The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - New NBA Power Rankings + Rockets weird losses, Timberwolves beat Thunder, Jalen Brunson mini-leap

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

Jason reacts to a weird week of Houston Rockets basketball including Kevin Durant leading a win over Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets as well as some ugly losses to bad teams. He also discusses Anthony Edwards leading the Minnesota Timberwolves to a win over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Jalen Brunson taking another leap for the New York Knicks, and gives his latest NBA power rankings. All lines presented by Hard Rock Bet.  #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Body by Jake Radio, where hope meets momentum. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free. Have a great day. I heart radio. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. Gorsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew.

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on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The Volume. Welcome to Hips tonight here at The Volume. Happy Monday, everybody. Hope all of you guys had an incredible weekend. Got a jam-pack show for you guys today. The Houston Rockets, after getting a season-defining win on Saturday in Denver against the Nuggets, have sandwiched that with two losses

to two of the worst teams in the Western Conference involving crunch time issues, which I want to dive into. After that, the Minnesota Timberwolves got their season defining win on Friday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. I want to dive into that game. Jalen Brunson's leap into top tier superstardom

I want to talk about. And then as always on Monday, we have our weekly power rankings. Also, a little bit of a funky schedule this week because of Christmas, as you guys can tell. I am in Tucson. I am no longer up in Colorado visiting for Christmas. kind of an unusual thing there, but I'm very excited to be here to see some family and see some

friends and our schedule is a little bit tricky this week because of the holiday. So because we have Friday being a day that we're going to be reacting to the Christmas Day games, we will not have a mailbag on Friday. So we're going to have a mailbag coming out tomorrow. So obviously today's episode, mailbag tomorrow, no show on Wednesday and Thursday for the holiday, and then back on Friday to react to the Christmas Day games. You guys know the drill before we get started, subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Don't forget to like this video that helps us a lot. And then at the tail end there, drop your mailbag questions underneath this video in the comments. And we'll get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of the season.

All right, let's talk some basketball. So kind of a weird week of Houston Rockets hoops. They go on the road on Saturday. They get a huge win in Denver against the Nuggets. And it was a need they, it was a win that they absolutely needed. This was a series that they had been down to O so far this season. This is a major potential playoff matchup, probably second round that you could see these two teams battling for a couple of weeks. And you need to bank some sort of confidence in your team that you're capable of winning a series against this team after dropping 2-0. And they got that win. Much needed on Saturday. It wasn't like definitive. None of these three games have been definitive or anything like that. Both of these teams are going to look very different when they

face each other. If they face each other in May, Denver will also. obviously have a couple of starters back in Christian Brown and Aaron Gordon. I also thought Denver generally didn't shoot very well in this particular game, especially in like the late second quarter. I thought they missed a lot of looks that they typically make during that stretch that Houston went on a run. Credit Houston, we're going to talk about it in a minute. Showed up in the numbers, too. Houston was seven for 12 on open, unguarded catch and shoot threes. Denver was three for 13. That's obviously going to color things a little bit. Reed Shepard straight up outplayed Jamal Murray. Like if that kind of thing happens two or three times in a series, Houston's probably going to knock Denver out, right?

And then on the other end of it, Houston will probably have a Tari-Eason or a Dorian, Finney Smith. Maybe they'll end up making some sort of trade. They'll have that go-to-fifth guy that they haven't really been able to find so far this season. And I think Houston has a ton of room to improve between now and early May when a series like this could take place. So none of these games are definitive to a potential playoff result between these two teams. But I did think that that win was at least proof of concept that Houston can win a series against a team like Denver. I thought their size was a real problem for Denver.

You guys know me. I don't like focusing on shooting variants when we talk about shots going in or not going in. It's a factor. But I think there are several elements that lead to it, what the defense is doing, how fatigued are you? What's the flow and rhythm of the game like? Anybody who's ever played basketball to any extent will know. when you have an open shot and you've been comfortable all game and you've been playing really well,

you stand there and you're like, oh, you messed up, you left me open, this thing's going in. But if a dude's been in your jersey all game and you haven't gotten any open looks and the flow and rhythm of the game is really janky and clunky and it's physical and you're not feeling confident, that open shot can feel different, right? And I thought specifically in that late second quarter run, I thought Denver looked a little shell shocked by what Houston was doing to them, which can affect your shot result. and Houston was big and swarming, and Denver looked uncomfortable. And that sort of thing can lead to missed shots, and so I want to give Houston credit there. The second concept that I thought was interesting in this game was Reed Shepard's shooting,

especially against Yonis Valen Chinas in drop coverage in those bench looks. He did a ton of damage catching Yonis too far back on screens, just coming over the top and knocking down shots off the dribble. Reed is shooting 41% on pull-up threes this year off the dribble. 21 for 51. That's the kind of thing that could be a semi-reliable source of offense for Houston in a potential playoff series

against Denver. I thought it was a really nice win for Houston. And again, like I said, proof of concept that they can win a series like this. I hope we do get to see these two teams playing a playoff series. You could tell they don't like each other. I think it would be a ton of fun.

