The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Steph & Jimmy’s Perfect Basketball Fit, Chet Holmgren Is BACK, Evan Mobley Is That Guy

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

Jason breaks down the Golden State Warriors big win against the Dallas Mavericks and how Jimmy Butler has completely revitalized Steph Curry, the Oklahoma City Thunder getting revenge on the Minnesota Timberwolves and Chet Holmgren’s impact including getting huge stops on Anthony Edwards, and the Cleveland Cavaliers showcasing their all around team including Evan Mobley significantly outplaying Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. Timeline 4:00 - Start 5:30 - Warriors / Mavericks 17:30 - Thunder / Timberwolves 31:30 - Cavaliers / Grizzlies #Volume #Herd Follow Jason Timpf on social: https://twitter.com/_JasonLT https://www.instagram.com/jtimpf15/See 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.

Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Kunky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast 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 Podcasts, 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 for Vietnam! There's a fire coming to this country, and it's going to bring to America.

Burnouts everything. Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. Who's scoring big in the NBA this season? You are with all the new ways to get in on the action at Draft King's Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. From Monster Slams to Dismans to Dishing the Rock to cleaning the glass, get behind your favorite players and the prop bets you can make on Draft Kings,

the home of NBA player props. Ready to place your first bet? Try betting on something simple, like picking how many points your favorite. player will have. Go to the Draft King Sportsbook app and make your pick. Right now, the Oklahoma City Thunder have supplanted the Boston Celtics as the favorites to win the title on Draft Kings at plus 225 with the Celtics right behind them at plus 235. First time, here's something special just for you. New Draft King's customers bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets instantly. Take it to the rack with Draft King's Sportsbook. Every point counts. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app

and use code Hoops. That's H-O-O-P-S. That's code hoops for new customers to get 15 and bonus bets when you bet just five bucks. Only on draft kings, the crown is yours. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. In New York, call 8778-8-8-8-8-8-1-8-1-6-9 to 467-67-3-6-9. In Connecticut, 8-8-8-9-7-77, or visit ccppg.org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas. 21-plus, age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Voided in Ontario, bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.c.c.c.c.com slash B Ball. Welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume heavy Monday, everybody. Hope all of you guys had a great weekend. Got a

a damn pack show for you today. We're going to be hitting on three games from yesterday's slate as the Golden State Warriors win their fifth time and six tries in the Jimmy Butler era. We're going to be breaking that game down from the perspective of both teams. After that, the Oklahoma City Thunder got revenge on the Minnesota Timberwolves for a loss that they suffered right before the All-Star break where their offense broke out. And I want to talk about some trends involving their shooting that should be concerning for the other 29 teams in the league, as well as talking a little bit about Chet Holmgren

in the way that he kind of unlocks additional dynamics for them on both ends of the floor. And then at the tail end of the show, we got a showdown between two of the best power forwards, young power forwards that we have in the NBA between Jared Jackson and Evan Mowgli as the Cavs got a big win against the Memphis Grizzlies. We're going to be talking about that game and that matchup. at the tail end of the show. 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. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT. So you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed, wherever we get your podcast on our hoops tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front.

We also have brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook where we're releasing content throughout the year. And then last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so we can hit them on Fridays throughout the remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So really quick recap of Mavs, Warriors, the Mavs hung tough for the first few minutes, but then the Warriors basically dominated

the rest of the way. Steph and Jimmy had a nice little run in the middle of the first where they just showcased their great basketball fit, their natural basketball fit, the way their skill sets kind of just intertwined to help accentuate each other. We're going to talk about that in a few minutes. Jimmy led a bench group without Steph. The Warriors, by the way, plus 30 with Jimmy off the floor through the first six games of the Jimmy Butler era, a sign of just how much stronger those units can be now that Jimmy Butler is a part of the group. But Jimmy let a group without Steph that grew the lead. He was getting to the foul line a bunch. He had a couple of nice dishes to Quentin Post. By the way, shout out Quentin Post.

