15 Games, 15 Takeaways

0:00 Before we start the show, this episode is brought to you by CalSheet. It's an exchange where you can trade on what you actually think is going to happen in sports, politics, culture, or whatever's on your mind. The price moves in real time based on where people are putting their money. You're going up against other traders directly. There's no house setting the odds. Trade $ 25 with code NODUNKS to get a $ 55 bonus. Go to the App Store or CalSheet.com and sign up. Trade responsibly. And now, Let the show begin.

0:36 Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the No Dunks NBA podcast. It's Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026. I'm J.E. Skeets here in the Classic Factory and alongside me, as always, Grass Mellis.

0:49 It's more like Rash Mellis. I've been wearing this 20 minutes.

0:53 And you're already itchy?

0:54 I'm itchy.

0:54 Oh, boy.

0:55 Next to him, it's my Top Shot hot boy, Trey Kirby.

0:58 Ayo. Ayo.

0:59 And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer, JD.

1:02 Hello.

1:03 There he is. Here we are. Yes, Tass lost the Pick'em Tiebreaker with Trey Kirby last night. And as a result, has to pay it off all week by wearing one of the last costumes left on the Spirit Halloween shelves. We didn't go shopping until November 1st, so that's on us. That's our bad. But here he is as the sugar cane grass costume worn during Bad Bunny's 2026 Super Bowl halftime show.

1:29 Yeah, shout out to Bad Bunny and the idea there behind the Super Bowl, because this is nice. I got to be honest. I needed a line there, so I said rash mellis, but... I feel great.

1:39 Should you be wearing safety goggles, though? Because those look like sharp blades of grass.

1:44 Yeah, you guys helped me lace up the sleeves here.

1:47 It was a group production.

1:48 Yeah, and as you were doing it, I was getting poked in the ear. I thought I had a Q-tip in my ear. Pointing me. But anyway... Uh, here we are.

1:57 You remember this cultural moment from 10 months ago? Of course.

2:00 It was like bad buddy.

2:02 You know, it's funny. I actually, maybe my algorithm knew we were thinking about this costume for the pick and pay off.

2:09 That's got to move sets like they do in TV. Move around the studio.

2:12 I saw a lot of people wearing this. People were doing this.

2:16 Yeah.

2:16 So like families were doing it, right? I dressed the little kid up as Bad Bunny with the white suit and the football. Yeah, my algorithm was sending me tons of people.

2:24 But anyway. I'm definitely worried about this tall one when you look down at your notes. It could be a, uh-oh.

2:30 Right in the ass.

2:32 That's fine.

2:32 It's totally fine.

2:34 Totally fine.

2:35 All right. So all week long, Tass paying it off for losing the short month of October coming up one game short of TK there. uh before we get into tackling all of the basketball last night because all 30 teams played we had another wedgie only one but it was cj mccollum don't be afraid of the music jd yeah let it go man i thought you're gonna play a little bad bunny maybe instead but that's all right we don't want to get copyright issues uh cj stuck it there because he got fouled and if you get fouled on the shot attempt and it wedges we count it so number seven let's go nice cj mccollum's fifth career wedgie we have a hell of a race at the top of the all-time leaderboard when it comes to wedgies there's like five or six guys that are like

3:20 vying for it vying for the crown so cj gets it all right like i said all 30 nba teams played across a massive 15 game slate last night ahead of the league's election day break which is today so what the boys are nothing if not thorough so let's tackle them all no game left behind That's right. A takeaway from every single game last night. We are just going to go around the horn talking about every single one. Trey, you get us started. Where do you want to go?

3:55 I think it's the game of the night. OK, the Pelicans beating the Grizzlies in overtime, handing Memphis their first loss of the season back and forth all night long. This game was Pelicans had a lead. Up by nine with a minute 45 left in the fourth quarter. Ty Jerome, nine straight to force overtime. Then Zion comes up big in overtime. Nine points for him. But I'm giving the game ball to Carlo Metkovic. Game ball for Carlo. Career high 25 points. Hit five threes. Got an offensive rebound with seven seconds left in overtime. Gets the ball to Jeremiah Fears, who knocks down a couple of free throws to win. Gotta say... The play-in potential Pelicans are looking pretty good.

4:39 Are they the best, worst team in the league?

4:42 Interesting. Three straight wins after starting 0-4. They've got the Jazz up next.

4:47 Could be 500.

4:47 Could be 500. You look at their losses. Two of them came by one possession. Another one came in overtime in another universe. They're the team with a 6-1 start. And you're watching the Grizzlies. You're watching the Pelicans last night. You're like, kind of similar teams. A lot of talent on these teams. A lot of guys you've heard of.

5:07 Young guys, old guys. Both teams have 13 players who play between 14 and 32 minutes, so they're getting these guys in. The difference is, when it comes down to it, Memphis knows exactly what they want to do. We're playing pick-and-roll basketball. Ty Jerome, maybe you'll get a switch. Maybe you'll stick with the guy that's on you. Create us a good shot. We can play high-low if we need to, but generally, Ty Jerome is the man.

5:32 New Orleans.

5:33 They're just winging it out there. It feels completely freelanced what they're doing offensively in these fourth quarters. Zion was one of the guys last night, but sometimes it was like, hey, Sadiq Bey, you got a shot in you. Trey Murphy, you got a shot in you. Feels very much like Jamal Mosley's offense with the Orlando Magic last year. Just roll the ball out. We'll see if anybody can create.

5:53 You look at their clutch ratings. Memphis, fourth in the league in net rating in the clutch. New Orleans, 23rd. That's why one team is 6-1 and one team is 3-4. The organization. But last night, it didn't matter. Pelicans, big win. Beating the Grizzlies for the first time this season.

6:10 Yeah, I look at this game and say, have the Pelicans figured out their starting center spot in Carlo Makovic? And that's because they've been blessed with a little injuries with Yves Missy going out and maybe just him allowing Zion Williamson to have more space because Carlo is out there shooting threes defensively. splashing five of them. And so Zion went to work in overtime. I think that's a legitimate help for him and for this team, because I don't think you want to start Derek queen who came off the bench and was really, really good, but starting beside him, besides Zion is just allows, you know, it's a, it's a carousel into the lane for the other team.

6:49 It's way too easy. So I think that's a legitimate question. And again, Listen, the Grizzlies didn't deserve to be there in overtime, really. That was a Ty Jerome ending to regulation where he went 9-0 on his own. That was pretty cool to see. But the Pelicans, yeah, maybe they are that team. And also with DeJounte and Murray having personal reasons, Jeremiah Fears has been thrown into the starting lineup, so they just got to float going right now.

7:15 And also Jamal Mosley has gone to Herb Jones in the starting lineup. There's that part of the equation as well. He started the last three games and he's played really well. And it's helped obviously on the defensive end, but he's also contributing a little bit offensively too. And he's been a really good in the plus minus for all three of these games, all three of these wins. Now, yeah, they came against the Kings, the Hawks who have their own issues. And then the Grizzlies, they finally knocked off a really good team there. But I think he's in there now, but I wonder if it is because of injuries and personal reasons. And he's like almost forced his hand, but I don't think you can sort of go away

7:43 from it now at this point with these results.

7:46 It's also probably a bit of a showcase for Herb Jones. If this is a guy that other teams want to trade for, they'd probably want to see him on the court and see what he's able to do. So good that he's getting a start. And I guess Makovic maybe does make sense as their starting center. He can at least shoot it a little bit from the outside. So you get some space there and, this is a pretty good dunker and can defend the rim well enough. Yeah.

8:07 We had some barking at the end of this game too. Uh, beef stew. Uh, he was a little upset there and a dirt queen was, uh, yelling back at him. He was yelling, whoop, that trick just kept yelling at beef stew and getting angrier and angrier as they had to be separated at the end.

8:22 Yeah. Beef stew always involved. Uh, and it had a big block in this game. That was pretty sweet. Um, but he'll fight. Uh, that's, that's his thing. Um, How about Croatian Sensation as a nickname for Karlo Makovic? I know it's been done before. Kukoc has been.

8:41 Out of the league for a long time.

8:43 Been a while.

8:44 I don't know if Goran Ivanisevic had it in tennis. It feels like he did. Maybe.

8:49 It feels like it.

8:52 But Karlo Makovic, take it.

8:53 Is Karlo sensational enough is the question?

8:56 Yeah, I know. It's forced. I'll give you that much. What I like about him is he's been around a while, and he's not a kid that Jamal Mosley's throwing into the lineup. And I think he likes that, too, because Jamal Mosley, he talked up Yves Messi in the preseason. Like, this guy is so good defensively. He's going to be everywhere.

9:16 Just roll with it, Jamal. Just roll with Carlo because it's working right now. Because at the beginning, when they lost those close games, I felt like, okay, they are going to fall apart. But this is a great bounce back and easily could be 500 after Wednesday.

9:28 Yeah.

9:29 All right, one down, 14 to go. What's your game here?

9:33 I'm going to the Celtics Rockets, the one that cost me the grass here. That game was in the mud. It was in the grass. It was a fight from the get-go. It was really so many bodies on the floor, and this played right into the hands of the Houston Rockets. That's what this team does. That's who Marcus Smart is.