We got a little trash-talking match between Bruce Brown and Kevin Durant. I thought it was great. But surrounding that big win, there were two really embarrassing losses. to the two very worst teams in the Western Conference, both that started with blown lead. So they blew a 14.4th quarter lead against the Kings,

and then they blew a 25-point lead against the Pelicans. And each one of those games ended up kind of degrading down into a clutch battle that Houston ended up losing in overtime in both cases. And this is now officially becoming a real problem for the Rockets, a problem that we have to talk about. The Rockets are now six and eight in clutch games this season. Now, when you see a crazy result like that, a team that has as much talent as Houston has, and they drop eight games before Christmas in clutch situations,

you can't just synthesize it down to one thing. It's not any one player's fault. It's not just who's the fifth guy in the lineup. It's not just, you know, can they handle four on threes or is this a problem? It's a combination of all of those things that are leading to this kind of problem. Now, let's start with the lineup. So IME Udoka has basically tried three different directions at the end of these games from a lineup perspective. Obviously, your core four are Kevin Durant, Alper, and Shangoon, Amand Thompson, and Jabari Smith.

But then he's tried Reed Shepard, Stephen Adams, and Josh Okie is the main fifth guys in those groups. And then we saw a little bit of Tari Isson last night, although he ended up being the guy who made the critical mistake late in the game overhelping on a Demardor Rosen drive and leaving Dennis Schroeder open on the left wing, which ended up being the game winner. Now, as we kind of look at all these options, the Stephen Adams attempts that we saw against New Orleans, that was a disaster. I doubt we see that again anytime soon. He was the guy that was catching the ball in the short roll

on most of those KD traps and leading the four on three. And the advantage kept dying because Adams was bringing a bad combination of unaggressiveness, like just catching and turning and looking immediately to pass. But then also, In that situation, he's not a great passer, or even if he looks to be aggressive, he's not a great score. And so essentially, he would just catch the ball around the top of the key, and then New Orleans would just rotate right back out of it. The advantage would be gone.

Then essentially that trap of KD is worth nothing, right? And then on the other end of the floor, he was getting cooked in drop coverage, particularly by Trey Murphy. So I don't think we're going to see the Stephen Adams' fifth man look anytime soon. With Reed Shepard and Josh Okie, it's your classic offense defense conundrum, right? Like when Josh Okie is on the floor, you're fine defensively and you're faster afoot, a theme that I think is particularly important to Houston this year because they can be pretty slow in their front court when you've got KD, Shangun, and Jabari Smith out there. But he's not a guy who's a, you know, knocked down super confident.

He's shooting decently on, he's shooting like just over 40% on threes this year. But he's not a guy that's being guarded like a 40% three-point shooter. He's shooting that on absolute completely, like conceded wide open corner. threes and he's not a guy that's like super confident in that sort of situation right so then you try read and read is has been legitimately awful on defense in some of these situations and the king's game in particular i thought he was brutally bad i trimmed a clip that you guys can see in my twitter feed at underscore jason lt where he was picking up demartorosen on a drive on the right wing and just like matt adored him just let him go right around and just kind of like haplessly swiped at the basketball as he

was going by. That's not going to get the job done. He gave an easy angle to Dennis Schroeder on a drive. He fouled DeMardo Rosen on another pull-up around the foul line. They were just relentlessly targeting him. And you know, here's the thing with Reed. I think he's proven that he's more than capable of being a legitimate rotation piece, like a guy who could be your six, seventh, eighth man for a serious team because of how gifted he is as a shooter. Like, you can really shoot the ball off the dribble and off the catch. But I don't think he's even close to ready to being like, the fifth guy that's going to be alongside Kevin Durant, Alper, and Shangun in like the final five minutes of a pivotal playoff game. Like, I don't think that's the look. So obviously, getting a better

fifth guy will go a long way to helping them, right? Maybe that ends up being Dorian Finney Smith. He's a solid defender, very good catch and shoot player. My issue with Dorian Finney Smith is he's not particularly fast. And we saw some issues, especially in the Pelicans game, where speed was like a problem for them. So like, when you already have Kevin Durant, Shangun, and Jabari, Smith out there and they're pretty slow-footed, you add an older Dorian Finney Smith out there. That's a pretty bad foot speed deficit that you're going to be operating at against most of these teams, especially against some teams that have faster guards. Tari Easton's an interesting option.

He's been shooting the absolute seams off the basketball this year. He's over 40, over 50% from three, although I'd kind of argue that I'm not necessarily convinced that he's going to just be a knockdown guy in the playoffs. We'll see. but I have my skepticism surrounding that. But Tari is at least like a big, fast athlete on the perimeter that can add to the foot speed dynamic. But again, Tari makes a big mistake late in the game.