He had a nasty poster dunk over a couple of guys that lit the crowd on fire. And then late third quarter, Steph just puts the game away with a masterful stretch of shot making. And as a result, no starter plays over 30 minutes because the Warriors took care of business in the first three quarters, which used to be a hallmark of the Warriors dynasty. The Warriors, again, like, that's a big part of what has made them so good over the years. They can take time off during the regular season just by beating teams up, right? We got an example of that last night. But the first thing I want to focus on today with the Warriors, it stood out to me as I was watching. And it's been standing out to me as I've watched them over the course of

the last couple of weeks, just how much more explosive Steph looks. And when I say explosive, I'm not just talking about scoring points and doing it more efficiently than usual. It's the way he's moving. It was jarring to me as I'm watching last night, the vervy as going downhill. His ability to get into the paint, the finishes in traffic that he was missing earlier this year. So I was like, you know what? I'm going to dig into the numbers and see if there's been any difference in Steph's ability to score in the paint since the Jimmy Butler trade went down. Pre-jimmy trade. So up to February 7th, he was averaging 1.3 makes pre-premise.

game in the restricted area on 60% shooting. Since the Jimmy Butler trade, he's getting two makes in the restricted area per game at 80%. From 1.3 up to 2. Non-restricted area paint makes. So shots that are still in the paint, but that are outside of the restricted area, this short range shot making, right? Pre-Jimmy trade, 1.1 makes per game at 42%. Two makes post-Jimmy Butler trade at 63%. So he's nearly doubled his output in paint scoring at substantially higher efficiency. I think a big part of this comes down to belief, like even separate from anything having to do with Jimmy Butler and his basketball impact.

Like I think Steph just sees an opportunity that he didn't see earlier this season. And I think that just is bringing another level of engagement and excitement out of him. But it also comes down to having a legitimate secondary co-star and how that makes life easier for Steph in terms of his energy conservation. I talked about this if you guys remember after the Warriors Nuggets game, or excuse me, the Lakers Nuggets game on Saturday involving Luka and LeBron and how LeBron can be more physically aggressive in his touches because he has someone that can eat up so much usage in Luca Donchitz.

I think it's even showing in his pull-up shooting. He's getting more lift. He's getting more separation on his pull-up jump shots. Pre-Jimby-Butler trade. He was shooting 54% in effective field goal percentage, which is just field goal percentage weighted for threes. He was shooting 54% in effective field goal percentage on pull-up jump shots

and getting 8.5 points per game out of them. Post-Gimmie trade up to 60% in effective field goal percentage with 9.7 points per game. So a significant uptick and efficiency and output as a pull-up jump shooter as well. By the way, just classic Steph Curry, 60% in effective field-go percentage

on pull-up jump shots is outrageous. And it's actually kind of hilarious looking back that we were looking at 54% for him as a little bit of a down year. But that's just another conversation. And that's just what it's like when you're dealing with the all-time greats. Everything you talk about in terms of the realms of normalcy for other players is just like a totally different era of statistics that were totally different area of statistics that

we're looking at with a player of his caliber. But again, you have to have the legs to get separation. You have to have the legs to get the lift after you get the separation. That's the same sort of legs you need when you're finishing in traffic. And I just think we're just seeing a boost from Steph that's coming partially from the belief he has in this group. And secondly from the partnership with Jimmy Butler. So on that note, I want to talk a little bit about Jimmy's natural basketball fit with Steph. One of the first things that stood out to me watching the film was just the dynamic that Jimmy has as a screener in actions with Steph.

