The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Reaction to EVERY NBA Xmas: Spurs/Thunder, Nuggets/Wolves, Lakers/Rockets, Dubs/Mavs, Knicks/Cavs

Episode Date: December 28, 2025

Jason gives 10 reactions to the 10 teams playing on NBA Christmas Day. He breaks down Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs being the NBA's best right now with another win over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Nikola Jokic leading an incredible Denver Nuggets win over Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves, Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors finding their footing with a win over Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks, Kevin Durant leading the Houston Rockets to a win over Luka Doncic, LeBron James and the pathetic Los Angeles Lakers, Jalen Brunson leading the New York Knicks to a win over Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers. All lines presented by Hard Rock Bet.  #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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Welcome to Hips tonight here at The Volume. Happy Friday, everybody. Hope all of you guys had an incredible holiday break. We had an incredible showcase for the NBA yesterday. Christmas Day is kind of like that first. big day that the NBA takes center stage. The NFL was graced us with an awful slate, thanks to a bunch of teams kind of being out of the playoff hunt

leading to some bad football games. But the NBA stepped right into that gap and provided some awesome basketball. I thought the best way for us to hit on all the games would be to go with one major takeaway from all 10 teams from that slate yesterday. Can't wait to dig it into it with you guys. You guys know the drill before we get started.

Subscribe to the UPSN. 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 lastly, if you want to get mailbag questions, drop them underneath this video. Put mailbag with a colon and write your question. We'll get to them on Fridays starting next Friday throughout the remainder of the season. So like I said, Christmas Day, first major showcase of the NBA season. It is revealing.

And it's funny because we've actually been going forever. We're over two months into this thing. We've had an whole in-season tournament. Every team has played like more than a third of their. games already. But in this environment, everyone's playing about as hard as you'll see them play in an NBA regular season game, at least for most of the teams. We'll get to the Lakers later on, but it can be revealing in a lot of ways. And so I thought this would be a good chance to bounce around. Let's start with their first big takeaway. Number one, the San Antonio Spurs are the best

team in the NBA right now. You don't have to take my word for it. Shea Gildes with Alexander basically said as much after the game yesterday. He said, quote, we have to get better as a group. You don't lose to a team three times in a row in a short span without them being better than you. Now, we'll get to some of the specifics that the Thunder have been struggling with in a minute, but I want to focus on this particular matchup, why the Spurs thrive in this matchup, and why the Spurs as a team have been better than everyone else in the league to this point. First of all, some stats. So on November 16th, the Spurs started this run. It was right after those consecutive games they lost to the Warriors at home. Those were the two games where,

Steph was amazing. Dearen Fox made his return. It got badly outplayed in the first game before coming back and being awesome. Victor Wemannama ends up getting hurt. But in that stretch, the Spurs really started to find a groove on offense, fueled by Deer and Fox playing some of the best basketball of his career. All of the young guards kind of being slotted appropriately as a result of that, starting to get healthy, finding their groove. And it led to this fast-paced, devastating driving kick attack, where the Spurs were generating a ton of high-quality, threes, getting to the rim a ton and shooting a high percentage on everything.

They were 11th in restricted area makes. Since November 16th, 11th in made threes per game. Seventh and three point percentage, they've been the fourth best offense in the entire NBA in that span. A 120 offensive rating, which, as you guys know, that's kind of like the benchmark for elite offense in the modern NBA.

If you can get that offensive rating up over 120, which they've been. They've also really started to dominate on the margins. They're plus 3.4 and points off of turnovers every game since November 16th. They're plus 2.1 in second chance points. And they're plus 2.1 in fast break points. Those are the three main margins. They are winning every single one of those margins by a decent chunk every single game.

Now, obviously, there's a little bit of overlap there between things like fast break points and points off of turnovers. But if you're getting like a half dozen points and positive margin every single night, that's going to help you win a lot of basketball games. Now, the defense struggled a little bit while Wembe was out, but I talked at the time, I was really excited to see because even though the defense was struggling, the guards, they were so athletic and scrappy on the wing,

I wanted to see that get combined with what Victor Wimb and Yama brought to the table to see if it would lead to anything. And oh my goodness, a 102.6 defensive rating since November 16. That's the second best defensive rating in the entire NBA. that's what Victor Wembeyanama does. When he's been on the floor, just Wembe on the floor,

in this stretch, they have an 89.5 defense rating. That is like shockingly good in a pretty good sample size, what, six or seven games at this point. Even the Luke Cornet groups with Wembe off the floor are defending a lot better than they did before Wembe came back. So you've got the fourth best offense in the league in this span.

The second best defense over the course of this previous six games, what does that amount to? Since November 16th, and by the way, I want to add this in there too, that defense has been so good statistically that even if you add it to all of the bad defensive data before Wembe came back, in this stretch since November 16th, they're now 10th in defensive rating. That's how good they've been on defense in this last couple of weeks. But since November 16th, the spurs are 15 and 3. That is the best record in the NBA. the Pistons and Thunder are both behind them tied at 13 and 4.

