Jaylen Brown Makes Celtics History, Curry's Shoes, Giannis & The Bucks' Big Fat Greek Divorce

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Speaker 1: Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the No Dunks Podcast, presented by Fan Duel. It's Wednesday, April eighth, twenty twenty six.
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Speaker 2: I'm J.
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Speaker 1: Skeets here in the Classic Factory and alongside me a former coworker, a good friend back eshwack kid. Hi, y'all doing what's up?
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Speaker 2: Ash?
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Speaker 1: Nice to have you here, and let's not forget the Man, the Myth, the legend, super producer jd oh.
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Speaker 2: He is here. We are great to have you back. Hey man, it's great to be back. Always good to be here.
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Speaker 1: I notice you have a box of Kleenex beside you. Are you planning to get emotional here in your return?
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Speaker 2: As emotional as it is to be back on the show. Actually, I'm just I'm always sick when I'm on here, like anytime I'm here with Tasha Tray. I've been here before. There's sniffles happening all the time. So I just I don't know what it is I'm allergic to you guys.
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Speaker 1: I guess yeah, maybe allergies could be a thing here in Atlanta.
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Speaker 2: Allergy has been kicking my ass for a little bit. Raining Look, I played pickleball outside for hours the other day with JD and Rachel. Not one sniffle, not one sneeze. I wake up yesterday and I'm like, I can't breathe. I'm like, what is happening to Harry? I don't understand. Now? You do have four children?
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Speaker 1: I do, and I assume one of them is always sick, meaning you're always sick or sniffles here.
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Speaker 2: Recently they've all been healthy.
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Speaker 1: I don't know all the that immune system, man.
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Speaker 2: I guess it is me. I don't know. I did put him in a coal plunge. Oh wow, hypothermia, that's what it is. Out of your baller gym, which is really a resort. Yeah, oh my god, it's crazy. How did pickleball go? Were you? It went awesome for me? Really really it was awesome for you, Like, what do you mean? I destroyed you? Manes? All right? Me and Courtney were not doing very well against him and Rachel. We swited up teams. I won one match during the day. Is JD and I girls all right? But I remember one match we were up like eight to one. We lost. We lost?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so are you playing a lot more? It's becoming more regular for.
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Speaker 2: A while last year and then we haven't played in a while, but we're trying to get back in and we hadn't seen these guys in the while, so we're like, let's hang out a little bit. Please tell me you're still playing pick up basketball though, Oh yeah, basketball all the time. You should see me right now. I'm back, Really, I am back, all right? Ask anybody call anybody up at the FLC in games will Georgia. They'll tell you. Look, I'm talking the kid. Did we're playing the twelve, I'm scoring eight?
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Speaker 1: You know? So where was that the one time we needed it?
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Speaker 2: In tournament? Listen, if you talk to anybody that's not you or you and Trey have not seen the best day, it happens. It's all right.
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Speaker 1: Uh, we got a Weggie to show everyone here. If you're joining us on YouTube, hit the like button, subscribe. Do it for esh Kid being back in the Classic Factory podcast listeners five star ratings and reviews. But yeah, Weggie number seventy one Killian Hayes. He plays for the Sacramento Kings. Did you know that? I know a lot of you didn't.
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Speaker 2: I actually didn't. I saw highlights this morning. I'm like killing Hayes. Hell is that. Yeah, he's on the Kings. Yeah he is. And that is Weggie seventy one.
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Speaker 1: And the Kings, despite having an absolute brutal season, the one thing they figured out this year how to stick weggies. Because they have seven combined weggies on the year. That is our you know, clubhouse leader when it comes to teams. Six different players have stuck a weggie for the Kings. Drew Eubanks has two, Okay, Nee Clifford, the rookie Sabonis when he was playing, Monk had one, Keegan Murray and now Killian Hayes.
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Speaker 2: There you go. I can't believe we're at seventy one, Wedgy. That's insane.
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Speaker 1: I mean, look, I'm getting ahead of myself now. It feels like eighty might be in play.
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Speaker 2: We're we're hitting Bam out of bio numbers.
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Speaker 1: Whoa wow, Yeah that's right. Barry Bonds is on our list. First gotta beat Bonds and then maybe Bam will be next in line. I guess maybe Kobe then Bam.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're getting it.
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Speaker 1: We're getting all right, seventy one weggies. Okay, let's get into a few of last night's games and then later on we're gonna do the updown report because I got some fun questions for you to throw some thumbs on and everybody to play along. But let's start with the I think the game of the night last night Jaellen Brown scoring thirty five points as the Celtics ashes. Celtics beat the Hornets one thirteen, one oh two. They take the season series. This is a potential playoff matchup. Not a good loss for the Hornets in terms of the standings, especially with some of the other results, but we could still see this. Your takeaways from an entertaining at least Celtics Hornets game.
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Speaker 2: I mean it was super fun. Yeah, I love watching LaMelo play, man. I think everybody in the country loves watching LaMelo play. On. This exciting. I'm happy for them that they're like in the hunt for the playoffs and they look good. But yeah, the Celtics look great right now. I am so excited as a Celtics fan here just because like Tatum and Brown people, I heard you guys talking about this yesterday, you and Ben talking about, oh can Tatum and Brown figure it out? As if they didn't just win the championship.
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Speaker 1: Hold on, Ben said that I encountered, well, when are we talking boy's still doing this.
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Speaker 2: I don't understand how we can keep saying that they've won a championship. Okay, they might have flamed that last year. Tatum got hurt, obviously, but him coming back. He scored twenty points in his last six games. Yeap, like he's back. He looks good. The Celtics are healthy for the first time all year. They're going to the playoffs healthy, Like, just keep up that momentum. Like Lusevich. People are a little worried about who cares. We don't. They don't need him.
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Speaker 1: I don't think you don't think you need him to win a title. I mean I think they might not a first round, maybe not even the second round. I think at some point they're gonna need to get something from their center position, backup center position. Yeah, Boochs looked bad, like he's coming back from a hand injury. I think he was one for ten last night. How many good games does he had for the Celtics all year?
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Speaker 2: No, No, I don't think.
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Speaker 1: Maybe yeah, one or two and then we played against the Bulls revenge game. Well, but I think they do need something from again, whether it's gonna be Vouch or will Missoula be like, Okay, sorry, we go Gars are something like that.
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Speaker 2: Maybe Gars. Just the way that he's been able to stretch it out a little bit more, I think he might just be a better fit right now. Like obviously Lusavich is a good player. It's a decent part. Like when we get to it, like, is he Kenny perform? Sure, I don't know, But I just don't know if we need him if everybody else is firing the way that they are right now, the way that they're playing. Listening to the NBA Day this morning, they're talking about how the Celtics haven't really been playing Missoula ball recently, Like they haven't been shooting a lot of threes like we were accustomed to. Yeah, they'ven mixing it up a little bit, got Jayalen Brown in the mid range, stuff like that. Like through these playoffs, I think I think they can just really make no noise. I think they're gonna be the ones to represent the East, and I would I don't know if I maybe not picked him against the Spurs or the Thunder who I think would probably come out of the West, but they'd be right there. I just don't know what else we have you know. Yeah, Jalen Brown was awesome.
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Speaker 1: Thirty five points, nine boards, played every minute of the second half, and you could tell how he saw his postgame interview, like I was sweating buckets man Patrick style. He was dripping, but he was big. In the fourth quarter, I thought they did an awesome job of like getting Canipple on Jalen Brown as much as possible. Nipple is a big boy, like you know, there was there was one play where like Jaylen Brown tried to back him up on the post, like he didn't move him, like he's strong. But that said, I think Jalen liked the matchup, could still get to his spots, rise up over him, like he could create enough separation on the rook I thought he did a great job down the stretch there.
