LeBron First To 50K Points, Steph Owns MSG & Cancel The East Play-In Tournament
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Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the No Dunks Podcast on the Athletic Network. It's Wednesday, March 5th, 2025. I'm J.E. Skeets, here in the Classic Factory, and alongside me is the bearded one, my top shot hot boy, Trey Kirby. Over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer J.D. Hello. There he is. And still wearing a toilet hat while sitting on the toilet, it's Tass Mellis.

Hey. You all right, buddy? Yeah, I'm good. The novelty has worn out. Oh, yeah. Day three. That'll happen. Yeah, yeah, day three. First two days was fun. We've got this upgraded remote shooting location. I've got a monitor where I can see the entire TV show. How many times have you guys been in the field where you don't have a monitor? Yeah, right. I've got a...

hole drilled in the wall where everything is wired. I've got a PTZ camera in front of me, but it's gone now. It's done. I do have a question. I guess it's more for JD than it is for you, Tass. The vertical toilet paper holder. Oh, yes. What's going on with that? Well, we had...

We had it horizontal. And it just kept falling off. Like the roll kept falling off and then it kept getting loose and stuff. So it was just easier. So I just put it upwards and...

Toilet paper on task? Yeah, let me add a little color. I would say if it was horizontal, it would be very close to the leg. Yeah, that's exactly right. Can you pull some off, Tass? Let's see how this operates. I'm more worried about the direction of the paper. Yeah, he's turning it around. Do you want it over or under? This is horrible. That was ridiculous. I just tried to pull the toilet paper, and it already tore, unfortunately. Oh, I'm sorry. The toilet paper tore? What?

I've never seen that before. Unbelievable. All right. Well, Tass, still paying off last month's pick-em loss here. Yeah, day three. He's got a couple days left sitting on the can. Don't worry. We have a special segment for you today, Tass, called Crush It or Flush It. I've heard. Yeah. Some flushing may be done. Yep. We'll have some fun a little bit later in the show, but let's talk about last night's games. We start with LeBron James.

Becoming the first player in NBA history to score 50,000 combined points in the regular season and the postseason. He surpassed the mark with a three-pointer early in the first quarter of the Lakers' 136-115 victory over the Pelicans. Came off a pass from Luka Doncic. LeBron splashed that three like he's dropping something in the toilet bowl.

And we got a little celebration or a little honor there during the break. But what do you think, Trey? We'll start with you here. LeBron surpassing 50,000. Yeah, big plopper, that three-pointer. And it was interesting to see. First shot for LeBron. He knocked it down. But now that Luka Doncic is there...

Things have changed in the record chasing for LeBron James. He had to wait to get his shot. Like, he got a look right away, wasn't open, didn't get the shot. Luka scored a couple of baskets. And then I was like, oh, yeah, we'll get LeBron, his wide-open three, to knock it down. And he knocked it down. We'll never see this again. Somebody getting to 50,000 combined points. The lost tourney heads know that he passed 50,000.

thousand a long time ago yeah 22 in the 21 play-in game against Golden State 24 in the in-season tournament championship game in 2023 30 in the 23 play-in game 23 in the 24 play-in game that's 99 more points LeBron's the all-time leader in regular season scoring he's the all-time leader in playoff scoring he might be the all-time leader in

in scoring in games that count but don't really count. Oh, interesting. You'd have to go in and check. When you add them all up, yeah. I mean, Valanchunas has played a ton of play-in games. He's had some big games, so he's probably played like four times as more games that don't actually count as LeBron. I wonder how that adds up, but still, that would be another 99 for LeBron. 50,000, though. Very cool. They went split-screen mode for this one.

during another game, which was pretty cool. And then, yeah, awesome stuff from LeBron. He's balling in 28 games since he turned 40. According to ESPN, he's 26 and a half points per game on 55% shooting, basically 42 from three. The guy is awesome. Still at age 40, getting to 50,000. Um,

Numbers that big kind of don't make sense, but like 50,000 is an easy one to remember. He scored 50,000 points in his career. Sounds cool. He's got 1,000 wins. Crazy. It is a cool one. It's like the 3,000 hits in baseball. It's just a good, cool number to ask, but LeBron, the only one to hit the 50K. Yeah, anything else to add to that? I think the...

Interesting point. Like Trey slipped it in there. He's doing this, having a monster game being 40 years old. You know, he had 34 in this game, shot 10 of 18, hit five threes. Perfect at the line, chipped in everywhere else. Like it's amazing. Just the, the level he's still playing at. Yeah. He just won Western conference player of the month. The oldest player to do that. He's freaking old. He's going to surpass Vince Carter next season when he plays his 23rd season, the most in NBA history ever.

I'm with you, Trey, when you said, you know, these numbers, they don't really register, but I think a regular season plus playoff season, if it's 50,000, that's the only time it really registers. Cause we all just want regular season stats, right? Those are the stats that really truly matter. I mean, he's almost scored 42,000 in the regular season. So I, I looked at the numbers in the regular season. Will he ever get to 50,000? Because when we look at all time scoring points, um,

Those are the numbers. And so I wondered if he'll ever get to 50,000. I bring up the 23rd season that we all say, oh, maybe he'll play till he's 45. I don't know if he's Tom Brady, but it does sound a little ridiculous when you think that he'll get to 50,000 because he'd have to go five years at about 1600 per year.

That's a lot of points. So it's unlikely. A lot of points. That's a freaking lot of points. But they're coming pretty easily now. Right now, for sure. That he's playing alongside Luka Doncic. This guy is scoring as easy as he ever has. What did he finish with last night's game? 34. 34? Yeah.

felt like he was unguarded for a lot of these ones. He's getting easy shots from Luca. Him and LeBron combined for 64 points and 21 assists last night. Incredible stuff. Six of their assists were for alley-oops. Like, Jackson Hayes has to be loving life right now. This guy was almost the backup. Mark Williams is not. No doubt. No wonder he was doing interviews about, like, you should have actually gone through on the trade because...

Jackson Hayes, 19 points, 10 rebounds last night, 8 for 8 from the field. He's playing good defense, too. You've got to give him some props. He's definitely taking a leap. The only thing that ain't working for the Lakers at this point is Luka Doncic celebrating. He hit three straight threes in the first quarter, and then he just started skipping on the sideline. Postgame, he's like, I've got to work on it. I have these moments, and I don't know what to do.

