The Mismatch - Positive Perspectives for Each Team in the NBA

Episode Date: November 5, 2024

Verno and Jacoby go through each game from Monday night's slate of action, as they both share one positive view for all 30 teams in the league. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producer: Jessie Lopez Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up everybody? It's Austin Rivers here and we are back for another season of OffGuard. Me and my guy, Pasha Giggy, are hitting your podcast feeds every Monday and Thursday talking everything hoops. Austin is bringing that 11-year NBA veteran perspective and of course keeping you guys entertained throughout the season. Make sure you tap into OffGard with Austin Rivers on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And don't forget to follow everything we've got going on social media. The OffGar podcast, Ringer NBA, and of course check us out on Ringer NBA's YouTube channel. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Varnan, and joining me see us every week from The Ringer.com.

It's Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. What's happening, Verna? What we got today? We have a lot of games last night. It is election day, so there is nothing on the NBA scheduled meeting. Every single team in the National Basketball Association played last night. It was quite a night.

I spent a lot of time on crunch time. So in order for us to break this down appropriately, with the country being divided today in two, What we've decided to do is not talk about politics at all, but we have also divided the country in two. And there's going to be a lot of negativity around today. So Chris and I decided we're going to keep it positive. And that is not in our nature.

I'm going to be honest. I've got a dark heart. I'm a very negative person. But today we're going to try to keep it as positive and upbeat as possible about every single team in the NBA. So we're going to go through every game last night, all 15 games. Chris is taking the Western Conference teams. I'm taking the Eastern Conference teams.

And we're trying to give the fan basis of those teams and fans of the league at large, just a little, a little positivity nugget, a little something that we like, a little something good to think about and feel about, about these teams as we go through them. And I got to say, it sounds easy, it's not that easy. I love this, though, because it is a brief respite. For anybody that is tuning this in, it is a brief respite from everything in the world that is going on. And especially in our fine country. For those of you that are listeners from around the world, I will tell you that you're the lucky ones.

So everybody in the United States, this is a day, unfortunately, of division in many quarters and people yelling at each other and arguing. So we are going to be positive polis today. Positive. And you gave me the assignment, not as easy as it sounds. No, no. Not as easy. No.

No. At one point, I was like, the Hornets do have cool uniforms. And I was like, come on, the Hornets are easy. You got Chino Hills Lamello, you've got Grant Williams doing something crazy every game. You got Iverson Trey Man. Come on, Jacoby. Maybe I should have taken the East. We've stacked the teams, the games, according to interest.

Because I know that we're going to go overtime, so we have to go fast at the end. So you start us off with the very first matchup. All right. So the sons beat the Sixers last night. Kevin Durant hit the game winner. Paul George had a chance at the end of regulation. And then Durant called game. Anyway, the positive thing is obviously Durant.

I mean, we are very short amount of time into this season. But the other night I saw, I don't know if you saw this call on one of the games where he made a play and the announcer said he played for the sonics yeah yes i did see that he saw that yeah so far this season 27 points per game 6.6 rebounds 3.4 assists 55% from the field 44% from three and last night had 35 and the game winner 17 years in and kevin durant still one of the greatest players on planet Earth. Also, a guy that tore as Achilles and maybe has done, like, we have seen other guys. I think he kind of, in some ways, it's kind of ruined the Achilles thing.

I know Kobe came back from the Achilles. We've had other players that came back from it. Aaron Rogers. I mean, I think he set our expectations for post-torn Achilles a little too high. because this guy is as otherworldly as he's ever been. And that's also just as sort of like a physical recovery. Because we all remember like the burner account and sort of him, now he's going back and forth with Stephen A a little bit,

but I just feel like there's a maturity to him. And sort of what once I found to be sort of a quirky weird guy's got sort of now like a zen-like approach to the game where he's just focused on getting buckets. And I think a lot of people saw, including yourself, Mr. Vernon, saw the Sons as like a real threat to the thunder and a real player in the Western Conference, especially with Coach Bud. And so far it's played out that way. Okay.

I'm going to disagree with you on the he's a different guy, but I'm going to make it a positive thing. Stay positive. We're only two minutes into the show. He's very sensitive, but he has never let go of the fact that he shows it. Most of these guys just hold it. just hold it all in. And so I'll make that a positive. Most of them just hold it all in,

and it bothers them, but they don't respond to you. There's no way we're going to be able to stay positive throughout this show. I can already tell. I got the Sixers. I got the Sixers. Paul George played basketball. That's easy.

That's the headline. Did he look great? No. This is the part that I found really fascinating. I don't know if you saw this in the post game. So they're down two. and he gets a switch from Booker to Grace and Allen, which is clearly what they wanted,

and he starts to operate from the top of the key. He takes like a contested long two-point jump shot, which is like, you know, the worst shot on the court, especially with the time dwindling down. And after the game, he says, it was a bad evaluation. I thought we were down by one. Oh, no.

He said, I thought we were down by one. So positive, trying to stay positive. He played. He played. He didn't shoot great, but he had a couple shots, and just the way he moved, he looked like Paul George. And there's a bright future for this Sixers team, albeit one in five right now and second to worse in the Eastern Conference. But with, it just felt like there's a little less pressure on Maxie. You know what I mean? It didn't feel like Maxie needed to do everything. And Joel Embed was messing around with Bradley Beal before the game. And he was, he looked like, I just feel like we're going to have Embed, George, and Maxie on the court soon. together and that is going to dramatically change the way we all feel about the sixes right now and they're going to climb the Eastern Conference standings. That's the positive part. Slight

negative. Maybe you should take some time to look at the score before you take the last shot. Just a little suggestion. Also, I've been in a million locker rooms over the course of the last 20 years. I'm going to say, I'm going to keep this positive. I mean, this top tier cover up.

Top tier. I mean, maybe the best I've ever seen. The cameras. are rolling the second you walk into a locker room. Somebody's got that video. Somebody's got it. Oh, yeah. There's probably surveillance cameras in there, too.

And there was a meeting of the minds, and there was an agreement. Hey, everybody likes the access they get. Let's keep a cool booty here. And so all time, all time. Good job by their PR staff. Great job. You know what? Great job by you turning that into a positive.

I'm going to keep a positive. Great cover up. I like that. I like that. You get the theme of today's special. I'm a master. Very well done. Let's move on.

We got a lot of games to get through. Okay, you're next. Cavs bucks. You got them both. They're both Eastern Conference. This is easy. The Cavs are undefeated. There ain't no, right?

I mean, top of the Eastern Conference, best record in the league. Eight, no. Eighth, no. They haven't lost a game. And one of the main thing that I want to focus on, the main positive thing I want to focus on is we all expected them to be good. but personally, I did not expect Darius Garland to play like this, this early. Because we all know what he dealt with last year, you know, multiple things,

sort of multiple setbacks, injuries and whatnot, off-court stuff. But what he has done this year has been so impressive. And just like he had 34 against the Knicks. He had 39 last night. 39. Like they've got two legit perimeter closers that can take the last shot for you in a basketball game. And just from three against the Wizards, he was four for five, against the Knicks, he was five for eight, against the Bucks, he was seven for 11. Like, he is scoring.