And how his, one, the threat he brings and how that can cause him to have more screening grass. than normal players would. So like if an inferior player sets a screen, the guy who's defending him is going to be primarily focused in that action on defending the guy coming off of the screen, right? Whereas if you're a threat, the way that Jimmy Butler is, the guy who's guarding Jimmy is going to be more concerned about leaving Jimmy to help in those actions. Steph's first layup in this game was a curl off of an off ball screen from Jimmy. Kessler Edwards was guarding Steph and he's kind of on Jimmy's backside. If it's anybody else, if it's Wiggins, he's pushing off of that guy and dropping to catch Steph as he's cutting to the basket. But Kessler's hung up on Jimmy because he's been told

before the game. You got the Jimmy Butler assignment. Here's a list of all of the game plan stuff with Jimmy Butler. Here's what your job is dealing with Jimmy Butler. And that just puts Kessler Edwards into an entirely different frame of mind when he's dealing with Kessler and screening actions with Steph Curry. The second piece of it is dealing with the reads that you have to make in those screening actions, which Jimmy's just so incredibly smart with. They ran another back screen for Steph a little bit later in the first quarter, two and a half minutes later or so. He sets a back screen for Steph.

They do switch it, but when he sets the back screen, what happens? Now Steph's man is on Jimmy's top side. And so as Steph is cutting through, all of a sudden, this big opening is created in between Jimmy and the rim because Jimmy's defender is stuck on his top side. He ends up getting the ball and getting an easy dunk slipping out of that action because he has that inside seal. We talked a lot about this with Jimmy Butler. He's one of the best players in the league.

I was talking about this after their first couple of games that they played together. At like creating a passing angle in post seal situations that are not traditional. Like a lot of times you think of a post up as like a guy standing 10 feet from the basket with a defender on his backside, you just throw it into him. But a lot of times with guards and a lot of times in those switching actions, there's different angles, a guy's trapped on your top side, a guy's trapped on the side. You're getting bracketed with backside help. You can create these pretty tight passing windows. And Jimmy's just as good as anybody in the league, if not better, at high pointing the

ball, getting it in traffic, coming down with it and being able to make a play there. We've talked about the short roll stuff as two to go onto the ball with Steph and his ability to make reeds out of the middle of the floor. We've talked about zone stuff. When teams go zone against the Warriors, Jimmy can operate right in the middle of the floor. It allows him to be really impactful offensively while Steph is on the floor. But then he can shape shift and just turn into a unit leading offensive player when Steph is off the floor. So good at getting to the foul line.

Did it again last night. He's at 9.2 free throw attempts per game so far with the Warriors. So good at playmaking out of help, driving out of those ISOs and post-ups and making those kickout passes to shooters or getting underneath the basket for fouls or easy baskets. He's run 37 post-ups and ISOs. so far as a warrior and has generated 51 points, including passes, 1.38 points per possession. That is extremely high-level shot creation that the Warriors are getting out of Jimmy Butler so far. And it's manifested in the big picture. So far, just taking the raw data from six games,

the Warriors have a 121 offensive rating with Jimmy Butler on the team. That's more in line with what you'd expect from a Steph Curry-led offense. that's why he was so important to get him a co-star that could help him on that end when he's on the floor and anchor units when Steph is off the floor. And then on the defensive end, you're just adding an additional defensive playmaker to the starting unit.

Even further, I think Andrew Wiggins, if you're just talking about guarding the other team's best player, picking him up full court, doing all that kind of stuff, Andrew Wiggins obviously has a little bit more youthful exuberates to show in that type of role. But in terms of overall defensive playmaking,

Jimmy's one of the best we got in the league. One of the most important layers of this too is, in the old version of the team, Brandon Pajemsky was viewed as a guy that had to lead a lot of bench units as a score. A lot of his, a lot of the ask for what Steve Kerr and the staff needed from pods

was geared towards shot creation. And like, that's not the strength of Brandon Pizmsey's game. I do think in the long run, he'll become a better offensive playmaker, an offensive play starter. That's a big picture goal. He needs to get better as a jump shooter. It needs to get better at running action, that sort of stuff.

