The Mismatch - Bucks Continue to Dominate, Believing in the Knicks, and Yet Another Live Show Announcement

Episode Date: March 3, 2023

Ahead of Monday’s live show in Los Angeles, Verno and KOC announce another live show! This time in Verno’s town of Memphis, Tennessee, on March 21! After announcing the Memphis show, they move on to last night’s Mavs win over the 76ers (07:56). The guys discuss Giannis’s dominance during the Bucks' 16-game winning streak, which shows why they deserve to be the title favorites (21:20). Speaking of winning streaks, the guys discuss the Knicks’ seven-game win streak and Jalen Brunson’s insane run (27:17). Also, they discuss the Washington Post story around Ja Morant, Kevin Durant’s debut with the Suns, as well as looking at the Clippers' and Warriors' schedules down the stretch (36:35).  *'The Mismatch' is coming to Los Angeles for a live show at the El Rey Theatre on March 6! Get your tickets here!* Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Kevin O'Connor. I've got some big news for you. The mismatch is hosting its first ever live show in Los Angeles at the L.R. A theater on March 6th, me and Chris Vernon are going to be there. I'm fired up about it. At the L.R.R.A. Theta, there's been performers like Bob Dylan and Kendrick Lamar, enraging as the machine in Licky Lee. I'm fired up.

Get to be on that stage with my guy, Chris Vernon. We've been together since 2016 doing NBA podcasts. And now we're going to get to meet a lot of you who have listened. to our show for so many years. We'll do a Q&A at the end. We might have some special guests, but we're definitely going to be talking basketball. It's going to be a lot of fun.

I'm excited about it. Tickets are going fast, though, so be sure to head to the LRA.com to get your tickets now. Doors are going to open at 7 p.m. And the show is going to be starting right at 8 o'clock. Let's go, baby. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. And joining me as he does every Friday from the ringer.com.

It's Kevin O'Connor, A.K., Kevin O'O. Obama, Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'C., Kevin O'Cly, Kevin O'Killian, Kevin O'Candyland, Kevin O'Blessarian, Kevin O. Burdo! How are you doing today, man? I'm great. The next show that we are going to be doing after tonight's show, as we record this on a Thursday night, is going to be live in person on Monday in Los Angeles.

Oh, yeah. The L. Ray Theater. You still can grab a ticket to that if you have not yet. But we're super excited about that. going to be the first live show that we have ever done. And so if you don't have a ticket to that, you could still get a ticket to that. And we hope to see you out there on Monday night in Los Angeles. Now, for the news that I have gotten, I cannot tell you how many messages about because Bill Simmons keeps talking about it on his podcast. He mentions this trip to Memphis. He talks about Joe House and Bill

Simmons converging and that everybody's going to come to Memphis, where I live. And so people keep asking me, when is there going to be a Memphis show? The details are now all available to us. We just found out today that everything is sealed up and ready to go. Oh, yeah. And so we wanted to give the opportunity for our loyal listeners to have the first crack at getting these tickets. You will notice we're not promoting this on social media yet. So if you're listening to the podcast, you have the opportunity right now. The show is going to be at the New Daisy Theater on Tuesday, March 21st at 7.30 p.m. That is on Beale Street in Memphis.

I cannot tell you how many concerts I have been to at the New Daisy Theater over the years. So this is the thrill of all thrills. The New Daisy Theater was out of commission for several years. and it has been completely rebuilt and revitalized, and it is gorgeous now. It used to be called the old Daisy or just the Daisy theater, and now it's the New Daisy. It's beautiful, apparently, right? And there was the New Daisy, and I saw, I mean, that would be like, I can't remember, like, I've seen Amos Lee there.

I saw Wolfmother when they were a band back in the day. I saw, yeah, that was great one. Joker and the Thief? Yeah, I've seen, I've seen, all. All kinds of bands there when I was in my 20. So super excited. It's going to be at the New Daisy on Tuesday, March 21st at 730. Tickets are available now.

So you can go now to Bealstreet.com. That's Beal Street.com. B-E-A-L-E-Street.com. And we're going to be headed to my stomping grounds. So I hope everybody can join us in Memphis. I believe in my city. I think they're going to show out. I'm super excited.

I think this is the first time. The House has been here for the golf tournament, the FedEx St. Hugh Golf Tournament that is hosted in Memphis a couple of years ago. Bill, I believe, has not been to Memphis since the Western Conference Finals in 2013. That's, interestingly enough, how I met him. He was on the ABC show. that's when he was doing TV. That's when you met Bill. That's right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they did their show. I don't know if it was on the pod, but yeah, yeah, yeah. They did their show live in Memphis. And I had been friends with Zach Lowe for a lot of years. Zach was working at Grantling. And so Zach came in town and was working, was working the series. And then through Zach, I met Bill and Jalen because Jalen was on the show too.

and so then they were around like all week and that was the first connection that I ever made of them and then we kept in contact over the years after that and then of course I came over to the ringer in whatever it was 2016 yeah 2016

something like that but yeah I don't think he's been back since and I gotta tell you I was talking to somebody today I've never been Chris I know oh yeah and KOC's never been to Memphis I was talking to somebody today

and they were like they were like, is Bill Simmons really going to come? I'm like, yo, he's the once, he keeps saying it on his pod. Yeah, I think it was like a month ago on Bill's pod, he said March 21st in Memphis, don't know the venue yet, but

me, House and we'll be joining. It was when you were on with House, right? I believe. Yeah. And that was the first match. March 21st. They were like, they were like, does he ever do live shows? And I'm like, I don't think so. I don't think he does. So,

super blessed. This will be awesome. A little crossover pod and we're going to be doing it live and it's going to be at the New Daisy Theater on March 21st. You can get tickets. They are available now at Bealstreet.com. Bealstreet.com. The show will be at 730, doors at 6.30. It's general admission. So first come first served for the best seats in the house.

Only thing I'll say cannot guarantee your protection from John Morant if you're under a Hey, hey, hey, hey, that is, come on. Come on. How dare you? Before we even get into the pod, I can assure your protection from every year. I'm kidding, I can't. Hey, look, for those people that are out of town,

let me just say, the 20th, they played the Dallas Mavericks, and the 22nd, they play the Houston Rockets. So for people that want to come in town, you could be in town, you could come to that Mavericks game on the 20th, and then turn around to come to the live pod on the 21st, or you could bookend it. You could go to two games.

You could go and by the way, you could also just come in and out, just fly in for a day and then go. You can do that. And I got to tell you, Jesse might want to delete what Kevin said, I wouldn't want word getting back to these guys. This is a mistake.

I'm not 16 and I don't work at Apple, you know. You're pretty punchable. You look like the kind of guy. Who looks like the kind of guy get run up onto me. I'm a good target. For the stuff that has happened tonight, right before we recorded the pod, I watched Philly Dallas, which was a fascinating game. Dallas ended up winning the game. Luca and Kyrie in conjunction were unbelievable.

