Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective - Did SGA End MVP Debate? + Best Year Of Kawhi Ever & A Big Question In The East

Episode Date: March 11, 2026

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to talk Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s heroic performance against the Nuggets including if that epic game ended the MVP debate. Plus, are we concerned about the healing Nuggets at all or encouraged by improving health? Then, we discuss if this is the best season of Kawhi’s career before discussing if the up and down Knicks are a concern. Finally, the epic return of the Cojones Factor Player Of the Month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Hello, welcome to the Hoot Collective podcast. We talk about the NBA, which we're doing on Tuesday afternoon, East Coast time. Joining us from down the hall here in Los Angeles for a second straight week, Jackson,

how did my room in our LA offices get stolen by McMahon last week and get stolen by Bon Temps this week? I'm the home team. Why am I being relocated? This will be discussed off air. Tim Bond, Temps, joining us from Los Angeles. A rare visit to the West Coast. I was going to say, I never get to come to the West Coast. Hello, everybody.

And the reason I'm in this room and not in the other room is because I woke up late to go to the airport with K. Bonn and the Cinder Block on Thursday. And in the scramble to get out of the house, one thing that was not brought with us was the excellent kit we have to do these pods. So here I am in the nice room. My problem, Jackson is now my problem. Joining us from Oklahoma City, where he was at the fabulous. A Snuggist Thunder game on Tuesday night is Ban McMahon. Howdy, partners, listen, if I ever visit Omaha, you're going to be inconvenience because I'll be sitting right in that fancy chair with the big screen behind me.

Pardon from right there, you can find somewhere else. But I am in Oklahoma City, as you can see, by my Huckham hoodie here. Always be trolling. That's the McMahon motto. Always be trolling. I guess it was Monday. I said Tuesday. Today is Tuesday.

It was Monday. Today is Tuesday. Maybe the best game I've covered this regular season, definitely on the very short list. Maybe the best regular season performance of Shea's career, according to him and several teammates, definitely on the short list. Well, now, hold on. Seriously, the man is a finals MVP. Regular season performance, A. Oh, I didn't hear regular season.

That's the first time I heard regular season. And B, you want to lay out those stats, McMahon? The man had 35 points, 15 assists, zero turnovers. One person's done that since turnovers have been on an official stat. That's LeBron James and a Cavaliers win over the Raptors in, I believe, March 2018. 14 of 21 from the floor. Arguably LeBron's peak of LeBron's career, 2017-18 season. 14 of 21 from the floor, including two stepback three, spectacular step-back threes in the final 14th century.

seconds, the first of which felt like a dagger until there was a four-point play of the next possession, and suddenly it's tied up again. And then the game winner, tightly contested, as emotional as I've seen Shea in a regular season game. By the way, doing this, doing this without Isaiah Hartnstein, who's nursing a calf contusion, without Chet Holbein, who was out sick, without Jason Williams, who still, Jay Dubbed, Jay Will, who dubs out with the handstring still without Alex Caruso. Yeah. I mean, dude, Shay, it was a Shay masterpiece. They had an absolute metric ton of white guys in street clothes on the Thunder bench. I didn't really consider it that way, but that is that that's factual plus dub.

They did. Especially there, you know, like they're two-way guys who were not active as well. He also, as long as we're going to add to the stat line, how about a borderline iconic quote post-game? Well, not borderline. Not borderline iconic. Iconic. You're talking about, I have the answers to the test, but I need to see the questions first. Bro. When asked you, did you know you're getting to the step back? Guest bumps. Just incredible. And listen, and the other thing, I mean, I didn't even mention the nine rebounds, but like they're sending doubles at him every day near every possession. And he's just dissecting the defense. And like the two stepbacks, they said, hey, I knew I had to go quick. It wasn't every possession because they didn't do it late in the end of the game. But, but, you know, on those plays, he said, I had to go quick because, like, if he penetrates, the defense is collapsing. He sees the help defenders there. He knows he's going to, you know, run into a crowd.

So if he got to a step back, then he could get a shot up, you know, over just one defender. And, again, just an MVP statement sort of performance against a guy who's one of his primary competitors for the award. And, you know, joke out a 30 plus point triple doubles. It's not like Joker was bad, but Shea was just spectacular. Well, Dr. MVP, we have Dr. MVP here in the building in Los Angeles. I saw, well, first off, I do kind of want to know about if you could describe what it was like in the building there for the last couple of minutes because we had another Dort Yokic incident, which the Thunder fans were in their feelings when it was clearly a flagrant foul. It was an obvious flagrant one. Well, and listen, they showed the play on the jumbotrons at the arena.

They showed it from one angle where you couldn't see the smack in the face over and over and over again. I know they have multiple angles because usually when there's a controversial... Well, I saw the angle that I saw in television, it was quite clear. I don't know what angle they used in the arena. Yeah, I don't believe it was intentional. He certainly said it was accidental. He apologized to Joker after where Joker was not nearly, you know, like Joker didn't, wasn't offended by. this. It was not like last time, but the fact it was those two guys, but it was also a key play.