He's getting assisted. He just looks great. The Darius Garland would be my big positive for the Cavs outside of the eight, no start. And he was on this great trajectory, made an all-star team. And then, you know, last year was just the season from hell with the broken jaw and everything else. And regarding that eight-no record, I mean, you take a step back and you go, hey, man, that's 10% of the season. Yeah. I mean, that is a, that is not an insignificant thing to have taken place,

especially when you look and you say some of the teams that we consider to be your peers, you're getting a massive lead on them already, i.e. the bucks, I.E. Philadelphia. That's a lot of games to make up over the course of, you know, as we keep on having segments of the season. So good job by them for sure. I can't wait for this. Something positive about the bucks? The Milwaukee Bucks,

perennial title contenders, they're dead last in the Easter conference. It won and six. However. Oh, I thought you were going to say, nowhere to go but up. No,

that's literally, literally nowhere to go but up. Let me go positive. On a macro scale, we just celebrated the Cavs as the team with the best record in the I don't think anyone would consider them the best team in the Eastern Conference, but the team had the best record in the Eastern Conference.

They went toe-to-to-to-to with the Caps. Yep. Two nights. Lost on the last shot. Yeah, two nights, toe-to-to-to with the Cavs. So we are competitive if we are the Bucks. And I think that one thing that has plagued this team, and we all know it by now, even though we're two weeks into the season.

They're old. They need Chris Middleton. They can't defend anybody on the perimeter, and they can't defend anybody in transition. Like those are just like things that were concerns going into the season that have bore out exactly as such two weeks into the season. But there is some, there is some hope. AJ Green. AJ Green. Oh, no.

Seven for nine from three last night. Seven for nine from three. And Trey Jackson plays defense. He's not going to light it up on the scoreboard. But he plays defense. And this is sort of a macro thing that is a discussion around the, wait, Andre Jackson? Yeah. Andre Jackson.

She said, she said, Trey. They call him Drey. They call him Drey. Oh, oh, Drey. I thought you said, Trey. No, no, no. And I will say, listen, these aren't a household names, but this is indicative of a bigger problem, which is Doc Rivers loves to play vets. He just does.

This has been something that he's done for a long time. Every old coach. And it's Tori and Prince and Gary Trent Jr. It's just like, guys, Doc, Glenn, Glenn, let's have a talk. Glenn, let's have a talk. you're going to have to put AJ Green in there for some shooting and Andre Jackson in there for some defense. Which made it all the more funny that they use their one pick

that they're going to have for the next decade on a kid that's like 17 years old in the first round who Doc will never play ever. There's this has to turn around. And I'll say the positive thing is that there's, there is some hope on the bench and some sort of like minute allocation tweaks that can be made to help. And they have gone toe to toe with the team of the best record in the Eastern Conference

in the last like five nights. Totally to toe. Yeah, I tell you this. You almost broken me already very short into the show when I ask you for a positive about the bucks and you lead with A.J. Green. Not the Bengals. Not the Bengals, A.J. Green.

He looked great. He looked great. He looked great. Who looks like a guy who, like, I cheated off in math. Yeah. We should do. Like the all, I don't look like a basketball player NBA team later on a different show. He's even got the name of a guy that you can't believe it's him.

I think A.C. Green is his uncle, right? I think so. Pistons beat the Lakers. Oh, this had everything that is the team, you know, the team that's not supposed to be so great against one of the powerhouse name brand teams. And the powerhouse name brand team is just going to crank it up in the fourth quarter. And I text you while this game was going on. Oh, our pistons. Oh, no.

This is the anatomy of a failure where they've been up, they've been bullying them, and now this team's going to turn up for the last six minutes, and it's going to be a disappointment. And Isaiah Stewart gets called for this bogus foul on Rui Hachimura. Then he gets pissed off and he gets attacked. And I'm like, oh, my God, this is literally how it happens. Like, Benjamin. Tobias Harris misses a wide open shot.

And I'm like, no way. And then Jaden Ivy saved the day and they ended up getting a win. So you've got the Pistons. I've got the Lakers. What do you got on the Pistons? I'm just going to throw you a little al-Uplob here. It's Jaden Ivy. Yep.

It's J-Nivey. And you said it, you said it before the season. Breakout. Just remind the people what you said about Jay-Nive before game one. And no, you do are better than that. You didn't just say breakout. You were like, there are certain players that you see in college. that you believe in, and no matter what happens in year one or year two,

you still believe in them because you had that faith back when they were not being paid to play basketball. Yep. And it has happened. It's almost like if you play him, he'll be productive. I know that's crazy. I know that's crazy. But Monny Williams, if you play him, he'll be productive. And to stay positive about the pistons on a larger scale, Cade and Ivy,

really look like they can work together well. Yes. And Ivy hit a couple big shots, and Kate assisted those shots. It just feels like they're not redundant in the back court, and that is not a concern. And they can play together, and they can stagger,

and they sort of got the back court of their future there to build around. That's the positive about the business. And a lot of times you run into that where the guys are small, like those guys have size, right? So it's not a, it's not a diminutive back court. that overlaps, even though sometimes that can work with great success. I'm excited about them in the future, and certainly Ivy's off to a great start. On the Lakers front, it's clearly AD.

I know that, you know, he might have gotten a little hobbled, but he's played seven games this year under the new regime of JJ Redick. 36, 35, 31, 29, 22, 38, 37. He is leading the NBA in scoring, all while doing it at crazy efficiency. 57% from the field leads the NBA. And so the Davis monster season is certainly off to a crazy start under JJ Redick. And then on an honorable mention note, don't connect, who I do think will be playing even a larger role through the rest of the season.

side connect. Another one of those guys that probably fell, you know, a little too far in the draft that we've seen in that mid-range of the first round, a lot of guys be able to come in and contribute immediately. You know, he's not playing a ton of minutes, but he's getting you seven points and he's doing it efficiently. 47 from the field, 37 from three. And I do think as the year goes on, you're going to see his role expand. And so it certainly looks. The early reviews through the very early part of the season are they absolutely nailed that draft pick for a win now team. A win now team, you know, juxtaposed with what we were talking about with the Bucks earlier, the Bucks didn't get a guy that can help them right now, which made everybody on draft night be like,

what are you doing? Like, what are you building for three years from now? Like, they went and found a guy who is, you know, the ageists got to it. There's no way you could have looked at his production and what he did in college and ding him for that. What you could ding him for is that he was a little older than many of his draftable peers. But as I always say, in the end, a lot of these teams will project and they'll go, yeah, well, he's 23 years old. And look, what's this guy that's 19? What's he going to look like when he's 19 or when he's 23?

