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to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me on

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this Friday. from theringer.com is

2:01

Kevin O'Connor aka Kevin Obama,

2:03

Kevin O'Concer, Kevin O'Climber, Kevin

2:06

O'Candyland, Kevin O'Camera, Kevin O'Blazarian,

2:08

Kevin O'Speare, Kevin O'B But

2:12

oh, we're back. We

2:14

have made it back from the All

2:16

Star break and the

2:18

All Star break at least the

2:21

events that were surrounding All

2:23

Star. I don't think

2:25

either of us regretted not going

2:27

to Indianapolis for All

2:29

Star weekend because we're

2:34

not gonna comment too much on what took place on All

2:36

Star weekend. I know a lot of people

2:38

have covered that and it certainly

2:40

generated a lot of conversation. I

2:42

think the only thing that is

2:44

good that came out of All

2:46

Star weekend was all of that

2:49

conversation generated on

2:51

how things can improve, how

2:53

it can be a better showcase

2:56

of the league's best

2:58

players. There was a lot of conversation

3:00

about how the NBA does things, the

3:02

events, how to get players to care,

3:05

but I couldn't help but laugh

3:07

at all of the articles about how Adam

3:09

Silver and Joe Dumars made

3:11

it very clear to all of the players

3:14

that they wanted the game to be competitive

3:16

and then they just made an absolute mockery

3:19

of the game. And so All Star

3:22

weekend, not exactly a great showcase for

3:24

the league, but hopefully

3:27

these last 25, 26

3:30

games are and then

3:32

the playoffs, which I am very hopeful

3:34

that we are going to be set

3:36

up to have an amazing playoffs. It

3:38

was nice to have a week off

3:40

though. Yeah, it was nice

3:42

to have a week off. It was a weird

3:44

week for sure. Yeah. Obviously All Star weekend was

3:47

an absolute dud. It was horrible. Probably. I mean,

3:49

a lot of them are bad. This is probably

3:51

the worst one that I could ever remember. You

3:53

know, hopefully, hopefully the next two years, next two,

3:56

three years are better. We'll see if they make

3:58

improvements to it. It seems like Adam

4:00

Silver was genuinely disappointed after

4:02

when he's like, congratulations,

4:06

most points scored. Yeah, you can just

4:08

hear it in his voice. So I

4:11

think I think they're going to do what they can do

4:13

improve it. I mean, we'll see

4:15

if any of it actually works. But

4:18

we'll see. I won't surprise me one bit

4:20

if they do some tournament stuff with the

4:22

All-Star game itself, kind of like they've been

4:24

doing with Rising Stars on Friday night where

4:26

they have the four teams like the

4:29

G League was integrated in and all

4:31

that. So maybe next year,

4:33

the 24 spots get

4:36

split into some amount of players on

4:38

each team and they have those teams

4:40

face off. So I don't know. That'd

4:42

be interesting to me if you have

4:44

like smaller teams playing quicker games. As

4:46

we head towards the home stretch of the season, we are

4:48

each going to give three teams that we are interested in

4:51

or most interested in the rest of the way

4:54

before we get to that. Do we

4:56

want to pour one out for Poku's career? Let's

4:59

pour out a couple of them for Poku. Alexey

5:02

Pokushevsky was waved by the Oklahoma

5:04

City Thunder on Friday

5:07

morning, woke up to the news. There's

5:09

a dagger in my heart, especially

5:11

a couple of weeks after Killian Hayes was let

5:13

go by the Pistons. This is a tough one.

5:16

Been a couple of tough weeks for me. Yeah,

5:18

it's been tough. It's been a real tough one.

5:20

They're going to be dominant next year in China together. I'm

5:23

going to tell you something, Kev. I know

5:25

you're getting beat up over Killian and Poku

5:27

and this is a tough run. Okay, but

5:30

I heard a quote the other day that I think applies

5:33

and I think can really help you in this moment. It

5:36

said, sometimes when you're

5:38

in a dark place, you think

5:41

that you've been buried. Really

5:46

you've actually been planted. Does

5:48

that help you? So you're

5:51

saying? Is that healthy? Yeah, it does. I

5:54

Do think I was planted

5:56

a couple of years ago.

6:01

I'm starting to blossom to. Learn

6:04

learn a lot less some that supposed

6:06

to pull themselves well as and more

6:09

of like a me like like boatload.

6:11

Kilian was of the faithful to an

6:13

itemized wealth sort out of right. Number

6:15

three is. Always

6:19

good. God Bogalay wilder. He thought

6:21

Poco A Poco was the prototype

6:23

for chess. Set. Would not

6:26

exist. Voice and six set would not

6:28

exist without poking. At

6:31

me. I.

6:33

Think they're dumb. Poco.

6:37

Et. Le gonna

6:39

want marry the guy? come on a just

6:41

got he just got waved off. A very

6:43

good team. It's a it's a tough day

6:46

alone he is. He is exactly like chit

6:48

chat was terrible. Like. They

6:50

have the same kind of frame

6:52

and of second stop but a

6:54

music is it. A lot to

6:56

say. Pick. Credit worthy

6:58

to sit out to be is the Sam

7:00

Presti Day. Big try to. The

7:02

guy is miss. our topic is no way around

7:04

this. Guy, but he had so

7:06

many of them that you get the percentage

7:08

of them the do hits and even some

7:10

ones that you didn't see it on wood.

7:13

we haven't seen that much out of. Who's

7:15

My Jane? Obviously they're just wave and poke

7:17

who. You're. They just traded.

7:19

Ah, For. A man

7:21

who couldn't even get on the court for them.

7:24

And he's like do a good for the hornets.

7:26

And. And it did. So they got like

7:28

real talent but then you got like the.

7:31

I. J. Isaiah Jos that these tendered

7:33

Williams and these lou door to

7:35

was are drafted. It. But

7:37

you. Gotta be really good to be

7:39

in that Oklahoma City rotation. They. Got

7:42

any bomb? You. Know we go back to

7:44

the whole. Just

7:46

not quite bad players. Like.

7:49

They. Got many. And.

7:52

In. Between picks it's a happy it.