It was a seven-point lead. I think there was 72 seconds left at the time. And then Joker splits the free throws. The nuggets hit a three, and it's right back to a game. I mean, it was a wild finish. Again, Shea hit what felt like an MVP moment dagger with like 13.9 seconds, I believe it was, putting the thunder up four. And then Joker hits a three and Jay Will, Jaylon Williams, the big man, gets called for a foul running over Jamal Murray's screen. So it ends up being a four-point play. And I tell you, tough moment for Jay Will. He was awesome.

He had 29 and 12 last night, went 7 of 11 from 3 and played minute for minute with Joker. Like, Joker put his numbers up, but he made him work for it. And so he's just sitting there thinking, man, I hope that's not the moment that's remembered. Well, here's Shay comes to save the day, the next possession, hitting that, It was really kind of a side step, step back, three from the right wing, almost identical to the dagger he hit Saturday night against the Warriors. Splash. And to punctuate a 35.15 assists, nine rebound, no turnover performance on a night that he tied a Will Chamberlain record, whoa.

May I just say as a little bit of a side comment about Jay Will, Jalen Williams. He had that game in Detroit was about two weeks ago. where he's facing off against Duren in that game. I'm pretty sure Duren played in that game. Maybe he was suspended. Anyway, he had a game. Yeah, he had 30 and 11 that game. Yeah, career high 30.

Which the Pistons won that game, but still, I don't think Shay played in that game. But it was just a very impressive. This is their third string center. No, she didn't play that game. And then he has this game against Yokic, you know, ostensibly. He's guarding other guys.

He's their third big, to be clear. He's not their third string center. He's their third big. Well, if their first two centers are out, he's their third string starting center. Well, but they start two of them. His point is Chet and Hortonstein play together. Yeah. Okay.

They start together. Anyway. I mean, he's a rotation. He's one of the best, if not the best backup center in the league. He's a terrific player. 29 and 12. Right. You know, how about those two games against Detroit and Denver?

Which I think is, you know, other than the Shea play, which was amazing in this game. And I'll get to Dr. MVP here in a second. Yeah. The takeaway from this performance is just how freaking deep the thunder are. I know that we already knew that, but you see it in action. And this is the example of why I can't get to anybody else winning four out of seven because the margin for air that the thunder possess is huge. Now, it was made huge in this game by Shea.

And if Shea's not there, we have a different conversation. But their margin for air is huge. Yeah. And speaking of the depth, obviously all those guys out, they did get a key guy back last night. A.J. Mitchell, who's out since January 21st, comes back. All he does is scores 24 and 29 minutes on 9 to 16 shooting off the bench. You guys know how I feel about AJ Mitchell.

He's awesome. We're on agreement on him, too. Bontemps. I saw a lot of reaction to this game saying, oh, the MVP race is over. Now look, Shea was already first in your most recent poll. I voted him first. Last four in a row. Right, including the big one.

That's right. And I'm not arguing against that. because I already had them there. I will just say, as another one of my side lights, I take my pulpit, I often see people in early to mid-March declaring things over in the NBA, whether it's playoff races,

whether it's seeds, whether it's awards, innate. What do you like to say, Brian? What do you like to say? There's always time. There's always time. And in all honesty, when I developed my credo about there's always time,

It off. It was after watching, making that same mistake when I was in my 20s. When I was a young lad, not an old lad like now. Yes, when I was young and dumb. Now I'm middle-aged and dumb, bordering on old and dumb. I would make this mistake. So while I'm not saying that Shea isn't the MVP, I will just say, be careful about declaring things on March 9th. Okay, and so, Bontems, your assessment of the MVP race now in the wake of everything over the last couple weeks since the poll? I have thought since the poll came out that while there were four people at the time who I thought could win, Shea, Yokic, Victor, and Cade. That list is now down to three. Cade is not winning MVP after those two games against San Antonio and the way they've tailed off.

Like, there's really no chance to think of him doing that, barring. That's violating the rule of McMahon. I'll just let him go. I don't disagree, though. Barring catastrophic injury luck for the three guys ahead of him, I don't think he's winning MVP. I had this discussion with the great Mike Breen over the weekend. Jalen Brown is not winning MVP. He's had a great year.

He's not winning MVP either. While I will not rule out Yokic finding a way to win MVP, I think the chances of that have taken a pretty massive hit between the way he has performed, as you have talked about a lot, Brian, coming off of this injury. He has not played to quite the same level. He obviously was great yesterday. And they've been losing. Well, yes, coupled with the fact.

They sunk to six in the standing. It's a combination of his stats have taken a hit and the team has taken a hit. And I do think Victor still has a chance, just like I think Yolkich has a chance. However, the whole time, if Shea stayed healthy and the Thunder were the one seed, She was going to win MVP. And the way Shea is playing, especially with all these guys out, with the Thunder continuing. By the way, the Spurs have won like, I think, 16. out of 18 or something like that going into this game.