But the strength of Brandon Podemski is a basketball player right now is he's awesome at all the little things. Excellent rebounder, excellent defensive player, excellent connective passer and play finisher. That is the area of his game where he's at his best. And so now that Jimmy Butler's on the team, you've kind of facilitated an environment where it makes sense to start Brandon Pajemski. Now that you're starting Brandon Pajemski, and he's now locked into a role where he's functioning as a role player,

it's accentuating his strengths, which is he's really good at all of this little shit. Continues to just grab a million rebounds. There was a play where Steph Curry got P.J. Washington on a switch on the right wing. And PJ just tries to rip through Steph and go to the basket. Pods was glued up to Kyra Irving on the weeks out of the. the floor preparing to get run off of a Chicago action. He was thinking he was going to have to chase Kyrie off of a dribble handoff on the other end of the floor. And he sprinted under the basket and vertically jumped and walled up and stopped PJ Washington there and got to stop.

It was a remarkable defensive play. I'm watching Jimmy Butler as he's tracking a cutter through along the baseline. Another cutter comes in behind him. The pass comes in. Jimmy identifies it because he just sees everything happening on the floor, peels off his man and jumps the passing lane and gets the steal. I've seen Dremont Green help hard off of Kessler Edwards to stop someone at the basket, the drop-off passes there, and he turns and forces a traveling violation. You have three extremely high-level defensive playmakers that are anchoring that unit now because of Jimmy Butler and because of the way he's now made Brandon Pajemski's role makes sense. They were already a top 10 defense before this trade. They are third in defensive

rating so far through six games with Jimmy Butler. It just all makes sense now. Because you balance the roster. You turned several role players on a group that had 14, 15 guys that could potentially play rotation minutes into a high level, do everything, Swiss Army knife, one of the most impactful winning basketball players that we've had in the league in the last half decade. And it's just balanced things out.

Starting group so far with Moody and Pods. next to Draymond, Jimmy, and Steph, 97 possessions, plus 11 net rating so far. Great on both ends. Again, I want to see a lot more before I start talking big picture about the Warriors. I want to see the next couple of weeks and what they're capable of. But this is really exciting early returns on this partnership. All right, moving on to Thunder Wolves. Again, really quick breakdown of the game.

It was just game of runs. The Thunder went on a massive 42 to 17 run early in the game. They were doing a lot of switching. Their smalls held up really well. on Nasree. They were forcing him into tough shots. He was missing. They did a good job shrinking the floor, making those guys playing traffic. Chet Holmgren was doing a great job, both in his switches and in his kind of at the level ball screen coverages against Anthony Edwards of baiting him into these like tough contested step back threes. We're going to talk about that

dynamic in a little bit because it reminds me of something we were talking about in our one on one tournament and how length can just be kind of like the the answer to questions in terms of dealing with guys that are dynamic perimeter shot creators. She was cooking everyone, including Jaden McDaniels. The wolves ended up needing to blitz him during that run because Shea was cooking everybody. So then they started to pick him apart with four on threes. Kenrich Williams did some really nice work during that stretch as a short roller.

Posted the low man. It was a Nikiel Alexander Walker tag where he like posted him and got in the basket for a nice little lefty scoop shot. Made a play on the short roll where he drew defenders in and made a kick out to Case on Wallace who hit a three. The wolves were playing a lot of small ball groups with like three sometimes four guards in the lineup because of the injuries to Julius Randall and Rudy Gobert. They're just playing a lot more smaller groups. And so it's kind of weird seeing a dynamic where

the thunder had physical advantages over the wolves. And they were taking advantage of that during that stretch. But then the wolves responded with a 30 to six run of their own. And it kind of the same thing that's been the theme for them all year, which is when they ratchet up their ball pressure and they really start getting physical on the perimeter, they can cause teams to completely lose their composure. And the Thunder did during that stretch. Jalen Clark, who was a revolution in this game, he's just a bowling ball of like a guard wing, do everything, hybrid role player type of guy. He had four steals in this game was wrecking havoc at the point of attack just with physical ball pressure. Nas Reid and Anthony Edwards finally started hitting shots.

