Damian Lillard's Blood Clot & Jimmy Butler's Anticlimactic Return To Miami
01:10:04 Share

Apple Card is everything a credit card should be. It's easy to manage, built to be secure, and gives users up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase. The best part about Apple Card is applying is quick and easy. Apply in the Wallet app on iPhone and see your credit limit offer in minutes. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch, member FDIC. Terms and more at applecard.com.

As we progress through the season, every fan knows that big wins are hard to come by and tough losses are even harder to accept. But you know what isn't hard to accept? Discover. Believe it or not, Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. You heard that right, 99%. So make a good call for your wallet and get Discover. Based on the February 2024 Nielsen Report, learn more at discover.com slash credit card.

Danielle has taken up painting, oil painting, acrylic painting, other painting. I don't know what that painting type is, but it is just incredible. If I can convince her to open up a Shopify store, I know she'll be hearing the...

We've used Shopify here on No Dunks. Simple setup, no hassles. Tech support is always there. We used other setups before, but they weren't as simple as Shopify. Shopify is the home of the number one checkout on the planet, meaning way less carts going abandoned and way more sales going unsold.

Did you hear that, Danielle? Yeah, right. If only she listened to the No Dunks podcast. She never listens to me. Upgrade your business and get the same checkout we use with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash no dunks. All lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash no dunks to upgrade your selling today. Shopify.com slash no dunks.

Does anyone know what to do? Does anyone have any ideas? Does anyone have any ideas of what to do?

Good morning, sweet world! And welcome to the No Dunks podcast on The Athletic Network. It's Wednesday, March 26th, 2025. I'm Jay Skeets here in the Classic Factory and alongside me, as always, Tass Mellis. Basketball friends and basketball enemies. This one's for you. Next to him, it's the bearded one, my top shot hot boy, Trey Kirby. Hey-o! And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer, JD. Hello. There he is. Here we are, tomorrow night, in Atlanta. It's the No Dunks live stream.

Live podcast pizza party with Tabasco. Get your tickets if you haven't already. Come out and see us at 7 p.m. Eastern. Doors open at 6.30 at the Seven Stages Theater. JD has ordered the pizzas. They've been ordered, everybody. They have. Oh, yes. Got some delicious pizzas coming our way. How many pies are we talking? Well, there's five for the stage for you guys. Hope you're hungry, boys. And then we got 20 pies.

Okay. 25. Sorry. Sorry. Is everybody okay? There's a lot going on here. Tass is in his phone and you are like concerned about your audio. Yeah, I'm cutting out. I'm cutting out here. Luckily, I can still hear everybody. No, I think I just have a loose connection. Okay. Okay, good. But shout out to Wynaloo. I've connected pretty sparingly.

strong. And you're good? Oh yeah, I'm ordering tickets. Not for our show, but for another show that I need to order that just became available at 10 a.m. Eastern. So I'm making it happen. I mean, you're running it, so that's not a problem. Don't you worry. Don't worry. Don't worry about what everybody else is doing. Stevie Wonder, don't you worry about a thing? I was okay with you. I'm going to somebody who's remade a Stevie Wonder song.

Who? Wow. Johnny? Yeah, John. Oh, of course. He's the only concert he goes to. That's the only one. All right. We got a little housekeeping here before we get into the news. You listen to us. We want to hear from you. We're asking you to fill out a quick survey about you and your podcast habits by going to theathletic.com slash athletic.com.

slash survey25. Three lucky entries will win $100 worth of Amazon vouchers, too. So if you fill that out, you've got a chance to win $100 of an Amazon voucher. So whether you're a long-time listener or a new one, we want your feedback. The Athletic wants your feedback. So go to theathletic.com slash athletic slash survey25. Jesus, guys, just get a vanity URL. It's not hard. I do it every day with our show.

You hate non-URL. I hate them. You hate them, man. When Jeff Probst says that one on Survivor about all the things we can vote on for Survivor 50, what are they doing? If you have more than two backslashes in your URL, you're done. Yeah, you got to max out at one. One, tops. And the second part of it better be one word. Vote. Survey. And not letters and numbers. I don't know.

I don't know. It's an issue. But anyway, I put the link in the show notes. So just click on that in the episode description. Fill that out and you have a chance to win a $100 Amazon voucher. If you had $100 to Amazon, what would you buy? Vanity URLs for everyone.

Because, you know, they do cost money. It depends what you use, of course, but they can. They didn't want to go vanity because we broke it last time. Oh, let's break it again then. Let's do it again then. And you mean we broke it because we sent so many of our No Dunks listeners to the survey that it like overloaded the website? Yeah. Let's have it happen in 10 minutes. Let's go. One of our proudest moments, right? There's nothing like a Slack saying, could you please tell your listeners to stop fanning

filling out the survey that we make them to take. Well, let's see if we can do it again. Well, we sent them to a website URL with a backslash when really it's a forward slash. So maybe we'll send them in the wrong place. I always hate that. What?

What's a backslash versus a forward slash? Okay, you're right. You're right. It is a forward slash. Okay, all right. God damn it. Did you get your tickets? Oh, confirmed. He's got credit cards out all the way to his car. I'm buying one from a different country, so I always love to make sure I don't get charged those foreign transaction fees. International John. I call you Money Mouse for a reason, my man. I'm glad you got them.

Yeah, it had to be done, and I just filled out my survey. Love this show. This guy's doing everything but actually podcasting. Well, I don't got anything to do. I just contributed so much to this show. That's a lie. You got a wedgie to talk about. We had a wedgie last night, number 38. We talked this into existence. We said we need some wedgies here. We need a little run of wedgies after getting number 37 the other night.

And we got one. And it's a weird one. You know, it's a... I guess Jalen Green gets the credit for banging it home there. Him and Dyson Daniels. We get the credit. We see one. No, somebody's got to get the credit on Wedgie Tracker. It doesn't just say no dunks every time. Another one for us. Maybe it should. Maybe it should. So there you go. Pace picking up there. 38 wedgies. Okay. Okay.

Let's get into some actual NBA news. We'll get to some of the games from last night, but some unfortunate news. Buckstar Damian Lillard has been diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, a.k.a. a blood clot, in his right calf that will sideline him indefinitely. The team announced this last night. Dame is on a blood-thinning medication, which has stabilized the clot, so that's good news. They've caught this early enough, and he's going to undergo regular testing here, but out yet.

indefinitely, though I think The Athletic and our reporters saying there's hope, optimism that he could return.

before the end of the regular season and obviously before the playoffs start. But, man, a tough loss here. Another blood clot with an NBA player, obviously, Webinyama. She's an ending blood clot. We had Asar Thompson, Christian Coloco, way back in the day, Chris Bosh. But, yeah, the Bucs sort of snakebitten here. Possibly, we'll see if he returns, but this is bad. They have been the last few seasons since they won a title. Every single playoff season there has been somebody significant injured.

Middleton in 2022 didn't play. 2023, Giannis was half of himself in that postseason. He wasn't himself. Giannis missed 2024 and Dame was out for a lot of it. And now in this case, I would say, yeah, you've got to be pretty positive considering, number one, the Athletics reporting saying he will likely be back this season. That's the report there from the Athletic. And also when you hear these reports, you don't often hear he's...

got blood thinning medication that he's using. And so you don't really hear that right off the bat. You don't hear what the diagnosis is and what he is enduring in terms of medicine. So that is a great sign. Although I just started to look back at Dame's calf injury history. It's been years. That right calf has been a problem, but this must be a situation where they are getting way ahead of it.

