Gil's Arena - Gil's Arena Recaps NBA & NFL On Christmas Day

Episode Date: December 26, 2025

Gil's Arena Recaps NBA & NFL On Christmas Day as The Gil's Arena Crew merges with the Arena Gridiron Crew for a supersized Christmas Special breaking down all the action from the NBA & NFL on Chrstimas Day. The tip things off by reacting to Victor Wembanyama & the San Antonio Spurs continuing their belt to a$$ tour on the OKC Thunder as the French Phenom handed the NBA's leading team their 3rd straight loss this season, sparking a debate on whether or not OKC & San Antonio is the newest rival to take over the NBA. They then turn to the Los Angeles Lakers loss to the Houston Rockets that inspired JJ Redick to throw a warning shot at Lakers players like LeBron James, Luka Doncic & Austin Reaves, telling his team to prepare for changes coming in the near future before breaking down the New York Knicks' improbable comeback over Donovan Mitchell & The Cleveland Cavaliers as they continue their run after taking home the NBA Cup. They then switch over to the Gridiron where they Skip Bayless reacts to a meaningless win for the Dallas Cowboys, Jared Goff & The Detroit Lions season went up in flames and Aqib Talib's Denver Broncos squeaked out a narrow win over the helpless Kansas City Chiefs in what could go down as Travis Kelce's final home game in the NFL. PLEASE give us a Like and Subscribe!! Today's Gil's Arena Crew : Josiah Johnson, Skip Bayless, Kenyon Martin, Rashad McCants & Aqib Talib Gil's Arena premieres every Wednesday & Thursday at 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET. Sign up for Underdog HERE with promo code GIL and play $5 to get $75 in bonus funds or bonus entries https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-gi... SUBSCRIBE:    / @thearena0   Join the Underdog discord for access to exclusive giveaways and promos!   / discord   Must be 18+ (19+ in AL, NE; 19+ in CO for some games; 21+ in AZ & MA) and present in a state where Underdog Fantasy operates. Terms apply. Concerned with your play? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www.ncpgambling.org; NY: Call the 24/7 HOPEline at 1-877-8-HOPENY or Text HOPENY (467369) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Gills Arena, presented by Underdog. Woo-W-W-W! Do not adjust your YouTube. Do not adjust your YouTube. What's going on, everybody? Happy holidays, everybody here on this couch. Everybody feeling? Great, brother.

Some better than others. Some predictions. Feel like the champ, man. But this is Gilles Arena presented by Underdog. Who-W-W-W! I'm merely a host, Josiah Johnson. Sadly, Gil is not with us today. So we're doing a special day after Christmas crossover episode

with some of the arena, gridiron crew. So making his first appearance in Gil's Arena, we got one of the Titans of the Sports Media Games, Skip Bayliss in the building. Hello, Skip. Seed in next to him, a man that goes by many names. They call him Cemetery Larry. They call him Shasra Damos.

NCAA champion of the world, Rashad McCants. Yeah. That's the Cemetery, Larry. I see you got the... I'm gonna call him Cemetery, Larry. I see you got the mask. You got the ingredients for a special stew that you were planning on making.

Yeah, a little bra had to bring Showl back. It's gonna be a legendary. You got some stew that you're... It's a bag, you know, we never know what's in the bag. It might be bags in the bag. You never know. On this side of the accounts, we got the distinguished gentleman from Oak Cliff,

former number one pick Canyon Martin back here with us. What's that happening, Mike? The Deephole. I like fuck with you. We don't get no theme music. Can we get some theme music on our? It's the first year. It's the first year.

I got to work the way up. This is what you got to develop, man. First. But not least. Debo in the background is shit. You feel? Last but not least, we got five-time Pro Bowler Super Bowl champion of the world. Akeve Taleb!

Yeah. I'm going to talk my name out of respect. Ah, no. That's entertainment, man. Okay, I'm just saying. I feel it. We got a lot to get into. Here's what's cracking in Gilt Arena today.

The Spurs defeated the defending champion Thunder for the third time in less than two weeks. Can we officially call this a rivalry? The Lakers have lost three straight games, and JJ Reddick says things are going to be uncomfortable for some players. What's the purple and gold need to do to get back on the right track?

And the Broncos are one away from securing the top seat and the AFC, but it's Denver for real or Fool Gazy. Before we get into all that, as always, this show is brought to you. you buy Underdog. If you think you missed out on Underdog's holiday promos, good news, you have not. Underdog Unwrapped is still going, and there are more promos dropping until New Year's Eve. The app is an easy way to make some cash just by making picks on your favorite players.

If you're new to Underdog, today's today, get $75 in bonus entries when you play just $5 with Code Gil. We appreciate y'all, so go ahead, use Code Gil, download the Underdog app and get to making some bread today. And today is the last day to win Underdog bonus funds with our little holiday giveaway. those of you who haven't played yet, here's how it works. So we have this little Gill figure on the show before, but during today's live show, he's hidden in a secret spot

somewhere on set. The first view were to find him and send a screenshot of his location to mostly fans gill at gmail.com will win $600 in underdog bonus funds. You heard that right, $600. You must have an underdog account to participate. The winners from this week's episodes will be announced at the end of today's show

around 1.30 p.m. Pacific 4.30 p.m. Eastern. Good luck to you all. You can't watch this show live with us on YouTube. We have audio versions available on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. So let's start with the marquee matchup on the NBA Christmas slate. Thunder entered their NBA Cup semi-final showdown against the Spurs in the midst of a record-time 24-and-1 start

before getting eliminated by San Antonio. And you're going to bring the crow right in? You're going to make me eat crow right away? Right away. Markki matchup, can you? Don't wait for the crow. This is a day after Christmas. Don't wait.

Like I said, Thunder got eliminated by the Spurs in the NBA Cup semi-finals. first game back from injury. San Antonio got their second straight win over OKC Tuesday night with a 20-point blowout, which was the Thunder's worst loss of the season after losing their first year games by combined nine points. And on Christmas Day, Wimby and the Spurs gifted the Thunder with a shiny new belt with them ho-ho-hoes and quickly put it to use. Let's take a look at the highlights if we can, please. Thunder started off strong hitting the first seven shots to take an early lead, but the Spurs closed the first quarter on a 29-18 run to go up by five.

After the first frame, you see Dairn Fox out there doing it in SGA's group. And Dylan Harper as well. Oh, the number two pick, ladies and gentlemen. San Antonio led 69 to 60 at the break. The 69 points that the Thunder gave up is the most that OKC allowed and a half all season long. You see the alien once again doing his thing in limited minutes Benairn Fox scored 21 of his game high, 29 points in the first half, going 12 of 19 from deep, from the field, three for four from deep.

Wimby came off the bench for his six straight game while still on a minute's restriction. Finished with 19 points and 11 boards. Define Castle added 19 and 7 dimes as well. So SGA kept his 20-point scoring streak alive. He finished with 22 points on 7 and 19 shooting. He was one of six from Beyond the Art. Isaiah Hardenstein, also known as Harkinstein, here in the arena, had 13 points, 12 rebounds. Chad Holmgren added 10 points, 12 boys for OKC.

So Thunder tried to make things interesting but never got closer than seven points in the final two quarters. Spurs held the Thunder to 39% from the field, 25% from 3. OkC, 11 for 44 from deep. Alex Gruzzo, 2 for 12, and then 11 for 44 from deep. While San Antonio shot 54% from the field, 38% from deep. So Spurs beat the Thunder for the third time in less than two weeks. than two weeks while getting their eighth straight win after OkC's first home loss of the season. Raining MVP, SGA, had this to say about his squad's recent struggles with the Spurs.

You don't lose to a team three times in a row in a short span without them being better than you. So we have to get better. You have to look in the mirror. And that's everybody from top to bottom if we want to reach our ultimate goal. Yeah, saying these Spurs are better than the Flores. Spurs or better than the Thunder. This is the first time OKC has lost back-to-back games by 15 plus points since the 2021-2020 season.

Shosh Radamas, I see you, have the book out, the belt, the mask, the bag that may have bags in it, may have ingredients for a certain type of stew. We're losing new props in the whole nine. I want the other side of the couch today, though. You have shifted to the same side of the couch. So what's your reaction to the Spurs getting their third grade win over the Thunder this season?

Well, I left my book out in the car, it got a little wet. So it don't have the oomph that it used to have, but just so happened, I brought the other book. It's a bigger book. Call it the book of circles. There are several circles on there, full circles. A lot of full circles in this book. and

page one I'm always fucking right I'm always fucking right I'm always fucking right yeah let's go with this coming into the season the spurs what did I say playing like a championship caliber team

because they had a great great training camp all of their players come in knowing their roles assessively those who can really play. Castle, Vassel, Johnson, and even Dylan Harper as a rookie, came in knowing his place immediately. And no one predicted Victor Wimbignana to go down and them having to rebound, but actually getting their other leader, De Aaron Fox, on the backup side to come in and pick up

the pieces. You know, you pick up those pieces and you say, well, what do we got here? We got a pretty good team. Then you look at OKC. They're going on this run. They're playing these teams that I said We can, you know, pull the ball bag and go back to it. They're not playing nobody. Strength of schedule. We're straight to schedule the league at the point that you made those comments. Mm-hmm. And then all of a sudden they played a team that was pretty good, solid.

You know, I got a lot of pushback. I got a lot of flak. Well, luckily, me and we home boys, so I don't really put him in the bag as much. I have a lot of leeway with him. You need the book? I don't have his face on here. I leave his face out. Because we usually agree on shit.

I see, I watch. So now it's like, you know, I feel bad. Feel bad to call the whole cemetery and the crematory and tell us, look, I got a body on the way. So, you know, OKC was the type of team that I seen. You know, when we watch as Hoopers, there are certain things that the fans can't pick up that we can. And that certain qualities that certain players have, especially when I talked about coming back from a chance. championship and not regrouping and not really adding pieces that can actually revamp your roster. They didn't do any of that.

Crusoe is already at his peak. He doesn't have a ceiling that's going to be like, oh, he's going to get better. Neither does Lou Dort. All of these guys are role players that are going to be in their role. But you look at a team like, the Spurs, they got players are going to get better continually. Vassell and Johnson held it down during the pop era. They're ready to go to new heights. and now we're looking at a new coach

that is letting them play. I think that OKC got drunk on that championship champagne Jalen Williamson, they can beat the Bulls and the Warriors and all of these different things and come in and then your boy, you know, I wish this was the old SGA. A lot of letters on that jersey.

O SGA. But he says that this team is better. This team is better. So if this team is better and y'all ain't forcibly played any team like this all season that record seems to be fool's goal to me

fool's goal to me now that's not saying that they can't get better not to say that they can't go on another run but now they got harder teams that watching and us as hoopers we see what's going on we see all right these guys we can let SGA get his points

let's stop these other guys Chad Hungerman is overrated Jalen Williams got to get his groove back because he looked a little bit overrated as well. So now we watch the game from a different lens now. We're looking at them from a different lens and hopefully the rest of the NBA is watching the same way. Let's shift over to Kenya.

Man of the people, Shastradamus, said he could have put you in the body bag, called the cemetery, called the crematory. Right. A proper service. Hey. I just told him I was wearing the same shoes as him today, so we were good. Did y'all just become best friend? No.

But, yeah, he was right. Hey, there's nothing that I could fight back. There's no fight back with this when the team didn't beat you three times. Can we clip that? Can we clip that? He was right?

Can we clip that? I need that. Clipping technology. Oh, me. Yeah, I'm going to, listen, I'm going to be a man. Hey, I'm going to be a man to stand or not. He was right. No, they have, I watched in depth.

Like, because I really didn't watch in depth the first couple games. I watched the cup game, but it was the first, and there was a lot of, a lot of stake the money on the line and all that. So I really didn't put too much into that one. I thought they would bounce back the next two and really try to figure this thing out. Playing in San Antonio was going to be tougher, but I thought they'll find a way to do it, and they got smacked by 20. Come back home two days later, playing at home.

I'm the idea of right to ship. they lose by 50 it's like they got their number their wings and skilled guys match up and are probably more athletic than not probably they are more athletic than Oklahoma City's guys um Oklahoma City guys might be better shooters right now but the totality of the game I probably would just watching it I'm gonna give the nod to to San Antonio guys in that regard, right? They are, like I said, they still have room to grow. Castle and Harper and Johnson knows how to play. Vassell knows how to play. Deere and Fox knows how to play. I think he knows how to play.

So I think, and them leaning on the fact that they won some games without Wimby, right? That was huge for them. There were 9 and 13 or 12 games in Wemby. I won some games without Wimby, so that was huge for their confidence. And I'm going to go with the young coach aspect in this as well, right? That he speaks their language. He's young, so they, I thought this before Pop, unfortunately, it held the reason was the reason he had to step away.

I was like, the older he got him, like, and they was drafting younger. They first pick, second, pick, third. Like, they're getting top five picks every year. And I was like Yeah, they're looking at Pop like their grandfather Right They respect him But they're looking at like

What this old man can tell me This is a new game And I think that's where they were struggling at When Pop was still at the hams Them buying into the message That Pop was teaching them So for them to put a younger voice And a younger face in that seat

I think went a long way for them dudes The way they're playing and how they're competing So yeah, no They got Oklahoma City number And Oklahoma City like Shay said They got to look in the mirror because this team, they're just as young as y'all, and they're not going nowhere. And you got to stop with this caruso can guard fucking everybody thing.

Man, let's stop it. He's not, listen, let's stop that. Like, he can't guard Wimby, and you got two seven footers over there that you're paying. They need to try to, hey, put your big boy, hey, the big boy pants on and go guard Wimby and try to, but, yeah, that's, but shot was right. and I eat crow today. Okay. Shout out, Mitt Johnson as well.

