The Mismatch - Jokic’s Video Game Triple-Double, the Broken Lakers, the Comeback Knicks, and the Spurs Beat the Thunder Yet Again

Episode Date: December 26, 2025

Verno and Jacoby are back to recap the full Christmas Day slate of games. They break down the incredible performances from Nikola Jokic and Anthony Edwards in the Nuggets' thrilling OT win over the Wolves, how the Spurs remain undefeated against the Thunder, the tale of two halves at Madison Square Garden, JJ Redick’s anger after the Lakers' loss to the Rockets, and how Cooper Flagg stole the show in the Mavs' loss to the Warriors. (00:00) Welcome to The Mismatch! (00:37) Nikola Jokic puts up a wild triple-double and outlasts Anthony Edwards and the Wolves in OT thriller (15:08) The Spurs beat the Thunder for the third time in two weeks (25:16) The Knicks overcome a 17-point deficit and defeat the Cavs (39:23) JJ Redick calls out the Lakers after loss to the Rockets (49:34) Anthony Davis is hurt, but Cooper Flagg shines in the Mavs' loss to the Warriors The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Leave us a message on our Mismatch voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Jessie Lopez and Stefan Anderson Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me see us every week from the Ringer.com. It's Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. Verno. Merry Christmas, first of all. I was up late last night on Christmas. And like 75% because I'm so dedicated to the mismatch. 25% because my family was all asleep. I need a little me time on the couch with the cocktail.

But I'm so glad I stayed up for the end of that game. Oh, my goodness. You saw an absolute epic. Yokic and the Nuggets beat the Timberw. Wolves in overtime. Yokic has a 56 point triple double, sets an NBA record with 18 points in overtime breaking the NBA record, which was Steph Curry's. That one, that one feels like it'd be pretty unbreakable. In 2016, Curry had 17 points in an overtime. There shouldn't be enough time to score 18 points. But sure enough, Yolk, just,

ends up taking the record last night. The mismatch is presented by Fandul. Fandul's got it all same game parlays, quick bets for jumping in live, and your way to build the bet that fits your play. Plus, don't miss out on the holiday offers and surprises all month long. So download the Fandul app

or head to Fandul.com slash mismatch to get started. Remember, you must be 21 and over and present in select states. or 18 and over and present in D.C. Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Helpshelp.com. Call 1-88-78-8-9-777-7-77 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. He didn't just score that in overtime. He scored that in three minutes of overtime. They were down nine after two minutes of overtime. This game was over. Anthony Edwards, hits the three to take it to overtime.

And then they score the first nine points in overtimes, another Edwards three. And I'm sitting the couch being like, well, this is story of the game. You know, huge comeback for the wolves. You know, maybe they're going to turn their season around here. And then Yokic, they run two pinned down screens for slow fat Yokic. And he nails two threes. It was after a timeout. And from there, like 18 points sounds super like crazy.

But it was a bunch of free throws. I mean, 10 of them were three throws. You know what I mean? And so it wasn't like so like, he wasn't like Steph Curry run around screens and getting hot from three or whatever. But it was, it was just so much fun to watch this game. It was such a great performance from Yokic. Like, dude, he was doing everything for this team. And I think it's also worth mentioning the game that Jamal Murray had, like nine threes.

Come on. He had 35. They're down three starters. But it just seems like you can plug in. Like they're really testing the could they plug in? Chris Vernon, Dave Jacoby, and Bill Simmons with Yokic and Murray. How many games can we win? And no disrespect to the other guys that are filling the roles.

But the point is, they're able to, I mean, they're 3 and O versus the Timberwolves now this year. And it's crazy how the narrative kind of changed in the course of that game. Because this morning I'm watching all of this back. the Edwards three, the turnaround three in the corner to tie it is like an all time shot. That was great. And they're reviewing it and they're checking the feet. And I was like, this is insane. He had said on ESPN before the game, I'm going to have 30.

I might have 40. He ends up with 44, a game tying three, a huge comeback. at the end of that game where they were down 15 with five and a half minutes left in the game. This is not typically the M.O. of the of the Timberwolves. And yet they come back.

He hits this game tying three from the corner. So it's like, oh my God, he's going to, you're going to get to overtime. And especially with the way you said overtime started. Yeah. He's going to ruin like the greatest Yokic performance. of all time. Anthony,

and this is going to flip. Instead, he gets ejected. Well, he got to do it was meaningless at that point. I know, I know.

The couple things I want to address that you mentioned. We'll start with the Edwards, uh, performance in the Edwards three. He hurt his shoulder in the first quarter. And he's literally his right shoulder he hurt. He's dribbling the ball up with his left,

going to his left. It was almost like he'd have like his right shoulder like didn't work. and I thought he was cooked for the entire night. And then they go into the locker room and I'm thinking, you know, whatever they do in the locker room, whatever quote unquote treatment they give players to get them right. I'm like, oh, he'll come back in the third quarter and be himself. He was not himself in the third quarter either.

Right. He had, what I think? Let me see. He had 24 points in the fourth quarter in overtime. He flipped a switch. He was an absolute superstar. Like Anthony Edwards had a superstar performance. Obviously, Yokich had, you know, one of the best games ever.

but like the fact that he battled back from this injury just really felt like team on his back stuff. And then another thing I wanted to talk about that you mentioned is the reserves for the Nuggets. They're much deeper than I thought they were in the beginning of the season. They got Spencer Jones, I think it was three for five from three. And they got contributions from Strother. Tim Hardaway Jr. started the game. And would he end up with 19 points? Like big shots too.

Yeah. It's a big one's down the stretch. Tim Hardaway Jr. is one of those players where it's like, it's either going to be a good game or a bad game. You kind of tell early. And I think getting a start got him in rhythm. And I've always been a fan of his. I worked with his pop a little bit when I was at Fox Sports.

