NBA Weekend Winners & Losers | Locked In Luka, Winning Warriors & Embiid's Season From Hell
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Good morning, sweet world! And welcome to the No Dunks Podcast on The Athletic Network. It's Monday, February 24th, 2025. I'm Jay Skeets here in the Classic Factory and alongside me, as always, Tass Mellis. Podcast listeners, this one's for you. Next to him, it's the bearded one, my top shot hot boy, Trey Kirby. Ayo! Ayo!

And over yonder, making the magic happen, he hates the Goonies. It's JD. Spoiler alert. Yes, I hate the Goonies. Yeah, sorry. I did just spoil Is This Bad over on the Is This Good podcast feed, talking about the Goonies. A timely movie. Well, it's the 40th anniversary. It was just re-released, so, you know. Oh, they brought it back to theaters. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, wow. So you're not going? No. No, no, no.

I own it, unfortunately. Oh, right. Go return it to the theater. Damn. Show this. Here's my Apple TV. Take it. What'd that cost you to buy it? $5. Oh, geez. I bought it years ago. It was like kids were looking for something to watch. I'm like, people like this movie. Put it on. Left the room. Too much yelling. It's all yelling. It's a lot of yelling. Sure. All right. Well, go check out that podcast feed, Is This Good? with Matty O. J.

JD and Rachel talking about the Goonies, but we're talking about basketball here. NBA weekend winners and losers. We got a bunch of winners. We'll get to the losers later on.

TK, you get us started. Who's your big winner from the NBA weekend? I didn't even want to pick them, Skeets. I hate this. When they lose, we don't talk about them. But when they win, they're always winners of the weekend. The Los Angeles Lakers. I got to admit, I was impressed Saturday night. They went into Denver, snapped the Nuggets' nine-game winning streak with a blowout. Their first win in Denver since April of 2022. Luka Doncic had his best game as a Laker. 32 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists. J.J. Redick said, go yell at yourself.

Be a demon out there. And he did, man. He was yelling at himself at the end of the first half. So great coaching by JJ there. LeBron had 25 in this one. He's getting the easiest baskets he has in, I don't know, a decade probably. Luka throwing him open. You never see that with LeBron. Like, there are times when LeBron's just kind of chilling. Luka throws a pass. It forces LeBron to cut, and it's a dunk. He said, I'm a natural court—or, Luka's a natural quarterback. I'm a natural wide receiver.

Hey, it's working nice. Reeves had 23. Rui Hachimura had 21 as well. The offense was great, but it was the defense that was honestly more impressive. JJ Redick came to this game with a playoff level game plan. He said he didn't sleep for two nights putting it together and it worked. They fronted Nikola Jokic basically the entire time. Super physical with him, picking him up up.

Basically half court every time down the floor. A second guy would come from the baseline. He saw a ton of crowds. Jokic did high hands from the Lakers. Super duper physical. They were baffling and jostling him around. Only 12 points for Jokic on seven field goal attempts. He did take 10 free throws, but 10 assists to six turnovers for Jokic. 20 total in the loss for Denver. Jokic...

Looked flustered at times. Looked sped up. Was making some bad decisions. Did have some incredible dimes as well. Like, the guy's still awesome, but...

Basically, the Lakers decided we're not worrying about anybody outside of Jokic and Murray. Westbrook, Gordon, MPJ all had more shots than Jokic or Murray. I don't know if any team can do this four times in seven games. Also, you can tell this meant way more to the Lakers. Absolutely. The Nuggets would have counters if this was really a playoff series. But that was pretty impressive by LA, I thought. Since January 1st, they're 16-7. Ninth in offense, third in defense, 15th in defense.

fifth in net rating. A lot of that defense from before the Luca trade was without Anthony Davis as well. So you got to give JJ and I think Dorian Finney-Smith gets a lot of credit here. Hachimura has been pretty solid. Reeves isn't killing him. Luca hasn't been killing him. LeBron is giving an effort as well. The Lakers, much like the Warriors, we're going to get to here pretty soon.

The Lakers have to feel like they have a chance right now. Right. I personally don't know that I would buy in on Jackson Hayes continuing his splendid play come playoff time. But the Lakers looked awesome on Saturday against the Nuggets. The Nuggets have been rolling. This was the first good team they ran into, and the Lakers smacked them.

Yeah, they were ready defensively, as you said. The fronting and then the doubling, they were after Jokic hard in this game. And then on the offensive end, I was just watching the way Luka was picking apart the Nuggets with his eyes. He was just making sure you thought that, oh, you think I'm passing to the corner? Oh, no, I'm passing to the wing. Who's going to pass to the corner just by where he was looking? Oh, you think I'm going to make a pocket pass? No, I'm going to look down. So you put your hands down and I'm lobbing. He was doing incredible stuff.

stuff that you can only get, you know, if you ideally, if you, I guess you have your sort of your tinted, your mask on or your tinted window, if you're the quarterback. Yeah.

quarterback helmet, you know, so you can't see those eyes. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. No, wait, do quarterbacks wear that? I don't think they're allowed to anymore. Okay, yeah, for that reason. But honestly, there needs to be a camera on Luca's eyes because it is so cool every time he goes down the floor. He's literally just looking three steps ahead.

Yeah. Just to get you. I mean, obviously it's helped now that he had a couple games under his belt, getting the conditioning going a little bit after missing whatever it was, like two plus months of not playing basketball and then looked very rusty in the first couple of games. And the other part is, and I think this was like what JJ was getting at, like, hey man, stop worrying about trying to fit in so much.

You're Luka freaking Doncic. Like, we'll catch up with you. You do your thing and we'll fill in the pieces. And I mean, it's just amazing. Like, it's natural that no matter how great you are, you go to a new setting and you're like...

