that calf yesterday, so he was out for the second half. He's getting an MRI today. We don't have that result yet. The Lakers are now down to 25th in defensive efficiency. This is something Redick was harping on earlier in the week, like the. The warning flags were all over the place. And it's just getting worse. They're 28th in defense, in defense over their last 10 games. Their offense is just 14th in that span. They're still 19 and 10, fourth in the west, but they have a negative point differential now for the season. It's. It's minus 0.4 per 100. According to cleaning the glass. Based on that point differential, according to cleaning the glass, the Lakers should be a 40 win team and would be they. Their expected win total right now would be 14 and 15 as a record instead of 19 and 10. Oh, and LeBron was minus 33 in his 32 minutes yesterday. That is the worst of his career as a Laker and third worst of his career period. I don't even know where to begin there, other than the quotes are even more alarming, I think, than all the statistical trends I just pointed out. Jake Laravia. Jake. We're quoting Jake laravia partially because LeBron and Austin Reeves left without speaking to the media. Lucas spoke, but it was the role players who basically had to step up. Jake Laravia. When he was asked why isn't the team together on both ends of the floor, he says, I couldn't tell you. I think there might be a disconnect right now. That doesn't sound great. Redick says that Saturday's practice is going to be uncomfortable. And then he says, I'm not doing another 53 games like this. That seemed bad. And when asked about all this, Reddick says of his team, we don't care enough right now. And, and that's the part that bothers you a lot. We don't care enough to do the things that are necessary. We don't care enough to be a professional. Which alarm bell would you like to address first, Raja? There's a lot obvious.
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A
Obviously the Jake Laravia of it all. Hey, dude. Hey. Hey, man. The PR person needs to get in there. Hey, Jake, scale that back, bro. What are you doing? That's. No, I mean, there's, there's, there's a lot. There's a lot of meat on that bone. Howard JJ Redick with the professionalism, I think is, is alarming. And, and, you know, let's just try to figure out who, who, who is he talking to, right? Because you're not talking to numbers. Well, first of all, you ain't talking to nobody who didn't touch the floor, right? And, you know, the Jake Laravia of the world and those dudes Typically don't have the luxury of not coming out and being professionals about their business. Right. They're hanging on by that. That's why they're getting on the floor. So you're talking about and. And the Marcus Smarts and the Jared Vanderbilts, like, they were out there competing.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So who are you talking to? And therein lies, like, the. The problem, right? Like, you are taking shots at the very top of your roster. Um, and that's a problem that is very concerning. And, you know, this wasn't the question you asked me, but just to start that game, right. Cause I told you, like, some of them I had to sit and watch this morning, right? So just to start that game, I started it. I watched the first five minutes. I had to take it back. I didn't even have the time to do this because, like, I'm trying to cram it all in, but I'm like, that looks so fucking crazy that I'm rewinding that. Like, three turnovers from Luka off the rip. You're crying about every foul. LeBron's disengaged Houston on the first three shots, got three offensive rebounds, like, it just, it screamed we don't give a shit and we don't want to be here. Now they got into a groove and, you know, once they started moving offensively and competing a little bit, but that's the way we're starting games. And so when you ask me what's most concerning it, it. It is definitely their coach saying that we have a lack of professionalism and whatever else he said in that clip, he said a lot.
- [13:36]
B
He did, he did. And if you watched it and listened to him, like, the tone, like, he just. I mean, JJ obviously is a very intense dude in good times and bad, but, like, the tension in his voice was, Was striking. He seems just like he's at his wits end. And yeah, I mean, great point, Raja, about, like, who's on the court versus who's not, because who are you really talking about here? Then, like, we could point the finger at, like, deandre Ayton. That would be an easy target. He has a history of, of not always being consistently professional. But is he talking about Rui Hachimura? Is he talking about, like, like, who else played? Like, there's only like, seven guys who played or eight guys who played heavy minutes. And as you point out, like, Jared Vanderbilt played his ass off yesterday. He had a really good game. He had been out of the rotation, and Reddick recently brought him back because they really need his defense and his hustle and his, his kind of just interchangeability. He can, you know, guard across multiple positions. But it does kind of sound like you can't get away from this. Like, this may be a Luka and LeBron thing. Kendrick Perkins was on ESPN this morning basically saying, as somebody who played with and against LeBron, the body language is bad. He seems, you know, I can't remember if he used the word that you did. Disengaged, but it was along those lines and kind of suggesting that maybe things have just run their course between LeBron and the Lakers. And look, this goes all the way back to when they got Luca last season. It goes back to Rich Paul's statement that he issued when LeBron opted in, but there was no extension offer. And the whole two timelines of like, hey, I know you're building around Luka, but don't forget about LeBron. He's on a one year expiring deal. Like, Perk was like, suggesting that LeBron shouldn't finish this season with the Lakers, which I think is a little soon to get there. But it also very complicated to disengage, to, to use that word in another context, to like disengage LeBron from the Lakers. Like, I don't even know how you get there, but I think it's too soon for that. I do think that if you're talking about why they are so lackluster defensively, this is a team, a league that's just gotten very young and fast and athletic, and a team in the Lakers that is none of those things. They have some youth, but not, not the kind of horses to stay with the Rockets or the Thunder or the Spurs.