And the answer, more often than not, is not as good as Dalton Connect. In four years, he's probably not going to be that guy if he hasn't shown it at 19. And so here we are. They've got their superstar that they can play through every single night. And for a team that needed some added depth, seems like they nailed somebody in the middle of the first round with Connect. So that's the good part. when you say they've got their superstar, that they can play through every single night. If you were to say that a year ago today, you'd be talking about LeBron James, but I believe you are now talking about Anthony Davis.

For sure. Do you see the numbers? This guy's, he's leading the league in scoring. No one has scored more than Anthony Davis, and he doesn't hit threes. Anthony Davis has always been shown flashes and had huge games or disappeared in the fourth quarter, like in the playoffs. He kind of does these sort of lulls. There has been no lulls in Anthony Davis's production. this entire season. They force feed it now.

They force feed it. They've decided. And, you know, and LeBron is fine with AD being the best player. Oh, yeah. 40 years old. And, you know, we're going to keep it positive. It's hard. It's hard for me.

But I'll say that AD deserves a lot of credit. And maybe JJ Reddick doesn't deserve all the credit. We're going to turn it out there. Just throw it out there. If you're in need of a midweek boost, Fandule, America's number one sports book, has you covered with the NBA Hump Day Parley's Reward Stack. Now, every Wednesday, you can get Parlay profit boosts on everything from spreads to over-unders

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hand-switching layups from John Moran. That's not a real prop. I just made that up. But Monday night, wow, he put on a show. I'm over John Morant points, over Anthony Davis points, and Lakers over Grizzlies. So don't let the weekend have all the fun, take advantage of the hump day

parley's rewards stack. Who knows? It might just become your favorite day. of the week. Look for the Hump Day Parlay's reward stack in the Fandul app to find your profit boost. Or you can visit fandul.com slash mismatch. That is Fandul. Make every moment more with Fandul, an official sportsbook partner of NBA. Must be 21 or over and present in select states or 18 and over and present in D.C. Often required bonus issued as non-withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply, including any token expiration. See terms at sportsbook.bendool.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Nuggets Raptors. The Nuggets, oh, another barn burner with the Raptors.

Hey, this is one of those where, you know, like, it's like the Twitter night, and people are like, give me seven of these. Yes, I was to say, I'll start with my positive about the Raptors. They're really, really good at almost beating the Nuggets. It's kind of like the Bucks and the Caves. It's like, you guys didn't win these games, but you were in the games, and you're really, really good at almost beating the Nuggets. Did you see the R.J. Barrett three.

It rims around. It hits the front rim, back rim, backboard. And Mogbo puts his hands up as it's rimming around. and turns away from the ball and is celebrating the win. Not the Nick Young. Not realizing. No, he's right under the basket, too. Not realizing.

I mean, he realized very quickly when he saw the body language of his teammates that the ball rimmed out. That's how close they were to almost beating the Nuggets who are kind of struggling. But my true singular positivity thing for the Raptors is they're getting good dick. You know, Grady Dick is known last year. Grow up, man. Grow up. I will never.

He was known for the draft suit look and the jersey swap with Anthony Black. Like honestly, like, he really didn't jump off the screen last year. I expected him to shoot better last year. I thought he'd make more of a splash, especially for a Raptors team that sort of needed minutes in shooting. But right now, he's on seven and a half attempts from three, 38%. You know, his last four games, he's got 31, 22, and 26. Like, you know, that's positive. Good dick.

Like I said it, you told me to grow up and then you went right back to it. You told me to grow up and you went right back to it. Unbelievable run for Grady Dick, too, because it's like maybe every three days on my Instagram feed, him imitating Donald Duck on that Caleb Presley interview shows up and he does this amazing Donald Duck impression. I promise to my friends, Joey. I'm going to play really, really hard. So, so hard. Let me try my Donald Duck.

How's that? Not bad, right? Oh, I think you guys need to have a... Should I do the rest of the pod is Donald Duck? I think you need to have a duck off with Dick. You too. We got to move on. I'm going to make too many dick jokes if we stay here.

A duck fest. All right. On the nuggets front, I mean, what more can we say about Nicoliochage except that he has to do literally everything for that team? And he does it every night. 30, 13, and 10 are his averages. 54% for the field, 53% from 3. last night, 28, 14, and 13. He placed 38 minutes against the Raptors,

and they need every single second of that production. To beat the Raptors by two. I mean, honestly, I will say this. When everybody always gets into the MVP discussions as the year goes on, No matter, and we all argue about the, what does it really mean to be most valuable? I'm going to tell you this. There is no chance you could put another human being on that team. And that team would be anything but terrible.

That's good. Yeah, that's a really good point. Take whoever you want. I don't care of the player. Name them in the entire NBA. Maybe Luca Maybe

But it's also I think that You can easily get caught up In how What he does with all the quantifiable stats But when you watch the nuggets Nothing happens without Nikola Yokin It'll be

He'll get double teamed And it'll be a swing swing for a shot Where he doesn't get an assist You know he doesn't get usage or whatever But like Or he'll be in the post with his hand up and the defense is so focused on that that someone will get a swing

and then a drive on the other side of the court. Like nothing happens without him. And, you know, obviously they're the famous stats of how they are with him on the court versus him off the court, which is probably like the best sort of like quantitative indicator of his impact. Because he does get all the points

and all the rebounds and all the assists, but he does so much more than just that. Like, when he's on the floor, I've never seen him take a possession off. I've never. I just, they can't. If they played 20 games without him, I don't think they could win five. I'm not kidding.

Oh, that's generous. I mean, I'm not talking about against like the worst teams of the league. 20 average games throughout the season. They would not. They would not. Nets beat the Grizzlies. Let's start with you. Oh, I mean, the John Moran highlights are back.

What was that? Within the last week, we have had an Aleoup thrown while sitting down on the court after two fakes that was completed for an alley-oop. And last night we had two 360s, different directions, by the way, one on the right and one on the left side of the court with the complete of the switching of the hands. With both of them. I mean, look, we've missed this. We've missed this. Morant off the bounce.

360 spin and a finish. Oh, he did not do that. Oh, no. 3D, 60, spin, and a finish for Morant. Watch this, partner. Just watch. Poetry in motion is what they call it. I can't do this, partner.

Jaron, Moran, spins and hits again. Holy cow! We missed all of last season. He has a better highlight tape through the first eight games of the season than 99.9% of the league will have. over 82 games of the season. And at a small honorable mention, the first huge EDI breakout with the 25 and 12 last night,

which was a diminutive team that only had one center in Nick Claxton, and he took absolute full advantage of it and had the best night of his young career, unfortunately, in a loss. I want to talk about these two highlights from John. Maran, okay? Because it's the second one. First of all, I check, I watched these a million times. I checked. His feet are pointed, because a lot of times people call things 360 when they're not 360s. It's a full 360-degree aerial turn. His feet are pointed in one direction and they land in that same direction both times. Both times, it's, we celebrate that Michael Jordan switching

hands. It was unnecessary, number one. It was ineffective. It didn't need to be done. And he what didn't spin 360. And the second one, John Morant cocked his hand back behind his head as if he was going to dunk. Crazy. And then did a 360 switching to his left hand and finish. And Bernal, see, this is, I'm just going to give you a little, I'm just going to throw you an Aleoup.