7:56

And then. other

7:58

things that even even though ones

8:00

they haven't they've made up for it with

8:02

other guys and I think that

8:04

I think Poku being waved just

8:07

speaks to how good they

8:09

have become with young talent on

8:11

their team and I don't know if

8:13

Poku is gonna end up in the NBA but

8:15

I do know that Trey Mann is an NBA player and

8:17

he couldn't play for them and

8:19

like we're seeing I think get another for sure what do

8:21

you have 20 something last night I think for

8:24

the Hornets I mean like thank you

8:26

guys a good basketball player definitely

8:29

and I think with Poku he's an

8:31

interesting even more so than

8:33

Killian like what Poku last year showed

8:35

more flashes than Killian has. Poku last

8:38

year became a pretty good shot blocker

8:40

he shot almost 40% from three as

8:42

a seven footer with

8:44

a little bit of a passing flare he's it's gonna

8:46

be interesting to see if another team picks

8:49

him up and gives him a chance as

8:51

a still a young player and sees if he can see

8:53

if he can turn into a rotation guy. Let's

8:56

be honest I need him here in Memphis come

8:58

on we're not doing anything anyway come on. It'd

9:01

be an interesting fit for you guys

9:03

a good investment Killian less so like

9:05

I feel like he's just completely cratered

9:07

mentally his shot has gotten worse free

9:09

throws gotten worse he's an 80% plus

9:11

guy overseas three-pointers

9:13

gotten worse he has no confidence in himself

9:16

he doesn't work hard there's less hope with

9:18

Killian with Poku I think there's a little

9:20

bit of hope. Well and we're like

9:22

one of the fattest cities we could beat that

9:24

kid up quick. Oh you

9:26

totally could yeah yeah we just take him

9:28

over get some barbecue get some chicken we

9:30

got he's eating all kinds of foods and

9:33

and next thing you know we turn Poku into

9:35

a monster. He won't be the

9:40

chat he won't be the chat prototype he'll be better

9:42

than chat. Oh yeah he'll be super

9:44

chat. Alright look the first game out from the

9:46

long break so there's always

9:53

a bunch of caveats but

9:56

there were some very interesting outcomes that took place

9:58

last night and this is the

10:00

stretch run. Most of these

10:02

teams got 25-26 games

10:04

left. So if

10:07

you want to make up real ground, you

10:09

got to win at a pretty

10:12

high rate. And if you

10:14

want to hold on to your position, you

10:17

either got to continue to win at

10:19

a pretty good rate or certainly

10:21

not have a losing record, but maybe not

10:23

even be like 500 because the way that

10:26

teams can make up ground is they go,

10:28

they have the 9-1 stretch, they have the

10:30

8-2 stretch. And if you're playing around 500

10:32

basketball, now they're making up a lot of

10:34

ground on you. And so this is going

10:36

to be a hell of a race. We've pretty

10:39

much decided that we think that

10:42

unless there's some kind of grand

10:44

unforeseen circumstance that

10:47

we've pretty much got our 10 that

10:49

are going to be jockeying for position in

10:52

both conferences. So that means we're

10:54

out on Brooklyn, Toronto,

10:57

Charlotte, Washington, Detroit in

10:59

the East. And the only

11:01

East team that would be

11:03

involved this year that was not last year,

11:05

you're just swapping out the Pacers for the

11:07

Raptors from last year in

11:10

the 10. And then in the West, Utah,

11:14

Houston, Memphis, Portland,

11:17

and San Antonio. And the

11:19

only one they are swapping out from

11:22

last year, if it remains the same,

11:24

again, there's possible unforeseen circumstances. Really,

11:27

Utah, maybe Houston would be the

11:29

only one with a chance that they

11:31

would have to play at a much greater rate than they have

11:34

recently. You're only swapping

11:36

out the Grizzlies for the Mavs. And

11:39

the Mavs might have been in the 10 last year if they

11:41

wanted to play it out. They wanted to

11:43

get that pit, which turned into

11:45

Derek Lively, which seems like a very smart decision

11:47

at this moment. So we're really only from

11:49

last year's 10 teams that we

11:52

had to this year's 10 teams

11:54

that we had in both conferences, we're

11:56

only going to have two

11:58

new entries, right? Oh, no. Orlando, I'm

12:00

sorry, Orlando is in

12:03

the mix So they're

12:05

in the mix This year

12:08

and I guess what would be Brooklyn? I think

12:10

maybe was in the eight in the ten last

12:12

year and Sides back

12:15

so we do have aren't three new

12:17

entries and the math. I don't

12:19

even think that really counts, right? It's not like they

12:21

weren't one of the ten best teams, but we

12:24

know what happened with them last year We're

12:27

each gonna highlight three It's

12:30

a dangerous thing. I'm about to do but I'm gonna

12:32

let you have the first pick All

12:34

right. We have not conferred on this. So

12:37

if there's overlap Then

12:40

there's overlap That's okay. It's

12:42

fine. Then it'll turn out.

12:44

We're doing our collective three best teams

12:46

together combined If we have

12:48

the all the three the three Sam's no, no,

12:50

I've got enough unless you pick I've

12:54

got enough to where I could switch. All right.

12:56

Okay. All right. Well, I'll start off The

12:59

most interesting team for the remainder of the

13:01

season to me is the Dallas Mavericks The

13:04

Mavericks are riding a seven game winning

13:06

streak right now after beating the Suns

13:08

on Thursday night first game out of

13:10

the All-Star break in those

13:12

seven games Luca and Kyrie

13:15

together are dominant the Mavericks have a

13:17

plus 25 point six net

13:19

rating with Luca and Kyrie on the floor

13:21

together That's a 127 offensive rating

13:24

a 101 defensive rating their acquisitions

13:28

Daniel gafford at the trade deadline a

13:30

center from the Wizards fitting perfectly into

13:32

their rotation as a lob guy rebounds

13:36

shot blocking and Then

13:38

PJ Washington from the Charlotte

13:40

Hornets. He's defended Katie Kyle

13:42

Kuzma He had some plays against wimpy

13:44

and he's done a good job at

13:46

it like against of a variety of

13:48

offensive players I thought he was great

13:51

last night and stretches against Kevin Durant

13:53

against the Suns And now

13:55

you look at this Mavericks roster you

13:57

think about past years with Dallas the

14:00

lack of depth they've had behind

14:02

Luca, the lack of wings, the lack

14:04

of versatility. Now they got versatile

14:07

forwards like PJ Washington

14:09

and Maxi Kleba, wings,

14:12

Josh Green, Derek

14:14

Jones, Tim Hardaway,

14:16

Biggs, Lively, Gafford,

14:18

obviously his co-star

14:20

and Kyrie Irving.

14:23

They just have so many different types

14:25

of pieces right now that you're seeing

14:27

Jason Kidd use different types of lineups.

14:30

They're using Gafford or Lively almost all

14:32

the time on the floor, except, and

14:34

they did this against the Suns, when

14:36

they go with a small ball lineup

14:39

with PJ Washington and Maxi Kleba in

14:41

the front court, except it's really not that

14:43

small one. You also have Luca on the

14:45

floor, Josh Green on the floor, all

14:48

around Kyrie Irving. With that lineup, they've only

14:50

played 14 minutes together. That

14:53

small ball lineup, but they've been dominant

14:55

in those minutes. It

14:58

feels like the Mavericks are starting

15:00

to take shape as a total

15:02

team. It's not just Luca, it's

15:04

Kyrie with their two-man actions they're

15:07

playing together. It's PJ Washington with

15:09

switchable defenses. It's Daniel Gafford or

15:11

Lively with having a big rolling

15:14

five. They can take on different

15:16

shapes and they seem dominant regardless of what they're

15:18

doing. It is

15:20

the ability now to be able to

15:22

play any different way. We

15:25

can punish you being small. We can punish

15:27

you if you want to be big. They

15:30

have become super malleable and I agree

15:34

with you. I saw our

15:36

buddy Joe House in the video he

15:38

was doing for FanDuel, where he was saying, I

15:40

am all in on these Dallas

15:42

futures. Maybe,

15:45

just maybe, if you're

15:48

looking for a new guy, then

15:50

Luca Dontis is going to get very

15:52

high up in that MVP conversation sooner

15:54

than later. He was absolutely awesome. Almost

15:57

had a 40-point triple-double. He was one

15:59

rebound. short last night in that

16:01

Phoenix game. But I agree with you.