Like, they're deep. They're deep. And also just a guy that like you still don't want to see just taking a standstill open three. No. You know what I mean? Like, shooting fish at a barrel sometimes. You saw a bunch of times last year.

year where he would have those games for the pistons where Cade would just be, you know, dissecting the defense, throw it out there. And him or Malik Beasley would just knocked out open threes for, because they were generating them. And there is nobody better at generating those shots than Yokic. Let's just take, can we just take one step back just for a moment to, to acknowledge that it was 56, 16, and 15. Jesus. You could play 2K over and over and over again.

You could play 2K and nausea. You will never get 56, 16, and 50. Like, he has surpassed what is a normal, ridiculous video game line. Like, what people used to say, like, that's a video game line. You can't do that on a video game. You can't have 56, 16 and 15. unless you're playing on like beginner mode and you're playing

against the wizard and even then it's so insane. It's not what you do is the way you do it too. Remember Harden used to have these games? Not with the rebounds. But like Luca would have these games. Again, not with the rebounds. But he's doing it playing like team basketball,

setting his guys up, running the offense through him. It's not like a heliocentric sort of like give me the ball and I'll get it done sort of a 56 points. Like he's making the right. plays he did this this dude is like thinking the game on another level there was this one point where he lobbied to the refs to get a delay of game call on sort of like a taking it out of bounds

after a bucket thing and it seems so insignificant at the time because you don't get a free throw or tech or anything and then anthony edward sort of like knocked the ball out of his hands after a bucket and it was the second delay of game call like he's like he's just getting delay of game calls it seems so silly and he's He's lobbying the refs so hard for it. And then it ends up being a significant play in overtime, in a tight game of one possession games. It's crazy.

It's crazy. Also, for many years, the nerds have told me that the greatest defensive center in the history of basketball plays for the Timberwolves. So that's interesting as well. He didn't look great. He didn't look great. He did not look great. Rudy Goverick.

Did not look great. Here's one thing I want to say about Yokicch, because everyone loves Yokin, right. No one ever says anything negative. I have to say, I have to say, just like most of the stars in the league, he does work the refs really hard. And he's getting a little floppy. Like, he's huge.

And he ends up getting pushed out of bounds and falling down the ground all the time. Like it happened at least three times in this game. Like, I'm not saying like, I'm criticizing him or whatever, but like let's not act like he's this pure angel of ethical basketball that's perfect. because he does work the refs so hard. And he does flop for calls just like every other superstar. But like he is not without fault when you're watching the game. Let me just say it.

Okay. I'm going to give you three different options here. Okay. For your answer. Okay. Yokic scratches on his arm, which are omnipresent. Was he A, born with them? was he B, does it to himself in the locker room?

Or is it C literally just gets scratched so often that he always has scratches on his arm? My favorite answer is B, the real answer is C, and I know it's not A, because they move locations. And sometimes he adds them during the game. Like, again, like, when my family walks into the room, They didn't last night because they were sleeping. My wife will just be like, what's wrong with that guy's shoulders?

You know what I mean? He has a certain pigmentation that's like, you know, some people bruises. I think he's scratches easy. He just has scratches all the time. Also, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention. He has the 56, 16, and 15 and the win after he wears the Taco Bell cardigan into the game, which is a 10. Like, oh, yeah.

I mean, looked good, too. Like, do I want a Taco Bell carter again? They sell those? I love Taco Bell. I think we want to. I mean, he is so famous. And of course, then it brings back up the clip of them playing the Casarito commercial as he is being drafted. But the fact that he is not the guy that you would think like, right?

Like, there's all kinds of pennies. And you see guys, you know, you would expect Russell Westbrook to wear. Anthony Davis, that's all folks. switch or whatever. He's not the kind of guy that you think even thinks twice about an outfit. Like that is playing. Like, you know what? I'm going to wear the Taco Bell cardigan.

I'm so glad you bring up fashion in this game because with all the fancy sneakers that everyone planned out for months and their sneaker reps are in like October. Like, here's what we're going to do for Christmas. And all the tunnel fits and the tunnel walks and all of that. Christian Brown is in street clothes. Dude is in a white t-shirt, a plain white tea, like he's mowing the lawn. It was, I thought, I loved it.

It made me love Christian Brown so much more. It looked like one of those expensive white teas that cost $80 or whatever, but still, I was just like, this dude is like my Christmas day game outfit, and I'm in street clothes the entire time, not just in the tunnel. I'll be on the bench in this. It's going to be a plain white t-shirt. Thank you, Christian Brown, and thank you, Nikola Yochich for the cardigan. Two amazing fashion moments.

on Christmas. Yeah, they've certainly started to relax it. You see a lot of like tech suits and whatever. The other night when Memphis played against Oklahoma City, Hartinstein was on the bench in an oversized Barry Sanders jersey. I was like, that's a lot. I was like, are we doing this? Are we going to bring those back? David Stewart would not be happy. Wait, are we going to go back to the, I am all for the throwback jerseys. Oh, I remember those days. Oh, I remember those days. I I remember those days. Yes. Yes.

There was a place on Avenue C where we would buy the replicas and you bring it to them and they'll like stitch on the letters and the numbers to make it seem like it's not authentic. Every time, every time back in the day, every time a team would have a road game in Philadelphia. The next day you, I mean, their team would be decked out because that's where Mitchell and Ness is. Mitchell and Ness, yeah, yeah. And they would all go to Mitchell and Ness and the team would just be decked out right after the Philadelphia game. That was, that was one thing you can count on for sure. There's one thing I have to say about this game.

And this is going to get me in hot water a little bit. I love the inside the NBA broadcast. And I love that crew. And they are some of the most entertaining personalities on television, not just in sports. But they got tired, man. Like they were just like they were over it. They went to halftime, and they're just like sitting back on their chairs, and Ernie's like, whatever, there's a game going on.

What do you think, Chuck? And Chuck just takes a minute and a half to say nothing. They're all, their batting language is so low. I'm sitting there being like, do someone get them some coffee in Atlanta? Like, they were just done. It was too much to ask them to do the entire day. Yes. And literally the entire day.