Overhelping on a Dennis Schroeder drive gives up the game winner. Maybe it ends up being a guy they trade for. I don't know. But regardless of who it ends up being as that fifth guy, there are at least some issues we have to dive into on both ends of the floor that will need to be dealt with regardless of whether or not they find the perfect fifth man or not. not. Now, the offensive end I'm less worried about than the defensive end, but they do need work there. The big thing that kept bothering me in the Kings game last night is they seemed to be

surprised every time the doubles come to Shangun on a post-up or on a KD ISO or a trap and a ball screen. There was one in particular, latent regulation. It was the one that led to the runout for Russell Westbrook's game tying three. Kevin Aran gets trapped right off the right wing. Westbrook ends up jumping that first pass to Alper and Shangoon is wide open on the left wing. And I freeze framed this and pause that you guys can see it on my Twitter feed in the same thread with that clip with Reed Shepard. But you can see Akogi Thompson and Smith all standing down on the baseline,

either with their hands on their knees or their hands on their hips. Now I get it, you're tired, whatever. But like, you know the double team's coming and they just jumped the first pass. As a result, they're late to flash up. The possession completely falls up. part and Shangoon ends up jacking up a, like, kind of like a foul, grifty type of three on the left wing that has no chance to go in, run out, Russell Westbrook ties the game. And it's like, Kevin Ranceman getting trapped by everybody. The book is out now. These teams know that Houston

struggles with doubles and traps. So that's what they're going to see in these situations almost every single time. Guys need to be on their toes and they need to be ready to attack that situation. If they don't jump the short roll pass, The guy who catches there needs to turn and immediately attack. They had bad reps in the Pells game where Adams would catch there and not look to attack, right? And the advantage would die. They had good reps in the Kings game last night where Shangoon caught there. Attacked got into his little left shoulder hook.

Attacked, got a little lob to him and Thompson. When the guy catches there and looks to attack, good things happen. If you attack, the next read is easy. If you don't attack, then they prey on your. your indecisiveness by splitting the difference and that buys them a chance to rotate, right? Now, if teams jump the short roll pass, like what happened with Russell Westbrook on that play with Shangoon at the top of the key, you need those other dudes to be on their toes, quickly reading where that jump is coming from, and then the next guy needs to flash.

And that ignites the exact same sequence of events. You see where that second, that third defender is run into Shangun. that guy needs to immediately flash up to the ball, be ready for it so that it's quick, and then immediately turn to attack and then wait for the defense to react to that attack. These are the kinds of things that, again, they've been seeing every single game in these situations. They've got to be more ready for it. Now, the reason that I'm less worried about this specific end of the floor is twofold. One, they're just going to have so many reps.

Everyone's doing it. No one's going to stop. It's the best way to guard this team at the end of a game. So they're just going to get, between now and mid-April, a million opportunities to kind of straighten this out and figure out how to do it better. Also, I would argue four-on-three basketball is some of the easiest basketball you'll play.

I've seen a lot of talk about, oh, the rockets need a point guard, the rockets need a point guard. And, like, there's some validity there in the sense that, like, sometimes I wish there was a steady ball handler who would be like, hey, let's find a way to get this ball to KD, because there will be these possessions where KD doesn't get the basketball for, you know,

two, three possessions in a row, and that can feel silly. but that to me is really the only advantage there because, you know, a point guard is going to be smaller, he's going to give things up defensively, he's not going to have as much of an athletic imposition on the game. And let's say he does get the ball to KD.

What happens next? A trap. So it's like, to me, the point guard thing is overstated. The entire purpose of a point guard in the most valuable sense of the word is if he can create advantage for you. And the Rockets don't need help with that. they've got lots of dudes who can create advantage,

and they got two dudes who are consistently drawing two to the ball in crunch time. So, like, you've won the battle there. Once you've brought two to the ball, you've officially broken the defense. Your job there is to then capitalize on that. The Rockets, in my opinion, have a lot more to gain by figuring out how to keep capitalizing on these four-on-threes than they do by having someone who's going to do a better job

of getting the ball to Kevin Durant, where he's just going to immediately draw another double- team anyway. So I'm not sitting there saying like if you can't get a big point guard who can also be good on defense and also help this team. And it makes sense in the trade market that you don't jump on something like that. And certainly Fred Van Fleet would help. He'd probably be the perfect fifth guy because he's a good defender because he can hit a catch and shoot three, because he can run some action and he can actually make sure the ball gets to KD. And you know, that'd be great if you can find a Fred Van Van Fleet. But in terms of the asset that you'd have to send out to achieve that type of player,

all you're really doing is getting a player that's going to get the ball to KD or he's going to get doubled or trapped and you're going to have the exact same four on three problem that you've been having all season. Again, I'm less worried about that because they're just going to have so many reps. This is the easiest basketball you can play. I think they're going to find a way to score over the course of the season. Now, on the defense event, I think it's a little more tricky. One of the consistent issues they've been facing in all of these clutch losses is getting picked on and drop coverage. Alper and Shangoon has become an easy target for teams at the end of games in screening action and we've seen it in all of them. In the Pelicans game, we saw it as more of a

Stephen Adams issue, but it was just because Stephen was out there. If Stephen wasn't out there, they would have attacked Shangun in the exact same way, but it's more or less the same schematic problem. In the first Denver game, we saw it with Yokic popping out of ball screens. We saw it with Yokich on the roll, hitting Spencer Jones in the right corner for threes. Shangoon came up to the level and got toasted off the dribble by Jamal Murray for a layup. In the Sacramento game, The reason why the Kings got back in that game is down the stretch of the fourth quarter, they kept spamming little screening actions for Keegan Murray to go downhill. And he'd come over the top of the screen and there's Shangoon in this super deep drop.