They completely regain control and they actually end up taking a little lead. And it goes back and forth, really throughout the rest of the second half until in the middle of the fourth quarter, the Thunder had one last run in them. They go in an 18 to two runs spearheaded by six made three point shots. Chad Holmgren hit a three beating Nas Reed for helping in the lane. J. Dub and Shea each hit a couple of tougher threes. Shea hit one in transition. J. Dub hit like a 28 footer along the right wing. But it was Alex Caruso who really ended that game by getting hot.

He had three threes in the run, a couple of kickouts off of help. And then he was running two-man game with Shea Gildes-Alexander, where he was slipping out of it to the above the brake line. about like off the left wing and he was hidden movement he had a movement three slipping out of that action was Shay that was a big time performance from Alex Crusoe has had some rough offensive nights earlier in the season. The thunder shooting I thought was the story of the game. Out of the 28 catch and shoot jump shots they attempted in that game, they made 17 of them. That's pretty crazy. We've talked about their spot up shooting this season and it will continue to be a storyline

heading into the playoffs, like no matter how well they shoot now. I said the same thing with the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier. Doesn't matter how well you shoot now, you got to hit them in a big playoff series. When there's pressure and you're on the road sometimes, like, obviously no amount of shot making in the regular season will make up for the reality that guys are going to have to hit shots. That said, the thunder of sneak even shooting the ball really well for a while now. The answer is if you're going to shoot poorly in the playoffs like you're.

did last year against Dallas and you want to get to the point where you shoot better in the postseason in the future, everyone's got to get better at shooting. And that starts with behind the scenes, in practice, and then in regular season games. The final challenge is doing it in postseason games, but you're not going to just randomly do it in postseason games. It's going to start with that process. And it's clear that the thunder have been putting in the work behind the scenes. They're up to ninth in catch and shoot jump shot efficiency this season. Their fifth in three point makes over the last 15 games. Their third in three point percentage over the last 15 games.

They're shooting over 38% from three as a team over this span. I've talked a lot about how in the regular season, a team like the Thunder can sometimes overachieve a little bit relative to what their talent looks like in a postseason context, simply because everyone in their core eight rotation is 26 years old or younger. And so they just have a bunch of young guys that are attacking the regular season with a certain amount of energy that you're not going to see from some of the older teams around the league. That's just a reality that you have to acknowledge.

But when I look at the thunder, I look at their weaknesses and their weaknesses generally come down to like decision making on drives and the ability of their role players to knock down shots. and they're showing growth in those areas. Another way for me to put it is like, yeah, you still got to do it in the postseason, but them doing it this well in the final stretch of the regular season is a really strong indicator that they could do it well in the postseason. And if they do, if these dudes hit 38% of their threes in the playoffs,

then they become just as dangerous as their regular season record would lead you to believe that they are. I wanted to focus in on Chet Holmgren for a minute because his impact was screaming off the screen in this game. Obviously, his impact on defense has felt the most. I talked a lot about him filling the role of that like handling Ant coming off of ball screens in the first quarter of this game and him baiting Ant into those pull-up jump shots. Remember when we did the one-on-one tournament breakdown? How I talked about how I think Kevin Durant would beat Anthony Edwards because Ant brings the best combination of like downhill force and over-the-top shot making that you see from any player. in the league right now.

Like he, you can't keep him in front of you and he's a 40 plus percent off the dribble three point shooter. Like, what are you going to do with that? Right. But one of the things I talked about is like Kevin Arant is kind of the kryptonite for that because he's got such long arms that he can give space to contain the drive, but just take one step forward and stick that left arm out and he's going to get a great contest on any jump shot. Same thing goes for Chet.

And you saw that in this game. Chet was able to play back a little bit and then Ant, was just trying to go to step back moves to get separation. And yeah, he'd get a little bit of separation, but Chet's arm is right there. And it turns into a tougher shot, a shot that ain't can make, but it's a tougher shot.