ESPN has done it, but those gentlemen are a little more longer in the tooth than most current analysts. and it was just they should probably have two crews next Christmas. That's just one suggestion. Because started off super strong. Oh, yeah. Jack went through the thing. Totally planned, whatever, but it was cute. I enjoyed it.

They sort of fabricated a viral moment. I don't mind. And they're having a great time. But even early on, Ernie was like, and we'll be with you, like, after this game and through the night. And Chuck is like, through the night. Chuck also getting off early in the broadcast, telling Draymond Crane, that he'd team in the playoffs.

Like, that's not scripted. That's not a scripted joke. That's just like right off the cuff. And I always say you can be mean if you're funny. Yes. And that was the perfect intersection of those two circles. Yeah. So Yokic ended up stealing the day.

But I mean, this whole day, all anybody was talking about was, oh, my God, the spurs. Because this is now 3 in two weeks. Their third win over Ogoma City. and everybody in the world, including Las Vegas, thought this is going to be your typical playoff style response. That this is now, you got center stage, it's Christmas Day. This is going to be Oklahoma City imposing its will. They had not lost a home game, right? So now they're getting them on their home floor, middle of the day, huge.

stage Christmas Day, they will make the proper adjustments and they'll run out the spurs on Christmas day as a response to what has taken place recently. I felt the exact same thing. I was like they've played them on the road

and lost a close one. They got their asses kicked in the cup game in Vegas. Wemby even had some things to say about Chet and them on national TV and again they've never lost a home game. I'm thinking myself, I was like, This is a Thunder victory.

I thought it was going to be a Thunder victory. Everybody did. The 85 Bears defense, like this is a thunder victory. And what happened? I forgot. Everybody did. Well, you have Fox was the best player on the floor. He is the thing that has not gotten enough credit for San Antonio this year, right?

It's Wembe, Wembe, Wembe. But, I mean, talk about how they were nine and three in the absence of Wembeen Binyama. And like, this guy can. get to a superstar level. The way he was controlling the game, the way he's navigating around screens, the way that they're able to keep the turnovers low. That's the trick. Against Oklahoma City, when we talked about this all last year, there were some games,

like on average, a quarter of their points come from turning you over. They make everybody look like a mess, everybody. So what if, and you even saw it when we got to the NBA finals? We talked about this all through the playoffs. It is what was so much easier said than done to be able to keep your turnovers at a reasonable rate. And if you could, you could be in these games, you could make comebacks.

If you could get them to play half-court basketball. And so San Antonio, here's the massive problem that they present them. With all these guards, and especially Fox leading the way and navigating it, A, they're super comfortable playing you in the half court because they've got a 7 foot 5 guy. Also, with all the guards and all the ability to dribble with pressure, most teams just don't have that kind of crew that can dribble under pressure and not make goofy passes across where they're just picking it off and now they're running off on you. So they present, like they, watching it yesterday, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like, they are just a uniquely terrible matchup for this because they've got the guards to be able to handle the pressure. And then if they're not turning you over, you're going to make them play half court basketball.

And they can direct the shots who they want to direct the shots to. So yesterday it's like, fine. Alex Caruso, take as many corner three as you want. Now, he's never going 0 for 8 before he hits his first one again. I think it was nine, dude. I mean, it was bad. Let me talk about those caruso shots. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, my God. Because, you know, sometimes for the show prep, I'll go back and click on the box going to bea.com. So I was like, let me just watch these Caruso shots again. SGA had two drives with just highlight passes to wide open Caruso. Like he had five of those misses. and the were just wide open great setup practice three point shots and I also think the first three in the first quarter were like bad misses like he missed two one was an airball and they're not close and I think that got in his head like he just could not hit anything and SGA is standing

on his head getting through driving drive getting past his man driving two defenders going a wrap around pass to the corner. And this guy's got four seconds to hit the shot at home. And not even close. Not even close. SGA 2 for 10 in the second half. Jay Will was one for five in the second half, J. Dub. Caruso, as you mentioned, had all those mysteries.

And Chet Holmgren, who got called out, Wemby saying there's no comparison, basketball-wise. He's five for nine for 10 points. It didn't look good. Yeah. And so those are the big three for Oklahoma City, and you saw what happened in the second half of that game. Here's a couple of thoughts on them.

Here's SGA on San Antonio. You don't lose to a team three times in a row in a short span without them being better than you. So we have to get better. You have to look in the mirror. And that's everybody from top to bottom. if we want to reach our ultimate goal. Do you think it is too early for me to congratulate Oklahoma City on their one-year dynasty?

Well, I'm kidding. Look, of course you're kidding. This is the way it goes. Look, we're going to just overreact to everything that happens throughout the course of an NBA season, right? That is the necessary evil of talking about this stuff all the time. you know, the recency bias, what just happened. But the fact that we have gone from, oh, my God, this team is going to win 80 games to holy mackerel, is there already the OKC killer that is there?

And of course, you see that. And then you see Denver late in the evening with this guy having 56, 16, and 15. It has just, in these last two weeks, as they. oddly have gotten their guys back and gotten healthy. These last two weeks, everybody's opinion has now changed from, oh, my God, who is going to beat them ever? And are they just going to run through everybody?

And they've got the Clippers picked and, oh, are we just looking at the next 10 years to, hold on now I'm not sure they're the favorite. Well, and I think a part of that is their five losses, right. We all know the first loss in the Portland was like a crazy comeback on a back to back, right? And then you've got, remember that Anthony Edwards play in the block. Like these are like really tight games where the other team is kind of squeaking by making great plays at the end. And in the spurs, it was a close game. The last two games, the cup game and the Christmas Day game,

those weren't close games. That wasn't down to the wire. That wasn't like something crazy happening. That looked like if you watched those two games only, you would walk away and say, The Spurs are a better team than the Thunder. Because it's a combined like 30 points. And Wimby's on a minute's restriction. They're not even getting full Wemby out of this. Like he's clearly not, this is not the regular rotation. But like in the Thunder's defense, I would probably pick them in a seven game series against the spurs.