- [15:59]
A
Howard, it was the most striking. It's a fantastic point. And it was one of the most striking things. Watching them yesterday or watching them today and, and, and it, the, the difference between the way their players can navigate around a court, the speed which, with which they do, with the athleticism that they lack compared to the rest of the good teams is startling. It really is. So, like, JJ can be right and he still might not be able to get that level of consistent output from guys who just can't physically do that. Because you're right, these guys are flying. And you watch that San Antonio OKC shoot, you watch, you know, the Knicks and Cleveland, like, people were flying around the court and the Lakers just don't look like that. They just don't look like Howard. No, I want to say this again because, you know, the Luka fan, I get it, man. He's like probably like the Kobe fan or the MJ fan, LeBron fan, anything you say about them is going to be taken and just blown. But when your best player is consistently, I mean after almost every single play that isn't in a bucket and a lot of them that are buckets, when he is always pouting and complaining and bitching, it's exhausting for your teammates. Dude, it is a very, very poor cultural thing to have your best player on those vibes all the time. And if LeBron is in a cold war of sorts in his passive aggressive, hey, like, you know, the way he handles his when he's not all the way bought into what's going on with an organization. So he's not counterbalancing with, with his normal culture. And I'm not saying this for a fact, but yesterday he wasn't. I mean that's when you heap that all on top of a roster that probably doesn't have the athletes and the legs and that's just a lot.
- [18:05]
B
Yeah, yeah. Luka's got this commercial campaign now. I'm sure you've seen it. The commercials were on like 50 times yesterday. And it is this whole like bad Luka something, whatever, bad Luka, good shoes, I don't know, something. But it's, it's like Luka poking fun at himself. I remember, am I a bad guy? Am I this, am I that? And it's, it's fun, it's funny. And I'm glad that he has enough self awareness to do that and he has enough self awareness to have addressed at times his issues with refs and being such a, like just complete com, like just wall to wall complainer. Right? He is, he is an unrepentant complainer and ref chewer. And he's talked about it, he's talked about trying to reign it in and at times he has. But like he has not changed. He has not changed. And so like that. Plus the fact that he is generally a net negative on defense. Right. Like we talk, it's not just this team is old. Like Luke is obviously not old. Austin Reeves is not old, but they're either old and or not athletic enough or not defensively committed enough. Like there's just a combination of factors here that make them bad defensive team. They haven't had Reeves, LeBron and Luka their three best players, not, not necessarily in that order on the court a lot this season. And I think Laker fans would probably point to that and say, well, hey, come on, will we get healthy when we get these guys together consistently. But in the 140 minutes those guys have played, Luca, LeBron and Reeves together, they're a negative nine net rating. So minus nine point per 100 when those guys are there and with, with average offense and just absolutely horrible defense with those three together on the court. So like they just have functional problems. Which leads me to this. Like, you know, we are about to close out the calendar year. We are like six, seven weeks away from the trade deadline. I don't know if there's a move to be made here, Raja, but it does feel like this is a team that cannot afford to just stand pat and hope for the best. Is there anything, and I don't mean a specific trade, we don't have to start playing trade machine jockey right now. But what do you think? Is there a move to be made that actually can stabilize this team right now? Is there any particular thing you look at and say like, this is what they need? Maybe not, not going to get them into title contention necessarily, but they want to maintain being at least a top four team with a puncher's chance in the spring. So what do they need?
- [20:25]
A
They, they need more than you can, I guess, acquire right, right now. Because what they need is they need young, fresh, two way guys. They need guys that can get up and down, defend. They need a little bit more versatility defensively. And the other thing that stuck out to me about the league as I watched, you know, yesterday and this morning, is just how many guys on every roster, and I've said this before, can just really create, given the opportunity to. Maybe not the same way Luka can or the same way that like Shay can on okc, but like teams are littered with guys, long rangy guys who can create a little bit and go get a bucket if you leave them in space. And so, you know, the Lakers, I just think, need more dynamic wing depth. Like a month or so ago when we were talking to Logan and we were talking about the LeBron of it all. And my point was if he was going to be relegated to being number three and having to figure out how to be number three. You know, I'm not saying what Kendrick Perkins said necessarily, but I was asking the question, like, there are better guys out there to do that specific job than LeBron, right? Because like LeBron is not those things. LeBron is a drink stirring. Give me the ball. I move the pieces around the chessboard player and he's taking up, you know, a spot where you could add pieces like these ringgy or wing that want to defend and supplement by shooting threes, you know, and, and that's what they need, Howard. Like, but they need a, they need, they need it on the, they need depth of it on the bench. They need a little bit of it in their starting lineup. Like between Luca and Austin Reaves. Shout out to Austin Reeves, dog. My bad, my bad. He's a fucking bucket. But he's, he's a bucket and he's gotten, he's just gotten better and better at being a bucket. They have two dudes like that now. Now you got to find pieces that, that fit around that, that can defend around that because they're both poor defenders and that can, you know, accentuate that offensively.
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B
Yeah. And before people start saying like, oh, it's insane to say that you want Luca and Austin and, and jettison LeBron. The thing with NBA team building in this time frame, and it's, it's been true for a long time, but especially right now in the second apron era, when you have one guy making 50 something million, it's not just that whether LeBron fits well with Austin Reaves and Luka, it's what else would that 50 million get you if it weren't him? If you could swap that out for three or four guys who were rangy, two way guys, get a little bit more center depth, whatever it may be. Those are, those are pieces that might fit really well around Luca and Austin Reeves and you know, accentuate their positives. You know, if these guys are shooters helping keep the floor space, if they're defenders taking the pressure off Luca and Austin Reaves to do the things that they, they can't or won't do defensively. Like there's a way to build around two other. And like Austin Reeves is not a high priced star yet, but he will be next summer, whether he's in LA or somewhere. And besides that, you are now building, you, you are building on Lucas timeline. Now. LeBron's 41, what, today, tomorrow, some sometime soon here. And you are in a very uncomfortable in between phase here. And neither side really wanted to broach it in the summer, but it's looming and the further into the season that we get, and especially if the Lakers are struggling as they are right now, like this is not going away. The, the, the, the LeBron of it all, as we talked about earlier, that is just hovering over them and I, I, you know what the, the, the.