Like, like, John, like me sitting on my butt looking for Santiago. Do you, I know you saw this all day on Twitter yesterday before the game. I saw multiple people putting a stat about John Moran right in my face. all over the timeline. Ja-Morant only has one dunk all season. Oh, is John Moran trying to save his body? I know you saw that. And I know Jah saw it.

So I know you're right there in the Memphis. You are a grizzly. How do you feel about the sort of narrative of Jah Morant only has one dunk? Is there something wrong with Jaws? He's trying to save himself, has the injuries changed Jha. And then him to go out and do that.

I think, I think thus far this season, knock on wood he has put an onus on landing you watch the way he is not now of course the momentum got him too much

but he but he did not fall like violently after the 360 he just kind of couldn't keep his balance and then he was on the ground kind of rolled over and smiled you know back at the but he was on the ground a lot more in the

last couple of years right on these drives to the basket. And I do think he's put a premium on his lower body and also landing. And so I do think, look, the dunks are yet to come. But I do think there's probably some of, hey, if I don't have to do this, I really need to watch myself. I mean, it's hard when you lose. He's lost, you know, a season and a half, basically over the last year. And so putting a premium on health is not something that is, I would not ding him on.

And look, as soon as we say this, I promise you, part of it is the chances, right? The lane is a little more, like they're playing drop coverage and they're playing like true bigs. When it gets, when they get all their roster guys back and it's a little more spaced out, I bet you're going to see some, I bet you're going to see some hammered down. I'm not worried about, I'm not worried about John Moray. But I will say this is when I saw the first one, I said to myself, that has to be improvisational in the air. I don't think when he plants his feet, he says to himself,

I'm going to do a 360 and switch hands. I don't think he practices that. I don't think that's like something he drills with a trainer. Like, I really think that he just launches into the air, it figures it out in the air, which is something that, you know, outside of Kyrie Irving, you just don't see a lot of that. And it's so exciting. It's so absolutely just thrilling.

Like, that is the John Morant. that we all know and love and they couldn't beat the Nets. So what are you got on the Nets? They're too good. They're too good. The Nets are too good. They're too good.

Is that a positive? Yeah, they're four and four. Like they, I don't memorize every draft pick that every franchise has. So I did a little research for this one. I was like, they have their own pick this year,

right? Because I remember them trading their own pick. They got it back from the Rockets. So they have four picks in the first round in 2025. Don't they have Milwaukee's? They have Milwaukee's, which is one through four protected.

Which now. Which might be a problem. Which might be a problem. It's looking better. They have the Knicks, which will be a first round pick. We just talked about the strength of the sort of mid-first-round players

that we've seen so far this year. And the fourth one, it would take me an hour and a half to understand and like another 45 minutes to explain. But it's either the thunder, the Rockets or the Sons. Whatever. They've got four first-round picks,

and they've got 15 firsts in the next seven years. So they've got a future. You know what I mean? Because if you're looking at the bucks, which at the bottom of the east, no picks, older team, you're kind of like, all right, maybe we're not going to win the championship this year. Maybe we're not going to get better next year. But if you are a Nets fan, you're looking at this team that is winning games

and even losing tight games to good teams, it feels like there is a plan. It feels like there is a future for this. And they might have to, like, trade Dorian Finney Smith or Cam Johnson or Schroeder to get worse. Seriously. Well, and also, like, I mean, this is kind of what Utah did in years past where you kind of pump up like the Mike Conley value or whatever, like, because you're not really trying to win. So you want these guys to play well. So you might be able to get something in return for them.

So, you know, that's certainly. a positive. And I'll say this, you wonder why some teams overachieve earlier in the season. Many times we can look and it is, it lines up with the three-point shooting because that becomes this great variance. They're third in the league in three-point shots made so far this year. Brooklyn is. They are behind Cleveland and they are behind Boston. By the way, Boston, 30 ahead of Cleveland. It's like Boston's hit like 153s. Cleveland is second with like 120.

And then and then Brooklyn is right behind them. So, you know, how do these rat teams win games? Make threes. Dennis Schroeder, Dennis Schroeder hit a game winner over your guy, Edie. Edie's nine feet tall. And Schroeder just hits a game winner right over. And the aforementioned Doreen Phine Smith, who is shooting 29% from three coming into the game, he goes five for five.

I mean, okay. Like, typically that's a shot you want them to take because the guy's shooting 29%? Not, not Finney Smith last night. Next one. Pacers beat the Mavs. You want to start with the Pacers? You want me to go with the Mavs? Go with the Mavs.

All right. A couple positive things. obviously we know what Luke is going to do. Luca hasn't been the counting numbers are all high, but the efficiencies not there yet. But both Kyrie and Clay, both, have simultaneously been very, very good offensively. And one guy I do want to highlight who they did not have last night

in their loss to the Pacers, and it makes a massive, massive difference is lively. You know, same as it ever was. We saw this start last year in the playoffs, and now we saw it. It was a highlight again last night. You know, if you just go look at net rating what happens when they're on and off the court offensively and defensively, once again, when he's on the court, they're a plus 10. They win by 10 points per 100 possessions.

And when Gaffert's on the court, they lose by 6 per 100 possessions. Why do they start? Gassery. What are we doing? But that is a 16 point swing, a 16 point swing between those two players. And I do think what you'll see is as this season goes on, his minutes will go up. That will become more significant. And then I think you'll see an even greater version of the Dallas Mavericks. But once again, we started off the season. I mean, I think the ceiling for Gat for for lively is very, very high. Obviously, he had to miss last night's game. But it's. It's one of those things where he misses last night's game and it's a reminder. This guy is like essential to them being a really good team because the numbers of the numbers. They are, they're a fantastic team with lively on the court and they just aren't with Gafford on the court thus far. And this is to me a carryover of what we saw last season as well.

What I was so impressed with from him last year, it was. wasn't the dunks and the al-y-oops or the blocks. It was the short role when Luca gets blitzed, and he catches it right around the free-thrown line and makes it very quick decision to an open shooter. And I think with Clay Thompson, and with him having some more experience, he's a rookie last year,

and he was reading like a quarterback. Like, what is the defense going to give me? Who's open? Give him the ball. And I think that with him getting more experience under his belt, more coaching, it's going to even improve more. And he's still going to catch the lobs. still going to get the blocks, so we'll get the rebounds.

But his sort of like Hartenstein-esque kind of operation from the top of the key as a short roller, obviously not as good as like a Draymond Green, but like the, but that's an added thing that Gafford doesn't really have, which stood out in the playoffs, which I think helps those numbers, which I think is why he's going to get more run than Gafford. And Gafford's not bad. Like this isn't, this isn't a shot of Gabbard. I just think that lively is a better fit. Is a better fit.