And I really think that J. Dub is not himself. And I think that over the course of the season, if he is healthy, he will return to form. Yeah, he has not looked right since he returned from the wrist injury. It's just the ability to not turn it over, and it's the ability to play them half-court basketball and also direct the shots who they want those shots directed to. When you look and you see a team that is able to tamp down, you know, what they did to SGA, J-dub, and Chet simultaneously, especially in that second half. And J-dub, after the game, is asked about playing half-court basketball against San Antonio

and the challenges that it presents. There's this guy on their team that's 7 foot 5 and takes up a lot of space on the court. So that's that defensively. It reminds me that. I think it was Tori and Prince at Baylor when somebody asked him about rebounding. He's like, well, they jumped up

and then they grabbed the ball off the rim and they came down and got the rebound. It's like there's this guy on their team who's 7 foot 5. And he's he's really tall and it's hard to score. Or famously when the, every year that it felt like LeBron was like the thwarted the side of the Raptors. And finally, DeMarco Rosa did that postgame press conference. And he's like, they have LeBron and we don't.

We don't. What do you want? Like, I think that's what J. Dub is basically saying, like they've got a seven foot five guy. Like, why? Why does it look hard for our? offense in the half court? He takes up quite a bit of his face. He got a 7-foot-5 guys standing out there.

Isn't there part of you that thinks that this is good for the thunder? Yes. This adversity right here in the season. Someone would call them, some would call them scars. Oh. Well, wait, do you know who doesn't have battle scars? Who? Wimbenyama.

Never played a playoff game. Needs to get them. You're not even no battle scars. Mars, no battles. I totally forgot. I totally forgot about that. How could they win? How could they possibly win?

Nix and six. So, wait, I'm sorry. If the spurs dominate the thunder and the Knicks beat the spurs, oh, you're doing a championship property. Championship favorites.

All right. Well, let's get to it because the cardiac Knicks, I mean, you think you've got them dead and then they just climb back in it. and they did it right right in front of Coco Jones yesterday. 126 to 124 over the cabs. They're down 17 points in the fourth quarter. They're about to ruin your Christmas, Jacoby.

Oh, I mean, look, here's what I want to say about this game. And I texted you about this. Like, I've been to the MLK Day games, those 12 o'clock starts. And like the garden energy, you've been to the garden with me. Like, you know, you go up those escalators to get to your seat like those you know every everybody's ever been to an MSG anything knows those escalators like the

and then the noon games the energy on those escalators is so low and that everybody shows up late everyone's got like a cup of coffee instead of a beer you know what I mean and like the nix just came out so flat so flat and it just felt like this is going to be a blowout like this isn't going to be close but tail

up two gardens because I mean this is every arena when your team is coming back and making shots and getting stops in the fourth quarter but the The Garden Energy in the first quarter and the fourth quarter were just two completely different places. And it was just so much fun. And there's a couple of players that we should probably highlight right now. Well, I would say that 13 to 2 run that they went on to cut it to one.

I mean, I don't care what time of day it is. That was like top tier Madison Square Garden. Yes. That was insane. They're showing Tracy Morgan on the sidelines. He's going. He's dumbed. mind. Oh, it was so good. It was so good. And Brunson at 34, Clarkson, absolutely huge. And that is

proven to be an outstanding signing for them, which 25. And then they were highlighting it on the broadcast the entire day how Mitchell Robinson flipped the game. That his ability to grab those offensive rebounds just changed everything. And boy, Cleveland fans, I had some Cleveland fans reach out to me and said, please trash Jared Allen. I was like, oh, God. Well, this is. They're on Jared Allen's ass boy. Think about Mitch has been doing this to this team since the playoffs.

Like, I think it was two or three years ago. Like, for some reason, Mitch just has this team's number. And they cannot stop. He's physical. He's physical, man. Like, you, this is what Mitchell Robinson does. I know, but he makes those guys. But he makes those guys.

of the other team, he's that would be so infuriating to be like, don't do anything else. Just box out Mitchell Robbins. And I don't care if you have to foul him. I don't care about anything. It's got to be so frustrating. There's one possession. He got three. Like, think about that.

He makes those guys. He makes those guys look like stick figures. He does. He does. And the ball sort of finds him in like a weird Kevin Love way. I don't think he's got the sort of like cerebral approach to the game the way Kevin loved it as a rebounder. But he just, he gets to the right spot.

he sees the angles and he gets the rebounds and like it he's been doing that he's just he's sons Jared Allen every single time every time and and it just seems and I know that nicks fans post about this quite often just seems like every offensive rebound it's it's one thing to grab offensive rebounds it's quite another for the offensive rebounds to feel like 90% of the time they generate some kind of open shot many times an open three. And it's like it's one thing to grab the offensive rebounds. It's another thing to make people pay for grabbing that offensive rebound. And it feels like the success rate on Mitchell Robinson offensive rebounds turning into more Nick's point is just out of this world.

100%. And so you remember there were rumors that the British rapper SD Kid was like secretly Timothy Shalame and he came out with this song last week that was super popular with that rapper. Yes. Tyler Colick is actually Timothy Shalame. And this is all promotion for Marty Supreme. Marty Supreme. Tyler Colick comes out of nowhere. All of a sudden the cup game plays great, then plays great in the next few games on Christmas

day when all of the eyes are on the Knicks and Marty Supreme happens to come out. Tyler Colick is actually Timothy Shalamee in disguise. Do you agree? I know you do. Yes. And the one thing that ran through my mind yesterday is I'm watching Colic and the garden chanting. Colic. Colic.

I'm like, what world am I in? What world am I in that this is happening? But very famously, in New York, no less, a man named Wally Pip was replaced. And Lou Gehrig then went on to. set the record for consecutive games played. We got a little McBride. You got to be looking. You're like, I think this is a contract year for dues to.