That's the only blemish on the Lakers record right now. Weird celebrations from Luka Doncic. This guy is invigorated. You can tell it has an effect on LeBron. They love playing together, and it's quite obvious. Luka blocked a three-pointer last night. Yeah. Grabbed the ball and threw it off Jordan Hawkins' head and said, we're going that way. I play defense now, too. Insane. So do you guys think that he'll get to 50,000 points? Because I do think if he wants it,

He can absolutely do it. Now that, again, $1,600 per year, even at what he's doing right now, is a lot. He'd basically have to replicate his season that he's having right now five more times until he's freaking 45. But those are the numbers that you don't... The stat geeks, the NBA historians, if they go back and look at the all-time scoring leaders...

They are the regular season numbers. So does he put that in his man's cave up there, the list to motivate him to get to 50,000? No, it's a big round number. No, you don't think he does. He doesn't even consider himself a scorer. More of a passer, actually. No, I don't think so. I mean, I know everything is seems possible with LeBron James, but you're saying like four or five more years of this five potentially possible.

All-NBA first-team level? This is what he's at, right? I mean, he's going to make an all-NBA team. It's just, where does he slot in at this point? Especially with the Lakers, like, firing up the standings. No, I think that's even too far-fetched. And he already has the record for most points in the regular season, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar a while ago. And he's got the 50K, and he owns the postseason one. Like, I had forgotten that he passed Michael Jordan for most points in the playoffs ever.

In 2017? Long time ago. A long time ago. So that's sort of weird to wrap your head around. So I don't think so, Tass. But then again, you know.

He's got another son coming, I guess, down the pipeline. Play with him. I don't know. Maybe there's some nephews I don't know about. Good reasoning. It's good reasoning. We don't just throw out numbers there anymore. We have to think about it. And it's true. It'll be so hard. It'll be so difficult. I do love that you brought up that he won the NBA's Western Conference Player of the Month, which not only was he the oldest player to ever win it, but the 41st time LeBron has won that award. That's three years plus. Wow.

of player of the month awards three years and more you know so maybe maybe that's the question task can he get to four complete years of player of the month awards he's got seven more to go oh man so you're doing the regular season month number calculation i appreciate that that's tough yeah uh i gotta know how many players of the week he has does he have more time as players of the month or players of the week it'd be hard you'd have to be player of the week what like

300 times. Which, you know, it's LeBron. It's possible. Other things from this game, Zion Williamson had an awesome dunk.

He sure did. Yeah, he jumped through the roof. The guy looked like Amari Stoudemire on that dunk, catching it in the lane. I guess it was on Jemison, Trey Jemison, I think. Yeah, yeah. He dunked on, and he just was skying on that one. He had 36, or 37 and 6. Nice game for him. Yeah. That was so loud, that dunk. Oh, yeah. Did you watch any Elimination Chamber? No. Did you see any highlights? I saw some clippies. Did you hear the hair whip from Bianca Belair to, I believe, Liv Morgan? It was as loud as that dunk. Wow.

Very loud. The loudest hair whip you've ever heard, Tass. I'm not sure you're watching. You're in that chamber. That's a different elimination chamber. You're in the porcelain chamber. Anyway, it was a loud dunk. And yeah, he did have a good game. I don't know if you have any other thoughts on the game itself, Tass. Lakers beating the Pels? Nope. No? Okay. I guess my only other thought was...

Could the Pelicans win the number one pick of the draft? And here's my dumb reason why. And maybe it's because we're doing a Pick'Em right now and I did last month's Pick'Em where I was doing the Interstellar Bookshelf Challenge. They have Trey Murphy. They have Murph. Murph. Wouldn't it be nice to put a little Cooper there alongside Murph? Bring them back together.

That was my other thought from this too. Yeah, there's a Dookie connection too, I guess, with Zion. I don't know. Dookie. No, that can't happen, man. Can't happen. No? Maybe it'll happen because every time there's a super hyped prospect coming out of the NCAAs, they go to the Pelicans. That's right. Anthony Davis, Zion Williamson, maybe Cooper Flagg. Cooper and Murph back together. All right, let's move on to Steph Curry task scoring 28 points.

improving his overall record to 12-1 in Madison Square Garden as the Warriors beat the Knicks 114-102. Your thoughts? What was really impressive was how this Warriors team turned it on the second half because the first half didn't look all that good. It was kind of like when Steph dropped 56. The first half against the Orlando Magic, they're down 14 points. In this one, down 8 going into the second half.

They look like an entirely different team in that second half. The way they were cycling, the way they were moving off the ball, Jimmy Butler was moving in the second half. We talked yesterday about Jimmy Butler not being that same sort of guy in his last game. He looked a little bit more like Miami Heat Jimmy Butler, but he turned it on. He went from six first half points to 13 in the second half. And then when you're cycling the ball and you're moving the ball, everybody gets a look. Buddy Heald, open looks, fantastic.

from five in the first half to 10 in the second half. Same with Steph. I mean, he turned it up, obviously, just eight in the first half, 20 in the second half. The assists went from 12 to 18. This team gets in there and realizes...

we have to move off the ball. We have to cut this team to death. And the non-curry minutes were better in the second half. You have the off-ball cutting. It's classic Warriors right now. They're achieving everything. Just been turned up with Jimmy Butler. So it's good to see them just say, yeah, we got to lock in. And they absolutely did.

No Carl Anthony Towns for the Knicks. Now, we didn't know that when we were making our pick for Pickham last night. Personal reasons, I believe, is the reason why he was out. So that changed the direction of this game, possibly. But yeah, Warriors were much, much better there in the second half. Yeah, they were incredible. I thought they didn't play very well in the first half and definitely better in the second half

But this was a win based on, like, teamwork, physicality, defense. And like Tass said, cutting. Steph Curry's got to be the best off-ball player that's ever existed in basketball. Because the guy scores on catch and shoots ridiculously. Back cuts because you're so worried about the catch and shoots. And then he's just always moving, which opens things up for everybody else, including Jimmy Butler, who is a perfect fit for this Warriors team because he's got great fundamentals. He screens. He cuts. He passes. He said postgame, I make the right play every time.