- [24:06]
A
Scary part for them, Howard, sorry to cut you off, is, is historically speaking, from what I know about LeBron and camp it. It's not getting better. Yeah. I mean, either on the court or relationship wise. Like, there's no pill, no magic pill to change what's going on. There's no concessions that the Lakers can make, you know, to LeBron and camp at this point that would make any sense to the Lakers moving forward. So this isn't. It's not going away and it's not getting better.
- [24:30]
B
No, no. Any quick thoughts on the Rockets before we move on to the next one here?
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A
Yeah, I mean, I. A physical, if they got their paws on you, like, if they can get their paws on you there, they could be a problem for some people. But. But they got to be able to get their paws on you, if that makes sense. Right. They're physical. They beat you up. Kd, KD sticks out to me. Two things. Katie and Reed Shepherd. Reed shepherd is coming along real nice. Like, he's. He's coming along nicely. It's pretty cool to watch. Like, I still would say that in a probably late, late year playoff scenario. I would like to not stunt Reed's development, but have a piece that I knew could. Could handle those minutes. Like, you know that. I'm going to stick to that. But he's developing nicely. KD is awesome to me because KD will come out, miss 4 like he did last night. Like, just miss him, you know, shot. But. But a lot of dudes have missed four, and you're like, oh, shit. It's going to be one of those nights. KD is just really calibrating. You ever seen anybody at like a gun range with a scope and they're going to miss the first four, but they're just like, tweaking, you know, they're just tweaking the scope and just moving it around until they get it locked in. And then it's. Then they're just going to be picking off the targets like that. He's still really one of the best in the world at that. Yeah.
- [25:46]
B
Incredible. There are. There are days where, and more often than not, he still looks like he's 30 instead of 37. Like, Katie's still super effective. Are we to the point yet where we actually are are like, you know what, maybe they don't need a Fred Van Vliet replacement. Maybe between Katie Shangoon, Amen Thompson, Reed Shepherds, you know, making strides. Like, is it. Is it okay? Like, are the rockets in the mix here in the top of the west, even without that? And they've, you know, look, they've had their struggles recently, too, but they, they look like they're stabilizing.
- [26:17]
A
Yeah. Yeah, I think we are. I think we're. I think we're in a world where they've figured out how that's going to work. Right. How they're going to play. In the absence of that. Do. Do I think they could be the highest version, the best version of themselves? Can they reach their highest ceiling without that orchestrator? I believe that answer to be no, though, Howard. But, but even as currently constituted, I am telling you, if they get their paws on you and you allow them to. If you allow them to operate the way they want to operate without that pg, they get you and they'll drag you down into a, into a street fight.
- [26:51]
B
Yeah.
- [26:52]
A
And. And I would not want to do that with them. Amen. Thompson's in a league of freaks. He is a freak. Like, what he, what he can do physically is incredible. KD Sengun. So, yes, they could, they could compete in the top of the Western Conference as they are right now. I do still think their highest ceiling would be with the real point guard.
- [27:13]
B
Yeah. And I still think that they are in that next tier below the Thunder, the Nuggets and the spurs, who we will get to. And I'll just note like, I like the way that the, the Rockets played yesterday. Maybe some of that was the Lakers helping them out, but they have lost four of their last six and there's some, there's some rough ones in there. You're losing to the Kings and Clippers back to back. You know, lost, lost to the Nuggets and Pelicans both in overtime. The Kings game was an overtime game too. So, like, they've been in a lot of, of tight ones that they haven't been able to pull out, which is surprising considering they have one of the greatest clutch players of all time in kd. But yeah, the Rockets are still. I, I'm not, I'm not sure we've figured them out. I'm not sure they figured themselves out quite yet.
- [27:54]
A
You know what's interesting, Howard? You know, those tight ball games, those, those overtime ball games, those, those small margin games are ones where, you know, and now mind you, I didn't watch every single one of those games, so this might not have been the case. But in a lot of instances, those really small margin games become about, you know, execution become about details, become about possession to possession, you know, and that's where someone who naturally is a leader of, of your offense and can run the show could get you two, three, four points just, just over the course of A game in terms of being organized, not turning the ball over. We got a better possession than we ordinarily would without you.
- [28:34]
B
This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime Prime. The holidays move fast and Amazon prime keeps you in control with fast and free delivery. We've all been there. Family plans are fluid. Somebody's not coming. Suddenly they are coming and you're excited about it. You want to get them a gift. So you hop on Amazon prime, line that up with their interests. And it's easy to do because Amazon has everything. Prime's fast shipping is always there for you during the holidays, especially when it's last minute and it just can't wait. Need that last minute gift or holiday essential? It's on Prime. Head to Amazon.comprime to shop now. I alluded to this, so I'm going to going to jump right to it because I thought one of the most fascinating games of the day and we knew this coming in because it's been simmering over the last couple of weeks. Spurs at Thunder was guaranteed to deliver. It did. Especially if you're a Spurs fan or anybody who has been waiting for the Thunder to stumble or hoping that somebody could shatter that, that veneer of invincibility. The spurs really take it to them 117 to 102. I've been thinking about this. I asked this respectfully, are the Thunder the biggest threat to the spurs winning the West?
- [29:47]
A
No. No. Because the Thunder can't beat them. So it would be the Thunder. It could be somebody else.
- [29:53]
B
I, I just, I just want everybody, as they're trying to still like, come out of their Christmas haze, to have to like, think about what I just asked for a few minutes, what that was. I mean, we've been, we've been wondering this whole time, like, could anybody possibly puncture the Thunder's armor? And now the spurs have beaten them three times in three cities in 13 days. They beat them, of course, in Vegas in the cup semifinal. They beat them in San Antonio a couple nights before Christmas and then they beat them on Christmas in Oklahoma. So I don't know if that's ever happened in NBA history. Three wins in three different cities against the same team. But this is the season of hope and joy, and the spurs have just given the rest of the league some hope and joy by showing that the Thunder can be beaten. It might require you having a 7 foot 4 alien along with like 3 absolute freaking stud guards who can get their shots off anywhere, anytime and get to the rack repeatedly. I don't know if Anybody can replicate that formula. But what have you seen from the spurs over the course of three games against the Thunder that is this just unique to them? Are they exposing anything in terms of the way to beat the Thunder? Is this just like. Yeah, we, we have Wemby, Castle, Fox and Harper and y' all don't.