Well, yeah, it seems like he had the injury and it just wouldn't go away. Kind of similar to Wembyn Yama at the All-Star break. He's like, I'm tired, and I don't think I should still be tired, so there must be something else going on. They figured out what's going on. Good for Dame health-wise. I think we did hear about Victor Wembyn Yama going on to blood thinners right away. That's kind of the standard treatment, and that's what puts you at risk because this is a contact sport these guys are playing. You get hit, you're going to be bruising up. It could do even worse damage. So, yeah.

I would think if Dame actually does come back, but we'll see. At least they have optimism. It's getting really close to the end of the season here. The only 11 games left for Milwaukee. They're eight and five without Damian Lillard. So like,

That's a little bit encouraging as well. They're probably going to keep starting Ryan Rollins. They like the defense he brings, but maybe they go with Kevin Porter Jr. Eventually, he'll probably at least get a shot to start, I imagine, at some point since he plays more as an offensively focused player while trying to compete defensively. And the Bucs have been really struggling on the offensive end of the side, so maybe they need him to be running things. But Milwaukee currently is 11-18 against teams that are currently over .500.

It feels like this season's probably over for the Bucs. It seemed like their ceiling in the playoffs is win a round and probably get bounced in the second round. Now I think winning a first round, assuming Dame doesn't come back, that's a question mark too.

Yeah, best news here is the belief that it's unlikely to happen again with him and that he's not jeopardizing his career by any means. Hell, like we said, he could come back this season. I'm with you though, TK. This was already going to be an uphill battle. I mean, they're missing Bobby Portis too. I keep forgetting that. Obviously the huge suspension that he's missed a ton of time here now and now Dame out and you went through, man, Tass, you're right. You go through the track.

history here of their post seasons where somebody's inevitably injured even the one where they win the title think about that one that was yannis getting injured and we're sort of miraculously coming back absolutely from his injury as quickly as he did to win that 21 title but then yeah middleton and yannis and yannis again and dame it's it's it's bad and it's possibly dame again here um

Yeah, he missed the last three games with this calf strain. He had missed 10 games prior this season with this calf strain, and then suddenly they're like, he's just getting frustrated, you could tell, with the inability to figure out what the hell's actually going on here. And so they find out it's the blood clot. Now you get him on the medication, and hopefully he can return. And you go back a few years in 2022 when he was in Portland. He also missed time suffering two strains of that calf. Now that could be a calf strain. Yeah, it may have nothing to do with this blood, but...

The fact that it isn't a lower extremity, again, not a doctor, but I think it is an extreme positive and that they have caught it at this time. But yes, he had a problem in that part of his body during last year's postseason when he strained his right Achilles tendon and he fought through it to play in some of those games against the Indiana Pacers in the first round. So he may come back. Yeah, we do not know the extent of it, but obviously it is an extreme worry for Damon. Yeah, the Milwaukee Bucks who have just having another one here.

Let's hear from you out there. Do you think what this does to the Bucs' chances to advance in the postseason or even compete for a title this year? Or did you even believe that to begin with? Healthy game or not? Let's get into some of the games, though, last night. The big one that we all had circled, it was on TNT, was Jimmy Butler's return to Miami. And man, this was anticlimactic, at least for Jimmy Butler and the Warriors. Heat fans...

Your team looked good. They blew out the Warriors in Jimmy's return. Bam was the star of this one. Really set the tone, brought the energy that I think a lot of us probably expected from Jimmy Butler. But it was Bam, 27 points. He was hitting threes, getting to the line, grabbing boards, playing his defense right from the jump too. But your takeaways from Jimmy's return and Miami spoiling it. I thought kind of...

An underwhelming fan ferocity from Miami. Seemed about 70-30 boos to cheers during the pregame intro, which apparently they didn't even play the audio for accidentally. Jimmy's tribute video, which was during the starting lineups, kind of an odd way to do it. Kind of a way to make it less of a thing. I think I thought Marcus Thornton kind of nailed it.

Marcus Thompson. Yeah, not the former L.A. Clipper Marcus Thornton, but former current athletic writer Marcus Thompson. Though the Warriors needed Jimmy's offense terribly, he played like a man refusing to feed into what the masses wanted. He was Mr. Make the Right Plays, which is what he's been talking up ever since he got to Golden State. And he just wasn't looking to score, and he was looking to be kind of above the game. It's kind of what I took away from the Jimmy Butler experience as a

last night as for like the teams I thought the heat just completely big boyed the Golden State Warriors they threw it back to the pre-Jimmy days when they couldn't make a layup Golden State shot 50% in the lane Miami closer to 60 that's about league average between Bam and Khalil Ware they just look too big for Golden State to make up for their lack of offense they also could not hit three pointers the starters went two for 20 from three so Miami was feeling good packing the paint Moses Moody went 0 for 9 at

the break at halftime, all five Golden State starters had two points. So I thought it was kind of a combination of the Heat played great basketball. Like the ball was popping for him. They were moving it. They were playing defensively. And then the Warriors just didn't really have anything. So I thought it was more of a case of the Heat played great, which made the Warriors look bad. But the Warriors looked bad. They absolutely did. They obviously missed Stephen Curry and just the eyes of

That he warrants from a defense. That was definitely happening out there because Steve Kerr is still running those splits, still getting Jimmy and Moses Moody open, who, frankly, if Moses Moody hits some freaking open wide shots in this game, it's a totally different story. He was clanking. Was he 0 for 9 from deep? Yeah. I think last night. He's been really good, actually, in June the 3rd.

Yeah, I don't know if the bright lights of this game and the scenario played a factor into that. These are younger players here, and we'll see what they can bring into the postseason because Moe's Moody is going to be starting for this team. He will get open looks. That being said, yeah, Jimmy didn't have a lot of them in that first half. Bam was doing an incredible job. This was his job. Take away Jimmy, and he did do a good job with that. Now, Jimmy Bumper did make one play where he went into Tyler Hero and he got a pick and

created that space as he does. That's what he does. And he got that one bucket off in the first half, his only bucket in the first half. But yeah, the Heat were playing back and saying, you other guys go ahead and shoot. That guy, Steph, we don't have to watch for him. So Jimmy doesn't have that extra step that he would usually have in the

front of his opponent. That didn't happen whatsoever. So yeah, I think it was a combo of the Warriors stinking it up to help out this Miami Heat great defense. But this was a big win for the Heat where they went into the fourth quarter. Listen, they won the first half. The Warriors won the third quarter. Then they go into the fourth quarter. That's when they usually give it away. But there was some

Great, great support by Tyler Hero, who, again, we have like two minutes of Miami Heat dead play. And you think, OK, here come the Heat where they just stink. But Tyler Hero bailed them out over and over. And this was a huge win for them. They will remember this as a really big win for them.

Andrew Wiggins was alive too. That was good. I mean, yeah, he didn't have a good scoring game, but he did everything else. I thought he was really good defensively. Five rebounds, five assists, two steals, three blocks. He was kind of all over the court. Just didn't really have an offensive game going though. He had a couple of nice takes. Yeah. Yeah. I'm laughing. Cause there was a stretch early in this game that it looked like a 10 and 11 year olds playing. Cause there was like a,

Andrew Wiggins had two over and back violations. Basically back to back. But then the Warriors were turning it over on the other end. Teams like kept punting it out of bounds. Like it was sloppy play for a good stretch there. Jimmy Beller had a five second violation calls against him. What? That really weird. Why don't you just inbound the ball? Yeah, some weird stuff though. Wiggins coming off a 42 point last game. 30 points the game before that. And that's...

This one, yeah, just 10 in this one. But monstrous blocks to recover on perimeter shooters to recover and get two of those. And he blocked Jimmy once. So, yeah, that was a beautiful spin move from him in the first half. But, yeah, some stinky Wiggins. Part of that...

of the game earlier was like, what are you doing, man? I mean, he missed the shot really, really badly. He recovered to block Jimmy Butler. Awesome. Then he goes the other way, stripped by Jaron Green. Then he fouls Pajemski at the other side for an and one. Just stinky. But everybody bailed him out.