You got to give it up to light-skinned the dudes with a Lebella-inspired curl. Damn. We are coming back. You're coming back. You're coming back. It's strong. I'm like, grow my now.

We'll see. But let's shift over here to skip. Go, Keith. I want to hear what you ever say. I just think the best teams in all sports, baseball, football, basketball. They always had that krypton night. They had that team who's going to pull up,

not scared, young coach, and match them. And the Spurs. match their energy on defense. That's what they do. A lot of teams don't even try to match their energy on defense. You know what I'm saying? I feel like that's why they're cold. That's why they win games.

They got young athletic guys. They play defense. We're going to outwork your ass. Outrun your ass. But shit, that's what the spurs do. They stand on defense. They put wimby in that middle, protect that rim, and they match you on that defense.

So it's a rude awakening to them. You know what I'm saying? Like, shit, they do the same thing we do. You know what I'm saying? They got a young, athletic-ass team like we do, you know what I'm saying? So that's it, man. You meet your match. You meet your match, man.

And it's just a good matchup for the Spurs, you know what I'm saying? They're fearless, man. They're up and coming. They're going to have some action. Yeah. Okay. I grew up in Oklahoma City. I was a Spurs fan for the longest time.

Wasn't a Thunder fan until last year. When they got a hold of me because I'd never seen anything like this in all my years of watching and studying the game you guys played at the highest level. And I couldn't believe how they were winning and dominating and they were smoking teams with pot. I don't smoke pot, so I don't know. Good time to start always. I should make you start.

Yeah, yeah. Well, they were definitely. They were smoking on that loud pack last. You're absolutely right, Skip. They're smoking teams with pot as in points off turnovers. Never see anything like it. They just turn you over and they go score and they turn you over and they go score. And teams couldn't match the rhythm of it, the ferocity of it,

the overwhelming, just dynamic of they smoked you with pot. And they did beat Ant Man and the T-Wolves. in the playoffs and they did beat joker in the playoffs it took seven games but they did that so you got to give them that because i i just kept saying well it'll end here it'll end here it'll end here it'll end and it didn't end and then the damnedest thing happened for the first time i could remember in any sport a team won a championship and lost nobody lost nobody and i'm saying damn this is we should we go with the d word or we got dynastic here and they start off 24 and one because they blew a game at Portland late one night

where half the starters didn't play and they didn't care. And the turning point came the day before the cup semifinal against these spurs. When SGA was asked in the media availability, you guys interested in breaking Golden State's 73 and 9 all-time wins record? And what did he say? I was watching it live and I thought,

okay just deflect it just say no we got a lot we're 50 wins from that now they're 24-1 but they're 50 wins away from doing this right and he embraced it man and it came across as arrogant and condescending where where the reigning MVP said yeah yeah we want to win every game and by the way at that point they they looked to be like they were going to be favored to win every game the rest of the regular season And that lit the Spurs fire because the Spurs don't like this team. And especially Wimby does not like Chad Holmgren and is offended that Chad is even in the same sentence with him. So he's going to come out on fire as are they against SGA.

And it reminds me of the old Tyson line about everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. the MVP just got punched in the mouth three straight games he couldn't MVP against these guys because as Kenyon said they got too many long strong defenders and they can just keep wearing his ass out with long strong after long strong after long strong

and it starts with Stefan Castle I'm telling you right before our eyes he's turned into a star to me two-way star and Vassell can defend and Harrison Barnes is the experienced one can defend. And Keldon Johnson at 6-6 can come in. He weighs 225.

He can come in and make it hard on SGA. So to me, I'm looking at these numbers. SGA in these three games is three of 17 from three. Three of 17, but more important, how does he wear your ass out? It's at the free throw line. So what's happened in these three games? games, he's averaging five makes a game. Last year he led the league with eight makes a game and he led the playoffs with eight makes a game. The rest are saying, no, they're better than you.

They're making you work. They're not letting you shoot threes because everybody plays him to shoot twos and he just sits back there and he's got that little last second snap in his three. Like, I'll just take this three. Not against these guys. They play him in his joc. when he crosses half court. And I've seen him, he looks lost to me against this team. And I want to make the point, the Spurs are now the best team in the NBA, because not only do they have Oklahoma City's number, they have smashed the number.

These games have not been close. I know the first game, the Cups semifinal, was a two-point game. It wasn't nearly that close. And then the next two are just complete wipeouts. It's 130 to 110 at San Antonio and 117 to 102 yesterday at Oklahoma City. It's a wipeout. And let me say this about Wimonyama. This is fascinating to me because if you look hard at the games he started in the NBA,

they're 49 and 81 as a team with him as a starter. 49 and 81, the last two years I kept looking at it saying he's a freak, he's an alien. and he's by far the best defensive player in the league, but in the games he starts, they can't win, and they haven't made the playoffs the last two years. What changed? Well, what changed was, as you pointed out, they had to go 12 games without him,

and they won nine of them without him. And in the games he has not started, they're 15 and 4, because he's at his best when he comes off the bench, and he's the first to admit, my energy comes and goes. Well, if you bring him in against Chet as a detonator off the bench, he just comes and plays angry,

just like they play angry against SGA. He's coming in for, he only played 23 minutes yesterday and changed the game. So I don't know how much longer he's going to sit still for coming off the bench. I want to know that as well. Okay, it's a big question. But right now, they are a better team with him playing 23, 24, 25 minutes

because when he plays 35 minutes, the ball stops with him because they start trying to feed him in the post and he's not a very good paint player. And he wants to... Bad shot collection. He wants to shoot threes. By the way, he made four out of five threes in these three games. Oh, no.

And they've made 38%. So they're just shooting the lights out against these guys. But mainly, they've intimidated him. They broke their aura. They shattered Oklahoma City's confidence where they just, look lost against the spurs because the spurs are just not only are they better i i think they're way better they're arriving right before your very eyes i know you guys have gone back

and forth about rivalry but right now it's a one-sided rivalry it looks like to me because oklahoma city's not holding up its end of the bargain anymore not showing up yeah then yeah they don't have a chance to season unless they mean the playoffs to redeem that yeah because they may they got one more game later i think two more games yeah oh because the end cup doesn't count So they got five total. So five, so they played before the grade deadline. Get the next two. Like January 13th, I think it's the next game.

Yeah, so I told Rashad, oh, I said, and they guard these boys off the bus. They are. My exact message, when you said they guard them, like, I take the spot. Listen, they are guarding them dudes off the bus. My God. Yeah, yeah, they, they're not afraid. And I just want to, like, when you're on a minute restriction, like, and the injury that, I understand it's a rhythm thing now,

because the starters are in a rhythm. But yeah, it's, yeah, it's time to get this dude back in the line. He still plays 23, 25 minutes. Still keeping him postseason award eligible. Yeah, that's what it is. I think Skip was definitely fucking cooking with no grease just now, right? And when you say that, you've got to think about the dynamics of what he means when Wendy's coming off the bench and the record and how it reflects that,

reminds me of Genoblee. Yeah, that's a good one. We were talking about Dearen Fox or Harper being one of the Genobley brands, and it's like it makes sense. And I don't think Winby has a problem with it right now because his focus is winning. And the team dynamic, the team chemistry with him coming off the bench, like you said, the explosiveness, the detonation of him coming in and knowing how to change the game with what's missing in the game at the moment.

You let Cornette set the tone. What's going to happen here? Are we being taking advantage of on the offensive glass? Are we handling the defensive glass? Are we getting stops? Are we smoking our pot? Right? So if we are doing what we're supposed to be doing, when he comes in, he gets to be comfortable not having pressure on him.

He's a pressure release guy now. And think about what your pressure release guy is if he's seven foot four, can shoot the three, can dribble, can block everything down there. Like, that's a hell of a fucking pressure release. We've never seen anything like that specifically. So I like this approach for them. I love it. And to pick it back on what y'all's saying, right, it,

Wimby is, he's a security blanket, right? So him not being out there with the starters, it forces them to defend on the ball back. It does. Right? Yeah. It forced because you don't have that. Oh, shit.

Hey. Hey. Big fella back there. Like, you don't, you're more laxed at times than you would make that extra slide then you like Chumma cut you one and two off

you got to go to three to get by me most of the time you make two you're like she's a big fella back there right shit big fella clean that up so but they're forcing them guys to be better on the ball

so yeah no man when the game ends shit he gonna be out there so no he will yeah he will and just got to accept that shit you know what's better for the team right now right now

Spurs are with the bun and the last three times with Wimby on a minute's restriction all three of those games is it gets scary It's scary. Now, if he increases that workload, increases those minutes. Does it change? For these next two games, does that change?

Does he change his production, though? That's the thing. You don't want it to change his production. So maybe he can only play 25 minutes a night at the highest peak. Maybe he gases out and you can only, maybe that's his thing. Maybe because it's size and they. Maybe they don't have that. I had this rule for 20 years.

Don't draft American seven footers in the lottery because they're going to bust on you. And Luke Cornett is not a bust. Like he's decent. He's reasonable. He can hold his own. I mean, he's averaging like eight, seven, and two blocks a game. I mean, so they're okay. Right?

American seven footers are going to do what? Bust. There's a lot of, yeah. There's a lot of, whoa. They're going to do what? They're going to bust. No, we can't what you're saying. Yeah, it's just sounds very hard.

It's just where you said they were going to buzz. Yeah. What's that? Just where you said they was going to buzz. Yeah. I got it. But you can't, for years and years, you just couldn't trust American seven-footers in the lottery. You go back and look, and all of a sudden, Luke Cornett, he's pretty good, and they like playing with him.

And he can block shots so they have a good one-two. You know what? He's about as good as chance. That is. That's the truth. No, for sure. Him in Arkansas. Cornett is good as check.

Let me tell you. He's in the hall part. How much is he averaging? How much is he averaging? Listen. That's aside. He is a champion. Well, hold on.

Stats aside. Cornett. What did Cornett do for the Boston Celtics? I'm with it. What he did for the Boston Celtics is similar to what I've seen Nick Collison do at Kansas. The things that he can do are overlooked for real Hoopers. When you watch Cornett play, we're talking about the substitution pattern for San Antonio. Yeah.

When Cornette's in and they sub-Wimby out, like you said, you got to force those guys to guard more. Now we're more in shell defense. We're more into, we know we got to help recover. You got to come over, show your body, and he can block shots. He can actually block shots and he loves the rebound. The only difference is he's not 7-4, he's not overly athletic, but he understands how to play the game. And that's what I loved about him in Boston. When I picked Boston, I was

like, look, we got Cornett, we got Horford, we got we got Jaylen Brown and fucking Jason Tatum, but all we need is somebody that can be a presence. And he reminded me like an old school Kevin McKell type where he was just in there. He wasn't an overly athletic, but he knew

her to be, he knew how to be a presence. And now, full circle, when you just said that about the American centers, it does make sense because we, We've perpetuated this expectation for American centers to be all-time greats when they come out. And when you look at college and how they form these American centers and they're not being formed to be greats. They're formed to be role players.

They're formed to go in and know exactly what to do. The last one that I really see, and he was not really American, is like Joel Embed. Joel and B., when he was there, he was a real center. Anthony Davis, Carl Anthony Towns, they didn't play long enough in college for your, say, well, they're going to be all-time great centers, they're turning out to be. I'm just talking about white guys. Yeah, what are you even thinking that? It's white guys.

So, I mean, yeah, that makes it. Well, Zach Eadie, he's not necessarily American, but, you know, he's one of those guys. You'd be like, well, he knows how to play. You don't see him being an all-time great right now. But when you put him in the game, him and Lou Cornyette next to each other, you're like, hey, these motherfuckers know how to play. That is true. So, Ken, I got a question for you.

So after the Spurs eliminated the Thunder in the NBA Cup, You said you wouldn't even start to consider this a rivalry unless the Spurs could win their next two games against the Thunder convincingly. They did that, put in the proverbial belt to OKC's ass with an average margin of victory of nearly 18 points. Can we officially call the Spurs and Thunder a rivalry?

I haven't beat them yet, so no. So you've got to beat them in the playoffs for you to? Yeah, I just don't think it's a rivalry yet. Once they're playing a playout, like the Spurs are making the name for themselves, absolutely. Like I said, I think rivalries are made in the playoffs. That's just my opinion. I think once you see a team in the playoffs and you play a long, grueling series

and then you meet again and you two up-and-coming teams, I think it's a rivalry. San Antonio is kicking their ass right now. So who okay-see robbery is. They don't have one. San Antonio. That's what I say. They got it right now. They curating it.

But it's not there yet. When I show up and I say, fuck you. Yeah. I agree with you. But you say what? And me, they kick their ass right now. Once I say, these motherfuck is better than us. No, we're showing up every time.

It's one side of right now. I'm getting my team right. That's what really I'm doing. You have to. Hey, they're better than us. It's one side of right now. But it's still a rivalry, though, because when we show up, we know that there's nobody else in this league. San Antonio treating it as such.

We have to. But y'all. But the Thunder Ninja do that now. They have to trade them like one as well. They have to now, but we'll see how the next two games. When I challenge you to a duel. If they come out and smack them, if San Antonio come out and beat them the next two games as well, it's not a fucking robbery. When I show you, when I challenge you to a duel.

And I say, let's go outside. Let's take these 10 paces. What you're going to say? I'm going to say no. I'm going to take nine. You're going to have to do. But you have to show up. When we're ready to duel, you have to show up.

I'm challenging you to a duel. Let's go. Turn your back. Let's take these 10 paces. No matter when you turn around and shoot, I'm calling you out in front of the whole town. I dig it. What's up?

Every time we come to town, where he at? SGA, get to ass out here. But he didn't die it. so it ain't no rival. Hey, you got nine lives, we got eight more of these, motherfuckers. He didn't die every time so far. Shit. Yeah, come out with your armor on next time, nigga.