And because Luca is such an attention. gravity pulling force that you need other players to be hubs. And with Clay Thompson in the corner and that's just, it's just you can see it. Luca gets blitzed hits lively, lively to Clay

to the basket, let's run back on defense. You can see that a lot. Which is exactly the old gravity warriors play. Seriously, right? Jermon was the best at that. Yeah, yeah. That's right. That's right. Dremon was the best at that and now and

The same gravity that Curry requires is the same gravity that Luca requires, which then leads to Splash Brother on the sides. You've got the Pacers. What do you want to say about them? So let me just tell the little tale of this man's career. I can't think, I would say it was probably six years ago, was the last time there weren't Miles Turner trade rumors. Seriously.

I think for the last five years, Right around the trade deadline, it's been a Miles Turner trade rumor. And to deal with that year after year after year, and he was also heavily campaigning for the defensive player of the year, I'd say four years ago. And he's sort of always had it on defense, but now his offense and his shooting have taken a bit of elite. He was hurt.

He came back last night in this win, 10 for 17 from the floor, five for eight from three. And he hit like a long two, too, too. from Hallibur. And it was like a bad shot. But he's just, he's catching it and letting it fly. And he is, it's like there's three and D wings.

And he's like a rim protectin three big. That's right. And that's sort of like, that's a really, really good combination. And I think that he quietly doesn't get celebrated the way that some other bigs get celebrated for getting it done on both ends and being a threat from the outside. But he is, he's had a great start to this. season. So that would say it's one big positive. It's like a poor man's cat.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sort of like a canal street Gucci purse cat. Yeah. Yeah. Which is a positive. Yes, which is a positive. It's a positive. He's a big part of what they do. And I think there's so much attention on Halliburton and how he's playing, what he's doing or not doing. And that I think that, you know, that I think that Miles Turner is sort of, is not celebrated for his contribution to this team and

his contribution and where he is in the league in terms of bigs, enough. That is one big, big positive for them. Also, unapologetically, huge Lego guy. Big Lego guy. If you don't know, Google Miles Turner Lego. Like, he's amazing at it. Oh, yeah. He's amazing at it.

You've seen the video, right? Oh, yeah, I've seen it. Huge Lego guy. And also, like, let's not sleep. He was probably third, I don't know, had the numbers in front of me. He's like third in defensive player of the year, like three years ago. Did you see the movie? He plays defense.

Did you see the Ferrell movie? I haven't seen that one yet, but I've got three young children. I see every single movie. It's good. I heard it. I was a little concerned about it at the top. I was like, in a second. A Ferrell biopic through the lens of Legos.

Yeah. It's good. I mean, it's like watching a documentary, but it's good. But it's also like when you saw the list of people that are in it, I was like, how could that be bad? It's got every star. I mean, it's not, like, funny. It's not funny.

Like, all the Lego stuff is, like, truly hilarious, right? Like, Lego movie, Lego Batman. Those are all. Oh, God. Yeah, this is not funny. But I really want a Lego push a T figure bad. Can't find it anywhere. I even went to the big Lego store in Orlando.

They don't make them. I'll write some emails. Lego. Lego, get me a Lego push a tea. All right. The next game is all to yourself. because it's two East teams. Celtics, Hawks. I mean,

this was a difficult one. This is where I started got stuck in our prep. Celtics, like, what negative is there to say? Right? This is a positive day. Oh, positive state. Okay, okay, here's what I'm going to positive. Your team is going to be boringly excellent all regular season, right?

You're going to win games like you did last night where you just lose interest in the third quarter. That is, that is, that sounds like a negative, but you will always, always, always have Joe Missoula quotes. So maybe on the floor you'll be winning by too much for it to be interesting. But Joe Missoula in the last two weeks has lobbied for fighting. Yep. In the NBA, the next day, tried to fight a referee and had to be held back by two assistant coaches. And he wants hockey style penalty box, like, like, minute long.

suspensions for players. And he said that none of this matters because we're all going to die soon. That's in just the last two weeks. That's a career's worth of quotes for most coaches. So no matter how many games, you're going to win 70 games, but you're always going to have Joe Missoula to keep it interesting. You missed that Jason Tatum got absolutely trucked by former teammate Grant Williams and then got up like a 2K character and just ran away.

Like nothing happened. It really reminded me of like one of those computer generated players that like just gets up and keeps on running. Yeah, like nothing happened. The best, I was watching that the post game and Grant Williams is like in the hallway. And someone cornered him and asked him about it. He's like, oh, there's nothing but love between us. I'm going to text him later tonight. I was like, are you?

You're the worst friend ever. That doesn't seem like love. I don't know. That didn't seem like a love tap. That didn't seem like a hug. I don't know about that. I don't know. I don't know if you're going to get a response to that text, Mr. Williams.

All right, let's hear the Hawks. Man, do I have to? This is, this is, remember, do you remember the, listen? Yes, you have to. This is a day. Look, this is why our country gets divided because in moments like this, there's guys like you that say, do I have to? Okay. The answer's yes.

You have to be positive. Okay, okay. I'm going to be positive. And I'm also going to be, I'm going to take ownership over something. just like we celebrated your your sort of prediction of a breakout year from Jaden Ivy. Yes.

I might have predicted that the Hawks would overperform expectations this year. And the jury's still out, but the jury's like asleep in the jury room right now. Is it? Is it? They're talking about Game of Thrones in the jury room right now.

Is it? Yeah. And I don't say that Jalen Johnson and get out of here. No, I'm going to say Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels. You know what I mean? Because I really thought that

of dance would be more impactful on that trade and obviously he hasn't had the opportunity to but like i think there's been a lot more dyson daniels in a hockey uniform than there wasn't a pelicans uniform on my screen you know so that that's what i'm gonna say jalen johnson and dyson daniels and trey young last night wait i'm gonna stay positive i'm gonna stay positive we got a bunch of them to get through so i'll try to be quick on these rockets beat the nicks oh i'm sorry jacobi but look every time i turn on the rockets oh no i got to stay positive No, can we just say I have to switch to the other team's feed on League Pass because if you watch this Rocket's weird-ass angle they're using all the time, if you tune them in on League Pass, they do this weird, like, weird, like, almost like from above in the corner angle on the game. And it's just so jarring that I always have to flip over, even though I like their announcers.

They got some vibrance to them. Anyway, Thompson and Eason. Like, I sit there wait for those guys to come in the game. I don't even know what Amman Thompson is going to do. Did you see that last night? Oh, my God. He is awesome. He caught the ball in the air while he was still in the air through a ball fake to the corner.

So the defender runs to the corner. I think it was Bridges. And then he dunks. it was wild. He jumped in the air, caught it before he landed through a ball fake to clear out a lane and then just dunked it. Amen.