16 out of, yeah, they're like 15 and one over the last 16. So whatever the number is, they've won a staggering amount of games. And they're going, we're doing this obviously ahead of this first Celtics game Tuesday night. There's still a couple games back of the Thunder. Like the Thunder have been able to stay ahead, three games back, as McMahon tells me. And they've been able to stay ahead of them while San Antonio's on fire, while they have all these injuries, because they have this human metronome in Cheyields-Elexander, who is always there, is always awesome,

and has just really become one of my favorite players to watch because of the control he has of the game at all times. Like those two shots at the end of the game, like obviously you were there, McMahon. He knew exactly where he wanted to get to and got there and got... He has the answers. Well, he has the answer. He has the quote. That quote was incredible.

And he gets the ball, he surveys the floor, He says, there's where the help is coming from. That's the question. Yep. I mean, he's just amazing. He's amazing to watch. So, yes, that's a long windup to say, I think if Shay stays above 65 games, I do think the race is pretty close to over with the one caveat that if the spurs can get ahead of

the thunder, then I think there's a real chance that Victor can make it a real two-horse race because of he'll have the narrative behind him. And obviously, he's got some unbelievable stats to go with it. I told you guys after the weekend, I thought that Victor had closed the gap and become the second horse in the race. But I agree that his case is going to have to be based on they catch Spurs. And there are three games back in the standings, two in the loss column. Obviously, they have the tiebreakers. So I don't think Shea needed that.

I don't think he was like, oh, Shay's got to make a statement in this game. But as Wimby was building some momentum, that was one hell of a statement. Needs the wins to stay ahead of the Spurs. I mean, that's the bigger thing. It's like the longer they stay ahead of the spurs, the more I think you locks this thing up. All right, real quick, before we move on, the nuggets, I know that they're hurting right now.

They're taking losses. Their schedule this week is brutal. They have the toughest schedule remaining in the league. They have Houston on Wednesday. Well, they have, boy, I should have had it ready. They have Houston on Wednesday, and then they have a tough back-to-back. I think San Antonio on Thursday?

Some riveting radio right now. I know. Yeah, San Antonio on Thursday. That's correct. We're everywhere. Yes. We're worldwide. And it's a home road back to back.

Here's the games coming up. Rockets, Spurs, Lakers. So it could get worse before it gets better. I'm just going to say that if I was a Nuggets fan, even though that was a gut punch loss, I wouldn't feel terrible, even with my team sliding in the standings. Aaron Gordon looked excellent. And I mean, I know they're going to be walking on eggshells a little bit because, and the same thing will be the case for the Thunder when Hardinstein comes back.

And to a certain extent, Jay Will, because these are guys who reagravating injuries. Yeah, more Jay Dub with the hamstring for sure. Right. But just like Gordon was, you know, a hamstring that's been twice this year. Keeps hurting his calves. Yeah. So you're going to be, you're going to be walking on eggsos a little bit with Gordon the rest of the season. But he looked really good.

We had 10 rebounds. He had 23 points. He dominated the first quarter. He looks spectacular. And Peyton Watson is pretty close, possibly this week, not certainly, but possibly this week. And that'll be a big boost for them as well. And they're continuing to manage the risk thing with Joker. You know, they're taking measures to manage that. He shot it very well last night, 12, 19, 3 is 6 from 3. That's certainly an encouraging sign.

Yeah, that three-pointe are. I was going to let him have it in the way he's been shooting it, and then they ended up with a four-point play. I don't know who, where Denver's going to end up, like in the, what seed or whatever,

but as long as your team is healthy, and I know that the Thunder were banged up, I'm not saying like it guarantees anything, but I'm feeling better about the Nuggets. And listen, I think we all agree. There are three teams we think can come out of the West, and two of them are the top two seeds,

and the other is Denver. And one of the huge subplots of the final, five, I guess, month of the season, there's like 32, 33 days left in the season, is where is Denver going to land? Because if they land in the four, five, or they land in the three, six, you're the spurs or the thunder, and it's you have to go through both of the other teams or one of the other two teams, that is going to be a pretty massive advantage, potentially, in the Western Conference playoffs. And those three to six teams, the Lakers, the Thunder, are the Lakers, the Wals, the Rockets, and the Nuggets, they're all basically tied. I mean, they're like a

apart and they're probably going to be jockeying back and forth for the next several weeks and it's going to make for a really compelling finish of the season. More Hoop Collective podcast after this. Bontems, you went to see the Knicks. I know you hadn't seen the Knicks in days. I knew you were very excited to see this. Yes, of course, my one visit to L.A. for the year. And who is here?

The New York Knickerbockers in the one game I will see. Yeah. Well, the Knicks got bigger problems than having to see you because they've had a tough couple of days here in L.A. But you got to see, well, first off, you know, it's not like it's a new, such a novelty, but your thoughts on the Intuit Dome. The Tour of the Bowl is a fascinating arena. It's really unlike any place I'd been before, I think.