Yeah, I just don't think rival's happening to the playoffs, man. Okay. And may I add? Like I said, I'll let you. Like I said, I think right now, when we were talking about the other day, I think Denver is a closer rivalry than San Antonio because they've played seven games series, and it's a possibility for the good one end.

And they're both champions. And they both. So that's my thing. I think they're closer than that. But San Antonio, they own fucking Oklahoma City heels in that regard of being a check. But right now, they're just kicking Oklahoma City ass. They got their number. They're confident.

They defending them. They're not letting them run in transition. They're doing everything that other teams hadn't done to them. And, yeah, they got the goddamn number. And we haven't even mentioned a key player for the Spurs now. Deere and Fox last year was voted the clutches player in the NBA. He is a closer. He is a Laker killer, just a killer.

Just wears them out in any big game or playoff game or whatever. And he's now a San Antonio Spur. And he was a different, he scored 29 yesterday because they just couldn't stop him. And he had, he contributed nothing in the first two of these three games. And then yesterday, all of a sudden, how are you going to, at Oklahoma City, how are you going to overcome 29 from him when Wimby's playing angry against Chet? You just, and Stefan Castle is a freaking star, you know, like, it's too much firepower because in the end, Oklahoma City, as much as I like J. Dubby made the All-Star team, but he's still, he's just a role player. He's just a very good role player. They got a bunch of good role players, and they have the MVP. And when San Antonio says MVP can't MVP anymore, now what you got? You got nothing. And they got D. Aaron Fox scoring 29. Mid-range.

He's sweet, man. Sweet. He just... All right, well, let's keep this thing moving. One last thing to talk about before we move on. But Wimby's quickly brought back Spurs culture in his two-plus season to San Antonio. Now he's taking it to another level. Wimby's been working with Spurs fans, specifically a diehardt sec known as the Jackals on a new post-game celebration.

To Tuesday night, they unveiled it for the first time after blowing out O.K.C. Everybody's prepared your arms. And do just like the Jackals. Oh. Go ahead. That's it. Go ahead. I like that.

I like that. I like that. So it was interesting seeing Luke Cornett get on beat after about the fourth or fifth. Yeah, it took a while. He's trying to watch one. Go! Go! Go!

Obviously, when we introduced this, there been some criticism that this is nothing but the Vikings' skull celebration. That's it. But it also, I think that originally from the Icelandic national football team during their maractus run to the URAFUR 2016 quarterfinals. So whatever it is, it is. He was working with the Spurs fans on Nunis O'Kee, how you feel about this new Spurs tradition that Winby worked with those fans on? Hey, you plan on being a household name?

You gotta have your shit, you gotta have your thing that you do, you know what I'm saying? Winby a leader, he probably won all kinds of chips all his life, you know? We gotta get some, get the fan base to it. We gotta have the arena talking about us in some type of form of fashion. Am, you get you something that's your shit.

Hey, man, I like it, man. We're going to see that a lot more. They're going to win games. They're going to win games. They're going to do that. They're going to get to the playoffs. They're going to win games. They're going to do their, what's their shit called? I call it the scarcals.

The drum line. We're going to see that a lot more. They're going to start making that thing. They're going to win the game. They win the game, you see their shit. You know what I'm saying? So I like it, man. He's trying to establish themselves as a dominant team in the league, you know what I'm saying?

How you feel about the celebration? No, I like it. Because if you go to a lot of NFL stadiums there, crowd, they have their chance and different things like that. I remember early on I went to a Jets game when I was with the Nets, and then they went up in the J-E-T-N, Jets, like everybody in the stadium was doing. I'm like, don't let them be winning. Yeah, and let the Jets be a good team when they went, that shit, really crack.

It's loud then going to Denver, they got their thing out there, then Minnesota, then Pittsburgh got the terrible tiles, and then you, Buffalo got their thing, and then you go to Europe basketball, Eurolead, some of them countries, and it's right. And that gets the fans, keeps the fans involved, so I dig it. It's dope. Mm-hmm. Y'all rolling with the Spurs? Man, you, hey.

Go on. No Cleveland. You gonna quit talking, hey, man, y'all, listen. Don't worry about that, man. You know, he need all the points. All the point. Yeah, he'd be miserable at home. He is miserable.

Hey, it's the most miserable man. Come in here face smiling all the time. Since this existence on this planet, hey, this is existence. him being from Cleveland that shit has been a struggle man my home boy Marcus College is in Cleveland right now absolutely

in the snow life yo and y'all got to deal with that weather and Lake Erie hey listen hey Shador hey listen yo

people are happy right now but I get it but the dog pound y'all been struggling for you yeah y'all in the dog house yeah y'all in the dog house that's the happiest the dog pound has been in the minute boy they got

door man you're opening Cleveland dog pound our pets y'all dogs they chain y'all up outside by the dog I'll say this, the six men is so important when you talk about visiting teams coming into your house. You know, me playing Carolina, and the one thing that we were known for was being a wine and cheese crowd. And when I got there, I wanted to change that. First thing I did was get y'all asses up.

Every tip off, get up. Everybody get up. And it turned our culture into a six men where everybody, when we made our runs, man, you ain't never heard a crowd as long. loud as the Smith Center and you look at the the Warriors when they was the dream what is it the we believe we believe warriors oh they should and you're talking about six men you're talking about Sacramento six men cowbells it's important to go in and understand that your fans are more passionate about the game even than you are they want it more than you and then you talk about international, Barcelona,

Lebanon, France, all of these different places where their fans take it more serious. If the refs fuck up, we are in the lobby waiting for the refs as the fans. Like, they vandalized cars and shit for the reps.

So when you look at six men and what Wemby's doing, this is true leadership because he understands the dynamic of our fans need to be behind us, win, lose, or draw. And I love that about him because he's not afraid of whether it be criticism of him being too confident, whether it be criticism of him being too up for the moment.

But when you take the time out to get the fans involved, knowing that you're the future of the franchise, that's not something Tim Duncan never did. That's not something a lot of these great players ever truly took the time out to do. And I love that about him in this culture. They're young, the personality. I was amazed that Victor Wimbunyama that vocal of a leadership role, that out front, that face of franchise kind of a role to completely change their culture. And it said to me that Duncan, Parker, and Genobley

are finally, so to speak, gone forever, like they've started over. And it's going to become a tradition. They're going to be very difficult to beat at home now because they're going to want to do that and look forward to it after every game. And I'll, I'm going to be surprised if they lose another home game this year, given that. Well, Mr. Bay, I hear you, but, hey, Tim and them got five of them things hanging up there. No, I know that. But they needed to start over. They definitely start over.

Need a fresh start. They got five of the things hanging up. By the way, they should have six of those things, but that's a whole other story. I don't care about, yeah, I was a victim of one of them, so, yeah, so, but. Let's keep this thing moving, because we got a lot more to discuss. So the first game of the Christmas slate featured two preseason Eastern Conference favorites, with the calves pulling up to the garden and take on the Knicks, New York. Yeah, we did this for you.

That's why I knew you had something to say about the cabs in the first segment. So now we were talking about this. Yeah, they talked about Cleveland. New York has lived up to the hype so far, but the calves have been struggling as of late, what some may call a hot pack of mid, seventh in the east, 5 and 8 in their last 13 games entering this one. Havs looked poised to take a bite out of the Big Apple, but Jalen Brunson and the Knicks bench guided their sleigh to save the day.

Can we get those highlights, please? So we pick up the action in the fourth quarter where the Knicks were cruising with a 17-point lead with a little over 10 minutes remaining. Donovan-Mitchell pace pleads with 34.7 board, six-dimes, and four steals. This 17-30-point game the season, Darius Garland, 20 and 10 dimes. The calves were preying on the Knicks' downfall, but every time they hit the ground, they bounced up like round. ball. Jordan Clarkson had 25 off the bench including 14 points in his first

15 first half minutes and seven in the fourth quarter. Tyler Colick caught fire hitting four threes in the final frame. He had 16 and 9 assists in 25 minutes of action. While Mitchell Robinson had eight of his 13 rebounds in his five fourth quarter minutes, included four in the offensive glass and the captain, Jalen Brunson, another monster game, scoring 13 of his game, high time, 34 points in the fourth quarter. as we see him cooking right there without grease, as they say. So, Capp tried to hold on the lead, but Colick, like we said, was doing this thing. Kelle Bridges gave the Nix Elite Kapp's ticket back, and then Brunton hit the go-ahead three with a little over a minute remaining to put the Knicks up too.

And then Kat came through with this put back. who put them up for the Knicks held on Yeah we do have to show that But it was Over at this point OG Sealed the game

12 seconds remaining Navajo Mitchell did hit this three but Inconsequential to the outcome So Knicks held on to get their third straight Christmas win Largest comeback this season

So we look at the story of this game Cavs jumped out to a 15 point first quarter league. Knicks responded by outscoring them 37 to 20 in the second quarter. Cleveland goes up 17 early in the fourth quarter. Knicks respond by finishing the final frame with a 40-21 run. So what are the biggest takeaways from the Nick's Christmas Day win over the Cavs? We'll start with you. It is your current team. If I, Nick Spurs? No, no, remember I told you. We don't do the thumbs up and all that shit. The thumbs up? We had to get away. I got it. It hurt me. It hurt me to. It heard me. It heard me. It heard

me to have to just go spurs only because I knew I do need an East Coast team but watching that game I just couldn't cheer as much as I wanted to because of Josh Hart specifically but on the hoop side no oil tracks and basketball on the hoop not he's doing that on the hoop side I really say that the Nick showed up I love Colix energy his resilience to keep going and fighting. They got down early. I think the Cleveland Cavaliers might be the most overrated team

in the last five years. Every year they come in, they look good. But they show their true colors. After a while, Allen and Mowgli just don't have the same pop that they used to have. Garland, he looks like he's back, but he really don't got his mojo's confidence

like he did in his All-Star season. Mitchell is going to be Mitchell. I think he's always playing in the wrong city. I think he just needs to get to a new team totally because leading this team to the promised land, the way that they play is just not good enough. And I think they've proven that. But for the Knicks, you got OG playing well, you got Clarkson playing well.

Brunson is going to be Brunson. You know, I think at this point you can't say size is the problem with a guy like that leading the team to the playoffs, second in the east. I think he's always going to be dynamic. Kell Bridges is going to have to always step up to the plate. And, you know, Carl Anthony Towns, he's one of the guys that's always going to be an anomaly. Yet, he has a backup. His backup, Mitchell Robinson, I believe, is the one MVP outside of Kolic on that team.

He is the energy. He does things that he doesn't get credit for, and he knows it. He's out there. He's a presence, offensive glass, defense of glass. He blocks shots. He's just a dynamic player. I always wanted to give him the flowers he deserves. And Mike Brown is.

He's being patient. He's doing what he's supposed to do. I love the dynamic around New York right now. I'm just glad that Tracy Morgan didn't throw up again. Like you said, Mitchell Robinson, zero points in that game, but was huge in that fourth quarter. Everybody who watched the game coming through all those big rebounds. They subbed him out for Kat with like three minutes ago.

I didn't want that. Energy kind of shifted a little bit. Like watching like, ooh, I don't know. They got to bring Kat back in, though. Yeah, no, I get, but he does different things that Mitchell can't do. You know? I think they got like a putback right on. I don't know.

The Cavs got a putback right when they made that substitution, but just watching that feeling that. So skip watching that game, what are your biggest takeaways from the Knicks in their third straight Christmas win? My biggest takeaway is that the Cavs were up 17 with 10.5 minutes left. 17? And the Knicks go on a 40 to 21 run to close that game. 40 to 21 against that team that I thought was one of the top defensive teams in the league.

But to your point, the two big guys haven't shown up regularly lately and i guess i got to stand up for the little white guys but you mentioned tyler colic but but he just came out of nowhere he was the big east player of the year at marquette and he was the most outstanding player at the big east tournament his last year so they take him in the second round he does nothing last year he's starting to change the way they play because he kind of sells him down let's let's brunson just play two guard, you know, just do what he does. And Tyler Colick made, you mentioned it, Josiah made big shots in the fourth quarter.

You're showing in the highlights. He made three big threes down the stretch. But the play of the game, he made it. And it's a breakaway by Donovan Mitchell. And Colick was asked about what happened. And he said, well, if he just shot a regular, I'm quoting him. He said, if he just shot a regular layup, I wouldn't have gotten there. But he tried to do a dipsy do.

You know, he's going to do the big throw-down dunk. and Colick caught him and blocked it and that would have put Cleveland up three with a minute and 46 seconds left and it just changed the game because it swung the momentum even harder to the home team so you know Jordan Clarkson

is just a natural born score to me and he had 25 in this game and Cat just does cat things and Jalen does Jalen things so I've texted over the last couple of years with Spike Lee about this love you Spike and he's been

this is our year but this year when he texts me on Christmas he's saying well let's wait and see this year which told me

he loves this team even more because I think he's thinking I don't have to do phony false bravado here like phony rara this team

is legitimately authentic to me where it's got a chance and by the way we didn't even mention this in our first topic but they did win the cup and they did beat the spurs

and they out rebounded them 59 to 42 in the Cup championship game. I think they caught San Antonio, like San Antonio had already celebrated the Cup, right, against Oklahoma City. That's what they wanted, but they weren't ready for this. But do I think the Spurs could beat the Knicks in seven games? I definitely do. I would take the Spurs seven over the Knicks. But the Knicks, this was un-knick-like.

This was the kind of game the Knicks would have lost by 30 at home on Christmas Day in the past. Yes, for sure. Yeah. I agree. I like the Knicks. I like what they got going. I like how they built, man. He got a great starting five.