And everybody on the Miami Heat side, extremely happy, including Pat Riley, I think. I think they do that pregame intro tribute video just to get it the heck out of the way, as you said. So nobody cares about it, really. And nobody really claps. And he knows. Pat Riley knows. Jimmy Butler knows. Jimmy Butler has said it. Nobody arrives on time in Miami. So nobody was there to cheer, really. I mean, there were people there. They did cheer him for the video tribute. And then they got to booing him for the most part when he touched the ball, as you generally should, I think.

think especially when a guy really like wants out of the situation and like sort of hold your season hostage for a good chunk of it I thought they played it fine though Steve Kerr made me laugh he was asked about the atmosphere the whole Jimmy Butler return quote you know Miami great place to live so people

don't ever seem too amped up around here. They're living a good life. So it really wasn't that rabid of an environment. It was typical Miami. End quote. He had a couple other things to say. They're living a good life. I think he's exactly right though. That's like his hometown of San Diego. You know, just kind of chill. Well, the other part is like the Heat, you know, they had won the other night, but they were

were riding on a 10-game losing streak. This season has gotten completely out of control for them. So it's not like they're riding high, too. This was their NBA Finals. That's for sure. That's right. That's exactly right. It was big. To go back to that stat you said, Trey, where the five Golden State starters, Jimmy, Gary Payton II, Draymond Green, Moody, and Pajemski, they had exactly two points at halftime. First time an NBA team had no starter score three points in a first half.

Since New Jersey against Orlando in 2012, did you want to play? Check the box score and name those starters for the 2012 New Jersey Nets. They lost 86-70 in this game. So they scored 70 points. Now, I thought this would be fun. I want to give you one word for each guy and see if you can get it and how quickly you can get it because you guys are pretty good at this. Gotcha. So I'm just going to say, Tinyface. Tinyface.

Oh, your guy. Marshawn Brooks. There you go. I'm going to say The Simpsons. I could say like Tonic Head or something. Tonic Head? I guess I could say Ken Griffey Jr. Sheldon Williams. Here we go. I was thinking if they had a guy named Bart. No. Okay. Here's the word for you. ATMs. ATMs.

Deshaun Stephenson. There we go. I don't remember him as a net, though. He played for the Nets? Yeah, I don't remember that at all. I guess I'll give you an easy one here. Kim Kardashian. Chris Humphries. There you go. And final one. This is going to be the toughest one. Is it gasoline? No. Johan Petro? I'm going to give you a scenario. And this is fitting because our live show here in Atlanta tomorrow night, one of our first live shows ever...

We joked about talking about this guy because he did something the night prior. But, you know, we weren't going to talk about actual NBA games all that much. This guy, I'm pretty sure, hit a huge shot for another team. But he obviously was playing for the Nets here. You don't know? You were there, Trey. You were in attendance. I was in attendance? Yes, that's right. At the game, 2012? I'm talking about one of our first live shows ever as the Basketball Jones. So he hit a big shot years before. No.

No, like in 2012 he hit a big shot and then we did a live show. No, I don't know when we did the live show. This is a random year where this guy hit a big shot. Sundiata Gaines. Bingo! He hit a huge shot for the Jazz. He had a game winner the night before we ever did maybe our first ever live show. Against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Geely Collip. Maybe Geely at the time. I don't remember him playing for the Nets. Good stuff. So there you go. That was the starting lineup. I don't think that team won many games.

2012 nuts. I don't think so. I didn't think that would exist. The team only scoring a combined 10 points or max of 10 points from their starters. I just didn't think that would exist. I thought you would have had to go back to 1947, you know, like the Selmo Beatty years, the Selmo Beatty. Well, again, the stat was no starters scoring three points in the first half. Yeah. I don't know. It just doesn't seem right. Uh,

and then just back to that Thompson article, not Thornton, uh, on the athletic weird one. I thought it was interesting how he wrote. I was thinking small face, Marcus Thornton. Sorry. Go ahead. Big head. I feel like Marcus Thornton.

To me, he's a bigger boy. A lot of weight. Not so much his face. But anyway. I think he hugged him in his face. Yeah, he did. Anyway, Thompson wrote for The Athletic last night how that game did seem like the perfect occasion for a Jimmy Butler explosion. Like...

Get the preview of the playoff Jimmy that Warriors fans are hoping for and expecting because the Warriors are fighting for playoff positioning. They're on a six-game road trip here where they had lost the game prior, obviously without Steph Curry. Then you've got the whole drama of him, like, you thinking wanting to stick it to the Heat and Pat Riley and all that. But, you know, Jimmy didn't sort of conjure that up at all. He was just content to sip his espresso, wave politely, and to quote Marcus Thompson...

This trip was much more about him spending time with his kids. Jimmy Butler, he hadn't been with his kids a lot since the trade and went home early. He asked Steve Kerr, could he fly from the one game to get there in time? So it's like, yeah. He also played dominoes at his coffee shop 30 days before. Yeah, that's what I mean. It was almost like he was not locked in Jimmy. I think we can all agree with that. I mean, I watched this entire game. I was like,

you know, if it wasn't there from the jump, it's not like it's going to like round into fashion. He was making the right plays, but he did not have a force to him. It was Bam that had that. Yes. And that's where, I mean, you would have expected maybe Jimmy to match him. Yeah. He also needed the Steph space that he creates. That would have been a big factor. I saw those tweets going around. These last two games, maybe help some MVP voters throw a, throw a bone on the back of their ballot to Steph Curry. Cause you see this team without him and it's, it's tough. Yeah.

He's got to play five more games to get a ballot bone. He's pretty valuable to a ballot bone. I like that. I think I just coined that. The four and five spots on the MVP ballot. Those are the ballot bone spots.

Gotta go to Tatum. Well, meh. Oh, yeah. Maybe five should only be the ballot bone. Four is a second-tier MVP candidate. A ballot bone to me is not like everybody putting Steph Curry fifth on their ballot. It's like a couple thrown here or there. Nice. You know, maybe like a dog treat. Or our friend Julie. When she would leave the house, she had a couple cats. She would throw cat treats all around her house. Nice.

Keep the cats busy for days. That's very good. I was always convinced they just gobbled them all up in like five minutes, but she said, no, no, no. That'll last them a weekend. Cats aren't that sharp. It takes them some time. Or they're that smart. They go, oh, uh-oh, my owner's chucking treats all around the house again. That must mean she's going to be gone for more than four hours. Better save her. You know what I mean? She's going to be gone for a couple days. I better save them. Yeah, yeah.

Apple Card is everything a credit card should be. It's easy to manage, built to be secure, and gives users up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase. The best part about Apple Card is applying is quick and easy. Apply in the Wallet app on iPhone and see your credit limit offer in minutes. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch, member FDIC. Terms and more at applecard.com.

As we progress through the season, every fan knows that big wins are hard to come by and tough losses are even harder to accept. But you know what isn't hard to accept? Discover. Believe it or not, Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. You heard that right, 99%. So make a good call for your wallet and get Discover. Based on the February 2024 Nielsen Report, learn more at discover.com slash credit card.

There's a better way. Making

Let's go to the Knicks. Hart and Towns both recorded triple-doubles in the same game. They're playing the Dallas Mavericks. Najee Mercer, awesome. He had 38 points, but...

They're totally outclassed, this team, but two Knicks players for the first time ever, triple-double in the same game. Yeah, Anthony Davis was supposed to be back, but on the second night of a back-to-back, no, sir! Listen, the Dallas Mavericks were playing a great game against the New York Knicks in that first half. It was awesome. They were on fire. Yeah, they shot 71% in the first quarter. The game was tied at half, all because of Najee Marshall, who was...