How do I fit in? And maybe you take a sort of seat, you know, a backseat a little bit where even if you're the best player in the world or one of the best players, it's like, no, no, no. Get back to doing you. So I think it was a combo of that. But yeah, they needed this win a lot more, you said it, TK, because they had lost 13 of their last 14 games against the Nuggets. They were obviously eliminated by them in each of the last two postseasons. So Redick and that coaching staff came in with a game plan and they implemented it. And now...

The real question is, yeah, can they do it if they match up again in a playoff series and beat them four out of seven times? And what does Malone and Jokic most particularly counter with? It's at least promising that we might have more of a series if they are to sort of meet once again. Because Rui was. That was phenomenal. And you just got to play your ass off against him. Then they just bring in Vanderbilt, and they're like, just go foul the hell out of him. He played six minutes. He had five fouls. And they're like, we'll join him against Jokic. Boo!

Jokic, but you know, at least gets under his skin, frustrates him a little bit, obviously sort of stops the game, makes it into a bit of a slog. So it's a good, it was a good game plan, at least for Saturday night. I hope we get to see them try and battle it out again in the postseason. Yeah, exactly. Rui has had success against Jokic in one game of a playoff series once upon a time. And after game one, it didn't matter at all. Also,

It's pretty unlikely that these two teams run into each other. Actually, in the playoffs, it looks like a two-game lead for Denver over L.A. Denver in the third seed, L.A. in the fourth seed right now. Just seems quite unlikely, but who knows? We'll see how the rest of the season plays out. But great stuff, I thought, from JJ. The guy's smart. Good coach.

All right, so the Lakers get a winner of the weekend. Tass, where are you going next? Yeah, I'm going with the Golden State Warriors. As Trey mentioned, they've got a new starting lineup to go along with Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Dre, as we all knew they were going to start together. They're now starting Brandon Pajemski and Moses Moody alongside those guys, and those guys are playing extremely well. Brandon Pajemski...

Looking like that rookie last year that we all had a lot of confidence and he's got a ton of confidence in himself versus the Kings on Friday. He took 20 shots. That sounds like a lot for Brandon Pajemski. That is exactly what the Golden State front office and...

coaching staff really want from this guy it's kind of like austin reese i think for the los angeles lakers you want a lot of shots and a lot of playmaking and he can be that secondary or third playmaker and he didn't turn it over a ton five assists just one turnover for him on 12th team turnovers for the golden state warriors which is a good sign for that team because they're always bad at the turnovers and he was just great no hook shots love the brandon pojemski hook shot wasn't there but a nice push shot with his off hand looking good and then uh

As far as the role players go, Buddy Heald freed his hair. Apparently he went to the Bahamas after participating in the three-point contest. He got the heck out of there and went to the Bahamas. Letting the hair go free. Bang at home, five threes off the bench. 22 points to go along with Pachemski's 21. And then Moses Moody, 22. They outscored Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry.

They're playing with four playmakers out there, and Moses Moody can play off those guys. And he's good at just his three-point shooting and not having to playmake. And they traded four players for Jimmy Butler, and this guy has to play now. And so those are two starters. Now, I will say that starting unit has a lack of size. Jimmy Butler is the tallest guy. He's 6'7". He's the biggest guy out of those guys. So they...

may start Kevon Looney depending on what happens, but they're going to go with this five-man unit. Jonathan Kamiga is going to come off the bench when he does get back healthy, and then they play Dallas on Sunday after that impressive performance with the other guys, and they don't need height against the Dallas Mavericks because every one of their center is injured. They did not need to go bigger, but Brandon Pajemski helped out where they needed help. 12 boards for that guy. He got after it. Again, playmaking, doing his thing. Ball was moving. It reminded me a little bit of those...

Finals heats teams that were just able to continuously move. They were cycling. They were doing a great job. 23 points. They were up in the second quarter because of that. Because everyone was contributing and they were just flying around. It's not like Jimmy Butler has had an incredible shooting six games since he's been there, but he does enough.

He got to the line eight free throw times. He's gotten to the line 55 times in six games, so over nine per game. Again, low on turnovers. They just kill you from everywhere. Guy Santos was flying around. They have so many guys. It reminds me as well of the beginning of the season when everything was just clicking. Everything looked good on this team. Again, no super-duper stars that are...

that they acquired obviously at the beginning of the year, but now they have another one and everybody is contributing. So five and one since Jimmy has got there, they took care of Dallas. No problem. And then they retired Andre Goodall, his Jersey. That was nice. It was very nice. I watched it. I made sure to watch it. They had some audio problems on the NBA YouTube clip for the first five minutes. There was a very annoying, like buzzing hum sound. It's like, Oh my God,

I hope this goes away or I'm not watching this. It did go away and it was good. And yeah, obviously I had Steph talking and Bob Myers and Steve Gurr and all that. It looked cool too. I thought it just looked how they had the trophies and then his finals MVP and then where they raised the banner or his number nine. I love how they, they raised like almost like a fake banner because it's Andre Godala nine. And then they're like, and now look up there to the actual rafters. Is it Sting? No, it's your real banner.

So yeah, I know. The look off. It's incredible. Play in the building too, which is nice. Yeah, yeah. So big wins for the Warriors, both of those. Obviously over the Kings and Mavericks, we said it when we were doing our rankings there on Wednesday. Like, whoa, those are huge, huge games because those are two teams that are like either trying to get ahead of or catch in the Western Conference standing. So the Warriors right now with Jimmy in the mix,

They're ninth in the Western Conference race. They're 30-27. Still pretty low. But, but, but, but, only half a game back of the Mavs, half a game back of the Wolves, who dropped both games over the weekend, and only a game and a half back of the Clippers, too, who have also lost two in a row. So really good weekend, I'd say, for the Warriors. Not just the wins, not just retiring Andre Godalas number nine, but then a lot of those teams are chasing...