Three goons coming off that bench, man. I just like how they built. I like their leader, you know what I'm saying? Brunson going to get you buckets. He does. I like their overall makeup of their team, man. Cleveland, they just not built. Like even their stars, I barely know.

I don't watch too much basketball during football season. I start like February through June, you know what I'm saying? Yep. But I just don't know nobody on their fucking team. Like, who is these guys? You know what I'm saying? Donald Mitchell does. Mitchell going to get buckets.

Of course I know Mitchell. Evan Mubbley. Oh, hey. I know Garland. I know Garland. I know Garland. Okay. I know Garland.

I know Mitchell. The other guy, I'm like, how much money they make? I got to Google and she. Is he one of the guys or not? Like, I don't know. Lanzo balls, though? He on the team. He on the team?

He on the team. Shit. They're on the team. Jello, brother. I don't know. Cleveland just, that last year, shit, just a one-off, man. They are six, seventh, eighth. That's where they at.

They make up of their team is bottom half of the east to me. Middle, bottom half of the playoff teams, a six, seventh, barely making the eighth, a playing type. That's just, that's their speed to me, man. I love Spider. I love his game on offense, but his game, to me, just,

don't really translate to wins. Like, there's some guys who, like, lead. Where I go, we win. I go to Kansas, they trash. Next thing you know, we're in the Orange Bowl. You know, every team I go to, it just so happened that we fucking winning games. Except Tampa Bay.

Even in Tampa. But we tied for third. We 10 and 6 with this young guy. We should be in the playoffs. You should have been. You feel me? It's the tie. We got to go to gas station flip a coin to see who go.

You feel me? Yeah. Before that, they was just trapped. That issue. You know what I'm saying? So high school, this shit go back to high school, Skip. Richardson Berkner.

Richardson Berkner, garbage. When I get there, we lose the Carter in the playoffs. Carter. You know what I'm saying? You feel me? Some guy's game just translate the wins. Some guy's game don't. You know what I'm saying?

Translate the stats. You know what I'm saying? So I just don't like what they got going in Cleveland, man. Your best player game don't really translate the wins, my opinion. light elsewhere, though, as Rashad's suggestion. He was in Utah, now he's here. What was Utah doing, though?

Same thing. He was trans-based. That's what I'm saying. It ain't really trashed a player. Is it the big city for him? No. So I'll start with Cleveland and Donovan Mitchell since that's where we are right now, right? Then I go to the Knicks.

Who does Donovan Mitchell make better around him? Himself. So he doesn't make the people around him better. That's it. That's what it is. You can put him, I put him in the same category. It's a few guys, right? They're really good basketball players, but will it translates to wins.

Yeah, good point. You got Donovan Mitchell, you got Dame Liller, you got Devin Booker, you got certain guys that they are really good. We'll be a Hall of Fame when it's all set and done with the individual numbers. Right. But who do they make better? Like you can, they make big shots. They're going to score 30 a night.

It looked great. But who do they make better? And I think that's Donovan Mitchell's problem. That when it gets tough, I'm going to shoot it. Yeah. Like, I get it, but sometimes you've got to get off of it. Or what's the devil's advocate to that when you say, if I'm Donovan asking you, well, how the fuck I make these guys better?

Give me the blueprint of, I'm giving you the ball, motherfucker. Put the bitch in the hole. I'm passing you the ball when you're open. Eight out of ten times, you shoot it. I trust my shot more than I trust you. That's why they don't win. So talking about the Cav just a little bit, then you'll let you jump back in.

So last season started with the franchise record, 15 straight wins, right? Fools goal. 28 and 4 after their first 32 games last season. First in the East, Fools go. And we talked about it in the playoffs. Guys missing games when they could have played. Sitting out and playoff games, all that shit matter. This season, 17 and 15 to their first 32 games.

17 and 15 right now. Now, that's a one-off. To lead point, like, it's, yeah, I don't, I'm not afraid of DeAndre Hunter. I'm not, I don't fear, Mobley. I don't fear, um, Jared Allen. I don't, their bench is what? To your point about Oklahoma City, right? What did Cleveland do in the off-season to get better?

No, they didn't do. I wasn't both of the same point. They didn't do anything. They didn't change shit. Adelanzo ball, which you really don't expect to play him, really? Wade. Wade, Earl. I don't, I don't, I don't.

Now, I don't, I'm not, I don't bar none of them. They don't, they don't move it. So they come back with the same look, to y'all point, Donovan Mitchell is going to be who he is now, can, like they were saying before, can Darry's Garland and the Donovan Mitchell coexist together? Can they? And right now it's showing that they can't. So somebody got to make some decisions with that.

They're 17 and 15, good luck getting in the play-out. They'll get in because they're in the east. So they'll get in because they're in the east. Who's the point guard? I don't know. Neither one of them. Neither one of them. Not really.

It might have a PG next to his name, but he's not. What's the point guard today? There's not one. So, I mean, so can we say who's the point guard when their offense is not predicated around running a specific offense? They're just, who has the ball who brings it down? Who's going to go pick and roll? Who's going to run this pick and roll? What matchup we're going to try to explore to get the weakest defender on it to try to explore?

We're playing pick up ball. So, yeah, until you start, Balls start moving, man, and guys, are you trusting one another, and their thing is, like, it ain't going to work. With the Knicks, surprisingly right now, well, not surprising. They were expected to build on what they did last year, right? They've been teetering first rounds.

Like, they've been there, but you're expected to get better when you have a talent like Jalen Brunson as your lead. Well, Easter Conference Finals, though. That's what I said, yeah, expected to be. So now, now we got to get another thing. Yeah, so the year before they were last year, they defile it with the year before then last year.

So it's steps. So they are in Nick's fans and in organization, they are there, right? With an ability to trade. Still can do something to help, right? If we really, but as constructed now, you know, I, them in Detroit, I'm, It's a pick-em right now if they went in a playoff series to me, but the experience that the Knicks have and Jalen Brunton experience, Mike Brown's experience, I think goes a long way.

Having a guy like Jordan Clarkson, to your point shot, like you've been saying for some time now was a great signing. I was a little skeptical where he was going to fit in because you got McBride over there and You got other guys. He was shaky, too. He was shaking, but, but we're probably been hurt too, but yeah. Like I said, we needed a different voice. Like, you got Tibadoe, it looks a certain way.

It's a certain message, and you bring, just change the, just a little bit, right? I still want you guys that defensive mindset that Tibido had, this, that, and the third, but I'm not going to wear you guys out. Right. To your point, Skip, Colic was there last year. He's not going to play for Tibbs. At all. He wouldn't have never seen.

He's not going to play 25 minutes. He's not going to play at all. Like, he's going to get spot minutes. They're going to bring him up from the go to that. Lamb's Ham is there. Jordan Clark is not going to play 29 minutes from. Not at all. Not because of certain things.

Because of the way. Defense, the way he won't. The way he wants him to. Right. So it's things like that, man, where you got to trust guys to give guys confidence. And I think Mike Brown understood that coming into the situation, giving guys an opportunity. I can easily go when the playoffs start, I could easily play my start as 40 minutes, 42 minutes.

I can do that shit in my own. Yeah, that's what you expect to do in the time you need your guys. But doing that, during the regular season is mind-blowing. So I think Mike Brown understanding that and looking at the totality of the roster, what we have over here, and leaning on those guys right now, and it's working. And playing him in Colick and Brunson in the fourth quarter together, it worked. It worked, right? So I think it's, yeah, you tweaking with lineups and rotations and things now.

So later on in the playoffs, you know what you have. Yeah, Nick's going to make some noise this show. I think they're going to, they're the favorite right now, man. So one other point on the calves, they're now 22nd in points allowed. They're 26th and three-point shooting allowed. So the towers, the two towers aren't towering right now. And they're 13th in rebounding. So they're not, the two big guys aren't dominating at all on either end of the floor.

and you can argue that Ms. Struce, Max Trues has been out and maybe he defends a little more like a San Antonio defender would defend the problem. He's not going to move to need to not a chance. They'll still be missing Todd Jerome, but With Maxx and Ted Jerome and there'll be

17 and 15. Both of them are targets. There'll be 17 and 15 with Max Trues and Todd Jerome still, trust me. Not 18 and 14? 15 and there might be 15 and 17. 15 and 17. One of the first time, You said real quick, Ken, you said Knicks have the ability to make a trade.

Obviously, there's been a lot of discourse about Yon. It's becoming a potential opposite for some teams. But the Thunder and the Spurs also have that same ability. Obviously, it seems like the Spurs would be interested in doing at this point. I don't think they do. But the Thunder... I don't think they do. But the person they're looking for...

Yeah, I don't think they do. I think they stay put, right? I think all the teams stay put, they see what they have, man, and go from here. Because it's, yeah, no, you... It's about chemistry right now, man. You're building it. So Spurs and Thunder January 13th Spurs put Belta ass to the Thunder

again in that game. Did the Thunder have to think about trying to do some work trade-down? No, Thunder's definitely thinking about making a move. No, I don't know. I think so because they've been exposed like I said before.

You expose. Who can you go get that's going to change what the way the Spurs attacking y'all are to defending you have? You have to see that. You have to see that Wallace, Russo. No, sure.

You're looking at Isaiah Joe's shooting. Isaiah Joe. Wiggins. These are guys that, yes, they can shoot, right? Yes, they can shoot. But what did we need in that game to offset the fact that you're not hitting shots?

You can't get into the paint. We need you touching paint, kicking the ball out, getting to the free throw line. We don't need just one guy getting to the free throw line. We need our whole team getting to the free throw line. I think they need to make a move 100%. They need to start using them draft picks as leverage. They need to get some more dynamic players in. Chet, Hongrum is not the piece you depend on to be your end-all, be-all-center,

dominator, rebounder, shot blocker. But they did, though. They did. But even Harkishton, they didn't win the chip like that. They didn't win the chip like that. That's not how they won the chip. They won the chip riding the back of the MVP. The MVP led to that way.

When Tett was in it, it was fucking balling. 16 and 6? Yo, he had 15 and 6. You big man, 16 and 6, that's solid. We can get any big man to do that. You gave him a point. You had 15 and 6. Well, giving him a point.

They were in names when he's there, though. But this is what I'm saying. If you look at Harkistan, he was really the difference making. Harkistham, offensive rebounds. It's balling to the surface level. When you look at the game, right. Now what we're doing now is helping him now. How many losses they got this year, seven?

That's what he doing. But what's happening in the losses is what we look at. I ain't going to panic over losing to one team. You have to. You have to. Because this one team that you're going to panic about is showing the whole league. This is how you beat them. But everybody don't have the personnel that...

Everybody don't got women. They're just overall personnel. All right. So the Blazers, the Blazers beat them. Oh, yeah, that was, yeah. Right. Fluky. You can say it's fluky, right?

They beat them. Right. But a loss is a loss when you talk about being able to be competitive with a championship caliber team. You look at how the spurs expose them. I'm looking at it from the standpoint of, hey, man, they're not as big as the big team as you think they are.

They're not as a scrappy a team as you think they are. Let's take away the bullshit fouls that you're giving them. Let's take away the fact that they get to the line on Tic Tacs. Spurs, we're going here. Let's play defense without fouling. Let's make sure the refs don't give us bullshit. And let's guard the three-pointer. Let's push them off the line.

That's a lot of defense, though. A lot of teams in the league not going, it's going to be in one there and out to other. But see, the defense you're talking about is fundamental back-to-basketball. But who does that, though? Everybody should. They've gotten away from it because they've allowed the whole persona of this new form of NBA basketball to come in and be like, oh, we're just going to come. We're going to shoot and I'm going to shoot.

You're shooting and I'm going to shoot. The Indiana Pacers came in. Rick Carlisle went back to basketball. The OKC adopted. The whole Chris Paul got down there. It was like, guys, we need to play defense as a team. Spurs. Chris Paul ended up going to the Spurs injecting that same energy into them.

Did. Let's play as a team. Let's get back to basketball. The Detroit Pistons, J.B. Bickerstaff knows a little bit about this team dynamic because his dad is his dad. He got them playing team defense. We see a few teams that have this energy, but it needs to trickle down to the other teams because you can't just play Steph Curry Golden State Warriors basketball and not defend like your pride is on the line. That's what I've been preaching. Kenyon knows that because he's a defender. He knows that the dynamic. between a good defensive team and a championship team is putting those two things together and saying we're going to defend first we're going to get our points off turnovers yep we're going to make the game fast okay see got that dynamic right now right they've lost it but they got seven they ain't they ain't lost it too much because they only lost seven six seven games they lost it so much they lost three in a row to the same yeah that's a that's called a drive-by all right that's called a drive-by. That ain't going to make me panic.

You hear that a drive-by going to make me panic. Hey, play that Debo, play that Debo sound. Please, play that, er, eh, er, eh. So you hear that shit right there, you panicking. So y'all play other niggas? So that's what y'all do? Play that Devo.

So that's what we do. OK, see, make a trade and brain the wrong guy, and they might really lose that dynamic. And then they might not just be losing first. But who you lose? Right now, we got to. a great dynamic. All we got to do is we need to put our shit up to play the Spurge. But who do you lose? How can we get past these spurts?

If we don't lose nothing that's okay, Steve. If we don't lose a dynamic player, like let's say we don't lose somebody that we really truly need, we use our picks to bring somebody in. We're not losing anything. But guess what that's against you, though? It's this thing that they have is called a salary cap. They're good on the salary. You can get it right now, but he's saying they're trying to. trying to do, you can, where the money is, it's right where it needs to be. You said they need to make a trade. That's all I'm saying. Draft is draft. But trade.

Trade. Okay, see, who the fuck they're going to trade? Arkansas. In the package. Them guys who. I'll even lay, I see a joke. I'll let Dork go. Caruso is guarding Wimby. Mitchell, A.J. Mitchell. Evidently, he set the tone. That's our tone center.