I like to see the success of this guy. But I mean, it is one of those deals where. And, you know, we, in our last episode, we were talking about like the Spencer brothers. And, and I was telling you like, so the team that I watch on a regular basis, right? They've got. What do Colick and the Spencer brothers having con? You're going to hear me. Here's what I'm going to tell you.

It's like John Morant and Ty's your robe and Scotty Pippin Jr. And like all these guys. And it's like and then same thing goes with the Knicks. You got all these guys. But then you have this other guy who's gotten to play. And it's like even when everybody comes back, he has to play. Like he is bullied his way into this. And that's what I was thinking as I'm watching Colick.

I'm like, when they get their guys back like he, he is bullied. his way into this rotation. You sit there and you watch, how do you not play him? Like he's just extra possessions, winning plays. And like it's not like it's without the production as well. He's 16 points. He has nine assists. He has the chase down where he swipes a ball away from Donovan Mitchell,

who was for sure winding up for a windmill. Jumped off two feet. Here's Colick after the game talking about swiping down. batting it away from Donovan Mitchell. We always talk about next play speed, and I saw him running. Honestly, if he ran and just did a regular layup, I wouldn't have caught up to him,

but he wanted to do someone else. He slowed down. He was trying to do something crazy. He wanted to do some windmill-ish. Oh, my God. A couple things. Number one, Donovan just had a huge dunk, huge dump.

And he said earlier that he only dunks when Coco Jones is in the stance, it's Beyonce. But when that Colick play, I thought it was a foul. Didn't you think it was a foul? I thought he got his arm. It looked like a foul. I thought he got his arm. It turns out it was like elbow to ball and then.

They said if it's ball first, right? Yeah, which is, that's fair. And I guess he did. I guess he got balls first. I want to say one thing about this game because we're going to, you know, make jokes about Tyler Colick being Timothy Salomey and celebrate Mitch Robinson, the dominance over the calves and yada y'i. yada. I walk away from this saying

Cavs are pretty good. Like this is the game that the NBA scheduled Knicks versus Cavs, one verse two in the east. Like who this is going to be an Easter conference preview. That's the game they scheduled. And obviously the Cavs have had a disastrous season. But Garland was awesome.

And if they really get Garland at 100, Mitchell at 100, and you know, the other guys hitting shots, this is a formidable playoff contender that could come out of the east. And you also know that they have gone through all manner of injuries to start this year, right? If they get their full slate of guys, you also know that in any, what that showed last night,

despite the fact that they blew the 17 point lead is there's not a court in the world where for a given night and maybe four times within the course of a series that Mitchell can't be the best player on the floor. I mean, he was unbelievable. Bro, that three that he had and then the dunk, I mean, there was twice I jumped off my couch. I was like, oh my God. Those are superstar plays. Unbelievable, man. Those are superstar plays.

In the garden? And I really think that it's just, I think it's all Darius Garland. I love the way he played. Like, he had some great passes. And I just feel like if he gets to 100%, I think the cabs, I think the cabs going a little run. if Garland continued to play like this. Because Mitchell's, you know, he's been making superstar plays all year.

But like those two that you're talking about. And I think that's why he went for the dunk too. Like he's feeling himself. It's Christmas. Well, the thing is, it's all about and Cavs fans, it's Mowgli and Allen, right? And the frustration that comes from that. And is that going to be able to hold up to be able to make first and second round runs

in the playoffs? Because those are the guys that frustrations. the calves the most. It's Alan, man. And I love Sharon Allen. Well, and Mobley, too. I know Mobley's coming back from the cab. I didn't think he was going to play.

You know what I got it? I got it. Yeah, but like Alan, I loved Alan on the Nets. Like, I loved him when he was on the Nets. It's just the idea that they become shrinking violets when you're going up against super physical tough teams, you know? Well, the whole point is they've got two bigs that they should get all the rebounds and do all

the rim protecting. And like, this is, this is. Mitch does to them what they're supposed to do to everybody else. Right. I don't know. I think the cabs going to run, though. If Garland plays like he did last night, I think they're going to run. Well, and the Mitchell thing highlights.

I mean, you got to see that. That was the best thing about the NBA having that stage yesterday. It's because we talked about Ant and we talked about Yokic and the performances that they had. We talked about Brunson and, of course, the huge shot with a minute left in that game. And on the other side, Mitchell. So, like, there's stars being. If people, like, tuned in, like, I always talk about if you were, if, if you had never watched a basketball game in your life, you could, and you watch the game,

you'd be able to tell who the best players are just from watching the game. That was not true of Oklahoma City. I was not everywhere. But I'm saying, of the victors yesterday in many of the games, you could very easily, a non-basketball fan could have pointed out, oh, that guy's the best player on the floor. And that was true of Fox and Wemby, obviously, you know, because anybody, I mean,

I even had people over at my house that are not basketball fans. And I mean, you see it on the court, and you're like, what is that? The Wimby thing is just for somebody, I would encourage anybody that has non-basketball fans in their life, turn on a game that he's in. look at the reaction. For the people that don't even know that this is like a thing or like this human

exists, the second they see that this human exists, it's like it's like they've seen an alien, right? I saw, I saw the press conference about this where they, or they said there are actually files that there are aliens, but like he plays for the spurs. Why is he, why is he in the NBA? That is a real thing. The mismatch is brought you by Fan Duel. The NBA season on Fan Duel is all.

about the boost because game days mean your chance to boost your bet and make every play pay off. That's right. All customers get a 30% single game parlay and parlay profit boost. I love a couple upcoming games that I will be opening up my fan dual app and getting involved in. First of all, this is Friday. If you're listening to this in the evening, I will have an eye on Phoenix heading into New Orleans to play the Pelicans. For whatever reason, I love watching these Pelicans play. They have been playing better of late, and I'm going to pick them to win over the suns.