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Speaker 2: They were sort of attacking him a lot.
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Speaker 1: And again it wasn't like ooh, he was like reaching at things or bad fouls. It was just like Jalen felt comfortable is that in that matchup and they were seeking it out. So little history for Jalen Brown. Last night, he surpassed two thousand points on the season, becoming just the eighth Celtics player to do so in a single season. You want to take a crack at some trivia here naming other Celtics players to hit two thousand points, which is obviously a lot of points in a regular season.
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Speaker 2: Bird Bird did it four times?
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Speaker 1: Uh, Paul Pierce four times?
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Speaker 2: Take him twice?
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Speaker 1: Okay, now it gets a little more difficult. We got some oldies and some more, at least one being Michale. McHale did it once. Okay, Okay, good stuff we got. We got two older guys th Michale older than Mackel.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, legendary Celtics players have the chick twice?
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Speaker 2: Wow? Can you pull this off?
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Speaker 1: Now? You got one super old guy and you've got one more in the last.
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Speaker 2: Uh, I guess or Bill Bill Russell?
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Speaker 1: No, Sam Jones is going to be Okay, Sam Jones, but I think small guy. He had an All NBA year with the Celtics, sort of sort of out of nowhere.
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Speaker 2: Thomas, there we go, sir, well done.
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Speaker 1: Not a sniffle even said that? Trip or heard?
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Speaker 2: Uh?
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Speaker 1: And now Jaylen Brown obviously adds his name to the list. So pretty impressive.
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Speaker 2: You love to see it, You love to see it.
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Speaker 1: The other thing I was loving with this game is It was like a good back and forth affair, and I thought a really good test for the Hornets here if they trying to get into the playoffs or through the play in and over those last four nights, I was thinking, Oh, here we go. Playoff basketball is right around the corner. What I mean by that is like Saturday Spurs Nuggets overtime thriller, easy game of the Year candidate. Sunday Rockets spoiled Steph Curry's return one point victory.
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Speaker 2: They ran a play.
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Speaker 1: Down the stretch, Ye got the bucket inside, Curry missed the three entertaining Monday insane Nick Hawk's game. I don't know, were you down at the fortress for that one. Okay, you know the shot where McCollum throws it up from past half court banks in but it's just on his fingertips. But that one had like Nikhil Alexander Walker hitting clutch shots down the stretch, then Bruntson doing his thing intense. And then Tuesday last night we had this Celtics takeover versus the Hornets late, so like I'm like, Okay, here we go. These are the playoff type games.
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Speaker 2: So ready for the playoffs, man, So ready? For the playoffs, like the race and the is insane. I know yesterday you mentioned that each one of those bottom half teams could be finished anywhere. It's not that case anymore, but right right, I just I'm just ready for her to start so bad right now. I just needed to get going. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: I sort of was shocked that, like this is the final week of the regular season and then we got to play in next week and then into the playoffs.
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Speaker 2: Kind of flown by, hasn't it? Like it feels like it feels like it's been super long. But at the same time, like here we are in almost the middle of April. Yeah, what is going on with time? We're ready? We're ready for sure.
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Speaker 1: My only other note from this game, I thought Jordan Walsh was a difference maker. I mean, in a game where Brown and Tatum and these guys look great, he like he had nine point six boards, so like found money. I don't think he missed a shot, But he sort of shut down LaMelo ball in the second half of that game because he was cooking LaMelo was. He didn't score the Yeah, I didn't have a lot of points in the second half. In total, I thought a lot of it was his defense, Jordan Walsh playing pressure there and really shutting that off.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, LaMelo was cooking all game long, finishes with thirty one, five and six, doesn't score in the fourth quarter because of Jordan Wils Like you're saying, yeah, and you take away the head of the snake a little bit, and they're just like, Okay, what do we do. I think they just couldn't put it together. So I don't know, I'm just super I'm excited about the Celtics, man. I think they are deeper than a lot of people may think. They have some guys, you know, like any given night, some of them can show up, and I think it's going to be really important in the playoffs. I don't know how long or how deep the rotation is going to be, right, but anybody that he plugs in, they're ready to go. Yeah, that's a good point.
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Speaker 1: My favorite, or one more thought I should say is Jayleen Brown after the game, talked about how he sees the Celtics. Excuse me, he sees the Hornets as sort of a younger version of his Celtics. I thought that was really cool, like their competitive spirit, them obviously trying to like get to the next level making the playoffs, and that's what Brown and Tatum used to be with the Celtics. It was sort of cool comparison and I could sort of see it too.
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Speaker 2: You can see it a little bit. Yeah, I hope the Hornets can keep this going, you know, like they finally had a good year. Everybody has been healthy for the most part. Yeah, maybe maybe they will be in the next couple of years in the upper echelon in the Eastern Conference. That'd be nice to.
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Speaker 1: See one part of that equation though, I was thinking when he was showing praise to the horns is like, yeah, but Brandon Miller's got to turn a little bit more into you, Jalen Priss, and like, offensively, I think he's there, but I need to see a lot more on the defense then from Brandon Miller. He is a sometimes Olay type player man, Like a little more force would be nice. Like obviously that Jillen does give it to you on both then, so but that wasn't a hell of a compliment. And again, you know you sort of squint, you can see it, like these are the steps to becoming a really good team, hopefully for a long team like the Celtics have been moving on the Rockets overcame a poor start. I mean they were down a lot early, but came back and beat the Suns pretty handedly. One nineteen one oh five. Durant twenty four points in his return to Phoenix, and uh yeah they were down like twenty one points.
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Speaker 2: At twenty one points. Yeah, I had the game on. I was trying to watch as much as I could. They got down big. I'm like, I'm gonna go to bed, but I know because this was a late game. Yes, it was a very game. I don't know. These eleven eleven o'clock starts are crazy, like what do we do? And they're crazy late for us clusters. Yeah, you do it. But yeah, I went to sleep. I was like, maybe this is over, but I know that first half leads aren't real. So waking up this morning now I had to go finish. Watching that game, I'm like, what a good one, honestly. Yeah, Kevin Durant finishing with twenty four men. Timson had twenty two, he had twelve and a fourth. Yeah, they just got crazy finishes too. Yeah he had he had a nice little dunk ye on the baseline, like or no coming down the middle. Yeah, they just I was worried about the Rockets a little bit ago, but here they are tied with the Lakers, still in the fifth seed. But I don't know, man, what do we think? What do we think about them? Like if they have to play the Lakers, I guess in the first round, who are super bad?
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Speaker 1: I'm taking the Rockets. Yeah, taking the Rockets in a Lakers matchup. I have been more than most people holding on to hope with the Rockets.
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Speaker 2: No.
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Speaker 1: I like that they're peaking at the right time here.
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Speaker 2: Okay, they are.
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Speaker 1: They're on a seven game win stream, seven straight. This is the best they've looked to me over a majority of the season. I know there's concerns still with the fourth quarter offense and all that, but their identity at least is like, and we saw it in last night's game, it's like, destroy them.
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Speaker 2: On the glass always. Yeah, fifty five.