I think they had 80 combined in this game. And this was, you know, there's the old trope, it's a game of runs, but I swear to God, Kevin, every time one of these teams started scoring, It felt like they were scoring for five minutes straight, and the other team wasn't. And then the other team would take a turn. And so it was just runs back and forth. And once Luca and Kyrie came back in the game in the fourth quarter, they opened it up and were able to get it the rest of the way.

But I was kind of left after watching that game going, I mean, the second night of a back-to-back, because they just played the heat the night before for the Sixers. And I'm like, you know, they just scored like 130, shot fireballs all over the court, got 80 out of Luca and Kyrie combined, and they kind of had to hold on. I mean, they went up by double digits

and then screwed around at the end and gave up a late 9-0 run. But really straight, like, I just don't know playoff-wise when you can scheme against them if they're going to be able to get enough stops. And I don't know what more you could ask than those guys going like they did tonight. Because that is, it was the best of, the best version that you're going to see offensively.

And maybe they're good to win enough shootouts. And clearly, Luca could be the best player any given night in any given series. I just worry about watching them being so good offensively. and yet still not really, you know, still give it up huge runs. They were up 25, and next thing you know, they're in like a bucket game. We just watched them go up 27 against the Lakers and lose a game. And so, you know, they're offensively potent. There's no way around it.

But I didn't leave that game feeling amazing about their prospects going forward. Well, I mean, I've, you know, ever since the deadline. I think they have no chance at winning a championship. So nothing has necessarily changed for me. It's good to see them play at the level they can offensively. They go small. Dwight Powell only plays 22 minutes. Christian Wood plays only 14.

You know, Max and Cleave has been back the past couple of days. You know, he's a very important player for them, allows them to play small more often, space to floor, versatile on defense, yada, yada, all that stuff. I mean, you could say on the flip side, surprising, and B didn't imbues that lack of size more. Granted he had 35 points, 9 of 13 from the line. Only 8 rebounds, only 4 offensive boards. On the Dallas side of things, though, Chris,

do you feel like with Kleba being back and their options in the front court, is there anything to glean in the fact that in the West, if you're facing Denver, obviously you can't do that. Yokic is going to absolutely destroy you over a seven-game series against the Kings. you know, Subonis could provide some issues. Stephen Adams with Memphis once he's back on the offensive boards,

the leader in offensive rebounding this year. He's been so important for the Grizzlies. Now Phoenix, DeAndre Aiton and Kevin Durant. I feel like for Dallas, there's a lot of matchups in the West where size could be an issue for their smaller lineups that they're going to have to rely on. It's weird because at least, just for tonight, I kind of felt like that in the really big ones, like the Yokic is and that kind of

stuff, that yeah, that's going to be a huge problem for them. They really don't have an answer. But maybe not Memphis. You're going with like Jaron Jackson or something like that. I think almost you got to match up small with them because in that game. Phoenix too. Like Phoenix goes with Kevin Durant at the five, something like that. I mean, they came out and they trashed the Sixers the first like four minutes of the second half. I mean, it was just an absolute three barrage because you know M.B. 52% from three, just to throw that number out there. But M.B., it was very reminiscent of last year when they were able to do it in the playoffs

against Utah in spots and against other teams where they could just space this floor out in a very difficult way. And M-Bid's not out there guarding a three-point line, you know? And it wasn't until, and the Sixers were getting mauled, then their bench came in, and that's like Paul Reed, and it's Maxie, and it's Melton. I mean, they had, the Shake Milton. Like, it was those guys.

And it's almost like you can match up small with them. And I know at that point, for some of that time, Luca and Kyrie went to the bench, but it was 20-point differential at that point, too. I mean, teams lit up. It happens. They do. But I do think that this is what it's going to be. And the nights that they are shooting fireballs from three, this can be the result.

And the nights they're not, I think their variance is going to be enormous. Because you just don't know with Tim Hardaway Jr. And Reggie Bullock was putting, hit and pull-up threes in this game. Five of ten on the night. And he's 38% from the season. It's not like he's a poor shooter. He's a good shooter. But, I mean, they started that second half with seven of eight.

Maybe it was eight of nine. At one point, they were 22 of 36 from three. This is the formula, though, right? Yeah. I think you're hitting the nail on the head there. They're going to be a high variance team. And I think with Dallas at this point, this is going to be a team. Like, yes, you need to score more points.

Like this is going to be their thing. They're always going to struggle to get stops. They're always going to have, you know, have something that's going to be exploited by these amazing offenses, whether it's size on the interior in a series against Denver or whether it's, you know, high pick and roll, switching defense, picking on the weakest player that you'll see against Phoenix. Like, whatever it is, there will be something the offense can exploit on Dallas's defense. But, you know, if the other team shoots slightly below their three-point shooting average and you get in more runouts, and transition early offense opportunities or cross-matches and leading the mismatches in favor of Luca and Kyrie,

there's going to be nights where they shoot the hell out of the ball and they end up winning games. So I think for Dallas, this serves as an example of success in the postseason and how it needs to happen is with knights like this. Yes, and they've just got to catch fire and knock down shots like that because their defense sucks. Yeah, it's bad It sucks

I mean But at least when they knock down the shots It gives them a chance to set it up Right So they can they can trick up some defenses on you I mean at one point like you know They're throwing it down to Embed And just three guys just run straight at him

Yeah I mean On that on that Philly side of things Are you you concerned it all about What you saw tonight? I think they cared deeply about that Miami game last night Yeah it was a back to back That's true

And it was a back-to-back. And evidently what they said on the broadcast was they got in there like super late. Yeah. So I don't know. That's a good point as well. I don't know what to make of it. Honestly,

I don't want to take too much out of it, given the spot on the schedule. That's not an excuse for them. But, you know, did my opinion change greatly of Philadelphia? No. I mean, it is what it is. I do think, you know, for Philadelphia,

when you think about who were there eight or nine, guys in the playoff rotation. I think that's where there's questions. Are you really going to continue with Nying with some of his struggles? Are you going to go with a Paul Reed? You know, who Sixers fans, like, they love Paul Reed,

everything that he provides, the energy. He hit an 18-footer tonight in the fourth quarter, and I was like, what? Well, like, I mean, I think that's what Doc Rivers is going to have to figure out. Maybe that varies by series, depending on who your first round opponent is. But I think figuring out that,

Eighth guy is really important for them right now. If you kind of think about how they complete their rotation, because they feel like one short. And they also got a lot to overcome, for sure. They got the hardened stuff. They got the dock stuff. And frankly, Embed hasn't been able to stay healthy all the way through playoffs and play at the best level.

No doubt about it. It's a lot to overcome when you combine it all. You're totally right there. And I think for Philly, it's, I wonder. like if the locker room is at all, maybe not, but if they're at all distracted by some of the Hardin stuff that's out there, you know, now this is the second time that there's got to be annoying, right?