Yeah. I wouldn't have a ton of confidence right now in the Mavericks or the Timberwolves, the Clippers. I don't really know. They're still figuring things out. It feels like bringing in a couple of new guys at the deadline, but it's crazy to think that people thought Andrew Wiggins and Jimmy Butler were going to be

equivalent players at all. Jimmy Butler is such a better playmaker than Andrew Wiggins is, and that's a lot of the reason why Pajemski's playing so well, while Moody is playing so well. They don't have to be creators, and if they are, they're like the third guy. It's Jimmy switching the side from left to right, from getting the ball out of Steph Curry's hands. I can be a scorer or I can be a playmaker. Wiggins didn't bring that. Sometimes he was a scorer, but he was never the playmaker Jimmy was. Jimmy's bringing the defense.

He gets people into foul trouble, so if it's not him taking free throws, he's getting you into the bonus, which is great. And you mentioned the turnovers. Only 12 on Friday and the win against the Kings, and then only 10 on Sunday and the win against the Mavericks. That's a Jimmy Butler hallmark as well. The guy doesn't turn the ball over all that much. The team feels like they believe in themselves right now. You're seeing Steph Curry pull out a single night in the third quarter. Not a full night-night, but he was just mad at P.J. Washington. Like,

Like, him and Jimmy are flirting during the games. Steph will make a shot. He'll look over at Jimmy. You're having fun over there on the bench, are you? Jimmy's like, yeah, I'm having fun. I don't know. I think both the Lakers and the Warriors, if we were to go back and do our tiers, I would gladly click them up into the final four. Yes, yes, that's right. That's right. We kept a lot of teams in that just playoff position. But I'm with you. I mean, obviously, it's helped after a good weekend. Quality wins. But...

You do start to go in like playoff matchups outside of OKC, Denver, you know, depends on which team we're talking about, but it's like, how do you not really have, it feels like this current made up, you know, structure of the Lakers and the Warriors ahead of maybe Rockets, maybe Grizzlies, Clippers, like that next bunch. No, you can throw them all in the final four flirts. Yeah. They will all be flirting. Hopefully. It depends on the matchups in that second round, what it really comes down to. Yes, yes. But,

Yeah, the first round matters as well. I mean, literally, we could see these teams that we're just talking about be playing OKC in round one. Right, right. It would be very, very difficult. All right, let's keep it going here. I want to give an NBA weekend winner to Tyrese Halliburton.

who I think had maybe one of his best games of the season in that win over the Clippers this weekend. He had 29 points, 12 assists. Pacers defeated the Clippers 129-111. There was no Kawhi Leonard. There was no Norman Powell. Actually, they really missed the Clips when he's not out there. But Halliburton scored 17 points in the third quarter. It was one of those, like we always talk about, the Curry flurries. Halliburton has these too.

We don't have a cool name for them, but when he just hits like three or four threes in a row, we saw it in Paris. We saw it again here on the weekend. He shot nine of 14 overall, four three-pointers. I really do think this was like one of his top three games of this entire season. So that's good. The Pacers are an NBA best 16 and five in 2025.

There's some quality wins. They beat the Warriors. They split a pair of games against the Cavs. They beat the Pistons, who are obviously one of the better teams right now. Beat the Grizzlies. Beat the Clippers twice now. So some quality wins there. And they are, you know, just like looking like the outpacers team from last year where everybody's contributing. And I love to see these big sort of monster Halliburton games where he was aggressively...

seeking his shot aggressively putting Zubats in a pick and roll and then dancing by him or hitting that little sidestep three that he's got so I want to give Hallie a little love

Yeah, Halliburton was great. You can tell this guy went on vacation during All-Star as well. Very tan, and he's got some burst. I thought he was in the lane the entire time. He did eventually start hitting the threes, but I thought it was more important that he's getting past his defender and creating for the team out there. Fifth in offense, eighth in defense, sixth in net rating in 2025. Like, they're looking good. They're actually healthy now. Neesmith is playing. Nemhardt is playing. Miles Turner is back. They've got their entire squad, which is the same team that they had last year, and they're looking like they did last year.

in the playoffs last year. I also saw Obi Toppin had an incredible dunk in this one. The lefty was nice. Best dunk score, I think, that night. And then later on, Tyrese Halliburton did a jump in the air, go between the legs and throw an alley-oop. Is that cool? I'm like, that's like 60% cool to me. Yeah.

It's cooler than just like a pass. It's cooler than a pass, but the problem is actually the dunk isn't all that cool. Because the pass is too good that it's like just right in front of the rim and Obi just jumps up and goes like this. Like, if Obi Toppin's like, you know, cocking that one back or Halliburton throws it off the glass after the legs, then I think it's...

Very cool. Yeah, no sauce from Obi on that one. No, there was no sauce. Yeah, yeah. I think he was a little surprised. Yeah. But, yeah. Yeah, I don't think he knew what the plan was on a 2-0 break. What are we doing here? And, yeah, Halliburton, I think, took a little bit of the limelight. Because he could have thrown it off the backboard, I think, would have been the best. Yeah, I think maybe that's what Toppin was getting ready for. Probably. He sort of would expect that. Off the backboard.

95% cool. I would say 100% cool. Off the backboard, it was always cool. Yeah, but you don't love as much just the jump up in the air and through the legs. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I don't know. I'm just like 50-50. You know what's cool? 60-40, I said. The cool was, the steel was really nice on that from Hellabert. And he had a couple, he does this sneaky thing where he does like,

The hiding. He hides behind a whole bunch of bodies and guys and knows, like, I think that pass is going to get kicked up to the top. And then he reads it. And he did it, like, two or three times in this game. He was doing passing lanes all game. Yeah, but I swear people don't see him. He's, like, just sort of, like, waiting behind guys. And then he, like, jumps it. So that led to that one.