Sometimes that means he shoots seven times in a game. Sometimes we run a play for him. It's not even for his shot, and they still get a play. He gets to the free throw line. This team is just very fundamentally strong between Steph,

playing great on ball and off ball jimmy is the exact same way they're nine and one in 10 games with jimmy butler this was their best win yet eight of them have been on the road they beat milwaukee on the road that's a nice one yeah beat they blew out sacramento on the road i think that's a nice win as well and then this one uh against the knicks kind of tells me the warriors are title contenders because the knicks can't beat title contenders

Interesting. Oh, yeah. That's true. Yeah, the Lakers and Warriors here suddenly have catapulted up into the contenders. Yeah, the old guys still got it, or at least we're going to see. They're going to be in the playoffs. That's for sure. Yeah, a really, really solid second half to keep that Knicks team to, I guess, combine 47 points. I mean, this is an offensive juggernaut. No cat. Again, that's a lot of points. That's some rebounding. That changes things. But, yeah, they just looked awesome, man. And Curry, he just never loses there. That was my reasoning for taking...

That pick last night, it's like, this guy's awesome in Madison Square Garden. He puts on a show every time, only comes once a year, and then has only lost once out of 13 times. Pretty impressive stuff. And Jimmy understands the assignment, too. He was the one who kicked it out to Steph Curry for the should I night-night. Like, that was, Jimmy Butler had a lamp. He was underneath the hoop, but Curry was wide open on the left wing, kicks it out to him, knocks down the three. And then he's like, it's a little early. You see him pointing to the bench. He's like, should I? Should I?

should I? Then he hits another one later and he gave us just like a single night. Like, okay, it's over. You already knew it was over. You're right. I should have done it earlier. God, man. That's almost more disrespectful if you're like a Knicks player, a Knicks fan. The guy is like debating whether to do his like put us to bed celebration after a drink. Could they come back?

It's like he's like mocking. He's like looking at the bench. He's laughing. He's like, oh, should I? Should I not? Oh, I don't know. It's probably over, but you never know. And yeah, they got the victory. Anything else, Tass, on that one? No, not much. I would love to have seen Carl Anthony Towns get in there and his drives because the thing that you would poke holes in with the Golden State Warriors is their lack of size. That is something that Cat can make a team pay for. And that's what we're going to be watching here.

When they come to the Western Conference playoffs, it's the Jokic matchup or whoever has to play the big from the other side. When Kevon Looney did come in and really help out at rotating, but they are small. There's no doubt when Jimmy Butler does say, maybe I'm going to take this layup or pass it out for the night-night. Sometimes there's just a bigger guy than him. He's playing the power forward.

They do lack size there. There's no doubt about that. Yeah, well, definitely in the starting lineup, but you're right. I mean, Looney comes in. I guess he played 14 or 15 last night. And then Quinton Post as well. And I know we've talked about this guy a little bit. He is a big dude. He is getting, like, basically taught...

right there in games from Draymond Green and what to do defensively a couple times in that game you saw like Draymond barking at him like you know the rotation or what are you doing and stuff like this and he's like just nodding along okay I'm learning I'm learning where do you want me to be but obviously gives energy on that end same with Santos like those guys like they're getting a little something from those guys energy and defense and you'll be okay uh when you got Curry and then Jimmy Butler now in the mix so good win from the dubs

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Let's go to a huge, huge comeback. Kevin Durant scoring 34 tasks as the Suns rallied from 23-point deficit, I guess it was 19 in the fourth, to come back to beat the Clippers 119-117. What's your main takeaway? Well, watching this game, I thought, oh, here comes another Suns loss. They had lost 11-14.

They didn't look good early, obviously. Kevin Durant and Mike Booneholzer had that little chatter where Mike Booneholzer grabbed Kevin Durant, and Kevin Durant grabbed his hand and took it off him. So that's definitely where everybody on social media was talking about. Maybe they're infighting. But afterwards, they just said, yeah, it's a good thing. We started talking. We started blabbing. And then in the end of the third quarter, as you said, it was 23-point lead. I still thought it was over. Durant was hearing boos.

from the crowd and suddenly bam he turned it off into the fourth quarter he was getting out into the passing lanes he was playing extremely hard and from that point on that 23 point deficit Durant had more baskets than the Phoenix Suns excuse me not the Phoenix Suns than the other team than the Los Angeles Clippers he had seven the rest of the way the Clippers had six the rest of the way

The key, it might have been Colin Gillespie. Colin Gillespie, a Villanova undrafted guy. He came off the bench because Bradley Beal got hurt in the first half. Gillespie comes in and was money in the fourth quarter, hitting a couple threes, 10 points. Durant had 19 points in that fourth quarter.

Gillespie had 10. And he hit the key one with 36 seconds left because they were just getting up and after it into the Clippers' jerseys. I mean, they really played extremely hard, which doesn't always happen with the Phoenix Suns, but they were getting out running. And so that was just a monstrous quarter. They won the fourth quarter 43-22. That was it. They played extremely hard. Durant walked off the floor, was interviewed post-game and said, you know, the boos were happening. I always...

He basically said, people should stop booing in general because it doesn't really do anything to get us amped up. If you want to say something about us, if you want to have your little moment where you...

You're spiting us. Just walk out. That's even worse. Hundreds of dollars you spend on your ticket. We're playing like crap. Just leave. Yeah. That's the thing. But anyways, he turned it on with Colin Gillespie. A shout out to Colin Gillespie. He was huge. Yeah, he was huge. I never, I never thought about this, but he was on the Denver Nuggets team coming out of school when they won the championship. He didn't play that entire year, but he gets a ring.

for the Denver Nuggets championship. He's labeled as an NBA champion. He was a two-way contract guy. He played with the Nuggets the following year. You definitely give him a raise, so good for him. Okay, he's a champion. Maybe save their season or at least playoff hopes, I guess. That was a hell of a comeback. And I mean, you had Stan Van Gundy on the broadcast like all night long, like rightfully.

Oh, man. Calling out the Suns and their lack of effort defensively. Like, this is pathetic, I think was the word he used. Oh, yeah. Again, he wasn't wrong. And the start of that fourth quarter, KD, Gillespie, they caught fire and then got back into it and pulled it out. You could make a mixtape of Stan Van Gundy trashing the Suns' defense. I went to bed in the third quarter when the Suns were getting booed off the court. Stan Van Gundy says, the fans are being generous because they waited until the third quarter to start booing this team. Right.