9:53 I would have loved to see Joe Mazzulla go up against Ime Udoka at halftime or something. A little boxing match between the two?

10:00 Two?

10:00 Sure.

10:00 We would all like to see that.

10:01 Mazzulla loves a BJJ.

10:03 He's a Okay, you said the last J, never mind.

10:06 That's allowed, yeah. We don't, come on.

10:09 I didn't hear the last J for a second, I'm sorry.

10:11 That's what he does. We are above that here on this show. As I sit in grass. But the Celtics, I love how they combated what the Rockets were doing, fighting everything by going big. The Celtics literally started in the second half, they're two bigs in Mitchell Robinson, And to me, Ishketa. And thankfully for those guys, they held this team in the game because they were off coming off a back-to-back. Jason Tatum did not look like himself.

10:44 He shot the shortest three-point shot airball of his career, I think. I mean, even a turnaround from 12 feet looked off. He was off. Sam Houser doesn't miss open threes the way he does. He was 0 for 5 from 3. So was Peyton Pritchard, 0 for 5 from 3, but they're big guys. Mish Keita, Mitchell Robinson grabbing offensive rebounds, fighting.

11:01 Garza was splashing 4-3. Shireman was splashing 3-3s. But then the Rockets turned it. Late in the third quarter, I thought Alperen Shengun was the guy. He had a huge recovery block when they were up 4 points. And it turns around and a three-point shot goes the other way at seven. He had another one in the fourth quarter.

11:18 He just looks so good at mastering his skills because Fred is there at the point guard spot. Albert Shanklin looks like such a great distributor. He had nine assists in this game. His passing is on point. 26 points, those nine assists, two steals and two blocks. But the fight was in the mud and the Rockets won it.

11:35 Marcus Smart, literally, I think he went to the ground 20 times. He also threw up. A couple of birds. He flipped two birds.

11:42 Yeah, he's going to get fined. He's got to get fined. By the way, they're playing in Houston. I mean, he's not giving it to the home crowd.

11:49 He's just giving it to the Celtics or something. He was broke, but that one went in.

11:55 Yeah, and he was just mad at Peyton Pritchard. They kept on falling over each other. And so maybe he was mad at the refs. I assume that was a big part of it. But again, a double bird. Yeah. And it was like to the crowd. I mean, he was doing it, I guess. So he wasn't doing it to the refs. He was aiming it at the crowd. Again, he's at home. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

12:14 They're cheering for him.

12:15 Yeah.

12:16 That was the Marcus Smart experience.

12:18 It was.

12:18 In a nutshell. I mean, hell, he drew the charge and then he did the kip up.

12:22 I know.

12:22 Everyone went nuts. Yeah, exactly. We were like, oh, we haven't seen that from you in a while. And then he hit the two threes, one in the corner and one sort of on the wing there. And that's when the double birds came out. But I think he'll be fine for that.

12:32 I thought this was a perfect opportunity for me to try a kip-up in grass.

12:36 I mean, if you want to have a go at it.

12:39 JD, don't do it, man.

12:40 I'm not doing it.

12:40 There's no way I can kip-up. That's way too hard. I know we've got a big studio here, but I don't know if we have even... It's on cement floor, too, if you don't successfully get up. It's pretty cool to see anybody do it.

12:53 Yeah, it's always great. Shawn Michaels style, man. He's just a sexy boy.

12:57 Yeah, that was a fight. Rockets won. It wasn't surprising. Paul George sitting on the second half of back-to-back, I was dumb enough to think that he may not, because he didn't earlier this season, played in both ends of it. But they looked broke, as you put Marcus Smart, or Trey, again. A lot of their guys missing wide open shots, and Tatum not looking right.

13:17 So the Rockets 7-1. Top of the West here. Only the one loss to their name here. I read something from a great website, No Dunk Substack page.

13:26 Hey, what?

13:27 From a writer named Trey Kirby. His fingers still work. He wrote this morning. This is hot off the press here. Watching them this week, talking about the Rockets. It struck me that Kevin Durant has become Barry Bonds. I'm talking early 2000s, giant steroid head, socking dingers nonstop Barry Bonds when he would get one pitch to hit in an entire game and then smash it out into the bay for the fishermen. KD is taking a career low 13 shots per game, but it feels like he makes every single one he takes. That's a fun comp there, TK.

13:59 KD is the steroid head Barry Bonds right now.

14:02 I love it.

14:03 He was cooking, whoever was writing over there. But KD, I guess I forgot to update the stat. He's down to 12 shots a game. Only took six last night. Five for six from the field. Nine the game previous. He had 20 in the game before that. And then nine the game before that. I wonder how many times Kevin Durant has taken single-digit shots in three out of four games. Probably the only time in his career.

14:23 Jesus, yeah.

14:24 Unless you're like, maybe an injury sort of thing.

14:26 But yeah.

14:27 We've talked about it a few times. It's like Durant doesn't feel like an essential part of this team, except for that he's giving you 20 points a day. He only got to 12 and 14 in these last two games where he took 15 total shots. But it just feels like his points are just like randomly added to the team's total at the end because he's not pressing it.

14:46 He's playing in such a good flow. He's obviously not being selfish about the way he attacks offensively. Look, if the Rockets start losing, will he advocate to start getting some more touches? Probably. And he probably should at that point. But they're rolling right now. The offense looks great. So if he's just like the greatest decoy you could possibly have, that works for Houston.

15:06 Yeah, I think he's happy to do that late in his 30s because he doesn't have to bring the ball up with Fred VanVleet starting this year. Did he want to do a little bit more of that, be more like that when he was in Phoenix, when he had Bradley Beal and Devin Booker? I think so. Maybe. But it didn't work out, obviously.

15:21 All right, my first game here that we can address, my takeaway from Cavs Thunder is SGA single-handedly carried OKC to that victory last night. He attempted 35 shots. That's the most in the NBA during the first two weeks of action here. He made 14 of them in the fourth quarter. He took it, felt like, every single shot.

15:44 And if he didn't, it was an assist. And they got some big buckets. Hartenstein hit a little, his patented little push floater off an SGA dime as he sort of sneaked into the, sneaked through the grass, into the paint. And then there was a big A.J. Mitchell bucket late, too. But this was just, it's just SGA, man, putting pressure on the defense. He had that look in his eye.

16:04 It was like, hey, man, we're going to win or lose, but it's going to be on my watch here tonight because I am taking every shot. And he was missing at times. And then there was, unfortunately for the Cavs, like a couple that he did miss. They couldn't secure the defensive board. There was one that led to another shot for OKC. They scored. And then there was one where the Cavs fumbled the ball out of bounds late.

16:25 And it gave OKC another possession there. And that ended in that huge sidestep three there from SGA, which was a backbreaker. So, You know, they did it to themselves a little bit, the Cavs, and we can get into a little bit more, but it was SGA. Like, he just carried this team. And you start to go, oh, my God. Has he got one more MVP run in him?

16:41 Is this the Kobe run? Because that's what J-Dub took to social media to point out, shared the stats from SGA last night and put 0-5-0-6, alluding to Kobe's carrying of that Lakers team and getting MVP. But, man, he just looked exhausted. I see this one game, and I'm like, how's he going to do this for an entire year, Kenny?

17:00 But anyway, that's from this one. Yeah, 35 shots, and he also tied the most he's ever had in a game. I thought A.J. Mitchell's second quarter of 12 points really helped them buoy the run that they needed from Shea Gilgis-Alexander, but it really was the Shea show. But A.J. Mitchell is going to be really, really important to help out Shea towards the end of the season. But yes, this was a single game, MVP-like, for sure. We'll get to Luka a little bit later, but Yes, great stop. And then even in Cleveland, walks off the floor and signs autographs, taking the time to sign plenty of autographs in Cleveland.

17:38 What a good guy. He got a lot of respect from a lot of guys in this league because even after the game, and it was a fun game. It was like a million lead changes, like so many. After the game where everybody lines up, daps it up, you know, he's like hugging all the guys, both his team and then the opposing Cavs. I saw like Peyton Watson who didn't play. He was like, I forget what he said, but it was like, you could see he was like, wow, that was pretty awesome. You know, he's like respect and good luck and all that. So that was just the SGA show. He just, he just decided it was like, again, we might lose, but it's not going to be because I'm like, you know, not taking the tough shots and trying to force the action. He played nine fourth quarter minutes, Trey.

18:13 And again, he was involved in every single play.

18:17 Nine fourth quarter minutes, he took 13 shots. I mean, he was shooting it every single time. We talked about the Thunder are going to need to find new ways to win if they're going to be missing all of these all-defense players, and one of those ways is going to be, sorry about your efficiency, Shea. Yeah. But we need you to shoot as many times as you possibly can.

18:34 He's shooting a career low from the field right now, 45%. He's shooting a career-high field goal attempts at 24 per game. So that's what it's going to have to be. He's their number one creator, and he's a great scorer, and... If that means he shoots under 50% for the first time in five seasons, so be it. You'll take that rather than losing, I guess, is what it comes down to.

18:56 I did see Malik Thomas ran out of his shoe in this game. He did. He played like four possessions without a shoe.

19:00 It was wild.

19:01 It kept going. That was one of the longest stretches ever. Yeah. One foot. He missed the three, though. That was too bad. He got a stop on Shea with one shoe on. Had a three from the top of the key.