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Speaker 1: To thirty four rebounding edge, twenty four to ten on the offensive glass. So just more chances, more second chance opportunities. You had Durant on the bench to start the fourth, they went on an eight run. You brought up Mom and Thompson and I thought looked great. Jabaris Smith Junior hit some big threes. I like what I'm starting to see from him a little bit more like hearing his name in these game highlights or in recaps that you read. It's like, I don't like when he's like disappearing. That's good. And then Tarry Easton came back to he played thirty one minutes. I thought he was gave him, you know, a defensive identity too. So I still believe that the Rockets could at least go to the second round and they're really helped out if they play the Lakers in some sort of match.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I guess it depends on what do we think about Luca and Austin Reeves, Like, are they going to be bad? Like when they look like who knows? Who knows?
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Speaker 1: Right?
00:15:00
Speaker 2: Like it? But I mean, so if the if the Rockets do make it to the second round, like, dude, can they go further? Oh?
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Speaker 1: Well, look, I don't think they're beating the thunder, you know, you know, if they get there in the four or five spot and then play the number one seed.
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Speaker 2: No, but I'd love to see them be competitive.
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Speaker 1: Like there's a huge difference of just getting completely waxed by let's say the Spurs, Thunder or Nuggets and putting up a fight. Yeah, again, they can like sort of build off of that. You don't have Van Vliet either, you know, there's that huge part of the equation. He would help in theory run a team in the fourth quarter. So that's what they need. Like that to me is best case scenario. Now, it's like, especially if you get the Lakers win a first round and then just look competitive against these upper echelon teams. Don't be embarrassed, but anything's in play. As we've been saying, with this team, Yeah, they're a bit checkal on hut.
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Speaker 2: They that's a perfect comparison for it, because you just never know what you're gonna give with this team. Them bringing in Kevin Durant, like you said, they've they've won seven straight, so they're something clicking for them, right, Yeah, But you the fourth quarter offense, like they just break down so many times looking around like what we're supposed to like what are we doing? This just so surprising to me. I just I can't believe we've had an entire season of them still trying to figure out what they want to do. At the end of a game, and I don't understand that at all.
00:16:16
Speaker 1: It is it's odd, especially when you have Duran, you have Shen is a great scorer.
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Speaker 2: Exactly two good scores, but also Shinun being a great facilitator, like you should be able to run something and then get the ball to kd or get the ball into somebody's hand to be able to make a good play.
00:16:31
Speaker 1: I think you're just you see where you miss a like a floor general, like a Van Vliet. I know, I know it's like I know van Vliet's had games. I saw it firsthand with the Raptors, where you know, he shot the team out of games and then the opposite where he completely won games. But he can obviously just write a ship and I think can like he can be the coach on the floor in terms of like where should we get the ball, what should we be running here? He's not coming back or you know, we played that game for a while we thought all is he is any but he's not coming back. But again, competitive postseason run here would be a nice building block. And I want to see Jabari Smith Junior play well in the playoffs Tarry Easton like all the young guys too. I'm men Thompson. So I think that's another thing. So big win though, came back, you know, could have been one of those ones where they're like, okay, not our night, but they were back in the game by halftime. Yeah, Like it was like a three point game. So and it does mean their win and the Sun's loss. The Wolves are a top six seed in the playoffs. They can't fall into the plan, right, So there's that as well. Let's show you the other results from last night. You know, Bulls beat the Wizards. We had some blowouts the Nets one they beat the Bucks. I know Nets fans are not all that happy right now because they were looking pretty a couple of weeks ago in terms of their chances in the lottery and the ping punk balls and all that. But now they're winning games here and are like sliding sort of the wrong way. The Warriors beat the Kings. We'll get into that in a second. Thunderbeat the Lakers easily. Wolves beat the Pacers. The Raptors put one hundred and twenty plus on the heat. What is going on with Miami Heat?
00:18:10
Speaker 2: Suck man? Yeah, yeah, heat suck.
00:18:13
Speaker 1: Pelicans and the Jazz played a hilarious game that was a pickup game, no defense played, and then the Clippers beat the MAVs.
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Speaker 2: Is the other one.
00:18:21
Speaker 1: We didn't talk about any of those that, Yeah, you want to address outside of the heat sucking because I agree with you.
00:18:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't never know what's going on with the Heat or any of these Florida teams, so we don't really have to talk about them. But that's this is just crazy. I don't know, just a note on them, you know, the past few years or over the I guess the last six years, they have a guy come in, they look really good and you're like, Wow, that guy's gonna be good. We've seen it with Tyler Herroes. Know how many hawk is Yep, it's probably another one in there. Yeah, why can't they ever figure it out and just play good basketball consistently? I don't know what it is.
00:18:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, there are perennial playing team now. I think this is a fourth straight year that they're in the plane.
00:19:01
Speaker 2: It doesn't make sense to me. Heat culture down there, and then everything that happened with Jimmy Butler, like that's kind of a I don't even want to call him a joke, but they're kind of becoming a joke of franchise a little bit. I don't understand what's going on down there. But other than that, I really wanted to talk about the Pelicans because they put up fifty points in a quarter and then Jordan Poole had twenty two of his thirty four in the third quarter. They were just there's just a game of two K on roocky mode, honestly, like it was insane. Every time you press the button, the balls going in, and what is this crazy to me?
00:19:35
Speaker 1: We'll get to WOA Boy obviously later. There were three nominees from this game for WOA Boy and the winner. I won't spoil it, but there were three guys with stat lines from this game alone Jazz Pelicans early April that you know, we're putting up huge, huge lines here because they're just like, let's go have some fun. Yeah, rookie mode on two K is a great way to put it. Fifty in the third quarter, follow it up with forty five in the four forty five to forty one fourth quarter. I mean, it's the fun game to play in. If you're an NBA player, like sort of like a fringe NBA player, it's like, oh, geez, we don't have to play defense. Okay, just come to shoot.
00:20:12
Speaker 2: Just come to shoot. That's that's the end of the day at the pickup Run for sure, Like, oh, this is the last game, all right, Yeah, we just we're firing, but they're actually hitting shots, you know.
00:20:20
Speaker 1: Yeah. Usually the last run out of pickup Run is the worst one. Yeah, the extra one where you're like, we probably should have ended on that half decent game, but let's run it back one more and then that's the one where nobody can hit a shot.
00:20:30
Speaker 2: Everybody's tired at our level at least. Uh.
00:20:34
Speaker 1: Draymond Green did have some things to say after getting the victory over the Kings last night. He called out the tanking Kings. Then he had a lot of thoughts on the play in tournament too. Set it ain't working, So a couple things. Let's start with the playing party, Draymond Green said. Rather than discouraged tanking, Green believes this play in tournament has just made it convenient to do so. So he cited this blatant example last night with the Kings, and it was pretty crazy. It was a one possession game, a one point game, Warriors Kings. Doug Christie told his players he seemed to tell Doug McDermott to foul Seth Curry, there's three minutes left and put them like at the line because they were already in the bonus, already in the penalty, and it was like, what what do we do? Seth Curry, by the way, hadn't missed a free throw all season long now, he hadn't played a lot, he'd been injured, but he was like, he was perfect at the line. He's a great retrow shooter. He's one of the best shooters ever. His brother is the greatest shooter ever. He's not bad too. Yeah.
00:21:35
Speaker 2: Now, the funniest part is he missed one.
00:21:38
Speaker 1: So it's like words amazically Doug Christy, you know, genius there. But yeah, Dreymund's like, what are we doing here? Like they're like the idea is like they're blatantly trying to tank away this game.
00:21:50
Speaker 2: They don't want to win. Yeah.
00:21:52
Speaker 1: I don't know what happened. I haven't heard Doug Christie talk about it. Why would you foul Seth Curry? I think there was some miscommunication. I think they were saying foul Pat Spencer. Huh, who's not as great a three free throw shooter? Foul him, maybe put him on the line. It's probably still a weird decision. But then they just got it.