- [31:10]
A
I. I mean I think they do some good things. I talked about how often they keep Oklahoma City's bigs engaged in some sort of action. You know, lifting them out off ball, flaring with their guy, just keeping them occupied. I think they do that pretty well. But the majority of what they do is what you just said or the majority of their advantage is in that personnel and, and you know, the pieces that they have. What I found interesting yesterday, yes, Stefan Castle, Dieren Fox was just chewing them up in that drop coverage. Just like, you know, whether he was in transition with the ball, just like just carving up that or he was in pick and roll. Getting to that snake elbow jumper was crazy. Stefan Castle, he gets wherever he wants to go. Dylan Harper was great, but there were a few plays. It was. Chet hit Wemby with a head fake and Wemby kind of like fouled him, like gave him a good foul and then he missed the free throw and Wemby like flexed a little bit. Then Wemby was running down in transition and one of the OKC reserve bigs tried to take the charge. Wemby just like drove him into the floor and then he had another play where he as. As Wemby was trying to get back in transition. Defense, somebody from OKZ was just in his way and Wemby like chicken winged him and kind of like threw him out of the way. And I was like, oh shit. There's a little, there's a little attitude about that shit. Like this isn't. This isn't he. He had something with that Dylan Harper on the baseline dunk. Two handed baseline dunk on the pass from Wemby. Right on the pass from Wemby. And then what's the other cat's name in Johnson? Was it what's his.
- [32:54]
B
Keldon Johnson.
- [32:55]
A
Yeah, that two handed put back. That's what stuck out to me. Those plays didn't win the game. But. But the overall kind of attitude that they were playing OKC with is what stuck out, what stood out to me. Like they don't think you can beat them. That's the way they feel about that. Like they're there, OKC be damned. They don't think OKC can beat them. And quite frankly, on the flip side of that, I saw a lot of okc. I saw a lot of OKC doubt as it relates to beating San Antonio.
- [33:27]
B
Yeah, there should be. I mean, after three straight to these, to this team, they, they should have some doubt. Wemby's overall, and it almost feels like even more pronounced now over the last couple weeks since he came back from injury than even at the be at the start of this season. But Wemby is playing with a different edge now. Like, it is unmistakable and, and it's not over the top, right? Like, he's not out there just like sneering and, and, and yapping and everything else constantly. But there's, there's the physical aggression which you alluded to, and there's, and there is some like, almost sneering, right? As, as, as sneering as, as a very polite young Frenchman could be. Like, there is definitely an edge there. And you know, even, even occasionally, like, you know, like he got knocked down once. No foul call, but it was kind of like, I don't know if he was complaining or just kind of more of like, you couldn't. You can't stop me. Anyway, kind of of a snapback. Like, he just, he's carrying himself with an edge. And they've already got a bunch of guys who just the personality of their games are, Are super aggressive anyway. All three of those guards, like those guard Fox, Castle and, and Harper, not to mention Vesel, like, these guys, any team would kill to have any two of those. And in a league where, you know, again, it's gotten younger and faster and you need to be able to drive it, you need to be able to shoot it from three. You need to be able to hit step backs. They've got a bunch of guys who could seemingly just do all of it. And Dylan Harper, for a guy who was a high pick, who sometimes those guys come in expecting, I've got to be featured on day one. But he's coming into a very established team. He's just playing his role. It never looks like he forces it. Shout out to his dad, Ron Harper, who I covered back in the day. But like, obviously, like, whether it's, it's, it's Ron, whether it's coaches throughout his life, like, he, he gets it. Like, I, I don't. I want to crib from Larry Brown, your old coach, about playing the right way. But like, Dylan Harper seems to understand how to blend his talents in and like it's, or, or maybe it's just what Wemby Said, you know, a couple weeks back about, you know, the, the culture of spurs basketball like this is, you know, something that has, has been threaded through the DNA of this franchise going back to, to Timmy Mano and Tony, right? They play together, they play well. They. The, the pass that Wemby made to Dylan Harper for that, that two handed reverse dunk was fantastic. Like, it looked like he was going up to shoot and it was just like season coming across the baseline, Boom. Phenomenal play.
- [36:03]
A
Yeah, it was a, it was a great play. I think, I think, you know, we talk about like young rookies coming in and, and, and what they're asked to do on the team they come into a lot of times, you know, will determine how they actually look that first year. Right. And what they're trying to do. And I think organically, for a kid who has been raised the right way in the basketball space, knowing that there are other guys being in practice every day and realizing that, hey, Stefan Castle is a bad mofo and Darren Fox is a bad dude, and Wemby, well, then it becomes that much more organic for you to just say, hey, I'll just fit in here, I'll do what I do, you know, but like, I don't have to do it all. So let me just kind of let, let me just figure out how this works and how my skill set translates, you know, to this team and helps and helps us win games. The, the cool thing about them watching them yesterday is they'll spread you out. And when Wemby's not on the floor, those dudes are at you. I mean, they are putting pressure on your rim. They are getting where they want to go. When Wemby comes in, they run, you know, they'll still run pick and roll and stuff, but they like, they give him that ball right at the free throw line, right? And, and you know, it's very, very difficult and it really exposes your defense. And it's, it's natural inclination on a player like Wemby to want to go help because when he's at the free throw line and he faces up, he can see the four defenders that want to help. And those dudes are great at playing off of that. They're gone. You, you lose sight of one of them and they're not there anymore when you turn around. And Wemby is just that good of a facilitator like Jokic and those great bigs, but it's cool to watch because they, they flow in and out of different styles of play and as a Defense that's difficult. You know, like I'm trying to wrap my head around. We're spaced out, you know, people are moving but the ball's penetrating and how I have to play to, to either guard the ball or help the ball. And then all of a sudden you're just going to throw it to the free throw line. Everyone's standing still and Wemby's going to cook my big. Well, I'm going to help. Oh, shit. I look back, my man's gone. And so they got a lot of stuff going for them. They're a tough matchup, obviously a tough one for okc. I will say this though, Howard. OKC got a lot of good shots. They got a lot of wide open threes that they just did not make. And you know, if they have a 74 alien protecting the rim and it's going to be hard for SGA and others to get in and around the rim and finish and they're giving you those threes you got, that's the game. We're either going to win it because we make them or we're going to lose it because we don't make enough.