I mean, Woge back on Christmas, you know, has a story about Hardin is, has interest in going back to Houston. Then this week, the athletic has another story about how Hardin has interest in going back to Houston. I've heard similar throughout the entire season in terms of he likes Houston. I don't think he's necessarily for sure going to leave Philadelphia. I also don't think there's a guarantee that Houston would want Hardin.

It would depend on what other moves Houston can make. It depends on where they land in the draft. It's a lot of factors from the Houston side of things. The Hardin side, though, I just, you know, I wonder if just that noise being out there in the NBA world could be at all, you know, deterrent to their title hopes. I mean, it's got to be annoying. As soon as you start telling that story about that being in the news again, I could not be thinking at the end of the Sixers Dallas game.

I don't know if you still had it on, but Kyrie did the walk-off interview. And the last interview was like, Kyrie, do you feel at home? And he was like, it's getting there. It's getting there. They welcomed me with open arms, day by day. It's like,

He's like, I've seen all your videos. That's what he's probably thinking in the back of his head. I'll be dead if I give you another Boston video or me with Cleveland with the little kid saying, I'm never going to leave you like LeBron. I'm not giving you another video talking about how, yeah, this feels like home. This feels like where I need to be.

It's like maybe you can get swept up in the emotions of the moment. I think that's what you're hoping. Like, does it feel like home, Kyrie? He's like, I think everybody kind of knows the deal here. I'm gone at the end of this. Well, you think with the Hardin side of things, I mean, I'm sure he'll continue to be asked about it

and give non-answers throughout the season. But with Hardin, he shoots, he has 27 points tonight, 13 assists, you know, by all accounts, a good game on the surface, some bad turnovers at the end, but 12 total shots is this one of those nights where you feel Hardin should have tapped back into maybe his former self

and been like 20 plus shot of temps, 25 shot of temps. I mean, I think it was a night that they thought Embed would just destroy everybody because that's where they had the massive advantage. And Hardin was really good in the first half. Second half was just a nothing. I tell you this,

that Joker goes to Houston. You can never accuse him a ring chasing. Yeah. Because I watched that team last night and my God, I've seen AAU teams with more structure. It is an abomination. An abomination.

It is. They still have some young talent that if you add a James Hardin and then you flip some of those picks for two veterans and you use your cap space to sign some vets. I can't imagine somebody worse to learn from than Hardin. If you're trying to bring along young players. Especially back home in Houston with some of the bad habits that he had there. Oh, for goodness.

I think with Hardin, if you're a Houston, I mean, I get the appeal of wanting to bring James Hardin back, but only if he's bringing another star with him or you're able to get another star in a trade. I get the appeal. I do. I understand it. But at the same time, if you're Houston, I feel like he just kind of want to get it right with fixing the coach and the young guys and bringing in some veterans that more fit your timeline than James Harden. I don't get it as much from the Houston side of things unless they have another monster move out there

that we don't know about at the moment. All right, let's start with the Easter conference. Easter conference, the bucks do not lose, Kevin. No. It is now 14 in a row. Best team in the league. They've moved up to the number one seed. Oh, it's 16 in a row.

It's 16 now? 16. Oh, 16. I'm sorry. I had 14 on my chart. 16 in a row. they haven't lost since January 21st. That's the last time I lost.

And a couple of weeks ago when all this, this MVP thing has just gotten, it's become an absolute circus, all of the discussion about this. And it's so toxic, man. It really is. It's disgusting. But you talked about Janus a couple of weeks ago

and said he would be number one on your ballot. And he will get the best player, best team bump. If they keep on this kind of track, because I know that Yokic has won it. I know that Westbrook won it on a low seed the year that he averaged a triple double. But generally, over the course of NBA history, you have had one of the two best records. It's been the best player on a team that's had one of the two best records in the league. And obviously, Yokic applies to that in the Western Conference. Yonis would apply to that.

and they may have the best overall record in the NBA while him putting up just crazy numbers as he usually does. So he would get a bump from that just by them being in first place, you being the best player on the first place team gets you a bump for sure. He's like,

I mean, we talked about it a couple weeks ago on the pod when I made the argument for Janice's MVP, the wilt numbers, the elite defensive numbers when he's defending the pick and roll or as the big man or the ball, handler and all the stats that I shared

and everything we talked about applies still. But like what he's done during this win streak too, Chris, coming back from an injury as well. Right? Like that needs to be factored and he's playing through a knee issue right now, a hand issue right now,

and still a dominant force. He's shooting over this, ever since they last lost a game. 38% from three. 40% from mid-range. 74% from the restricted area dominating. It's the hottest streak of his

season. He started off, you know, worse shooting the ball, shooting better than he ever has this current regular season, continuing to be a dominant force on defense, averaging over this stretch, despite playing nine minutes in one game, six minutes in another game.

Still, the averages are including those two games, is 31.9 points per game, 12 rebounds, and 5.4 assists. That's a 29.1 minutes per game. 29.1 minutes for a game, including two games.

He had nine minutes and six minutes. He's averaging 31.9 points over this entire winning streak. The dude is on another level right now, and this is why I've been hammering the Bucks are the favorites. The Bucks are the favorites. All season long, Chris. I know the Celtics are up there too. I know Denver and Phoenix.

They're absolutely contenders. But the Bucks have the best player in the world and Janice, who is trending up as we approach the playoffs here with a team that just added your guy, Jay Crowder, very good 3-&D guy, good wing defender, good energy, to a rotation that, for the most part, didn't need anybody else to win a championship, but they did add something else,

and they feel even more complete with Jay Crowder right now, with everything that they can do and all their lineup flexibility, I think they just continue to prove why they're the favorites. Well, and to your point about the depth thing, They are the frontrunner to add Goren Drogich. And if he had a moment in the playoffs, it wouldn't surprise anyone. This is a battle tested,

you know, veteran guy that you could see having a moment in the playoffs for them, coming off the bench, knocking out some shots. Another option, Chris. Like, what if a guy turns an ankle and he misses the third and fourth quarter,

you know? Right. I mean, look, we saw it happen with every time George Hill was ever available. They brought his ass in. So, I mean, gore dragons, you can see it happening. The Bucks, John Schumann in his Power Rankings article earlier in the week,

and none of this would have changed, given that they have not played competitive games this week. So you got the 16 straight games. They are a league best 23 and 6 in games that were within five points in the last five minutes. 23 and 6, Kevin. So when we talk about what playoff basketball is, that's what playoff basketball is. You're in many cases, especially when you get to the as you advance rounds, you're playing. Those are kind of games you're playing.