16:03

We love what they did at the

16:05

trade deadline and you look at it

16:08

now. One of the things that Joe said that I

16:10

did agree with was top

16:12

to bottom. This is the

16:14

best team Lucas had. And

16:17

big credit to the Mavs

16:19

because we thought it was

16:21

pretty lame coming into this season. It's

16:23

like, yeah, we liked the Grant Williams acquisition,

16:26

which obviously was a

16:28

dud, but there's two things

16:30

that have happened here. A, the collection

16:32

of talent and how it fits around

16:34

Luca. And B, the no

16:38

Kyrie Irving distractions. And

16:41

people could say, oh yeah, of course there hasn't been. Like

16:44

that is shocking. Not only have

16:46

they played great together, but

16:49

for the last five or six days, you

16:51

go all the way back post Cleveland, there's

16:53

been something with Kyrie. Something

16:57

every year. And there's been

16:59

nothing. And so knock on wood for Dallas,

17:02

it's all been, uh, it's

17:04

all been kumbaya. And beyond

17:06

kumbaya, they are

17:09

17 and six in

17:11

what are considered clutch games,

17:14

which are games in within five points

17:16

in the last five minutes. How

17:19

many times do we talk about this teams

17:21

that get down to the end of games and

17:23

they know what they want to do and they

17:25

can get the shot that they want to get, or

17:28

they've got the guy that can get them home and

17:31

so many of these playoff games is exactly

17:33

what they come down to. And

17:36

the numbers for Luca and Kyrie in

17:39

those like close games are

17:42

unbelievable as a tandem 50% from the

17:44

field, 48% from three, 88% from the line. And

17:52

to promote yours, uh, even more

17:54

your idea that, Hey, we need

17:56

to really pay attention to Dallas,

17:58

not just this is. There's a cute little

18:01

win streak they're on, but really pay attention.

18:04

There's only four teams in the league. I saw this

18:06

in John Schumann's article from earlier in the week. So

18:09

I have four teams in the league that don't

18:11

have a lineup. That's played a hundred minutes. Memphis,

18:16

terrible season. Charlotte,

18:19

terrible season. Miami,

18:23

mediocre season, 500 seasons so far.

18:26

And Dallas. They

18:28

don't have their top three lineups have Grant

18:30

Williams in it. They don't have

18:33

one lineup that's played a hundred

18:35

minutes together. That

18:37

is crazy. It's

18:40

crazy. We got 26 games

18:42

left in the year. And

18:44

so if we like their talent

18:46

and we think if they're like fully healthy,

18:49

that they're a problem. Well,

18:51

just imagine if we get to see it for a little

18:53

while and they've got this

18:55

stretch run to kind of figure out, you know, how

18:58

it all works together. But it

19:00

seems like the Washington and Gaffer

19:02

thing that's been seamless already. Right? Yeah.

19:05

Pete, PJ Washington, he hasn't even had

19:08

like great offensive numbers yet. It's,

19:11

it's more so just, it's

19:14

more so his defense right now, like

19:16

against that, against the sun's on

19:18

Thursday. He was very, very good against Kevin

19:20

Durant. And this comes after a game

19:22

is pre all star breaker when he was good against

19:25

Victor one, Vanya, mine, a handful of possessions he

19:27

had against him. He was good against Kyle Kuzma

19:29

and granted the wizard suck. It's just the show,

19:31

like the range of different types

19:34

of players, the Mavericks are

19:36

sticking him on and they

19:38

also against Phoenix for an extended

19:40

number of minutes in the second

19:42

half played their small ball lineup

19:44

with PJ Washington and Maxi Kleba.

19:47

And I think you're just seeing the

19:49

different types of ways they can use

19:51

PJ Washington that that was the

19:54

idea of Grant Williams. The idea

19:56

of Grant Williams was well, he can be a floor

19:58

space for us, provide a little bit of offense. and

20:00

some defensive versatility. He just didn't work out

20:02

one bit. Well, there's one thing

20:04

they played last night, to your point, Kev, there

20:07

was a play last night where they ran a

20:09

dribble handoff and P.J. Washington's Garden

20:11

to Ran. And he handed it off

20:13

and they switched. And now he's

20:15

got Booker. Like, Grant Williams is never staying in

20:17

front and P.J. Washington stayed

20:19

in front of both of them. He

20:22

stayed in front of both of them on

20:24

the switch. Like, Grant Williams never do

20:26

that. Grant Williams was heavy when he did that. He's

20:29

doing well post-trade, for sure. And it

20:31

just wasn't a very good fit. But

20:34

I think there was, from what I

20:36

read, a level of discontent on how, the

20:38

kind of shape he came in to the

20:40

season being anyway. And the point is, Washington

20:43

is an infinitely better

20:45

defender for that. Those

20:48

wing-type pluggers. You've got a guy

20:50

that is a big, that

20:52

can stay in front of wings, that's gold. So

20:55

we can just have our big P.J.

20:57

Washington party. Yeah, absolutely.

20:59

You know I've loved P.J. Washington for a long

21:02

time. I've seen him as like a sleeper. Get

21:04

him on a contender and we'll see what he can finally be.

21:07

All he really needs to do right now is start

21:09

shooting the ball. He's at 22% from three with the

21:11

Mavericks right now. He has not had

21:14

like one of his big scoring performances. Like, we've

21:16

seen him do with Charlotte over the years. If

21:19

he just starts hitting spot-out threes at a

21:21

reliable rate, which I believe he can. He's

21:24

been near a 40% guy on

21:26

open catch-and-shoot threes in his

21:28

career with the Hornets. He's going to get a lot

21:31

of open catch-and-shoot threes with the Mavericks.

21:33

We'll see if those shots start falling for him.

21:36

But I have belief and I think

21:38

he's going to prove to be one

21:40

of the steals league-wide. And

21:42

last year in the free agency, I'm still

21:44

surprised he didn't get more interest. But

21:46

that could be Dallas' gain here with this roster

21:49

they're starting to assemble. And I think

21:51

with Dallas, we'll see how this continues. You

21:53

know, it is still a small little stretch here, but

21:56

I think the full season, it's not like...

22:00

It's not like Luca and Kyrie when they've actually played

22:02

together haven't been great together Like

22:04

they had had some great wins over this

22:07

win streak. They beat the Knicks. They beat

22:09

the Thunder They beat the Suns and coming

22:11

up They have the Pacers the Cavs the

22:14

Raptors the Celtics on a road trip and

22:16

then a homestand against the Sixers The

22:19

Pacers and the Heat so until you

22:21

know, really the first full week of

22:23

March They have a good group

22:25

of tough games coming up both on the road

22:27

and at home So I

22:29

think for Dallas that they continued to thrive throughout

22:31

this stretch you know we could be doing

22:34

a show in a week or two saying things such as

22:37

Where do they belong and the NBA

22:39

championship power rankings like this team actually

22:41

belong in the top epsilon? It might

22:43

be time to recalibrate

22:46

Already it might be time to recalibrate

22:48

when you have a player of Lucas

22:50

quality You said earlier how Joe host

22:52

Joe house was talking about Luca as

22:54

an MVP guy He's plus 500 right

22:56

now on fan duel. That is

22:59

third highest behind SGA

23:01

and yokich. Oh I

23:04

won't be surprised one bit if that ends

23:06

up becoming like plus 200 Plus

23:09

100 at some point soon closer to

23:11

where SGA is Luca is

23:13

playing better than ever have kept

23:16

kept let them go 20 and 6 in the

23:18

last 26 and see where he is You

23:21

know mean for sure. Yeah, and

23:23

they change look they changed

23:26

their Championship chances

23:28

with the trade deadline They

23:31

did this is a different deal

23:33

with Washington and Gaffer They

23:36

wouldn't that they were it wasn't good enough To

23:39

be able to compete for a title or

23:41

a Western Conference Finals Prior

23:43

to those moves, but once they

23:45

moved out Grant Williams and they added these

23:47

guys now It's good enough to compete for

23:49

a title. It's good enough surrounding Luca and And

23:53

we know he can be the

23:55

best player in any series and

23:58

you mentioned in this season. They have the

24:01

22nd hardest schedule.