00:22:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, like why why are you fouling and you're down by one with time level? Very straight. I guess my question is like he's he's calling out the Tank and Kings, he's talking about them, but then he starts talking about to play in tournment, Like what does what does that have to do with the Kings in this situation.
00:22:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a good point. Well, he said this quote, we could have lost our last fifteen games talking about the Warriors and been stuck in tenth. It ain't working, you know, but it works for a little bit. But you know, if you could lose all last fifteen games of your season when you could be stuck in tenth in eight working, I think what Draymond Green is just saying is there are so many bad teams this year that are leaning into the tank. Uh huh that like we've struggled, we could just go on an epic losing streak and we're still not even moving. So he's like, I guess he's just illustrating, like look where we are fighting to get in and you know, getting Curry back and try and make some noise. But it's like we could have gone on like an ultimate losing streak and it wouldn't have mattered because all these other teams have leaned into tanking so early. And that was a big discussion this year, right, Yeah, there's always tanking talk comes in March, comes late March, you know, like Shenanigan's at the end of a season. We've seen that for decades, but this year it was like teams before the All Star breaks seemed to be doing the Shenanigans and the sitting guys down and injuries and blah blah blah blah blah.
00:23:33
Speaker 2: I guess that's what Draymond saying. I know. And then we've been talking about tanking forever and which.
00:23:37
Speaker 1: Is why I'm happy the playoffs are right around the corner.
00:23:39
Speaker 2: Yes, thank god, because every every week is what can we do the fixed tanking? What can Adam Silver do? What are we gonna do? We're gonna look at this, We're gonna look at that, and it's just like nothing's gonna change, Like they're gonna do it forever.
00:23:51
Speaker 1: You don't think one of the proposals, this idea of the eight percent to sort of all the teams, including you know, the top ten I guess it was, would get percent chance and then teams uh that were even in the play and and stuff like that getting a much smaller percent.
00:24:04
Speaker 2: You like evening it out. Look, what's how do you how do you get your draft? Uh slot? What do they do? They do? A lottery? Lottery is what gambling? Look at this country, you know what I mean, it's always.
00:24:18
Speaker 1: Gonna just hold that thought.
00:24:21
Speaker 2: Come on, man, Like, yeah, okay, even odds doesn't matter if you have a one percent chance, Like people played the lottery every day. People go to a casino every day. These odds are the same. The gms are gonna be like, Okay, we suck. We could suck more and we could get better through the draft. Like, no matter what they do, they're they're gonna they're gonna feel that way. And like you said, tanking has been a part of the game forever, even before the draft lottery, even like even back when they used to just give the worst team the number one pick, Like, no matter what we do, they're going to they're going to tank.
00:24:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with that, but you have to admit this has gotten uglier than normal or more blatant than normal, and maybe it's the loaded draft of it all, and you know, and really wanting a chance at one of these top top picks, which is why we're having the battle to the bottom. But Draymond's other point, you know, we don't have the clip. But he did say, like we have no problem finding players. He's talking about himself a lot of times. They're like when I cross the line or I do something wrong or something bad for the game or whatever I'm paraphrasing here. But he's like, why aren't we doing that with these teams that do it? And like to that, I say, like, maybe he's got a point, like does someone just need to like rule with an iron fist a little bit more here, Like I know some teams have been fined, yeah, the Jazz Jazz and the Pacers, but there are many other teams that they could have been coming down on and you just heard them where like hit him where it hurts, and that is the wallet for for ownership in the front office and stuff like that.
00:25:45
Speaker 2: I think it's I think it's the same as like with these injuries and resting and stuff like that, Like teams always find a way to come up with some kind of excuse to get around something. You know, So I guess when you say, oh, that team's tanking, let's put a big fine on it, it's like, how can you prove that. I know, they were talking about sending doctors to see if people are hurt for real, Like, I don't know what that is, and maybe that's a slippery slope. But there's always there's always gonna be something that they can find a loophole to tank or arrest somebody or whatever that the league doesn't really like. So I don't. I don't know, like if you if you start putting funds on teams, I'm sure they'll just find a way around it. And then I don't. I don't want to insult the integrity of the NBA by saying, like, oh, these guys are going out there like throwing games, because I don't think like players don't take the players organizations right.
00:26:33
Speaker 1: So it's the coaching, it's really the organization the front office of like electing, because they're incentivized to do so to save their asses as gms or executives, like get a draft pick, have that player who can be a game changer in the NBA. That's the other thing this sport. More than most one guy can like completely turn around a franchise, yeah, hope alone and then results on the floor and you can lock them up for seven years. That's the other part of this equation, right, it's like the best way forward. Sorry to jump in there.
00:27:01
Speaker 2: No, I guess when you say it though, like when you say that, it sounds not that bad, like tanking maybe should just be a part of the game. We have teams that are gonna be perennially good or perennially mid see the Hawks usually, But you're gonna have teams that are gonna be bad. And how do you get back you know, like, no matter what it is, how do you get back into the conversation of being mid being good? Like every team in the NBA's history, all thirty organizations have at some point probably tanked, unless they have been the luckiest organization. But even even the Spurs did it back in the day to get Tim Duncan. Like every organization has done it.
00:27:40
Speaker 1: So why is it louder now? Why is the noise around tanking louder? I think it goes back to what you're saying about the gambling part, yeah, because now people are betting on all these games, they're betting player props, they're betting whether a guy's playing or not. Yeah, and then when you have all these shenanigans of sitting guys down or whatever, like then it's like all the gamblers are like, what the hell exactly when you got into bed with this and you sort of.
00:28:03
Speaker 2: On top of on top of social media in the era that we live in that we complain about everything like well, yeah, so I think that's part of it, is like, hey, this is my team, I would like, Well, I don't even know if the fans of the specific team are they complaining or is it the fame? I don't think so.
00:28:16
Speaker 1: A lot of time, I just said, Nets fans from what I saw, were actually.
00:28:19
Speaker 2: Angry their teams winning. What are we doing?
00:28:21
Speaker 1: We were bad all year and now we're gonna maybe blow our chances or our percentage of maybe getting it.
00:28:26
Speaker 2: I mean, how how many times have you heard like this team, like with the Bulls with trade even right, he's always like we gotta do something. We've been here pick aside. Yeah, so do we do we want to just be the ten seed every single year? No? But what do we do, Like, let's go ahead and just be the fifteenth seed. Let's just be bad so we can get better. Right, So that's the thing. Yeah, it's it's it's messy.
00:28:49
Speaker 1: You know. I'm a little worried that the NBA will overreact to this noise on Twitter and people, because, like you bring up the point like the other night where we have the Friday Night there were all those blowouts and it was like, you know, I say, it's a big deal, but because you're online, if you're locked in online, it feels like it's like crazy, Right, there's a lot more important things going on in the world right now than a bunch of blow up you know, lopsided victories on Friday Night or losses. But it's like, why do you care. I know, those people complaining about it, we're not watching said games. They didn't pay for tickets for those games.
00:29:21
Speaker 2: It's like, okay, I get it.
00:29:22
Speaker 1: No one wants that. We want competitive games as many as possible. There's like over twelve hundred games played. They're not all going to end like in a one possession game exactly, so and again they're incentivized to do This is the whole other part of it and until that changes, I mean, what like it's gonna they ain't fixing it this year, of course, but a weird product. I guess you can argue it's a very weird product in some of these games in March and April. I think the worst part was when we were doing it in February and we were talking about in February.
00:29:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the worst part.