And then on Saturday, we got a great slate of games. I'll be locked in on the Cleveland Cavaliers, traveling to Houston to play the Rockets. The Rockets beat the Lakers on Christmas Day. The Cavs lost heartbreakingly in the... the garden to the Knicks, but I love the way that Garland played, and I think the calves are starting to turn it around,

and I'm going to pick them to win on the road. The games never stop, and with Bandwool, you've got more ways to make every win even bigger. So locking your bets, boost your odds, and make every night count with Van Duol. Official sports

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Call 1-888-88-9-77-77 or visit CCPpG.org slash chat in Connecticut. So you mentioned the Lakers. Okay, let's start at the end. which is JJ Reddick talking about how fun tomorrow's practice is going to be for the Lakers. It's a matter of making the choice. And too often we have guys that don't want to make that choice. And it's pretty consistent who those guys are. And so Saturday's practice, I told the guys, it's going to be uncomfortable.

The meeting is going to be uncomfortable. I'm not doing another 53 games like this. It's so pissed. Oh, buddy. He said, I'm not doing another 53 games like this. It's a matter of guys making the choice. I agree that it's probably a matter of some guys making a choice. It is also a matter of slow feet don't eat.

And I mean, he said this in the preseason. It doesn't make it any less frustrating, I'm sure. But he said in the preseason, we don't have defensive players. Not a single one. Not a single one. So it's like that's, this is not something that's like, oh, we've gotten to Christmas. It's like, wow, the Lakers have trouble staying in front of people. Now it's like, I think I think JJ's point is, okay, we have limitations defensively,

but our limitations should not be playing hard. And we don't even, even with our limitations, we don't give it the requisite effort to be able to stay in front of people and make things a little easier on ourselves. When he says, he says, we don't care enough. That's where he's, because I watched the whole stupid thing this morning because I was watching other games.

I'm not watching the press conference after the game on Christmas. And he's like, we don't care enough. And then he says, we got guys, where is it? Too often we have guys who don't want to make that choice. Too often we have guys who don't make that choice.

And like, it's hard not to think about Luca, DeAndre Aiton, and LeBron James. It's hard not to think about those guys. Because Reeves went out. Reeves was like, wow, man. He can't play me.

He had a calf. He had a calf problem. But I do think that it's not an effort thing with Reeves on defense. It's just like, you know, he's just tiny and can't play defense. But like, Luca had some defensive lapses in this one. They were pretty bad. Like, he was kind of a bucket magnet.

And this, this, this, this Lakers team. You think Nico Harrison had a good Christmas? Is that what you're saying? Probably. Until Anthony. It's got hurt. AD went out.

I told you. I don't think Nico was watching the NBA at Christmas this year. But like, no, but you know last night he had like a big, he had a big drink and he was like, oh,

imagine that. The coach is frustrated with defense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I walked away. talk about the Rockets in a second, but I walked away from this one being like,

this Lakers team is just broken, broken. Like, they're just broken. It's unfixable. They don't have a player that can't get a stop. Like, maybe Vanderbilt, but like, well, they tried Marcus in the second half. I mean, that's what they try. They tried Marcus Mark. That's what they, I mean, they put him in. Like, he was starting to second half because he's like, all right, I can't take this anymore.

At least he'll try. How did Marcus Smart? Remember, like, lethal weapon? We're showing an age a little bit? Remember when Mel Gibson lethal weapon would smash his shoulder back in? Do you remember that? Like, Marcus Smart couldn't. They threw him a pass.

His right arm is like dangling down to his knee. His shoulders out. They throw him a pass. He catches it with his left hand and then like throws it up top. And I was like, oh, man, that sucks. He's probably going to be out for a month or something. Dude was back in the game in like six minutes. It was so lethal.

He just got dead armed or something. He must have been popped out. I don't know. I don't have shoulder issues like that. But it must have been popped out. pop back in and it's like not a problem but like right i was shocked by that but so he's got some really laughable turnovers too sometimes no but that's but the point is j j reddick's looking around and going i'll play this guy right because i mean he'll try at least i might at least i have a chance

to stop maybe if this guy's in the game but i agree with you he's not a don't care enough he's not a don't care enough kind of player market smart i agree with you that was that felt more about the lakers than it did about houston But I think we should celebrate Houston because there's... No question. I've been critical of Tari Easton in the past because of his sort of like jump shot and sort of the way it looks and feels. Like somehow he's like the best three-point shooter in the league now. And I love Tari Isson's game in this one.

Like this was a very Tari Isson game. You know, a couple steals just getting everywhere. And his shot chart was if it's outside five, feet, he missed it. That's basically it in this one. He had one three. Well, and also, like, though the Lakers have been there towards the top of the standings, this has kind of evolved to where you watched yesterday's games and the, and the way things have played out throughout the NBA Cup. And as of today, December 26th, we look at it and we go, all right, we've got Oklahoma City. We've got Oklahoma City.

We've got Denver. We've got Houston and we've got San Antonio. Yeah. And then there's everybody else. I mean, I draw a line. I draw a line. It's hard to say that when the Timberwolves just went to overtime against the nuggets.

They're also three. They're also 0 and three against them. That's fair. And also don't forget about the rockets limped into this one. Like that lost Sacramento. Also, also Denver is down three starters. Yeah.

That's fair. I mean, they're down three starters. Take three starters off any team and see how it looks, outside of them. I'm trying to think if anyone else can creep into that top. What about the Los Angeles Clippers? They were there last year, one of the best teams at the Western Conference. You don't count them as one of the top four threats. Brother.

No, Minnesota is obviously the one. Yeah, Minnesota would be the one that you could make a case for. And I also think that these spurs have shown us that the gap between Thunder and everybody else is not as, it's not as big as we all thought it was when they had one loss. No, no, no. I would say it's those four at the top. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't think anyone's going to argue with you except for people in Minnesota. I don't know if they, maybe. I mean, they just went toe to toe with the nuggets. I got it, but it's to lose their third in a row. I think that's fair. I would keep him out. God, Nas read, Nass read, bad. Yeah.