Then Kevin Durant comes out, hits a few jumpers to start the fourth quarter. And Colin Gillespie would really help set the tone, I thought. Playing defense and pushing the pace, it completely flipped the first three quarters. It looked to me in the fourth like the Clippers were playing not to lose. They were just trying to have the longest possessions possible. Everything was going deep in the shot clock. They were shooting with three and two seconds left on the 24 seconds. They were forced to...

with the Suns scoring the way they were, they were forced to play a lot of half-court basketball, and that's not necessarily a strength for the Clippers. They like to force turnovers and go the other way, but that's what was happening for the Phoenix Suns. I think there was a few things that really went well or that were big factors for them. Nick Richards hardly played in the second half. That was big. He only played three minutes there at the end when they needed him defensively against Zubats, and Zubats was having an awesome game, but

Richards was big enough there. Also, zero minutes for Bol Bol in the second half. Good move. Also, zero minutes for Tyus Jones in the fourth quarter. They took off like their three worst defenders. And guess what? They gave an effort. And they played defense. Does it matter? I don't know. We'll see if they can replicate it again. They played 12 minutes hard in this one. They played 36 minutes. Not really caring. But.

But maybe it energizes them because they've got an opportunity with the Mavericks injuries. There's still a little bit of a chance that they can make it into the play-in tournament. You've got to tip your cap to Mason Plumlee. Six for six from the line in the fourth quarter? Huge. Ooh.

Mason Pullman. He also had a really huge offensive rebound tip to Durant. Durant scored it right on the bucket. It was like a purposeful tip to him. That was huge. Very good. Durant loves playing with Plumlee. He kept popping his chest. They love playing together. They need more Plumlee to stop Zubats.

Zubats could not be stopped in this game. It was a career high, 35. Yeah. For Ivica Zubats. And he missed a couple bunnies down the stretch too. He was right at the rim and they just rolled around. Oh, yeah. That last shot, the final shot going to the buzzer, he had a chance. He just missed it. With the Kawhi sort of shot pass, whatever the hell that was. And Zubats was right there. They need some size. It is incredible though.

that the Suns have swept the Clippers this season. Four wins for the Phoenix Suns against the Los Angeles Clippers who were out, who were without Norman Powell. He's only out probably 10 days, our man Law Murray sharing this because of a hamstring injury. That is an issue with the Los Angeles Clippers. Yeah. They need that dude.

Because otherwise, you've got some guys that are taking a few too many shots. Chris Dunn, who is a monster defensively, getting a few too many opportunities at shooting the ball. So, yeah, I'm just making an excuse for the Clippers, hoping to see them in the postseason healthy. So they're 1-6 since the All-Star break, down to 9th in the Western Conference. I think Norm Powell is a big part of it, just because he's such a good catch-and-shoot player. More space out there. Chris Dunn ain't getting it done offensively. And Bogdanovich had a nice game and then went 0-2.

in the fourth quarter. Let's go to this final game here that we have to touch on. An insane game. We had Raptors rookie Jacoby Walter hitting a three with .5 seconds left for the 114-113 win over the Magic Tess. And this shot was just unreal. We'll show it to everybody on YouTube. I mean, Da Silva's all over him. He flails his legs. TK, before we went live, you said it looked like he shot it with his offhand. Yeah.

Well, his left foot is forward. He steps one-two as if he's a left-handed shooter. Yeah, yeah. And splashes it, and then they held on. And Tass... What a jump. That guy must have traveled like four feet for that three-point shot. It was weird. Crazy. And what the Raptors did in this game, equally crazy...

They tried to throw this game. Yes, they did. I must admit, I must admit, I don't usually admit it, but oh yeah, they tapped. It was unbelievable. The Raptors, okay, they were missing Grady Dick. He was out of this game. He got a little collision there on Sunday playing the Magic. So he was out of the starting lineup. But they played Scottie Barnes. They played Emmanuel quickly. They played Yakup Hurdle. They played RJ Barrett. Like they started the game. They played a majority of the game. And then they just started yanking guys in the fourth quarter. Like Scottie Barnes left.

A majority of the fourth quarter he didn't play, which is a huge reason Paolo Bancaro went off in that fourth. Quickly, he was pulled pretty early there in the fourth. Then Pirtle, he hit his minutes restriction. I mean, it's a complete joke. I'm sorry. Like, I know he came back from injury. They were keeping him around that 24-minute mark, but he played 26 minutes on Sunday, and then he played even less this time. Get him out!

jay barrett was subbed out in a two-point game was like a couple minutes to go task the closing lineup for the raptors was jacoby walter hitting that game winner he's a rookie jamal shed he's a rookie orlando robinson who got his two-way contract extension yesterday aj lawson good old canadian boy he's another two-way guy and then jared rodin

Who? I'm a Raptors fan and I'm going, who? He's also a two-way guy that just signed yesterday. That was the closing lineup. They leaned so hard into tanking this game and they still won it. It is absolutely true. It was one of those situations where we're not tanking because we're playing the starters. The NBA can't go to them and say, you're fine, 500K, because you didn't play Pirtle,

and Barnes the last eight minutes of the game. It doesn't work like that. They actually go... They did play, but eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. Out comes your best player. Out comes your best ball handler, Emmanuel Quickly. And out comes your best big in Yakupurn. We're trying to lose...

But they didn't. The Raptors can go to you and say, wow, did you see what we did out there? I mean, there was, I think it was 40 seconds left that A.J. Lawson play. He basically ran a circle. It was a nice inbound play. Drew up by Darko Ibrahimović, where A.J. Lawson literally just

ran a circle to try and lose, uh, whoever was guarding him. Uh, I think it was, it was our German friend, the new German who's starting for the Orlando magic. And he came up for a big three, a huge three, uh, and De Silva couldn't catch him. And so Lawson bang that three. And then you see a bang of a Jacoby Walter three, I guess, I guess you just got to praise dark or Yakovitch for what they, they played hard, obviously. Uh,

What a weird, weird, weird game. That's the consequences of unethical tanking. You got to eat a game winner like that. He said it was his first game winner ever. Wow. At any level. He's like, yeah, I'll remember this one. Sure. And now the Raptors have like the easiest schedule coming up. Jazz, Wizards, Wizards, Sixers, Jazz, Blazers, Suns.

They're going to go on a streak here. All because they disrespected basketball by pulling their best players in a winnable game. Yes, they were trying to give the Orlando Magic this game, and they couldn't. They could not do it. Magic or bad. Oh, yeah, they are. They got a new German, apparently. Not any that I recognize. Franz is still there. Tristan, man. Tristan Da Silva, yes. How are you a German? Your name is Da Silva, but you are. He's German.