- [38:34]
B
The Thunder were 24 and one before they met the spurs the first time a couple weeks back. They're now they've got four losses in their last six games, three of them to San Antonio. Like this is the first definable losing trend for the Thunder in a very long time. They've gone from a 74 win pace down to a mere 69 win pace. So I think they're going to be okay. But still notable, the spurs don't turn the ball over. That's the other thing here, right? Like the Thunder feast on turnovers and points off turnovers. The spurs and the three wins. They had 19 the first time, which is high for them, but then just nine in the second game, 13 in the third game. So they're averaging a little under 14 turnovers a game in their three wins against the Thunder. Thunder opponents average 18 turnovers a game and that is the highest in the NBA. So the Thunder turned their opponents over a ton. The spurs don't fall into that. We are way too early for this. But Tim Bond, temps at espn, did do his first straw poll. MVP straw poll. My ballot for full disclosure, which I sent him a couple weeks ago before that ran was Shea Jokic, Luca Brunson, Cade Cunningham there. There were a lot of other possibilities, but that was how I. It's a snapshot, right? You're just trying to. To give A quick take. If he asked again now and it's only been two weeks, like, Wemby's in there. I'm sorry. Like. And Wemby still has. There's going to be a games played concern at some point. He's missed 12 games. You can only miss 17. And then there's some minutes requirements under all these crazy new rules. But if he asked me again right now, I think I'd have Wemby third at worst after Shay and Jokic. And it's going to be fluid for the rest of the season. So let's not put too much stock in any of this. It's just worth noting because I think the only reason Wemby wasn't stronger in that straw pole on my ballot or anybody else's is that he had missed those 12 games. But, oh, my God, in the 18 games he's played, he's averaging 23 points, 12 rebounds, three and a half assists, three blocks. He is a plus 15 per 100 possessions. Just wrecking people.
- [40:46]
A
Yeah, that's. Yeah, that's gross. He's just so freaky. I sit there with my dad, he was like, after every second thing Wemby did, every other thing Wemby did, my dad had a comment. My dad doesn't watch that much NBA anymore. I'm like, yeah, dad, that's. That's. That's real. I mean, that's not a. That's a real thing that's happening.
- [41:04]
B
That's. That's not. That's not AI.
- [41:08]
A
That's a real human man. Can I. I just want to go to the OKC of it real quick. Howard, I. In a weird way, I like this for them. I don't necessarily. Like, there is a thing about feeling like you're invincible as a team, and so for that, I don't love this, but finding some. Finding some obstacles and some. Some grit and. And having to overcome some stuff for a team that just won a championship and got off to such a hot start, I think is a good thing now. I think it's a good thing to happen at a point in the season where there's enough room on the back end to right the ship and figure out, hey, hey, hey, no one's just going to give us this shit again. Because we talk about those teams that just run the table that year after a championship and how, you know, they do that, then they take their foot off that gas organically, and then, boom, you know, you've taken your eyes off the prize and you can't, you know, Find a way to win it back to back. I like this for them. If handled the right way.
- [42:07]
B
I agree. And I have heard a lot of great coaches, hall of Fame coaches say this over the years. Especially when you are coaching a team that is just absolutely dominant, they'll get a little high on themselves. Like the Thunder are an epitome of professionalism. Despite their youth, they are all about business. And I would never request question that at all. But any, everybody can get a little high on themselves and start to think like, we've already got it figured out. There's nothing new to learn here, but they are a really young team. There is more to learn. Teams are going to find different ways to challenge you and throw you off your game. And what I've heard coaches say in these situations is it's, it's a good thing to have. It's a good. The losses are good because I have their attention again now. They don't need to pay, they don't need to listen to the coach where they're just like mauling people. But when they start to lose, then it's like, okay, now we have something to work on. Now there's something to point out in the film room. And now everybody's like humbled just enough to realize we're not perfect basketball players. We don't know everything. You know, this is, this is a time to kind of try to tighten things up a little bit. So I agree with you. I think it'll probably ultimately be good for them. But I also do think, like the cracks in the armor are good for the rest of the NBA. I think we. Everybody was getting too caught up in are they going to obliterate the wins record? Are they going to be the next dynasty? You know, we do this right. This is just, this is us in the media and fans too, in this era. We're always trying to spin this forward a little too quick. It's a good time to pump the brakes just a bit. They're still awesome. So speaking of dynasties and the team they were chasing, still chasing Golden State warriors, a little bit of a strain at moments, but you know, Cruz do a home win there against the Mavericks. Not a fun homecoming for Klay Thompson. Not a fun day for Anthony Davis who limps off the court again. How many times have we seen that? But I did want to get you on this, Raja, because Logan and I spoke at length earlier in the week when you were off about the Draymond, Steve Kerr flare up. Draymond leaving the bench, going to the Locker room, just removing himself entirely. And then when he comes back, Kerr decides not to play him in before the Christmas Day game. Or maybe it was on the off day in between. Steve took full responsibility himself. I don't know if that was him just deciding to be as the coach, as the authority figure, throw, you know, fall on the sword and just take it on you, take the pressure off Draymond or how much of that was. Was. Was earnest on Steve's part. But he basically said, like, this is on me. I didn't handle it well. But we've apologized to each other. We're good. Draymond played yesterday, you know, up, up and down game for him, too. But, like, he's back on the court. And they won, and the warriors are now. They've won three in a row, all at home, five and three in their last eight, including wins against Cleveland, Phoenix and Orlando. They seem okay. I, I, Logan seemed pretty alarmed by what happened the other night. I think some people thought it might be a breaking point for Kerr and Draymond after all this time. I kind of chalked it up to, like, these guys have been through worse, and they know each other well enough to get through this one as they've gotten through the others. But did anything strike you with that particular flare up? Because as, as Legler pointed out, I think, on Bill's pod the other day, like, he'd said, like, I, I've never seen that, where a guy just, like, walks away, leaves the court. Yeah, that. So that, that part of it, I think, did strike people.