Cool, man. 39 points for that guy. 17 of 25 overall, hitting just one three. So he had 16 made twos overall.

Old school basketball is back, baby. I mean, he did it a lot in the paint. A lot of it is him being able to slash, create a little bit of space and hit a float or just throw it up on that rim. He had 11 of his first 12 buckets, 20 of those 22 in the paint. And he was 13 of 15 in the first half. Anyway, I've talked a lot about this guy, 12 straight games of 15 points or more. He was averaging 22 points in that run coming into that game. So he was awesome. Do you know his nickname?

No. The knife. Yeah, the knife. Makes sense. He's a Swiss army. No, that's the exact opposite. Willie Green was asked, is he a Swiss army knife for you? And he said, no, he's just a knife. Just a knife. Literally, that's what he said. He's just a knife. He's just a knife. That's pretty funny.

That's got to be a slap to the face. He's got no spin moves. He's got no corkscrews. He's got no nail files. All he goes is to the hoop. And you're telling me all he does is go to the hoop. That's all he does. Yeah, he's not. He doesn't shoot threes. That is literally what he does not do. Awesome. But I can't. I got we got to ask Willie Green. I got to ask Steve Kerr. Is that a backhanded slap to the Miami Heat? Was that a backhanded slap to Najee Marshall, who's.

This is his best run of his career, obviously. But yeah, the Knicks came through. Good for them. Oh my god. They won. Hart, 16 points, 12 boards, 11 assists. He had a triple-double late in the third quarter, and then Cat got his in the fourth, midway through the fourth. 26 points, 12 boards, 11 dimes. OG scored 35. That's the highest scoring game for OG since his, what, 40-point explosion back in November? Yeah.

And the Knicks shot nearly 60% from the field, and I think they had 40 assists. Yes, they did. So they were rolling. And I just saw a lot of people, once the Knicks did put the game away, a lot of Knicks fans saying, all right, Tibbs, take everybody out. Rest the guys a little bit. We do have another game coming up tonight. That made me laugh. It's crazy when you see the highlight thumbnail for this, and it says...

How many points did these guys combine for? 42 points, 24 rebounds, 22 assists. And you're like, that's a Jokic game. But that was Towns and Hart combined. You've got to make a lot of shots to have two guys get triple doubles. And like you said, they made a ton of shots. They shot 60%. Hard to lose when you shoot 60%. Neither team played any defense in this game. And New York just kind of counted on the fact that

Dallas is going to run out of steam. And they completely ran out of steam in the second half, playing the second night of a back-to-back, having no Anthony Davis. So yeah, New York Najee went crazy. 22 in Brooklyn, 38 in New York, but it did not matter. This was an easy game for the Knicks. At one point, Carl Anthony Towns broke Kai Jones's ankle with a pump fake.

He fell down on a pump thing. Kai Jones did have a cool moment in this game, though. He has cool moments. He had a cool moment. The big dunk and then the kip-up right away. Yeah, that was sweet. This was the 17th time in NBA history that two teammates have had a triple-double in the same game.

And we've had Jokic and Westbrook do it, I think twice this season. But obviously the first time in New York Knicks franchise history. Nine assists in 19 minutes for Tyler Kolek. People have been saying this guy should be playing more with Jalen Brunson out. Not a good scorer, but he moves the ball. So maybe that's helpful for them to get some ball.

ball movement here and the last 10 games of the season. I don't think it'll be a factor come playoff time, but cool win for the Knicks. It looked like a fun game out there. Looked pretty easy. Looked pretty easy for these guys. Yeah, Tyler Kulik was great at scrapping on the defensive end as well without Deuce McBride. He definitely helped out.

Although, yeah, they need some more defense. That was the thing. We'll be picking them against the Los Angeles Clippers tonight in our pick-em game. But Najee Marshall to score 13 buckets in the first half.

That's the most this season tied with Shea and Paulo Boncaro for the most buckets in the first half of the season. That is a freaking lot of buckets. That's a lot of buckets. Well, let's talk a little bit about Shea. The Thunder rolled. You ever heard that? I've heard that. You ever seen that used in a headline? All the time. It's amazing. Thunder roll past the Kings become the season's first 60-win team. Only seven teams in NBA history have won more games through their first 72 games of a season. That's it.

And this is a very young OKC Thunder team, obviously bringing it defensively. So they are just having a crazy, crazy year. They now match the 2012-13 Thunder team that got to 60 wins. So they're going to beat that and get the new franchise record. Though I'm always confused. Is the franchise record still with Seattle or not? Because the 95-96 Supersonics won 64 back in the day. I don't think they took the history. I don't know. I never know. I don't know. Do they have a gold on the back of their jersey? No.

You know, saying they won a title? I don't remember. On basketball reference, Seattle is lumped into OKC. And that'll change once the Sonics get their team back, I guess? They're getting one. Anyway, this is an awesome team, and it was OKC's franchise record 11th straight road win.

which ties the Cavs for the longest road winning streak this season. They punked the Kings here. I'm sure you guys don't have a ton to say about this, but keep rolling. What do you got? It is a thunder roll, the Oklahoma City version of a Cavalanche. Or would you call it like a thunderclap?

Oh, I like Thunderclap. Well, there was a lot of them in this game. Oklahoma City had a 13-2 Thunderclap at the end of the first quarter. Then a 20-7 Thunderclap at the start of the second quarter. Sacramento started chipping away. Greenberg on the call. 23-point lead down to 16.

It doesn't sound great, but they're making their way back with then yet another thunderclap 8-0 run to end the second quarter. It was a 22-point game at half. I said goodnight. But apparently Sacramento actually got back in the game, hit 10 threes in the third quarter, went 10 for 13. They were in transition the entire time. Cut the lead to single digits a couple of times, but then...

Another thunderclap. OKC 5-0 to end the third quarter. 5-0 to start the fourth quarter. Then another 12-0 run midway through. They just lock in for like three minutes at a time. Completely blow out the other team. 23-14 in fast break points. And this is a game where both teams were trying to play fast. And Oklahoma City clearly had the advantage.

Our guy Andrew Schlecht got on me yesterday. He said, you said all of these guys were X-Factors. They're just factors. And then he threw out Serge Ibaka as an example, as if Serge Ibaka wasn't an X-Factor. Nonetheless, Isaiah Joe confirmed X-Factor. 14 points, four threes. Also three rebounds, three assists, and three steals. He was doing other stuff besides just chucking. Kenridge Williams hit three threes. Dort hit three threes. Caruso hit two threes. J. Will...

Once again, hit two threes. Those are real X factors, and they all came up positive in this one. On the flip side, the Kings are now tied with Phoenix. They're only a half game up on Dallas for the 10th seed, though they do have the tiebreaker over both, I think, right now. But things are not good for the Sacramento Kings. You got Zach Levine after their previous game saying the vibes are bad in the locker room. So they asked Keon Ellis. He's like, actually, the vibes are good in the locker room. They're bad on the court.

I don't know if that's better. But they look really bad right now, and I think they are the team most in danger of falling out of the play-in, even considering the Mavs. Like, the Mavs are fighting. They just might be undermanned in some of these games. Like, they couldn't even play Kessler Edwards another game because he's running out of two-way games. Yeah. But at least they're competing in these games. The Kings, it looks like they are just playing out the string a little bit right now.