00:29:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, let's take a break and when we come back, we'll get to the updown report. Don't hate me for this session, but attention all new FanDuel customers. You can bet five dollars and get two hundred and fifty bonus bets if your first bet wins. That's right, turn five bucks into two fitty and bonus bets just for getting started and when every possession matters in the playoffs. FanDuel makes it easy to get closer to the action, from player props on your favorite stars to all the tools you need to back them up. FanDuel puts player research right at your fingertips, right at your fingers, so you can check the stats, trends, matchups all in one place, and you can make your picks with confidence. It's everything you need all in one app, So don't miss your shot. Head to FanDuel dot com Slash podcast to get started FanDuel. Play your game, but do so responsibly. And the good thing about the playoffs teams are playing, guys are playing very true. You know, don't don't be gambling on late March games or April games.
00:30:49
Speaker 2: Late to the playoffs.
00:30:50
Speaker 1: I would wait till plays more fun. The sweat's a lot more fun. All right, let's get into the up down report.
00:30:54
Speaker 2: Patty want movies.
00:30:56
Speaker 1: It's okay, I got some good ones for my guy Ash here and everyone in the stream team and podcast listeners play along, thumbs up or down. First one NBA insider Shams Sharanya, dropped a lengthy article on ESPN yesterday titled Inside the Fractured Relationship between Yannis and the Bucks. Some people were calling this a bombshell from Shams. Others said it was a fairly generic summary really of what Shams has been tweeting and writing about over the last couple of months. What we are now calling my big fat Greek divorce. That's what we've decided on. That was somebody in the stream team the other day when I was talking to Zicarion about it. The yawness was proposed a couple other ones, but I like my big fat Greek divorce.
00:31:50
Speaker 2: But the article, let's get back to that upper down.
00:31:52
Speaker 1: Ash On Scham's article on this season long conflict here between Jannis and the Bucks.
00:31:58
Speaker 2: I mean, good article, but I'm down. Okay, I'm down just because I'm so tired of talking about it, Like this has been a topic in every show that you've watched, every podcast that you listen to. Anytime you're in an arena and somebody starts talking about Giannis here, it is like it's such a headache. Man, Like, just say, you've said this a lot. You don't have to be the good guy all the time. And also nobody's gonna say you're a bad guy if you wanted to leave. It's the same thing with Dame before in Portland. It's just like, if you want to get out of here, you want to win, You've done your due diligence, and it's even better for your honest because they want a championship exactly like you don't have to be a bug for life. They haven't done completely right by you. Nobody's gonna call you Kevin Durant. Nobody's gonna call you og Lebron. Just just say you want to get out of there because it's not the right fit anymore. And it's okay, instead of going through all these back channels and being like, hey, I gotta want out of here, but going to the public and being like, hey, it's not up to me, it's up to my agent. But also I kind of told my agent I don't want to be here, and also like, there's no point in that. It's so silly to me. It's middle school to me. Yeah, what was new in this article from Shams is a fair question. There were some fun nuggets.
00:33:10
Speaker 1: I mean, the one that's getting aggregated is the doc Rivers telling the team to google me check the resume when they were struggling, and he saying, you know, like I'm a Hall of Fame coach and he just went into the Hall of Fame.
00:33:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was pretty funny.
00:33:26
Speaker 1: We had Shams talking about this idea that multiple sources said the Bucks decision to sit Yannis cost him a significant bonus in his Nike endorsement contract that would have been triggered had he played at least forty one games. That's a little eye opening, because a part of this is like.
00:33:45
Speaker 2: Giannest is like, I gotta get back out there. I gotta play. I gotta play.
00:33:49
Speaker 1: I don't care if we're he can't even get into the plan now, And everybody is going.
00:33:52
Speaker 2: Like, it's a little weird.
00:33:54
Speaker 1: You've been injured all year long, You've had like five injuries, So what's what's really going on here? You know this like he's coached from Survivor this loyal and integrity in all this where you roll your eyes at it. But people are saying, one, it may just me he wants to play with his brothers. True, I really truly believe that might be a case here, his last opportunity, right, yes, yes, yeah, Well another organization hire your brothers and put him on the on the roster at least two of them, probably not. And then this other one is like this, maybe contracting with Nike.
00:34:24
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know. I think Honest is doing okay money wise, but everybody always wants to make more money. I know, I know, so okay. Interesting.
00:34:32
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma apparently spoke to Ryan Rollins and Kevin Porter Junior after a particularly intense exchange, and again a bad run for the box, maybe selfish play. And that word about Kuzma talking to these younger guys got back to the coaching staff and then Kuzma got a DMPCD right after that, so that that's a little weird, weird, here's what I'm getting out here. Here was my takeaway. This was Cham's given a big middle finger to be honest, and the Bucks really honest more than anyone because they've had this sort of contentious relationship all your sham's reporting and then everybody's sort of firing back your honest every time talking about it. I didn't ask to be traded. I didn't ask to do this. I just want to get out there. So this like was this was like a little mini Woes from Shamps. Now if Woes wrote this score Stirth. Yeah, and so this is Sean, so it's a little lighter, a little nicer. But there were some, like I thought, some middle fingers, some shots at like my reporting says, this is a mess. You're a big reason why it got to this point, both of them, with both the front office and and Jannis and his team.
00:35:39
Speaker 2: So that was my interpretation.
00:35:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you're honestly, This was him getting back at Rannest for uh, you know, the celebrity All Star getting incident and stuff like that.
00:35:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a mess, man, Like, I can't believe we've been talking about it for so long. I really can. We're not done. No, it's not over. It's not gonna be over until something happens. And not sure if we win, something's gonna happen. And that's you do not believe.
00:36:04
Speaker 1: Well, I don't want to put words in your mouth. Do you think Giannis plays Game one for the Milwaukee Bucks next year the way that things have been going?
00:36:13
Speaker 2: Probably? Honest, well, probably you're on it.
00:36:16
Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, I think just because you're saying like at this point, like any sort of couple we've ever seen, and we're like, why are you still together?
00:36:24
Speaker 2: Yeah? What are you guys doing? And for whatever reason, I just the ones that do stick to what's what's gonna happen in the summer.
00:36:30
Speaker 1: I guess really like it's the extension in October. I guess that will decide everything.
00:36:34
Speaker 2: I just feel like he'll probably start a season as Buck and then we'll get to do this again for at least a little bit. Now. I don't know, maybe they talk themselves into like maybe they get rid of Doc in the summer, yeah, or he retires whatever, like there's been rumins about that that he just goes away. Uh. And then they talk themselves into maybe we can retool, which I don't know because even coming to this year that got mouse Turner, they were like, okay, like, let's we're gonna reads to a little bit around you, Yannis. You can't tell what's gonna happen because it's been such a mess. But I think, yeah, put on a record. I think he's going to play at least a little bit as a book.
00:37:12
Speaker 1: I think what we saw from this season alone that's malpracticed to that organization. Honestly, it's a cloud. It's obviously a cloud that hangs over the entire team.
00:37:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they're not good.
00:37:23
Speaker 1: Sorry, they're not good when Giannis was even playing. They're not good in the Eastern Conference. So I think I'm more along the lines that he has dealt here and moved before the start of the next season. And I bring that up before we move on because within the article, team sources said the Bucks seriously considered the Miami Heats offer, which centered on Tyler hero Khalil where other players and multiple draft picks and pickswaps, Milwaukee contemplated moving forward with Miami on February fourth. Ownership, however, believe the best move would be to hold on to Yannis and receive better offers in the summer. And here's where we're at now. Are they going to get a better offer than that? You can have an opinion on here, aware other players pick swaps all that. We'll find out whether a team in the postseason comes up short falter and they're like, wow, we can get you. Honestly, here, let's go all in with a better package. But I don't know if they are.