And Keegan Murray's hitting jump shots and hitting floaters. And honestly, they got a little lucky because Keegan missed two very easy ones late in that fourth quarter curling over those screens as Shangun was in drop. That issue is not going away, even if you do find the perfect fifth man. So you basically have two directions you can go there. You can try to switch more with Shangun. That shuts off the automatic advantage that comes from putting two on the ball or by giving that easy little gap between the bracket of the drop for the guy to look to score.

But the downside there, Shangun's been pretty bad statistically against ISO this year. I would like to see that a little bit more, though, because Shankun is a decent athlete. So maybe you can get him to like sag off a little bit, contest, pull up jump shots, contain the ball. it's worth at least experimenting with a little bit. But the other direction you can go is the Denver Nuggets route. Denver has been contending with this exact same issue for years with Yokic and drop coverage and they've been okay. They have two main counters to this problem.

One, they do a ton of pre-switching. So you'll see Yokic, and Houston saw this in the game, and that was when Shangoon was attacking Cam Johnson and Spencer Jones and Post-ups, if you guys remember. Those were screening actions where they were trying to target Yokic. But Yokch just stays in the weak side corner, he waves a different defender, in this case, Cam or Spencer, to go actually follow Shangun up into the screen, and then they can switch the ball screen or for Shangun to try to post up, right?

So, like, that's one thing you can do to try to consistently protect Shangun is keep him tucked away off the ball in the corner. And if Shangun's man ever goes up to go set a screen, you just send one of your wings up with him so that you can switch that action. Keep your best primary defenders on the ball as much as possible. But inevitably, teams are going to find a way to get your man into the screen. And one of the things the nuggets have done over the years is when Yokic gets into the screen, they bring him aggressively up to the level to make the ball handler give it up. And then they've gotten very good at rotating out on the four on threes in the back end. But Houston is going to have to figure out some combination of counters there.

Because again, the book is out. If Reed Shepard's on the floor, they're attacking him with their guards. and if he's off the floor, they're attacking Shangoon in his drop coverage. Again, this one I'm a little less optimistic about than the offense event because it's just really difficult to handle. Remember when I was talking about how four-on-three offense is the easiest form of basketball to play? Well, three-on-four defense is some of the hardest basketball to play. And one of the differences between Denver and Houston,

because guess what, Denver did give up buckets on the four-on-threes. Jabari-Smith got a wide-open three in the left corner. in the, again, there was two Denver games last week. So I'm talking about the first one there. Jabari got a big three in the corner off of one of those four on threes. But the difference is Denver knows that even though they have Yokic as an entry point into their clutch defense, they feel pretty good about their ability to outscore you. Because they have one of the best half-court offenses in the history of the league.

I'm not sure Houston's at that level, right? So again, the good news is for Houston, they have a ton of time to figure things out between now and May. But I don't care what they get is that fifth guy. I don't care if it's the dream point guard they've been looking for. I don't care if it's Dorian Finney Smith or it's Tari Easton or some other player that they trade for. They're going to have to be able to figure out how to protect Shangoon in drop coverage

and they're going to have to figure out how to quickly process those four on threes because I don't care who that fifth guy is. They're going to keep doubling Shangoon and they're going to keep doubling Kevin Duran, especially in his ball screens. Want to know where I bet on basketball during the holiday season? It's Hard Rock Bet, not just because it's the presenting sponsor of our show, but because they make it easy to bet before Tip Off and in the middle of the action with just a few simple taps.

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What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special.

So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letter help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band

with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Gianmanca seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad,

but secretly he became someone else. A master of disguise. who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong and what that might look like?

No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life. That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever because everything that had existed prior in my reality

is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is. Getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is. Getting a new one put up in its place.

As long as there's a politics of race in America, there's going to be a politics of remembering the civil war. To get to school, I had to go down Robert Ely Boulevard. Get to the grocery store, I had to go down Jefferson Davis Parkway. If you're an historian and you leave out half of what the history is, you're not doing your job. I'm Akila Hughes. In Rebel Spirit, Season 2 goes deep on both of those things. The fights, the politics, the people who won, and my person. campaign to add something to the Kentucky State House that's actually worth the wall space.

We are more than our bodies. We contain essence. We contain spirit. How do you represent that? They are just fueling a fire that is really catching. You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. Georgia accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of Housewives show.

I think it looks like it's going to be interesting. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise. The drama, the alliances, and the team everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television, I'm not just watching. it, I understand the game. As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this. At the end of the day, when people are at home,

they want entertainment. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. All right, let's move on to Minnesota. I said early in the season, as Minnesota was struggling, that I will never make the mistake of

underestimating the Minnesota Timberwolves. And I think they demonstrated why in a big way on Friday night. Again, they've had a weird season. They're sitting at 19 and 10. They've won nine of their last 11 games, but they've been awful against teams that are 500 or better in that span, and they've lacked like that signature win that demonstrates their upside. We finally got that on Friday. And it ended in a iconic moment from Anthony Edwards down the stretch. It was just a demonstration for about like, it happened fast, too, it was like a minute of the absurd S-tier athleticism

that Anthony Edwards has on both ends of the floor. He hits this nasty stepback three against Kason Wallace on the left wing where he gets amazing separation and lift against one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. Then on the other end of the floor, he late peels off his man and blocks Shay at the rim. Then he, on the ensuing kind of chaos,

he gets a huge defensive rebound, a contested rebound in the middle of the lane, just flies over to everybody, gets it. Then after knocking down the free throws, he goes down to the other end of the floor, picks up Shea and ISO, locks him up and strips him clean to seal the game. And again,

it happened in like a minute. It was just an avalanche of athletic superpower. And it was a reminder of just how special Anthony Edwards is in a league full of special players. And I think he's particularly important, too,

because that was unbelievable to watch. He is must-see television. And we're in a league right now that at the top, when you look at the stars, it lacks that must-see TV superstar. And this league has always been about that kind of guy, whether it was Michael Jordan or was Kobe Bryant or it was LeBron and Steph in the last era.