Like, I think obviously Steve Ballmer spent a lot of time and a lot of money to create the place. And I think there's a lot of things about it that are really cool. Seeing the wall in person was cool, like how steep the stands are. Like you could feel the noise in the building. A lot of the LED stuff was actually really cool. Like they did this mentalist thing during the timeouts or you had to like guess which color was going to come up on the screen. And like you could, they like sort of tracked it down to one person who won

and they like showed them on the screen with their name because they were in their seat. Like a lot of stuff like that was really neat. I just kept thinking the whole time that it just felt like a sterile atmosphere. Because they're like, let's just be honest, like the Clippers don't have an incredible home fan base. It's a lot like when I used to cover the Brooklyn Nets. And the irony of being at this game last night was there were a lot of Nick fans in the building. Of course, despite losing the game, we're making a lot of noise. And at one point in the fourth quarter, there was a very loud, let's go Nick's chant.

And then all of a sudden, the sound in the arena shot up to about 10,000 decibels. Well, they started playing some song over the, uh, over the Knicks fans cheering and drawing them out. But the arena itself is amazing. Like, it's a really cool, it was a really cool visual experience to see, to see a game there, and you can see the vision of it.

It's just, you know, it's interesting. The whole, it was a very interesting thing to finally get to see. Most arenas that are new are very nice, but generally you have the same experience. I mean, the Chase Center is beautiful and opulent, but it's not like being at the Chase Center and being in FISA form,

is that different in Milwaukee. These are new arenas. But this is a different experience. Okay, so I just want to point something out before we talk about this game specifically. On December 18th, the Clippers lost in Oklahoma City by 20 to fall to 6 and 21.

Okay. When they beat the Knicks last night by 8, on Monday night, two days ago by the time you hear this, they improved to 32 and 32. 26 and 11. since then. I think that's the third best record in the league in that space.

And I got to say, watching the game, watching Kauai play great, we just spent the whole first segment talking about Shea and how great Shea is. You can make a real argument. Kauai has been the best player in the league over these last couple of months, are certainly at minimum right there with guys like Yolkich and with Shea. And I just kept thinking watching this game that it is the ultimate curse of this entire era, with the Clippers that after everything that's gone on and the likelihood of this punishment coming down at some point in the next month or two months or three months or whatever,

whenever we're going to find out what happened with the Clippers, if anything, with the salary cap stuff with Kauai, that now is the time when they have no chance of really doing anything that this guy is playing like this consistently over the course of a season. It's just the ultimate knife twist in this whole saga. He's got a shot at first team all NBA. Forget a shot. If he plays 65 games, he has to be, in my opinion, a first team all NBA player. He's been unbelievable.

Over Jalen Brown? I would have him over Jalen Brown. I mean, who's been better this year? Over Anthony Edwards? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I would have Kauai on there as, yeah, I think I would have to have Kauai on there. I think I'd have to. He's been unbelievable.

bold. I mean, he's been great. I'm not ready to say that. I'd have to study that. I mean, first team all NBA, I think first team all NBA is less about team success and more about individual accomplishment. And I, I mean, is he, is he not better than Jalen Brown? Is he not better than Anthony Edwards? Is he not better than Jade Cunningham right now? Oh, wow. No, he's not getting he's not getting it over. I'm not talking about MVP votes. To me, there's three guys compete for one spot there. And then Cade's got a spot. Cade is going to be on the team. But I mean, like, if I'm just talking about pure talent, if you're picking a guy to play it. But that's what I'm saying. First team all NBA is about

individual excellence, I would say, as opposed to team accomplishment. I think it's different than MVP. I'm not voting for Kauilander for MVP when their team was six and 21 and he's in the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoffs. I don't think you could be on an MVP ballot then. But to me, that's different than all NBA. And this. guy has been one of the three or four best players in the sport for at least the last three months. Do we argue that? No. I would argue first team all NBA, but that's fine.

It's a long discussion. Sure. The point is he's been absolutely phenomenal. He's playing as well as he has, maybe in his career, certainly in his Clippers tenure. And the Clippers, again, after a horrendous start, whenever it was like, oh, my God, are they gifting OKC a top five pick? they've had the third best record in the league and are a potential first round matchup

for those very thunder or for the spurs. Either way, what a storyline. You know, Kauai versus the Spurs or Kauai versus the potential OKC dynasty that his arrival in L.A. held birth. I think if he's healthy, they're going to be the seven seed, almost for sure.

Because with all the injuries, the spurt, the sons have. I mean, and they could be healthy by then. But if I'm picking... Well, they moved into eight last night, I don't know if it'll be that way. I don't know who's all playing tonight, but they moved into eighth, right? Well, the Warriors lost to the Jazz Monday night.

The Warriors have all these injuries. Steph is out. I think the Clippers are going to be ahead of the Warriors. To me, it's a question of can they- The Jazz were two and 20 without Larry Marketing and they got to move and prove to three and 20. So now the question to me is, the question to me is can the Clippers potentially catch the suns

who are a few games ahead of them, but obviously have a billion injuries right now and are trying to fight through it? McMahon, huge break for the clippers, trading Ivitsa Zubots right before he was out for the year with injury. Amazing, amazing fortune. Did the Paceous asked to revise the terms of the trade after the business? I don't think that's happened yet. We'll have to wait and see.

Ben Matherin, he's not exactly scoring with efficiency, but he had 23. He's averaging 19 for him. And now Darius Scarlin is healthy and back. He's in the starting lineup. Yeah, he had a nice game last night too. Yeah, he had, I think, 23 or 24 for that game. So, listen, the Clippers, I don't know what to make. It's very hard for me to judge this season and say, oh, like, this is great.