So any, any, any, anyways, that's kind of where we ended up standing. And so I think we both agree that the Lakers yesterday, that obviously it's going to be, I hope there's so many people that cover the Lakers. I hope we get to hear who JJ Redick actually like, did he really call out? When he talks about how uncomfortable, all right, it's one thing to be mad after the game. It's quite another. And then, you know, because are we going to do the kumbaya, like it was a good, conversation and everybody was open to what we talked about, whatever. Like, is he really going to dog cuss them in the closed meeting and make it super

uncomfortable? He was so pissed. He was mad. He said, I'm not going to do 53 games like this. It's a, well, okay. So what are you going to do? Because I don't see it changing. They're not going to turn into the Thunder defense.

Like, I don't know. Like, what are you going to quit? I think he's going to go back. to podcasting. He's going to take our jobs. He's going to take our jobs. Old man in the three. He's replacing the mismatch. And they'll probably do it before we go to Netflix. I can see it now. JJ Reddick is right now in Bill's living room pitching old man three to Spotify. We're screwed. We're screwed. God damn it. He's going to go take, he's going to kick Cam Johnson to the curb. And he says, Cam Johnson, you're as my podcast. I want it back. Yeah. Yeah. I also want to say this.

You know, I don't have any inside information about this. But my theory about the Luca trade was that it got to the point where there was off-court tension between the front office and the franchise and Luca. We've all heard about, you know, they fired his guys and this and that. And I think Nico was just like, guess what? I'll show you who really has the power here. I do. You're traded. And I think that you have to think that one of the guys, quote unquote guys, that J.J.

he's talking about is superstar MVP candidate having a great season offensively Luca Donchich. And I could see a world in which maybe today's practice doesn't go great between those two. And then maybe tension rises a little bit more. It certainly did feel like a measuring stick yesterday to just see what they would look like against the rockets. And then you watch that play out and you go, how would they beat the rockets? Seriously.

Yeah. That was the thing. That was the thing. You watch that and you go, how are they, how are they beating that team? Yeah, I mean, it would like, Reeves went out. Reeves went out. So it's just like Reeves has 30. You saw the game.

You saw the game too, though. You're like over the course of a series, this team would have no chance against that team. The Lakers were not Austin Reeves away from competing against that team yesterday. They were not. No. It looked like two different calibers of team. And that's what that's what led to the Reddick frustration. David Menaman is at the.

practice facility right now with a recorder and a notepad. Right now. He woke up at five and he's just sitting outside just waiting. Luca's old team also played and that was the Dallas Mavericks playing against the Golden State Warriors who have had a hell of a week

as Traymond Green bailed on his team in the game earlier this week. I forgot you. I hate Draymond Green. I forgot. Against the magic. I forgot about that. Who forgot? Who else could do that? Anybody.

No, they couldn't. You think you think a guy can just get in a fight with his coach and then just leave? Aren't the reports that Steve Carson go home? No. He said I needed to go home. He said he was not sent. He said he needed to cool off. That's just bizarre.

Just bizarre. And obviously now they're all kumbaya and everything's great and whatever. Look, in the same vein as we talked about stars being stars, if you tune that in to see Cooper flag, I feel like you got the payoff. Like if you tune that in, you were like, oh, yeah, this guy. Like, you want to put that. The reason the Babs are on is because they have the number one draft pick in the NBA.

And you saw the number one draft pick in the NBA. look like a future superstar in the NBA. And so that's a win, right? Not only was he healthy and available, you also saw him perform at a level to where you watch that. And you're like, oh, yeah, I see this. Like, you remember this happening with young players throughout history. And so you gave these guys, you know,

they curate this Christmas Day, you know, very carefully. and one of those is like, hey, we want to put this guy on this stage. And so, yes, the Warriors won. Yes, Anthony Davis went out of that game. And that is super troubling because it's a groin. And who knows? Who knows? Right.

Growing spasm. And also, like, he might be, you know, if I were the Mabs, I would trade Anthony Davis. But it's hard to trade somebody when, you know, he's in the locker room. Well, and the weird thing is they have. they've gotten so much better and flags gotten so much. So since they started playing point guards and since they have gotten Davis back, you know, what are they like? I think they're 11.

Like they are a team that you might be in the play in when this is all said and done. That's what makes the Davis thing. Like they were on their way to being competitive on a pretty regular basis and this number one pick in the draft. I mean, he's like routinely got 25 points in games. They've been in. more watchable than they were the first 20 games of the season. Oh, hell yeah.

And you can potentially get Kyrie back. Who knows what's happening with that. Yeah. Cooper, he's got it all. Everything. Here's what I think he's mid-range, pull-ups, floaters, dunks with two hands, like defense.

His size, ball handling ability. I think that he's going to improve from three. That's what he needs to add. I think a lot of his scoring. is sort of, you know, under the arc. He shoots 27% from three on 3.4 attempts a game. I think in the future, both those numbers will dramatically go up, you know,

because he's going to have the ball. He's going to be the number one option. But, God, he, you know, he came out of the gate and a guy's a rookie. He's 18 years old. He's a baby. Like, he's got to get his feet underneath them. And in just a couple months, it's like,

oh, he's the number one guy. Like, if the ball, if the game is on the line, give him the ball and he'll get it done for us. he is I mean and again like we were saying he they have been those first 20 games it was just like he's out of position and the thing just looks like a mess and then we'd be remiss if we didn't mention like the warriors getting that wind and I was I was actually pretty thankful for uh Steph Curry talking about like how he never takes it for granted and it's such an honor to be on Christmas Day because we'd kind of gone through the whole yeah really like playing it was great time with my first time with my first time with my first day. Yeah, yeah. I want to spend time with my family. So it's nice to hear somebody talk about like, hey, man, like, we're getting center stage here. And it's an honor to get to play on Christmas Day, right? You get to spend time with your family.