Even if you can't guard him. You can't say he can't guard him. Who, you saying Caruso? That's that defensive guy, ain't it? He was one for 12. Wait, two for 30. 30, him and Lou Doris? I mean, shit. He shot us out the game.

He actually shot us out the game. He actually shot us out the game when we voiced the trophy. Do you need him in the game when it counted? No. We ain't talking about that no more. All right. We are here. We are in the last three games.

Shoot me out the game in December, bro. No. In June, you keep shooting the same shots. It's December right now. We just talking about the last three games. Okay. You are not the same player that did what you did. in the championship game.

Yes, he is. So, Talibu, let me ask you a question. Yeah. So do they need Caruso and Lou Doort? Hell yeah, you do. No. He's got A.J. Mitchell, who's sitting over there that can

defend and score. He can play. You're sitting him over here because you love these two guys and what they did from last year. Yeah, it's a reason why they make no changes from last year because we want that same energy. Dork.

And Caruso going to bring us that same defensive energy. I need that. I ain't getting reading. Times have changed. And if they don't, I got until February to make that move. What we talk about, every team that won the championship from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Denver Nuggets to the Boston Celtics, never made a change and they ended up paying for it the next year because we figured you out from the year before. We see what you did.

We understand that you guys are dynamic in doing this, but you didn't make a change, we're going to adapt to that. Now, when you see our adaptation, you're like, well, what do we do now No, we figured you out Now y'all not going to repeat Because you didn't double up You didn't make yourselves better You came back thinking that y'all was just going to sweep

The whole thing again And that's how sports That's what makes us all sports fans Because we're like, all right, they're good enough I pick the Eagles again Right The Eagles don't look like they're a fucking championship team Based on the fact that they didn't make

No fucking changes Late in the season maybe with Phillips and those guys. But now it's like, man, we look crazy. The same thing with OKC. You look crazy after starting phenomenal. But we figured you out. Same thing happened with Boston.

Y'all look good. Jason Tatum looked great coming in. Boom. We figured you out. Okay, Denver started. Oh, fresh. Oh, man, Jamal Murray struggling for some reason. Oh, we put the heat on him early.

We're going to test him. Michael Porter, Jr. don't know what he want to do. We don't know what his mind at. We look at this as a dynamic of history. It's shown that if you don't make no improvements, man, there's no way you're going to repeat. So what was Oklahoma City's Achilles heel last year that everybody talked about? If you can slow them down into a half court set, they struggle because it's MVP or bust. Yes.

It's Shade, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's all solo act, right? So right now they need to trade for Shays' confidence. You know, they need to go reacquire his confidence because it's him or nothing because they have shooters, but they don't utilize, like, Wiggins can shoot the lights out and Isaiah Joe is a crate, that's all he can do is shoot. But they don't utilize it enough because when push comes to shove and they're getting shoved back and back and back, it's Shea or bust. So, I don't know, you can't go acquire another Shea because he's the reigning MVP, right? Exactly. So do you need a bigger, bad, or bruiser in the paint?

Somebody, because Hardinstein was really good last year for them, right? What you're thinking about Malik Munk? As a fire starter coming off the bench, they would think about that. Now, he doesn't defend, so they're going to lose a little bit of defensive identity. You're losing your identity period. No, I don't think, no, you can bring him in. You still got enough guys and weekends. You've got too many defenders right now.

You got a lot of guys that do. You got a lot of guys that do the same thing. So I think you need to get more, like, tall and athletic at that position. Jeremy Grant? Maybe. Him, Zach Levine, Jeremy Grant. Like, I ain't saying, you're like, I like, I like Zach Levine. I think he can, he makes shots.

I don't think he's by, I think he's, in the right environment, I think he will. I think if you change. Maybe. You change the environment. Who are you going to send out? So you changed the environment. Yeah, Joe. You can change either one.

Just pick. Yeah, you can pick one. Take one of them. Did you change his environment? You need to get to the free throw line a little more. You need somebody that draws foul besides Shea. You need a Demar de Rose. You need to Demar de Rose.

Somebody who will get you a bucket when you, like, if you want to pick off that team, yeah, you go, Malik Monk, you go, if it's me, I'm going to Mar DeRosen because I need somebody who can get to the line besides Shea. Yeah. Somebody who would score, but get to the line. Because Shea is too much pressure on him to do it every possession, right? To get us in the bonus every quarter, right? See him foul baiting his way to it.

But he's never too much pressure on like Kobe and shit though. Well, he just played naturally though. Like he's in a boat, you know what I'm saying? To do what? To get buckets? To get us in a bonus? No, we could throw the ball on the block. We had guys, other guys that could like draw two files a quarter and you ain't got to draw

four files. I'm never going to. One of my dog defenders for a Malik Monk, like so he can get more buckets. Like that ain't how we got there. But you got five defenders within the- That's why we in the chip. That's why we got something off of right now. It wasn't why. It was not why.

I don't know what I'll be watching. I watch, maybe I watch the game from a defensive perspective. I watch the game like, motherfucking OKC play D. Yeah. That's why they all, that's why they got seven losses. That's why they're in the chip. They're playing fucking defense. To your point.

Right, to your point. I want all these. I don't want Malik Monk. So I made them a point. So I told them the staff the day, right, in the top 10 defensive rating in the NBA, Oklahoma City has the top five spots, individual like player rating or defense. Oklahoma City has the top five spots and Shea is at 8

So they got six of the top 10 spots defense of your point. Come up off a few of them. That's all I'm saying. Why would I come up off a few of them, though? If I could get the more offensive firepower? If I just wanted to tip with this, why would I want some more offensive power?

I'm going to tell you why. Because you look at what the spurs exposed. Your perimeter, your perimeter, your perimeter defense ain't as potent as you think it is when we put pressure on you with athletic young guards who can play isolation basketball. You know who else can do that?

The Houston Rockets, they were going to put pressure on your, we call it fantasy defense. It's what Duke used to play. Duke plays the fantasy defense where it's, ah, we over here, we deny over here, but once we put that pressure on you and you got to guard straight line drives and you got to come across and we can skip to the next person, Wimby sitting there like, throw me the ball so I can make two come to me And I'm going to go over here and throw it to Harrison Barnes, who I told Kenyon, if we're not hitting shots, we're going to lose. But if we're hitting shots, guess what we're going to do?

We're going to blow y'all ass out the water. We're going to beat y'all by 20. This is what's happening. We're talking about hoop, though. We can watch the game from a subjective standpoint and say, OKC1 from defense, and they play defense as a team. But when we look at the objective standpoint, we say, well, none of them guys can really guard unless they're not. They're playing as a unit. So when we're San Antonio Spurs,

we're going to isolate these guards, make them guard us and foul us, and break down their defense by getting in the paint, kicking the open shooters. This is what the blueprint was. That's what the ethical basketball. Wemby was talking about.

We play ethical basketball. Sean, you talked about the Rockets, so let's shift over to Los Angeles because we've got a few more things we need to cover here on this special. Day After Christmas Recap episode of Gills Me and I presented by Underdog Woo-Woo. So move on to Los Angeles.

It was supposed to be a Western conference showdown between the Rockets and Lakers. There's no need to laugh, all right? It's December, all right? Well, I didn't think that loud. Okay, you did. It's all good. It's all good.

Lakers entered the game suffering back-to-back loss over the first time this season to the Clippers and Sons while the Rockets were on the last stop of their six-game road trip going one and four in their previous five games, including three overtime losses and a 20-point blowout by the Clippers. Tuesday. Luke was back in the lineup after missing last game with a left-calf contusion.

But Houston gave the Lakers problems all night long. Let's look at these unfortunate highlights that spoiled some Christmases out there. So Tari Easton provided a spark in his second start this season, scoring seven of the Rockets. First 18 points. He had 13 points, four steals and two blocks. Houston raced out to a 10-point lead. Outscored the Lakers' 37-25 in the first frame. Lakers tried to bounce back in the second quarter.

Austin Reeves put up 12 points in his 15 minutes in the first half. Did not return after halftime with left calf soreness. Luca put up 25 points in seven dimes with led to team. team with six turnovers and LeBron, 18, five dimes and two steals in his 32 minutes of action. The Rockets had six players scoring double figures led by Amin Thompson, finished with a game high 26 points along with seven rebounds and five assists. Kevin Durant had 25 and eight assists. He was eight for 14 from the field, four for six from deep.

Shangoon have 14 and 12, and Reed Shepard added 13 points off the bench. The Rockets out rebound of the Lakers, 48 to 25 were plus 16 in points in the paint, plus 12 and points off turnover is that pot that y'all like to smoke. Lakers have lost six of their last 10 games, have lost three straight games for the first time this season while the Rockets get a much

needed win after losing five games of the worst teams in the Western Conference this month. Several on this road trip that they just wrapped up. So looking around, Skip, we'll start with you on this one. What's the biggest takeaways from the Rockets win over the Lakers?

The Lakers haven't played any defense all year. They're ranked 18th now in points allowed. They are the worst three-point defending team in all of basketball. LeBron has now ranked an individual defensive winshare, something you would have dominated. He's ranked 426th in the NBA, almost to the bottom. I don't even know what that mean, but God, damn. Luca, individual defensive winshares, is 240th. the Lakers have one guy in the top 100, and believe it or not, it's Austin Reeves.

So all 10 of their losses are by 10 or more points. So when they get spanked, they get spanked. And their coach is calling them out, saying defense is a choice, and we don't care enough right now. They don't care about playing defense. And it's a miracle that they're 19 and 10 right now, and the only way they won those games is, They have three guys in the back court who can just go crazy hot and score like nobody can score in the league.

And that's starting with Luca, and I'll throw in LeBron and Austin Reeves. And all three of those guys have had hot-handed games where just because one guy was scoring unstoppably, they stole some games along the trail. And yet, Luca, to me, is way overrated because the problem. with Luca is, and this is killing them as a basketball team, he's second in the league in three point attempts. Second to Steph in three point attempts. He's shooting 32% from three. That ranks 184th in basketball. 184th. Well, that means there are a lot of empty possessions. And guess what? Luca is leading the NBA in turnovers, four and point three a game. So last night he had five in the first half. He had three in the first two and a half minutes, and Houston said, thank you very much, jumped out 14 and never looked back.

And then Austin Reeves, who can come in and light it up, as you pointed out, he didn't get to play in the second half because of calf soreness. So they're all offense, no defense, and this isn't going to turn around because as much as I love watching those three play together in the back court, because the IQ is just off the charts. it's the highest IQ of any three guards who have ever played. And any one of them can just go crazy hot on any given night. But Austin Reeves is the only one he even tries to play defense, and he ranks 90th in defense. So it didn't surprise me. Houston crushed them on the boards, 48 to 25.

Houston crushed them in offensive rebounds 17 to 7, because Houston leads the league in rebound. That's what they do. So they're a nightmare matchup for the lake. A special on Christmas Day in L.A. So I wasn't at all surprised by what I saw. Shot, I see you have pulled the mask out. Yep.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Surprise, Skip, didn't touch on none of that. Yeah, man, we got to talk about it. Yep. Before LeBron got there, where were the Lakers and how did they look? What we got there, what, 28 feet? Phenomenal. This year.

This year, this year, this year, Slim Luca before he started to slowly become free willy again. He did. He looked great. He looked great. Right? Then we look in at Austin Rees and we're like, wow, we're going to have to give him the max. There wasn't a lot of conversation about defense at the time because JJ had a system in to cover those guys. to make sure that the rotations were the rotations.

It's all about effort and hustle. But I look at something that's a crazy dynamic for J.J. Riddick because, you know, he got on TV when he was an analyst, the first take, and he spewed so heavily about Doc Rivers being the guy to never take accountability and always throwing his team under the bus and always blame me. and this and that. He's kind of everything's accountability. Oh my God.

Bro, sugar. But full circle. We see JJ get up here in the press conference and constantly duck giving accountability to his star players who do not play defense clearly because we all are watching. We can see this yet. So, shall we have JJ post-came comments last night

after they lost the rocket. So let's play those if we can, please. The two words of the day were effort and execution. And, you know, I feel like when we've done both of those things at a high level, we've been a good basketball team. When we haven't, we're a terrible basketball team. And tonight we were a terrible basketball team. And that started legitimately right away.

Because we don't care enough right now. And that's the part that bothers you a lot. We don't care enough to, like, do the things that are necessary. We don't care enough to be a professional. It's, you know, we had it. We had it. I always say this about, you know, culture. I always say this about a team being a good team being a functioning organism.

It can change like that. We don't have it right now. Again, it goes back to what I said the other night. It's a matter of making the choice. And too often we have guys that don't want to make that choice. And it's pretty consistent who those guys are. And so Saturday practice, I told the guys, it's going to be uncomfortable. The meeting is going to be uncomfortable.

I'm not doing another 53 games like this. It's so sad that JJ had to go about that way because we blame Darvindham for a lot of shit that JJ's complaining about currently. And I want to shout out to Darvindham for not publicly throwing a lot of players under the bus, which he should have because it would have saved his job. But the fact that JJ is now going through the same thing Darwin Ham is going through trying to figure out how to motivate guys who are getting paid a lot of money to play this game. And if you can't hold guys accountable, like we've always seen. say it on this couch, which the couch it was a four on one day. I remember it was like 78% for me. But when you hold these guys accountable, two things happen. You got to show up or you got to run away. And I think when we watch the game of basketball and you watch the

Lakers play, you're talking about being a Los Angeles Lakers head coach, being a Los Angeles Lakers player, upholding legacy and prestige, you have to show up as if the fans are on the more of a priority to anything because these people want to see winning. They're used to it. So Luca didn't ask to be here and the fans didn't ask for Luca. I don't think the fans asked for

LeBron James either, but they're both here. Two of the greatest players to play the game. And you mean to tell me we've got to ask you to come play defense? You want to be the greatest at the top of the top, but you want everyone to volunteer you into a

tier level of two of the greatest guys that ever played a game when you talk about Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. You talk about Wilk Chamberlain and Bill Russell. Guys, you never had to ask to compete even a Magic Johnson. Where are all the Lakers

that used to play for the Lakers that are not speaking out on what we are seeing? This is a travesty what we're watching because we got to go out and see effort. JJ shouldn't say Saturday we're going to talk. You're supposed to be saying that shit in training camp.