So strictly speaking by win percentage, they've been the best team in the league for about six weeks. And even if you want to zoom out to the entire season, there are only two and a half games back of the Thunder overall. In the standings, the Pistons actually are only one and a half games back in the thunder. It's starting to get a little bunched up between those three young and talented teams at the top. We're talking about a top four offense, top two defense, an earth-shattering defense with Wembe on the floor

and an offense that's really starting to bud. And again, like, will the Thunder have more to say over the course of the season? We're going to find out as time goes on. But very simply, the Spurs have been the best team in basketball over the course of the last six weeks. Now, let's talk about this matchup for a minute. Because this has been not just three and O, it's been dominance.

There have been wild runs in all three games. In the in-season tournament game, they had a 15-0 run to end the first half. In the game on Tuesday down in San Antonio, the spurs hung 43 points on them just in the fourth quarter to blow them out by 20. And yesterday in Oklahoma City, a 13-0 run to end the first quarter

that completely flipped the game. And the Thunder couldn't even make a run to threaten them down the stretch. They never got any closer than nine points over the final 21 minutes of that game. So this is three straight games, one on a neutral site, one in San Antonio, and one in Oklahoma City, where the Spurs didn't just beat the Thunder, they had runs where the Thunder looked utterly helpless. So why is that?

What is the secret formula? Why are they able to pull this off? And this is where I actually want to dig into the offensive end a little bit, because the defense we covered at length after the in-season tournament game, and that dynamic has not changed. San Antonio can really protect the rim. Wemby, obviously, is the game-breaking defensive weapon that we've talked about, but also Luke Cornett, who's been phenomenal defensively in this stretch.

You're getting 48 minutes of excellent rim protection from those two guys. When you combine that with them being bigger and more athletic on the perimeter, and now those guys have free reign to press up on Oklahoma City's guards, close that space, get great contests on their jumpers. And we're going to dig into this when we talk about Oklahoma City, but they're in a jump shooting spiral now, in large part because of them getting those contests. There has been a huge difference in Oklahoma City's efficiency this year

between when they are guarded on catch and shoots versus when they are unguarded. And there just haven't been teams that have been able to contain the ball well enough to be able to offer the types of closeouts into disintegrate the, quality of their catch and shoot opportunities to actually make them miss shots as they've been one of the best jump shooting teams in the league to start this year. And so as a result, because they're able to take away the spacing, because they're able to press up on these guards, even they're off the dribble shooters are starting to really struggle. Like that was Shea's

worst game of the season by far yesterday. His lowest scoring total, he was below 40% from the field, really started to jack up bad shots in that second half and decompose a little bit. in his game management. Like, this dynamic isn't changing. Oklahoma City is going to have to figure out how they're going to score against San Antonio if they're going to survive in a playoff series. And again, we'll dig more into San Antonio, or excuse me, we'll dig more to Oklahoma City in a minute.

But the Spurs have taken this all-time-grade Oklahoma City defense, and they've cut it to pieces in these three games. Again, this is the team with the highest relative defensive rating in the history of the If you take their defensive rating and you compare it to the league average, it's a substantially larger gap than any team in the history of basketball. And yeah, they had played a light schedule, but the metrics were so absurd that even if you accounted for that, they were all-time great.

And they had broken every other great offense they had run into before this point. And yet the Spurs, in these three games, have logged a 121 offensive rating. We talked about that 120 number earlier as like the benchmark for elite modern NBA offense. The Spurs have now done that against the thunder in 144 minutes of basketball. And the dynamic on the film is actually pretty clear. And I want to go away from Wemby here and zoom in on the guards because Wembe obviously plays a role. He's an offensive ceiling razor in his own way.

His ability to kind of catch at the high post and just dictate a bunch of attention has inverted the space. in a way that has allowed their guards to get open on cuts along the baseline. And these guards, they're all like 666, 6, 6, 7, and can jump vertically off of a jump stop. So they can finish really well on these cuts. Wembe has been a dynamic to this offense as well. But I really want to zoom in on the guards and the wings. San Antonio is legitimately bigger, faster, and stronger than Oklahoma City on the perimeter.

And all of those dudes can really handle the basketball. that depth of ball handling, that advantage has allowed them to consistently break down Oklahoma City's defense at the point of attack. Deeran Fox is too fast for Alex Crusoe or Lou Dord. And he's too tall for Cason Wallace. Steph Castle, like, this is a whole thing. Like, Steph Castle is a combination of strength and size and mobility and footwork that is so rare in the NBA that I'm not sure when he gets into his late 20s. when he's in his prime, I'm not sure that he'll ever run into a defender that makes him uncomfortable when he gets to that point. He's hard enough to stop right now. Devin Vassell isn't really like breaking down the defense off the dribble as much, but he has the size to shoot over the top.