24:04

Yep. The remainder of the season. So their

24:06

schedule is on the easier side of things in

24:08

the league right now. Uh, so for

24:11

Dallas that bodes well for them to, I

24:13

mean, you look at the standings right now,

24:15

it's, it's still hard to

24:17

see them climbing all the way to the

24:19

top four because there are four games behind

24:21

Denver and the Clippers. It's not

24:24

impossible, but the odds are that

24:26

you climb as high as fifth, uh,

24:28

which is New Orleans or a game behind New Orleans

24:30

right now, but there's a chance they

24:32

could get like a game or two behind the Clippers

24:35

or the Nuggets and be right there at

24:37

the end for a top four seed. Regardless, so

24:39

I think top five seed is enough to be.

24:42

You know, a serious MVP candidate, a serious threat

24:45

to win the finals, but damn do like we

24:48

talked about this last week when we did kind of our reset

24:50

of the standings, these like

24:52

the first round series are going to be wars,

24:54

man. Oh, they're going to be unbelievable. Yeah.

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25:55

leads me to my first one. I

25:57

am so interested in

25:59

what. happens with Phoenix. So you

26:01

said you were just talking about the schedule. They

26:03

have had the easiest schedule so far to

26:06

be at this point that they are

26:08

at the season and they

26:11

were, they're good. I mean

26:13

they're plus 12.7 with

26:15

their three guys on the court but it's 440 minutes

26:17

the whole

26:20

damn year and you got

26:22

a nursing hamstring situation with Beal

26:24

again. So their record when they've got all

26:27

three guys is 14 and 8 but they got 27 games left

26:33

Kev. 19

26:35

of them are against teams with a winning record.

26:40

And so where the hell are they going to be? You

26:42

know that, they got flipped in

26:44

the standings and lost the tiebreaker by

26:47

virtue of losing to Dallas last night.

26:49

And the reason that this is so

26:51

fascinating is it's another quote super team

26:53

that has been thrown together. It

26:56

is going to cost an absolute fortune

26:59

to have this team and

27:02

we said this is going to be

27:04

how many times does every new owner

27:06

have to learn this. We've

27:08

seen it over and over and

27:10

over again and

27:13

they're going to spend and they're going to

27:15

win right now and they're going to be

27:17

smarter than everybody and then they're

27:19

like oh my god this is

27:22

punitive and I'm not winning. And

27:25

how fast does the plug

27:28

get pulled on the situation?

27:31

You know if they end up

27:33

in the play in and they're not

27:35

playing in the playoffs then what?

27:38

Right? You can just run

27:40

it back and say hey hopefully next year we have

27:42

them all healthy. I

27:45

think that that, I

27:47

honestly believe that these

27:49

last 27 games of the

27:51

Phoenix Suns season could greatly

27:53

alter what the NBA looks like even

27:56

like next year. Seriously.

27:58

I mean you've dug it now. And

28:00

you're not gonna be one of the four bad like

28:02

what's the best Possible

28:04

seed they could have really

28:07

now. I know their ceiling is crazy they're

28:10

ceiling crazy if they've got all three

28:12

guys healthy and It's

28:15

the best version of them. I get

28:17

it But a

28:19

what are the chances they got everybody healthy and

28:21

what's the best like they're having to

28:23

win a series on the road No matter what it's

28:26

fifth. That's the best they probably they've the fifth

28:28

It's probably the highest they climb in the standings

28:31

same reason with Dallas that we talked about I

28:33

mean is that worth a hard to see them

28:35

billion dollars? You

28:37

know, I think you're

28:39

if it's me writing the checks. I'm like

28:41

damn, bro This ain't worth a

28:44

bazillion. I think you're spot-on with them.

28:46

They have the hardest remaining schedule in the league

28:48

right now They're the

28:50

remaining opponents have a fifty six point three

28:52

win percentage that is best in the league

28:54

for the remainder of the season so

28:57

like with them like if they if

29:00

they stay in the plan or even Fall

29:02

to eight or nine and have

29:04

to win on the road in a plan

29:08

Like never mind win on the road in the first round of a

29:10

playoff You have to win on the road in the plan when

29:12

you have all those guys what if you're

29:14

playing LA or Golden State

29:16

or Like let's

29:19

say let's say something went wrong and we're

29:21

wrong about the Dallas like I think Dallas

29:23

is seven right now, right? No,

29:25

no Dallas Dallas right now. It's six. They move

29:27

their side with Phoenix Phoenix seven thirty three and

29:30

twenty three Okay, so Phoenix seven right now Dallas

29:32

six. Yeah, look at the play in teams right

29:34

now or let's just say the key the It's

29:38

almost not as much about if it something goes wrong with

29:40

Dallas It's like it if Golden State

29:42

gets really hot or Sacramento gets really hot

29:44

and they move up Right and

29:46

then it just so happens that Phoenix and Dallas are

29:48

the other are the seven and eight brutal

29:53

Like you could

29:55

real not be in the

29:57

playoffs and you look at them

30:01

But as you say, they

30:03

have had the easiest schedule and they're

30:05

in seventh. And I can

30:07

hear it with the, yeah, but they had that,

30:09

they're guys healthy. Like, bro, you're probably never having

30:11

all three of these guys healthy for a long

30:14

time. Like, what

30:16

has been the indicator that all

30:19

three of these guys could stay

30:21

healthy? If they all stayed simultaneously

30:23

healthy, then, I

30:25

mean, forget having a NBA team, the guys should

30:27

go buy lottery tickets. Because

30:29

the odds of that are just crazy.

30:33

It's not what we know

30:35

to be true of these three guys.

30:39

And so, I don't know, man. A

30:42

lot of times, you can make excuses and

30:44

you can say, hey, you know what? It didn't go

30:46

like we want, but we're just going to run it

30:48

back. Like, I honestly don't

30:50

know if you just run it back if

30:53

you finish the season, seventh or eighth. When

30:57

you were talking earlier, you were saying how,

30:59

depending on how the season ends, you

31:02

wouldn't be surprised if you see the

31:05

team dramatically change over the summer. Are

31:07

you implying a Kevin Durant, another

31:10

indecision? Is that what you're implying? Or

31:12

are you thinking more on the Beal side? Do

31:14

you think Kevin Durant would be fine with

31:17

being at seventh or eighth place at

31:20

this age and stage in his career or

31:22

getting whapped in the first round? Do

31:25

you think he's fine with that? There's two

31:27

interesting things that he said this week. One,

31:30

on ESPN, he said something like, you

31:32

know, yeah, I want to finish my

31:34

career with the Suns. I can't predict

31:36

what will happen, but I love playing.