Yeah, I would say they are definitely in danger of falling out. I think that there's a legitimate chance there. They only had one good quarter in this game. At least they did come out of the locker room and fight in that third quarter. And yeah, they just don't have enough guys. OKC, again, I think people skip over. No Jalen Williams, no Kacen Wallace, no Aaron Wiggins in this. Still, they got enough guys. I would love to hear...

what Mark Dagnall says in those meetings or in those huddles, I should say. You're totally right. They just go on these three minute runs. That's all they have to do. And that's what he, I'm sure he convinces them to do. Just, we just need our thunder roll for three minutes here, boys. And they bring it out every single fricking time because they have so many guys that keep rolling. Alex Caruso, the guy that always stands out to me, because I think if there's any worry for OKC in the playoffs, it's,

is there enough of those guys that have done it before? And Caruso is now, he's an old guy in the NBA, and he's definitely done it before as an NBA champion with Los Angeles Lakers. He's 31, so he just comes off the bench and provides that stability. So he's going to be so huge. While the Kings, yeah, they just don't have anything. Although a career-high 9-3 is for Keegan Murray.

That's good. That's all. That's a lot of threes. That's a lot of threes. He made maybe six in the third quarter. Is that right? Yeah, it was on fire. On fire. They keep doing it. Keegan Murray. I know this was on the road, but at home –

when they're in OKC, they really should pipe in some Garth Brooks. When those 8-0 runs happen, those 10-0 runs happen, those 12-0 runs happen, when the thunder claps, when the thunder rolls. That's right. Just play some Garth Brooks. He's an Okie as well. Right. It all works. Any other takeaways from last night's NBA action? Any other games you want to touch on? Yeah, definitely. Portland was a team that there was some hopes that they would make the play-in.

Doesn't look good anymore. Cleveland finished them off, although it was great to see Donovan Kling. That guy is great defending. A shade and sharp dunk. That was nice, but unfortunately they're not going to make it. Anyways, win season for them in a weird way. Here's a weird one. Memphis beat Utah, dropped 140 points on Utah. Isaiah Collier, the 29th pick in this draft. He doesn't shoot threes, but in this one, career highs. Made threes, career highs. Attempted.

He just doesn't look like a guy who shoots them, but he's just getting better as the season goes on. And I thought that the Raptors won the trade when they traded the pick that ended up being Isaiah Collier because they got a pick in the Pascal Siakam deal that ended up being Isaiah Collier. They turned it around and traded that pick and Kyra Lewis and Otto Porter to the Utah Jazz for Ochai Abashi and Kelly Olenek. I thought Ochai Abashi, he's going to be the best player in this trade.

He's a solid. He's a solid rotation player, but Isaiah Collier might be the best player in that trade. He's looking great, and he's going to be their starting point guard for Utah for a while, it seems like, because Kante George is...

He's a bench man, it feels like, at this point of his career. At the very least, he's ahead of Keontae George. We'll see where they end up in the draft lottery, because I think if they were to get Dylan Harper, he's going to be starting over Isaiah Collier. But Collier has been good, though the Jazz have lost 13 of their last 14 games. And K.J. Martin shot one of the worst air balls you'll ever see in this game. You could hear him call, short!

On the broadcast. I wish we'd find it on our guide, Tassie, so much. I love when Tass takes a shot when you know it's left or right. You're always good for a left! And this one was short.

And it was left. He shot it from, I guess, the right corner three-point line, and he maybe hit the restricted area circle. It was off. He shouldn't be shooting that. Also, the Grizzlies, I think, made NBA history last night by having nine guys hit two or more three-pointers in the same game. Nine guys? They had nine guys hit multiple threes in one game. Jaron Jackson Jr.,

Jalen Wells, Desmond Bain, Scottie Pippen Jr., Jay Huff only hit one. What's wrong with you, Huff? Zach Eady hit two. Conchar, Luke Kennard, and another great country singer, Vince Williams Jr.,

He hit three. Everyone else was hitting two. I mean, if Huff had hit one more, that would be ten guys with multiple threes. That's wild. Yeah, Jazz are very bad, right? Yes. Do you have any games you want to address? The Magic squeaked by the Hornets. 32 points for Paolo. He's had four straight games with 30 or more, and the Magic went 3-1 in those games, kind of steadying the ship. They've had a lot of games where Paolo and Franz are both scoring 30 points, and the rest of their team is like 9, and they lose it, and you're like...

what's going on here. At least they're winning these ones. Now I thought Anthony black also had a good game in this one. So good stuff from the magic to kind of get back on the right foot as they're getting here close to the play in tournament. And, uh, Jalen green scored 32 as the Rockets beat the Hawks one 21, one 14. Uh,

So they strengthened their hold on the number two seed in the West, the Rockets did, with that win. They're 47-26. Rockets are going to be very likely having a 50-win season here. This is a really good season. They're two games ahead of Denver now, who didn't play last night. They've won 10 of their last 11. Van Vliet's rounding into form here a bit. This is a weird game. They got up huge, sort of gave it all back, and it got a little dicey. But then you got Fred Van Vliet.

who can always step to the free throw line, knock down free throws to ice a game. So good win there from the Rockets. I was sort of impressed the Hawks at least got back into it. I thought they were going to roll over and die in this one for sure. But Houston, man, 10 of their last 11. And I know it's not like the toughest part of their schedule, but they're taking care of business. Everybody thought they were going to get knocked out of the two seed. Yeah.

For sure. And they've been able to string some wins together here in the second half of the season. It's kind of similar to what they did last year. The only difference is last year they were 11th trying to get to 10th. Here they're second trying to hold on with veteran teams chasing them down. So pretty impressive to actually stay where they are because I'm with you. I think they'll probably hang on to two. They're two games up on Denver. I think they still have at least one more game to play against each other, maybe even two. So those could be big. I think they've got a game against the Lakers next.

The question will be come playoff time because teams are going to be angling to play against the Rockets in the first round. Yeah, and even if it's a play-in team, it's probably going to be a pretty damn good team if it's the Wolves, the Warriors, the Clippers, those varieties. Those are good squads. They are a very, very good regular season team. We'll see what they can bring in terms of fourth quarter scoring in the playoffs. Who's going to do it? Yeah, they do have that one game left against the Denver Nuggets.

which will dictate the tiebreaker because they're tied 1-1. It's the last day of the season. Sunday, April 13th, that day when all the games start at the same time. I think they do start at all. Oh, they do something like that. All 30 teams play that day. That's for sure. Right. And yeah, is it a little... I thought it was like two times or something. Two time slots. Yeah, it has been at least. I haven't checked the schedule.

It's a lot of basketball, for sure. All right, let's get into the UpDown Report. I'll tell you right now, if you're a fan of the UpDown Report, we're going to be doing some UpDown Atlanta edition questions at our live show on Thursday night. That'll be a blast. We always have fun doing that at the live shows. But we're talking basketball here. First one, we addressed it briefly yesterday, but Bucs head coach Doc Rivers said,

fired back at criticism that he's received for his team's blowing 3-1 series leads in the NBA playoffs throughout his career. Quote, it is what it is. Doc told our guy, Mark Spears, it's part of my legacy. There's nothing I can do about it. I got a team that was an eight seed up 3-1. That is coaching. That is not bad coaching. The one with the Clippers is the only one that got away.

I'll end quote there. He had more to say. No, I would ask Doc, well, which Clippers one are you talking about? I have an idea, but which one? Anyway, Doc Rivers has, I guess, infamously blown multiple 3-1 series leads, and he's saying it's unfair. So are you up or down, Tass, on Rivers calling out this unfair criticism for blowing all these 3-1 leads? Way down. It is unfortunate. Listen, when you're up 3-1 a series, all you got to do is win one of the next three games.

It ain't that freaking hard when you think about it like that. Okay, so you lose the first one. You try and make it up in the second one. That goes down as a loss. Well, the third game, you just got to win one. That's all you got to do. And when you are the only coach in NBA history to lose three 3-1 series leads. Three. Not only are you the only coach to lose three, to blow three leads. You're the only coach to blow multiple leads in NBA history. And that is...