He gets great lift on that jump shot. Keldon Johnson is too big and fast and strong for Oklahoma City's bench groups. Dylan Harper is able to get wherever he wants on the floor against Oklahoma City's bench groups. And then you add that Wemby dynamic. they all look super comfortable getting to their spots against this Oklahoma City defense. And once you get to their spots, the defense is going to react. Oklahoma City is going to send help. They're going to pack the paint.

They're going to send that second defender over. At that point, it's about the playmaking piece. And all of these guys are really good playmakers. Like Deard Fox, Steph Castle, and Dylan Harper, that trio, all three of them are averaging over six and a half assists per 36 minutes this year. So they not only have all these dudes that can get to their spots, but they're all great passers. That's the dynamic that breaks this defense.

It's the ability to break Oklahoma City at the point of attack and pass through their defense. We've talked about this dynamic a lot over the last couple of years. We've just focused on big ball handlers. We've focused on Luca and LeBron and Nicola Yokicich and like these big guys. that can punish their smaller guys. These are more like guards and wings, but they're cards and wings that are also huge.

They're also bigger than these Oklahoma City guards and wings. And so as a result, they are able to generate really high quality looks, and that's where the shooting comes in. Again, their seventh and three-point percentage since November 16. And it's because they're generating really high-quality kickouts. They're generating the sixth-most-most-year-old. spot-up opportunities in the league this year. Spot-ups are a great hallmark for how you're breaking down the defense.

Because if you break down the defense, you're going to draw extra defenders. If you're going to draw extra defenders, there's going to be easy kickouts. There's going to be easy kickouts. That's going to be a close-out opportunity for a guy to be able to score. That's a spot-up opportunity, right? And all of these guys are shooting really well or driving really well out of those situations. Victor Wimmyn Yama, 47% from three in this run. Keldon Johnson, 43% from three in this run.

run. He's been huge. Devin Vassell, 42%. Deeran Fox, 41%, arguably the best jump shooting season of his career so far. Steph Castle is shooting 39% from three in this span. Dylan Harper is the one guy who's struggling a bit among the ball handlers at 24%. And you know, there's going to be people who say, oh, this won't last. And I have two counters for that. That make me optimistic in the long run for the spurs. One, as good as the guards are shooting, their wings, their forwards, like they're Champany and Barnes in particular, those are two guys, that are like reliable catch and shoot guys, they're both shooting below their normal averages in this stretch.

I think those guys will shoot better as time goes on. Harrison Barnes has missed a dozen really good looks over the course of the last couple of weeks. And again, these are the second piece of it, and the main reason why I think this is going to sustain, is these are great looks. Again, they're generating the sixth-most spot-up opportunities in the league. It's not like they're just jacking up threes and they're going in.

these are good looks coming out of quality dribble penetration and paint touches. The last thing I want to zoom in on here in terms of the team dynamic is I really thought in this Oklahoma City game yesterday, they did a great job hunting mismatches. A lot of their attacks, they're not just like going at Dort every time down the floor for no reason. They're hunting Shea. They're hunting Isaiah Joe. They went at Aaron Wiggins a lot yesterday. And again, these guys aren't necessarily bad defenders, but all in Oklahoma City, they are, the best vehicles with which to enter their defense. And they are deliberate and procedural with

the way they're targeting those guys. And I think that that's helping them maximize their attack. I really want to highlight Deer and Fox here for a minute. Him coming in and playing this well has worked wonders for this offense because of how it's slotted everybody. He's just taken a little bit of pressure off of everyone, including Wemby, but especially Steph Castle and especially Dylan Harper, making their jobs that much easier. I think he's playing the best basketball of his career. And I think it's a testament to the type of competitor that he is. He clearly had a very good summer. And when you're playing with a guy like Wemby, that comes with a lot of pressure. Like, Wembe is potentially going to be an all-time great. You don't want to be remembered as the guy

who played with Wemby and underachieved or held the team back from their goals. Deeran clearly wants to be remembered as the first great running mate of Wembe's career. We all know how this story ends. It's going to end with Steph Castle and Dylan Harper being the primary guys. Maybe they hang on to Deeran as he goes into being a vet.

But like Deeran kind of feels like a stopgap in a lot of ways. And that could go poorly. And Deeran's like, screw that, man. I want to be the first. great teammate of Wembe's career. And it has, like him reaching this level, especially as a jump shooter, it has pushed San Antonio over the edge in terms of their aggregate ball handling and their aggregate quickness on the perimeter and their aggregate playmaking ability that's given them the ability to break

the greatest statistical defense we've ever seen. Again, when you're hanging a 120 offensive rating routinely against this defense, you are breaking the Oklahoma City Thunder's defense. So I just want to give that extra shout out to Deer and Fox. So yeah, the Spurs, they're the best team in the league right now. It's wild stuff. I mean, I know I sure is hell

underrated the hell out of them before the season. I thought they'd be like a seventh or eighth seed, but I don't think anyone, even Spurs fans, had them as the best team in the league at this point. So congrats to you guys. Really excited for the Spurs fan base. I think you guys are set up for a fun decade of basketball and most

importantly, you guys are fun to watch. every time I get the opportunity to watch the Spurs play basketball, I feel lucky as a basketball fan. It's going to be entertaining. And that is the best thing for this league. The league needs a highly entertaining. There's a huge difference between a juggernaut that's fun to watch and a juggernaut that's not.