19:10 It rattled in and out, too. Rattled in and out.

19:12 That would have been nice. Two guys ran out of their shoes last night.

19:15 Yeah.

19:15 I was amazed.

19:17 It's happening more in the NBA.

19:19 They don't wear them tight enough.

19:20 Who was the other one? I don't remember, but I was like.

19:23 I don't know. Multiple happened.

19:25 And I was like, uh-oh. Two shoes came off and only one wedgie. It is what it is.

19:30 It's happened before last night. Guys... take their shoe off, get their shoe hit off, and they keep playing. Maybe they're taking Wemby's advice that you can just, you can use your feet.

19:40 Everybody play barefoot.

19:41 Use your feet. Although Shea could have hit more shots in this game. Oh, yeah. Some of these misses were just misses, and he could have hit them.

19:47 His patented when he gets to that baseline, like, that space, and he missed a couple of those.

19:51 Yeah.

19:52 You're like, oh, that's usually a layup for him.

19:54 He threw his hands up in thanks one time after making a shot.

19:57 Yeah.

19:58 But he doesn't care. He's got the mentality. He's like, okay, I missed that one.

20:02 Who cares?

20:03 This will be the best shot we'll get here on this next possession, so I'll just take it again. He had Austin Rivers disgusted on the broadcast. Because they had them on the benches. Austin Rivers was just like, when Shea was hitting his insane spins off balance, he's like, it's disgusting. And he was getting upset. People call this guy the free throw merchant. That's basically the most offensive thing you could say. This guy's unreal.

20:26 It's like, yeah.

20:28 Those are some of the shots he was making. But, oh, Malik Thomas, great to see this rookie playing well. He missed a wide open layup late where, I don't know if it was Mitchell or Harden found him inside. He just lost the defense. Mm-hmm. I think he must have thought somebody was right behind him because he sort of rushed a little sort of reverse layup. There was no one even close to him. He got a stop, turned around, spun the ball a little bit, whatever. So he botched that.

20:52 And that was a big miss.

20:53 It was.

20:53 In this game. And also the Cavs like missed a million free throws. They did themselves no favor. 14 to 24 from the line, five missed in the final quarter.

21:01 Yeah.

21:02 Yeah. This was their game to win until Shea stole it in the fourth.

21:05 Yeah.

21:05 Malik Thomas getting his first start of his career. Looking good until that moment there. That was the only moment that was the red mark on his resume from this game. He started for Peyton Watson, who they're managing an injury, so he's out. But Mario Izzonia, I thought, did as good a job you could do on Shea Gilgis-Alexander as possible.

21:26 That big body gets in the way and he doesn't jump. He was decent.

21:30 How about the Croatian sensation?

21:34 He just looks like, to me right now, like Mario Zogna, like a bully in like a high school, right?

21:39 Yes, he does.

21:41 Like a senior in a high school and he's the bully guy that comes in and throws you into the locker. It's exactly what he looks like.

21:47 He's wide.

21:48 We had some OKC news here too. The Thunder announced they will retire Russell Westbrook's number zero in the rafters on February 7th. So this season, a member of the NBA's 75th anniversary team in 2021, Russ announced his retirement. this off season. This is sort of funny. Cause some people were going, could OKC bring back Russell Westbrook here?

22:06 They're short on all these guys. Well, you can put that to bed. He is retired and they're going to put the Jersey up. So his number zero will be the second Jersey retired by the Thunder joining Nick Collison's number four, February 7th, Sunday night. I checked Nick's in town. So that's a big game there.

22:21 Yeah.

22:22 Any, any thoughts on this? No one's surprised by any means.

22:25 I think he deserves it.

22:26 Yeah. Okay.

22:27 Okay.

22:27 Yes.

22:28 He, uh, He was a nine-time All-Star, nine-time All-NBA selection, and I think all but one of those, at least All-Star selections, probably All-NBA too, came without the Thunder. Like a majority of them were with the Thunder, spending a good chunk of his 18-year career with them, and obviously one MVP as well.

22:46 Yeah, he would be nice in the lineup. I mean, they went and grabbed Micah Peavy, who has moved around a couple times this offseason recently. released by the Grizzlies as a defensive wing. I thought he was good at that. Yeah, you'd look at the Thunder, you'd say, well, this guy that they plug and play, classic Thunder move to be able to do that. Bennett Sturtz as a rookie looked good too, but they just need somebody to splash some threes to support Shea Gilgis-Alexander. And luckily AJ Mitchell had that second quarter, but a lot of guys, like Jared McCain, Jalen Williams has had a bad start to his season shooting the ball. He's He is, what, like 5 of 24 now to start the season. Those guys just need

23:26 to splash. McCain, Ofer in this game. But she did it. She did it.

23:32 All right. Lots of games left. Where do you want to go?

23:35 We're going to Dallas.

23:36 Dallas.

23:36 And we're lighting the beam, baby. Sacramento Kings got their first win of the season. And the Bulls got destroyed again last night. Sacramento moves up to 29th in margin of victory. Huge night for the Kings. They're not the worst team in the league anymore. I thought the backcourt dominated last night for Sacramento. Darius Acuff, 25 points on 21 shots, plus six assists. Zach Levine had 23 points and five assists. Malik Monk, 24 points and seven assists.

24:07 Those guys went for 19, 14, and 13, respectively, in the second half, and they were really the difference. They were just blow-by after blow-by against the Mavs perimeter defenders. They would get a switch and just get straight to the rim, get a bucket. Dallas didn't have Kyrie, so they went 7 of 33 from 3, had 19 assists.

24:26 to 16 turnovers the dallas offense just looked completely disjointed i thought leaky black and emmanuel sharp had coop in a straight jacket all night.

24:34 Yeah three of 19 for cooper flag.

24:36 Three of 19 six assists but six turnovers as well finally missing his little floaters and i just thought really good solid defense by the kings who like midway through the third quarter as they were starting to score and the mavericks were struggling you could feel the kings are like oh my goodness i We got a chance. This is the one.

24:57 You heard it.

24:58 I was watching a little NBA whip around last night, and Doc Rivers was like, tonight's the night. They were getting fired up, man. It was like a legendary win for the Kings to get their first win of the season.

25:12 Hey, 20 wins to go for the Sacramento Kings to hit the over. Maybe we put it like that. It's nothing. It's nothing.

25:18 Doug, or excuse me, Doc in the studio. probably felt the itch i can go replace doug christie give it to me man i know how to coach the mediocre players give it to me right here right now and he felt it uh i think cooper also felt not having kairi irving beside him in general just to have another ball handler who's sitting out this game.

25:38 Yeah did the mavs do the classic like oh the kings are coming to town i think so have a seat bud we got it and it blew up in their face maybe.

25:44 Yeah that could be part of it um but we all questioned like can Darius Acuff ever close a game? I think that was a big question about this guy in general. He closed it. He led a team there scoring on eight of their last possessions, or eight of their last 11 possessions, I should say. And you mentioned Malik Monk. I'm glad you did because he has not been mentioned on this show once this season.

26:08 I was just thinking that. I was like, oh, Malik Monk, yeah.

26:11 One of our strengths is how thorough we are, but it has not happened. I mentioned him last year because I thought some team should be willing to get a guy who could change a quarter in a playoff game. And Malik Monk could. He's still young enough, but he hasn't done much for the Sacramento Kings until this game.

26:28 No, he had done dick all.

26:30 Yes.

26:30 No, but he was cooking last night for sure.

26:32 He was money. He was money.

26:34 All right, Malik Bunk, back in our lives.

26:35 Sacramento Kings, best names in the NBA? I think they're... The Emmanuel Sharp.

26:41 Okay.

26:41 I think that's just a great name. Squeezing a leaky black whenever he plays.

26:45 That's one of the best names in the league. I'll give you that.

26:48 Daquan Plowden.

26:49 Good name.

26:49 That's a good name.

26:50 Nick Clifford is not a bad name.

26:51 No, it's not bad. Maxime Raynaud.

26:53 We haven't seen him yet.

26:54 That's a great name.

26:55 I heard somebody call him Max Raynaud on a podcast this week. Didn't know we were so familiar.

27:00 I was watching this guy... It's good, man. Alex Caravan, I think is a good name. Get in the caravan. Let's go.

27:07 Hop in the caravan. Emmanuel Sharp went three for three from three last night. When he shoots his jumpers, he jumps very high in the air and clicks his heels together. Quite whimsical.

27:17 Wow.

27:17 Yeah, I like it.

27:17 I thought you were going to say when Sharp hits three for three from deep, the Kings are undefeated. That's what I thought you.

27:22 Were going to say.

27:23 Maybe true, yeah.

27:24 It's got to be true.

27:24 He's the bellwether.

27:25 Exactly. All right.

27:26 Next game here, Grassman.

27:29 Well, the Lakers won. Behind Luka's 42. Is that a surprise? No. What's surprising is that the Miami Heat have one of the worst defenses in the NBA. That's surprising when you think of Eric Spolstra and you think of Davion Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins, Yanis Tatakoumbo, and Bam Anabayo primarily as big four guys. So the question is, what do they do?