They're accomplishing it. I don't even know how to judge this season. But I will say that the guys who are playing and the coaching staff who had this team at, you know, at 6 and 12. and what they've done. That, you know, it's something to be said. Also, I think they have the fourth easiest schedule the rest of the way. Six and 21. They go on a run to, you know, near 500 and then trade their, I would say, second and third

best players. And then they keep winning afterwards. It's wild. With this scandal and potential punishment looming over their, you know, looming over into a dome like a black cloud. And again, who knows what would have happened last year if Aaron Gordon doesn't get that tip dunk. So I don't even know. Yeah.

And who knows what we? There's a lot of what is. They've had 12 months of, they've had 12 months of healthy Kauai that span sort of two seasons. I'm not sure they're going to get much out of it is what I'm saying. No question. Okay. Speaking of that, we met the Knicks. The Knicks have lost three or four.

They're, you know, they lost to Oklahoma City at home, which, you know, happened. Then they lost to the Lakers on Sunday afternoon on spring forward day. They go 8 of 34 on threes. The Lakers played really well that game. I don't know how you want to grade them in this game, Bontemps. Towns had another good game. I know everybody thinks that like... Towns had a really good production game.

He shot the ball really well, and he was like minus 15 or 17 in the game. It was like a very... And fouled out. Yeah. Here's a stat that made me raise my eyebrows from our stats and info group. That was Kat's first 30-point games since December 27th. He went 32 straight under 30. That's the second longest streak of his career.

The first or the longest streak was when he was a rookie starting out, like the first stretch of his career. I know like he felt like he hadn't been a featured part of the offense and all that, but 32 straight games under 30. That honestly caught me off guard. That surprised me. Yeah, I mean, look, the Knicks have felt off and kind of clunky for a while. And, you know, I would say that, you know, this recent stretch is sort of been emblematic of that.

I mean, they were down pretty big at home to the Rockets, and the Rockets fell apart in the fourth quarter of that game, as they have plenty of times this year. The Knicks came back and escaped it. And, you know, they then got, they had the nice win at home against the sports. first on Sunday afternoon at MSG where weird things tend to happen, just like they tend to happen for the road team in L.A., which is why, like the other day, we sort of rode off that loss they had to the Lakers. But, you know, we're sitting here with a month ago in a regular season, and you look at how Boston's playing in particular. And yes, I know the Knicks beat the Celtics

last year in the playoffs, but that was an incredibly weird series. And I don't feel like it would repeat that way many times, given the Nicks had two 20-point comebacks in the first two games of that series on the road. And it's hard right now for me, if you're a Nick fan, to sit here and feel confident that the Knicks are going to be able to make the kind of playoff run that they have been expecting to since they fired Tom Thibito and especially since James Dolan went on the radio two months ago and said, we have to make the finals and we should win them. It's like they look like a team that is not going to come close to making finals nor winning them. And, you know, there's time for that to change. But it's a weird.

fit and, you know, it's certainly not ruling them out in a wide open Eastern conference, but I think there's a lot to be concerned about if you're a Nick fan. The bit of pushback I'm going to give here last night was a defensive dud, but for a stretch of, you know, several weeks now, they have been the top ranked defense in the league. Six, eight weeks, I think. Yeah, exactly. Like, so if the, if the, and even the lost OKC, like, they, Oklahoma City scored 103 points. You know, that was a, an offensive loss. Well, it was a competitive game. Yeah, it's a about it again. Yeah. And, you know, a couple losses and a long trip to L.A. I'm not going to trip on. I am going to uplift the Knicks fans here because I'm going to now tell you the

Nick's schedule for the next two weeks, which is why they have, I believe, the second easiest schedule coming in. I think only behind Cavs Corner, which I think is why he's saying that, McMahon. Oh, yes. With a, how about a robust win for the Cavs on Monday? I mean, don't mention that Maxie and Embed and Paul George didn't play. And V. G. J. Edgeco, by the way, too. It was a good one over the blue coats. Yes. At Utah on Wednesday. Now, Utah's a hard place to win, you know, but once they won a game, you can, that has not happened there, not winning two in a row.

At Indiana to finish up this road trip. They have lost to Indiana already this season. Just as a reminder. They can lose any of these games. It's the NBA. So at Utah, at Indiana. Teams have the same goal in mind. Go on.

Next Sunday, Warriors at home. Tuesday. It's a lot easier game than it was used to be. Fonts, you better be there for this one. Pacers at Knicks. Following next Friday, a couple of days off, they can prepare to go over to play the Nets. Then they can recover, prepare for the Wizards.

Oh, my. Then staying at home. By the way, after they get back from the road trip, they don't go anywhere for two weeks other than Brooklyn. Then they play the Pelicans. So let me recap. Here are the upcoming games, Jazz, Pacers, Warriors, Pacers, Nets, Wizards, Pelicans. If you can't get healthy on that group, I don't know what to tell you.