That's why TV ratings were still good during the phase when the Warriors were running the league. You got to be fun to watch while you're kicking everyone's ass, and the Spurs definitely are. 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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In Indiana, if you or someone else, you know, has a gambling problem and wants help. Call 1-800-9 with it. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what?

We have some big news. 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... 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 do 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. 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 for 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 helped make you funny. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, 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. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast,

I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchen went. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface.

Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your courtside seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levan this went to a billion dollar fraud.

But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Number two, the demons of Oklahoma City's past are starting to rise to the surface again as their schedule gets tougher.

We talked about this a bit on Monday in our power rankings, but there are three significant areas of statistical slippage over this two and four stretch. One, they're defensive rebounding. In these four losses, they've given up 53 offensive rebounds, allowing the Spurs and Timberwolves to grab 32% of their own misses. That is a reflection of the size disadvantage,

they have in these matchups, which is something that has popped up over previous years. To the turnovers, not so much in yesterday's game. They only had seven of them. And that's less of a demon from the past because Oklahoma City has always been good at taking care of the basketball. But it is an area of statistical slippage. In their other two losses to San Antonio, they gave up 46 points off of turnovers and lost that margin.

That is a margin they dominate. And the spurs have flipped that on their head and have won that in this matchup over the three-game set. But the biggest demon from their past, rising to the surface, is their three-point shooting. And again, a good amount of this credit goes to San Antonio in Minnesota as well, as we talk about that game, for their defense. They've done a great job of chasing Oklahoma City's better shooters off the line and tilting things towards Oklahoma City's shakiest contested three-point shooters.

In these four losses, Oklahoma City has shot 29% from three. And you can kind of see it starting to creep back in for them mentally. Guys are not looking confident on some of these catch-and-shoot looks because they're being rushed. In yesterday's game, you might think Oklahoma City missed all their open looks. Well, they were six for 15 on unguarded catch-and-shoot threes yesterday, according to synergy. That's 40%.

Ideally, you'd like to be a little bit higher than that, but that's solid on wide-open shots. That's fine. You're not going to lose a game making 40-per. percent of your wide open shots. But they were just two for 20 unguarded catch-and-shoot jump shots. Same dynamic in Tuesday's game. Eight for 16 unguarded, one-for-seven when guarded on catch-and-shoots.

That has been a season-long trend for the Thunder. Oklahoma City is the second worst catch-and-shoot team in the league. But they are the fifth best unguarded catch-and-shoot team in the league. the league. Second worst guarded, fifth best unguarded. The problem is, is most teams don't have the athleticism to contain the ball well enough to actually force them into tougher catch and shoot looks. Minnesota and San Antonio do. That's the difference. And I really thought it started to affect their decision making in the second half yesterday as well. A guys including Shea, she had his worst game of the season by far. It really fell apart as a decision maker in that

second half took some really tough off the dribble jump shots early in the clock. Now, is this mean the sky is falling? No. This is all really good in terms of adversity for Oklahoma City. Now, you know, if you kick everyone's ass, you're just sitting there looking at maybe trying to get to 74 wins, right? Now they have some real clear stuff they have to focus on for the rest of this season to prepare for those potential matchups in the playoffs. As for their defense, I want to look at the defense end for a minute. There's another demon from their past. that has risen to the surface. Their lack of perimeter size guarding the ball.

Their guards in their wings are small. They don't have six, seven, and taller athletes running around. It's a lot of like six three dudes and six four dudes. And the six six dudes that they have are not the quickest dudes in the world. This is not necessarily a lanky and long and tall defense. This is a ground-based defense. So when you see teams that have that combination that we talked about, and Minnesota falls into this group as well,

that combination of aggregate ball handling and size on the perimeter, that appears to be the key to beating Oklahoma City on offense. You have to be on the defense event, you have to be able to protect the rim, and you've got to have athletes to make life hard for Oklahoma City's guards, like we talked about earlier, right? But on offense, you need a depth of ball handling. You need three or four guys who have a combination of real athletic advantages

and can handle the ball so they can get to their spots against this defense. For instance, I used to not like this matchup for Minnesota, and I think they've closed the gap quite a bit, and I think part of it is because of their internal improvement. Anthony Edwards is considerably better as a dribble penetrator this year than he was last year. Finishing at the rim at a higher level than ever, he's not rushing on his drives as much. He's slowing down and playing with more pace.