00:38:15
Speaker 2: Going to get it. That's what I was gonna say. Actually, do you think, like what do you think the consensus is on your honest right now? Like how do you think teams feel about him both as a player because he hasn't been injured a lot here recently and the drama that has come out, right, like.
00:38:30
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, I look, if I'm a team that's like on the precipice, I'm making this move ninety nine out of one hundred times like this is and even the injury angled like this, why can't this be like Kawhi two point zero right with with like the raps Like.
00:38:47
Speaker 2: Okay, now now they bought low on Kawhi.
00:38:49
Speaker 1: I mean it really wasn't a lot when they got him from the Spurs, but he's still an elite player and then he just completely carried a team to an NBA championship. Yeah, so I I mean, do I believe you honestly? We've like seen the best of the best from you honest, like well maybe m v P honest Okay, that's in the rear view mirror. But like he's still when he plays like he's like a top five guy uh and Andrond and around more talent like we saw in Milwaukee when he had Middleton and duality, he can win. So I would you know, again, if the Knicks flame out here the Rockets, maybe there are teams that were like, holy crap, if you could add you honest, like, then you're a title contender.
00:39:24
Speaker 2: So I would do it.
00:39:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think if I'm being honest too, like like like that's a decent offer. Again, I'm fascinated to see whether the Bucks will do better than that, because to me, it's going to be something like that hero where who who I am high on and then more picks and more players over that. So we'll see that's enough on you honest, Sham's getting his shot back at at the Greek Freak oh the frea cough that was the other name. If he goes to Atlanta that we're definitely the free coft all right. Uh. Shaquille O'Neil and T and T Sports are launching dunk Man, a professional dunking league this summer. Shaq is going to serve as commissioner. Uh, just another another title to add to Shaquille o'neils resume. The inaugural season will feature twenty four athletes competing across four group stage events, with finalists competing for the title of World dunk Champion and a five hundred thousand dollars grand prize.
00:40:24
Speaker 2: Ain't no bad, I thought nothing.
00:40:27
Speaker 1: The league will use an Olympic style scoring system with a panel of judges. Okay, so are we gonna have the Russians on the panel here?
00:40:36
Speaker 2: Up or down?
00:40:36
Speaker 1: On Shack and T and T launching dunk Man Professional dunk League.
00:40:40
Speaker 2: I'm up? He stumbs up. Yeah, okay, why not? Like everybody loves to watch people dunk, It's always fun and T and T. They always have some dunk competition after the season. Every time they have, they've basically done this before. They had the Dunk King, the Dunk King. Yeah, and Shaq was involved in it, Jack Kinney both, They've got it almost for ten years. I feel like there's been a variation on and off of Dunk King, Dunk Man whatever. You watched them. I did the first like two okay, like years and years ago, and they weren't bad. They had Jordan killing in it, and you know, he's he's apparently going to be on this of course, because it's always the same guys anyway, right right, You're never mad at it. It's the same guys that compete in like a Creator League dunk contest or something like on YouTube or whatever. It's always Jordan you speak, Kitty Dobbs was always in one. Yeah, yeah, I know you're talking about so, yeah, I was. I can't even know Chris Uh. I can't even think of his name right now, but you know him like you just see him all over your Instagram, all over your tiktoks. Like it's going to be the same guys, and most likely it's going to be one of those five or six guys that win this thing too, you think, so most.
00:41:48
Speaker 1: Like, well, you never know, with the five hundred thousand dollars, maybe we got some new blood and I.
00:41:51
Speaker 2: Think I think we see some crazy dunks. But also as up as I am on this, it always is kind of crazy because, uh, this coming from TNT or Shack or anybody that's involved in the NBA. Usually then it just kind of makes you realize, like there's so many better dunkers than NBA dunkers. And then you're thinking about the Dunk contest at all start weekend and you're like you just kind of wish that this was during that time or something. You know, it just you see these crazy don't He's like, Wow, that was awesome. Nobody in the NBA can do this. It's just like that kind of makes you a little bit sad. I think. Yeah.
00:42:26
Speaker 1: I think when Shaq was announcing this with the March Madness panel, when he was talking to like back with Kenny and Ernie and Chuck and like a million other guys sitting there, he brought up or they started talking about this idea of like the NBA used to have the best dunkers in the world exactly true, Yes, they did, hands down. I think most people would agree with that. But then that's changed over the last whatever decade or two, where it's now professional guys. People can make a living doing this, and they may not be good enough basketball players. They're obviously not good enough to make it in the NBA exactly for whatever reason, size, just skill, shooting, defense, all a million other things. But which is why we start something like this? Maybe like who's just proved who's the best dunker?
00:43:07
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm up on this.
00:43:08
Speaker 1: I want to know if this is live these group stage events, probably not.
00:43:13
Speaker 2: Right, probably not.
00:43:14
Speaker 1: I think that'd be pretty cool if it was like more like to me than it's like whoa, this really is a sport, yes, played live air live. Judge Live my gut says it will be a produced thing and edited and stuff, And maybe that's fine too, But I also wonder, like, well, the dunk champion, the World dunk champion, get a slot in the NBA Dunk Contest.
00:43:35
Speaker 2: They should do it. Be cool. They would never do it, though, but they should do it. That would be fun, yeah, but they would. It would because if All Star Weekend is for the fans, that's how you put on a show. You're like, hey, let me show you this. This is a pro NBA player who's not a pro dunker, and here's a pro dunker that's not a pro basketball player. Let's just see what that looks like. But I think the NBA would hate it because they'd be like, ooh, now we look even worse, like we just had a G league guy come in and win three years in a row. Yeah, I had a okay dunk consists this year. Sure, okay, but then we do that. Who won the dunk contest this year? What's his name? From the heat? That's all I know. He's Smiley, danced a lot, but I cannot remember his name.
00:44:10
Speaker 1: That's why I Johnson, Keldon Johns. No, one's not killed in Johnson. Not Kelton Johnson. Uh No, not Kiln Johnson.
00:44:19
Speaker 2: What the hell is per se? There you go? You got yourself. It sounds like Keldon. Now I gotta look I hook it up. What the hell is this name? Wait? Hold on, it's killed No, it's not Kevin Johnson. Is not Kildon Johnson.
00:44:32
Speaker 1: We'll find out here. Hold on, somebody in the chat is probably telling us right now. I know it sounded like Keldon k e Okay, well point point proven you you and then backfired on to me.
00:44:47
Speaker 2: You almost had me. I was like, yeah, no, no, I know, I know.
00:44:49
Speaker 1: I knew it wasn't killed neither. I knew it sounded like it. So we'll see what they do here. Maybe this does numbers. T n T obviously lost a lot of uh, you know, lost the NBA, So it's like, stay within the basketball world and try something like this.
00:45:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're doing it with the Anthony Davis's prank show.
00:45:07
Speaker 1: Yes, didn't they just get Draymond. I didn't watch the clip. I've only seen that clip, okay, and it was okay. I was like, yeah, it's it's okay, okay.
00:45:15
Speaker 2: I don't know next one.
00:45:18
Speaker 1: This one's perfect fresh because he's a he's a shoe guy. He's a sneaker head. Since parting ways with under arm Or last November, Steph Curry has leaned into being a sneaker free agent.
00:45:28
Speaker 2: They basically have called.