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Let's do another round of NBA weekend winners. Tess, or excuse me, Trey, who you got? I got the Brooklyn Nets as a winner of the weekend. They made me come up with an analogy. Okay. The race for the Eastern Conference 10 seed is like a sweepstakes tweet from NBA Central. You're like...

The Utah Jazz are the leaders in the Isaiah Thomas sweepstakes. Mmm, sweepstakes. Okay, I see what you're saying. There's a sweepstakes? Right, right. That's like technically true. But does anybody want this? Does anybody want to be the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference? The Bulls have been in 10th.

Wow. Wow.

Like, broken play. Somehow it leaves the Sixers completely out of position. Wide open three. Kelly Oubre fouled Nick Claxton's back on a mid-range jumper at one point. That gave him a free point there. Even the putback, it didn't seem like Claxton wanted to celebrate. He just ran to the corner. He wasn't screaming or anything because it didn't.

Didn't necessarily look like it was going to be within the time, but it counted. They got the win, and maybe the Nets do want this team. I think they do. They're the team that does of all of these teams. They're the most wanting it, I think. They're 9-15 in 2025. What a record. They went 3-13 in January, but a hilarious 6-2 in February. They're a half game out of 10th right now. They play the Wizards tonight. Should be a win for Brooklyn. The Bulls play the Sixers tonight. Oh!

Good luck deciding that one. I don't know how they both lose, but if Trenton Watford plays, the Nets are going to win. This guy might get MVP votes. 16 points and 6 assists in the win on Saturday. The Nets are 12-9 when Trenton Watford plays. What a name. They're 9-23 when he doesn't play.

That's got to be the biggest swing in the entire league. That's very big. Wow. Put him fifth on your ballot, people. Yeah, okay. Hey, Bontemps, I want to change my straw poll vote. Get out of here, Giannis. I'm sneaking one in. I'm sneaking one in. Look at the on-offs. Check the impact metrics. Bontemps would be so pissed having to put Chet in the water. We got to do it. Three months. Three months.

That's good. We're doing it. Do you have any thoughts on the Nets here and their pursuit for that 10th seed? It's so fun to go for that 10th seed for a few teams, for the Brooklyn Nets, the Toronto Raptors, I'm sure. And it's such a great position because you can finish 10th in the Eastern Conference and still get a top seven or top eight, still be seventh or eighth worst team in the league.

So you got some hopes for Cooper Flagg. That's the beauty of finishing 10th. That's fun. It's fun sweepstakes. Another sweepstakes we should have is a secondary coach of the year sweepstakes because Jordy Fernandez is doing so freaking much. He's doing so

So much. Because they trade guys and trade Dorian Finney-Smith, trade Dennis Schroeder, their starting point guard. All their cams have been hurt this season. You know, they didn't have Cam Thomas. They didn't have Cam Johnson. And still. And still. And he's not going to win because this team literally could finish 10th. But what he's doing is a good coach. It's just as equal as anything that Kenny Atkinson is doing in a different way. So if there's a couple sweepstakes for the coach of the year where there's a – Second coach of the year.

Yeah, secondary coach. I mean, best record and then doing the most with the least or something like that. You sound like you want an all-coach team. We have all-NBA, we have all-rookie, let's do all-coach.

Done. He might get a second team. All coach team. We're doing that. We're going to put that in brainstorms. That's a great idea. So we can do it at the end of the year. I like that. A little love to the Brooklyn Nets. That was an impressive little game winner there. And we'll get to the Sixers who lost that game a little bit later. Tass, who do you have next? I'm going with a team that would probably have their coach get some Coach of the Year votes. J.B. Bickerstaff, the sixth-seeded...

Detroit Pistons have won six straight games going into this weekend. It was the Spurs on Friday, and they wear their Beauty City Edition jerseys with that little orange on it looking pretty nice. It's a one-point game at half, though, and J.B. Bickerstaff was mad at what happened in the second quarter. They gave up 38 points to the Spurs in that quarter, so he gave it to them at half, and they came out and played a great third quarter, allowing only 18 points to

six turnovers in that third quarter for the Pistons that they produced and only allowed five field goals Jalen Dern Isaiah Stewart each had a block just doing their thing on that end and on the offensive end Dern was amazing getting feeds from Cade Cunningham for alley oops Cade was in his own bag doing his own thing he looked beautiful out there and they won that quarter 38 38 38 18 and

Highlight of the night for me was when the Spurs were trying to pay too much attention to Cade, so he got a nice lob to Jalen Dern, who had a picturesque alley-oop where he looked like he was almost horizontal with the floor, and he threw it down in the fourth quarter. Just a picture. It was a poster for that guy. Cool stuff from them on Friday night. And then they came to Atlanta on Sunday. I was in the building sitting with our friend Cliff Kuhn,

Got very close seats. So I got to see Jalen Duren very close up to see that muscular body That guy is a monster and I don't know if the refs used that when they decided Oh two quick fouls for him and he had to go to the bench within a minute ten of the game But they're so deep they know who they are So Isaiah Stewart comes off the bench has to play the rest of the first quarter even Paul Reed has to sub in and be their third center and they played extremely well and

Simple as that. I can't believe it, but the Pistons are deep. They're doing this without Jaden Ivey, who's going to come back at some point. Malik Beasley comes off the bench. Obviously, that guy just hits threes. He hits seven threes. Dennis Schroeder comes off the bench. Your job is to defend hard, get your teammates involved. Seven assists in this one. He's averaging four assists since coming over from the Warriors at the deadline.

And Tim Hardaway in the starting lineup, 20 shots this weekend, 18 of them are threes. You know your role, my friend. And he had six on Sunday. And Cade was the guy again. Again, and as he said to Malik Beasley, don't touch me. I'm sizzling. He said that postgame that he said it during the game because he was hot. I mean, he was 38 points, 12 assists. It was really, really fun stuff. And again, this is a serious bunch.