Games that are within five points in the last five minutes of the game. And they have been downright dominant in that spot. You get the close game with them. You lose that close game. Three out of four times you've done it so far. And also at the beginning of the week, those numbers, and I would imagine that it's only gotten better given that they've trounced two opponents this week,

they had the fourth ranked bench since Chris Middleton returned from his injury absence without scoring their opponents by 18.5 points per 100 possessions. You see A.J. Green for them, four for seven from three the other night. Every time I watch A.J. Green come off the Bucks bench, and he doesn't play every night, But every time he does, I'm like, I mean, he could have a night in the playoffs, too.

That guy's got a flamethrower from three. Yeah, they have just, they, they look like the best team in the NBA. They do. You know, with the best player in the NBA. It helps to have the best player. Yeah. I think you're right. I guess the team that's probably looked second best is the Knicks.

The Knicks ever, hey, they've got a real chance at home court now. Dude. They look so good. They've won seven in a row. They have lost twice since the start of February. They've lost twice since February began. We're already to March. We just saw them trashed Brooklyn.

And I saw the craziest stat yesterday. It was Jalen Brunson, who has averaged since January 1st, 28.6 points per game, 4.2 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 51% field goal percentage. And with that, he is, you had just a few nights ago, had the 39 point game on 15 of 18 from field.

Crazy. You know, we spent the last show being effusive in our praise of Damian Liller. He had just scored the 71. He'd been on this absolute scoring tail. He had been on this absolute just heater scoring the ball like crazy. And the stat I read was that the only player in the NBA that has scored more points than Jalen Brunson since January 1st is Damian Lillard. That's insane.

Wow. I would have never guessed that. So only he is second to Damian Lillard since January 1st. That's nuts. That's wild. That's how good this guy's been. That's crazy. I mean, that snuck up on me to be scoring that much and being that great.

We talked about it a couple weeks ago. like he basically he's sustained his efficiency just with a significantly higher volume. If you look at his stats of Dallas last year and like really the last two years, he's ranked as one of the league's most efficient

isolation scores, one of the league's most efficient pick and roll shot creators. And what is he now? One of the league's most efficient isolation scores on pick and roll shot carriers just with more volume. That's the main thing. He's averaging for the season, 17.5 shots.

but earlier in the year he was shooting 15 times a game now he's at like 20 times per game this new year in 20203 so that that's been the key thing now for him is just an uptick and volume sustaining efficiency like i am i totally buy it like i don't think this is just um mid-season hot streak by jalen bronson because it really it saw it in the playoffs and it goes back two years in the regular season just on a lower volume this is this is how often it's often how stars emerge, isn't it, Chris? It's like you build, build each year more and more, get more opportunity and you continue thriving. And the fact that it's happening alongside Julius Randall having an even better year than he was the year he was all NBA, like it's kind of crazy how it was really what, 13 months ago, was it last January? Last January, last January when Nick's fans were booing him and there's the thumbs down

and all that after he stunk in the playoffs the year prior, his all NBA year is 2021 stinks last season after signing the new deal struggles at the beginning of this year and now he's better than he's ever been I'm telling you Kevin they're dangerous

things can change so fast they're dangerous as he's self-proclaimed best center in New York they're dangerous team man they really are they have a lot of like they've got them playing they've got a good they got a good vibe

about them and this guy, he's sneaking up on everybody. Like, when I just said that state, you got to understand that since January 1st. All right. This is sustained being awesome. And they might have a six-man of the year, too, quickly. And you just have to recalibrate. Oh, for sure. And you just got to recalibrate what you thought about Jay LaBrunsen.

Bro, he scored 28 points a game. Yeah. That's happening. And he's doing it consistently. I love to see it for sure. And what an all time. I mean, he's making this look like a very,

very serious blunder for Dallas. I don't want to rub it in. But my God, at the number you could have had him at, if you'd have just taken care of the guy. Jeez, Louise. And you still have Dorian Finney Smith. You still have your picks.

Oh, my goodness. What a different position they'd be in. The map's really effed up, man. They did big time. So bad. It's an all-timer. He's making it look like an all-timer. Going back to the poor Zinger's trade, when they made that decision, that hasn't, that's never worked out.

Everything's involved in Nix with their major mistakes and in the Luca era. And now, you fast forward, you know, there's a lot of Jay LaBrunsen didn't make the All-Star team. Jay LaBrunsen didn't make the All-Star team. And obviously, it looks like an oversight in retrospect. He may do the very rare. And I know the competition is stiff. but if they end up with like home court advantage and they keep this trend going and he keeps on putting up the numbers he could do the very rare all NBA team without making the all star team it does not happen often it does happen but not often but he really could you could see him making an all NBA team given what he is put together you're making me want to look up who that's happened for in the past i know it happened to zach randolph in Memphis Yeah, can't imagine it's many.

Yeah. Zipo did it in Memphis. He did not make the All-Star team, and then he was named to an all-NBA team. And so that was like a big deal. That's how I remember it. But it's rare. Right. Yeah, if anybody out there is a data miner and has the ability to scrape this from the web, you know, in seconds,

let us know, send us a tweet or email us at NBA mailbag at gmail.com with the findings. You know, tried this on chat. Or just tweeted to us. Or just tweet it to us. Yeah. At Chris Vernon Show at Kevin O'Connor NBA. I tried it on chat. GPT.

Gave us the wrong results. So that was a bust. So here's the thing. Just find out who made all NBA in a season that they did not make the all-star game. That's what we're trying to find out. Anyway, the whole point originally was how amazing Brunson's been and the Knicks. I am a believer in this, Kevin. I mean, look, they're not going to keep on winning every single game.

But I do think that that was two teams going very different directions when they trashed Brooklyn. Because Brooklyn looks like they're really falling down. I mean, they're going to be a play-in team or they could possibly drop out of the play-in if it's an absolute free fall. But they still have some cushion. They do. Just to give that some context, right now, the Knicks are now two games up on the playoff. the Nets, a game and a half back from the Cavs, which would be what a first round series, that would be Cavs Nicks considering the Mitchell stuff.

But for Brooklyn, they're only five and a half up on the bowls with the 11 seed. So they're going to fall back to the plan. You assume at some point Miami passes them, they're only a game and a half back right now. Atlanta's three back. Toronto and Washington are four back from Brooklyn. They could fall to the 10, falling to 11 to Chicago. That seems really tough with so few games left. But at the same time, maybe.

I mean, they're two and eight. Yeah, they're free-falling. In their last 10. They are in Chicago. I think they want to make the playoffs. I mean, they are competing. Even the games they lose, they're clearly trying to win. It's not like they're a tanking team, despite the fact they have top four protected

pick. You can make the argument that they should be trying to lose, as I have throughout the season. but I think they're trying to make the playoffs and I don't think that's changed so maybe maybe just five and a half games is a lot it is a lot yeah especially with when you're talking like

19 to 20 something low 20s depending on the team kind of left in the year the interesting thing for Brooklyn is like they they do have the swap pick so they they do have a pick if they end up in the lottery Houston can swap and take their pick if it ends up higher.