27:49 In this game, they decided we're going to double Luka a lot, and that led to Luka's season high in assists, finding guys all over the place, 12 helpers, Excuse me, 13 helpers for him. He had eight in the first half. And that just let their role players feel good about themselves. We always say the NBA is full of good players.

28:08 And when you get an open shot, they're going to hit them. The Lakers hit 19 threes. Now, Luka's going to embarrass anybody. I think I mentioned Andrew Wiggins, who is supposed to be part of a good defense. It's supposed to be their best perimeter defender on wings. Davion Mitchell's too small for Lucas, so they threw Wiggins out there.

28:25 He's been meh all season. And I've discussed maybe Klay should go to the bench. Maybe it's Andrew Wiggins to switch it up and put Pella Larson out there. The Heat now have the second worst three-point defense in the NBA at 41% allowed. That's just a lot of shots being made. A lot of it is... The athleticism, a lot of it is not being able to defend and guys just were trying to recover. But then when they try and recover, they also get hit in the paint.

28:50 And that's what happened in this game. 60 points in the paint for the Lakers. So 30 buckets versus 19 buckets for the Miami Heat. That shouldn't happen against the Giannis and Bam center or back line, I should call them. They should be able to protect the rim, but they're scrambling everywhere because their open three is happening. And so they're not defending the rim all that good. And there they are. They got smoked. Of course, Luka's going to smoke anybody, but I think, you know, not to second-guess Eric Spolstra, but there should have been a lot more one-on-one, man-on-man coverage, and that would have helped out the other guys defend the role players who were splashing for the Lakers.

29:27 Did you say 30 baskets in the paint?

29:29 Yeah. And 19 threes. That's a bad record. Yeah, exactly.

29:34 Yeah. So where did you stop them?

29:36 Yeah, they did not. 145 points. Yeah.

29:39 But you make a good point.

29:39 It's like Wiggins has been very underwhelming to start the season, but clay Thompson is the biggest target defensively for the Miami heat. So which of these guys do you really sub in for? Because they probably should get Larson some more playing time. It doesn't look like Yeovitch is doing much this season, but at least Larson gives a good effort.

29:56 He's a ball mover. He plays on the defensive end as well. Clay's been shooting the ball better than he was the first week of the season. So that's encouraging at least for Miami, but they're just getting lit up from the three point line. It's like they're worse than the league percentage wise and number of attempts allowed, which means they're worse than the league at number of makes allowed as well. And they're a team that's going to be primarily two point focused with Giannis. So it feels like they're losing math wise as well.

30:24 Yeah.

30:25 All right.

30:26 My next game here, Indiana had a starting five on Monday night. And a reserve. And that was it. The Pacers had 11 players representing 93% of their payroll out with injuries. The starting five graphic, which I think JD has, that the Pacers shared before the game, it looked like a YouTube title and thumbnail. And the only thing it was missing was, I played in an actual NBA game. Uh, just spot on reference from one of my Twitter followers after I shared this graphic. It's just so perfect. It's exactly what they look like because it's a bit of who is this? So the Pacers starters were Jay Huff, Quinton Jackson, Jairus Walker, and then two players on two way deals, Brayden Smith and Jalen, um, Starts with an S. Swim, swam, slippy, slappy, slim, salmon, simon, swan, swinson, slosson.

31:18 That's it. It was on the briefcase the whole time. And then they had another two-way guard in Kobe Brown as the lone reserve. That's all they had. This is stuff you sometimes see in April games.

31:30 Yes.

31:31 Right? Where it's like guys are completely banked up, rest guys, and there's like six or seven guys only playing. Weird to see two weeks into the start of the season.

31:39 Oh, yeah.

31:40 And then the Pacers put up a fight. These six guys gave it a go. I mean, they had this down to a one possession game down the stretch. Luckily for the Hawks, Nikhil Alexander-Walker was hitting the three ball, hit enough of them for them to get this, or this would have been brutal. I mean, it would have been, it's an embarrassing win, if we're being honest, to sort of be that close to the severely undermanned Pacers team.

32:01 But they got the W. But wow, I watched a lot of this game. We had a million games all last night. I was like infatuated with this game. I was like, can Braden Smith do it? Like, oh my God, let's see what happens here.

32:12 Oh no, he got cramps at the end of the game.

32:14 He literally got cramps.

32:15 He got cramps from playing so much. It may have lost him the game.

32:17 Yeah, yeah.

32:18 It really may have because he had to miss the last couple minutes.

32:21 Yeah, it was very funny. I thought of Trey Kirby cramping here at the table. I mean, he was getting his first start of his NBA career, playing 43 minutes defensively. By far the most he's ever played in his career. So that hurt. But yeah, almost a disappointing win for the Atlanta Hawks in a way.

32:38 Very underwhelming. It's like he needed nine threes from Nikhil Alexander Walker. He was trying to get the 10th one in the fourth quarter and they barely squeaked it by. So this was a bit of an underwhelming win to me. I was feeling like Tass was going to come in. with some Cavs energy for this Hawks team and be like, yeah, you won, but you suck for doing it.

32:58 Yeah. Yeah. Nikhil's trying to pull the guys together. Like, let's get it together. But he couldn't do it. Speaking of threes, I know I don't want to harp on how bad Dyson Daniels has been the last couple of years because he does a lot of other things that are very good. He took one in this game. It was like three feet behind the line when he's now shooting 10% from three. I don't get it. He's like, I'm just trying. I'm just trying. And I'm just going to see if it goes down. It did not. I mean, that was a deep three. Blew an easy layup. That other Malik one for the Cavs. I mean, this was just a blown layup. That touch, something's going on there. Which, you know, we kind of saw last year, but it's

33:36 getting worse.

33:37 It's getting worse somehow. All right, round three here. Back to you, TK.

33:41 All right, round three. Denny Obvia leads the Blazers to a win over the Nuggets. This was a game of runs, and it was kind of odd because it felt like the entire time the Nuggets were in control, they would stretch the league out. Stretch the lead out. The Blazers would hit back. They would get close, and then the Nuggets would stretch the lead out a little bit more until the fourth quarter when Portland's run extended long enough that they actually got to play from ahead. Jamal Murray hit a three-pointer to cut Portland's lead to three. A minute 18 left on the other end. Complete miscommunication for the Nuggets. Wide open three for Tumani Kamara in the corner.

34:17 That was the backbreaker to me. The Blazers were relentless attacking the paint. 28 points, five assists for Denny Avdia. Dame had 20 and six. Drew Holiday was awesome. 17 points, 10 assists. Denver just could not contain the ball. It was all straight line drives. It felt like for these guys, not a ton of resistance. 54 points in the paint for the Blazers. They also outshot Denver from three, 15 to nine. They also had 21 offensive rebounds. Kling Kong was going nuts out there. 17 and 18 for this guy.

34:47 Turned into 15 more shots for the Blazers in comparison to the Nuggets. Those have been problems for Denver all year. They're 24th in the league in points in the paint allowed. They're 26th in the lead in offensive rebound percentage allowed. And just giving up everything inside right now. And I thought this was a particularly concerning game for Aaron Gordon.

35:07 Five points, six rebounds, two of six from the field. And he looked a step and a half slow guarding Denny Abdiah all night at one point. Dame catches the ball, jab steps him, touched earth. Aaron Gordon did spun him around. He's 36% from the field so far this season, 35% from three and half of his shots are coming from three.

35:30 And we talk about it over. I know if we were making an all wash team early in the season, he would be leading that team. He'd be on the thumbnail.

35:37 Totally different.

35:37 Yes.

35:38 Yeah.

35:38 And it's sort of sad to see.

35:39 We don't need you being a three point shooter. I'm glad you, live in a barn and can shoot threes now. But I remember when he was a dunking guy and now it's like, he's got to get by on his skill and savvy and that's not necessarily his strength.

35:52 And, and we look at him as such an X factor for the nuggets. So that's concerning if you're a Denver Nuggets fan, I think with how he's looked so far. Yeah.

35:59 And I don't know, it kind of flew under the radar for me after he had a 20 point game to start the season and he's looking all right. Uh, and then he started to skim along. Um, While Jamal Murray is the story for this team and how much he is carrying this squad. He is having his best career year now, this season, after he had it last year.

36:21 Here he is in his 29th year.

36:25 29th year.

36:26 In the world. He's 29. He's 29 years old.

36:31 29th year in the world.

36:33 That's a good way to say it. Yeah, for sure. Change it up. He's leading the NBA in minutes per game. For a guy, you know, we questioned, like, how good is he going to be? Can he make an all-star team? Obviously, he did last year. And now he's carrying this team so much so because of where Aaron Gordon is and the way he was falling apart in the last couple of playoffs. Like, he wasn't– Aaron Gordon wasn't injured the last couple of playoffs. He just looks slow. So, really, what this team– what it comes down to with this team is Cam Johnson is their ceiling, I think, for me because– after letting Peyton Watson go, who is going to be their third best player? And Christian Brown is decent as he's been so far. He's never going to

37:13 elevate to a level that Cam Johnson could be and seemingly was at times for the Brooklyn Nets. But Cam Johnson also left this game grabbing his hamstring. It was his first game back after an ankle injury. He has missed plenty of games in the last couple years. So here we are. This is scary times. Now, I think...