He's German, isn't he? He was born in Germany. Mother German. I thought he was Belgian. No, he's German. The Wagners, you got two Wagners and a Da Silva. But Pops is... Where's Pops from Brazil? No. Anyway, moving on. I want to share this. It was on Blue Sky from Kevin Pelton about this game. I saw it this morning. He's dead on.

He wrote, quote, If people really want to watch 90s-style NBA basketball, why aren't the Orlando Magic on national TV every night? It takes you back. Third quarter of last night's Magic Raptors game, 19 fouls, one flagrant foul, a second flagrant foul review, a technical foul, and a good old 27 free throws. That was one quarter of...

This was not pretty. Maybe that's why Darko was taking out all those guys. Like, yeah, this is turning into a football game here. Get our guys out. Banquero also thought was winning the game for the Orlando Magic with those two threes late where he had to just save himself and step back and save himself, save the team that's lacking a ball handler and came up with huge three-point shots that we haven't seen from Paulo Banquero because his three-point percentage is insane.

blame the injury, blame just the flow that he got into this season. But those were monstrous shots and unbelievable. It really is unbelievable that the Raptors were able to win this game.

It really is. All right. Any other takeaways from last night's NBA action? If you're keeping your eye on the middle of the Eastern Conference standings, the Bucs won triple-double from Giannis. They took care of the Hawks at the end. They won by six. And then Halliburton and the Pacers, who are right there with Milwaukee, right? Four or five. They're basically tied, I believe.

They recovered from a blown lead. They beat the Rockets 115-102. Cavs beat your Bulls. That's 11 straight for them. Nas Reid was good in a Wolves win. They beat the Sixers. And then Devin Vassell had a career-high 37 as they beat the Nets. The Spurs did. Anything you want to touch on there, TK? Yeah, quickly. Bulls-Cavs was hilarious. It was a tie game with seven minutes left. Jared Allen checked in, and it was a ridiculous cavalanche.

Jared Allen had nine points, three rebounds, and two assists in five minutes of the fourth quarter. He finished with 25-17. Like I said, this was a tie game with seven minutes left. And the Cavs blew the Bulls out so bad that Tristan Thompson played the last two and a half minutes. They won by 20 points in five minutes. That was awesome. You said it was a Cavalanche. Did they send over the St. Bernard to the Bulls? I was lapping it up on the bench.

Also, I've been impressed with Milwaukee. 5-1 since Bobby Portis got suspended. And I've got to say, Kyle Kuzma and Kevin Porter Jr. have both been very helpful bringing the athleticism and the effort. Kuzma had 10 rebounds last night. He's averaging 7 a game since getting to Milwaukee. That's great. Kevin Porter Jr., super streaky player. He had 15 last night. 12 of them came in the fourth quarter. Went 5-for-5.

allowing the Bucks to sit Giannis and Dame at the same time, keep them on the court together, because those guys are still producing, like you said.

Triple-double for Giannis. Nice game for Damian Lillard as well. Even Jericho Sims, I think, is doing his part. He's rebounding. He passes the ball. He plays defense. He ain't looking to score out there, but he's doing kind of everything else. Their defense looks a little bit better right now. They're competing on that end. I think they've got better athleticism with Kuzma, KPJ, and Sims coming in. They're sixth in defense since the All-Star break. Basically, they traded out Bobby Portis post-ups.

for guys who do a little bit of everything out there. It's working nice for Milwaukee. Yeah, to jump in there, what's also working nice is Mo Gay in that game against Janice Dendekupo. Had a monstrous block. One minute left. Mo Gay, big block of Janice Dendekupo. I hope Mo Gay grows as a player, but I will say that will go on his all-time reel of plays, period. I mean, he's super young, so hopefully he'll get more. But to block Janice Dendekupo,

at the rim, essentially. One minute left in the game. All-time moment. Great stuff there from Mo Gay. Hope it's not Les Gay. Hope we get Mo Gay in the future because he's starting to get better for the Atlanta Hawks. Other couple of quick notes. I was watching Houston, Indiana. Where's my man Fred VanVleet? Where is he? The weird thing is he missed a month ankle injury. Then he came back against the Sacramento Kings. It was the first play

He turned his ankle while stepping on the referee's foot. Same ankle, although apparently it's in a different spot, so it's not as severe as a month out type of thing, but he's been out two games since. They absolutely need him. And so you can see why they lost to the Indiana Pacers yesterday. And a quick story, I was watching the Minnesota Timberwolves broadcast, and you know last week Terrence Shannon Jr. had his jersey retired at Illinois where he went to school, and it was hung upside down. Yep.

Very unfortunate scenario. But Terrence Shannon Jr., he turned that baby around. He got T-shirts printed and the Wolves broadcast Michael Grady, our man Jim Peterson wearing those. And it said on the back, after a photo on the front of the banner upside down, there was a quote from Terrence Shannon Jr. on the back. When life has you upside down, turn it around. Good for him. And that's raising money for...

a foundation there in, in Minnesota. Good for him. Good for him. Good dude. Speaking of turning around, have you considered the leapy while you've been sitting? Oh, absolutely. Mounting the toilet the other way. Yes, yes, yes. When this, when this was first introduced as the, uh, the incredible pick and pay off. Yeah. I thought about it. I thought about turning around and I may, although I think it's a dumb way to do it. Yeah.

I still do, too. Yeah. I mean. Good place for your laptop, though, right on the back of the reservoir. If you do turn around, you have to turn around the hat, too. Okay. Yeah. That's a good call. Right? No. Unfortunately, sometimes I have been taking lazy urination breaks and sitting down. That's just horrible. I've stopped myself from sitting down, period. I hate it.

Doesn't do well for the movement. Nothing good about it. Yeah, you're really going to hate it after this week. I'm not urinating now. I'm just sitting. I don't know what I'm doing over there.

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Get an expert now on TurboTax.com. Only available with TurboTax Live Full Service. Real-time updates only in iOS mobile app. See guaranteed details at TurboTax.com slash guarantees. All right, well, let's go from last night's games to a new segment called Crush It or Flush It. Yeah!