They have a really good defense. It's kind of surprising to see that they're 12th in defense when you consider all their, who they are, but they're just getting after it. You didn't see any defense on Sunday. No, no. You saw a lot of points. 148, 143. Yeah, it was all, but their roles, they know what they are. Even Cade Cunningham fighting for the ball with Zachary Rissache. Two first, number one picks.

Fighting for it. And yeah, Trey nutmegged Cade. It was kind of fun to watch. He had 38 as well to match Cade's 38. And it was just offense, baby. 148, 143. But they have depth.

Even the Hawks have depth. George Nguyen came off the bench for 27, just dropping three after three after three. It was a wild one. And the business is six seed. It's going to be tough because they can play defense. Not in this one. They didn't need to. But it will be fun to see if they play the New York Knicks in that first round.

Just to illustrate how amazing Malik Beasley's been this season, Zach Lowe had a tweet this morning. Only one player in NBA history has hit over 42% of their threes while attempting at least 11 per 36 minutes, according to Basketball Reference. And he has done it five times. That person, of course, is Steph Curry, the greatest shooter of all time. Someone else is on pace to be the second player ever in that group, and it's Malik Beasley right now. Crazy high volume, crazy high percentage, something that only Curry has done, and

And right now, I mean, there's a little bit of the season left, so those numbers could dip, but Beasley's on pace to do that. That is amazing. Amazing. So he's obviously contributing. And yeah, Cade right now, he's playing the best basketball we've ever seen from Cade. And it's great because they are generally winning and continuing to hold on to a playoff spot, an actual playoff spot.

Like we would have been like, man, if the Pistons are, they're in the play-in. And they could be, they could still slip down. But if they're in the play-in, you know, just even competing, what a great year for JB Bickerstaff to finally sort of have a little success.

This is even better than their wildest dreams, I imagine, at the start of the season. To maybe even... We're in a legit 3-6 series, which is in play. It's huge. Yeah. And Trajan Langdon. Executive of the year. I mean, to get all these guys to just help out and do their thing. The oldies. Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway, Malik Beasley. And then just to plug them in their proper spots. And they're doing extremely well. There's still a role for veterans in this league. There are some guys who are just better on a middle-of-the-pack team. Yeah. Like, Beasley was...

to the Milwaukee Bucks last year. He was shot great percentages, great three-point shooting last year, but they needed him to play defense, and he wasn't able to bring that here on Detroit. Come off the bench, shoot it every time you touch it. Shoot a three every single time, and it's working out. Schroeder was definitely helpful because Cade had an awesome first half, 29 points, 10 assists. The Hawks then decided basically we're going to double team you no matter where you touch the ball, sometimes on the other side of the court. So they needed Schroeder, 11 points, 6 assists.

In the second half there, he wasn't very good with the Warriors. He was great with the Nets. He's a middle-of-the-pack kind of player as well. And those kind of guys are super helpful. It's going to be quite the race for executive of the year. Rob Polinka traded for Luka Doncic. I don't know how he doesn't win it. Who's on your all-executive team? Write it down. I know who's going to be on my sixth team.

Arturus Karnishevits. They'll make the sixth team. By default. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gotta get in there. Landry's getting in. Landry Fields is getting in. I like what he did. Why? Come on, man. Why? Just because you got good seats at the Hawks game. It has nothing to do with it. Why are you so mad at Landry Fields? You hate him. I'm not mad at him, but

Don't pretend that they're good. They're not. They made good moves. It's another disappointing season. DeJounte Murray. I mean, the Jalen Johnson injury changed things for sure, but. I'm not saying it's a good season. DeJounte Murray. I'm going to have nothing to do with my season. DeJounte Murray getting something back for him that he didn't make that first deal. Getting two first round picks back for him. Plus Dyson Daniels, potential defensive player of the year. That's a good move. DeAndre Hunter. We're selling high, man. We are getting multiple players for DeAndre Hunter. You gotta do it.

They're good moves. That's what executives should do. They're starting to build a deeper team. It's not a playoff team, unfortunately. Could backdoor into a playoff spot in that Eastern Conference. I guess it's still in play. A lot of other nominees to pick from for weekend winners. I mean, the Cavs and Celtics, their win streaks are now at seven and five games, respectively. So we could continue to talk about them. I know we're going to talk about them as we move forward here in the season and we get into the playoffs. And...

It feels like it's just inevitable they're going to play each other. But they could get a little nominee here. Jaron Jackson Jr. did have a clutch block on, I guess that was Friday night, in the Grizzlies' win in that game. I make note of that because obviously there's a vacuum now for Defensive Player of the Year. So it was good timing. He sort of comes through in the clutch there, but the Grizzlies lost their second game. SGA and OKC got a little revenge. They took down the Wolves. They're going to play again tonight. That's a home-and-home set.

But he was awesome. I say revenge because they had just lost to the Wolves right before the All-Star break, so they sort of take care of business there. Andrew Wiggins won in Toronto for the first time in his career, which I had to triple check that was true, but he won. Wiggins is on the heat, in case you forgot, but they actually won their first game of the weekend against the Raptors up there, and that's the first time he's ever done that. Amazing. Yeah, it's really strange.

That's just strange, man. Not that he was on amazing Timberwolves teams and stuff like that, but then on the Warriors? Yeah. Odd. But I want to give my final weekend winner to the Nut Dust Bowl fanatics out there. Oh, yeah. Because the race for the bottom is already heating up. So for those who have no idea what I'm talking about, last Wednesday during our NBA Rankings podcast, we did select for the second time now our Nut Dust Bowl champions. Yes.

Tash took the Hornets. Trey got the Jazz. I took the Pelicans because they all at the time had the exact same wins at 13.