When you talk about, like Anthony Edwards with his pull-up three-point shooting, like if he gets great separation, it feels like it's going in every time. But once you get a heavy contest on it, that percentage is going to drop by 10, 15%. It's the same, like, even on the drop coverage possessions,

when he's coming off and the defender's chasing over the, same sort of thing. Like Chet's just hanging a little bit behind the level, but he just can take one step four and he's getting a great contest there. But Chet did a ton of damage on offense in this game too. We talked about him spacing Nas read out earlier with catch and shoot threes.

He had a couple of those. He also hit a three in the early part of the game coming off of off of off ball action. He just came out of the right corner off of a wide pin down. Nas went under, just rose up and knocked it down. He gave a straight ISO bucket to Jaden McDaniels right in the middle of the floor. He was beating switches in the paint.

He had a ball screen with J. Dubb or led to his switch and he ended up with Jalen Clark on him. Again, Jalen Clark, I talked about earlier, he was a bowling ball of a wing, big strong dude. Chet just buried him with a little ducking post up, created a nice easy passing angle. It just got an easy basket right at the rim. He had an easy tap-in offensive rebound on a play where Mike Conley got switched on to him, just waited for the shot to go up, just jumped right over Conley and just calmly topped it into the basket. he runs the floor better than most bigs. He had an easy alley you dunk and transition in the fourth quarter running his lane.

They weren't really running place for him. He was just in the flow of the offense and poured in an easy 19 points on only 11 shots. He had three blocks. He's just a ridiculous talent to add to this team. And it was already the best regular season team in the NBA. The wolves played well and they kept this thing close. But I did think that Thunder showed a lot of their high end on the defensive end in rotation as well. They were doubling Nasreid post-ups and closing out on the weak side. A lot of the same stuff we've talked about where that first rotation, closing out to the passing lane where it just bates on the kind of like inconsistencies of mediocre shooters who want to pump fake or they don't like to shoot unless they're completely wide open.

They were already this like fast fly around rotation team. And Shet just brings this other layer of length and athleticism that wasn't there. Again, like they were the. bigger team in many of their lineup groupings against Minnesota tonight. Some of that is Minnesota's injuries, but it just goes to show you how different this team looks physically when Isaiah Hartnstein and Chet Holmgren are healthy. Hey, it's us to 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 a first people to do podcasts.

Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how did we, 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 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 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. 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 athlete 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 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 concerns. 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.

All right, last game for today. Moving on to Grizzlies Cavs. A fun game that Cleveland basically controlled, but Memphis just did a good job in keeping things relatively close by shooting the ball super well. Memphis shot dramatically better than Cleveland did in this game.

On catch-and-shoot jump shots, Memphis got 1.4 points per attempt. Cleveland only got 0.88 points per attempt. They just had a rough shooting night. but the stars for Cleveland just so badly outplayed the stars for Memphis, and I thought that was the story of this game. Donovan Mitchell really outplayed John Morant. Both teams have huge front lines, play a lot of two big lineups,

pack the paint, rotate out. They're making you make jump shots. And Mitchell is just a way better shot maker than John Moran. Like Donovan Mitchell is just pouring in a variety of like step back threes, pull-up threes and ball screens, ISO-3s, just creating his own jump shot in traffic, and John Moran just couldn't keep up. He had a few nice transition buckets down the stretch when the game kind of had already gotten a little loose.

But like, I thought Mitchell just proved to be the better surgical score in a tight half-court environment like that. Ty Jerome was incredibly dominant as a score in this game. I thought he was much better in this game than Desmond Bain was, dominated the fourth quarter as a score. I think he had 16 points in the quarter, if I remember correctly. This was the stretch that really pushed Cleveland over the top. It was kind of like hanging in that five to seven range. This run from Ty Jerome ended up pushing the lead up into double digits. And that's what really gave them their first breathing room. And a couple of tough transition threes

where he just was he's got, Tidrome clearly has like that I sense blood in the water. If I hit this shot, I can really change the dynamic of this game type of vibe. And because he took a couple of tough ones that you knew he felt good and he just wanted to drive. the nail into the coffin, so to speak. And then he just keeps doing the same exact thing to these teams. Again, Memphis runs a lot of drop coverage with Jared Jackson and with Zach Edy. And

Ty Drum is just doing the same thing every time. Setting up his man for the screen so that he's on his trail side, coming off to the screen, waiting for the defender to catch up to his backside and then like trapping him on his backside and methodically working into the lane and just shooting that little push shot in the lane. Made a bunch of them in this game.