We got an intro. Oh, great work, JD. Great work. So what is this? I don't know. It sounded funny. We were just looking for words that look good, but flush it. Turns out there's not a lot of great words that work with, like, flush it. If flush it is the negative connotation, you know, it was crush it. I guess there was a small pitch for gush it. You gush over something. Doesn't really work. Yeah, gush or flush, I guess. But anyway.

It's basically up-down report, really. Are you up or down? Up, crush it.

Down, flush it. That's the important part. And if we flush it, obviously, hopefully we hear that toilet being flushed. All right, first one here. This is news from yesterday. Grizzlies power forward Jaron Jackson Jr. has been diagnosed with a grade two left ankle sprain. He's considered weak to weak. The team announced this yesterday. Triple J suffered the injury during the first quarter of the Grizzlies home loss to the Hawks after trying to block a shot. So...

crush it or flush it here, Tass. The Grizzlies, Jaron Jackson Jr. and this ankle sprain. You know, crush it. I guess you don't think it's that big a deal. Flush it. It's like very bad news. This guy is most likely going to win defensive player of the year. Of course I'm going to. No, I'm not going to flush it. This is a fake flush, JD. Don't play that sound effect. I'm crushing this thing. I think Jaron Jackson Jr. will be back soon. Now,

I'm not a doctor. Week to week is very generic. The fact that it's a grade two left ankle sprain means he's probably got a partial tear of some ligaments there. That being said, I'm sure he can come back soon. I assume they have had tough losses three games in a row. Last second losses. That being said, the support guys late in the season here, they can have a special game. And I'm just assuming that Triple J doesn't miss a ton of games this week.

Now, it's not super easy, but you can have a random good one. And I think it's not terrible. OKC tonight, which is our pick-em game. OK, obviously very tough. Dallas Mavericks, then the Pelicans, then the Suns. That's their four games. So if that's a week that he's missing, not terrible. Santel Dama could be the guy to take his minutes, although he's questionable tonight. And then Gigi Jackson, most of his minutes are at the power forward spot. So I think he'll take those minutes.

I'm just thinking that he's coming back and it's like a two and two week, maybe, perhaps. Okay, so I guess he's crushing it. What are you doing here? I think the schedule is the best thing going for the Grizzlies right now because unfortunately for them, they don't play defense even with Jaron Jackson Jr. out there. Since the All-Star break, seven games, they're two and five, 29th in defense, and that's with Jaron Jackson Jr. playing those games, except for he went out early and won. But they're seven points per 100 possessions better when he's playing on defense. Like Tass said, he's

likely going to win defensive player of the year. The key is they need John Morant to play and actually start playing like a superstar once again, because I think their defense is going to be bad. They're going to be probably having to play more Zach Eadie, and he's really struggling on the defensive end. He's looking very slow off his feet, which is what the concern was. Maybe they dust off Jay Huff a little bit. That also makes their defense a little bit worse. So the Grizzlies, for whatever reason, have not been able to defend since the All-Star break.

Maybe it's just an effort thing and maybe missing their best defensive player kind of amps things up. But I think it's time to be a little bit worried about the Grizzlies. They haven't looked good coming out of All-Star. Yeah, I think I would consider flushing this only because of Jackson's –

his wallet he could lose a lot of money here unfortunately if he does not hit the 65 game requirement and thus does not make an all-nba team or maybe win a second defensive player of the year i don't think that's a done deal by the way but he's at 59 right now so my only concern is because look if he makes that right wins that award or makes that all-nba team he's looking at potentially signing the supermax contract uh for for in the offseason huge money like insane money

And when you see those, you know, see those dollar figures, do you as a player in Jaron Jackson Jr.'s shoes, like, you want to get back out there, hit that 65 game mark. You don't want to get out there too soon, though, if, you know, the Grizzlies are trying to do something, trying to win playoffs series, stuff like that. I'm worried about, like, he's going to be right on the threshold there if he misses a couple weeks here, a week or two,

That concerns me because, man, that's a lot of money that he's going to want to play through, I think. Play through the pain and get out there, but you just don't want to re-injure it. So something to watch because this guy's making like $23.4 million next season. But again, he'd be eligible for the Supermax if he hits All-NBA or DPOY for the second time. And he has to get...

another seven games. He's got a chance at all NBA. Yeah, I think it's in play. It's in play. All right, next one here, Tass. Start with you for all these. Over the last month, the Trailblazers have become one of the most fun and exciting teams to watch in the NBA since mid-January, Portland 15-6 over their last 21 games. And they're suddenly making a push for the play-in. So crush it or flush it. The Trailblazers play in chances.

flush that thing flush it yes yes I do sound like a negative Nancy coming in here and saying they're not going to make the postseason but I had to go into the numbers to evaluate they've got 20 games left they're four games back of the Dallas Mavericks but they would lose the tiebreaker even if they were tied so they have to have a better record so they're five games back essentially

That ain't good enough. Listen to the games that they've got left. Cleveland, OKC, and two against Boston. Those are the best teams in the league. So that's four losses, I assume. Or maybe they go one and three. But they're not a very good road team. They're 12 and 20. They go on the road against Boston, OKC, Golden State, and then a five-game road trip of the Kings, OKC,

Hawks, Toronto and Chicago. Yeah, those are easy ones. But this is a time of year where the worst teams play out of their mind. So I do think that sometimes those games, they kind of look on the schedule like, oh, we're going to win this game. But I don't think that the Blazers can make up for essentially five games. That's too much.

Yeah, I'm with Tass. This is a flush mobile, unfortunately. Just because they're so far back from the 10th seed. They do have a tough schedule. Slightly easier than Phoenix, who has one of the worst schedules remaining. Dallas's is pretty easy, but obviously they're super banged up. But it doesn't matter. They should go for it. They should try and make the play-in tournament regardless. They're 17-13 since January 1st. That's good. That's 30 games of being above .500. They got the fifth best defense in that time.

And to me, it's kind of like Houston. The Rockets last year. They were on the outside looking in, but they made a play and push...

Awesome run. They established an identity, ultimately fell short, but then their team was their team for next year. And that's exactly what the Blazers should do. Kind of get things sorted out here. This is the best they've looked since Chauncey Billups has been their head coach. This is the most bought in they've been. So I think competing down the stretch here in these 20 games, they're not going to make the playoffs, but this is kind of like...

their most playoff crucible kind of thing. So give it the full effort and, you know, maybe shut it down when it comes April and you can game some things. Yeah, they must prove their playoff worthiness against playoff bound teams right now. This is their playoff, so to speak. And I agree. That's a great comparison to the Rockets. I think they called it on the daily, the pre-leap.