Obviously, with MJ Kobe and LeBron, you have these apex athletes that do things we never had seen before above the rim and, you know, moving their body, in ways you just don't see. And then Steph, I'd argue when he's on a heart, when Steph is on a hot streak, I'd argue he's the greatest show in the history of sports. It's unbelievable when he's on a hot streak.

But right now your top four are Yokic, who plays a below the rim style. It's ruthlessly effective. And, you know, it can be fun to watch for us basketball nerds, but it's not exactly must-see television in terms of what he's doing aesthetically at his position. Shea and Luca are literally both below-the-rim shooting guards. who rely heavily on foul grifting and contested jump shots.

And Janice, I think he's a remarkable athlete, but he does not bring that same aesthetic flair as his athletic predecessors. Now, before you all get pissed off at me, I'm not talking about us. I'm not talking about the hoop heads like me or you guys, most of the people who listen to this show. We all love basketball so much

that we find joy watching the beautiful brand of basketball that Nicole Yokic plays. Like, I think the Nuggets are one of my favorite watches in the league right now. They play a beautiful brand of basketball for basketball nerds like us. Or, like, when we watch Shay and Luca, we appreciate the insane, refined skill

that leads to their massive scoring totals. Or we've watched Janus develop into a more polished, dominant two-way player in this league. But I'm not talking about us. I'm talking about the masses. The millions and millions of casual fans out there they always seem to resonate with the must-see TV stars of years past. Go look up the finals ratings.

Go look up the Kobe finals in the late 2000s. Go look up the LeBron finals with the heat. Go look up the LeBron Steff battles in the mid-2010s. Hell, even of this recent run, and in these recent finals, we've seen Shea in a finals, we've seen Luca in a finals, we've seen Yokic in a finals, we've seen Tatum in a finals. We've seen Yonis in a finals. none of them came close to the ratings that Steph put up in 2022.

Like ultimately, this league at the top and the top tier superstars does not have a star that is resonating with the masses. And I think that's why the league needs Ant to pop. Him and Wembe, those are the next two up-and-coming stars that actually bring real must-see TV potential for the masses that can drive the next era of NBA popularity. Ant, because of what he did on Friday night, this minute-long stretch where you're just like, just in awe watching the screen because of his apex, apex athleticism,

or Wembe, because he's this freaky alien that does things we've never seen before. I just, after that run from Ant against Shea, I just found myself thinking about this idea after the game. Like, Aunt's staying in there, he's yelling, he's just big old smile on his face. He's looking at the crowd like,

I'm on his ass, I'm on his ass, after he just strips Shea in front of everybody to seal the game. And it's like, you can't take your eyes off the screen. And I think it's just kind of like, again, a big, I think it's a very important future for this league for a guy like Ant to achieve his potential. And again, it's on Ant's going to have to do the work. And he demonstrated it in a big way against Shea in that game, but that's just one regular season game.

No one's giving you a title. No one's sending Oklahoma City home over one game on a Friday night in December. But Ant achieving his potential, I think, is very, important for the future of this league. But let's dig into the basketball for just a little bit with that game, because I thought it was fascinating. Minnesota won several physical battles in that game that I thought swung things in their favor. They had 18 offensive rebounds.

Gobert kicked Chet's ass in that game on the glass, including a big offensive rebound tapout that led directly to the Anthony Edwards game winner. He was killing Chet just by burying him and then reaching over the top and tapping the ball out to the perimeter where the Minnesota athletes were able to go get it. That's a real physical advantage for Minnesota. is bigger and stronger than Chet. I thought Minnesota did a great job of flattening out Oklahoma City's drives

in that fourth quarter. We talk about this a lot. Like, when you have a direct line drive to a layup, that thing's going in 100% of the time. But if you're hip to hip with the guy and he's now contending with you and kind of drifting sideways as he's going up for a layup,

those percentages plummet. And there were misses for J. Dub and A.J. Mitchell in particular in that fourth quarter where guys were flattening the drives and staying attached and forcing those to be much tougher shots that ended up missing. This is an Oklahoma City offense that I rarely see get rushed on that end of the floor. And Oklahoma City was rushing in that game.

That's the sort of thing that leads to the misses like you saw from Dort and Caruso down the stretch of that game. Julius Randall had a rough box score game, but I thought both him and Nas Reid were huge in that fourth quarter because they have size advantages. Nas had a big post bucket against J-dub on the left block. He had another big offensive rebound putback and won in that stretch. Julius hits a three over the top of Cason Wallace.