He's shooting 65% on floaters this year on 116 attempts. By far the best floater shooter in the NBA and it's not close. He is way better at this than anybody. And it's given him a spot as one of the most respected backup guards in the NBA. If you put Ty Jerome against a team that runs drop coverage,

he's going to be able to get to a floater and he's going to make more than half of them. It really is a valuable weapon to have for a bench unit in this league, especially since you're going to run into a lot of backup centers in the NBA that teams have to run drop coverages with because they don't trust them coming out to the level on the perimeter. But by far the most interesting part in this game, in my opinion,

was the showdown between two of the best young power forwards that we have in the game at this point, Jaron Jackson and Evan Mowley. And I thought Evan Mowley really showcased how his versatility makes him a better all-around basketball player than Jaron Jackson in this game. Jaron's bigger and he's stronger. And strictly when it comes down to like scoring the ball out of the post,

he's a more imposing threat. He can dislodge defenders with his big strong shoulders. He can do it to some of the bigger defenders in the league. I talked about how he did a bunch of damage to the sons recently by ducking in on Kevin Durant in the post. He's got really good touch with hook shots over both shoulders. He can spin and connect spin moves so he can spin from left to right and then spin back from right to left,

and he can just kind of barrel downhill until he gets somewhere close to the rim where he can get a little hook shot. But outside of that, the limitations start to show. When he has to pass out of the post, he's very inefficient as a playmaker, right? Once you start to task him to play in traffic,

the flaws can start to come to the surface. Mobley is just so much more polished as an all-around player, and I thought that was showing last night. First of all, his individual defense on Jaron Jackson, Jaron tested him a few times early in this game, tried to drop that right shoulder and go to a lefty hook. Evan Mowbly just rose up and blocked him. Then from the opposite block, Jaron tries to post him up again and you can tell he's nervous about Evan Mowley's length and how that ended up leading to a block on his last hook shot. So he ended up rushing a hook and just kind of flipped it up and shot it way over the back of the rim.

It was an air ball. Then he tried to ISO him again in the second quarter and you knew he wanted to create extra space because Mowgli's length was causing problems for him. So he really dropped the shoulder and he extended the arm out and he drew an offensive foul. So then Jaron was just like, all right, no more. I'm not going to go after Evan Mowley anymore. He started picking on Dean Wade and some different matchups in the game. Evan Mowgli is a substantially better rebounder.

This has been a consistent weakness with Jaron Jackson in his NBA career. Like he gets into boxouts, but he struggles to disengage from boxouts and actually go get the loose ball. Evan Mowley dominated this game as a rebounder. Even individually against Jaron Jackson had a big inside seal for a home. foul in the fourth quarter of this game. And then on offense, Evan Mobley just brings so much more as a play initiator for this team. They ran a bunch of inverted ball screens in this game. And we got to see a classic example of just how dynamic that action can be. And again, we talk about the inverted ball screens. The upside is the way they invert roles. You're asking

Biggs to fight through screens and you're asking guards to help on screens against Biggs. and there's a simple dynamic that takes place when you have Donovan Mitchell screen for Evan Mobley. Donovan Mitchell screens for Evan Mobley. If his man steps out and helps, Mitchell can slip out of it and he's going to get wide open. He generated an open three for Donovan Mitchell. He generated an open three for Max Truce out of action where the guard ended up helping on Mobley as he was coming off of the screen. But then if he doesn't help, there's a play in the game where Donovan Mitchell screen for Evan Mobley and he got downhill to. his left hand. What happens? The big doesn't know how to navigate his screen and you're setting