But theoretically, you know, maybe you end up with the eighth pick or the ninth pick or the tenth pick. Yeah. Better lose everything. In the West, you got the Nuggets versus the Grizzlies on Friday night. I'll imagine everybody's listening to this show on Friday. So tonight, it's a rematch of last weekend. These are the two top teams in the Western Conference. both teams have trounced each other at home.

That Denver team has won, I want to say it's like 21 of 22 at home. And I don't think, you know, the standings are very fluid. But last I had checked, they don't play any of the other like Western Conference contenders for like the next month after this game. And so in terms of their record getting even better and better, it certainly looks like it could be on track to do that. Not as I mentioned, they just don't lose at home. They're 21 to 22 going into this one. And so it's going to be fun to watch.

I really don't know what to make of it, considering I've watched those two teams play twice, and they killed each other, dependent upon who had the home court. But that has not been the story this week for the Grizzlies. They won a couple games. They beat the Lakers earlier in the week. I went to that.

Killed Houston last night, which, I mean, you don't get any trophies for that. But the Washington Post story that came out about John Moran is the story that everybody's been talking about with the Grizzlies this week. Lord knows I've gotten 700 million tweets When are you going to talk about Moran You're going to defend Moranth You know I bet this means nothing about Moran you know

And it's like look Can we Can we first like Outline what was accused Yeah sure So the Washington Post Put out the story for anybody who doesn't know Saying that he hit

A 17 year old during a basketball game at Morant's house 12 or 13 times and there was a quote large knot on the side of the kid's head that the police say they observed. Ja, Morant says he was acting in self-defense. He said he swung first

but he said the boy, you know, the 17-year-old boy was the aggressor because he threw the ball at Jaws head. The boy says that he was checking the ball back. Morant checked the ball to him harder and checked back to Jaws. All right. Go ahead. And then...

I love the boy. It's not a child. The 17-year-old boy. I'm reading an art. I'm reading like a Yahoo summary as a as. I wish you could see him. The boy. This is a little feeble child.

John Morant got to fight with. Chris already. Self-defense mode just like John, right? You got to be kidding. The boy. Why didn't you say the infant? The toddler, the John Morant stomp. You see his.

Someone on Twitter posted, what's some of the memes of, like, TV show? Anyway, so anyway, so anyway. They're playing basketball. The guy throws a basketball at him to get in a fight. And he punched the 12 or 13 times. The allegation is that Jha came back with a gun. And then there was the mall incident. In the mall incident, Morant was alleged to have threatened the head security during

altercation in the parking lot. But the incident alleged during, Barant's mother got into a dispute. I mean, at the finish line. At the finish line store. Then called Jah, who arrived with as many as nine people. The group allegedly refused to leave when confronted by the head of security leading to the shove. So this comes months after the stuff. Which is not him.

This is one of his buddies. Yes. But the fact is evidently alleged to have done this. The fact is. And of course, they're all in prison. But this is now three things over the course of a couple of months now, Chris. We talked about it at the time of the pacist thing happening that, you know, I believe you said he needs to stop.

He needs to clean up his inner circle. Look, all right. Let's just do this. Here, let's do the timeline, okay? A, that Pacer's thing happened a couple of weeks ago. Or anybody that listens to this show, unless you're hard of hearing, I defended nothing except to tell you that the NBA investigated the damn thing. And nobody had a gun.

Stop. All right. Nobody had a gun. Nobody was threatening. This whole, they were in fear for their lives. It was preposterous. There's video of the whole parking garage. Now, the second thing, this guy gets into a fight. He has got to. And this is the same story we've talked about for seven months. This all happened. Everybody in Memphis knew this. happened whatever it was, eight months ago, all right? And it's crazy to me that people decide, I would imagine a lot of people didn't have a subscription to the Washington Post, so they're reading the excerpts or they're reading the headlines of this, right? So the things

that are salacious regarding the player are obviously all going to be believed, and the things that are salacious regarding the victim are not going to be believed, right? So if I am to believe that though the, I'm not the cops, right, there's police and there's investigators that go if there is a crime that is committed. Not once was it cooperated, though there are dozens of people there. So let me explain. He lives out in the country. He's got a full court basketball court outside.

Elite level players from all over come and play in these games, all right? There's a fight at the game. There's dozens of people out there. They talk to all of them. If there's a gun or if somebody thinks, now, meanwhile, the other side is that the guy, the kid says, I'm going to go get mine and I'm going to like this place up. And the other side was, I guess, do you want to believe this?

That they asked, that they basically said, give us $20 million and this will all go away. Do you want to believe that too? For what it's worth. Again, I don't know what to believe. That lighted up. The line was, this is the Yahoo Recap. Morant also reportedly claimed the boy, the boy, the toddler.

Yeah, the boy. shouted, I'm going to come back and light this place up like fireworks. So that's when Morant fired his own police report. Right. Saying that that kid threatened his family. So, like, first the kid filed a report and then Moran, Ranted weeks afterwards saying that that's what the kid said. So it is a he said he said thing right now.

And well, no, and in the case of the gun thing, it's a he said and 40 people said. Sure, yes. Okay. But I'm defending him if I say that. I don't know what the hell happened. I wasn't there. Here's what is true. Here's what is true.

He needs to clean up a circle. He is a global superstar. He doesn't. Look, his friends. Hey, he shouldn't be fighting with the kid. By all accounts, the story is, they're squared up, should I do it? That's the moment. Your friend has to be the guy that says, no.

Your friend has to be the guy that says, no, don't do it. Everybody around you, when you are in these situations, and you shouldn't be in the situations in the first place. Okay, let me make that clear. when you are, your friends have to protect you and understand that you are the guy. You are a global superstar now. And your conduct is not that of just a regular guy anymore because this is the kind of thing that can happen. Do you think that's...

Is that similar even with like the finger gun celebration the other night in the Rockets game? He's done that a couple times this season. Last night it happened in the Houston game. No. But even with that, do you think considering the context that Grizzlies, front office, coaches, teammates, whoever should be like, dude, this doesn't help your reputation as the global superstar that you're talking about. Little things like that. Absolutely. It's like with the Brennan Miller pat down.

It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous that the coaches and whoever, you know, athletic director, whatever, it says, hey, before the game, you get to know that they've been doing that all season. You've got to tell them not to do it anymore. No, and I would tell you that in all of these instances, like whether or not the most salacious details of them are true or not, okay? And I'm not defending any of it. No. I'm telling you what all of these reports have said.

If it's corroborated, it's corroborated. I'm not an investigator. But, you know, I know everybody wants to believe the worst of everything. Here's what is true. He's gotten himself into three different. situations that he has absolutely no business being a part of. None. None. You have now, I told you the last time we talked about this. You made it. Go have fun. Go get chick. Go do whatever you want to do. But like right now, when you're getting into these kind of messes,

and you have to have, you know, one of the great things about LeBron James and his career in the spotlight and not only dealing with fame, you know that they have, people have come up on LeBron or tested LeBron or tried to provoke LeBron for years and years and years. His whole life that's happened, right? He has always had a very tight circle of friends, of which I have the most respect for. Yeah, he's known how to build this circle for sure. And you know what all those guys had in common. They were all interested in making LeBron James as successful as he could possibly be.