00:45:29
Speaker 1: Him sporting new shoes before and during games, from Kobe Elevin's to Jordan's flu game shoes. I mean, every band, every brand imaginable. He's like teasing us though, what could be the next move like, was he gonna sign with Nike's gonna go with one of these brands? Well, now, this fun idea with showing off these shoes met a great cause because he's going to auction off his sneaker free agency collection, all of them signed, which is pretty cool, and one hundred percent of the proceeds are going to go to his Eat Learn, Play foundation that to fit kids in Oakland.
00:46:02
Speaker 2: So up or down on.
00:46:02
Speaker 1: Steph auctioning off seventy plus pairs of sneakers for charity.
00:46:06
Speaker 2: Super up. Yeah, it's just really cool in general, Like, I'm glad that he can give back. It's always good to see stuff like that. Everybody loves Steph Curry. He's a great guy, you know. But the shoe watch was one of the best subplots for the season, like while he was playing, even even for me, like on my side of things as soon as like every day, every day I'm looking at that, I'm pitching stories to my bosses. I'm like, hey, can we do something on Steph curry shoes? Like, I gotta do something Steph Curry's shoes. So did you end up doing it? Yeah? I did a little. Something turned out okay. I did something with Jason Jones. Yeah, I remember seeing yeah, yeah, yeah, But it was just really cool just to see, like, hey, what's he coming in here with today? And he's he's showing off basically three pairs every night because he's he's coming in pregame with one, he's warming up in one, he's playing in one. And it was just nice to see, like, who's he paying homage shoe today? You know, playing against Clay, He's wearing like Clay's shoes. He's Warren Kyrie's shoes. He's Warren Lebron. Yeah and so, and then Anthony Edwards talked about how cool it was to see Steph Craig and his shoes. So it's just a really cool thing all season long. I really want to see who he signs with. I would personally like to see him go back to Nike, uh, because it's be really nice. They make really good shoes, like Sabrina's are good. Right now. Kobe's been back with the Protos and stuff like that, so uh to have Steph back in a Steph Curry one officially after they watched his uh, his meeting way back in the day that allowed him to go to Under armour. Be nice to see him come back to Nike.
00:47:34
Speaker 1: Have you fired up the Southerby's sort of auction here and looked at the shoes yet?
00:47:40
Speaker 2: Like do you have a favorite? Is my question from that that he's that he's worn here in this I haven't looked at every single thing that he's worn, but if I'm trying to think off the top of my head, like he definitely had a pair of Kobe's, like the yellow ones, Like that's the one actually I was thinking about. That's the one that sticks out to me the most. Those are pretty rare too. Yeah, I remember so, but I was kind of here for any time he was wearing some Kobe's. It's just like, I don't know why fit to me this?
00:48:07
Speaker 1: I agree?
00:48:08
Speaker 2: Good?
00:48:08
Speaker 1: You know, so they didn't look as good when he was wearing the shaknosis in U the one time, the big shack.
00:48:16
Speaker 2: Uh. Yeah, but I guess I guess it'd probably be a pair of Kobe's.
00:48:19
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, thumbs up, her thumbs down on that, and uh, it is pretty fun to go see all the shoes he wore. They did like a video on this, and I know they took photos and stuff. I mean, how much money they're going to raise here, like these girls signed. That's the other part exactly, that's pretty cool. I didn't even think about that part. I was like, oh, that's Coolly wore them, you know whatever. But there's video of him signing everyone, and he was like actually when he was signing the Jordan's, He's like, wow, I've never signed Jordan's before. Uh so that's pretty neat all. Right, final one here, uh. Sticking with shoes, NBA referee Carl Lane was spotted wearing Shay Gildess Alexander's signature converse Shay oh Ones. I don't know how you actually pronounced that zero zero ones ones sneakers during a recent NBA game. So the sighting of the black player exclusive shoes caused a little social media buzz, leading to playful trolling from Adidas regarding the partnership. They were sharing screen grabs of that ant commercial where they made sort of fun of all the other MVP candidates that yeah, one of them was like Shay's favorite accessory the video game. Shay was like a whistle, this idea. He gets so up or down though on this referee Carl Lane wearing Shay's sneakers are you? Like, I mean, a thumbs up to me is like what's the big deal? Thumbs down is like you shouldn't be doing this.
00:49:41
Speaker 2: Just because like what is a big deal? But also it got me really thinking, what what are refs wearing? That's what I really want to know. Like I did a bit of a deep dive on that.
00:49:50
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, like from what I could tell in reading articles, Uh, it did say that referees are forbidden from entering into any contract that compensates them for their footwear. So interesting, I assume carl Aane purchased these on his own dime and it wasn't commerce or sche or something like that.
00:50:09
Speaker 2: Hey man, yeah, I don't give you these calls the night if you give me a pair of your sneakers.
00:50:13
Speaker 1: But they must wear black shoes that have the brand name, logo or trademark blacked out or removed.
00:50:20
Speaker 2: Interesting, Yeah, so they can't even they can't even endorse it at all. Like you can't wear a pair of Nike unless this has changed. This is what I was reading about.
00:50:27
Speaker 1: I know, you know Gucci ref Yeah, this guy he had a video. He wears a lot of Nike Air Max three sixties, okay, because he just thinks they're comfortable, and I think he's a Nike guy and he likes them. He said a lot of other referees wear more running shoes like Brooks or New Balances or something.
00:50:45
Speaker 2: That's what I would think.
00:50:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, but the struggle is trying to find like the all black version of a shoe, I guess, is what they were saying. Yeah, which is why maybe carl Aine went with the shoes here.
00:50:56
Speaker 2: It's super interesting. I was thinking, like over my lifetime, I remember being in high school, whe like all the refs had the remember the zigzags, like the bounce you know I'm talking about, Oh yeah, yeah yeah, Like every ref in Georgia that was wearing those zig zag shoes. They're like super bouncy. So I don't know. I was very curious, like NBA guys, what what would they be wearing? You juste them running in some Kobe's or something like that.
00:51:19
Speaker 1: Are you a fan of these shades? The Converse kicks and he's got all the different colorways. Now there's like gotta be five or six. Look at the like they're pretty funny looking. I've never tried them on, so I am curious how comfortable they are. I saw people in comments saying though, like, there's no reason, there's a reason why he's wearing them. They're very comfortable shoes.
00:51:36
Speaker 2: I've not seen anybody wear these, like personally me too. I don't know how I feel about them. Like the one that came to mind is, well, how to look them up here? Because I just think about the brown ones. That's the one that always in my head. They're okay. I mean the black ones look like a referee shoe.
00:51:53
Speaker 1: They do.
00:51:54
Speaker 2: They look like I'm looking at them. I feel like the insult would be they look like sketchers but just has NBA shoes, So like, you know, we got guys sign the skeesters. Now, this is what a crazy world we live in. Yeah, man, I don't know. I don't know. I don't think I would wear them. I don't they they're not They're not talking to me, you know what I'm saying.
00:52:13
Speaker 1: I also have no issue with this because I think it gets overlooked. He wasn't wearing these in a Thunder game, and even then I don't really care. I don't think this because he's wearing his shoes that he's like gonna give him a kinder whistle. This was this was the Mavericks Lakers game. Yeah, and then somebody saw it. They're like, oh, he's wearing shoes.
00:52:30
Speaker 2: Oh my god. And then it became a unique because like you're gonna say something that he was running into some Jordan's like, no, right, I mean, I know George's not playing, but they're just shoes. They're literally just shoes. I don't know why anybody would have an issue with this.