He can shoot over Cason. He's small. He had a big drive off the right wing, a big play late in the game where Nas Reid ended up flashing middle because Julius drew a second defender because he's big and strong driving to the basket. Nas hit like a little floater in the lane there. They have size and physical advantages all over the floor in this matchup. Those physical advantages kept the game close enough that Aunt had a chance to go toe to toe with shay.

and win that matchup, which he was able to do on Friday night. There are things I don't love about this matchup for Minnesota in the playoffs. I think that combination of athleticism and rim protection is really tough for their offense at times. I do not like how they always pick up Shea 40 feet from the basket with Jaden McDaniels so they can just set ball screens out there and Shay's just constantly getting downhill into the lane. I think Shea obviously is a better player than Aunt right now and is further along in his development. That's hard. I think you need Ant to be better than Shea in a playoff series.

and that's just a lot to ask with how much more experience Shea has. But what Minnesota does bring is the size and athleticism that can really cause Oklahoma City problems on the margins. They won the possession battle in that game, which is something you almost never see against OKC. And if nothing else, it was just a great reminder of why I view Minnesota as such a dangerous playoff team, despite the fact that they've had an uneven start to the season.

They may not reach that level very often in a November, December, January, but they have the ability to really ratchet up the size and athleticism to a level that's capable of breaking any team in the NBA, including Denver, including Oklahoma City. Has Jalen Brunson taken a leap?

I was watching this morning film of Jalen lighting up the Miami Heat this morning, from yesterday's game in Madison Square Garden. And he's just on an incredible run of scoring against some really high level defensive guards. Like we saw in the tournament what he did to San Antonio's

what he did to Orlando's guards, what he did to Toronto's guards. Davian Mitchell looked completely overmatched against him yesterday. Jalen was, first of all, getting him off balance and not being bothered by his ball pressure at all, but he was also able to just easily shoot over the top of him because of his size advantage. 47 points and 8 assists with zero turnovers in that command of the game, the lack of mistakes, the lack of missed shots and the lack of turnovers looks different than it did in the past. there's a level of comfort, a level of command with Jalen Brunson in his game that seems to be above what we've seen in recent years. And it shows pretty clearly in the numbers.

So obviously he's averaging a career high 29 points per game, 60% true shooting. But in this recent run, in his last seven games, 33 points and seven assists, just 1.4 turnovers per game. That's Shay, that's Jay Gildes with Alexander level of hoops right there. the same kind of stuff we've been seen from Shea and calling it one of the best two guard seasons ever. That's what Jalen Brunson's been doing in the last few weeks. 51% from the field, 43% from the line. 64% true shooting with less than one and a half turnovers. Again, the level he's been at for three weeks now is that of a top tier superstar.

Not a second tier superstar. There's obviously a level of large sample consistency that he'll have to maintain if he wants to like really enter into that conversation. But this just looks different to me. And it's one of the main reasons why I'm really starting to buy Nick's stock. Like in addition to Brunson looking like a top tier superstar, the Knicks just continue to put together these defensive runs that shut down games. Like they had one in the second quarter against Miami yesterday

where they're flying around and they shut down that offense and turned the game around. They had one in the fourth quarter against the spurs. They've been consistently way better at the end of games. Their defensive rating in clutch situations, this year is almost 12 points per 100 possessions better than it was last year. That's, it's really that simple. Like, you want to know why the Knicks to me are right now my favorite to win the Eastern Conference.

It's because they're a good bit better on both ends of the floor. Jalen Brunson's better. They're better in crunch time and those top end opponents that they had to contend with last year just aren't there. And so they're poised for their best shot at the finals since 1990. All right, let's get into our power rankings before we call it today. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news.

What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a podcast. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend.

But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And, well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an

a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is. Getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is. Getting a new one put up in its place. As long as there's a politics of race in America, there's going to be a politics of remembering the Civil War. To get to school, I had to go down Robert Lee Boulevard. Get to the grocery store. I had to go down Jefferson Davis Parkway. If you're an historian and you leave out half

of what the history is, you're not doing your job. I'm Akila Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 goes deep on both of those things. The fights, the politics, the people who won, and my personal campaign to add something to the Kentucky State House that's actually worth the wall space. We are more than our bodies.

We contain essence. We contain spirit. How do you represent that? They are just fueling a fire that is really catching. You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio Act.

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Giamanka seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad, but secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about

how it could go wrong on what that might look like. No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever, because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue.

Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. Gorsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of Housewives show. I think it looks like it's going to be interesting. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King,

recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the team everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television, I'm not just watching it. I understand the game. As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this. At the end of the day, when people are at home,

they want entertainment. To hear this and more, Listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Again, all of our lines are provided by our partner, Hard Rock Bet. Number 10, the Philadelphia 76ers currently plus 6,000 to win the title on Hard Rock Bet. They're 6 and 2 in their last eight games, continuing to win with their defense. Their fourth and defensive rating in that span up to 11th on the season,

doing a really good job of using their speed to chase teams off the three-point line and funnel them into their bigs. And they're also starting to turn their opponents over and get out in transition. more as a result of that than they did to start the year. They have, in their last 10 games, they're averaging 19 points off of turnovers, which is the fifth most in the NBA. Before that, in their first 17 games, they were getting just 16 and a half points off of turnovers per game, which was 23rd in the NBA.