37:35 this Nuggets team, it's 500 and they lost to the Portland Trailblazers who are a good team. Yeah. So they can still go out and beat sub 500 teams and still float along until Nikola Jokic decides I'm going to be awesome again and carry this team somewhat as well. But a championship level, it's really, I think is, is Cam Johnson got to be the third best player and he's not been, he's not been so far. No.

37:59 Yeah, the Blazers 5-1 here now, 4-0 on the road, which is great. Obviously going into Denver, tough place to play and win, so they took care of business there. They're one of my favorite watches in the league right now. I love the balance between the defensive-minded guys in Kamara and then Klingin, and then Drew Holiday comes in with the offensive-minded guys like Dame Still, Denny Avdia, scooters into the starting lineup with John Moran out. It's just a really fun balance, and everybody's contributing every game I've seen with the Blazers. It was a good win. against obviously a good team, but one that's like, it's strange to think that Donovan Klingin probably outplayed Jokic last night overall.

38:34 Yeah, probably.

38:34 It's like, whoa. Good for Klingin, but that's just weird to say and to wrap your head around right now.

38:40 Took it to him on the glass for sure. DeMar DeRozan had a sick pass.

38:44 That was sick.

38:44 Yeah, like caught it on a fast break, spun, and then dropped it off behind his head and around a defender as well.

38:50 Two guys throw incredible dimes that you don't think of as passers last night.

38:54 DeRozan.

38:55 with that one. Uh, Rudy Gobert had an insane pass too last night.

38:59 Yeah.

38:59 What was going on here last night?

39:01 All right.

39:02 Uh, back to you, Tess.

39:04 Raptors Clippers. Uh, for me, I'm starting with two things that stood out to me for the Toronto Raptors. The first one is Emmanuel quickly decided I'm the best point guard on this floor and he played like it. That was his best game of his season. He decided to get to the line plenty. He had 11 free throws most of the season by far. That's not his thing.

39:24 and he had six makes in the paint. It is sort of on the perimeter of the paint, because he's a floater machine, but still. that's where you needed him to be. 27 points for Manuel Quickly. Second thing, in the fourth quarter, Scotty Barnes decided, I'm the best player on this floor and in this arena. Cheer for me because it seemed like it was a bit of a road game for the Los Angeles Clippers. There was Raptors fans in Los Angeles cheering for this team. Scotty Barnes...

39:48 just took it upon himself. 15 of us, 22 in the fourth quarter, the Raptors were down 13 going into that fourth quarter. And again, they're cheering for Scotty Barnes. I, I, I don't like throwing conspiracies out there saying there's misinformation, but apparently the Clippers attendance this year is at 96.1% capacity at 17,299 fans. No way.

40:10 No, no.

40:11 You know, sometimes maybe sold those seats, but nobody coming.

40:14 Yeah. You don't want to show the empty seats as a broadcast. And they had, sometimes they did. Even I was watching at halftime, like going into the third quarter, there's just empty seats out there. There's no way there's 17,000. How's the wall looking at least? The wall's all right. You know, the super fans are still out there cheering.

40:32 I don't mind. The broadcaster says when a free throw is missed, add another brick to the wall. That's good. It's pretty good. It is pretty good. So is Kobe Sanders. I think Kobe Sanders needs to be talked about a little bit more with the Los Angeles Clippers. I bigged him up as a potential growth guy, breakout guy, and this was only his second start of the season. He missed a lot of camp, and I think that may be part of it, but he's looking good. 26 points, 11 in the first quarter, just like he had 11 in the first quarter of the night before. So Kobe Sanders looking solid, but he's filling in for a bunch of guys. No Brandon Ingram, no Rui Echimura. Bradley Beal played. No, he didn't. So that's all they have. Kobe Sanders, that's

41:12 all they have to look forward to. And Darius Garland is now leading the league in turnovers. I'm surprised by that. It was Luka's title, but now it's Darius Garland's.

41:22 Like the Hawks beating the six pacers that they played last night, this was a bit of a concerning win in a weird way for the Mavs. This is a funny watch for me because I went to bed. At the end of the third quarter, I'm like, oh my God, what are we doing? By then I was going blind with all the basketball on as well. So I was like, oh, I'll see what happens in the fourth quarter. Expecting to wake up and see that the Raptors probably lost because it wasn't looking great. But then they scored 47 points in the fourth quarter, 47 to 27, led by Scottie and Quickly to come back and get the W in a sort of a needed win against not a great Clippers team. But it's like, oh, it took a while to like start playing defense and first off and just

42:03 start realizing that you should be the better team of these two squads. So, you know, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not like super pumped here as a Raps fan today. I shouldn't take until fourth quarter and 47 points to beat them.

42:14 I hear you.

42:15 Right.

42:15 I liked the move by Darko Yakovic to start Colin Murray Boyles and start of, instead of tracing Jackson Davis in place of Yakupurto, who's out with the shoulder bursitis, they're keeping Colin Murray Boyles on the bench, but I liked the idea of starting your five best guys. Just get him out there. We can't lose these games while Kawhi is out. Even though it didn't start well, those first three quarters, it was not great until they turned around in the fourth.

42:40 No, you're right about Scottie sort of leading this team, though, too. And he had a sore back, and there was a little bit of a scare there. But, I mean, he cranked it up defensively and then obviously put the pressure on them.

42:50 They cranked it.

42:50 Unfortunately, don't love seeing Scottie Barnes continue to miss all these free throws. 8-15 at the line. hell's going on there rj barrett he always misses free throws he's four of eight they're just leaving a lot of points on the board but 125 118 they got it done four and three wraps and the clippers are one and six we have so many teams in this league that one win it's like are we like seven teams or something with one win everybody's got a win now seven teams with one win yeah okay there it is all right my next game here uh curry scores 34 points as the warriors hold off the suns in a testy game let's start with the testy takeaway Someone.

43:24 Get hit in the nuts?

43:25 Draymond Green, no, no. But you won't believe who was involved in the testy dust-up here. Draymond Green ejected early in the second half for consecutive technical fouls. Malowatch came down. He sort of, I guess he pushed Green sort of establishing position. I thought Green sort of flopped a little bit too. Anyway, Green goes down. Malowatch catches it. Green pops back up, then wraps him up, tries to wrap him up to prevent the layup. Didn't work because he scored it, but then Green sort of chucks Malowatch to the ground. That was the immediate first technical. You saw it right away there from the official. Well, here comes Dylan Brooks, baby. Now this is sort of a slick move, I thought, from Dylan Brooks. It's like, okay, I just

44:06 saw what happened. Draymond Green sort of punked my guy and he's standing up for his guy too. Like I give him respect there, but it's like, Oh, Draymond Green just did that. Well, if I get up in his face, I'm going to probably get him to do something. He shouldn't get the second technical. And that's exactly what happened.

44:20 Dylan Brooks sprints in just to get in there, you know, say what he's got to say. And they pushed and they shoved. And then Green took it a little too far, probably just putting, you know, sort of getting up in the neck area of Brooks and grabbing up there and stuff like that. and that got him the second technical.

44:35 Brooks got one, but that got Draymond a second, and he was tossed. On the other hand, Brooks maybe played himself, because Draymond Green, you know, being out there, maybe the Suns actually win this game. He's having a huge impact on the success of the Warriors right now, so it's sort of funny. It may have backfired, but that was the testy part. Any comments on Draymond Green and Dylan Brooks, of all people, getting into it?

44:57 I mean, Dylan Brooks would know, right? Like, the devil, you know, I feel like he's like, yes, yes, I can definitely get you kicked out for this. So what? That's like back to back incidents for Dylan Brooks.

45:15 Yeah.

45:15 Yeah. After the kick and he got tossed. Yep.

45:18 He's living in the rhythm here.

45:20 Oh yeah.

45:20 Oh yeah. He had a good one earlier in the year too. Um, Who's he getting it into? He didn't get tossed for it, but he's.

45:26 Got into it with somebody. Yeah, you're right.

45:28 He's having a great start.

45:29 Um, but then down the stretch here, uh, I just want to talk a little bit about Steph Curry. As I said, scored 34 points. Um, he finally missed a free throw. It was his final attempt. It was like five seconds left. He had made every free throw up until that point all season long. So, ah, you know, we want to see a perfect season from somebody at the line there, but 51, uh, for 51 until he missed.

45:50 But Curry at age 38, I had to look this up. He's played six games. Again, he's 38 years old. How did you put it? 38th season on Earth. How did you do that?

46:04 I thought 29th year.

46:05 Is that what you said? Yeah, 29th year.

46:06 That's right.

46:07 38th year of life.

46:08 It's Steph Curry's 38th year on the world.

46:13 On the world.

46:15 But– He is averaging 30 points per game. So I looked it up.

46:19 All right.

46:20 Guards over the age of 38 years old. Guards, not point guards. I mean, Steph has always sort of been a point guard and a shooting guard. So it's perfect. So all guards over the age of 38. And who scored over 10 points? That's what I wanted to see. Not 30.

46:38 10.

46:38 Because this is old. 38 is freaking old. I mean, Steph Curry is sort of ageless. That's the weird thing.

46:43 But.