The ball fake and then the pool and it dumped. That was pretty. He's so good. I talked about this years ago. So when they were, when they had left high school in Florida, they went to overtime elite. And somebody from overtime elite

reached out to me and said, hey, the Thompson brothers are going to be in town. We are with this league and we've got these kids and whatever. And long story short, they were going to be coming to Memphis. They were going to be doing this workout. And the thing was literally like a mile from my house. I'm like, can I bring my son? Because I ask my son, I'm like, do you know who the Thompson twins are?

He's so into basketball that he knows them from Instagram at the time, even though they're high school kids. I'm like, I'm going to go over there and check this out. I'll go watch him. Jacobi, I'm telling you, I saw Amman Thompson. They had gotten done with all their drills. He's standing under the basket and off vert jumped up and windmilled it. Just straight, no step, no, and I'm like, what the hell is going on? What is going on?

I wish the brother was playing, you know what I mean? The brothers had some injury problems with Detroit because I like him as well. But every time Ahmed Thompson comes in the game, it's like, you can't watch the Rockets and not notice him. There's some guys that can just be doing getting straight cardio in games. That is never him. He is in the mix, some way, somehow. And also, Tari Isson just comes off like a bolt of lightning off the bench too. Man, they bring those two guys off the bench.

It's like I have way more fun when they come in the game. watching that team. And there are some nights where it's just you can't match up with them athletically, no matter what team you are. And no one's going to say that compare Alpi Sengun to a bolt of lightning. However, took over in the fourth quarter. He did. You know, when you're surrounded by those kind of athletes, you don't have to be one yourself.

And he absolutely won that game for him. It did feel a little bit like the Knicks were going to come back and sort of make a run in the fourth. And every time it was Schengun with the tournament. with a bucket. Also, a crazy one, since you were watching that game as well, but I have to mention it.

In the fourth quarter of that game, they put up a graphic on the screen to highlight a guy that was sitting on the Rockets bench, Jeff Green, still around, also former Sonic. Is that,

that's, he's A. Jay Green's uncle, not A.C. Green, that was my fault. That was my fault. And it said, in NBA history, they put up the graphic.

No player has had more teammates than Jeff Green. Oh, can I guess the number? Can I guess the number? Go ahead. Do you have the number? Yes, I've got it. God, so let's say you got 14 guys of a team. They switch over a couple times.

Been in the league for 17 years. 17 times, I'll call it 14. But they're not all going to be different teams. teammates too, right? That's a good, yeah, I'm going, I'm going 260. No. Did you see it? No, dead ass.

It's 263. Look at that. Little math. You want to take any crack at the other four that are listed behind them? No, no. When I say them, it's going to make all the sense in the world. So Jeff Green has had more teammates than anyone in NBA history at 263. second Vince Carter 261 that makes sense yeah third Trevor oriza 259

oh that makes a lot of sense fourth Garrett temple 250 huh and fifth Javall McGee 245 that makes sense more teammates than anyone ever that's crazy there's 263 people on the planet right now that's see Jeff Green and they're like, that's my teammate. 263. He can't get married. I don't know if he's married or not, but he can't. He did. He did get married. He didn't need to use the arena to get married. Oh, good, good, good.

All right, we got, uh, 200 teammates. Get a lot of gifts, though. Oh, you got the Knicks. Nicks. And we do have to pick the pace up. So I'll say this. It hasn't been perfect. But you can see the seed has germinated. and a little tiny sprout has sprung up from the dirt that will blossom into Carlinthe Towns working into this offense. Like, you can see it, you can see the potential of it.

He's literally shooting, this is not going to stick. He's treating 57.9% from three. He was shooting 65% from three before the game yesterday. I mean, it's going to work. And I will also say this. They've had some tough losses, tied for third place in the east. They even had any bad losses.

No. What is it? It's Celtics, Cavs, and last night, right? Celtics and last night, right? Celtics and last night. Yeah. That's not bad. I didn't like last nights.

I got you, but that's not bad. Yeah. And I'll say, I'll say, like, and also the East is, the East is so weird right now because no one is winning games that it's the Celtics 8 and O and the Cavs. Yep. And then next is all 500 and worse. Yep. Jazz beat the Bulls.

Oh, boy. All right. So we can go fast on. this one. I'm going to say for the first win, good for them. John Collins. John Collins is, he had 28, 13, and 5 last night. But John Collins is one of those guys that, like, you know, he's on a team that's going to be tanking at the end of the year, trying to get one of these great, you know, draft picks coming up. And, boy, he can really, really, really, really help somebody. Like, he is increasing his value. So what happened is a couple of years ago. John Collins, he was always a pretty good three point shooter, right? Like a guy that was

pretty effective from three. And then he had that horrible finger injury thing. And I remember we would Google his hand and it was like the most disgusting looking finger ever. And it's like, and then he couldn't shoot. Yeah. And then it was like, what is this guy? And he shot 29% for an entire season. And I don't know if he got the finger fixed or just figured out how to shoot with the damn thing. But last year, he was 37% from three. So far this year, he's 36% from three. And he shoots them. And like, as a guy that you could bring off your bench on like a good team, if somebody put together a trade, I think John Collins could swing, swing it for somebody. And a guy that you could see, like, if he got traded to a playoff team could have like real,

real impact. And everybody's just forgotten about him because he stowed away in Utah. Yeah. I'd feel the same way about Sexton, you know? Yep, for sure. And it's like, you look at that team, you're like, they got, they got marketing, who didn't play last night. They got marketing, Kessler, and Sexton and Collins, and it's like, hey, you're going to win some games.

Couple guys. You're going to accidentally win some games. Bulls. We can skip the Bulls, right? I mean, they play at the fastest pace. I'll give them that. You know what I mean? If you're going to be mad, if you're going to be mad.

It was fun to watch Lonzo Ball play. For a couple games. for a couple games. Okay, that's positive. All right, let's get the Warriors beat the Wizards, because I've got a lot on the Warriors. So we covered Chavano in our last podcast. Oh, yeah, Chavano.

They are leading the league, or like right there at the very top. I think Toronto's actually overtook them after last night's game, but they're right there at the very top of assists. They've got 11 guys averaging over 15 minutes a game. And Lindy Waters averages 14 minutes a game and Gary Payton averages 11. So that's 13 players playing double-digit minutes for you this year. It is. And they all play well and they all play well together. The assist numbers are just crazy and their bench is averaging 61 points a game. The next best is

the Pacers at 47 points per game. And so this, it's just something we've really, I don't think, ever seen this many guys playing and it actually working and them, you know, if you don't have the most high end talent, have a plethora of players that are good players that can play for you and also play extremely well together. And that's exactly what they have done so far. It's mega impressive, at least in the first, you know, eight games of the season, have that many guys be able to play and be effective.

As Steph missed three games, if you would have said, Steph missed three games, the Warriors are one and six. Yeah, it checks out. It's tough. You know what I mean? But Steph miss three games, they're six and one. Six and one. Depth, man.