Jaden McDaniels has taken a leap in almost every phase of his game on offense. look at how successful Nazreed and Julius Randall were in that fourth quarter. Julius had a bad box score night, but those two guys were huge in that fourth quarter punishing Oklahoma City's smalls. Julius Randall shooting over the top of Case and Wallace at the top of the key, driving down the right side and dumping it off to Nas Reid. Nas Reid spinning out of the post on J-dub and getting a bucket, getting an and one offensive rebound put back. Those guys came alive in that fourth quarter and helped them pull away in that game. when we're looking at teams that can beat Oklahoma City,

that appears to be the formula. San Antonio, Minnesota, look to be their biggest threats right now. They can protect the rim while being athletic on the perimeter to make life harder on their guards while also having the depth of big athletic ball handlers that can penetrate their defense in the shooting to pay those sequences off.

Now, Houston and Denver are threats as well, but kind of more in a funky way, right? like Denver has all the offensive stuff in spades. Yokic is like indomitable right now. He literally had the first 55, 15 and 15 ever in the history of the NBA yesterday. Jamal Marie is playing the best basketball of his career. But their defense obviously doesn't bring the rim protection that they need. Houston has the size and rim protection,

but we saw that they don't have the depth of ball handling. So I still consider both of those teams threats just in kind of like a non-traditional, more funky way because both teams are so strange compared to the rest of the league. Number three, speaking of a showcase for the NBA, yesterday was a dramatic showcase of Nicola Yokic as the reigning best basketball player in the world. I was exhausted last night,

so I went to bed in the mid-third quarter when it looked like the nuggets were in control, and so I ended up waking up to an instant classic. Anthony Edwards ends up going nuclear down the stretch to send the game to OT. We saw that shot that he hit over Cason Wallace on the left wing in the Oklahoma City game. Similar kind of shot in the left corner.

It was off to catch and turning a little. over his right shoulder that tied the game and sent it to overtime. But Ant is reaching a level with his shot making combined with the ability he has to just lift over the top of the defense as an athlete where you basically now just cross your fingers and pray that he misses. He's going to get a shot that he wants off. And with each passing year, it just seems like he misses less and less. He continued that onslaught to start overtime and the wolves actually built a nine-point lead

before the Nuggets just walked them down. Yokic's three-point shooting was huge down the stretch. Jamal Murray and Tim Hardaway both got in on the action and OT hitting down knocking down threes. And then Payton Watson, he was getting fried by Anthony Edwards in crunch time, but he made a huge play late in the game when the Nuggets blitzed Anthony Edwards and forced him to get rid of the basketball. He came over and tagged the roller and got a steal.

It was a huge play late that really sealed that game. What do I always say when you're having a rough time on the court? Just find a way to make a play and no one's going to care. No one cares that Peyton got fried. The Nuggets won, and a big part of how they won is Peyton made a huge play tagging that roller and getting that steel. That's a great lesson for young basketball players there. Just keep your head on straight. Try to find a way to make a play to help your team win the game.

But Yokos was unbelievable, man. 56, 16, and 15. Did it on 71% from the field. Four of six from three. It's the first 55, 15, and 15. in the history of the NBA. And again, this Nuggets team is ravaged by injuries. You're down three starters,

although I'm glad to hear that Cam Johnson's knee injury was not more serious. He apparently is going to be out four to six weeks. We got to see the bad Yokic off minutes come back with a vengeance as a result of that lack of depth. The wolves went on an 18-0 run in this game. It's just an absolute carry job by Yokic and Murray in this game.

I have to acknowledge Murray. He had 35 and 10 last night. His last 10 games, Jamal Marie is averaging 34 and 7 on 51% from the field, 53% from 3 and 87% from the line, looking like an all-MBA guy. And again, like, you know, we're going to talk Lakers here in a minute.

Like, everyone's talking about the Lakers roster, and I'm certainly going to today. But like, you know what happens when stuff goes on with the roster? Because Denver has a much better roster than the Lakers, but they're hurt right now. That wasn't a great roster that went out there last night. And they found a way to get a win. Why? Because their stars played like stars.

They can cover for a lot when they reach that level. I want to shout out Tim Hardaway Jr. here, too. I know he was a bit off last night, but I think his aggressive and accurate three-point shooting has worked wonders for helping them maintain their offensive ceiling from different lineup configurations, especially now with Cam Johnson out. I thought he had a huge one in overtime.

It's that dynamic of having two real knockdown guys on the floor at all times that really brings that ceiling for the Denver offense. They're in for some tough sledding next month. with all these guys out, but I think Yokits and Murray are up for the challenge. Number four, the Timberwolves continue to be an infuriating regular season defense, super inconsistent in their effort and execution. But I continue to view them to be a better team than the last two years because of that growth that they've shown down the line on offense.