- [45:28]
A
Yeah, that. No, that's what struck me is just the, the, the optics of that. Right. Like that. I mean, we've been in plenty of huddle or coaching a player into it, and, you know, they're heat of the moment type things. I mean, even crossing lines verbally where you'd be like, hey, you just disrespected him one way or the other. Coach to player or player to coach. I think we've all, all of us who have played have seen that. But having someone get up and just walk out was pretty wild to watch. But here's what I didn't know. Given Draymond's history with Golden State and then just in general with the league, you know, having been someone that, you know, dealt with impulse control and had to learn how to deal with that, sometimes one of the things that they arm you with is what Draymond said he chose to do. Now, it sounded like a cop out, but if that's what them as an organization have armed him with through a third party in terms of coping mechanisms, whether that's counting backwards from 10, so it switches sides of your brain or just removing yourself from a situation, I didn't know the answer to that. So if in fact, it was something that he's been trained to say, hey, listen, man, if you stay here for two more seconds, you will do irreparable damage. Just go over there and everyone is okay with that. And he practices that. That's not that big of a deal. But it did look crazy.
- [46:49]
B
That's exactly how I looked at it, Raja. That was because what Draymond went through a couple years ago with Nurkic and Gobert in those incidents, and just like severe lack of impulse control, right. Physically, not just emotionally or verbally. And that was when he had the indefinite suspension. He went, you know, I don't think he just like, quote unquote, went to counseling. I think he'd been getting counseling. But clearly during that period of time, there was a lot more of that kind of self reflection and trying to work on himself going on. And he has not had an incident like that since then. Like, he's had his text, he's had his flare ups here and there, whatever. But there's been nothing, thankfully, remotely like what happened during that very short span a couple Decembers ago. And so my, my thought was the other day, and this was, I'm not trying to give him too much benefit of the doubt, but it definitely occurred to me, given everything he has said, including to me in a story that I did that season, that it is about sometimes stepping away or doing whatever it takes to calm yourself. And though he has, I don't think he has specifically said it about what happened the other day, but that was my impression too, was get yourself out of the situation before it boils over, before something truly regrettable happens. And if that's what it took. But in the moment, yeah, it looks like insubordination or as some people saw it, as quitting on the team. And like, I get that, but clearly the warriors understand. Steph understands, Steve Kerr understands. They're good. I think everybody could just move on. But I did want to get your. Your perception of that before. Before we lost that one. Because the warriors have other concerns, right? Like, yeah, they are, like I said, one of five of their last eight. They're about to head on the road again. I'm going to see them here in Brooklyn in a couple of nights on Monday, actually, against the suddenly surging Nets. I don't know what's I don't even know what to make of that. There's one of the true mysteries. I don't know what's gotten into the Nets. They're going to ruin their lottery position again. That's what's. That should be their biggest concern. Do the warriors have any chance, Raja, to break into that? I'm going to call it the Oklahoma, San Antonio, Denver tier. Like, I think that's. No. Yeah. Because the next tier down is like the Houston, Minnesota tier. I'm going to put those two behind. Oklahoma, San Antonio, Denver.
- [49:04]
A
Yep.
- [49:04]
B
And then the warriors are somewhere in that, like trying to be in that Houston, Minnesota tier along with the Lakers who may or may not be in that tier. I don't know, like, is, is there again trade deadline coming up? Kaminga just kind of hanging out waiting to, you know.
- [49:23]
A
Yeah.
- [49:23]
B
Put the movers on hold.
- [49:25]
A
Yeah. If you were going to, if you were going to tell me that, that, you know, there was, there was a way. Because another, another team that, that screams I need athletes and stuff. If you were going to tell me there was a way for them to get some of that around the trade deadline. TBD on the question you asked me right now, there's no, they're not, they're not in jeopardy of creeping into that, to that elite category for me.
- [49:51]
B
No, I don't think so either. And like it's, it's on, on the plus side, Al Horford came back and played really well yesterday. Hit a bunch of threes. On the downside, Al Horford came back and is firmly in the rotation and is really old and like whatever they can get out of him is great, but you kind of want Al Horford for April and beyond and not, you know, optimistically, not necessarily to like, you know, be your, your biggest second quarter score. Whenever it was with that flurry of threes against the Dallas Mavericks team, that's far from whole. So yeah, they're, they're far from out of the woods. I. To me, between now and the trade deadline, the Kaminga question is one of the most fascinating storylines to watch. Just because if there's any way for the warriors to, to get back closer to those top tier teams in the west, it is with whatever they get out of a Kaminga deal, assuming they can create one between now and the trade deadline, that, that is obviously their biggest concern or their biggest goal.
- [50:52]
A
Yeah, they'd have to do some and, and yeah. With the right, with the right work around the edges. Howard. I mean, what Steph is able to do at at this point in his. It's still remarkable. I mean it's still one of the coolest things to watch. But he. They need some, they need a makeover.