The depth is crazy. Very positive. So here's my positive about the Wizards outside of the Little Kula Bally. the best player on the Metropolis is is Poole and Dremont last night. Pool and Dremont. We all know the history. We all know what happened.

So Poole hits at three, points at Dremont, and then Dremont like assists a three that pool contested and then points at him. It was just the pettiness I absolutely am here for. You know, there's only so much discuss about the Warriors sort of output on the basketball court, but last night knowing that these two guys still don't like each

other, still can't, don't have enough restraint, self restraint to not point at each other while on the basketball court while being covered by 17 cameras, knowing they're going to get asked about it after the game. I love that kind of stuff. Thank you very much,

Jordan Poole, for just being yourself. Kings beat the heat. Terry Rozier airball at the end of the game. I mean, Like, and this is after the Kings took a shot, bounces off the rim, Sabonis puts it back in. And I'm highlighting Sabonis, especially after the huge game winner last night. Sabonis averaged at 21, 13 at 6, 61% from the field, 50% from 3.

And production-wise, go look at every game. Like, this may be the most underappreciated player in the league. Oh. I mean, you go look, go look at his lines every single game. There's not one clinker in there. Every night you get it from him. You remember last year he had like the 77 double doubles and 26 triple doubles. Like, it's unheard of to be that, like, you're just going to have some bad games here and there.

But here we are again, he like never has a bad game. You know what he's not going to do? He's not going to jump up in the air, cock it back with his right hand, spin around 360 and finish off the glass with his left hand. You know, he's not going to make the big highlights. You know, he does have some dunks and whatever. But it's crazy to be good every night. Every single night. Every night.

There's no like three for 15 ever. It never happened. It's the craziest thing. Just the beacon of consistency. So I'm going to shout him out. What about the Heat? Tide for third place in the Eastern Conference. You're tied for third place right now.

Playoff start tomorrow. You're hosting a playoff series. Oh, wow. At 3 and 3. That's how weird the East is. You know, they're 3 and 3. Overcame the statue. Yep, overcame the statue.

They've had their ups and down so far this season. And Tyler Hero last night, all beating a loss. I texted you about this play. Demarjo Rosen is their finisher. God, he is a finisher. And he hit a three, he had a two, and they're going to him, and they're going to work on Tyler Hero. And Tyler Hero put his hand up before De Rosen even got into his motion. He put his hand up.

He said, I'm going to get this ball on the way up. And anyone who's ever played basketball, even in third grade, knows that when you're on your way up with the jump shot, the ball can be exposed and slap down on. Tyler Hero slapped down the ball, got it and got the ball back. I mean, yes, it wasn't a losing effort, but no one's ever put Tyler here on an all-defense team. and he was being ISO for a reason. And DeMarge de Rosen is a finisher, and Tyler Hero stepped up to it. And he also has been playing well offensively.

And that was a big win for Hero because De Rosen waved off the switch and he had been cooking, bam. Cooking him. Those last couple of possessions. Had an N-1-3, a four-point play. Yeah, he had been cooking, bam. And he also got to the nail

and it knocked one down. And it's like, and then he waved off the switch. Like, no, give me this dude. then just what we're going to say give me the what? The white guy. Give me the white guy. At least you're being honest.

Give me the white guy. Give me white guy. We'll break him off once. Hey, the other thing is it was kind of sobber at the end of that game. And they lose. The heat announcer was like, and now since the beginning of last season, the heat dropped to 23 and 20.

on their home court. Just unthinkable. And I was like, damn, dog. 23 and 22 at home. Pat's going to have him remove his name from it. Take my name up. Take my name off that court. Yeah, right.

That's pretty bad. T-wolves beat the Hornets. Okay. It's 100% ain't. 27 a game, 47% for the field. 45 from 3 and shooting 11 a game. more than he did last year, and then in true ant form, asked by a reporter about whether or what he thinks about people saying he is shooting too many threes,

and he said, F them. Yeah, what would you say to somebody who said you shooting too many threes? Oh, fuck them. Look, there's very few guys in the NBA that have absolutely no filter. Every time you ask answer question, you are going to get an absolutely 100% authentic answer. And that was his answer to somebody saying that he might be shooting too many threes, especially when he's shooting 11 a game and he's shooting 45% from 30%. 45%?

What do you shoot more? What do you? What are you talking about? I should be shooting 23s a game. Yeah, 45%. Bozos? That's what you get you there. All right.

So Ant gets mine on the positive for the T-Wolves, and especially with that particular answer. Hornets. Hornets. I mean, it's obviously, if you're the Hornets and you're a Hornets fan, you're in Carolina, you golf a lot, great weather, a little barbecue, vinegar-based sauce, great stuff. I love Charlotte.

It's just a great part of the country to be it. Can I tell you a hilarious story? I'll make it quick. Of course. We went to the All-Star game a couple years ago, okay, in Charlotte. I loved it as an All-Star City. Everything was walkable, super fun. I take my producer, John Rosa, with me,

and we go to this place in Charlotte. We just look up a barbecue place. Memphis is known as the barbecue capital, right? There's always these fights, right? Texas barbecue, Kansas Barbecue, Kansas City barbecue, Charlotte Barbecue. It's all good. It's all great. But Charlotte's on there.

So we go to this place and we look it up, and we go to a place in Charlotte called Max Speed Shop. So we go out there. on one of the days off. And I filmed this video. And the whole video, the whole premise is Charlotte always builds themselves up as this great barbecue city. I'm going to go and have Charlotte barbecue. And then I'm going to talk about how this is preposterous that they're even, they even put themselves in the same class as Memphis.

And so we go to this Max Speed shop and we order literally everything on the. the menu. They bring it out to this thing. I tell him, I said, Rosa grabbed the camera. He grabs the camera and he's going to film me eating this stuff. And so I start taking bites of it to Kobe. It was amazing. And I'm like, this is a disaster. This is an absolute disaster. I like every single thing that I'm eating. It was so good. Everything was so good. They had like six, six, different sauces. I'm trying all of them. They had sausage and cheese. They had brisket. I mean, I'm like, okay. And I swear to God, that video still exists somewhere. We never posted it. I need to find it someday. But I never posted the video because the whole idea was

for me to talk about how much better Memphis was. And I was like, I can't post this. This stuff is delicious. So you're being positive today. This is the positivity theme. There it is. It's good stuff. You try to be negative, you end up positive. And I'll say if you're there, you live in a great life, you're eating in Max's speed shop, having that vinegar-based sauce. Best bull pork sandwich ever had in my life. And you golf a lot, a lot of golf out there.

Everyone from North Carolina. Everyone from Indiana has a jump shot. Everyone from Indiana has a knocked-down 16-foot jump shot. Everyone from North Carolina is a scratch golfer. Every single person. And I will say that you have lamello ball back in your life. There's always a reason. It didn't look great yesterday at all.

We'll take yesterday out of it. That was a tough game for everyone in a hornet's uniform against the Timberwolves. But lamello ball is just so exciting to watch. You never know what he is going to do. And every single time, I've been watching this man play basketball from four years. Every time, like, he's tall. You know what you? He's tall.