So generating more margin there. Starting to get some real buildup from their older stars. And Bid and Paul George are both moving better and shooting the ball better from three than they did to start the year. Tyrese Maxie is still playing like an MVP candidate. Vijay Edgecombe is like stroking it from three. he's been deadly in this six and two stretch. He's up to 38% on the season.

The Philadelphia 76ers playing some really good basketball. Number nine, the Boston Celtics, currently plus 3,000 to win the title on Hard Rock Bet. Took a couple of tough losses to Milwaukee without Yonnes. And then the Pistons game, we covered that on Tuesday last week, a brilliant closing run from Cade Cunningham. And they really struggled with some of those Pistons,

perimeter defenders as they couldn't generate a quality look there down the stretch. And especially in the Milwaukee game, they showed some of their old demons where they can just go super cold from three. and stop attacking the basket. But a couple of really nice bounceback wins, including a game in Toronto last night where their deep bench just completely flipped the game.

Luca Garza was like protecting the rim super well, like you wouldn't expect from him. Hugo Gonzalez and Baylor Shireman were driving closeouts and getting layups, Anthony Simons, and Peyton Pritchett were literally like just ripping the cord from mid-range, like not even touching the rim. There was about a three-minute stretch from the end of the third quarter

of the early fourth quarter where the Celtics just completely flipped that game. able to close things from there. Again, like the NBA regular season is long and difficult. And you're going to have adversity. You're going to have straight. I mean, the Thunder are arguably the best team ever. And they're one and two in their last three games. You're going to find adversity.

It's about how you respond as much as anything else. I thought it was a really nice response from the Celtics last week and a big win on the road in Toronto. Number eight, the Houston Rockets currently plus a thousand to win the title on Hard Rock. We did a full segment on them early in the show, so I won't stay here long. They had their biggest win of the season. on Sunday, or Saturday, excuse me, against the Nuggets, but surrounded that with three losses and clutch situations,

two of which were against two of the worst teams in the West, shining a light on some flaws that they'll absolutely have to fix. They want to reach their goals. I still believe in the Rockets as a real contender, but they have a lot of work to do between now and April. Number seven, the Los Angeles Lakers, currently plus 1,300 to win the title on Hard Rock Bet. They still haven't lost two games in a row this season,

but they're four and four in their last eight games, and now their depth is starting to get tested. they finished that Clippers game with LeBron James as their only healthy starter after Luca left in the first half. I kind of was weirdly happy with how they played in that game. Like the early deficit, it was primarily a product of Zubots just destroying Jackson Hayes, which again, like that's going to be DeAndreighton, typically. It's a tough matchup for Jackson. He's just giving up so much weight there.

His first shift, he just got destroyed before Zubat's turned his ankle pretty bad. And then Luca, that might literally be the worst stretch of basketball I've ever seen him play. that first in that first quarter in particular, just jacking up bad shots and missing, turning the ball over, playing Matador defense. From that point forward, though, I was impressed by their fight, especially in that second half. Like, I thought LeBron and the Lakers bench just put an admirable fight forward. Like, they continue to get good defensive returns out of that La Ravia Vanderbilt Jackson Hayes trio. When you have them alongside LeBron, they just compete really hard and they stay attached to their opponents. And I thought it was by far the most explosive LeBron's

looked all season, just getting dribble penetration whenever he wanted. He generated a ton of good looks. I actually thought the Lakers could have had a decent chance to win that game if they were to just shot the ball better. They generated 15 wide open catch and shoot threes in that game and made just two of them, just a brutally bad shooting performance. But despite the encouraging fight I saw from the depleted Lakers in that second half, I actually find myself getting lower and lower on them as the weeks go by. Luca hasn't been playing at a top five level for like about a month he's putting up massive numbers because of his high usage rate. He's at 37% usage, which is the highest usage rate in the entire NBA.

But his efficiency has sorely lacked behind his peers at the top of the league. He simply misses more shots and turns the ball over far more than any of those dudes at the top of the league do. Shea Janice Oryokic. And he's the weakest defender in that group. So to put it very simply, the Lakers need Luca to be much, much better or they're not winning anything this year. and the team is really starting to fall apart physically. Austin's hurt. Rui's hurt.

Luca left the last game hurt. Gabe is hurt. And they're about to head into a brutal stretch of their schedule as they have Phoenix and Houston this week. To me, they feel like the sixth best team in the West right now. Like I think Minnesota looks better. San Antonio looks better.

Houston looks better. Denver looks better. Oklahoma City looks better. Like, I'm not saying that's the end of the story. Like the Lakers have a lot of potential to improve between now and then. and they could certainly make a trade to kind of anchor things and be better. But like at a stat, top six in the Western Conference,

they feel like the sixth best team to me right now. And a big part of that is, you know, Luca has not been able to reach the level of the top tier superstars in the league for a solid month now. They don't look very athletic. They look really bad on defense. It just isn't looking good for me in Lakerland. I'm hoping, because I root for this team,