Ant's shot profile has shifted slightly towards better distribution at all three levels, a little bit more at the rim, a little bit more paint non-restricted, a little bit more short mid-range, a little bit more long mid-range, about two fewer threes per game. And as a result, because he's become more balanced in his attack, he's become less predictable.

And because he's added some pace and some patience on his drives, he's dramatically increased his efficiency at the rim and from three. And that's made him a more effective and efficient score. His per-minute scoring is three points up from last year based on a per-36 rate.

And his true shooting percentage is dramatically up as well, up over 60% for the first time in his career. He's gone up a level because of that variety and that increased efficiency at every level. Jaden McDaniels real leap on offense as a ball handler and shooter. He was great again yesterday. Gobert has been absolutely fantastic this year.

And as a group, there's a level of continuity and comfort to their offense that makes them really difficult to handle on the offensive end of the floor. Again, this regular season is going to be filled with this type of uneven play that seems to be their personality, especially on the defensive end. But I still think this is the most dangerous. Minnesota playoff team from this era by far.

Number five, Tari Easton might be the solution to Houston's fifth man problem. I thought he did a phenomenal job right from the opening tip guarding Luca Donchage yesterday. He just brings that combination of size and strength and speed that can cause real problems for a big ball handler like Luca. I thought he made Luca like flat out decomposed at the start of that game. He had five turnovers in his first shift. I know it only showed up as four in the box score, but there was a terrible lob pass to Aiton that got logged as a shot attempt.

That was more of a turnover. Like he was just bad to start that game. And Tari Aeson deserves the credit. He was right up in his jersey right from the opening tip. And he was only one for five from three last night, but he's shooting 49% from three this season. He's basically just a bigger, better version of Josh Akogi, which allows Houston to bring that best combination of size, strength, speed, and shooting

to that fifth man in those lineups that has, caused Houston so many problems over the last couple of weeks as their record has slipped quite a bit. Really nice win for Houston yesterday. They absolutely demolished the Lakers on the offensive glass. They grabbed over half of their own misses. Kevin Durand, a men Thompson or Reed Shepard, in particular, I thought, did a great job of breaking the defense down. KD was consistently bringing two to the ball and starting their four on threes. He did a ton of mismatch hunting, especially hunting Luca and drawing fouls and getting to the basket. And then a men Thompson or Reed Shepard, just using their speed. That's the big advantage in this kind of matchup, the Laker

are slow. Those two guys were getting dribble penetration consistently every time down the floor. And then I know EMA Udoke has been frustrated with their defense. I thought there was their best perimeter defense effort of the season. I shouldn't say have the season, but up this recent stretch as well. Really nice win for them to get back on track. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. 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 us. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty. Yeah, a pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there.

But this one's extra special. So how do 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. 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. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself.

I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jen she went. I mean, she went down to three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now,

and I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions,

the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaders to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action

with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness.

So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levan this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history.

You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the Aihar Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Number six, the Los Angeles Lakers are at best, the sixth best team in the Western Conference right now. As is always the case, when a team goes into a funk like this, where you go four and six over ten games, there are plenty of issues, not just one. Luca has just not been close to as good as he was to start the season.

Came out just like he did in the Sun's game, just turning the ball over almost every time down the floor and unable to make shots, just brutal first shifts that dig his team in a massive hole in both, both the Sun's game and again in this Rockets game. His win-loss splits are wild. In their 10 losses, he's averred, like, in their wins, he's averaging 37 points per game. In their 10 losses,

he's averaging just 28 points per game. Below 30% from 3, averaging 4.9 turnovers in those 10 losses. It's not all Lucas' fault. Like, he's been good at various stretches this year, and the issues go way. deeper than Luca. But he is playing far below the level of a top-tier superstar in these losses. And he's the guy at the top. And I'm always going to look at the guy at the top first. Why? Because

he's the guy who has the power to change the situation. When you look at Jake La Ravia and go, save us, Jake, that ain't going to work. Luke is the guy who can save you. Say what you want about the Lakers roster. The Nuggets were down three starters last night. And almost all of their athletes were out. and they beat a good team at home because their top-tier superstar just backpack the team. Luca isn't even remotely close to that level right now and it's hurting the Lakers.

Austin got hurt again. And the injuries are really starting to pile up for Austin. He's missed six games already and it looks like he's going to miss a while now. If this calf injury is lingering, I wouldn't be surprised if he's out of month, he's going to miss something like 10, 15 games at this point. LeBron was like embarrassingly bad on defense

and on the glass last night. He had just two rebounds. There's a clip on Twitter. You can find it on my tweet. I quote tweeted it. So Dan Devine ended up tweeting it out the video, but you can find it on my Twitter feed at underscore Jason LT.

But it was a kind of a highlight reel of all the Rockets offensive rebounds. LeBron was just standing around and watching for the most part. He had a play where I shit you not where Reed Shepard was dribbling through the middle of the floor. And LeBron, like while Reed was dribbling, just leaked out to the other end. Just started running down in transition.