That's just something you're going to take on your resume forever. But Doc's saying, I shouldn't even have been up 3-1 in a lot of cases. That's literally what he's trying to say. He's talking about the Orlando, the first one. He really was pretty adamant about two of them.

It's sort of even amazing we were up 3-1. That was the good coaching. Yeah, we lost, but come on, give me my flowers for that. You gotta give him a little props for the 0-3 magic one. Okay. I think he's a little right on that one. They were 42-40. They took a 3-1 lead on the Pistons, who were the one seed, and they were on their upswing. Like, they would go... I think they went to the conference finals in this one. Doc has lied and said that they won the championship this year. They did not, but they were on their way to a championship eventually. Mm-hmm.

And you go back and you look at that roster, which is also something Doc has said. Just literally trashing the players he had. Gordon Girachek? You expect me to win with Gordon Girachek? It's kind of what it comes out to. But yeah, I'm up on this just because I think it's hilarious. You get Stephen A. Smith saying, Doc has told me all of this. And I said,

Don't say that publicly. And this is the second time Doc has said it publicly. He said it back in 2002 as well. He mentions all the magic stuff. He mentions Chris Paul getting hurt. And then he's like, yeah, we did botch the bubble, but...

Guess what? That one wasn't really my fault either because all the players said they didn't want to be there. Go listen to Lou Williams on a podcast. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Right. He always does have an excuse. He's got a lot of reasons. He's got a reason. He's got an out in his mind at least for why it went the way it did. Right. And there was a – I saw a clip of Shannon Sharp yesterday saying, hey, Mark Spears, you can't release this.

He was blaming Spears for putting this out. Like, hey, you should call Doc back and say, do you really want me to put this in this article? That you think it's unfair to get all this criticism for blowing 3-1 leads? It's like, well, Mark Spears is a reporter. I mean, he's just obviously writing his article. This is what Doc has said. Doc knows it's on the record, I assume. So very strange. Yeah, another line that he had in this one. He said, what if we had lost to Houston in six games? No one cares.

Yeah, because a 4-2 series happens way more often. Losing a 3-1 series lead has only happened 13 times in NBA history. Yeah, he makes it sound like everybody is throwing 3-1 series leads. That's the funny part. It's only happened 13 times in NBA history. He's done it three times. Not that I care, but of course that's going to make way more headlines. In this world where all negative lines make so much traffic or get you so many points,

Clicks, of course. 3-1 comebacks only 13 times. He's the only guy to do it more than once. Of course. We're going to talk about it. It's hard to actually lose three straight elimination games. This is why you're being criticized because it doesn't happen all that often. And kudos to you. You got your teams in that position, but you failed to cross the finish line. You didn't run through the tape. You didn't. You pulled up. Yeah, exactly.

Great coach, though. Great coach. Wasn't he voted one of the greatest coaches of all time? Top 15 coach? Yeah, he's a top 15 of all time. I think you're right. He's a Hall of Fame coach. He won a championship, obviously, with the Celtics. I think he's fourth all time in playoff wins. He's very high on the list. He's been coaching for a long time. And I think the reason this article was written is, isn't he passing Phil Jackson soon? Yeah. Yeah. That's why we have this article. Basically. Okay. Good one. Doc Rivers.

This show is sponsored by Liquid IV, and I couldn't be happier about the timing. The calendar year turning to 2025 means your boy has officially started Boston Marathon training again. Yep, here we go. Looking at speed runs on the treadmill, tempo runs here in hilly Atlanta, and long runs over the weekend. And my go-to hydration before, during, and after each training session is Liquid IV. The reason is simple. Just go to liquidiv.com

Just one stick plus 16 ounces of water hydrates better than water alone. Powered by Live Hydra Science, Liquid IV is an optimized ratio of electrolytes, essential vitamins, and clinically tested nutrients to turn ordinary water into extraordinary hydration. It delivers three times the electrolytes of the leading sports drink.

And can we just keep it real here for a second? Liquid IV is leading the way in flavor innovation. I legit like them all. I've tried them all. But my favorites right now are the six delicious sugar-free flavors. Raspberry Lemonade, that's the best. White Peach, shockingly tasty. Green Grape, let's go. And there's Lemon Lime, Raspberry Melon, and Rainbow Sherbert.

bangers after bangers. Embrace your ritual with extraordinary hydration from Liquid IV. Get 20% off your first order of Liquid IV when you go to liquidiv.com and use the code NODUNKS at checkout. One more time for the people in the back, that's 20% off your first order when you shop better hydration today using promo code NODUNKS at liquidiv.com.

As we progress through the season, every fan knows that big wins are hard to come by and tough losses are even harder to accept. But you know what isn't hard to accept? Discover. Believe it or not, Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. You heard that right, 99%. So make a good call for your wallet and get Discover. Based on the February 2024 Nielsen Report, learn more at discover.com slash credit card.

Apple Card is everything a credit card should be. It's easy to manage, built to be secure, and gives users up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase. The best part about Apple Card is applying is quick and easy. Apply in the Wallet app on iPhone and see your credit limit offer in minutes. Subject to credit approval, Apple Card by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch member FDIC, terms and more at applecard.com.

Alright, next one here. Last week, DeMar DeRozan became the 27th player in NBA history to score 25,000 career points with a patented mid-range jumper. He joins LeBron, Durant, Harden, Westbrook, and Curry as the only active players to reach 25,000 career points. Those guys will all be Hall of Famers, no doubt. But what about DeRozan?

Up or down, TK? DeMar DeRozan's Hall of Fame chances. I think up. He's a lock. DeMar DeRozan's getting in. 25,000 points is basically a guaranteed invite. 20 players have done it and are retired. They're all in the Hall of Fame. Carmelo Anthony is in

In between being retired and being an active player, he's done it. He'll get in the Hall of Fame. The six active guys who have done it are DeRozan, and then it's LeBron, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook. The guys average 20 points per game for 12 straight seasons. DeMar DeRozan, six-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA. You get into the six-time All-Stars, and then you're getting some question marks like Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, Amari Stoudemire, Sean Kemp, Jermaine O'Neal. That's kind of the line, I think, right after Lowry.

Not a ton of playoff success for DeMar DeRozan. Made it to the 2016 Conference Finals with the Raptors, but has won a total of four playoff series in 15 seasons. That's not all that crazy, but 25,000 points, that gets you in. Absolutely. He was 100% in. He's got 25,000 points now. I think he's going to finish with more than 30,000 points in his career. I think it's easy to do. Without many threes made...

That's a huge part of it. He never hit 100 threes in his career. Because once you get to those active guys who are now hitting threes, there's going to be more eventually that get to that point. But with his durability, I think that's a part of it. He's going to get to 30,000. This is his 16th season. Longevity matters. I think he's going to get to 20 years. If he plays four more years, I'm...

prognosticating, thinking that he's going to do it, but he just seems like a very, very, very durable guy. So how do you keep a guy out who makes 30,000 points or who gets to 30,000 points? I don't think that's even possible. I know the discussion is now the baseline in Hall of Famers. Well, if Michael Cooper is in, then DeMar DeRozan can get in. That's not even a conversation here because this guy could get 30,000 points. He could literally finish top 10-ish in terms of NBA players ever in points.

So he gets in. I know, yeah, he doesn't have a lot of accolades, of course. Not a lot of playoff success, of course. But when you score 30,000 points, you're freaking one of the best. That's it. Yeah, the biggest knock about putting DeRozan in the Hall of Fame is that when it came to MVP votes, I think the highest he ever finished was like eighth, right? So he was never like an elite number top or a top five guy in the league. And that was on the 59-win Raptors. And I don't love that DeRozan's scoring and his efficiency, it all went down in the postseason.

almost every single time. And that's a huge knock and part of the reason why the lack of playoff success. But when you compare it to other guys, like Mitch Richman does come to mind. Six-time All-Star, five-time All-NBA. Now he won Rookie of the Year. He got gifted a title at the end of his career, obviously being put on the Lakers team. But Mitch scored over 20,000 points, so he was a scorer. That's DeRozan. Joe Johnson sort of comes to mind. He made a lot of All-Star teams. Didn't have as many All-NBA selections.