It's not like there's no time to open presents and sit around the tree and drink some eggnog. You know what I mean? So like, it's like, don't feel too bad for these guys that have to work on Christmas. I think they're going to be fine. And we also should mention this, that like you talked about superstars and headlines. And Steph couldn't hit anything. This was not a great step Well,

and the crazy thing about that game was It was not a step game. It was a Brandon Williams game. It was a Cooper flag game. It was a out of the casket Al Horford game. Oh yeah. What was that?

Well, apparently he's got sciatica too. It's almost like you shouldn't be playing NBA basketball when you're like near 40 or over 40. It's almost like that. What are his points per minute? I got to go. He played 11 minutes. He had 14 points and 4 threes.

I mean, instant offense, Al Horford. That's, like, when you look at it on paper, that's what they're supposed to get. Al Horford is not contributed this year until Christmas Day. No. He has not at all. No. And he showed up out of nowhere.

Him and De Anthony Melton, what kind of odds could you have gotten on De Anthony Melton being the second leading shot taker on that team? Oh, God. Also, also. But it ended up being a, you know, decently good game in the fourth quarter. It's a shame that Davis went out.

And I mean, I guess it's part for the course, right? He's always out. It was when Davis went out, I was like, all right, maybe I'll spend some time with my family, you know, because I can't sit. My family is all non-sports watchers. So it's not like I spend time with my family watching the NBA. I go to the bedroom or the baby room and watch there.

And they're all in the living room doing whatever. So I was like, you know what? Maybe this is my spot. I think this is my spot where it's been 90 minutes with my family. And pretty much that's all they got. How much building did you have to do? Because you've got little ones. I do have little ones.

And I'm past that dollhouse phase. You didn't have to build anything? I didn't build a goddamn thing. Are you serious? Let me tell you something. I'm not wrapping a single present. I'll buy the bags. We got bags on bags on bags.

I'm not wrapping. I didn't take out a single piece of tape. I did not take a single piece of tape out. You don't want me to wrap either because I'm terrible at it. I'm terrible as well. It's going to be in a bag. The bags are pretty. They're Christmas themed.

They look good. I reuse the bags from Amazon too. Like, if you give me a present with a bag, you'll probably get that bag back in just a matter of time. Just a matter of time. Yeah, my role is buying it all. Yeah. Yes. Same. And I have to remind myself sometimes when I try too hard.

When I'm like doing all the dishes and like, you know what I mean? And clean it up around. Sometimes I'm just like, wait a second. Or like putting the kids to bed. There's some sort of tantrum that I have to tamper down. The John Hamm, that's what the money's for. Yeah. I mean, at the same time, I love contributing around the house. And we we hosted a dinner on Thanksgiving Eve. Shout to Juliet Littman, our colleague. You mean Christmas.

Food News. Christmas Eve. Yeah, yeah. So we hosted dinner. We had a family over. We had Juliet and her son, Mike, over. But that involves a lot of cooking and cleaning. So we're up doing all the dishes and cleaning everything.

We had like 13 people at the house, you know. And then Christmas morning is chaos with the wrapping, the wrapping everywhere. Oh, wow. And just the glassware. we ran like six we ran the dishwasher like six times in the last 24 hours shout out to all the parents

that did yes all the moms I am so that was I was so grateful this year I think the only thing I had to build was like a gaming chair which is not I mean it was like an outland wrenched eight screws that wasn't bad yeah you know when you open the box and you see like eight screws like I can handle this

oh because I have because I have absolutely I have nightmares thinking about The rainbow, the rainbow dollhouse, whatever that thing, Rainbow Hidal Dollhouse, oh my God. I had 12 hours. Oh, no, I had the one that was the pain of my existence was a, what was the name of the shimmer and shine. Oh, yeah, shimmer and shine.

You know, shimmer and shine. Of course. The two little genies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Their castle. Oh, my God. Their castle almost, I mean, it almost ended me. And then Haley plays with it for three days and never touches again, just sits in a room taking up space.

Right. I mean, because it had like, it had like things that you like, when you sit, shimmer or shine on them, it would talk. Like in these different things. Oh, my. And all the, there was 7,000 decals. And I have horrible motor skills. Like, I can't, I can't even cut straight. It looks like, it looks like somebody with like one finger.

trying to use the scissors. It's like just shards. Like I could never commit like some kind of penis crime because that would be like anybody would know it was me because it just looks like an idiot. I have a couple of thoughts on Christmas I want to ask you about. I'll give my thoughts after you. We get yours. Okay.

Where do you stand on matching pajamas? I, we don't have them. I'm not against them. because I think the pictures are entertaining. That's what I would say. I was strongly against them. You are? I was.

Now, you're a convert. I'm a convert. I'm a convert. Yeah. I'm a convert. Now I kind of like them. The kids get excited. We're all wearing the same thing.

Oh, see, I think it would be. All right, you know what I'm going to do? The baby had, I got a brand new baby. We had magic pajamas for her, too. Like, come on. All right. next year, I'm doing it. Do it. Don't tell anybody.

No, no, no. My son will be 16 and it will, I mean, you, that's, that's like his nightmare, I think. Oh, yeah, 16 year old boy? Yeah, his nightmare would be us all having to wear the same thing. He's going to call the cops. He's going to call the police. I'm going to do it.

I'm going to do it. Yeah, do it. Do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. So I think, all right. You've convinced me next year, I'm doing it.

So here's the thing. Next year when you do it, not only will your family have matching pajamas and my family will have matching pajamas, will both have matching matching pajamas. Yes. We're planning this in advance. I'm on board. Yeah. Because my family will pick first, so I'll send you the link to the pajamas that we're in.

You just send me the link. I'll send you the link. And then we're, we can make a dual. mismatch family photo. It'll be great. It'll be great. All right. That's going to do it for another episode of The Mispatch.

Thank you to our executive producer Jesse Lopez as always. And Jacoby. I'll talk to you next week. Must be 21 or over and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 and over and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 100 gambler or visit RG dash help.com. Call 1-88-78-7-8-9-77-7-7 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MD gamblinghelp.org in Maryland.

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