And all of them hustled themselves, too. Mav Carter, Rich Ball. all of them have had success in their own respective ways. Every single person around Moran has to be interested in making him as successful as he can possibly be. Part of a team. Yes. And instead, the issues keep coming up. It's mega disappointing, Kevin.

Now, luckily, all of these things, like that thing, all that stuff happened eight months ago. So it's not like current events. Yeah. But even the fight, that was. originally reported by TMZ in like December or January. Yeah. It's just we didn't know all the details

until the Washington Post, you know, well, and it happened last summer. Yes. It happened last summer. Yeah. Like it didn't happen during the year. It happened in the offseason. Before that TMZ report came out,

one of my friends said, uh, someone in the NBA world said, I'm hearing like some stuff about Jow was in a fight this summer. I don't know the details, when stuff could come out. And then the TMZ thing came out. Nothing really came out with that.

And now we hear all of it. Like everything's trickled out at this point. And you keep getting more and more and more and more details. Look, should you have made this go away? I think, you know, it's fair to say that, but let's just say that that part of it is true. That they said, hey, you know, this can go away for, does anybody want to believe that part? Does that seem outlandish? They'd say, hey, give us 20 million bucks and no one will ever hear.

about this. Yeah. And okay, at that point, whether, and again, whether that's true or not, right, obviously you're not giving somebody 20 million bucks, but bro, it keep, this story won't go away and it keeps getting worse and worse and worse and worse and worse. And now it's gotten to the point where there was a gun involved and everything else. And it's like, I mean, at some point, it's like, I don't know what the hell happened and they need to decide this. That's what you have. of, you know, law enforcement for, and here's the truth. He has to be infinitely more careful, which I would tell you, he has, and his friends are dragging him into headlines.

Like, two of those stories are both about his buddies and what came of it. And it's not- Ultimately, it's- Jaws choice. A hundred percent, but it's not de-escalation. surround yourself with it. Correct. And look, this is what they say. The higher you get, the smaller the circles got to get. Yeah.

The more you succeed. And if everybody around you is not interested, he's the meal ticket for everybody. That's tough, you know, that's tough. You know, if you want to be friendly with the people you've known for a long time, but sometimes there's a point you just got to cut them. Right. And obviously, look, he is a brand endorser. You don't get to be the brand endorser for Nike and PowerAid and for all these places when your name is in the headlines too often.

And so I think everybody that cares about him is hopeful that this is the end of it. You know, that like the headlines have all been out there and that you can learn from these. But the reputation is already soil. It is amongst fans. I mean, look, I love the memes are hilarious. The jokes are hilarious. They are pretty funny. And when people jump me and they're like, oh, you're going to defend him, you got to defend him?

Like, look, what do you want me to say? I'm not his dad. You know, it's a cautionary tale. I want this guy to be successful. I know him. I know the family. I don't think he's a bad guy. That being said, there's no question he has gotten himself into horrendous situations of which there are no excuse.

Because I don't care. In the end, your name's in the headline. And you shouldn't have been involved in any of these things anyway. The second you walked out, your buddy should not be yelling with Andrew Nemhard out in the parking lot anyway, or during the game. It shouldn't be happening. You shouldn't be getting into it with some mall security guard about nothing. And this fight with the kid is, it's ridiculous too.

And that is the moment. Your friend has got to be the one saying, No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. All right, let's talk about a better basketball team, the Phoenix Suns. Well, look, you have continually talked about better players and better basketball players and better teams all year than the Grizzlies, and it's got to drive you fucking crazy to see them in second place. It really does.

You had them like night going into the year. You had them after the Pelicans. Every week, you get the new team of the week. Let's talk about the better team, the Phoenix Suns. They had a huge win against the Charlotte Bobcats last night with a broken ankle, a mellow ball. Let's talk about how awesome they are with Kevin Durant. It's going to be so comical what the Grizzlies lose in the first round. They've got 19 games to figure it out with the Phoenix Suns.

I'm not, I couldn't be less word. You could, you've been wrong about Morant and the Grisley. Grisleys since day one. You can't take it. I just have to say the one thing I've been very right about with the Grizzlies is Desmond Bain. I just have to interject and pat myself on the back with Desmond Bain. That's all. Just have to say that.

Then you should be happy. I'm very happy. I love your Grizzlies curse. I just don't think they're as good as you do. What is their record is the record. What is what is? good as what. So do you feel like

Grizzly Sons? I don't know, Kevin. They're the second round series. They're the third youngest team in the league. If they don't win, they don't win. All right. So the sons,

you know, beat the end of the world. The sons beat the Bobcats by 14, as you said. The Bobcats. With J.T. Thor and Rosier and Ubre and the starting lineup, no lamello ball.

Huge win. But you got to admit, Like once again, Kevin Durant looks like he missed absolutely no time at all. He was unbelievable again. You got to admit that's a little bit scary, though, considering what he offers to them with their interior defense to versatility, a Kogi, you know, their starting lineup, a guy I believe, you know, you might have liked when he was, you know, a younger player in Minnesota coming out of the draft.

He's never really worked out, but he's been awesome for Phoenix since he's gotten consistent minutes. You got to admit, with Katie looking like Katie right away again. again. I think it's a lot of the same things. That's intimidating, right? Come on. Of course. It's the same thing, though,

what we talked about with Dallas, in the sense of, I do think it's going to be offense and offensive explosion. Their defense is way better. It is. But, their defense is going to be awesome. When you get into the playoffs,

they don't have bridges. They don't have Jay Crowder. They don't have those wing defenders anymore. It's a lot of pressure on KD. It's a lot. They have Kevin Durant, Akogee is a great point of attack defender. Also a lot of pressure on a

Don't start kissing up to him now because you told me it's a bum all year. You want me to? Yes, because things change. And DeAndri Aten was a bomb earlier in the season and he's been awesome the last month or so. So yes, I will change my tune because the tune changed. It's a lot to trust is what I'm saying. Yeah, but at least he's turned it around and shown something after signing the deal. I was worried.

I was worried because he wasn't playing with the same. same effort, but he has the past month. He's turned it up. He looks like a rejuvenated DeAndre Aiton. He looks way more like the guy that we saw in the year they made the finals. So if you're looking at the Sons right now and assessing DeAndre Aiton, you know, with guys in and out of the lineup this past month, Booker out, Paul out, with them, he's had bigger scoring nights. He's offered great, great secondary scoring while stabilizing their defense. Katie was a borderline all-defense player earlier in the season

next to Nick Claxton. Now you have the dynamic with Aiton and Durant as their interior helped defenders already Durant had a great play in their opener against Charlotte, blocked a shot, hit a transition three later on, great sequence that kind of sums up the Durant experience this year

with dominant defense leading to dominant offense. I feel good about Phoenix's defense, and I think it'll be even better than it was in their opening a game against the Hornets where like it's Charlotte. They stink. They're one of the worst teams in basketball. You're not assessing that too much.