46:44 Here are the guys that did it. Reggie Miller did it a handful of times, okay? That makes sense. He did it in his 38th year and his 39th year. He scored 10 points per game and then 14.8 points per game. John Stockton did it a couple of times. Obviously not a huge score. Did it three times though as he aged up in 38, 39 in his 40th year.

47:01 Everywhere between 10.8 and 13.4 points per game. And then two other guys. Steve Nash scored 12.7 points per game in 50 games for the Lakers at age 38. And then Sam Cassell, of all guys, did 11.2 for the Celtics and Clippers. And then here is Steph Curry. I mean, we don't get almost combined everybody else. And, uh, he's going 30 a game right now. It's just amazing. It's just taken for granted. I do it. I, um, I fully admit, I just take them for granted at this point. Um, and it's just a bonker sort of statistic there puts it in perspective, like these other hall of fame guys.

47:36 It's like guards at that age are just like, you don't, you don't contribute all that much in terms of scoring. Not with Steph.

47:43 I'm laughing because I was like, how are you not saying Michael Jordan here? 23 per game as a 38-year-old. But he was listed as a small forward on the Wizards.

47:52 Oh, that's why.

47:53 It was a stat head thing.

47:54 Yeah, yeah.

47:56 Stat head will get you sometimes.

47:57 Yeah, I mean, the saying with Steph early in his career was like, he's going to age great. He's going to be able to play forever. His shooting's not going to go away. Guess what?

48:08 We were right.

48:09 Everybody was right. We called that one. Yeah, you get better at shooting the more you do it.

48:12 So.

48:13 He's still got it. It's just a matter of how long he wants to play. He's got the two years with the Warriors after this. Nobody's going to want to see him retire, even if he's 40 years old.

48:24 Any other takeaways from that game itself there? Dubs getting the win in a close one?

48:28 Not for me.

48:29 A different starting lineup for your Warriors? Still holding your stock? It's ticking up.

48:36 Over 500 Charles Bassey had a good game 19 points I think it was his career high that's a good guy that like a random third center who will just put up a big night every now and then playing with effort and energy basically he's just a good energy guy and I think Niang has been pretty solid for the Warriors as well yeah Charles Bassey comes off the bench and is able to block a shot here or there you know he's a little Isaiah Stewart-ish you know he can he can be that type of guy It's surprising to see him in the starting lineup.

49:07 You're laughing just at my sounds.

49:08 Yeah, everyone's the wind came through.

49:12 Yeah, I need to turn around. George Neang has been super impressive. I know it's George Neang and he's never. going to be super impressive in terms of his game on the floor. But if he's splashing threes and he's in the right position, that's all you can ask him. That's what he's providing. So yeah, still solid with them.

49:33 Still holding onto that stock. Waiting for the day that Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody- also come back, especially Jimmy Butler. The light workouts have begun, and because he was injured in January, modern medicine is allowing Steph Curry to run circles around guys in his late 30s. It feels like Jimmy's coming back at some point.

49:56 All right, six games left. Where are you going, TK?

49:58 Lomelo Ball in his 25th year of life, 34 points for the Wolves. They beat the Bucs. He was coming off a game where he went for 10 points and two of 10 shooting against the San Antonio Spurs. Chris Finch went to the media and was like, they're all over him. They're playing so handsy, complaining about the physicality.

50:16 This wasn't that at all. Pretty much the exact opposite from the Milwaukee Bucks. A comfortable game for the Timberwolves, I thought. A lot of freedom of movement. Lomelo went for 34, six threes. It's his first 30 plus point game since coming to the Timberwolves. Ayo, really, really good as well. 19 points, 12 boards, eight assists. It just felt like these two guys could dial up a straight line drive to the hoop. anytime they wanted. In four games as a starter, Io's at 20 points per game, eight rebounds, four assists, 64% true shooting. Looks nice next to Lomelo in a different way that Ant looked nice next to Lomelo. Obviously, Ant has a lot of higher end outcomes. He's a better three-point shooter than Io, but

50:56 the quickness to get downhill and attack the basket, great alongside Ball. So an easy win, I thought, for the Timberwolves. You could even hear it on the broadcast. They're like, not a lot of teeth from this bucks defense so far. And it really didn't feel like it. Now the game was probably closer than it should have been. Like a lot of these games where one team is far ahead of the other team. And it just felt like after the first quarter, the Timberwolves are like, all right, we got this one. If we play a few good minutes here and there, we'll be able to stretch out leads when we need to. And that's exactly what happened.

51:32 Yeah.

51:32 I liked Lomelo coming out of this game and just firing away. You know, there are, Wondering if he was going to play with the wrist injury, then he just first three is a 26-footer. Next one's a 32-footer. I'm just firing away, boys. And yes, the Bucs just didn't have it. And that's not surprising.

51:49 Burry's got the start, though.

51:50 Burry's, yeah.

51:50 He looked all right. good looks like a good draft pick obviously for a team in rebuild mode but yeah they're one of the worst teams yeah so they're gonna be in the running here.

51:59 He was four for 15 and he was getting blown by it all night but he started yeah like why would he did not look that good and another guy who i don't think has looked good for the bucks so far that you would like to see development wise is like hello where where are you yeah he's doing nothing out there just having zero impact and that's maybe like the biggest centerpiece of the trade they got back for Giannis.

52:22 Yeah, they activated his option for next season, bring him back for his year four, the fourth year for him in the NBA. And yeah, the question is, they're throwing out all these guys. Like I do like the way Kasparas Yakishonis has looked for them. And I didn't mind the way Brain Brewers was playing really hard yesterday. I guess that was the primary takeaway, but he takes the place of Ryan Rollins in the starting lineup. So they're just, they're picking and choosing right now and Khalil Ware coming off the bench and it's not working quite yet.

52:56 All right, Tass, what's your game here as we get down to the final few?

52:59 Well, the wizard's magic game. I was disappointed to see that Anthony Black was sitting in this game with right ankle injury management. That's how you get around, um, an actual player's injury by calling it management. He was on a back-to-back, and I was just disappointed in general. No Paolo Bancaro, no Jalen Suggs, and then you remove Anthony Black.

53:23 This was a team that I super locked, as in over, and unfortunately... When you're not playing a bunch of your players, this is going to be a huge factor in the way the Wizards just came out and crushed them. Anthony Davis looking like the best player on the floor. DeAndre Ayton getting his first start of the season. He plays basketball for the Wizards, but with Alex Sarr out, he gets his first start. And that's a nice guy you can throw into the starting lineup. It was just odd out there. I was just disappointed. Alex Morales was out there playing for the Magic. I mean, he could go as Miles Morales and tag team with Chris Webber. You know, that was weird. I did hear on the broadcast that Wizards head coach Brian Keefe went as Wizards head coach

54:07 Brian Keefe for Halloween. Nobody knew who he was. Like, who are you? That was a, it was just disappointing. Why do you have to sit, Anthony? Why do you have to sit a guy, a young guy?

54:18 Because he's 22 years old, Tess. He's got to rest. Yeah, I know.

54:21 I know. No, I know.

54:22 Maybe he's got, yeah, that ankle is maybe actually banged up.

54:26 Yeah. Okay.

54:27 But it is weird.

54:28 I actually was kind of watching it last night and seeing how many guys were sitting. I was like, they don't need to play 15 games tonight. No. They didn't need to. And that's why you had so many guys sit out for so many of these games and it turns into weird results.

54:41 Yeah.

54:41 I was like, that's maybe a little too much just to make an event for a Monday night for no reason.

54:46 That's a good point, yeah, because they're making the election here today a thing. But as a result, you do have a lot of back-to-backs that do happen. And it's not just because of the election. It's because of other events, like the NBA Cup. There's only a few games. There's only a few teams playing in this quarterfinals night or this semifinals night or this finals night. So the other games get bunched up. And the back-to-backs are the things that everybody hates. We're all talking about how guys are running too much and they're running farther and longer and faster.

55:15 So the back-to-back suck. Yeah, that's a good point.

55:17 Hey, man, Wizards are 4-3.

55:19 Yeah.

55:20 About 500 here, seven games in. I said they were going to have a decent start in our preseason predictions. I think I had them as 7-3 through their first 10 games. So that's going to be pushing it. But still, if they're over 500, it's a great start. And yeah, the Magic, man. I'm happy I took the under. I will say that after seven games. Not feeling it with this team. Sean Sweeney has not unlocked the Magic here yet.

55:45 Not yet.

55:46 He hasn't really had a chance.

55:47 Everybody's hurt.

55:48 Yeah, well, what a shock. Exactly.

55:50 21 for DeBonsa on 7 of 17 shooting. He's been double digits every all three games he's played so far. Looking really good. But I don't know what's going on with Will Riley. Guy doesn't play anymore. Four minutes last night. He's averaging like three minutes a game after a solid end to his season last year. Had a really good summer league. Seemed at least like a guy who would get some rotation minutes. But there's just a ton of wings, I guess. on this Wizards team, and it's hard to find out minutes for Brian Keefe in his Brian Keefe costume.

56:19 And three number one picks starting for the Wizards last night. Isn't that exciting? Because DeAndre Ayton started alongside A.J. DeBansa and then Anthony Davis.

56:29 Wow. Wow. Triple Ds.

56:31 Pretty crazy.

56:32 Along with Trey Young there. High draft pick as well.