The fuck you're talking about now. Well, I think he's been expressing, and there was also reports that he said with your chest, man. Said they need to improve on the defensive side. So, I'm feeling there's two things I want to touch on, right? The first one is, so he said the words of the day are what execution in effort? Is this the fucking kindergarten classroom where you put words on the words of the day on the fucking board that, like, what are we talking about here? like word the words of the day are effort and execute like I saw that when I used to drop my son off at school at kindergarten two years ago word of the day on the door when you walk in you got to tell the teacher the word of the day before you can enter the classroom is this what we're doing here with professional athletes that's making 30 40 50 million dollars a year that's what we're doing here right first point second point JJ I own know if you know this or not, bro.

Them dudes don't respect you. You are their peer. They are not, just because you have the head coach title, they don't look at you as such. And the main corporate is the guy who you just had the podcast with. That helped hire you. That helped get you the job, man. Like, let's call a spade a spade.

Like, if they did, they'll play harder. They'll get back on defense. Once you address the crime, every possession to the rest with Luca and Alston Reeves and LeBron once, if you addressed it once, if they respect you, they'll go out their way to try to change it because you are a new voice in there. And you gave a certain effort when you played, JJ Reddy. You did. You played hard every time you stepped on the floor.

People respected that about you. I'm going to tell you something that was told to me in the big three when we were playing by Dante Jones. I was pissed off after one of the games, and he told me this. You know you can't put your heart in him, right? Yeah It's that You can want it for You can listen

You can want it Want it want it They're just like your kids You can want them to be successful In this world But if they don't want it for themselves Then go out and do it And look themselves in the mirror

They're not going to do it If they're They just not And they don't respect the messenger They effort he's complaining about effort I'm not going to watch this for 53 more games so what are you going to do about it

Saturdays have a really tough practice on Saturday so let's be so since I said we so we truth tell us in here we tell the truth we've been there we've been in this do you actually think tomorrow's practice on 1227 2025 that LeBron James is going to go out to this bitch and run around like he's 19, he's not going to do it. You're not going to run LeBron James, 41-year-old ass in the ground,

and you're not going to do it. Do you think Luca is going to buy it whatever it is that you're saying? No. And them, the guys that you're speaking of, when this message that you're talking about, you're not talking to Vando, you're not talking to Marcus Smart, you're not talking to Jackson Hayes, you're not talking to Rui.

You're not talking to those guys. You're not. So the guys who you're speaking of was the guy that's making all the money on the team. Because we're watching guys not get back consistent. We're watching the guys not give effort. We're watching these things in real time. They don't respect JJ. You just got, listen, you just got done playing a couple years ago, Doc.

So who, who, it's just a team full of bucket getters, bro. It's not really nobody there who going to just stand on defense. That's my whole point. That's why I wouldn't trade DART for Monk. Like, because I don't got to deal. Okay, see, he don't got to deal with this shit. You know what I'm saying? He don't got to deal with it.

I got a whole bunch of young guys who want to play deep. There's a defense between effort and not having any kind of... But it's not, though. That's all the defense is. It is. The whole defense period is effort. It is, but those dudes are not built on that leap from the beginning, right? I don't get a fuck.

I'm going to let you finish. I don't get a fuck what JJ Reddy comes out and does on tomorrow's practice. With that team? It doesn't matter. It don't matter because that team. They're going to turn around on Sunday. If they have a game on Sunday, it's going to be the same shit. What was on the board, please?

Because they don't got the guys who are going to stand on defense. What was it on the board? Effort and execution. Effort and execution. Exactly. So as a competitor on both sides of the ball, you don't have to ask me for effort because I'm... But that's you, though. We are competitors.

It's 20 teams who are dealing with that same shit in the NBA. That means you're not a competitor. 12 teams who are not. That means you're not a competitor. That means you don't want to come out here and compete against that other guy. Because, you know, when you line up against that other guy, you're going to compete. That means I got to give maximum effort. OKC don't have a problem with competitors.

They don't. Detroit don't. They plan winning, winning organizations. That's what I'm saying. And I don't think it's got nothing to do about who the coach. Do they respect him? If you take, swap him out, put JJ make him the Thunderhead coach. These motherfucking guys together want to play defense.

He's going to be preaching the same shit. All the coaches in the league. You don't think every coach in the league saying we need effort on defense. Everybody's saying that shit. You respond to it differently for who how, like they said, they wanted to be. It's a new generation where, talk to me gentle. Yeah, it asks me nicely. Talk to me gentle.

So you ain't been here with us, right? So the message that I said about Detroit, right? The difference, the only difference in the Detroit Pistons right now, experience for one, but the biggest thing is I told you, J.B. uses four-letter words, dog. Like, Monty will be a good coach. Money Williams is a good coach. Right.

And you're cussing the motherfuckers out now, though. So, I shouldn't, the effort is there, but if you're not giving it, guess what? I'm not fin of, I demand it. Demand it. Right? Alpha shit. And Alpha shit. And I don't...

What I'm saying. So, JJ, you can do all that shit you want, dog. Listen, you can go in that. bitch and bitch until you blew in the face. Stripes and spots come to mind, man. You can't change the stripes on the zebra and the spots on the leopard. He's not going to put Brian or Luca on the bench.

You're definitely not. He ain't going to do that. So what are you going to do then? It's just the group of guys. Yeah, that's who they are. Who is the most respected Phil Jackson could come coach these motherfuckers? With that group right there, they just ain't going to play no deed.

You know what Phil did? publicly, he made those guys accountable publicly. By doing what? The same name? Jay J.D.J. just did? No. That's what J.J. J.J. didn't say no names. He didn't say no names. When I publicly call you out as a leader and say, listen, I need LeBron James to play better defense. Stop yelling at the refs and get the fuck back. The effort starts with LeBron James. It all leadership. Exactly. If that message is,

listen, the things that I'm saying, effort starts with LeBron James and Luca Duncher, go as they go defensively, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. That's a different message. Then it's the same guy. Yeah. Who? Who are you talking about, JJ? Man, that's that's, that's, that's, that's very, we know who he talking about. No, no, no,

no, no, no, no, God know who he's talking about. You're saying that, bro. But you can't yell at me in the film. Since he ain't, I'm, I'm Brian, he didn't say my name. He didn't say my name. He didn't. Exactly. Lee. Hell no. Gill would sit there and say the same thing. He's saying me. You just heard me out, right? If he do say Gil, Gil, If we're in the film room, right?

If we're in the film room, all of us on the team, we're in the film room, right? He conced. Shad played 19 minutes a night. He'd get blew by one time on defense on the bad clothes out. Right. And the coach spends seven minutes on Shad. Right? One close out.

One close. He spent seven minutes talking about this one play where this man ain't. He'd been great every other end, but you harp on. So we can't allow this type of, for this type of clothes out. this type of the other guy didn't play 42 minutes and he ain't got one clip up there 22 close outs we can think of he ain't got one clip up there i get it how did that resonate the locker room how does that resonate though with the locker room that one dude who got 22 no non close out just because i call his name my this motherfucker need to close out more he still

ain't going to close out that's not his name that's the san antonio spurs that's tim duncan and gregg Koppovich, Greg Popovich, his whole fundamental strategy was to ostracize the star. I got to have Tim Duncan be the example. Right. He's got to be the guy. Bill Belichick, too. So you know. The other thing that Pop and Bill Belichick did is they going to bring niggas in who want to play defense.

True. But my stars, though. Pop probably don't bring no Luca in. I can't win with Luca in. You can't replace Tom Brady. You're not going to replace them. You're not going to replace Tom Brady, though, Bill. Exactly.

He's going to need him to lead the car at the top. I'm glad you brought that up, right? We're playing in Denver. We're playing the San Antonio Spurs. I don't know their Scouting Report, but I'm pretty sure that one of the main things on the Scouting Report was stop by transition, no transition points, right? Let's let this shit out.

This is a real story. The score was 2-0. Our first two points was a fast break lead. This man called Time Out. and took all five starters out. I told y'all. It's too nothing, dog. Mm-hmm.

I'm saying? That's holding your guys. That's motherfucking sending a message. I'm not playing with y'all. He put it back in. But the fact that he called a timeout snouts, all five. Tim Duncan included, right? Tim, Tony, y'all got me fucked up.

I think I'm playing. Y'all thinks it's a joke. I said, no fast, listen, the way that we're going to lose this game is fast break points. Let's stop it. It's two nothing. J.J. and I doing that. That's how you get, JJ not doing that. Whoever the coach of the Lakers is not doing that.

It's levels to them personalities, bro. Byron Scott did it. I'm with you. That's who did do it. That's who demanded respect. Everywhere he went, Byron, Scott. He was coaching the Lakers and they won the chip? No, but he demanded.

What the fuck? He did a say, ain't win shit. What you mean? What you mean? We're not talking, we're talking respect right now. This is what the conversation is respect. and having respect in the locker room. No, they was afraid of Barron's going to run them.

And think about the running. Think about the running. I think we're putting too much on this. No. Oh, hell no, because you say. It's the group of guys you put together. If Byron Scott comes in and says Saturday is going to be tough for these guys. Oh, yeah, you better believe it's going to be tough.

You best believe it's going to be fucking tough, bro. And listen, what the league is about now is you can run me. Well, you can, we can practice as long as you want to, but you can't, I don't work me as hard as you want to. I am the one. one who decides how hard I work. You decide how long I work. You can work as long as you want, not hard as you want. Allow me to say this about LeBron

James. The head is heavy, where's the crown? I can't hold him accountable for this because he's almost 41 years of age. Fuck a senior citizen. He's year 23 and the Los Angeles Lakers

did not want him back. They shamed him and dared him to go into free agency and end it somewhere else. And remember he would show up in the Clippers facility working out and he went up to Cleveland and worked out like, I'm going to go here, I'm going to end it in Cleveland. I dare you back. I dare you back. And they said, no, no, we will not extend you. But you got us by the balls because you got that option. And it's your option. And if you exercise it, we're stuck with you. No trade close. Yeah, no trade. And what

did LeBron do? He missed the first, what was it, month, month and a half, yeah, 14 games. And he would just say and screw you, I'm not going to play for a while. That's what, sciatica my ass, you know, like, there's no. The sciatica, though, the sciatica. Literally, sciatica. I'm just not buying it. So he comes back and he says, screw you, I'll play offense, but I won't play any defense. A hundred percent, skip, go there. Are you going to cook them, cook them then? And so he's playing a career low 33 minutes a game. And by the way, speaking to 33, last night he was an all-time Laker low for him since he's been with the Lakers.

He was a minus 33. That was the third worst of his career because when he's on the floor, he did okay last night. He made a few shots. He said, okay, I see that, I see that. And he had one big game, I don't know if you remember, at Philly. He scored 29 and did hit a big three with about a minute left that kind of iced it for them. So he's capable every once in a while of doing LeBron stuff. But in the big picture, they're stuck with him.

And now every story I read is about how Luca and Austin Reeves have bonded. It's Big Brother, Little Brother, or whatever is going on with them. It's just weird stuff. Very weird. Like it's very weird. It's very weird because LeBron's the third wheel now. He's the one who's ostracized. And believe it or not, I'm no big LeBron fan, but I feel sorry for him in this situation.

because it just feels wrong, wrong, wrong, and it was wrong from the start. So here he is, and he won't play defense, and his podcast partner is not going to call him out because he loves him, and he got the job because of him, like you said. So this is a mess, man, and I'm going to say it again, Luca is overrated. I know he can score, and I know he's got genius, and I know all that, but when you can't make threes at the rate he's shooting threes, And when you turn it over at the rate, he's turning it over. It's hard to win with it, man.

And then on top of all that, you play no defense. I think he plays less defense than LeBron does. He's a leader of the team, bro. 26 years old as well. The sooner would be 41-year-old guys. Bro, you can't count on him to lead the time. No, the fuck you can't. I'm paying him 52 million, bro.

What the fuck is you talking about? That's because who he is. Ain't no because of shit. It's because Lebron James can decide to be Lebron. James when he wants to. And we have depend on the lead of charge. He's a poor man. Let me tell you what I know about basketball, especially when I watch him,

is he's never lost a step, bro. It can, listen, when you're a great actor, you can make it look like I can't do it no more. He shows us glimpses of what he can still do based on the ego of, I can't let y'all know I can't go out here and get 49-30 a game. That's true. can get you the exact same numbers Kevin Durant can still get you right now. But what you call the Duke defense?

He's the show. Show defense, the show. But if you're telling me as a lot of state. He turned on and started playing some defense, turn to see Luca and he can't. He can't. He can't. He physically can't. Everybody else can do it.

I agree. But we're talking about the greatest of all-time conversation. When we talk about the goat, not at that position. You better take it. Not at that position. When we talk about the goat, LeBron is in the conversation because. he has put the longevity in of showing us consistently year in year out what he can do our expectations of lebron james has always been the same so when your effort is now in question

which before it never really was because he plays hard but what 41 have you seen put that level effort that's what y'all wait wait so that's okay but y'all can't hold on you can't trigger you can't split the hair Josiah. We can do whatever we want to do that year. That's all he has. Well, we're not going to split that hair. He's just the same fucking metric when you got no answer. You can't want him to score 25. But you want this, 41, no one gets, no. No, no.