He also eclipsed 20,000 points. Again, we're at 25,000 here with DeRozan. But man, when you want to compare DeRozan, his career to another Hall of Famer, I think it's jazz legend, Adrian Dantley.

It's sort of wild how similar their careers are the more I dug into it. Even their builds sort of being like that 6'5", 6'6", sort of scoring machine. Dantley scored over 23,000 points. And when he retired, he was like a top 10 scorer of all time. Now that's obviously, he's plummeted sort of down the list as all these scoring numbers have skyrocketed here, but I thought that was interesting. Dantley was a six-time All-Star, just like DeRozan. He was two-time All-NBA player.

DeRozan made three, you said, Trey, but Dantley played in a majority of his time when there was only two All-NBA selections. I gotta assume he would have made a couple more All-NBA teams.

And then here's the part which is really wild. He was obviously traded to a very good Pistons team in 86. And they played, he played two seasons with them, and they came up short both times. They lost to Larry Bird in the 87 conference finals, the Pistons did, in seven games. And then the following season, they went to the finals and lost to Magic Johnson and the Lakers in seven games. And so what happens?

just like DeRozan being traded for Kawhi Leonard, sort of the missing piece to get them over the hump. Part of it, LeBron leaving the conference too, but they traded Dantley to the Mavericks and got Mark Aguirre back. And that was like, that helped obviously the Pistons then win two in a row. So Dantley doesn't win any with them. And that's sort of similar to Kawhi there, obviously being the big piece to get Kawhi Leonard. So I thought, man, comparable, comparable.

But he's in, and I'm with you guys. I think DeRozan's going to get in ultimately too. If he gets a $30,000, that's a no-brainer. If his career ended today, I don't think he's first ballot. Probably depends on when he retires. And who else retires at the same time. That's a big part of it. But I do wonder if going forward, the benchmarks will change. Players come into the league more...

ready to play they come in younger and they play much longer careers like it's amazing that lebron is at 22 seasons we're gonna see guys playing 20 plus seasons regularly now like it wouldn't be a surprise for derosen to get to 20 seasons at all yeah 16 this is number 16 yeah and he's a craft guy like he came in as an athlete but he's really a craft guy at this point it doesn't seem like he's slowing down and doing kind of the same thing 20 000 points used to be the guarantee to get in you look at that it's all the guys that are in that we mentioned earlier plus

Chris Paul, he's getting in. Damian Lillard, he's getting in. But then you start getting question marks. It's like LaMarcus Aldridge, Anton Jamison, Joe Johnson, Tom Chambers. I wonder if 25,000 points is now going to become like the 20,000 points of the past. I 100% think so. I put this question, DeRozan, Hall of Fame chances, to Twitter and YouTube, and they were basically identical, the results. On Twitter, 57% said yes.

So 57, you know, saying ultimately he'll get in. And then YouTube was 56%. So again, almost the exact same. And there was a lot of votes on that one. A lot of comments, a lot of great comments. Both people making the case for DeRozan and people saying no. I'm sorry, he's like the Hall of Very Good type of guy. And he's right there. Because it's like you're saying it's like the DeRozan line or, you know, with some of those names you said. Yeah, but the threshold now, it's not even about points. It's just about the storyline that year. Like Michael Cooper. We just saw him go into the Hall of Fame.

That's 7,700 career points. Right, but a defensive genius. Of course. One at a time, played an instrumental role. It's a good story, but he gets in so much later because he doesn't go in with an incredible crop of players. It's all about that storyline. DeMar is getting in, though.

Fun guy to have on your team. It's fun to root for. Well-liked. Did a lot for raising awareness for mental health as well. Him and Kevin Love were kind of instrumental in bringing awareness to the NBA sphere. And just seems like a good teammate. Like all of the young guys from the Bulls love him. I know it was the same with the Raptors. Like he just seems likable and good to have around. And it's awesome to see him hitting game-winning jump shots for your team. But then you're also like, how come we're always playing these clutch games, man? Why don't we ever win a lot? Yeah.

You know? Well, let's hear from you. You got DeMar DeRozan going into the Hall of Fame. Sound off there in the stream team. Next one here. Steph Curry tricked us. Yeah. Days after going viral for appearing to swish a beyond full court shot from the opposite tunnel inside the chase center, a new angle of Curry's heave has revealed his ball connected with the net but did not go through the hoop.

Oh my goodness. Up or down on Steph's viral full court shot getting exposed as a miss. Well, it's an up for sure because...

That's a great angle. I mean, I was sold. I was sold when Steph Curry grabbed that belt buckle. It looked like he grabbed his short drawstring and just was bragging about putting it in. So you think he thought he put it in? Oh, yeah. Yeah, he doesn't just grab his drawstring and walk around like he's a Texas cowboy because he thought he missed. It looked, I can't believe how good it looked. When it was really like a good,

Well, yeah, but just straight as an arrow. Yeah. Heaving it from whatever that is, almost 100 feet. Yeah, and it looks like...

He's grabbing that bell. The celebration is funny. The curve on that ball, it is crazy how it goes left to right, and then we got somebody who's in the crowd, essentially. Wow. That is quite short. You're right. It just hits the net perfectly. Yeah, six inches, that's too much. It's not that much in front, but it's, yeah, it ain't close, really, sort of. Yeah.

Up or down on this being exposed as a miss. Okay. I'm up as well. Greatest shooter of all time. Doesn't need camera tricks to prove he's the greatest shooter of all time and more motivation to keep shooting it until he makes it because Steph Curry will make it. He understands it now. Good point. Unless it's halftime of an all-star Saturday night, he's going to make that shot as a trick shot. You know, when you first saw that clip going around before we had the alternate angle that showed it was short, it's like...

It sucks because you're like, okay, I think it went in. But then I'm like, is this doctored? Is this like a Powerade commercial? You know, what's going on here? Did he dude perfect this or not? I don't know. Like, I don't know what to trust anymore. Can't trust anything. That's where we are at this. But now we got that second shot. That's great. Great reporting. Somebody was sitting on that. Would you have been happier if we never saw the second shot? And just thought it went in? Well, thought it went in, but couldn't be completely sure.

But we live in a surveillance state now. No, no. I want the truth. You want the truth. Yeah, I can handle it. Needed a review. Yeah, yeah. No, it was good. It was perfect. It was the perfect shot. There was one...

Was it Azubuki that was standing right by Curry there? I'm not sure who it was, but you can... I've seen his footage because he's filming. Actually, you might see it for a second in that one part where you see him heave it up close. But then he turns and like, it's too far away. Yeah. But he has the perfect pregame shots where he's, you know, bouncing it in the lane and goes...

500 feet into the air and it goes in. Like, that's why I was sold on this. That's why you have to believe it. Yeah. Oh yeah. Okay. You could hit probably two out of five of those. It's pretty crazy. All right. Final one here in the up-down report. Cooper Flagg showed no effects returning from a scary left ankle injury to help Duke.

get past Mount St. Mary's and Baylor while posting 32 points, 16 boards, 10 assists, and 3 blocks in 51 games. Sorry, in 51 minutes over the two games. So the next big test comes on Thursday when they take on number one, Blue Devils take on number four, Arizona. The Wildcats. Up or down so far on Cooper Flagg's March Madness run.