56:34 Maybe Will Riley ate too many calories this summer. Apparently he's eating 7,000 calories a day. Maybe he's feeling a little slow.

56:40 Too many?

56:41 Yeah. I mean, I'm just pulling at grass here to find something, why he could be out. But yeah, the Wizards just had more players. And even, I know it was kind of far-fetched for you to say they're going to have a good start. But when they're starting, Anthony Davis, the best player in the game, plus Treon, plus DeBasa. Yeah, there's talent. There's a lot of talent out there.

57:06 All right, my game that I'm going to take next here is the Pistons destroying the Hornets last night, 124-91. But my takeaway is Cade Cunningham is so consistent. He has the NBA YouTube page confused. Cade scored a season-high 33 points last night, okay?

57:23 Again, 124-91.

57:25 He was 13-20 from the field, seven assists, five steals, five rebounds in three quarters. He did not even play in the fourth quarter because they were cooking him. which is why you might be a little confused if you clicked on the NBA YouTube official video today that said Cade Cunningham was cooking with 33 points versus the Hornets.

57:43 And then you saw and you watched those highlights and Cade was playing in the fourth quarter. Why? Because the NBA posted the wrong Cade highlight reel of him destroying the Hornets. They just played a couple days ago.

57:55 He scored 30.

57:56 They put up the wrong one.

57:57 I'm watching it going, hold on.

58:00 I thought this game was in Charlotte. And then like, I thought Kobe White was playing. I'm like so confused. It's like six o'clock in the morning. I'm trying to make sense of all this. And then I'm like, oh, somebody screwed up and they put the wrong Cade one up. But anyway, I found the right one and he was just as good. Even better. Even better than the game in Detroit the other night where he scored 30 in that one, this one 33, and just a piston, man.

58:22 This is peak pistons right now. This type of game, they shot 57% from the floor and 48% from deep. That was with extended garbage time, bringing down those numbers a little bit. Duncan Robinson is on a heater. He went six for nine from three last night. He's shooting 45% from three on the season. He's making four three-pointers a game, obviously taking just over eight a game, incredible percentages. The other part from Detroit you love, they forced 25 Charlotte turnovers.

58:50 That led to 27 fast break points. And then Cade did have his first, let's call it his first superstar quarter of the year, of the season. He scored 17 points in the third. Most of those came in like a three and a half minute section of the game. And he just had the mid-range drop in. slicing through the d4 layups hitting the three off the catch and shoot threes and and suddenly the game was like blown wide open so kid cutting him in the pistons i mean they're definitely going under the radar here with everybody talking about teams struggling and other surprise teams like maybe the rockets and grizzlies and blazers but like here are the pistons racking up.

59:24 W's six and one maybe the schedule isn't all that sexy and that's part of it. You know, kind of like the Lakers are six and two against it. Okay. Schedule, but Lucas, you know, doing some crazy things there. So the Pistons kind of do flow on a fly under the radar. This is our Tuesday show on, on Monday show.

59:41 People are saying, Hey, give some love to the Pistons who are now five and one over the weekend. And I, I did, I wanted to talk about Ron Holland scoring 12 straight points against the Brooklyn Nets, but it was the Brooklyn Nets and there's a billion other times to talk about. So this is good for them. Uh, Obviously, they're kind of a franchise that always kind of flies under the radar. That's just the way it goes, unfortunately.

1:00:02 On the other side, the Hornets getting Kobe White back. That's good. That's good. But it didn't work out well.

1:00:08 Did not translate last night.

1:00:10 His first game.

1:00:10 With a guy coming back, yeah.

1:00:11 With his new teammates, too. So, yeah, things didn't look good as you watched him. He just wasn't. All that great.

1:00:17 There's flying under the radar and then there's flying under the radar so much that the official NBA YouTube page is posting the wrong highlight reel for you.

1:00:24 That's the problem.

1:00:25 I mean, there's too many games.

1:00:26 Yeah. And too many games.

1:00:28 Yeah.

1:00:28 Yeah.

1:00:28 Yeah. And I will extend that to podcast saturation. I know there's podcasts happening every day talking about the NBA. And I've listened to a couple on locked on NBA who do reports from each arena generally or from they've got their reporters in each arena. And that's exactly what they did, what you just said with the NBA. They played the wrong game from a previous game. Just the wrong link. The wrong report was clicked on. And that's what you get sometimes with this oversaturation in podcasts. Who can do it every day? Who can do it every day?

1:01:02 We're still good. We're still good. We're still doing it. I'm just talking myself into a happy place right now. Either way.

1:01:10 Three games left.

1:01:11 Three games left. Take your pick. Oh, the Bulls got destroyed again. Okay, you take the Bulls. Yeah, they got smacked once again. This time by the 76ers, but it's A.G. Caleb Wilson had 24, 7, and 4 with four steals. Dunks, threes.

1:01:27 Nice dunks.

1:01:28 Off the dribble threes. Off the dribble tough finishes. The Bears dominated the Seahawks, so I was fine.

1:01:34 Oh. Yeah.

1:01:35 Super Bowl, Super Bears. This was close for a half, and then the Sixers literally ran away in the second half. That's just their MO so far this season. 31 fast break points for Philadelphia, the old team in this matchup here. Three guys stood out to me for the Sixers. Vijay Edgecombe, we barely talked about this guy at all to start the season. 21 points last night, four dunks. Jalen Brown had 25 points, 11 rebounds. It's his second 25-point game for the Sixers, also his second double-double. And I thought Dean Wade... was very helpful. He's recently come back from injury, eight points, a couple of threes. He was a plus 19.

1:02:10 And I think the Sixers lineup looks really good when he's basically, I don't know who you would say is their small ball five. It's either him or it's LeBron. That's their front line. Those guys with some fasties out there just flying up and down the court. They made the Bulls look old and slow, and they're the young, fast team. This was barely a game. LeBron was drinking wine in the stands.

1:02:29 That was amazing.

1:02:29 He got an and one in the fourth quarter and was twerking, and then Tyrese Maxey got an and one, and he decided to do some dances. They were doing bits the entire second half.

1:02:38 Yeah.

1:02:39 I was getting some, I was getting some Lebronto flashbacks of LeBron toying with the Raptors and he was approaching this game like that.

1:02:46 Yeah.

1:02:47 When he went screaming into the stands, bumped into a guy that had a glass of wine. So the wine sort of went everywhere. And then he like took the cup and took a drink, gave it back to him.

1:02:55 Yeah.

1:02:56 So that's how serious he was taking the game.

1:02:58 Yeah, they didn't even let the Bulls inbound the ball. They whistled the play dead.

1:03:01 Yeah, they were like, this is going to be funny. Let's see what LeBron does here. That's not fair. That's totally unfair. It's like, watch this. He's going to drink some wine.

1:03:08 That's cool. I think that is cool.

1:03:10 He likes it.

1:03:10 Yeah, sharing germs is cool.

1:03:12 That's not what the guy said.

1:03:14 What did he say?

1:03:14 The guy's like, I threw away the cup and got a new glass.

1:03:16 Yeah, he was like almost pissed about it. It was like, relax, man.

1:03:21 Everyone else is like, I'm saving this forever.

1:03:23 He's like, ugh. Do you think LeBron can tell the difference between what wine he's drinking? Because he's a big wino.

1:03:30 I mean, yeah, he is a big wino.

1:03:32 He's a big wino.

1:03:33 That would have been great if he had spit it out. He's like, oh, this is swill.

1:03:38 Last guy I heard called a wino was Johnny Depp back in the day. I think it's an onophile if you're, is the nice way to say you're a drunko on wine.

1:03:47 Oh, I didn't mean he was a drunko.

1:03:50 He likes his wine.

1:03:51 Yeah, he likes his wine.

1:03:52 Yeah, he does.

1:03:53 He does.

1:03:54 Yeah, that's all I meant.

1:03:55 All right, Tass, two games left, unless you got anything else to add to the Sixers destroying the Bulls. There's two games left. Are you taking the Knicks win or the Spurs win?

1:04:02 I'm taking the Knicks win. It's less about the game for me. Watching Julius Randle play in Madison Square Garden where he played and helped the Knicks transition from a terrible team to a better team. And then eventually a championship team after he left. Made me think he should be celebrated a little bit in New York. Just a little bit.

1:04:23 It's okay.

1:04:23 Once a Knick, always a Knick.

1:04:25 Yeah, exactly.

1:04:25 Give it time. In 20 years, he'll be sitting courtside.

1:04:28 I hope so. But the thing is, I don't think, I'm trying to think of guys now, as you say that, that have been celebrated in the 2000s that were on the New York Knicks. Barely anybody. I mean, a little Carmelo, a little Amare.

1:04:41 Amare, yeah.

1:04:42 But not much.

1:04:43 No, there's some dark days.

1:04:45 Yeah, exactly.

1:04:45 I get that. And that's why Julius Randall should be at least just noted and given a little bit of celebration. A little one, a little one. Not a lot.

1:05:01 It's true. He was kind of the first one, you know, the next ship is heading towards disaster for 20 years, basically. And he was the first one to be like, let's turn it around a little.

1:05:12 Try to turn the wheel.