31:39

And Phoenix, I want to be in the ring of honor

31:41

someday. He said that. And then

31:43

he had his conversation

31:45

with his agent, Rich Kliman.

31:49

And in that conversation, they talked about his

31:51

decision to choose the Nets over

31:53

the Knicks. And

31:56

just listening, like reading between the lines of

31:58

the way they were talking. Rich is

32:00

a huge Knicks guy. Katie

32:03

described how the Knicks weren't cool at the time.

32:05

They wanted to go to the Nets and try

32:07

to win there instead. But now the Knicks are

32:09

cool. Just

32:11

made me think if they were trying to

32:14

smooth things over with the Knicks fans and

32:16

all that, putting that thought out into the

32:18

universe, that, hey, you weren't

32:20

ready for me before, but

32:23

now we're ready for each other

32:25

this summer. So I don't know.

32:28

Those two things are very interesting this week

32:30

with whatever that interview was with

32:32

Rich. Not an interview, conversation. Your

32:35

agent can't interview you. It's

32:38

not a podcast interview. It's just

32:40

a conversation that happens when you're recorded. But

32:43

yeah, I think that was interesting to me

32:45

that that conversation happened

32:48

and was released. Maybe.

32:52

We got to keep an eye out of it. Like

32:56

we said, 19 to 27 games. There's

32:58

a long way to go, though. There is.

33:01

There is. They get a good game, though.

33:04

Scorching hot. They just as easily

33:06

could get scorching hot and prove to be a

33:08

threat that they go through this run

33:10

with their guys healthy and they win a lot

33:12

of games and they move up in the standings.

33:15

We'll see what ends up happening. But last night against Dallas

33:17

is not a good sign, especially the run in the second

33:19

half of Dallas open with the

33:21

centers do seem to be an issue

33:23

for the Suns. So yeah, we'll see how they

33:26

pan out over the course of the year. Two

33:28

terrible things. Ready for this? The

33:30

only team that has lost more games

33:33

while leading at halftime, and

33:35

this is going to stun you, is the

33:37

Washington Wizards. The only team that's

33:40

lost more games while leading at halftime. And

33:43

you know that's because teams dick around with

33:45

the Wizards. They don't

33:47

even care. And then they say, all right, we're going to put the

33:49

screws to them in the second half. They are the

33:51

worst. That's wild. They're the worst fourth

33:54

quarter team by a wide

33:56

margin. The Suns are, which

33:58

is also wild. It's

34:01

like those things, we were just talking about why we

34:03

believe in Dallas and how that's going to translate because

34:05

you're like, if it's a close game in the fourth

34:08

quarter, they're beating you. Well,

34:11

the complete opposite is true of Phoenix.

34:14

So far this year. Yeah.

34:17

All right, let's get to your next thing. Let's stay in

34:19

the Western Conference. Let's continue

34:21

there. The Warriors, they've won

34:23

nine out of 11 games right now. First,

34:26

Straymon returned 14 games ago. There

34:30

are plus 15.7 in his minutes, 124.9

34:32

offensive rating, 109.3 defensive rating. The

34:37

Warriors look like a team to me that has

34:39

figured things out and they

34:41

are on a track now where they

34:43

will and should rise up the standings.

34:46

They look like a team that finally has

34:48

a rotation that works for them. I'm very

34:50

intrigued by the fact that Clay Thompson is

34:52

now committed to coming off the bench. He

34:55

would hope that he continues embracing that. Steve

34:58

Kerr spoke about when Chris Paul returns, he

35:00

looks forward to seeing CP3 and Clay off

35:02

the bench together. I'm intrigued. Wiggins

35:05

and Kaminga have figured out how to play

35:07

together. Draymond continues thriving. Steph is on top

35:09

of his game. Pods looks

35:12

great. As a rookie, he's been

35:14

one of the more impressive rookies in the entire league.

35:17

This year, Trace Jackson Davis on Thursday

35:20

night coming off the bench against the

35:22

Lakers, 17 points in 15 minutes. I

35:25

love TJD and I think with him paired with

35:28

Chris Paul off the bench, makes

35:30

for a very interesting combination. The

35:32

Warriors just have a group of guys that make

35:34

sense together. I think with Chris

35:36

Paul when he returns, it's going to make sense. And

35:39

Steph is playing still like one of the five best

35:41

players in the league. The Warriors look

35:43

to be like a team that I'm

35:45

buying this recent stretch. I'm a

35:48

believer in what we've seen recently. For

35:51

the remainder of the year, they do have one of

35:53

the easier schedules, the sixth easiest

35:55

schedule in the league for the remainder of

35:57

the year. So they do have an opportunity to move up right

35:59

now. and the standings are currently

36:01

tenth right now. They are four

36:03

games back from the Suns at number seven and

36:06

the Mavericks at number six. Hard

36:08

to move into that top six for a guaranteed

36:10

spot, but won't surprise me one bit if Golden

36:12

State moves all the way up to seven. And

36:15

if they do, if

36:18

they are like seven or eight, that's

36:21

the kind, that's where they need to be

36:23

if they were gonna pull it up because

36:25

you're getting to play against the teams that

36:27

don't have the playoff experience, right? Three

36:29

and four, as it stands right now, are Clippers

36:31

and the Nuggets. Now those teams have been

36:33

through a lot of playoffs here and

36:36

have logged a lot of playoff minutes together and have

36:38

veterans on their team. Like if

36:41

you are, this is much like

36:43

Memphis being two last year, and

36:46

then it's a nightmare to

36:48

then draw the Lakers. If

36:51

you are Oklahoma City or

36:53

Minnesota, it's like, Jesus, they

36:56

have one of the two best records and

36:58

then we're playing the frigging Warriors. This

37:01

is awful. And so

37:04

it's almost like the lower,

37:06

I think that you

37:08

would be more fearful if you're one or two

37:10

and having

37:12

to draw the Lakers or the Warriors. I

37:14

think you could be in the, like honestly,

37:17

like the same situation we were in last

37:19

year where it's like the

37:21

Grizzlies and the Kings were both fantastic during

37:23

the year. And then they looked up at

37:25

the end and it's like, holy shit. They

37:28

played the Warriors and the Lakers. And

37:31

it's gonna happen again. It

37:34

could very well be Minnesota

37:36

and Oklahoma City having to play the

37:39

Warriors and the Lakers when it's

37:41

all said and done. And

37:43

I don't know how high, like if

37:46

we were saying Phoenix, I, or I mean

37:48

Dallas, you know, could move

37:50

up and the highest you could see Phoenix is

37:52

five. Like what is the, you think

37:54

six is the limit for

37:57

Warriors? Like even if they went on a tear.