They've done a good job of winning a lot of these games all year. And look, they're going to be a, they're going to obviously be a top four seed. And look, I would say if the Knicks can find a way to get into the four seed in the east, assuming Detroit stays in one. But if they could get Toronto and Detroit in the first two rounds of the playoffs, I feel pretty good about the Knicks chances. That I think is the bracket they need to be open to the end. You completely dismissing the Pistons dominance of them all season.

Yeah, I am. Completely dismissing it. Okay. Last year, the Celtics dominated the Knicks all season, and I thought that the Celtics are going to roll the Knicks in the playoffs, and they were up 20 in the second half of the first two games and collapsed and lost. I was also around back in 2014 when the Nets played the heat and won, I think, at least three of the four games in the season series between the two teams and lost in five games in the second round. It's not the first time this has happened.

That's like when you make a good point. It completely goes against all the trends. It is the exception and not the rule. Okay. Okay. So we mentioned the Cavs a little bit earlier. Cavs playing the Magic on ESPN on Wednesday night. I will say if you take a look at the preemptions,

play-in zone of the Eastern Conference. And, you know, unless you're a fan of these teams, why would you? There's this weird little uplifting thing that's happened here, largely because there's a bunch of tankers that are being played. Yeah, there's a few uplifting things here. So there's some games on Tuesday night we're not going to know the outcome of, but the magic are going to come into that game against the Cavs, having won four in a row. And Palo Bancaro for all his, you know, would you call it controversy, or is that too

strong of a word. I admit. Certainly headbutting with the head coach. Yeah. Yeah, that definitely happened. I'd say for all of

the disappointment that is surrounded both Palo and the Magic this season, I think, is a fair way to put it. They were expected to be a top four team and said they've been into play in the vast

majority of the season. Joel Glass from the Magic, loyal podcast listener, wants us to know that Ben Carr was averaging 25 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists while shooting 49% since the

All-Star break. He did, at the All-Star break, sort of, I mentioned this last week when we were talking about the controversy. His statistics at least are somebody who has tried to refocus. They are winning games. They're on a winning streak. They've won like eight out of 11 or something like that.

And they are back above the play in line, which they were below the play in line for weeks on end. And they've won seven to ten. To be noted. And Franz Wagner is still recovering. They just gave an injury update on him. He's not quite ready yet, but he's making progress. All right. So the heat, meanwhile, who are in seventh now, they've won five in a row and eight out of ten. As we speak here, I think they might play tonight, so I don't want to get too far ahead. Including, snapping the Buzz City Killers winning streak.

Snapping in half. And the Buzz City killers are still reeling, having lost two in a row. And the Hawks, one of the biggest shames of the week in the NBA are that the Hawks are of one six in a row and are playing very good basketball. Jalen Johnson putting up huge statelines. And the headlines being. ripped away from the performance on the court to the performance off the court of the promotions department with the Magic City, which, by the way, in my 23 years, I'm not sure I have seen a press release quite worded like the way the NBA worded the press release when they announced that the Magic City promotion was being canceled. It was NBA cancels Hawks promotion. In other words, we are coming in and telling them to shut it down. And a quote from Adam Silver. There are many, many actions that happen in the NBA,

many, many press releases that come out without an Adam Silver quote. And not only in Adam Silver quote, on temps, but it was a meaty paragraph. I was going to say, get to it. Yes, let's read the quote. So the NBA today announced it as canceled, the Atlanta Hawks playing in season, in arena promotion for the game on March 6th.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver issued the following statement. Quote, when we became aware of the Hawks' scheduled promotion, we reached out to Hawks' leadership to better understand their plans and rationale. While we appreciate the team's perspective and their desire to move forward, we have heard significant concerns from a broad array of league stakeholders, including fans, partners, and employees. I believe canceling this promotion is the right decision for the broader NBA community. And then the Hawks release a statement.

Yes, they did. While we are very disappointed in the NBA's decision to cancel our magic city night promotion, we fully respect its decision. As a franchise, we remain committed to celebrating the best of Atlanta with authenticity in ways that continue to unite and bring us all together. Here's the single best part of that release. The single best part. The full array of award-winning culinary options available at State Farm Arena for Hawks games will be available, comma. including wings, period. So let me translate all that.

The NBA was like, you guys are doing what? Call on the phone. What the hell are you guys doing? Well, we're doing it. No, you're not. And the Hawks are going, all right, well, you still are the bosses, but we're still going to do something.

They're also honoring the purchases of the Magic City hoodies that have been sent out. Those are going to be real collector's items. So you can get your hands on one of those. I'm going to have to stay in power. eBay is going to be alive. It's going to be lit. Anyway, the Hawks have won six in a row.

They play the Mavericks tonight. Do we think the Mavericks are winning in Atlanta tonight? I suspect the Hawks are going to be at seven in a row. Hawks have been beaten up on some tankers. Then Thursday, they play the Nets. Although, hey, the Magic needed a buzzer beating dunk by Window Carter Jr. To beat those Mavs. But, yeah, the Mavs are well on their way to pairing Cooper Flag with a nice prospect in this draft.