It was crazy. And of course, Alper and Shang Un is wide open under the basket for an easy little offensive rebound put back. It's unacceptable because this team actually needs him to be a great defender and rebounder based on their current construct. I think this is an area especially where Austin Reeves's injury has been an issue because it's slotted LeBron into this higher usage role. Like when he needs to score 25 and 8, it just, he even gets lazier in those details.

But Austin was healthy for most of the first half yesterday. and yet LeBron still looked completely unwilling to get his hands dirty. And I get it, you're old. You're about to turn 41, and you'd prefer if you can chill during the regular season. Too bad. You literally can't on this team, especially not with Luca when he's in a slump.

He either needs to lock in on defense and on the glass, or he needs to be traded to a team that will let him chill. He's hurting the team right now. And I hope JJ Reddick calls him out for it in practice on Saturday. And then take the stars out. When these stars can't get to that level, it shines a dramatic light on how flawed this roster is. What an incredibly embarrassing job Rob Polinka has done

building a modern basketball team. Talk about a showcase of what succeeds in the modern NBA yesterday. All over the TV, five games, athleticism and shooting. Two teams you absolutely must have to compete in this roster is utterly devoid of both. Rob should be fired immediately so that he doesn't botch this deadline and be replaced with a general manager who's willing and able to rectify this mess. He has over and over and over again demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of what works in the modern NBA.

They're 19 and 9 and still in the 4 seed because Luca and Austin were so damn good on offense to start the season that they were routinely pulling out every single clutch game. They are 10 and 0 in clutch games. Well, now Austin's hurt, and Luca's gone down to a level below that of a top-tier superstar, and Rob Polinka has been exposed once again as incompetent in a barrier

between the Lakers and where they want to get in terms of consistent success in this league. Number seven, the schedule is lightened up and the Golden State Warriors are finally starting to come up for air and find their footing. After an absolutely brutal schedule to start the season, the Warriors are at an end of a stretch where they play just six games in 21 days.

They have two days off now, Friday and Saturday. At the end of that, they will have played just six times in 21 days. and that has allowed them a chance to get healthy and come up for air. They've won three games in a row now. Some of their older players, particularly Jimmy Butler and Al Horford yesterday, have started to look much better. Ironically, the young guys that they went with at the end of the season last year, pods and moody, those guys have come back to the surface

and started to play much better basketball, and they've started to round out most of their best lineups. Again, it's interesting because that was the duo that was most successful yesterday. They just bring that best combination of like consistent effort, execution of the game plan and a natural fit in the offense from a skill set standpoint. Those guys seemed to round everything out. De Anthony Melton has been a stabilizer in their bench rotation. He's been one of their best plus minus guys ever since he returned.

I think actually the blow up between Draymond and Steve Kerr will be good for Draymond because Drayman was playing some bad basketball. And I think he needed a wake-up call. And I think everything surrounding that moment will help him get back on track. And in this three-game streak, Steph has not shot the ball super well, which we know that will shift back in the positive direction. So I think there's an opportunity for this team to really start to go on a run and gain some momentum

and gain some ground in the standings. Remember earlier in the year when I said that the Lakers were at best, the sixth best team in the West? I said that because I'm not entirely sure the Warriors aren't better than them too. I was watching them yesterday and I'm like, they just look like a better basketball team to me. They look faster.

They look better on defense. They look more athletic in general. their star is playing at a higher level than Luca right now in terms of creating offense for the team as a team unit. Their secondary stars are healthy and are playing better than the secondary stars of the Lakers. Like they just, you know, they're starting to gain some real momentum. I have a feeling they're going to go on to run here

and start gaining ground in the standings over the course of the next couple of weeks. Number eight, Cooper Flagg is the real deal. Another 27 points yesterday. in his last six games, Cooper's averaging 28, 7, and 6 on 53% from the field and 35% from 3. Showcasing a lot of three-level scoring. He started to kind of find his rhythm a few weeks ago with an intentional effort to drive the basketball. Getting him off the ball more off of those guards caused him to look more to be aggressive off the catch instead of managing the flow of games more that got him going downhill more.

He was getting a ton of stuff close to the rim, short jump shots, floaters, push shots, stuff at the rim. and then in the last couple of games, he's really started to add more dynamic shot making off the dribble, mid-range stuff, three-point shooting, the Denver game in particular. He was shooting the shit out of the ball from three. There's this big ball handler dynamic that can also drive the basketball

that I think is going to be a big match-up problem for this league as he starts to enter into his prime. And this is something we've seen around the league. Jalen Brown comes to mind as an example, Denny Avdia. When you have like a big athletic dude who's too big for guards, but too fast for bigs.

And that also brings downhill pressure, like real speed attacking the rim on drives. And then you can counter it with something, whether it's like Jalen Brown's mid-range shooting or Cooper Flag and all these little push shots that he can make or Denny Avdi's ability to get to the foul line. But then you can also make the kickout reads. That combines into being a very effective shot creator in this league.