Where it's sort of at the end of the season where you maybe come up short, but maybe that does catapult you into next season. Though Sean Hyken on the NBA Daily said, and he's obviously plugged in with the Blazers, he doesn't think Chauncey Billups is going to be coaching this team next season.

next season, which is a little interesting considering the turnaround, some of the improvement from some of the players. Again, that was Sean Hyken sort of, not reporting it, but that's sort of his hunch that he thinks even regardless that they might go a different direction. They might fire him. I would think the only reason that he would. Well, his contract is like, is expiring, I guess. So they wouldn't re-sign him, but yeah, fired for all types of reasons. I would think the only reason that he wouldn't have a job is because he wouldn't want the job. Because you got to assume that this is, this is the best version of this team in years. Yeah, yeah. Scoot Henderson has grown up.

Yeah, it seems like there's a lot of good things going. I am reluctantly flushing this one with you guys, but I'm taking a peek at it first. I'm sorry. Is that weird? No, that's okay to be impressed. Okay, thank you. All right. Well, let's talk about turds, I guess. Look at this one. Let's just show you the Eastern Conference play-in. This is pathetic. I mean, I know we've been joking about it for a while now, but look at the records of the teams currently in the East playing.

7th through 10th. So heat magic, Hawks, Bulls, and then you got the Nets, Sixers, Raptors. I mean, we throw those teams on there, whether or not they can backdoor their way in. But Tass, are you crushing it or flushing it? The Eastern Conference play-in tournament. And if you're flushing it, we're just getting rid of it completely. Well, good thing. I'm crushing it.

All we want is three good games. That's all we're asking for. And I actually like how they're all bad, how they're all sort of level. Right. So you're not going to get a blowout. No, no, no chance. I mean, you've got two games. The first one, you got a battle of Florida. Exciting stuff. Orlando versus Miami. The second one, you've got Atlanta versus Chicago, which both

subpar offenses and defenses and Hawks aren't blowing anyone out. We all know that we're going to see some fun. You tune in, you're going to see Dyson Daniels make a fricking steal like he did yesterday against Kevin Porter Jr. Just snatch that thing. They're going to see lots of those moments, but then as the Hawks get on the break, Oh, they're just not going to pass to the open guys, but that that's a huge mistake. Why not just give it to the guy who can score? So what you're going to see is high scoring game, Chicago, Atlanta,

And close game. That's it. I mean, we're not expecting either of these teams to go into a 2-7 or 1-8 series and do anything. They are going to get demolished when it comes to playing the Cavs or Celtics. But three games?

He's okay with it. He likes the games. He likes the games. He likes the programming. Why not? I mean, I will say we have had some absolutely brutal Eastern Conference play-in games before. Like some of the worst games of the entire season, if I remember. Not all of them, but okay. What about you, TK?

I don't know, man. I don't know. You get to watch your Bulls play here in Atlanta, potentially. Exactly. Selfishly, I'm like, I didn't actually get to see the Bulls play this season just because it didn't work out travel-wise, but the Hawks could be hosting the Bulls in the 9-10 game, sitting next to Lee Ellis as Dyson Daniels guards Josh Giddey up and down the court. Come on!

And then I look at the Bulls' records against these teams. 1-0 against Miami. 1-1 against Orlando. 2-2 against Atlanta. Oh, my God. I'm thinking they're getting blown out halves in round one here. It's going to be exciting. But, man, Casey Johnson had an awesome stat on the Bulls last night. The Bulls have gone 2-9 in their last 11 games and increased their lead for the 10th seed. Going 2-9.

All four of these teams are probably going to be under 500, which means two teams are going to go into the playoffs under 500 against the Cavs and the Celtics. Why are we doing this? Well, we're doing this because it's already sold. And it's already sold for next year. And 10 years down the line. Also, the Hawks are 2-1 against Cleveland and 2-1 against Boston. They will beat either of those teams once.

If they make it. I was going to ask you, no matter the teams that get in there as the seventh and eighth seed in the East, how many combined wins do they get in their first round series? What's the line at? You probably set the line at one and a half. You may want to set it at a half. Will they even get one win or will we have two suites? I would take under one and a half over 0.5. Okay, so you think there will be one.

One win between the two teams. I think that's probably where I go to. I think the Hawks could accidentally beat Cleveland or Boston, and I think that the Miami Heat would beat Boston once just because it always happens. Just for laughs. Tass, any thoughts on that? This is the unfortunate situation where it would make way more sense to have Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns be the seventh seed and –

the Portland Trailblazers be the eighth seed. Those two teams are way better than whoever makes it, unfortunately. But you never know with the Atlanta Hawks. You never know. That's why there might be some people saying, flush this, man, and go back to actually the first time we ever did this whole play-in tournament idea, which was like, how many games back are you from said playoff teams?

Could you get yourself in there, keep yourself close enough to trigger the actual games, right? That was sort of how we originally did it in the COVID sort of bubble season and all that. Yeah, I think it was six games or something. Yeah, yeah. You had to be within six games. You know, Trey's right. This ain't going anywhere. They've sold it. These are extra games that the sickos will at least watch, you know. It won't really mean anything. I mean, it's kind of fun. It's fun in the Western Conference. Yeah, yeah.

And I say all that, we had a team from the freaking East play and go all the way to the finals. Yeah. So, you know, things can happen here. You can go on a little Cinderella run. But I don't think it'll be one of these teams this year. I think I'm pretty confident saying that. All right, final one, Tass. The Dallas Mavericks have revealed that they are raising season ticket prices for next season. Now, this was just weeks after dealing Luka Doncic to the Lakers. This was...

This news broke before Kyrie Irving's injury that's going to keep him out for the rest of the season. But the Mavs said season tickets will go up by an average of 8.61% next season, and the increase is due to, quote, ongoing investments in the team and fan engagement. Crush it or flush it, Mavs raising season ticket prices. Please do flush this one. It's quite unfortunate. I think, to me, as the water rushes down, it has been...