I'm hoping that I'm just being overly pessimistic. But we'll see how things go over the course. of the next few weeks. Number six, the Denver Nuggets, currently plus 700 to win the title on Hard Rock Bet. The loss to Houston doesn't concern me much. It's really hard to beat a team three times in a row, let alone a legit championship contender. So it is what it is. They had a miserable shooting night, too. They're down just so much of their athleticism. Peyton Watson ended up getting like a contusion. So him, Christian Brown, and Aaron Gordon are all out. They had won six games in a row before that game, which is super impressive. And then another significant bright spot, once again,

going plus six in that Rockets game without Yokic, despite a crazy hot shooting performance from Reed Shepard against Jonas Valchunis and drop coverage. They are now up, continuing to tick up. They're up to negative three and a half points, negative 3.5 per 100 possessions per cleaning the glass with Yokic off the floor. That's considerably better than it was to start the season

and way, way, way better than it was in previous seasons. They're even having success with these groups that have Yokich and Murray off, geared around defense. Most recently, a Pickett, Brown, Tim Hardaway, Cam Johnson and Jonas Valanchunis look just getting some really high-level defense and shooting from Jalen Pickett and all those guys competing defensively.

Jonas giving them an offensive fulcrum to play around. Those groups are plus two and a half points per 100 possessions this season. All the groups that have Yonit have Yolkich and Jamal Murray off the court. Number five, Minnesota Timberwolves, plus 3,000 to win the title according to Hard Rock Bet. We hit them early in the show, so I'm not going to stay here long.

They're nine and two in their last 11 games. Got a signature win against the Thunder. a team that I'm seriously considering moving into my top tier contenders list. Next week we have Sam Vassini coming on the show, and we're going to dig into those contenders. We'll dive further into that concept when we get there. Number four, the San Antonio Spurs currently plus 2,500 to win the title on Hard Rock Bet. They had a relatively light schedule last week after a brutal stretch.

Like they just ran a Nuggets, Wolves, Magic, Cavs, Lakers, Thunder, Nick, scontlet. So, like, they were due a break. We got a couple of games against Washington last week. They won those games. And then they had a dominant defensive performance on the road in Atlanta where they just completely shut them down in the first half to take a 24-point lead. They have a playoff style home-and-home with the Oklahoma City Thunder this week on Tuesday and Thursday, though. A potential second-round preview that I'm super excited for. Those are going to be really fun games.

Looking forward to diving into those ones with you guys when we get to Friday. Number three, the New York Knicks currently plus 1,300 to win the title on Hard Rock Bet. We hit them early in the show, so I'm not to stay here long. They're just better across the board. Josh Hart, Oge, and Annobe, and Mikhail Bridges are all better on both ends of the floor than they were last year. Brunson is taking an apparent leap into superstardom. This looks like a Knicks' like a Knicks on a mission to go to the finals. Number two, the Detroit Pistons, currently plus 2,000 to win the title on Hard Rock Bet.

Lost a tough game in Dallas where Cooper Flagg just torched them with drives over and over again, either making shots at the rim or engaging Jalen Duren there, which opened up a lane for Anthony Davis to fill in behind for putbacks. We saw Cade get targeted a little bit in that game in Garland. guard screens. The Pistons kind of struggled with their hedge and recover look. They had a botched hedge that led to another drive. They tried switching and Cooper was just getting downhill on Cades. Like something to keep an eye on there. We saw Cade get targeted a little bit. Overall, a solid week, though. They beat the Celtics behind a brilliant crutch time performance from Cade and some stifling perimeter defense. They just bring these waves of elite perimeter defenders that can really

wear you down. They just beat the absolute crap out of the Hornets the other night. I'm just loving how physically imposing this team is at every level. And I think they're a trade away from being a substantial favorite in the Eastern Conference if they can pull off that big upgrade at the power forward spot. Number one, the Oklahoma City Thunder, currently even odds plus 100 to win the title on Hard Rock bet. Finally, a little adversity for the Thunder. They lost two of their last three games.

Three of their old demons popped up in these losses. Turnovers, they had 27 of them in the two losses. Shea's turnovers have ticked up considerably since he started playing tougher competition, and missing threes. They're just 26% from three in those two losses. Then offensive rebounds, they allow the Spurs and the Timberwolves to grab 35% of their own misses in those two games.

No, the sky isn't falling, but it's just a nice little wake-up call for a Thunder team. And it's a reminder that winning a championship in the NBA is never easy, no matter how talented you are. It's going to take a lot of work. And they have another chance this week to send a message with a home-and-home against the San Antonio Spurs. Again, we'll be covering those games on Friday.

All right, guys, it's all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show. We'll be back tomorrow morning with a mailbag. And then on Friday for Christmas Day reaction, I will see you guys. Hey, guys, it's us and the Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick.

And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to our first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and...

sick, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an Acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement home. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Turn someday into right now with Buddy by Jake Radio, nonstop workout music and expert tips 24-7. Hey, head over to iHeart.com. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free right now. Awesome health and wellness tips 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Remember, stick to the fight. When your hardest hit, it's when things seem worst that you must not quit. Don't quit. Body by Jake Radio, where hope meets momentum.

Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free. Have a great day. I heart radio. I'm Joey Dardano, and on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant,

recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to me. This is Help from a Hypocrite The Worst Advocrit, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite Wednesdays on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. From IHeart Podcast, Saigon. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam?

One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. They're pouring patril all over here. Freedom, Bobby. There's a fire coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.