No, no. You're getting paid $52 million dollars, bro. 52 million. So, do you say, oh, you're paying this 41-year-old, $52 million? Should he give us more effort? You're not going to say that in the conversation. Because, There's no other 41-year-olds that was doing this with his age. We get that.

There's no other 40-year-olds has ever in history been doing what LeBron James does. So at what point does he have to stop tricking us as if he can't do this at the highest level still? At 41 being deserving of $52 million, doesn't he deserve it? How many games do it? He can still play defense, but he's not going to lead the charge. We're not expecting him to. All right, but that's what, Coach is talking about. DJ talking about...

Little things, though, leave. It's little things. It's little things like walking back with Luca do. Run your ass, but still. Yeah. But we're talking... So how about leaving by example, though? The conversation was more for Luca, to me.

I get you. It's more for Luca. I dig it. Yes, 100%. You're the young bull, your effort is not there at all. If you're giving up the long ball on streaks and fades based on you thinking that the fucking quarterback just not going to throw it.

And you're giving up touchdowns. And we walk back to the fucking bench. And we look at. Keeb like, yo, what's up, bro? You getting paid the highest on the team. You have the right to look at them like, man, shut the fuck up, bro. Right. That's the energy.

But is that winning energy? It's definitely not. It's definitely not. So if we can hold you accountable and you look at us like, that's my fucking bad, bro. I'm about to turn this up because I know I can. Because if I can't, we got to go back to remember the Titans and sub the dude then they can. Hey, look, coach, let him in, let him go. He can guard him, coach.

Me, I can't, I can't hang with him. Let's hold each other accountable. Let me just say, to your point to everybody's point, right? You do get by you, right? You know you can't get to him, right? He got you at an angle, you know. You dive at his motherfucking leg. You try, right?

You know damn well I can't get there. Basketball. The ball going out of bounds. We dive on the floor knowing damn well we can't get there. It's called fake hustle. Exactly. Right? We're asking for Luca LeBron, trick us.

Right. Trick me, right? I know you can't get back. It's a fast break. I know you can't get there. Trick the coach. Trick the fan base. Trick like, trick me.

Let me hold those two steps. Now, if Luca, if Luca go dive at his legs and show, that's going to crank me. up. And if he don't, I'm be like, man, Luca ain't fucking fair hard. But if Brian go do it, I'm going to be like, shit. That's my fucking 41, bro. I didn't even expect to it. But that's even more. That's even

more, because I got the old guy doing it. Look at the old guy. If the old guy's doing it, why the fuck is you young guys not doing it? Luca is the leader of the team right now. He's the face of the franchise. He got to do it. If he do it, Brian might crank it up a little. No, see the thing is, so it's going to all go through him, bro.

Until Brian leaves. It ain't going to translate the until Braun leaves. So we say this on his guy. Until LeBron vacates the premises, it's a distraction. It's the pink elephant in the room, right? Because whether he wants to or not, his presence alone is dominant. Right. So therefore, when I'm Alston Reeves, I'm Dalton Connect, I'm, what's the Narabia? The Dravia, Arabia, if I'm those guys, to your people,

If the 41-year-old guy dives on the floor, right? Right. I'd be damned if I don't. Right. See, that's you. Right. If the best motherfucker on the team diving on the floor, oh, shit, all right. You got to.

I'll be damned if I don't do it next time. I'll be damned if I don't. If Luca diving, oh, shit, I got to fucking go. Absolutely. But you're in denial, though. So it's a domino effect. Brown ever made, like, led the charge. But, like, bro, he always got, he got fucking, Miami.

He got Shane Badiys. He got fucking shumper. He got other guys who are going to really guard your best guy They're going to be on them He's going to take down Get a block

But when it matters So to your point So I'm glad you said That when it mattered The chase down block The hell yeah The hustle The extra effort

He's running from this baseline down To that motherfucker To go try to get a block He don't know if he going to get it or not But if the start If the guy who posed

To be leading the charge And defense ain't leading The charge and defense That shit Brin's going to be Right and lie We just ain't got no defense I did it fuck I'm doing it for

You're in denial It's his job to lead the charge on defense. Hachimura, nigga, why you ain't leaving the charge on defense? You're in denial. You're in denial. If he ain't in the charge on defense, what the fuck I'm doing for? You're in denial. We ain't going to win.

I played enough basketball to know. If Hachimura don't leave the charge on defense, we ain't going to win. So he ain't leaving the charge. What the fuck I'm going to be diving on the pro blo? It's the same. This is Lucas team. Who's a better basketball player? Don't matter.

Luca Don't Dantzage or LeBron James. Who got an exception? Brian, easy. Okay. What did you just say? yo, let's go full circle right now because you just said that the best player was Luca Dantage

and that he should be the one leader in the dark. He didn't. He did the face of the franchise. No. The best player is the leader and they go by his engine. No. Who has an extension right now? You say best player, I think the full body of work. We already said at that, Sean.

The lead dog on the team right now is Luca Dund. Who's the better player? We already been there, Sean. LeBron James is still the best player on the lake. At this point right now. At this point right now. Still. Still.

$52 million. LeBron James can still do LeBron James shit. He has to share his throne with someone who he don't feel right is ready to take over to him, just like Anthony Davis. Now, my point being, my point being, come on now. Listen, these are you talking about stats, bro. You're talking about stats. That's what y'all do. When you don't really want to talk hoop, let's talk hoop.

34-9 and 9. Talk what the actual performance said. We talk about what happens when you're out there. LeBron can affect the game like nobody has ever done. And so when he's not playing defense to this caliber

and it's blaring, the eye in the sky don't fucking lie. We can show you film from before when LeBron James was engaged and ready to go full sense of urgency. He's unstoppable on both sides.

But when he's disengaged, bro, our team looks dismal. We can never recover if he's not locked in. And the fact that we can't hold him accountable and you want to put the accountability on somebody else, when he's still the best player, it's unbelievable. By the way, like nobody ever before except Jordan. And he loved accountability. He loved accountability. Call me out, please.

Give me a challenge. I'm done dominating these motherfuckers. I need a new challenge. Bill, tell me something I can't do. Correct. Please. Yeah. That's why I'm at with it.

Are we sure that the Luca trade was the all-time steel of the century? We sure about that? He's just a bucket-getter, bro. You got to put him on somebody like the thunder and let him be the only one who don't play defense. Good trade, all things, especially with 80 situation now with the growing injury. I'm saying if that's what you're giving up to get him. The only injury the man had, listen. But I'm saying from a trade standpoint, can't...

Are we seeing what Dallas was seeing? What? No defense. Yeah. I mean, we're seeing 19 and 10. And I'm not even saying, I'm not saying that's why he was traded, but I remember being a Luca fan when he was in Dallas. I am a Luca fan.

I said, you know what? I can't fuck with this, man, because he is just not giving the effort that's already. And he's got a double chin. Right? Weed up. And he's back. It's back. It's back.

Holiday season, school. Holiday season. Gumbo. I know. You got it. Thanksgiving. Yeah, Thanksgiving. Yeah, Thanksgiving.

This is a hard window right here. The double chin is back. This is a hard window. Hey, January first coming up, you know, in New Year's restaurant. New Year, new me. You feel? You're doing that diet two months? Yep.

And the thing is they're 19 and 10, man. They ain't just trash. They look like they're 10 or 19. That's the feeling. That's the feeling. Imagine the energy of that. Imagine when we talk about teams that are not playing great but need to catch their stride

later on in the season. This is a team that can do that. But that coach and that confidence in the team, he's really trying to figure out how to even challenge them with a 19 and 10 record. I thought he did a good job of challenging them. Shit. We're going to see. We won't find out Saturday for the

next 53. For the next 53, bro. I ain't having it. Hey, shit, bro. Does that sound like it's either me or y'all? Does that sound like JJ's putting his job on the line? It sounds like who was the other coach who you said? Who? Who who took everybody out. Oh, Bob.

Oh, now, Byron Scott. Byron Scott. It's not like Byron Scott. You feel it? We will monitor the Lakers situation to see what happens. 19 to 10 now, fourth in the west. This is Luca Donch's team. Just as a reminder,

26-year-old took him to the Backstreet Boys concert, game and extension, not on the final year of his deal, like some players on that day. But let's shift over to the NFL because the NFL did have games yesterday, too, in case you were unaware. They were on Netflix and Prime Video. Broncos did it again as they survived against Kansas City.

with their third string quarterback on Kansas City side. Denver wins 20 to 13, improving to 13 and 3 on the season, and just closer and closer to that one seed. Although the Broncos are a win away from the one seat, once again, they got a close win to an inferior opponent. So the main reason why they only have the fifth best point differential in the AFC.

So keep saying it's saying all year, don't matter if it's ugly, takes all four quarters. As simple as that, man. You don't get no more point. If you win by 14, you don't get like a win in a half in football. It just don't matter. Win is a win. It don't matter, bro.

We're talking about the team traveling. We're traveling from Denver to Kansas City on Christmas. Like, this is a week full of distractions, for real. Like, all we need to do is come away, come back, get back on this plane with a dub. Who gives a fuck high look? And then you say it was one score. Really skip, really skip. I know how you feel.

But we really beat the shit out them the whole games. Like not even close. Well, the score. We got three drives. I mean, the squirtail the game, but like, come on, bro. We, like, driving up and down the field at will. Like, every time we get the ball, it's 15 players in the bucket. I don't know.

They have 57 yards passing, Skip. Was we really struggling? How did you let them hang around with 57 yards passing? Because they got a good defense. They got, it's a division game. They're going to come play. They fucking hardest, of course. It's Kelsey Lass.

The crowd turned up like it's a chick. because it's Kelsey last home game, you know what I'm saying? You don't know that for sure. They find it, they finding reasons to come play hard, you know what I'm saying? It's the NFL. NFL, you got about 15 games a week. Only about four of them bitches going to be blowouts. It don't matter who playing.

It's only going to be about three, four blowouts a week because this is the NFL. You don't really just see blowouts after blowouts like that, you know what I'm saying? If you really sit down and watch the game, I know everybody's watching basketball, You know what I'm saying? 13 hours. 13 hours straight. 9 a.m. to about 10? I actually watched 12 hours straight of football.

Okay. I actually watched every game. You feel? Watch every minute of the Broncos game and we really beat the shit out of them the whole game. It was no pressure on the whole game, bro. It was a weird final score, but they really had two big plays. A pick that a guy tipped the ball. He made an amazing play of his life and a punt return that set him up to get their 10 points.

they 10 points or whatever the fuck they had. Let's hear what Sean Payton had to say about the game. It's great to get that win. Great. And you always have to remember this. Man, you're playing the heart of a champion. And I'll get, you know, Andy and this team, I don't care who comes out of that locker room.

This is a team that basically has been at the top of our league for the better part of a century. And so there's a ton of respect we have for what they've been able to accomplish. Like we had seven possessions apiece. Like this was like a half of a game for real. Like average, you're going to have a ball like 11, 12 times. That's like average. But we had the ball seven times.

They ran the ball every play. Fuck it. We run the ball every play. You know what I'm saying? We would dominate the clock, dominate the plays. We really dominated the whole game, you know what I'm saying? And we beat that's a good defense. Like he said, a championship team.

Bro, it don't take much, bro. It don't take much. You're playing a quarterback who doesn't belong in the national football league. And he looked like that. Skip, he had 57 yards passing. You act like we ain't dominate him. He played at South Florida and Samford, not Stanford, Samford, and South Dakota. He looked like to say it at Sanford.

Samford, Samford, Samford. He had 57 yards passing, Skip. Chris Okie-Doke, or all Lod. Dukum or something. I've never heard of it before. You're talking like his team didn't have a hundred yards yesterday. Okay, and I look up. I'm going to see him out with 100 yards, bro.

I actually watched every play of this game, and I look up and with two minutes to go, they've got a fourth and two, you've got a fourth and two at the 20-yard line, 10-yard line, and Chris Jones jumps off sides, or you might have lost the game. Oh, my God. You might have lost the game. So, Akie, I'm looking at what you've done. There's a lot about them, too, don't it. Hey, you're a little.

11 and 2 now in one-score games. You've won each of the last seven games by only one score. So you're not exactly streaking into the playoffs. You're just barely, barely, barely surviving. Usually the Super Bowl winner, they dominated in one-score games that year. So last year, Kansas City went 13 and 0 in one-score games during the regular season. And then because they had home field advantage, which you may have. You may have it.

And Kansas City got to the Super Bowl and your Philadelphia Eagles, So what was the Philadelphia Eagles record in one-score games? It was like 9-1 in one-score games. They dominated in one-score games as well. And I look up in it's 40 to 6 Eagles in the Super Bowl. It's 40 to 6. So all of a sudden, when you least expect it, you get exposed. That's what's going to happen to your team.

You're cruising for the bruising. You're going to have the biggest letdown you've ever had in your sports-watching life is going to come in the playoffs. I got a question. I'm hearing a lot of we Denver's your team Of course I thought Dallas was a team

Well I grew up a cowboy fan My ring came in My ring came in My ring came in So you're not a Dallas fan I'm a Dallas fan Oh you both Yeah

Just when Dallas lose You decide to just Oh that's all the time You got a team on both sides You know what I'm saying I rock with these boys I rock with these boys Just in case

I bought three Just for you too Because you can fit in this too It's a bag I wonder what was in that thing Yeah yeah yeah it's bags For bags for bags for bags, because Skip,

Skip deserves his own bag. It does a real size body back. Yeah, you know, Kenyon, he always going to be in the bag. Okay. You may have to squat in that particular bag. And now this is the newer key bag because Okay. The Dallas Cowboys did not make the playoffs.