A very tumultuous few weeks for Mavericks fans. But this just proves that that deal of dealing Luka and that potential five years and $345 million he could have got this offseason was all about the money. It was just about the owners making that deal. And we can talk about Nico Harrison being light years ahead. But really, I think it comes down to

And I tried to talk myself into these seat increases. Money is increasing everywhere. But I thought, well, maybe they're just because you mentioned that they're on average being raised 8.6%. So maybe they're just raising the floor seats that are extremely a lot higher than 8.6%. So maybe the upper bowl isn't increasing that much. But a lot of the seats are going up.

And they don't have to. They do not have to raise the prices of the terrace level seats. I'm quoting that. That's what they are. They're going up from $20 to $24 per game. It doesn't sound like a lot, I guess, but it's a 20% increase. You don't need to do that. You can look at your fans and say, yeah, that was a tough trade.

Maybe we should just leave you guys at 20 bucks, but the season ticket costs for the club access level, those are going more than 10% up. So everything is just going up. I wouldn't say every single seat. I think if you read into the report, I think there's 4,000 seats, which aren't increasing. That being said, this is all about them dollar dollar bills. It just sure seems like that. This is, yeah, the trickle down effect of ownership, wanting something period. And it's unfortunate for fans. Maybe read the room a little bit.

Like, I get it. You're going to increase these prices. Maybe not right now. Maybe bad timing on that part. Especially, of course, this happens before the Kyrie news, and it looks even worse. But, TK, crushing it or flushing it? Well, I can't either. I'm letting it mellow, I guess. Oh, wow. Like, because you're right, Skeets. It looks bad. The timing is bad, but this is when you do season ticket renewals, and season ticket prices go up. So what's the acceptable increase here? Right, right, right, right. They weren't going down.

Well, now they can't go down now because they're going to sell less season tickets. Yeah, but I mean, like, unfortunately, things increase in price year over year. So literally, what are the Mavs supposed to do? Yeah, and it goes hand in hand with a couple months, it feels like months ago that Luka was traded. But after the Luka trade, the Mavs reportedly were willing to give refunds for season ticket holders this year. So, I mean, I'm not trying to say that.

this is apples and apples and that's a positive. So it's okay to do this negative on the other side. It's just, yeah, it's obviously a terrible situation for a lot of these fans. And if they want to stand up and be vocal about not trading their superstar, they literally just should not buy season tickets. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I don't love their reasoning. Quote, ongoing investments in the team and fan engagement. You can leave that part out if this is inevitable that you have to raise these season ticket prices. Like, that's insane. Who wrote that? Who came up with that? This will be the reason why we'll tell them. Well, the fans are definitely engaged. Yeah, it's true. Mavs fans have been through

hell and back since really Christmas since since Saint Nick came down the chimney Saint Nico came down the chimney Luka gets hurt on Christmas then Lively out indefinitely they trade away Luka Gafford out indefinitely Anthony Davis out indefinitely and now Kyrie Irving tears his ACL that's all since Christmas yeah it's been bad oh my god so but do you think Mavs fans imagine they don't do the Luka trade do you think they're okay with an 8% increase

well it's not new it's not news it's not a headline that's all no no one's happy about increased season ticket prices but it's not a big story and it's not in a new segment called crush it or flush it there's no way it is let's I hope Mavs fans get a play-in game and enjoy it because I think they will actually still get a play-in game quite possible yeah it is at home

It wouldn't be a home one. It's unlikely. I don't think they're being caught by Phoenix. Phoenix is still going on the road for some tough games here. We'll see. Let's get to the Pick'Em.

For tonight, last night, a few of us had the Warriors. I guess it was me and Esh, I think, backed Steph Curry and Madison Square Garden. So we got the victory. But where are we going tonight, Taz? We're going to Memphis. Nationally televised game. So I was excited for Memphis because it feels like the last few months they get these games that aren't nationally televised and they are the game of the night. They have really great games. As we've said, they've had three straight losses.

But very close losses. Basically down to the wire losses. So it should be fun. Now I understand why all of you are picking Oklahoma City. As the 8.5 point favorite in Memphis. Makes sense. No Jaron Jackson Jr. That totally makes sense. The OKC, I believe they're 3-0 against Memphis. And they've all been big, big wins. It's 2-0 or 3-0.

I often forget if they're division rivals, because if you're in the division, you play four times. Either way, it...

It makes sense that you're all picking OKC. There's no Triple J out there, but I'm taking Memphis to make this the first game that they're playing against OKC a close one this season because you get some random efforts from guys deep down the bench late here in the season and especially when a guy isn't out long term. And I think Triple J will come back. So you'll see a Gigi Jackson performance here.

Maybe he'll get interviewed on national TV like he did by the TNT crew last year. You never know. You never know. Is this one on ESPN tonight? It's a nationally televised game. Okay. It must be then. This is a Wednesday. There you go. Yeah. My whole thing with this one is when do the Thunder turn it on?

Well, they turn it on too late to cover because you can very likely see them giving up, you know, another 70 point first half. And it's just like, when do they like lock in defensively and stop playing with their food? And will they get to nine or more? It is a big line, Trey, but you're with me and Esh taking OKC. Yeah, just never know when John Morant's going to play. He didn't play the last two games.

This one looks like it should be a Thunder win. Does he decide, I'll just come back for the next one? Right, right. All right, those are our picks for tonight. Good luck to everyone. Trey looking for his first W here in the month of March, but it's very early. Super, super early. We'll call it there. We're back tomorrow, though.

10 a.m. Eastern. Hope to see you then. Hit the like button, subscribe, podcast listeners, five-star ratings and reviews. Until then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. And remember, do not eat.

In the bathroom. I just heard my stomach grumble. So if this was a normal situation, I'd have a snack ready to go right by me. But this is a bathroom. You don't keep snacks in the bathroom at your house, though. Yeah, or here. Unless there are bathrooms, or snacks, I should say, around. Well, I know you've talked before about you'll leave the door open when you go to the can. You'll work on your laptop when you go. Nah, I don't work on my laptop. Are you sure? I don't know.

Well, no, I definitely have before. But no snacks is what I'm asking. That's where you draw the line. Actually, this has been a very pleasant experience today. I didn't have my footstool in, so I've had a little bit more movement. I can just... Everything's not sleeping. My legs aren't sleeping. You're getting used to it, I think. Oh, yeah. I think I'm going to start doing it from in here, J.D. What do you think? Do you think Greg Anthony has ever had a snack while sitting on the shitter?

100% yeah? Yes. Wow. There you go. Something to think about for the rest of the day. Will be if you have it. Embrace it.

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