- [51:08]
B
Yeah. Before we move on from this one, Cooper Flag, you know, the lone bright spot still and will remain probably the lone bright spot for the Mavericks for some time. 27.6 rebounds, 5 assists, just one turnover in that game. In almost 36 minutes, 13 to 21 from the field, Cooper Flag started the season I, I think kind of a little up and down. We had a whole, you know, con caniple thing happening and the rookie of the year race and VJ Edgecomb starting to pull away. Like all this, all these other things happening and I think, not that anybody's going to forget about Cooper Flag, but it seemed like his struggles as a a 19 year old in the league were. Were pretty evident on a team that just didn't have a lot around him until Anthony Davis came back. For all of couple of weeks. What have you seen from Cooper Flag in the way that he has carried himself the last few weeks as opposed to the first couple weeks of the season?
- [52:11]
A
I made a mistake. I made a mistake. Now in fairness, I always thought Cooper was going to be a really good player. I just thought he might be a different kind of player. Always going to contribute at the highest level to winning like because he's a Swiss army knife of abilities and has always won. So I did think there were going to be more limitations on what he was as an offensive breadwinning player in the NBA. And I argued that against you and Logan and, and you know, Logan was like Logan, my bad dog. If you listening, you were right. Get everybody the fuck out of his way, get him out, give him the ball and let him go. Because he's learning like you know, the life cycle, you know like the old cartoons where they show the life cycle like the fruit fly, how quickly like they, they, you know, they mature and then they die and then they're born again and they're just flying through. This life cycle is happening really, really fast. Like his learning curve is like that. Like he's really picking up his offensive NBA game in a quicker way than I thought he was going to be able to do it. And he's still going to have nights where it doesn't look great and you know it's going to be trial and error for him. But like in, in the, in a world where I originally didn't think his highest end in the NBA was a. Give it to him and let him carry you type of offensive player with a great team around him. I thought he was going to be one of the, the all star type of pieces. Not necessarily the. I could have been wrong on that.
- [53:42]
B
Yeah, no, I, I legitimately wondered when we were getting toward the draft and watching a little bit of the highlights because, you know, guys like us are. We're watching so much NBA. Like, I cannot drill down on these guys during the season. So I'm relying on like our buddy Jay Kyle man and other draft experts. And then I'm going to watch a little bit. And I did think, because I tend to be one who thinks like everybody gets overhyped and so I'm always a little bit of the contrarian just by nature. I thought what if he's just Lamar Odom, which is not, not a bad thing at all. Yeah, super good player who could. You can plug and play and put with anybody. Great playmaker, great with the ball in his hands, could score a little, could do all these different things, defend multiple positions. But he's. I think, I think the trajectory is definitely more than Lamar Odom at this point, wherever it is, in between or whatever. I mean, shit, the high end is very much still in play, but you can see like the wheels turning and like he's figuring things out as he goes and, and not easy on a team that's kind of wonky in terms of its construction and it doesn't really have a point guard and they were putting too much on him to playmake early on. He's been super impressive. And again, like despite all the. Just the whatever, the Mavericks are in tatters and they're not going to be relevant this season. But Cooper Flag's growth over the course of the season is going to be one of the fun things to watch. All right, let's take one more quick break. When we come back, we will touch on the other games we haven't hit yet and we will get to our real one of the week. All right, Roger, Two games we haven't gotten to. We'll touch on them briefly. No disrespect to the Knicks, the Cavaliers, the Wolves or the Nuggets. I just thought we had a lot more meat to discuss in the other ones. But the knicks, they've won 11 of their last 14, including two victories over the Magic, two against the Raptors, one against the Heat. Obviously the Cavs, yesterday, they won. They won the cup against the Spurs. That was a big deal in the moment. So I ask you now, and I answered this question myself, in our roundup@theringer.com of the Christmas Day games are the Knicks now the clear favorites in the east in our quote unquote, wide open East. Is it not so wide open.
- [55:44]
A
Clear is an interesting way to put that. If you hadn't said clear, I might say yes, as it stands, yeah, fuck it, let's do it. Clear favorites in the East. I mean I would take them against Detroit, I think, you know, like they beat him last year. Detroit's really, really good. But like I'd still probably give the Knicks mind control, if you will in a series like that and just experience control. They just. Cavs. Cavs had them on the ropes twice. They just, they just couldn't, they couldn't close. But yeah, I, I'd say the clear, probably favorites but fractionally Howard, I think that's going to be a dog fight at the top of that Eastern Conference. But the Knicks, if you had to put percentage chances on winning it, I'd probably put the Knicks in the lead.
- [56:28]
B
Yeah, and it feels disrespectful in the moment just because the Pistons have the better record right now by a couple of games. But yeah, the Knicks have all of the experience and I think depth and I just, I trust them more. But the Pistons clearly had a chance against them last spring. It's, I just think that the totality of what the Knicks have done, the opponents they've beaten. Everybody who listening knows. I'm not, I don't put a ton of stock in the NBA Cup. And look, the last two winners of the NBA cup have been first round flame outs in the playoffs the next spring. Not suggesting that's going to happen to the Knicks, just noting that it's not an indicator necessarily of who's going to do best in the postseason. The Knicks may be the exception to that one. They look really strong. They've got their third in offensive rating now for the season. They are 14th in defensive rating. So still a little bit of concern there. But they've got the fourth best net rating in the NBA so far and they just, they, they, they look like they can just take out anybody at any time and, and they've got a lot to prove still too of course against, you know, they're going to see the spurs again, they're going to see the Thunder. But as far as the east goes, like the Cavs look a little better and Garland start look like himself and Mobley came back. So like let's wait and see. But the, the Cavs tend to fold in big moments. And under the bright lights, including repeatedly at the Garden. Will the Celtics rush back? Tatum? Because there's, they're unexpectedly in the hunt, you know, Are the Pistons still too young? Is there another move to make? Like, I, I, I do feel like the Knicks at this moment may not last at this moment. I think they are the clear favorites in the East. Moving over to the west, where the Nuggets are not the clear favorites, but just keep thumping, folks. And, and Nikola Jokic. My editor, Matt Dallinger wrote the blurb about that game, and I think he put it well, like, we're having a, this is going to be like a sports writer crisis, because we've run out of ways to describe just how stupid, Incredible Jokic is. 18 points in the last two minutes and 53 seconds of overtime last night, 18 in less than three minutes, finished with 56 points. They are missing three starters now. Aaron Gordon, Christian Brown, Cam Johnson, who just got hurt the other day. And the Wolves have been a thorn in their side at times, and it didn't even matter.