For those, again, that have no idea what I'm talking about, at stake is a shot glass of nut dust. All right? So the bottom of a peanut bag, really. That could be a bowl. It doesn't have to be a shot glass. Wow, wow, wow. True, true. We're amping it up. We're amping it up. You're right. You're seasoning. So whoever finishes with the worst record, right, you have to take down some nut dust. It's just fun to say nut dust. So it didn't take long for Tass's Hornets.

to pick up a victory because that was that night that was that wednesday night when we only had the one game on so that they got their 14th win they beat the lakers that's right so you had a game on us in the standings heading into the weekend but we're back baby we're back trey trey's jazz took down the rockets keontae george 30 off the bench on saturday big big games some nice key on 30 points eight rebounds six assists monster this guy looking like

I saw him there Sunday night. And then on Sunday, my Pelicans, yes, my Pelicans, overcame a 17-point deficit to come back and beat the Spurs. Zion had 22-9 in the SFA. It wasn't looking good. I was like, oh, crap. I'm going to be losing this thing. But they come back. They won handedly this game. So that means we're all tied again when it comes to at least wins in the Nut Dust Bowl standings.

They all have 14, but I'm at a little disadvantage because my Pels are 14 and 43. I've played more games. So you guys have a couple more games to play with, especially Tass's Hornets there, but you see Jazz and Hornets both at 14. And we've included just for the sake of where these teams are. We've got the Wizards, they don't even have 10 wins yet, and then we've got the Raptors on the other end of the spectrum catching fire against the Suns on Sunday. Just literally insane ending to that game for them. They get the victory. But anyway...

The nut dust bowl, baby! It was entertaining the first time we did it. I think it's gonna be even more entertaining down the stretch here. The people are saying we have to snort the nut dust this time. We might die. Yeah, yeah. Oh, wow. Get some pistachio in your nostril? No thanks. Oh, God. That would tickle, wouldn't it? Oh, man. Just a line of nut dust. A pistachio seasoning or the actual nut? Well, I mean, sometimes the nut meat gets separated from the shell. Ch-ch-ch.

It's all ground up at the bottom of a bag. You never know, man. That's dangerous. Can't do that. You ended up having to do the nut dust last season. I mean, I don't know. Well, you can speak to it. It wasn't brutal, I guess.

It was delicious. Yeah, you liked the taste of it. Yeah, I remember. Yeah. Yeah, I liked the actual selection for the seasoning. Right, right. That's what it all came down to for me. I had a very parched mouth beforehand. I said, oh my goodness, I'm not going to do that. I got my mouth...

Very wet. Very wet. And that helped out. That helped out. Yeah. Oh, so you're saying maybe this, we should implement no pre-sips. I wouldn't do that. That would be hurt. No pre- or post-water pain. Whoa. Yeah, that's like the cinnamon challenge for sure then. All right. Anyway, keep your eye on the nut dust bowl standings. Let's do losers of the weekend. Yes. Yeah? Yeah, let's do that. Let's do it. Trey, who you got? Oh, the bowls are back.

And they're the Sacramento Kings now. Loser of the weekend goes to the Sacramento Kings for their performance on Friday. They got smacked by the Warriors at home the first game after the break, and it was ugly. 24 turnovers in this one for Sacramento turned into 35 Golden State points. Zach Levine had five turnovers of his own. Four of those came in the first quarter. He got pulled three minutes in.

for Keon Ellis. DeRozan had 34 points and six assists in this game and this loss, but that was a little bit misleading. This guy's slamming water bottles and sitting in the huddles on the sideline there. Post-game, Doug had to have a meeting with just the starters. Literally just had a meeting with the starters. So it's not a players-only meeting. It's not a team meeting. I don't know that I've heard of the starters and coach meeting. Oh, it was a great show. Oh, okay.

I did love that. Coach? Yeah, that was awesome. We really just jammed together two NBA TV shows. Players only, baby. Players only. And the starters. Okay, so I have heard about it. We had Dennis Scott on quite regularly. That's called the grill marks meeting. Yeah. Very weird. He's like, yeah, I'll give them the message.

And then they'll just tell everybody else. That would be fitting because somebody came up to me at the Hawks game yesterday and said, well, I love you on NBA TV. I watch the reporters. We're not the reporters. But I guess we would be the reporters to break some news. That would have been fitting. I was like, no. ESPN? The sports reporters was on ESPN. Dick Schaap. Yeah. That's a guy's name? Yeah, that is a guy's name. Dick Schaap? Schnapp?

He did reporting and he made alcohol. Sports reporters. Yeah, that probably won some Emmys. Schnapp? I thought it was Schnapper. We had our version with Dave Hodge in Canada. That was a good time. So he had no relation to Schnapp. Okay. Jeremy. Jeremy's his son. Jeremy is Dick's son.

Dick Shep. Anyways, King starters, they're bad. Monk, Levine, DeRozan, Murray, and Sabonis, they've started all seven games since the Levine trade. They have played 136 minutes, so about 20 a game. They're a minus three and a half net rating.

With Ellis subbed in for Malik Monk, they've only played four games together, 35 minutes, a plus 8.9 net rating. So something's going to have to change here. I wonder if that came up in the meeting with Doug Christie because there are just too many similar players. Like Monk has become a good playmaker, but he's not a natural point guard. DeRozan, ISO mode. Levine, it feels like he's trying to fit in right now, maybe overpassing a little. They have him kind of being the point guard with the second unit. That's not his strength either.

All these guards and perimeter guys handling the ball has taken away from Sabonis' dribble handoff game, which is kind of his biggest strength on the offensive end. He didn't really get touches inside against the Warriors until the second half when he was actually looking like the biggest guy out there. Markel Fultz is now around. Like, he's the only natural point guard on the roster.

He just got signed to a 10-day? I don't know. The Kings are in 10th place. The Bulls are in 10th place. They're the same team. It's wild that a team looked at what the Bulls did for three years and said, we want that. We love to be 500. We love it. And in the play-in, for sure. Yeah, it's interesting because Sabonis, the better version of the frontcourt on either of these teams has become very different. He just doesn't get to handle the ball as much. And so that's...