38:00

Yeah, I mean New Orleans would have

38:02

to fall or Dallas would have to fall

38:05

It's not impossible Warriors

38:07

would jockey that around too I

38:09

promise you this if they have a chance

38:12

if they they would not They would purposely

38:14

drop to seven to play Oklahoma City that might

38:16

not be the smart thing But they

38:18

would purposely do that rather than play the quickest

38:21

Yeah, but then you I'm not

38:24

I'm not going to get into how jockeying and

38:26

for position is worse than just letting the top

38:28

seeds choose their opponent But just like

38:30

I just I hate that stuff at the end of the year

38:33

And it happens so stupid. We know what happens it

38:35

happens It does happen. It probably

38:37

it would happen, but I don't think I

38:40

don't think the Warriors I don't think

38:42

the Warriors would like lose a

38:44

guaranteed playoff seed and then say

38:47

Okay. Now we have to also beat

38:49

the Lakers or beat whoever that

38:52

I'm talking about. No, no, no. Yeah, i'm sorry Oh,

38:54

no, but you just but you just said drop from

38:57

six to seven Yeah, you're not

38:59

going to drop out of a top six because then seven you

39:01

are in the play And then you have to win a game

39:03

against another tough opponent If you lose that

39:05

game, then you're then you're fighting for the eight seed

39:08

This is why incentives matter right

39:10

having the six seed means

39:12

you're guaranteed a playoff spot But

39:15

what difference does it make if you're four or five besides the

39:17

one home game? That's it. You know,

39:20

there's going to be a lot of jockeying for position

39:22

this year and that's a shame. It sucks It's

39:24

not fun teams losing on purpose like

39:27

the the the purpose should always be to win

39:29

those veteran teams don't respect You could hear Vraymont

39:31

is the one that is willing to speak his

39:33

mind and he that was the only good thing

39:35

about the all-star game was I had that feed

39:38

with him and barkley on in the

39:40

background and You

39:43

could tell he's like nobody is

39:45

scared of minnesota. Nobody's scared of the pelicans.

39:48

Nobody's like, I mean that he's talking like

39:51

Veterans in the league and so I do

39:53

think it's going to be super fascinating when we get

39:55

to The playoffs, you

39:57

know how like those those comments

39:59

are going to come back up. Did

40:02

you know how he feels about, you

40:04

know, having to play the teams that are,

40:06

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of satisfaction by a client. My

41:08

next team is actually that team that is

41:10

third, because we all

41:13

have thought a lot about the

41:15

Clippers and what they have done over

41:18

the course of the last month, month

41:20

and a half, two months. They've

41:23

got 27 games

41:26

left. They actually

41:29

do not have a very easy schedule

41:33

and they have the most back

41:35

to backs. They have seven

41:38

back to backs left, including

41:40

tonight. After they got walloped

41:42

by Oklahoma City, I am going to see

41:44

them in person in Memphis tonight. But

41:47

that is one of seven back to backs.

41:49

Now, the reason this is important is because

41:51

this is a veteran laden team that more

41:54

no team needs to keep their guys healthy more

41:56

than them. And

41:59

as a bigger question mark, you

42:01

know, even though we brought up Phoenix earlier, it's

42:04

like, okay, are you really going to get to

42:06

play in the playoffs with Kawhi Leonard,

42:08

Paul George and James Harden, all

42:10

healthy. They have been 33 and

42:13

11 since they lost

42:15

those first five games with Harden. And

42:18

the Harden numbers are just crazy.

42:22

Plus 18.5

42:25

per 100 possessions with him on the court.

42:28

They are plus 10 with

42:31

him off the court. So I mean, still a good team,

42:34

but it is the biggest point differential

42:37

of any player that has played as many minutes.

42:40

I mean, that's how profound the impact

42:42

has been. And so here's

42:45

the trick, much like we talked about with Phoenix.

42:48

This team has had the best offense in

42:51

the NBA. They're averaging 121 points per

42:53

100 possessions since the, since

42:57

that Harden thing has all taken place. But

43:01

we know it's like if they have their

43:03

three guys and you've got a tough schedule

43:05

and you got a ton of back to

43:07

backs the rest of the way, are they

43:10

going to play these guys on back to back? Is

43:12

there a risk in these guys play in

43:14

the back to backs? Like it's all,

43:17

it's all interesting to see how it's

43:19

going to play out from here

43:22

till the end, because

43:24

I think most people

43:27

think that they are the best chance

43:30

at knocking off Denver. Uh,

43:33

though they are not ranked first in the Western

43:35

conference, you've got, you see

43:37

the Clippers being the best team has

43:39

picked up a lot of steam, but

43:41

they got to make it 27 more, 27 more

43:46

with these guys staying intact and staying healthy.

43:48

And so to me, uh,

43:51

that could change their, how

43:54

they play out these 27 and staying healthy,

43:58

maybe more than anything is going. to dictate what

44:00

happens in the Western Conference in my opinion. So

44:03

to think if they're fully healthy, they're a bitch to

44:05

deal with. But we

44:08

know there's a history. There's a

44:10

history with the three. So the

44:12

Clippers are the one that is, uh,

44:15

I think they're the best team. I did. I

44:18

know they got wallop last night by OKC. Do

44:21

you read into that all? They get wallops

44:23

by OKC wallops by Minnesota. They lost to

44:25

the Pelicans this month. They've lost three out

44:28

of their last five. Do you read into

44:30

that at all? Or is just their recent,

44:32

you know, regular season stretch and if they're

44:34

not concerned, just curious. I

44:36

am unconcerned just because I, you know, I

44:39

told you this after I saw them in person, I was like,

44:41

man, it's like, now the one thing

44:43

is they might have some teams that

44:45

are uniquely equipped to deal with them

44:47

and OKC is one of them

44:49

because OKC is not like their

44:52

problem is with big teams that that's not what

44:55

the Clippers are. Yeah. Like if

44:57

they, if they play the five white out team

44:59

or the team that has like the

45:02

chat, uh, uh, uh, character at center,

45:04

then it's a problem. And you saw Oklahoma city last

45:06

night. As soon as like

45:08

they came out in that second half and they abandoned giddy.

45:11

He started Isaiah Joe, which

45:13

is something to keep an eye

45:16

on, you know, whether it's Joe

45:18

or whether it's a maybe Wallace or

45:20

like it feels like Zagnault very well may

45:23

be pulling the plug on the giddy

45:25

thing. Maybe it's Gordon Hayward

45:27

possible too. But once they did that,

45:29

like it's like they could

45:31

small ball, uh, and

45:33

play against the Clippers just fine. And

45:36

it's like the Clippers aren't big enough to

45:38

punish you for playing small.

45:41

And so these match ups, it's all

45:43

these, all these playoffs series are

45:46

going to kind of be uniquely dictated by match

45:48

ups, but I still, I

45:50

think the Clippers, if they've got Kawhi

45:52

at peak of powers, I

45:55

still think they're the one to beat

45:57

outside of Denver. We're

46:00

setting that aside. It really

46:02

pains me to say this regarding

46:05

the Clippers. But

46:07

I think it's becoming very apparent that Russell

46:10

Westbrook takes too many shots. And

46:13

it pains you. I

46:18

thought you were actually going to be serious here.

46:22

Russell Westbrook takes too many shots.

46:25

Come on. In

46:27

the loss against the Thunder, he was 1-9 in 16

46:29

minutes. In

46:32

the loss against the Wolves, he was 3-11 in 29 minutes. In

46:36

the loss against the Pelicans, he was 2-7 in 18 minutes. How

46:40

is it that Russell Westbrook takes only a

46:43

couple of shots less than James Harden? Come

46:45

play off time, I would expect this to change. Is

46:49

Russell Westbrook willing for that to

46:51

change at that time? Is Ty Lue going

46:54

to be prepared to give him no minutes?