- [58:47]
A
I was watching that game was the last game I watched before coming on the pod. So we were supposed to get on a 12 at about 11:59. I'm sitting on the couch with, with my oldest son, and we are, we are in overtime now, Howard. And I'm looking at my phone, seeing the final box, and I'm looking at the game. I'm like, this has to be double overtime, right? Like, there's no way he's going to score. There's no way he's going to do all of that in these last couple of minutes. That's a double overtime game. Dia. I literally said it. I was a double overtime game deal. And now I'm worried about whether I'm gonna make the pot or not. And there he goes. And I was like, oh, shit. Yeah, that's incredible, dude. Like, I'm convinced that if that cat wanted to, he just, he, he can do whatever he wants to do. There are some people that could just do whatever they want to do, man. Like, if they say, I'm gonna score 70 and I'm put my efforts towards scoring 70, like, we might not win, but I will score 70. He's. He. No one can do anything with him.
- [59:43]
B
No, he's absolutely incredible. And my editor is right. We have run out of ways to say that, and we're gonna, we have to start inventing new adjectives or something.
- [59:52]
A
Ant looked really good, too. Like, he did. Yeah, he looked really good, too, and I would put him in that Conversation with Amen Thompson. Not the same size, but when you talk about athlete for athlete, like, that's, that's pretty, that's pretty wild.
- [60:09]
B
Yeah. All right, we need to get you out of here. Went a little longer than I planned to. And quick note, all three of us will be back together next Tuesday to close out the calendar year of the real ones. We'll be, we'll be back next Friday as well. Before we go today, time for the real one of the week. Raja, who you got?
- [60:29]
A
I guess I'll go. It's College Football playoff season. I'm going to go with the hometown squad. Man, I grew up a Hurricane fan. My allegiances have shifted a little bit since my son's not going there. But I'm going to give real one of the week to Mario Cristobal for eking into the playoffs this year. But as a Canes fan, I, you know, I was really excited for them. And then figuring out a way to get a win in Kyle Field. First round Texas A and M. And then they got this rematch of a game that haunts me to this day. It was Miami, I think it was 2003. It was Miami, Ohio State. I was with the Mavs. It was a national championship game. I paced for an hour around a pool table while my wife sat on the couch wondering what I was doing, anticipating Miami winning this, this, this national championship. And it got ripped away from us on a phantom fucking flag. And so there's a rematch of that game now set up in the, I think it's out in Jerry's world in the, in Dallas Stadium. So like shout out to Mario, Crystal Ball and the Miami Hurricanes. Real ones of the week for, for getting on the round two of the cfp. CFP College Football Playoffs.
- [61:35]
B
Yeah, I love that you can still be this mad about it and all these years it just, it doesn't leave you. Like, it's, it's as if it happened yesterday.
- [61:43]
A
Like I, I, if, if I met that dude and somebody told me who he was, he might have to fight me.
- [61:50]
B
Phenomenal. I'm going a little offbeat with my real one of the week Raja, because this struck me yesterday in watching the 13 hours of basketball along with all of the commercials filling all the space in between. Shout out to whoever at. And I hate to do the free ad for what's probably non sponsor, but whoever at Corona decides to keep trotting out that oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree commercial. No words, no characters, no jingles, no dumb little skits. Know anything else? Just the Whistling of a Christmas tree. It's originally called Otanenbaum. I guess it's a Christmas tree here and a palm tree, some Christmas lights on it, a little cabin by the beach or whatever. Like, it's. It's just kind of cool and pleasant and puts you in a mood. And, like, it's cool. I'm like, thank you for this nice, simple commercial that doesn't annoy the crap out of us if it's going to be on this many times this time of year. And I'm like, I feel like I've been seeing this my entire life. I finally looked it up. Do you know when this commercial first aired? Raja? No. 1990. That Corona commercial's older than Logan Murdoch.
- [62:54]
A
What? We're 35 years into it.
- [62:57]
B
What? So my real one of the week is whoever at Corona, CEO, head of marketing, whoever has decided we don't need to invest any more money in any dumb slash clever commercials would just go with the tried and true. I love it. Keep. Keep bringing it out. I hope it's there every day till, you know, the end of time.
- [63:14]
A
Yeah. And if you want, like, listen, I love Corona. I had. I had. I'm not gonna tell you how many I had yesterday, but Corona's for drinks. So, like, if you guys want a sponsorship spot.
- [63:26]
B
There we go. There we go. Corona hit us up. We could use it on the real ones. All right, Roger, that was fun. We will see you again Tuesday. Logan will be back. That is it for this post. Christmas wrap up. Hope you all have a great holiday weekend. Thank you for spending a few minutes of it with us and we will see you all again next week.
- [63:45]
A
Must be 21 years and older and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with the Kansas Star Casino or.
- [63:51]
B
18 and older and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming.
- [63:54]
A
Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rghelp.com, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chatincenectic or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helplinema.org or call 1-800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE.
- [64:17]
B
NY or text HOPE NY in New York.