That ain't the same thing. You got four ball handlers.

The Kings-Bulls similarities also continue with the team sort of chasing them, right? You're always joking about the Sixers can never catch the Bulls to get into the play-in. That's sort of what's going on with the vibeless Suns here, too. That should be their spot. They should be ahead of them, and they're worse. The Suns are now 27-30 after losing to the Raptors there on Sunday up in Toronto. 27-30, they're the highest payroll in the league, I want to remind everyone again. Both these teams. One of these teams, the Kings or Suns, are going to be in the play-in.

They're going to at least have one game in a 9-10 matchup, it feels like. I don't know who they'll be playing. Will it be the Warriors? Will it be the Mavs?

Could the Wolves continue to slide? I don't know. I guess what I'm getting at is I don't like their chances. Whoever that 10th seeded team is to advance or at least move on to try and be the 8th seed. Would you rather be the 11th seed and not even play one? Just so it's not as embarrassing. So embarrassing. Wow. Yeah. Well, I get... Like, yeah. No. No, probably not. I'd want to compete, especially in like one game. I know you'd have to win two games to get in from that spot, but...

Yeah, I hear what you're saying. Neither team is winning two games. I can't believe both these teams. They're infuriating to me, the Kings and Suns. I'm not even a fan of theirs. I'm not a diehard fan of these teams, but man, they're so, so disappointing. Kings will be the 10th seed, though. They got Valanciunas.

Oh, he's always in it. He's played every play in tournament so far. He's always in it. It was seeming like he wasn't going to make it. Yeah, that's what they tried to put him. What if he went to the Lakers, man? It would have broke the streak. But he went to the Kings. Too perfect. It is perfect. All right. Daredevil is born again on Disney+. Why did you stop being a vigilante? The line was crossed. Sometimes peace needs to be broken. And chaos must reign.

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Hey, it's Noah Chestnut from The Athletic. If you're into games and sports, pay attention. I'm going to give you four sports terms. You tell me the common thread. Ready? Axel, loop, lutz, sow cow. That's axle, loop, lutz, sow cow. This one's like medium hard.

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Tass, who do you have for an NBA weekend loser? Well, the New York Knicks went and played the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. Both the Cavs and the Celtics gave it to them, as is per usual. We know the Knicks just don't do well against the best teams in the NBA. They continuously lose against all of them now. Knicks are 0-7 against Boston, Cleveland, and OKC. The Cavs beat them by 37 on Friday.

Yeah, that was really bad. Yeah, like Tristan Thompson jokes at the end of the game. Oh, should we get mad at them for shooting when they're up late? That was wicked. What a smack. 37, goodbye. Boston's game ended up being closer.

They got back into it. They did get back into it. It's still a double-digit loss, and they have lost to the Celtics now by 27-23, and that's just smaller, smaller double-digit loss. It's not as big a deal when you lose by 13. That being said, the same issue keeps on popping up.

With the Boston Celtics, there's just way too much ability to go to all five guys, and the Knicks just can't hang. They just cannot play defense against all of them. We saw the Celtics going to play pick and roll against whoever was the point guard with Cat playing center, whether it was Brunson or Campaign. Porzingis was feeling good, either going to take defense

Whoever it was as a point guard down into the post or shoot the threes, he was feeling good. And that is an issue. That is an issue with the New York Knicks. They are at that three seed, but it sure feels like that is peak New York Knicks. Now, how do they change this defense? Because they've got such a great offense. It was leading the league at some time. Now it's third. And their defense is 21st. Mitchell Robinson was the guy to potentially move Cat over to the four spot.

Mitchell Robinson will be coming back at some point in the near future. Not extremely near future, but how good is he going to look? Is he going to be able to move? He's been out nearly a year now. And that is definitely a worry that he would get injured again. Do you just start him beside him, just beside Kat, just to...

give something different and play him 20, 25 minutes? I suppose. But is he going to be healthy enough? That's the question. And does he even matter against the Celtics? Like, you're going to play two bigs against this Celtics team? Good luck. That was the problem to me. I think...

I don't know. It's a lot of things. We just did our rankings, and I think we nailed the Knicks. We had them in the Final Four flirts because we're like, they're better than most of the teams in the Eastern Conference, and there's no chance they beat the good teams because there basically is no chance they beat the good teams, especially the Celtics. They play the same styles. The Knicks made all their trades this summer to get a Celtics-style team. They have one. The Celtics are better at it. They've been doing it longer, and all their guys are bigger.

I think that really stood out to me. And you heard it post game as well. Like Josh Hart getting in the lane and pump faking because there's four guys that are taller than he is under there. Brunson small on the outside. They made a great run in the third quarter. It was the Knicks starters playing against the bench for the Celtics. So advantage Knicks there.

It just doesn't seem like this is going to be the year for the Knicks if they're not getting big performances from O.G. Ananobi and Mikael Bridges, both of whom I think have had kind of disappointing seasons. O.G. has been in and out of the lineup, just came back working his way in, so maybe by playoff time he'll be looking better. But I think Bridges hasn't really found his spot in this offense. There are points in time where he can have, you know, like...

six or eight points nice and quick and then he'll just drift and be gone forever he's so much skinnier than a Jalen Brown as well can get put in the basket they just have problems uh with this team and there's not really a way for them to hit the gas in the postseason because all their guys already play 40 to 45 minutes that's usually like the cheat code guess what our starters play more yeah doesn't happen for the Knicks I couldn't believe and I know Kat said he wanted to go back in the game but Tibbs putting Kat back in the game after he was injured and it was like

it was a blowout. Like there was like very little chance they were coming back to win that game. That was insane to me. Like you got it like a little long-term planning here, Tibbs. Like play the long game here.