And he's also, like, just doing whatever the hell he wants. He's shooting off one foot. It works. It works. It's like a match if Jordan. pool was good. Like, that's kind of what he's doing. Dude, I saw, I laugh so hard.

I saw this beam the other day and somebody posted and said, La Mello Ball plays like there's 10,000 chicks in the audience. I was like, that might be the best descriptor of what I'm watching. Yeah. Lamello Ball plays like, it's his birthday and he organized a pickup run. That's how he plays. I'm putting up every shot. I put up every shot.

I don't care. I don't know whatever I want. One foot, left hand, right hand. Maybe I'll try to dunk. I might pass, but it's going to be a ridiculously fancy pass. It's probably unnecessary. I love everything about his game. And we can talk about this.

It seems like we're being negative. But it's effective. No, we love him. It's effective. And he's fun to watch. It's a reason to watch. It's a reason to watch the Hornets. It's why they end up.

For a team that has very little of a successful future in this season, I will watch a disproportionate amount of Hornets basketball. Last three, Thunder beat the magic. God, I feel so terrible for the magic. I mean, my God, you get to last night and they're starting go-go bitazzi and the Silva. And it's like, ugh, ugh. Anyways, Thunder, look, I said my piece last week about their post-game interview. but this is a day of positivity.

Prosativity. Bro, their defense is otherworldly. They are averaging seven blocks a game leading. They are averaging 13 steals a game, which is three higher than anyone in the league. The Hawks are at 10 a game. They're at 13. And that goes along with seven blocks and 13 steals a game. Their defensive rating is 93.8.

Second is the Warriors at 102. Third is the magic at 107.5. They are 14 points ahead of the third place defense. Just freaky, freaky numbers, deflections, blocks, steals, everything. And this is, and they don't have hard. Hartnstein, right? The start the season without him. And just unbelievable job so far.

Their defense has just been, I mean, it's unheard of. My math is excellent, as you saw earlier with the Jeff Green teammates thing. But seven plus 13, seven blocks and 13 steals. That's 20 possessions, right? Because you can't do those both in the same possession. No. Right? That's 20 possessions where the other team does not get a legit field goal attempt.

That is basically a fifth of your possessions. You're not putting the ball towards the basket. Correct. Think about that. 13 steals is an insane number. They can't keep that up. They can't keep that up. I mean, they can't keep that up.

I'll just tell you this. They could fall back a little bit. I mean, they're 10 points ahead of the second best defense and 15 points better than the third best. It's crazy. Crazy what they've done so far early in the year. magic. Oh, boy. No, I got it. We've discussed this, and this is a player that we've adopted,

not at the level that we've adopted Jay Huff Huff Hive. You can always, what's Jay Huff been up to lately? We have a quick Huff date. He had 20 and 14 minutes the other night. Oh, look at that. Yeah. 20 and 14 minutes, so per 36. Okay, so he's averaging 50 points a game, basically.

At least. So I see it. That's how I see it. Huff Hive, that's the Huff date. You always get a Huff date here on the mismatch. But I'll say is Jalen sucks. You know, we discussed him when he got his extension, and we've discussed him since. And while the Palo is going to come back, I'd say that that's my big positive thing, is it doesn't look good without Palo.

And it's just a testament to how important he is to this team, as we were talking about, like, value earlier, if you were placing him with someone else. Like, you're seeing how important Palo is this team and how impactful he is. But Jalen Suggs has really turned an offensive corner so far this year. Fair enough. You know. Okay. Clippers, Spurs. Big Zoo.

Have a season. Yeah. 17 and a half, 13 rebounds, almost three assists. And he's had so far this year, he's had a 24 and 15, a 23 and 18. And last night, a 17 and 13 with 10 offensive rebounds in this year. The game. Like, wait, say it again. Offensive?

Offensive rebounds, 10. Oh, my God. Last night. So, look, to your not very good at math, that's 10 more possessions. Wait, isn't that, that was against the Spurs, right? Don't they have a, don't they have like an eight-foot wonder-kind? It's positive day. It's positive day.

Oh, oh, so, you know what? I'm going to keep it positive about the Spurs. Victor Minyman Bonyama hit two-threes. shot nine he hit two we're going to be positive I'm just going to say it now Chris Vernon

people are going to start talking about this I've got the West people are going to start talking about Victor Wibibiyama shooting terribly from three I've got the West all right trying to be positive too

it's just hard Chris Paul 65 years old averaging 12 9 and 4 shooting 50% from the field 43% from 3 He's the only one that can't hit threes for the for the spurs. It's Mavs Jason kid-esque. This is, uh, it's very hard for me to be positive on the spurs.

I'm just going to lay out. Blazers, Pelicans. I get the last one, too. Boy, this was, this is the most challenging. I saved the, you saved the hardest for last. I'm going to say this. You want to just wrap the pod right here? Just to keep a positive.

Thanks so much for listening to the last. mismatch. In years past, and for many years, I have lamented the fact that some of these teams just wear the most obscene-looking jerseys ever and all these city additions and all this crap and colors that aren't your team's colors and whatever else. And I just want to say that I appreciate the fact that if I have to, if I am forced to watch the Blazers that

them wearing the black with the red with the stripes across it it feels like the Blazers they're the ones like they have stuck to the guns I think of Clyde Drexler

I think of Kevin Duckworth I think of Bulls versus Blazers on my Sega Genesis and you know in the in the in an of all these goofy-ass jerseys,

I'll give them credit because I love the old-school black with the red and white stripe across it and it pays homage to, they haven't had to change and make some kind of like super goofy-ass jersey. Variance of a theme throughout the years, but it's a variance of the theme.

It is what it is. And that is a positive thing that I can say. Great job. Chris. Yeah. And then on the Pelicans. They have medical insurance. So they're covered?

Yeah. They're going to get their guys back. This is the worst it's going to be. Oh, I like that. This is the worst it's going to be. The worst it's going to be is right now. No DeDante, no Giante, no CJ, you know. Every, no Her Jones.

I mean, it's, no Tramers. It's a disaster. It's a disaster. Disaster, injury-wise, but this is the worst that's going to be. They had one starter, Brandon Ingram. They had one of their starters. How many games you expect to win when you have one of your starters? And the Zion thing is just so concerning.

Of course it is. Can we play 10 to 15? You know what I mean? Without me having to worry once? Yeah. And it's just like, oh, the hamstring. And I know he played a lot of games last year before he let out. But, you know.

He did. I'm proud of us, Chris. I am too. We did good on this day of such divisiveness. We remained positive about every single NBA team. That was a good job. That's a great job by us. All right.

Thanks to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always. I'll talk to you later this week. That's right. Must be 21 and over in present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 over and present in D.C. Got a gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help-Help.com. Call 1-88-88-88-88-9-77-77- or visit cppG.org slash chat in Connecticut

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