The thing is when they go to the bench. Sure. I mean, Jack Landell, campaign, T.J. Warren, you know, Damien Lee, ish, Wainwright. These are the guys that would bring it off. Obviously, you know, there may be some other guys that could get involved as time goes on.

But, I mean, it's 19 games to figure it out, right? and those two are going to be amazing. They're wildly offensively potent. But, you know, his knees got to hold up, and Chris Paul's got to make it through the playoffs. Yeah, it's all fair. Through the playoffs, right? They're definitely, they're not a perfect team.

Legitimate concerned. They're not like some juggernaut that is the clear-cut, no-brain or favorite. They are one of the leading contenders. Next to Denver, in my opinion. I think Denver's up there as well. I'd put Memphis, you know. When's the first time we get to see them against like a really good team?

They play. Phoenix, Phoenix, this is? They play at Dallas on Sunday, which is at least another Western conference, you know, and that'll be actually fun with Luca and Kyrie versus those two. And then next Saturday, March 11th against the Kings, March 13. This is the stretch right here. March 11th against the Kings, March 13th on the road against the Warriors, and then a back-to-back at home against the Bulls.

bucks. So that back to back is tough at Warriors and then verse bucks. That's a tough scheduling there for Phoenix. Yeah. And then they're, the travel's not too bad though. You know, San Francisco back to Phoenix, that's not bad. No, not that bad. But that would be, yeah, that'll be

a really good stretch and they'll probably tell us something about them. We'll see how they look. When they're playing against, you know, that Charlotte game, you can't pull anything from, except for that KD. Every time he plays basketball, he looks like freaking Kevin Durant. It's unbelievable. Isn't it so?

Oh, he's amazing. Look, and again, of course, if he's healthy, he can be the best player in any game, any series. We know that. Now, I'm not so sure amongst one of their peers that that is going to be so when I watch the Clippers now. Clippers have, they drop three in a row going into this game against, they're playing the Warriors right now as we're recording this,

Up 11 at half time at the moment. They're up 11 at halftime. They're coming into this, they lost 5 of 7. Another great Kauai game so far as well, 15 points at the half. I saw earlier in the game some outstanding defense as well,

which he's been awesome defensively lately. He's been awesome and it's going to be fascinating to see. Can he be three weeks of the best player, right, in a game, in a series as it goes on? Huge stretch for them, because you've got this Golden State game tonight. Then you've got, Sacramento tomorrow night,

then Memphis, Toronto, the Knicks, and the Warriors. And by that time, Curry will be back with the Warriors. And so it's kind of a crucial stretch here. You're playing, played some hot teams in that stretch. You know,

you're playing the third ranked team in the West right now, the second ranked team in the West. Toronto, who's, I think they're eight and two, you know, recently. I mean, they're trying to hold on to their spot. They're trying to win every night. and they got some players, the Knicks who are as hot as it gets outside of the bucks, and then you'll catch the Warriors who are going to be trying to win every single game down the stretch

once they get Curry back to try to improve their standing. And so it's going to be really big for the Clippers because they haven't looked so great since the Russell Westbrook edition, which was puzzling to a lot of people. And I think even now watching was a little puzzling. It was crazy when the Lakers were in town. I was talking to a bunch of their people the other night. And one of the first things they said to me, they're like, can you believe, can you believe they brought in Russ?

And they're like, we're in the same effing building. Like, do they not watch our games? Oh, Paul George. What are they doing? Paul George doesn't. Like, what are they doing? Why? What are they doing?

Do they not watch our games? That's the bigger guys were telling me. I was like, God. But I mean, and you ever, if you ever hear Lawrence Frank talk about it, he's weird about it when you hear him talk about it. It was a bald player. Ty Lou and Tyloo. Tyloos is much more positive about it too. Yeah.

Yeah. I think that Ty Lou and Paul George won that one. But Larry Frank probably didn't, wasn't all that enchanted with it. I get it from the Paul George, Kauai Leonard perspective. I do. You know, I get it. Like they like to play off the ball more and receive it in like secondary action, attack and rotating defense or carry the offense in the fourth quarter when they need to, right?

Like Russ does help, you know, alleviate playmaking responsibilities. I like, I just think thus far, it's just been more of the same, right, Chris? More of the same where the pros don't outweigh the cons at this point with Russell Westbrook, which is a shame. And the funny thing is, is like, Paul, I was listening to that clip that went viral with Paul George on J.J. Redix podcast earlier this week where he's like, no, no, no, the one about, um, he's like, I had to accept that I can't be the best player on a championship team. Oh, yeah. And within that, like, he talked about the mindset of

understanding, you know, your place in the league and who you are and when you need to take a step back and evolve your game. I'm like, dude, you're describing the opposite of Russell Westbrook. that's what you're describing right now while also wanting to bring him on to your team and I know earlier in the year Russ made some changes he accepted the bench roll and all that I think guys like that it's kind of like Beal too

it's like they're it's like they respect and honor this like that alpha quality like the alpha quality does not end up serving you well in many cases, right? But they look at that and they say, there's a guy that's willing to, you know, die on the court to try to win the game. Like that kind of, they get that fire, that desire, that, you know, now he doesn't have the talent that somebody like Paul George has, right?

But I think that somebody, and Paul George is one of the things he's talking about, right, that they like to be able to have that guy that they know that he's not. he's not scared of the like he doesn't like Paul George hits the side of the backboard and it like he keeps him up for the next five nights Russell Westbrook hits the side of the backboard

and then comes and does it again like he doesn't care I mean like it's almost like you're you're envious that you're not wired like that and so they like guys like that the exact quote from him was it's a self-aware thing

because there's guys that don't think that or there's guys that go beyond their prime and they still think they're that in their prime and it's a tough pill to swallow. That is wrong. That's who you're describing while making the argument that you respect those players

who do swallow that tough pill and change their game and accept the different role. Like, Russ, like you got to give him credit in other ways. I said on Thanksgiving, I'm thankful that he's changed and he's taking fewer jumpers.

He has reverted back. He did revert back. with the Lakers. With that bench roll, he was fully empowered to be just a lower minute, lower usage version of the same guy we've seen.

Well, that's kind of what you thought. I don't know. That's kind of what I thought that the Clippers were going to be doing, right? You're like, in the start playing heavy minutes

right off the bat. In the moments where you're not going to have George and Kauai out there, he can go get you some, he can go run that, you'll get the energy up and run the show for the second unit. And those nights, like some of those nights, he's going to go big, you know, by getting those minutes off the bench, but instead, yeah, he's just, he's right in there with the starters already.