He's good. Cooper Flagg is pretty good. I mean, two uncompetitive games for Duke right here, but 16 points a game, eight rebounds, five and a half assists, one and a half blocks. He totally took it to VJ. Edgecombe, when they were actually matched up against Baylor, just looked too big. You definitely see the Kawhi Leonard comparisons, I think, when you're watching him. Just because, like...

Cooper's not the most explosive athlete, nor is he like the smoothest athlete. I think a lot of his offense looks methodical, like Kawhi's sometimes even mechanical. It's like, I've learned this move and it's going to work because I know it's going to work and I'm big enough and I'm strong enough. I've got the touch to finish inside, but he does have all of that. He's got the smarts that Kawhi has too. Like you can see the way,

He attacks different players like edge comb. He's like, I'll just shoot over the top of you. You're too small to defend me. The other guys, he's going to have to work inside a little bit more and score. I'm also really impressed with the activity. The guy is just all over the court at all times on both ends. He cuts and he's really unselfish five and a half assists. He's finding Malawatch for lobs all the time, easy dunks for him. So it'll be cool to see him go against Arizona. They've got a pretty good wing defender in Carter Bryant, who I imagine will probably stick Cooper a little bit and,

That's an elevated level of competition. Let's see how he plays against him.

Yeah, he seems smart in that game that got them here to the sweet 16 where he scored in that first half 15 points, but then he's comfortable getting everybody else involved in the second half. His playmaking is solid. It surprised me how really good he is for a big dude and how he can handle it and put him in pick and roll and he pushes the ball in transition and stuff like that. Yeah, he could have easily just pushed his own scoring in this game.

We just said, all right. I mean, I'll just score three in the second half and I'll just get everybody else involved. So he just knows his game. And Tyrese Proctor was banging home three, seven threes for that guy. And he obviously looks extremely healthy. So that's the important part. That was big, yeah. Yeah. And he actually, I mean, he had foul trouble in that game that got against Baylor in that first half. Two quick fouls. But that's all he had for the end of the entire game because he's just a smart guy. So you think he's going to go number one? Yeah.

I think it's warranted, yeah. Will he come into the draft? If, I don't know, the Wizards or Hornets get the number one pick? But you know that's coming. You know at least the debate of that happening and everybody going, ah, maybe he shouldn't come. Maybe you wait, maybe you wait.

We'll see. He's good. Really, really good. And yeah, Sweet 16 starts on Thursday. Some of it here in Atlanta as we host some of these games at State Farm. All right. So the first year salary of the number one overall draft pick is $11.5 million. Oh, I thought it was even more. Well, I think you can sign up to 120%. So maybe add another 20% onto that as well. I don't know the NIL rules.

But that's a lot of money to play for a guy in college. So I think he's going to go pro. I just wonder if he's going to wear a shirt when he gets to the NBA. Is he going to be a shirt guy? Is he going to be a shirt guy? Been tracking shirts a lot lately on playback. Yeah. Anthony Davis, shirt guy who went number one? Mm-hmm. It can happen. He's a sweaty guy. They've got him in one of those, like...

out of fish out of water commercials. I forget which one it is, but he's playing bingo and it's like, look at how hyped up this guy is. And they have him sweating even in that commercial. Right, right. And I've seen him leave games this season because he's cramping too hard from sweating so much. He might need to stick with the shirt for the wicking properties. That's interesting. So you, yeah. So you, if you're a sweaty guy, you think it's beneficial to wear a shirt.

because it sops up the sweat, but then you could also argue, isn't it making you sweatier? Yeah, it's like catch 22. Yeah, yeah. Get some air on those shoulders. Get some air on those shoulders. Maybe you'll cool down some. I think he is going to be a shirt guy. I do too. I'm going to call it right now.

And there's more and more of them. What's the odds on BetMGM? Will Cooper Flagg be a shirt guy? Minus 140. Wow. Sounds right. All right, so that's the up-down report. Let's get to tonight's pick-em. You already teased it, Tass. It's Clips. It's Knicks. What's the line?

Clippers going to Madison Square Garden are favored by one and a half. So it's essentially a pick. Who's winning this game? The New York Knicks at home to L.A. The Knicks on a back-to-back. Two of you think that the Knicks will take care at home. Skeets and Esch. Well, Trey and myself, they got the Clips.

I did the injury report, of course. I go to my favorite website, willtheclippersplay.com. Is anyone... No, no, I got a better site. Is anyone injured on theclippers.com? That's a way better site. Harden is questionable. We talked about that foot slash quad injury he sustained when Lou Dort hit him the other day. No Brunson, obviously. Deuce McBride may not play.

But Kawhi ain't on the report. He should be playing. So, you know, we've got a pretty good stock of players on both sides. On both sides. It's a tough one. It is a tough one. That's why we're split here. Big one, though, between Trey and Esh. You know, playing to get out of last place here for the month. Trey 6-11, Esh 5-12. So you got the Clips, he's got the Knicks. This could be big. It's a big one. Yeah, not many days left in March.

No, it's one of those long months, though. It is one of those long months. One of the longest. But yeah, back-to-back for New York. I don't know. They're built for this, man. I don't like to go against Mr. Moneyline, though. Yeah, I know. I called that one last night, didn't I? I don't want to get moneylined again tonight. I called the Moneyline heat win, then I tried to walk it back a little bit. But I felt good about the heat culture coming through, and I did it for Pat. You won one for Pat. Pat and Eric, as I said.

They were pumped. All right, we'll see what happens tonight. We'll call it there. We are back tomorrow here at the Classic Factory at 10 a.m. Eastern. Then we're still here at the Classic Factory around 1 p.m. Eastern for No Buffs, our Survivor Recap Podcast. Then we're in a different place at the Seven Stages Theater for our live show on Thursday night at 7 p.m. Eastern. Three shows tomorrow.

And I will say there will be no regular drop podcast on Friday, but we do hope to take Thursday night's live show and put it up on YouTube. Put it up in your podcast feed. Fingers crossed, JD. Everything goes okay, technically. We'll be putting something up. You wouldn't put up a piece of crap, though. I'm saying if cameras go down, audio, I don't think this will happen. A lot would have to go wrong. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But things could go wrong.

That's our motto. No promises. Things could go wrong. Sauce in the microphone? Come on. Oh, yeah, yeah. Short it out. I never even thought of that one. Sauce is going to be flying, JD. Pizza and sauce is going to be flying at the Seven Stages Theater. So that's the plan. We are here tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. Eastern. Hit the like button, subscribe, podcast listeners, five-star ratings and reviews, then Survivor, then the live show, which we hope to have up on Friday for everybody out there that can't attend the show. Till then!

Clever, bro. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. And remember, I just got this news. Kawhi Leonard not playing against the Knicks tonight. Just kidding. Just kidding. It is believable, though, isn't it? Anyways, Kawhi's good against the Knicks. 13-7 against the Knicks in his career. Yeah. You're feeling good tonight, aren't you? Yeah.

Sure. Yeah, I do believe in the Clippers. I mean, the Knicks just let everything happen against the Dallas Mavericks without Anthony Davis yesterday, pretty much. So, yeah. Yeah, that's the one concern is like you go from playing a Mavericks game, like you said, it was basically glorified pickup basketball for a while, to a Clippers team that actually plays defense. A lot of defense. Or playing for something, too. That's a concern. But I think the Knicks are going to do it. Mr. Moneyline coming through. We'll find out. Mr. Moneyline. We'll see you tomorrow morning. Brace the day, people.

As we progress through the season, every fan knows that big wins are hard to come by and tough losses are even harder to accept. But you know what isn't hard to accept? Discover. Believe it or not, Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. You heard that right, 99%. So make a good call for your wallet and get Discover. Based on the February 2024 Nielsen Report, learn more at discover.com slash credit card.