46:57

Come play off time? Because I'll tell you what,

47:00

when it comes time to play a seven

47:02

or eight man rotation, I would much rather

47:04

have Amir Coffee out there than

47:07

Russell Westbrook. Amir Coffee.

47:10

You're a legit hater. He's

47:12

been one of the... He's been a

47:14

hater. He's been really good coming off

47:16

the bench and the team's been awesome.

47:19

Stop. Stop. Amir Coffee

47:21

is one of the reasons why they've been awesome.

47:24

Because he is a great defender

47:26

off the bench. He's

47:29

a 40% plus guy from three. He

47:31

knows his role. He

47:33

fits great. Ross

47:35

is going to be a 10-15

47:37

minute guy off the bench at

47:39

most. And you would hope in the postseason James

47:41

Harden is prepared to take more than nine shots.

47:44

James Harden in that loss against Thunder, he's

47:46

five for nine in 29 minutes. Russell

47:49

Westbrook is one for nine in 16 minutes.

47:53

Ross shoots too much. You love the energy. You

47:55

love the athleticism. They've given

47:57

him the second unit. And

48:01

it's been good You

48:04

just want you know, you

48:06

got you got your opportunity

48:08

to shit on Russell Westbrook

48:10

It's taking you until February 23rd, but

48:13

I'm just gonna let you have enough

48:16

And I'm your coffee But

48:20

listen Chris, this is this is here's the thing

48:22

though If you're looking at a

48:24

team that has championship Expectations

48:26

and it has James Harden playing at

48:29

the top of his game It was

48:31

more than anybody could have anticipated this

48:33

year shooting a career high from three

48:36

Whipping the ball around the floor being

48:38

a great conductor for that team and

48:40

Kawhi Leonard playing at a top five

48:42

MVP level and Paul George playing at

48:44

the level that he is and and

48:46

Terrence Mann and zubots and Norman Powell

48:48

all these guys fitting alongside them and

48:50

a mere coffee It's all

48:52

working. It's all clicking You've

48:54

got to look for well, what are the reasons why we

48:57

might lose a playoff series? By

48:59

what what can we get better at how can we

49:01

improve? One

49:04

of the places that you nitpick I

49:06

mean One of the reasons

49:08

could be that I just told you the most

49:10

important guy on off is the

49:12

guy that vomits on himself every playoffs

49:15

So that may be a better one to look at Might

49:18

be let's let's see about that. Yeah

49:20

might be All

49:23

right, James Harden career postseason numbers

49:25

in Houston Jesus 28.4

49:27

points per game now do now

49:30

do elimination games. I

49:32

can't pull it up off Dot-com

49:42

Where they are There

49:46

I don't look who owns that website cuz

49:48

it's me oh It's

49:51

you He's

49:54

had more good moments in elimination games just he's

49:56

had a lot of terrible moments, but anyway, it's

49:59

concert day That's

50:01

how he got the name! 5-17, 2 for

50:03

11, 2 for 13, 3 for 16. Concert

50:10

date! Alright, you're 13. I'll never

50:12

understand how

50:15

the one, the one, the one. And

50:18

us playing the blame game is

50:20

gonna be unbelievable. It's

50:23

really, really good. I

50:27

just can't understand how the one

50:30

team that really went

50:32

toe to toe with those Juggernaut Warriors

50:34

was the Houston Rockets. The one team.

50:38

How dare you! Led by Dan Cole. How dare

50:40

you! And he's, and he's... How dare you! Let's

50:42

be serious. Let's be serious. Nipha

50:44

had wars with them! Literal

50:49

wars! What planet

50:51

are you on? I'm

50:54

talking with the KD Warriors. Oh

50:57

god. Like, they're those Juggernaut Warriors. Those weren't

50:59

even fairies. You were in the early days.

51:01

But, exactly! And the Rockets were the team

51:04

that went to a game six and a

51:06

game seven against them in back to back

51:08

years. Oh,

51:10

I remember, yes, Steph emasculated him and

51:12

then after KD had gotten hurt

51:16

on his home floor, had like that thud of

51:18

a first half and then emasculated him completely in

51:20

the second half. And then, man, that was tough.

51:23

I do remember that. By the way, by the way,

51:25

Harden averaged 35 points a game in

51:27

one of those series, by the way. And

51:29

29 points per game in the other four. By the

51:31

way, just saying. We're in the offense. He's the only

51:34

reason why they were able to get to a game

51:36

six and a game seven. But, okay. Alright, yeah. He

51:38

vomited over himself. Sure. Until it

51:41

really mattered. Okay, right, yeah. We'll see. We'll

51:43

see this. Russ is gonna

51:46

have to bail him out. That's gonna

51:48

be my Mona Lisa. Well, you guys triple

51:50

double rung off the fence because this guy's

51:53

got cops or things. I

52:00

know. I know. Insert

52:03

us in Game of Zones. I know.

52:06

Talking to our host, O.S. Burke. I

52:08

heard your dark page. My third

52:10

team is the Philadelphia

52:12

76ers. Right

52:15

now they are only 1.5 games

52:19

up from the Orlando Magic

52:21

7C. They're only two games up from

52:24

the Heat for the 8C. And

52:27

they have been very stinky without

52:29

Joel Embi the entire year, especially the stretch

52:31

that they've been without him. It

52:34

feels more and more and more and more

52:36

likely that they fall into the play-in by

52:38

the time he returns, which was probably mid-March

52:41

at the earliest. It was

52:43

around when I would anticipate. But

52:46

before then, they had games against the

52:48

Cavs, the Bucs, the Celtics, the Mabs,

52:50

the Pelicans, the Knicks, the

52:52

Bucs. And that's before we get to March 16th. So

52:56

they have some tough games coming

52:58

up. And even the games that

53:00

they potentially should

53:02

win, Charlotte, Brooklyn, Memphis,

53:06

there's no guarantees with the current

53:08

state of the team. So Philadelphia,

53:11

they're really hemorrhaging losses right now. They have

53:13

been horrible. They were 29 and 13 on

53:15

January 22nd. They

53:19

are 32 and 23 right now. So

53:23

they are three out of their last 13. They

53:27

will probably be in the play-in at some point.

53:29

And what does that mean for their decision to

53:31

bring back Embiid if he does return, which I

53:34

would expect him to return? How

53:36

does he look when he returns? What

53:38

does this mean for the Eastern Conference playoff race?

53:40

They were a team that people thought were a

53:43

contender, and rightfully so. Have

53:45

they been surpassed by the Cavs? And then,

53:47

Nix, is it realistic to expect the Sixers

53:49

to return to form pre-injury for

53:51

Embiid? Or is this a lost year for

53:54

them? There's a lot of questions with Philadelphia

53:56

over the remainder of the year. And

53:58

for a team that has had a really a two year

54:00

plan here with cap space this summer. How

54:03

will the remainder of the season dictate

54:05

their options and the things that they do this

54:07

off season? It's like a lot could change based

54:10

off the next couple of weeks here. Maybe

54:13

there's your KD team. And

54:15

it goes bow. Interesting, huh? That's

54:18

interesting. Just

54:21

monitor it. We're monitoring all these teams. All right.