And so, I don't know, we'll see. Yeah, we will. It'll be very interesting to see how that all shakes up right now. It's four games of separation between the five-seeded warriors and the 13-seated thunder. Four games of separation between all of those teams. Well, and as for the, as for the warriors, who are probably, in this game tonight. Enormous stretch for them.

They beat Portland. Now they got this clips game that's going to be going on tonight. Then they got the pelicans. They got the Lakers. That's the stretch. And so they got through Portland. They may drop this one to the Clippers. They got those pelicans of Lakers.

But I mean, those are teams also that are trying to, you know, this is the fun part of the season where it's like there's 20 games left. And if you are trying to make this play in, you know, these are the teams that you. You are going to, if you want to stay out of it, if you're not in it, and if you want to get in it, if you're not in it, these become monstrous games that almost count double when they're all kind of in that same mix.

And with Gold's say, Chris, after tonight, eight of their remaining 19 games are against teams in that 6 to 13 range. Oh, wow. So, like, almost half. they've moved up, which is making the play-in look kind of, man. You know, the Lakers would at least make that more interesting, at least. But, I mean, now we got the news that LeBron's out for at least three weeks. They get a shot, though, I think.

If they straddle 500, it's going to come down to that last week for the nine or ten spot. With who? Lakers, Blazers, whoever. Like, if you're around 500 entering the last week. I'm saying who drops back that most likely would you think New Orleans Utah

Utah New Orleans One of those Yeah With New Orleans I mean Brandon Ingram's on a Major heater The last couple weeks

You know He has 40 points against Portland On Wednesday night Like you need Ingram to win you more games And you just see how I mean Watching the standings as a fan

Could just stress you out Because you see this stuff And it's like You know You look this morning and Dallas is playing in the playing tournament, you look tonight, and Dallas is the five seed.

If you look later on tonight, if the Clippers win, they might, you know what I mean? They're back down to like six, and it's like, God bless. I know. Right? It's going to be like that. Every single game,

every single week the rest of the season, it's going to be like that. Honestly, man, like I mentioned, the 8 of 19 remaining games, so the Warriors are against, you know, Mavs, Clippers, Wolves, Pelps, Lakers, Blazers, Blazers, or Thunder.

All of those are going to have unless O'KC continues really sliding, they've lost five in a row, but all the other matchups, those are going to have playoff feel, especially as we get into late March, early April. These are playoff games.

Kerr kind of intimated tonight in his pregame that that we would not see Curry tomorrow night in New Orleans, but that we might see him Sunday at the Lakers. Yep. That's bad for the Lakers.

Wait, hold on. They play at the Lakers on Sunday? Yep. I'm going to Grizzlies Clippers Sunday night. Mm-hmm. They do that? 12.30 game, yeah. They do that.

Yeah, they do. Yeah. Were they both play on the same day? I didn't realize it. Yeah. It can't happen that often. Yeah. When do you arrive?

They're both playing on the same day. When are you coming in? You coming in Saturday? Yeah. No, Sunday. Sunday. So you arrive probably during the game. Yeah, lunchtime, I guess, probably.

Yeah. Oh, I guess it does happen all the time. Chessna says. Yeah, those happen all the time here. On the weekends? Yeah, I grew up with like at TD Garden. Like, they do a Bruins game or a Celtics game for a matinee. Yeah.

And the night game would be the other one. Super cool. That's a big changeover, man, because they change, I mean. I like watching the time lapse videos. You know, like when I've, you know, they'll do it in Memphis for the college team and on a Saturday afternoon and then a Saturday night game. But you're really just changing the floor. And it's tedious, but you're really just flipping out the floor with like the Lakers

and the Clippers when I've gone to their games. And I'd imagine it's the same. like the arena looks completely different dependent on those games. Like all the lights and all the, you know, they got that like stage setting up with the,

with the whole Laker thing. And then the clippers, it doesn't look, it doesn't look nearly the same. So I'd imagine that that is, that is a big task for the guys that have got to flip that thing around to make it look.

They got to make a real, like I get like flip it out. Like the TD Garden, it looks the same except for putting down, you know, you pull up the board, You pull up the wood and the ice is underneath and then you put the boards up around.

Arena looks about the same, right? But Clippers and Lakers games are completely different. Yeah, it's a totally different aesthetic between Clippers and Lakers. Yeah. I'm excited for the Clippers' new arena, by the way. Every detail I hear about Clipper games,

sounds like it's going to be a really cool fan experience. Would that be a hellable one for Curry to come back for if he plays Sunday at L.A.? Oh, I know. That'd be cool. Yeah, that'd be huge. I might have to go to that one. That'd be a good one. We'll see, though.

I've got to figure out my schedule next couple of days. Yeah. So on Monday night, for anybody that is going to be in the area, or go ahead and fly in. We're going to be at the L. Ray Theater on Monday night in Los Angeles. And we've got some tickets still available for that. You want to get there? And then at the top of the pod, we... Bye soon, though.

Don't wait if you want to go. No. I'm told, like, so the front orchestra section is all sold out. So the assigned seedings up front are all sold out. I'm told GA is like definitely over 50%. Last I heard. Nice. I'm pretty sure it might be closer to like 75, 80% general emission is sold.

Yeah, and the place holds like 10,000, right? So that's great. That's a lot of people. So hopefully. Hopefully. It's like 10K for like for like concerts. This is seated. I'm kidding.

I'm kidding. I don't. I don't know the exact number. I don't know either. I hope that people are able to come to that and then we announce it. It's going to be a lot of podcasts. Cool. Yeah.

We announced at the top that there's going to be a show in Memphis. Simmons and House are both going to be coming to town. We're going to be doing the New Daisy Theater, March 21st, and you can get tickets for that, starting now at Beale Street.com. Beelstreet.com. So go get tickets to that. Super excited about another live event. A little home and home.

action that we're going to be doing throughout the month of March. We'd love to see you. L.A. or Memphis, it'd be awesome. Chris, we've been doing this show since 2016. I'm fired up to have some to live shows with you. Oh, yeah, no, it's going to be super fun. Because we also have it really, like on an individual basis, like we see people or a summer league.

We run up to people who are long time or new listeners of the show. But like we've never had like kind of a big group hang. And that's what this is going to feel like for the first time. And I'm just really excited because I'm, you know, I'm thankful and grateful for the community that we have over the years. This is going to be really the first experience to connect with a bunch of people in person. So, yeah, I'm fired up for these shows. And hopefully we really just communicate with people that listen to the show through social media.

Yeah, yeah, social media and the occasional run-ins. Yep, the occasional run-ins, which are always fun. So hopefully get two amazing shows. I'm sure they will be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward. We'll have Q&As as well. Nice. All right.

All right. Thank you to Jesse Lopez, as always. Go get tickets to our live shows. And Kevin, I will talk to you in Los Angeles. Woo!