Because because of the way the league is shifted towards, you know, you have these slower rim protectors and then you have these smaller guards all over the floor, these types of ball handlers seem to have two or three mismatches at all times on the floor that they can attack. As Luca has trended downwards and Cooper is trended upwards, I know it doesn't completely remove the pain from what happened last February, but it has to at least cause a decent amount of optimism

for the future for Mavericks fans. Cooper has been looking fantastic. Number nine, Jalen Brunson seems to have a new backcourt running mate. Jaylen had a rough shooting game yesterday in Madison Square Garden. Credit to the Cavs. I thought Sam Merrill in particular and then all of the Cavs five-man units. I thought they did a good job of crowding Brunson and making him work for everything. But of course, Jalen's been playing at the level of a top-tier superstar for a month or so.

He's ticked up his true shooting percentage significantly and he's dropped his turnover significantly, which has made him like in that Chey-Gildes-Alexander territory of like low 30s in points per game, high 60s and true shooting percentage, super low turnovers, super rare stuff from guards. Jalen's been in that territory for a few weeks now. So I was curious to see, as he was having a tough game, like, will Jalen find a way to flip the script? Because that's the thing. Like when you talk about the top tier superstars,

they usually just kind of like, even when they're not at their best, they find a way to win the game. How many times have you seen a Yokich game where he doesn't put up massive numbers and maybe he misses more of his layups and floaters than usual? But then he'll go four for four down the stretch with two assists and no turnovers and he just finds a way to steal the game

because he's indomitable down crunch time. That's what Jalen Brunson felt like last night. or yesterday in the morning, just nails on his pull-up jump shot down the stretch, all off that right side, short little jump around the layline, a couple pull-up threes along the right wing, all heavily contested, and it just did not matter. And again, that's one of the hallmarks of a top-tier superstar. But how about Tyler Kolic? Brunson spoke about him the other day and how important he's been for the team in this recent

stretch, and he had some massive catch-and-shoot threes off the left side of the floor to kind of stymied some late-caves shot-making. gave the Knicks a chance to win this game. I've always liked Tyler as a bench guard just because he's solid. Like he runs action and he makes the right reads and he's just a steadying force with a bench unit. But he's starting to score the ball now. He had never scored in double figures this season three times in the last couple of weeks.

He's averaging 12 points per game to go with five rebounds and seven assists on 50% from the field, 42% from three and 100% from the line in his last five games. Big win for the Knicks against a Cavs team. but frankly, they looked like they were out for blood yesterday with the way they started that game 18 to 3. Something just feels different with the Knicks this year. They feel tougher. They feel like they're on a mission.

They are still my pick to win the Eastern Conference. Lastly, number 10, the Cavs did flash their upside finally yesterday. It's been the season from hell. They're 17 and 15 now. They're technically in the play-in if the season ended today. Their injuries have been a nightmare. there's kind of like a lack of that spark that they had last year.

And the collapse was discouraging. I'm not going to sit here and pretend like it wasn't. Their front line got punked on the glass again down the stretch. That's been a discouraging trend with this team for years now. I'd also credit the Knicks, though. Like Tyler Colick and Jalen Brunson just made a bunch of contested threes at the end of the game. That's tough to handle in a situation like that. Overall, I thought it was a super encouraging performance from the caps.

They looked fast and disruptive on defense for stretches. their offense looked as lively as it was last year for stretches. Darius Garland getting those drives and breaking down the defense consistently, which is a sign of his health. And again, you're not going to turn this thing around in a day. I thought yesterday was a good step in the right direction for them, even in the loss. All right, guys, that's all I have for today.

I had to kind of rush through the end of that because we're getting ready to take a flight back to Denver today. But I'm excited to dive into all these teams with you guys over the course of the rest of the season. Christmas Day is more or less the start of the NBA season for most. We have a very interesting situation at the top of the league now, thanks to San Antonio starting to demonstrate some of the vulnerabilities for Oklahoma City. That makes things way more exciting.

And it leaves a lot of unknown hanging over the season, which I think will give us a really fun next six months. I can't wait to break it all down with you guys. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday and had an opportunity to spend some time with friends and family. Again, I'll be back in Denver starting next week. And we'll get back to our usual routine starting on Monday. We do have a little bit of a funky schedule next year surrounding New Year's. But we're going to do a contenders rankings videos with Sam Vassini.

So we'll dig into how I feel about the contenders. And my brain is like broken compared to where it was two weeks ago, thanks to San Antonio. So a lot to dig into there. Really excited to kind of take a snapshot of the league. Again, I hope everyone has a great weekend. I will see you guys on Monday. 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. 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 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports

and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless, and at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. Jench who win. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lennar Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcast on the IHeart Radio app. or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. 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. Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to deep cover the family man.

on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.