1:05:13 Yeah, yeah, yeah. In the years, in the 2000s, they have done nothing. The last guy that they've retired a number for was Patrick Ewing, who last played for them in 2000. And shortly after they gave the legend a retired number. I don't think that Julius Randall should be retired. And I guess, as you say, you use the term there, right?

1:05:33 The ship, I guess Mello did that sort of, uh, and, and Amari did that sort of, but it didn't lead to a championship and Julius Randall was there and, and, Well.

1:05:45 Julius Randle didn't lead to a championship.

1:05:47 Trading Julius Randle led to a championship.

1:05:49 Well, I guess in a way.

1:05:51 Exactly. Carl Anthony Towns was awesome. Having his contract available to be traded was very beneficial to the Knicks. I agree. And he was all NBA for the Knicks. Yeah, he was a great player, or a good player for a while, and then. He was given thumbs downs and it was over. And then they traded him. They got a better player and they won the championship. But they couldn't have done it without him.

1:06:09 Exactly. That's a long period of time not to celebrate anybody, really. I'm looking at other organizations like the Charlotte Hornets right now who said, Del Curry, we're retiring your number. Was there a lot of playoff success for Del Curry?

1:06:23 No.

1:06:24 Was there a lot of playoff success for Julius Randle?

1:06:25 No.

1:06:26 And in this storied franchise, I think it's a, hey, we're not going to retire your number, Julius, but... We're going to give you a smaller ring or something. A smaller ring is weird. Just like you said, they are so good at celebrating their former players. He's not retired. He's still playing.

1:06:48 He's playing for the other team in the state. I mean, I don't think you can go celebrating him right now.

1:06:54 I get what you're saying, but... Yeah, just a little.

1:06:58 This is your takeaway.

1:07:00 There's too many games on when this is your takeaway from Nick's Nets, but hey.

1:07:03 Yeah, hey man, that's all they had. The Knicks won the game.

1:07:05 They pulled away late. They held them in 90, which obviously is super low scoring in today's NBA.

1:07:11 90 points is nothing. I just want James Dolan the ownership to be a little dignified to show a little bit I always write down all of the former players that are there in the playoffs I'm trying to think of all the guys that I wrote as they went on their championship run and if any were somewhat recent I mean, you had a Tim Thomas out there. You had a Chris Childs out there occasionally.

1:07:32 They're not recent.

1:07:33 Yeah, I know. That's why. I just want a little, hey, oh, thank you for what you did.

1:07:39 Why am I drawing a blank? Steve Novak? Steve Novak. When did he play?

1:07:43 Was he there?

1:07:44 He's definitely been celebrated before.

1:07:46 He would have been a 2010s-er probably.

1:07:47 Yeah. Yeah. He's around the game. He's still in broadcasting. He's around the game. He's probably celebrated. I say he's around the game because he's probably celebrated when he's there with the road team. And they say, hey. Steve Novak's here. Uh, anyway, give Julius Randall a little bit of love and respect that he deserves. And a small ring. Yeah, that's weird.

1:08:05 They shouldn't do that.

1:08:06 Can't even wear it.

1:08:07 Too tiny.

1:08:09 Uh, yeah, that one definitely was, it was a bit of a, with so many games on, it was a sort of an afterthought, but a dominant fourth quarter from New York there in MSG.

1:08:18 28 to 11. Classic mix.

1:08:20 Yeah.

1:08:20 Turn on the fourth quarter. That's right.

1:08:22 So they're, they're back to, well, there's three and four, so they're under 500, but the Nets, uh, 1-6. All right, the final game, that leaves me with Harper and Wemby leading the Spurs past the Jazz 1-19-97. Here's my weird takeaway from this game. Maybe not as weird as Tass's Julius Randle deserves a small ring, but weird nonetheless. The Spurs respond well to an angry Mitch Johnson because San Antonio came out of the gate here on fire. Well, really defensively just locked down the Jazz. Only 16 points in the opening quarter. That's a season low for Utah.

1:08:53 This is one thing they can do is score a lot, but the Spurs were locked in defensively. But because this is the NBA, second quarter, Utah makes their run. They cut the Spurs lead to 36-35. Johnson was furious. He called a timeout. He was like, sort of like, you know, pounding his fist into his hands. He was visibly upset.

1:09:11 After that timeout, whatever he said to those guys, they responded. 14-5 run.

1:09:15 Boom.

1:09:16 Had a lead going into halftime. Then in the third... You know, it was like a little back and forth, but then the Spurs blew like a transition defense. Just bad coverage. Keontae George, I think, hit a three in transition and Mitch Johnson called another timeout. He was again angry and they responded again. They went on a 23 to 11 run, took full control of the game and sort of like coasted from there. But Mitch Johnson, he was just calling some good timeouts last night. That was my takeaway. Just like, hey, come on, this team stinks.

1:09:46 But like, get your head in the game here. And they seem to take that to heart. The only other takeaway was we got a meme of Harrison Barnes lying on the ground with his arms like this, sort of like judging. It's a pretty good meme.

1:09:59 Okay, I'm going to look at this meme real quick.

1:10:00 Yeah, it's a new meme drop. But the Spurs, yeah, they listen to Mitch. Mitch showing some fight. Yeah, I mean, that's pop-like to me, you know, as he matures in his coaching experience here. So it's good to see. You see the Harrison Barnes meme? Yeah, it's funny. Yeah, it's pretty funny.

1:10:16 Yeah.

1:10:17 I like it's his hands crossed on his chest is the funny part to me. Oh, he's looking.

1:10:21 Yeah.

1:10:22 He looks like he's waking up from a nap while watching football.

1:10:25 I was like, Oh yeah.

1:10:27 Yeah. All right.

1:10:28 See you later.

1:10:28 Back to sleep. All right. That's all 15 games. Some solid takeaways and some weird ones as it went on there, but that was a lot of basketball. Love it. Love it. Love it on the night. Fantasy line of the night. Luca going back to back with woe boys. Very rare. But he scored a game-high 42 points versus Miami. Shot 14 of 24 from the field. He hit six threes, eight of 10 at the line, 13 assists, seven boards, two steals. Did it in 36 minutes of action. Only had two turnovers, too. And he was a plus 26 in this game as well. Luka cooking right now.

1:11:06 Incredible start. The reduced turnovers, big.

1:11:09 That's big.

1:11:10 Because he was leading the NBA in turnovers.

1:11:14 13 assists, only two turnovers. He'll take that any day of the week.

1:11:16 But he's leading the NBA now in points, 38.3. Field goals attempted per game, 23.6. Threes attempted, 13.7. And free throws attempted per game in 10.1. He's leading a lot. Wow.

1:11:29 And he's leading the Lakers to near the top of the Western Conference right now. Not the greatest competition, but racking up these wins for sure. All right. That's all 15 games. We did it. How are you feeling, Grassman? Hot? Are you hot in that day?

1:11:41 I feel like I've grown.

1:11:42 Grown?

1:11:43 Oh. My grass has grown.

1:11:44 Did you put some water on? Did you sprinkle some water on you? You got nice lights in here.

1:11:47 Yeah, the humidity. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right.

1:11:51 So Tass will be wearing this for the rest of the week, including tomorrow, even though there's no games on tonight.

1:11:56 Yeah.

1:11:57 We have a guest.

1:11:58 That's weird.

1:11:58 Joining us tomorrow.

1:11:59 Hey, guest.

1:12:00 Yeah.

1:12:01 Would you like to talk to some grass?

1:12:03 What's the classic Mo Verney grass.

1:12:05 Line, Trey?

1:12:08 Let's go get some grass.

1:12:11 Thank you.

1:12:11 We'll pull it.

1:12:12 Don't worry.

1:12:12 Good. You're going to want to hear that. All right.

1:12:15 Thumbs up for Grass Mellis here. If you're joining on YouTube, subscribe. Podcast listeners, come check it out. Got to see Grass Mellis. It's a good costume. Like, we didn't skimp. Again, there wasn't much left on the shelves, but it wasn't cheap.

1:12:28 Yeah.

1:12:28 And I can see why.

1:12:29 You're right. I think it is well made. You always get worried when you order something online. Like, oh, is it going to be a cheapie?

1:12:36 Yeah, yeah.

1:12:37 And maybe you're just, we felt like maybe we're just paying too much for an inadequate costume. But no, that $ 90 was worth it.

1:12:46 Oh, geez, you gave it away.

1:12:49 I gave it away.

1:12:51 Well, it's cutting your chin there a little bit.

1:12:53 Can we get on with it, JD?

1:12:55 Yeah, all right.

1:12:55 Can we move? I am hot. Don't talk to me.

1:12:58 Clipper bros, clipper bros. You heard it here first.

1:13:02 Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome.

1:13:05 Thanks for joining us. And remember, tomorrow I'll be wearing this, but I'll be wearing it without pants.

1:13:11 Oh, I'm too hot.

1:13:14 Yes, it's too hot in these pants.

1:13:15 It does look hot. I'll give you that.

1:13:18 Pretty good costume, you know, for a thing that you wouldn't have even thought existed. They're like, how are we going to make a bad bunny grass man?

1:13:26 Yeah.

1:13:26 Don't worry. We got an idea. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. There we go.

1:13:30 As we sign off.

1:13:31 Respect.

1:13:32 Respect.