00:52:44
Speaker 1: I want to see, like Gucci ref for one of these notable refs, do their own Steph Curry free agency sneaker.
00:52:51
Speaker 2: Every every playoff, yes, swap him around or even each quarter.
00:52:54
Speaker 1: You got on a different here, as Guccie Reff says he has, he goes through a new pair of shoes every twenty to twenty five games. He said, Really, a referee runs about five miles a game an NBA. Yeah, yeah, I guess you're a lot of running, so you know, wear and tear on those. I guess you wouldn't think that they would wear it down so fast. I would think so, I would think they would last for the season.
00:53:16
Speaker 2: Like I know, they're just kind of running up and down, but they're not like cutting, like the guys are really like you know, like.
00:53:22
Speaker 1: You're stopping go though. No, they're not like doing like shame exactly, you.
00:53:26
Speaker 2: Know, like you see you see the NBA guys there their whole angles like turning over into the shoe like that's not happening whatever. No, you're right, you're right and there, and they're in a court like like you run, you're running outside, like you probably burn through shoes because outside outside the soul goes exactly, but on a on an NBA court, it's always clean. It's true. Like I don't know, I can't believe twenty five games is kind of crazy.
00:53:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what they said or the clip I saw. All right, well, let's hear what everybody thinks. Fun up down questions. They're up or down on those four. Let us know your thoughts on Giannis and on the Dunkman League.
00:53:57
Speaker 2: I guess it is.
00:53:58
Speaker 1: And then these two shoe related on stuph with his sneaker free agency collection and and referees wearing player shoes. Would it have mattered if Shaye was playing? Would have that changed your opinion? And he had like eighteen free throws? No, Carl Lane, you respect Carl Lane, like saying, this guy's.
00:54:17
Speaker 2: Name, Carl Lane, I have an NBA referee. Sound like you should be a comic book character. Maybe we should have, like, yeah, a referee, Carl Lane. That's the new Marvel company.
00:54:28
Speaker 1: That's maybe that was Lois's there you go, Superman took from took Lois from Carl. Now he's pissed off. He became a referee to get his revenge. We're writing the story right now.
00:54:39
Speaker 2: There you go.
00:54:41
Speaker 1: By of the Night sponsored by no one. Uh now, now I say that, but we're missing a man. Task Melus money mellows here usually helps UH keep track of like who's coming through with sponsorships, who's not, who's paid who hasn't. So for all I know, our inbox is full of people wanted to oh boy, but I'm not looking at it. I'll leave it for tasks and we'll get to them when he gets back. Task returns tomorrow. But who boy, of the Night, it's going to Pelicans rookie Jeremiah Fear's career high forty points as the Pelicans outscored the Jazz one fifty six one thirty seven. He shot seventeen to twenty nine from the field, five of five from the free throw line, six assists, five boards, three steals.
00:55:22
Speaker 2: What a game.
00:55:22
Speaker 1: Youngest guard in league history to score forty plus in a game. What he's nineteen years old?
00:55:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, is crazy. Actually, I heard that this morning. Yeah, I heard that this morning.
00:55:30
Speaker 1: I think that's a Pelicans rookie record. I believe now too with the forty uh and uh yeah. I was saying there were some other guys in the running from that game. They were Kennedy, Chandler who Utah Jazz played forty three minutes off the bench. Thirty one points, eight assists, seven rebounds for Kennedy.
00:55:50
Speaker 2: What a game this guy? Uh just coming back to league, right, I heard that, I think I heard.
00:55:54
Speaker 1: I think that's right. Yes, yes, I remember the name, and I remember he was around, and then I think he was gone. He must have played for the Grizzlies, right, I think.
00:56:00
Speaker 2: You played for a little bit. He's been out and I think he's played nine games.
00:56:04
Speaker 1: I want to say, yeah, yeah, and then you know, a little lower on the wool boy pecking order here, Jordan Pool thirty four points, but Jordan Hawkins had twenty five, six and four. He shot eleven to sixteen. Pretty good game. So this Pelican's jazz game. Wild stuff going on, all of these great box scores. But Jeremiah Fears gets.
00:56:23
Speaker 2: It all right. Ash, appreciate you joining me. Great to see you.
00:56:28
Speaker 1: I know you've been doing some thumb war Star Wars recaps. Where are we at in the Star Wars saga?
00:56:36
Speaker 2: We got to hit Empire. We gotta do episode five, that's the next one.
00:56:40
Speaker 1: Okay, so but you are going through every Star Wars movie.
00:56:43
Speaker 2: We have done every single one, right JD. Yes, we have. We're going to increase the frequency. We were actually toying with doing Empire after the Today's show. Okay, but I got two wrapped up and other stuff.
00:56:55
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, yeah, but Empire's coming Yessode five. Some say the best one, so episode five. But to me, the second Star Wars Yes, yes, correct, you know I always we are doing it in chronological.
00:57:11
Speaker 2: Order, so we have to order they're released. Well, how many have we done now? Is that six movies? Yes? Yeah, six out of eleven? Yeah for a halfway. Yeah, it's turning this out. We were like, yeah, this sounds like a great idea, let's do it. And we were doing one a month, and it's like, holy cal we're not gonna finish for a while. Yeah. Yeah, but we're gonna we're gonna try to be like one every two weeks.
00:57:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we're gonna get okay, Okay, Well check out thumb War obviously JD and Rachel talking about a bunch of other movies, but esch in there for the Star Wars ones.
00:57:43
Speaker 2: It's a lot of fun. So go check that out again. Great to see you.
00:57:48
Speaker 1: Good luck with pick a ball when you're back out are on the court, good luck with the sniffles, good luck with hooping.
00:57:53
Speaker 2: How are the kids, how's the wife, how's Courtney? Everybody's doing good. Everybody's doing good. Oldest and Courtney are off on the trip right now at Washington.
00:58:01
Speaker 1: D C.
00:58:02
Speaker 2: So wow, Yeah, you ever been to Washington?
00:58:04
Speaker 1: I have?
00:58:05
Speaker 2: Okay, I loved it. I only went one weekend with some buddies and I had We had a blast. It's it's really nice, great city no matter what you're doing, I guess. But like if you start doing like all the historical stuff, like you're just like, it's kind of cool. It is. It's nice to learn about the history of your country. Yeah, it's awesome. It's been I've been once with Tassie big Yeah.
00:58:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, we did the We rented bikes and just biked around and it was like, this is awesome.
00:58:34
Speaker 2: It's a really nice fall weather. It's great.
00:58:36
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm glad they're having fun. Hopefully we'll see you sooner rather than later. Join us during the playoffs.
00:58:40
Speaker 2: Come by. Yeah anytime, man and works good work is good. Okay. Uh, yeah, they're still gone. Yeah, they're still going. I guess I won't plug the Athletic, but hey, if you want to come by, maybe I can get somewhere money, so you know, go subscribe to it'd be great. Uh, that'd be great.
00:59:00
Speaker 1: Okay, Well go check out Esh's work at the Athletic. We still love the Athletic. No problems there. We'll see you tomorrow though. Tassie will be back in the Classic Factory, I'm sure with a great Tan. This guy Tan's well, I was just in the Dominican Republic all week with the fan, so he'll be back here. Have a couple more shows, wrap up the regular season, and then we're into the play in next week when Trey's back as well. Until tomorrow, Clipper Brose, you heard it here first.
00:59:26
Speaker 2: Have a great time turn up. Love you guys awesome. Any final thoughts, Yeah, thanks for joining us and remember never meet your heroes unless you do and then they're awesome. Anyone come to mind. I'm looking at him. That's why I asked embrace today people,