The Mavs are below the Grizzlies who are truly doing some, I mean, we're not, We don't talk about tanking here, but if we did talk about tanking, we could do 25 minutes on some stuff the Grizzlies are pulling off recently. I'm just going to – correct. I was going to leave it at that. The Grizzlies are desperately trying to move up the lottery standings and having success. Just because we're not talking about it, Memphis, we see you. We see what I'm going to say. We see what you're doing.

We see your injury report. We see your 10-day contracts. We see it all. We see your rotation. And by the way, the next five games for the Hawks are home for Dallas, home for the Nets, home for the Bucks, home for Orlando on Monday on NBC, Peacock, and then at Dallas. So, like, they, I mean, they could easily get to at minimum 10 out of 11, which, you know, now they then get into a, you know, they, they then have, and even after that, they have a Memphis game, we got a Sacramento game, they got a Brooklyn game. Like, they, you know, the Hawks are going to get some easy wins here down the stretch. At least they should.

And Wendy, this is where your love of ordinary time. Yes. The ordinary time is screwed up by the fact. I really blew your mind with that, didn't I? I got a lot of comments about ordinary time and the liturgical calendar breakdown from across the league yesterday. The only thing I will say is it's not ordinary if a large chunk of teams actually are trying to avoid victory. That's not ordinary. Why, we got to change the rules.

In the classic sense. I don't do classic. I will just say that the hawks are obviously incentivized to win because they don't have their pick. So they're in this, you know, they're incentivized to win and root against the pelicans, which I will say, by the way, we mentioned that the clipper is rising up. I know nothing ever goes to Thunder's way. But like, when they were six and 21, that unprotected pick had to Oklahoma City looked a little tantalizing. And now, like, it might not be a lot. lottery pick.

By the way, the Sixers might give him a lottery pick, though. Uh-huh. That's right. Although they can't jump up without one. The losers in that is Philly has plummeted to eighth, which they're barely hanging on to. And, you know, Embed is out. And now Maxie's out for two games.

Well, then he's getting re-evaluated. I mean, it sounds like it's not going to be a super long-term thing, but we don't know for sure. Paul George remains out for at least a couple more weeks as he serves out this suspension. and VJ Edge comes been out for a few games now with this back issue. Like, you know, they, like we've said a few times, if they're healthy, they've got a chance to be a nuisance team at minimum in the first round for one of these top teams. But they have to be healthy and they have to get in.

And, you know, the way things have gone the last few weeks, like, look, there are a couple wins away from me right back at sixth again. That's sort of the nature of this thing. But we just talked about all these easy games Atlanta has. Like, you know, there's a lot of various tank games on the schedule for these teams. And, you know, the more games you're without all your key guys, you know, the harder it's going to be to avoid being down at the bottom of that playing picture. Hey, Janus returned. The bucks hung in there or actually stacked some wins without him.

The bucks are right in the mix too. Yonis is back, right? He's going to lead him to glory, right? Oh, well. Oh, do they keep losing by like 30 with him back? That's weird. Not sure where the bucks are. Oh, I'm sure they are.

They are in purgatory. That's where they are. More Hoop Collective podcast after this. The Cajunay's Factor is a cornerstone thing that we do. We've been doing it for, you know, approaching a decade. Can we just peel back the curtain, really? We just go back to the curtain. We were in a meeting last week and a loyal listener to the pod said, hey, McMahon, it's March.

What happened to Cajonis Factor? The guy goes, oh, I forgot. I got to do it. Then we get to Sunday. What happens? We don't have it again. I thought we were away, Brian. After I did the homework, I did the rankings.

I blame Jackson, quite frankly. There's going to be 700 honorable mentions now. I'm relaxed. I'm ready to go. We're going to sit back. Okay, a couple things here. Number one, we've paid a lot of attention, giving a lot of flak to Wendy for the windy's sleep updates.

I've become like a fringe rotation player. on get up. Yeah, it's not so funny now, is it? I had a get up at the beginning of the month when I was out doing NBA today in L.A., which is a 3.15 wake-up call to get on the show call. It's all fun in games

until your phone goes off at 3 in the morning. And as you boys know, I've got like a policy against like single digit a.m. flights. I, you know, once got demoted at a job in college for a refusing to come in before it was double digits on the clock. Like the band's sleep update is, a thing, it's an issue. It's something I'm fighting through in my whole age. All you need to know is this.

McMahon is flying home Oklahoma City today and he's taking the 230 flight. For a game that started 20 hours earlier. No, 20 hours earlier. Time out. I was scheduled for Get Up. So the plan was get up, do the show, take a nap, go to the airport. And you know what? I got canceled. You know what you could have done then? You could have moved the flight earlier. No. Oh, absolutely not. Well, there you go. I got canceled because of NFL. Anyways, so my apologies for Cajonis Factor being overdue this month. It's not an excuse, but I am, you know, you disrupt my sleep and I end up, things go haywire. And I apologized. Actually, I don't apologize for one, because I can relate to the windy whining and whining over the years. I will acknowledge that. It's not whining. It's just reality. It's reality. True. Okay. Hard being a star. Having said that, February, short month, obviously, not a short list. No, it is sort of. We're skipping right over honorable mentions. No honorable mentions this month.