54:24

Last one for me. The

54:26

cats. They

54:29

are the great, nobody

54:31

believes in them, but they keep

54:33

telling us that we should believe in them. And

54:36

I know they got beat by Orlando last night

54:38

in the game that Mitchell sat out of, but

54:41

they, they've got this record in the Eastern

54:43

conference all the while. Having

54:45

Garland miss 19 games at the

54:47

fractured jaw, Mobley missed 21 games

54:50

with knee surgery, Mobley's come back and not

54:52

only is he shooting threes, he's making them,

54:55

uh, the 23

54:58

and six since mid

55:00

December. And that includes, I

55:02

mean, you know, if you wanted to get

55:04

our attention, they should have gotten our attention. They beat the

55:06

bucks twice. They're down double digits to

55:08

beat the Clippers. They destroyed

55:10

Sacramento. Like they got

55:12

a bunch of impressive wins and

55:15

they've got the best road record. Of

55:17

anybody. And yet it's like,

55:20

yeah, I can't really get out of my mind what happened

55:22

to them in the playoffs against the Knicks last year. It's like, like

55:25

we, we've said more times than any, are

55:27

we, are we believing in that? There's

55:30

no team that has to prove

55:32

themselves more than

55:34

that, but they did go to the playoffs,

55:36

they did take some lumps. They

55:39

did try to fix some

55:41

of what ailed them in terms of strengthening

55:44

their wings. And

55:46

Mitchell's playing at as, uh,

55:49

as good as anyone. The

55:51

chemistry with Jared Allen is unbelievable.

55:54

And it's like of all the

55:56

teams, it's very, it

55:58

is in some ways. reminiscent of those Utah

56:01

teams that Mitchell was on. It's like, yeah,

56:03

yeah, they got these great records, but

56:05

wait till we get to the playoffs. Like, he

56:07

has been one of the greatest

56:10

playoff performers in NBA

56:13

history and doesn't

56:15

have the long playoff

56:18

runs to show for. But

56:20

in terms of like playoff points per game, he's

56:22

like there at the very top of

56:25

the list. Can you really call him one of

56:27

the greatest playoff performers ever when he hasn't had

56:29

the long playoff runs? I mean,

56:31

does that take away from what would he have

56:33

done in it? What?

56:36

He's had some amazing performances.

56:38

I know and he's brought down

56:40

by having Go Fair with him

56:42

and obviously now he

56:44

can't play Go Fair. The

56:48

unplayable playoff, you know,

56:50

second banana and they

56:53

have had the 30s schedule so far. So that's

56:57

gonna get tougher for them down the stretch. But

57:01

where they end up and how

57:03

many people end up truly

57:05

believing in them and then now integrating

57:07

these guys back. I mean, they keep

57:09

telling us that we should pay notice

57:11

to them and

57:13

I still feel like nobody

57:16

believes in them being like Eastern

57:19

Finals slash finals

57:21

team and yet they

57:23

keep showing at least during the regular season

57:25

that we should. So that's gonna go one

57:27

way or the other. Either we're gonna get

57:30

to the playoffs and everybody's rewarded for being

57:32

skeptical or we're gonna get to the playoffs

57:34

and everybody's gonna say, shit, we should have seen it. But

57:38

one of those is gonna be true. And yet

57:40

his individual performance... The

57:42

window is open, Chris. It

57:44

is. The window is open. Philly's

57:46

got a phone back, right? And

57:49

so, let me just

57:52

ask you this. The window

57:54

is open, but are

57:57

we underrating the Celtics as the favorite in the Eastern

57:59

Finals? They are seven games up

58:01

on the Cavs seven games

58:04

up on the Cavs

58:07

who are the two seed That's right The

58:09

soldiers are 44 and 12 right now

58:11

four and a half games better than Minnesota

58:13

the second best record in the league They

58:16

have been dominant all

58:18

year long They are a team that has taken a

58:20

heck of a lot of lumps this year. We say

58:23

the windows open I do believe that the

58:25

Boston is the only team with a net

58:28

rating over eight this year They have a

58:30

ten point four net rating. They

58:32

have top-end depth with stars They

58:35

have guys who can elevate their game

58:37

any night Chris that's for zingus drew

58:40

holiday they have At

58:43

this point What

58:50

what else Chris let's Chris listen to what

58:52

I'm saying what I'm saying is we're saying

58:54

the window is open Is

58:56

it actually not open? It's just Boston is

58:59

this favorite in the East and that's that

59:01

now It was actually the case. I'm gonna

59:03

go to the question. Yeah, the windows open

59:05

as long as Joe Missoulas their coach Okay.

59:08

All right. I agree. I

59:10

agree. I agree. I think the window

59:12

is still open. I Just

59:15

asking the question. I agree with you. I Think

59:18

they still have some concerns But

59:22

They sure as hell look great. I

59:24

think everybody sees it as going that

59:26

could be the great advantage for us

59:28

Fostra for a tibs for

59:31

whoever they draw You

59:33

know I mean and and also with Boston It's

59:36

still about KP to me. I've said that ever since they

59:39

got him Sure thing is is the

59:41

X factor if porzingis is healthy. I

59:43

believe that they are the favorite of these I

59:46

believe that as it currently looks

59:48

they will win the East if porzingis is healthy

59:51

And he has been healthy for the majority of the

59:53

year. They've maintained They've done some you know make

59:56

load management with him over the course of the year

59:58

that the maintenance exactly played it

1:00:00

very, very safely forcing us over the course

1:00:02

of the year. He's had some minor injuries

1:00:04

that have caused them to have to give

1:00:06

more maintenance, but if

1:00:08

that happens or the postseason, I'd have concern. But

1:00:11

if he remains healthy, I do think Boston

1:00:13

will be will be the team that represents the East

1:00:15

in the finals. But it does come down

1:00:17

to KP more than anything else to me. Fair

1:00:20

enough. Kevin is always a pleasure.

1:00:22

I can't wait for this. Now we're in the

1:00:24

best part, right? He got these 10 teams. They're

1:00:26

all going to be jockeying. The matchups are going

1:00:28

to be super

1:00:31

important to who advances when

1:00:33

it comes playoff time, because I don't think the

1:00:35

margins are huge between even the best. And like,

1:00:37

you know, like you were just saying about Philly,

1:00:39

like, dude, we could look up

1:00:41

and Philly is playing Boston in the first friggin

1:00:44

round. That's

1:00:47

a real thing that could happen. Dude, you're

1:00:49

not you're not wrong about that.

1:00:51

Yeah, you're really not. Like, what if what

1:00:53

if they fall to the play and the

1:00:55

eight? And

1:00:58

maybe they become the seven seed instead, but

1:01:00

they could lose their first playing game and

1:01:03

then and then win their second playing

1:01:05

game and become the eight seed. Yes,

1:01:07

we could look at one

1:01:09

eight and it'd be Minnesota

1:01:12

versus the Lakers and Boston

1:01:14

versus Philly. That could

1:01:16

be the first round in this deal. And

1:01:19

so this is going to be fun watching everybody

1:01:21

and kind of where it all lands when it's

1:01:23

all said and done. Thank you to our executive

1:01:25

producer, Jesse Lopez, as always. Kevin, I'll talk to

1:01:27

you next week. Must

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