No shit. And I had to for 15 years listen to Skip Bayless talk so grand about the fucking Cowboys. Yeah, so long. Oh, you just noticed. And all the Cowboys fans, all every year, talking about America, Steve, America, Steve. South America.

They'll be back next year. South America. What are we talking about with the cowboys? That's what I really loved about this show is I love to see y'all come on here and talk about a party. You showed up with your cowboy jersey's on and y'all hear woo-woo, woo, woo, but I don't hear that shit now. That shit is just a sniffle.

It's Broncos. It's a snuffalo's time right now. I'm just, I need a little bit of accountability when it comes down to trademark Michael Parsons and which y'all defend it. say it was a great move. I did. But if Mike don't get hurt, guess who might be winning the Super Bowl this year?

You sound like me. Wait a second. What happened to the last time Philadelphia played Dallas? I mean, I remember it was the last time Philadelphia did anything. Oh. It was winning the championship. All I remember is that team right there was about 9 and 1 in one square games. Yeah.

That team right there. But you see what this is, though. Something that the Dallas Cowboys hasn't reached since 1996. How did you get that? that. Don't worry about it. Oh, okay. Don't you worry about it. You could order that replica from Kate Jewel.

You could do a lot of shit when you're a fan. When you're a fan, you can do a lot of shit. It's available to the public skin. You can get one to. Hey, but guess what you can't do as a Dallas Cowboy fan? You can't do this. And you ain't been able to do it in three decades. Okay, all I know is that this year's Cowboys in a four-day span leading up to Thanksgiving

beat last year's Super Bowl teams back-to-back. That's all I know. And what are they going to be doing in January? We smack last year. What are they going to be doing in January? Waiting till next year. We're waiting until next year. Yeah.

I just wanted to, just before we quit, did y'all just get in the bag all collectively because the Dallas Cowboys ain't never going to be shit. Cowboys going to be nice next year. Karma is everything. Jerry's got Jerry's karma written all over it. You can't do Zeke like that, can't do Des like that, can't do Tony Romo, no, no.

You can't do none of your guys like that and think you're going to still come in here and get something from the basketball, With the football gods, they don't bless you like that. So speaking of football, like, who is your team? What you mean? No, no, no, no, no, no. Ain't where you're from is where you're at.

Yeah, no. Any where you're from, is where you're at. The nigger's from California. I'm not from Carolina at all. I'm from a planet called Niburo. Yeah, he's from around the surrounding areas. I'm from a planet called the Bureau. I'm from a planet called the Bureau.

I'm a little about them team. I'm a solar system type of nigger. You know me. Ask my men in them ring. They got from the air that he's from. You hear me? He probably had a Cam jersey on when we looked at him. Listen, it was Cam.

All I know is the Cowboys and the energy y'all always had. Y'all always thought about every year. It's our turn. It's our year. Shout out to Barrenson Edwards. Yeah. It's my guy who thought that the Cowboys every year is going to do the same shit. I had to keep telling them, man.

See, them delusion the Cowboys. We're going to be the Cowboys. See, them to lose in the Cowboys. We do have five Super Bowl trophies. How many do you have Eagles? I don't know, we have two in the recent in the last 10 years. I'm thinking about it.

How many years? 10. No, go more than that. We have two in the last 10 years. Adds another zero to that. What you mean another zero? Yeah. To that 10.

No, I said we, the Philadelphia Eagles. And their existence, though. I'm talking about the last 10. No, but the existence since you've been the fan. 10, 10 years. I've been a fan in 10 years, we've won two. Oh, you just. But you guys ago, you've been, you guys been fans for 40,

plus years and you ain't seen shit in 30. We ain't jumped on nobody band. You ain't seen shit in 30, though. We ain't jumped on nobody band. He ain't seen an NFC championship in how long? Oh, yeah, they're only two. God damn. 30.

Well, that's embarrassing. But I just wanted to talk some shit. That's all. Because I got Skip here. You deserve. And he, this is Gil's Arena. Yeah, welcome you to the bag. He ain't got no fucking team, so he don't deserve it.

Got to welcome you to the bag, Skip. He liked the Panthers. Y'all might go to playoffs. He ain't got no team. He didn't got no team. He just picked the team. Who I picked, who I say. This team, I'm picking them to date.

Just pick this team. Wait, Akeep, what did you guys do to Cam Newton in a Super Bowl? Beat the shit out of them. Beat the brakes off of the years. Beat the shit out of them. That's probably you. First snap. For the first snap.

When Cam, when he started, when Cam, when Cam started wearing rompers and shit is when I stopped. That was just like, I'm not doing the romper's and shit. When you're doing that, I can't, I can't. But he's MVP when I was rolling in the NBA. Yeah, of course he was. It's Cam Newton. I've been rolling with him since he was in fucking Florida. But after that, it was like, goddamn, man.

Back to the point, though, Josiah, man, listen, you had those games where you're like, all right, we're playing a bad team, bad quarterback, a bunch of distractions, Thanksgiving week, Christmas week, like, bro, we've been Christmas shopping. Getting gifts. Getting gifts, you feel me. We're doing anything. We got plans for one we're home. All the dude's playing goddamnies.

It won't hear none of that. Exactly. And the fact remained, at one point of that game, y'all was down to, y'all was losing at one point of that game. to a really bad team. It don't matter. Now it don't matter. Like,

if you're following it on your app, if you really watch the game. If you really watch and I look at it's going to watch it. If I can't watch and I look at this goal, I'm like, ooh, shit, they're about to. But if you really watch the game, you'd be like, man, how the fuck is it not 40 to 10? Like, we really beat the shit out of.

But what's the answer to that? What's the answer to how? Why is it not 40? They're not as good as they're not as good as we think Nah, I don't got nothing to do with that It's football, brother It's football just a little bit What's your running game like?

Solid, it's cool I starting running back hurt though You know Are starting running back hurt But the young people getting done Because you got to do what in the playoffs Got to totally play defense You got right?

Yeah, y'all do that well Yeah, of course And listen defense y'all lead the league We had a hundred plus yards yesterday They lead the league in sacks No, they defense like that With the Patrick Mahomes out there Yeah, no, they know.

We already did. Yeah, they do that. Hey, listen, hey. We already did. One thing for sure, two things was a shot. They get after the quarterback. And we ain't doing that yesterday? Yeah.

Y'all do that? That's what we did. Because guess what he was doing? One dump. One dump. One dump. One dump. He was getting that bitch out of his hands.

Same thing. Yeah. So quickly, you talked about the eagle shots. So one of the biggest matchup of the weekend, Eagles visit, the bills in Buffalo, also big for a couple of members on this particular couch today. But keep fill us in on what the bet is that you and Skip have on the Eagles Bill's gun. You remember it? Of course. I cannot forget.

It's a dinner with $1,000 minimum on a dinner, you know what I'm saying? Damn. Ain't no regular lug. That's a good deal. This ain't no, Chipotle type shit. Hey, that's a $1,000 dollar bottle of wine kind of dinner, right? That's a $600 bottle of wine kind of a dinner. But shit, but shit, I like Philly to go get that.

You know what I'm saying? In Buffalo? In Buffalo? Just, it's, if they're going to be who we think they is, they're a big game winning team, you know what I'm man. This is a big game. They lost their last two big games, you know what I'm saying? Then they struck two little trash opponents to beat the shit out of them, kind of got

that mojo back. But this is a big game. You want to win a game like this going into the playoffs. And if Philly is who I think they is, you know what I'm saying? NFC chip appearance again this year. then they got to go get this. They got the D-Line to contain Josh. That's what you got to have with Josh.

You got to have fast, smart edges, you know what I'm saying? The Eagles deep. They de-line deep. They got their right makeup to look at Buffalo. So I think it's a good matchup for them boys. I think they go get this, man, because they need a big win going into these playoffs. Were you making a keep take you to dinner if you win the bet?

That's a good question. I would say somewhere in Beverly Hills. They got an I-Hop unlimited package. We could do I-Hop. $1,000 worth of pancakes. You ain't never... Let's diabolical. Bring some gold on there.

You ain't never been a sizzler? I've been to sizzler. I grew up at sizzler. Yeah. You're a good man. The fact that sizzler is still open. They are right. Kay, why are you saying like that?

Why wouldn't scissors still be over? Because everything else is folded. Salad bar. The Italian says. My point, exactly. There's a sizzling, and Chas were by my house, and I was over that other day. I was in, I was like, damn, Sizzle is still open. You were going to Sizzler.

Yeah. The Sizzler, we're going to Sizzler, yeah. That white man can't jump. Somewhere in Beverly Hill. Yeah, we was going. So, Cis. I, we made this bet when I told you that, that Buffalo would beat the Eagles, but I thought, delusionally at that point, this is like a month ago,

I thought the Cowboys would catch the Eagles. East. I thought they could win out. So this is a game that I thought the Eagles definitely would lose at Buffalo. And I still like them to lose at Buffalo because since then, I watched the Eagles the Friday after Thanksgiving at home against the Bears give up 281 rushing yards. Remember that? No, we don't remember that. We don't remember that at all. I do. And I watched the Eagles the last two Sundays get right, get healthy on the Raiders and the commanders, which left. for the commanders. We could barely beat the commanders yesterday. But the point is, James Cook now

leads the league in rushing, quietly off radar. He leads the league in rushing. Josh Allen obviously leads all quarterbacks in rushing. They are going to run the ball down Philly's throat in this game. And Philly, again, you can rip Buffalo's defense, but they just make plays. They bend, but they don't break. They make plays. Big experienced plays. And Philly is 21st in scoring. They just can't score. So how are they going to score a lot of points at Buffalo? Buffalo is going to score.

I got it 30 to 24. I'll give Philly points. They've been scoring a lot of points these last few weeks, though. Yeah, average in 30. Yeah. Against the Raiders. Y'all think it's going to be a high-power game? I think it's going to be a low-scoring game.

I think it's going to be field goals. Mid. Phil goes in the cold. Mid-and-the-cold, like, 24-17. 13. That's very low. 13.10. I think defenses show up. Both sides.

Defense to show up, run the stop. If we know what you just said about both sides, about Josh Allen being able to run the ball the way he does, knowing to drop back and it's going to be cold, knowing that Cook is going to run the ball, Carter's going to have to show, we have to show our guys got to

show up, right? Knowing that the game plan is to force us to stop the run so that Josh can actually run and throw. Now, if we can do that, I think we slow down there scoring, but on our side of scoring. I don't think Jaylen, with Brown and Smith, has ever been throughout this whole season on the same accord. And I don't think Chequan has the new O.C. I don't like him. I ain't liked him from the start because he's changed the whole offense.

So being able to run the way we ran last year is non-existent. So if you think about us running the ball against them, trust Jaylen Hertz's arm in the snow against the top defense, we are going to have even more trouble scoring the ball. But I think we can get down the field. I think we can get past the 50-yard line, get some good quick field goals that can sustain the game, hold us accountable to playing defense and stopping them when it matters.

But what do I know? I'm just a guy that likes Philly. But I'm just saying If they can make it a low-scoring game We got a chance to win And at any point that they start scoring at a high clip Like you're saying, a 20-plus point game We don't have a chance

Buffalo's won four straight You're not afraid? I can see it in your eyes You're a little afraid Not at all. That's what they do You know how Buffalo do They win a big game Then they flop, you know what I'm saying That's their MO all season

So I'll do stake 48. All right. How about that? I haven't been there, yeah. You've been there before? Yeah. I haven't been there.

That's the new Mastros, un-initiated? Better. Yep. But it's the same people, though, right? Is it a place to take to work? It is. Good workplace? Premium work.

Premium. Premium. Not outback level work. Don't, don't it. Premium. Premium? The premium? State 48 premium work.

Oh, yeah. Stay 47 and lower tier. State 60, 70, 80 bucks a piece. So yeah, you're going to. And you know, Bottle wine $5. It's dessert after.

They got opus one on the menu, so like they got opus on the menu. It was definitely dessert after. Yeah, definitely. They got open. They got opus on the menu. So, before we sign off today,

it's time to announce the winners of our first ever little holiday giveaway. For Monday and Tuesday shows, congratulations to underdog users. C1 Fly Solo and S.B. Vito, you've both won $300 in underdog.

And for today's show, congratulations. The underdog user, Raymo Ray, 24. You won the final price of $600 in underdog bonus funds. Let's go. Thank you to everyone at home for playing along. What was it? Believe it was on the game.

He was on the game back there. LaLeep. I'm looking for you, man. Come back home. We need you, baby. Come back home. So we got to say a special shout out. Appreciate you to our good iron crew, Skip, and keep coming through.

Blessing us with your presence. Talk a little basketball. Talk a little football. As always, Shoshra Damas, get some. love, the distinguished gentleman from Oak Cliff, Canyon Martin, get some love as well, shot. Shout out to Gerald McCoy. Gerald Denny.

You know, he's a Tampa Bay guy. He refused to apologize about his comments from Jalen Hertz. And now I told him I put a little hex on him. So now... Additional body bag. I didn't put him in the bag. Yeah, because he's the homie. He's my homie. But Gerald, I told

your ass. Hey, hey, you just put me as a Cowboys fan in the bag. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Bronco, we're still good, right? Yeah, you're definitely good because y'all, y'all got a chance to win out. There we go. Y'all got a chance to win out.

That's what we want to hear, baby. For sure. All right. I also want to wish a happy Kwanza to everybody who celebrates, but Merry Holiday season. Spell it, man. What? Spell it.

Kwanza. Spanza. Say all the celebration. Kwanza. Kwanza starts today. Shout out to everybody in the chat. Shout out to our entire staff and crew. This has been another episode of Gill's Arena, presented by Underdog.

We'll see y'all next week.