Whoa. We're heading. We're heading right to. And by the way, I'm just going to give you a little secret. The March early frontrunner, Shea Gildas Alexander. He's already on the honorable mention list. Oh, I got a feeling he's getting up higher than that. All right.

I just mentioned those Milwaukee bucks, baby. Actually, we're stacking some wins together without Janus in the month of February. All that optimism for Yonis's in the month of February. A nice factor for coming back and then starting to lose? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay. No, sir, Reebok. The brass balls, though, are going to scoot.

Kevin Porter, Jr. Listen, nut cutting time, as you boys know, that's like Super Clutch. Last three minutes, one possession game. This man was at 14 points, five of five from the floor in those moments. The butts were four and O in those games. To keep hope alive for Yonis to put that cape on and come back and lead in the glory.

Now, that last part hasn't happened, but old scoot, Kevin Porter Jr. is certainly getting the brass balls. He's having a very good year. All things considered, and he has had injuries.

He's turning, he's helping save his career. There you go. All right. The Silver, there was one singular game-winning buzzer-beater last month.

I don't. Do boys recall this one? Anybody? Anybody? Buzzer-beater. I don't. Buzzer-beater. It's now 10 days into the month.

I've forgotten what happened in February. Exactly. It was Jalen Green. And it was actually a pretty good. That was a hell of a shot. That was a great shot. Jalen Green was horrific in this game. And they needed them.

Brooks was out. They didn't have Booker. The man was 6 of 26 from the Florida. But did that cause the Cajonais to shrivel? No, sir, rebobbin. Not only did he hit the overtime buzzer-beater. One of his other five field goals in that game was a three-pointer latent regulation to send it into overtime. And our, you know, ESPN research folks has some good stuff here.

The third player in the play-by-play era, that's since 97-98, with multiple game time or go-ahead field goals in the final five seconds, a fourth quarter and overtime in a single game, joining our podcast, brethren, Jeff Teague, and Brandon Roy is the other ones. The third player with a three-point game-winning buzzer-beater in overtime in Sun's history, the great Eric Bledsoe and Stefan Marbury. I'm in some historic company. I don't want to be here. This is actually in Watton.

The first player, that's right, Eric Bledsoe. He didn't want to be at that nail salon. There was an all-time. I respect Rich Paul a lot, but the all-time explanatory thing. Rich Paul. Okay, story time with Wendy. This is, tell the story. People probably have forgotten about it.

Go ahead, Wendy. Eric Bledso is frustrated in Phoenix, and all of a sudden this tweet comes out, I don't want to be here. And Rich Paul tried to explain the way, he said, no, he was at the salon or the nail salon with his wife. And he just, he was tired of being there. That's what he said. One of the great non-trade requests in NBA history. Anyways, you know. I love you, Rich.

A night that it seemed like Janet & Green couldn't buy a bucket, he hit two huge ones, including the only buzzer beater of the month. So we're going to give him the silver for that. I'm going to let you guys have one guess each on who got the gold. I honestly don't remember what happened in February. I'm really not being facetious. I'll give you a hint. I'll give you a hint. That's what I bleeping do.

Come on. Oh, and Edwards. Come on, fellas. Anthony Edwards. Oh, yes, right. Right after Chris Finch yells at him. That's right. To, dude, you're double.

Stop taking bad shots. Pass the ball. He's doubled. He takes a tougher shot. I'm not going to say it's a worse shot. A tougher shot. A step back three right in front of the Wool's bench. Knocks it down.

It is a dagger. Makes the four-point lead in the final seconds against the clippers. Turns right to Finchie. Poins out of him and yells, that's what I bleep and do. It's a time of Derek Jones Jr. is walking by. It couldn't help, but. crack a smile just because this guy is so freaking audacious. But here's the thing. Ant wasn't lying. That is what he does. You know, last month, the guy led the league in clutch scoring at 35

points in 19 clutch minutes. The efficiency wasn't awesome, but the wolves did win for those five games. That is absolutely what Aunt Bleepin does. And for that reason, he is the gold medal winner the overdue sounded the snooze alarm or smack the snooze alarm a few times February at Gahomones Factor Player of the Month And glorious

And once again On the mantle The golden balls Right there Right next to His Player of the Month trophy Which I think he's won with you of McMahon you got to go catch your

early afternoon flight Bontzhamson and I are going to saunter on over to crypto.com tonight and see your boy. You should have sent us the trophy. We could have presented it. We could have hand delivered it to Aunt tonight. We worked on some sort of trophy or belt. I don't think they ever made it to the production line.

But you can inform him for me. I'm sure he will be so thrilled. You know, actually, I can predict what he would say. Hey, Ann, what's up? Hey, you were named Tim McMahon's Cajonase Factor, golden, you know, testicle, player of the month. You know what Ant would say? Dope. Dope. All right. Thank you to Mark, Jackson,

and Devon, our producers. Thank you to McBanbapibethe's and McMahon. Thank you for watching. Listen to the Hook Collective. We'll catch you later this week. Best of luck to your college basketball team and their Cinderella dreams. Adios Migos.