a screen on him. The guard doesn't want to help because the guard, the screening guard is slipping out and getting three point shots. What happens when Mowgli comes off of a screen and there's no help? He can get downhill. Gets all the way downhill and ends up getting an easy dunk with his left hand. Connective playmaking was the big piece that was standing out to me in this game. I think, I think Mowgli had seven assists, if I remember correctly, at a bunch of assists. in this game. He ends up catching the ball in these advantage situations as a cutter or a lot of times at the three point line. There's a play where he ends up flashing right to the middle of the floor. They call it teeing up, right? There's two different ways for a big to make themselves available

in help side situations. In the dunker spot where you're on like kind of the baseline side, just outside the block waiting for the ball, or as someone drives the baseline, you don't want to get in their way, so you flash right in front of the basket to make yourself available. He ended up catching the ball right there in the middle of the floor. All the bodies converged on him. And he ended up making a nice, easy kickout pass to Sam Merrill on the left corner. He knocked down to three. Play where he catches the ball in the left corner.

He struggled to knock down threes in this game. So he drives a closeout out of the left corner, easy drop off past to Jared Allen, who was flashing right to the middle of the paint. He ends up getting a big dunk. And then sometimes you just have to beat the coverage. There is a ball screen with Mitchell and Jared Allen late in the game. where Santi Aldama's guarding Evan Mobley and they put two on Mitchell and they use Aldama to tag Allen. Evan Mobley's wide open at the top of the key.

It's a big possession late fourth quarter. He's got to beat the coverage. He's got to knock that shot down. And even though he struggled to knock down the jumpers all night long, he hit the big one. And he has been shooting the ball really well for the most part this season. I thought his versatility was on display in a big way in this game. The beautiful thing about having an offensive player like Evan Mobley is you can run action for him and you did and you got good stuff out of it. But he also can function almost entirely

as a connective piece and tie everything else together from the talent you have elsewhere on the lineup. Evan Mobley used to struggle with playmaking in the middle of the floor. That was a huge problem in the next series. Evan Moble used to struggle with finishing in traffic off of cuts. That was a problem in the past. He's better at those things now. He's playing off of two feet, confident going up and dunking everything with two hands. He's going up with an aggression and a confidence in traffic that wasn't there in the past. He's just become a much better player. And as I've talked about, when we talk about the calves, and this is a big win without Darius Garland at home against a good Memphis Grizzlies team, most of it comes down to Mobley's just better now than he used to be.

Darius Garland's just better now than he used to be. You've seen some of the upside of D'Andre Hunter and just a big physical athlete that he is, his ability to switch on to bigger players. One of the big things that I'm excited about with DeAndre Hunter is his ability to make tough shots, which becomes valuable when you get into the postseason and only tough shots exist for your team. He had a couple really nice playoff type of midrange scoring moves today, had a midranger over a mismatch in the middle of the floor. He put John Morant in jail on an action where he got him trapped on his backside and just kind of worked to the middle of the floor, hit a little floater. They can piece together lineups now that have five,

really high level offensive players in various different configurations, movement shooting like Max Trues. Oh, you need him to fly off of an off ball screen and knock a shot down, he can do it. You need someone that can run more action and do some more scoring in the middle of the floor. DeAndre Hunter is there as an option.

You want a bigger, longer defender that can knock down catch and shoot threes. Well, there's Dean Wade. Their bench groups, having a luxury like Ty Jerome to be able to pick apart drop coverage teams. They've got a lot of talent down there in Cleveland.

That was an impressive win last night. against the Memphis Grizzlies. All right, guys, that is all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you for supporting me and supporting the show. We are taking tomorrow off, but we will be back on Wednesday with some more reaction content. I will see you guys then. What's up, guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting hoops tonight.

It would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys, I appreciate you guys. If you could take a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it. 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. Nice. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. 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 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real House Wies of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. Gorsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man.

They hold and Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real House Wise franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the team. everybody's talking about. To hear this and more,

listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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 advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from a Hypocrite Wednesdays on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.

Guaranteed human.