I mean, I don't think anything else happened that he, like, re-injured it or made it worse, but, like, that's your job as the coach. The players are always going to want to play. And, like, you sort of have to protect them from themselves. I thought that was silly. I mean, he was lying on the bench, like, grabbing his leg. Literally lying down on the bench. And, like, later, you know, after going back to the locker room, like, puts him back in.

That was odd. That was dumb. That was dumb. And he's lucky that it didn't make it worse, I don't think. But, yeah, all the things you guys said, they're just not on that level of these teams. The Celtics are also starting to look like the Celtics of last year. They're playing well. When Porzingis is playing like this and Drew's a little more aggressive, you've got everybody else. Good luck with that. And, yeah, they just can't beat the Cavs at all. I mean, that was shellacking.

Yeah, they can handle teams with their offense. You know, even if Bridges hasn't found his role as being a go-to, like the third option, Brunson and Cat have been so good offensively that they can outscore teams. But the problem is the other end. Yeah. They got to find it. And it's not with this starting five. The one in five is a problem. I mean, both Brunson's size and Cat's ability to move in pick and roll situations.

I would like to give a loser of the weekend to, I guess, Joel Embiid. Really just the 76ers. A season full of championship dreams has turned into an absolute nightmare for Philly. And I probably hit rock bottom there on Saturday. Embiid was benched during the fourth quarter.

of that 105-103 loss to the Nets, that Nick Claxton game winner. Philly's seventh straight L. Embiid scored 14 points in 31 minutes. He missed all six of his three-pointers. If you watch the guy, he's barely moving out there. He has no impact defensively because of it. Scored 15 or fewer points in consecutive games for the first time since 2021.

So, you know, we've been debating it for a couple of weeks. Tassie had brought it up a long time ago. I was like, they should shut him down. Like, what are we doing at this point? He was slow to get up in that game. And Nick Nurse said, you know what? They got back in the game. They're like, we're just not going to go to him because he's not actually really helping us maybe try and win a game.

You might remember last week Embiid said he needed to fix the problem here in his left knee. So that sort of kicked off all this talk about what are they doing? Should they shut him down? Well, Shams broke the news on Sunday that the Sixers and Embiid are consulting doctors considering alternative options such as surgery for that injured left knee. And he only played in 39 games last year.

He had the torn meniscus. He got surgery. He underwent successful surgery. He came back in April. He played in the playoffs. You know, looked bad at times, looked good. I think he had a 50-point game. He played with the Team USA over the summer and won the Olympic gold and had moments there.

But he's acknowledged. I just don't have it. I do not have it in this leg. And it's bad. So I guess the only good news for the Sixers is in losing to the Nets, they actually slipped to the sixth worst record in the NBA. That pick that they owe to the OKC, it's top six protected. So if they want it, they lean into the tank here and keep their odds in the top six. And then you get your pick.

But we've got to figure out what to do with Joel Embiid here. And is he undergoing surgery again? And will he just ever be able to sort of bounce back? Has to be a concern. He's not a young guy. 31? 31. He's had a ton of injuries. He's a big dude. That's a whole issue. Then, you know, once again, it's all the conditioning and all that as well. And he's on a massive deal. Like, you're going to start people going...

Is he on the worst contract? Does he have the worst contract in the NBA? What about his teammate? Well, George has a word. That's a problem too. He's clearly telling this to the media, as he told Lisa Salters, that's over two weeks ago now, where he said, hello, I need to sit. Essentially. I mean, he comes out there and he plays. There's no doubt he plays as hard as he can.

But he's not the same self. It's just like he just settles for threes. He settles for jumper. It's not the Embiid that obviously... The MVP-like Embiid that we've seen. You'll get a random play where he'll come up with a big block. But he just can't do that from play to play. And he...

has to sit now to make next season at least a little bit palatable for this team. At least squint and hope that they can get better. Because why would you have surgery on him in June so he can be better in December or January? It doesn't really make sense. I know I'm just making up these numbers, or making up these dates, but...

The faster you do it, the better he'll be next season. At least hopefully. Here it is. I mean, it's right here, right now. It has to be done. And the fact that he's now said it to the media twice within two weeks. This is what's happening. Yeah. Because now Shams is saying, the Sixers and Embiid are going to obviously consult all these people and we'll figure out what the move is here. But it is like, what do we do? Do we do surgery again on this? Do we not? Is it just complete rest for this guy? Yeah.

He's going to have to have the Alonzo ball surgery where he gets a cadaver meniscus put in. Probably. Because nothing else has worked. 13 months ago, he was averaging a point per minute. He was having a Wilt Chamberlain season, and now it feels like it's his prime over. Because you're right. There are moments when he looks like he's throwing it back. Still a good shooter. Embiid could figure out a way to be effective. I think as his career goes on, if he's still hampered the way he is, but...

It's just a disaster season for the 76ers. And honestly, I feel sad for Joel Embiid because it's like he should be sat down. Do you want to have yet another season ended by surgery? Of course he doesn't. No. He hates that. He got in a fight with a reporter this year because they were calling him out for never being healthy. So he's trying to gut it out. And guess what? He's not healthy still. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But obviously it is bleak for the Philadelphia 76ers in more than one way, Embiid and Paul George.

And so it would just be such, as I said, be able to digest, just to be able to imagine a good season. How would you like to go into training camp with those two heavy contracts and non-healthy Embiid? And Paul George, that was...

not the same guy, the following, the previous seasons, it just, it just doesn't make sense to wait on it. You, the longer, the better. I mean, that's, that's clear. Yeah. And, and it's just, as you said, maybe he's not the same guy ever. Sure. But,

at least give it a shot that he could get to there. That's possible. And again, like, you are, you're almost encouraged to just continue to be bad this year. Like, you might as well keep your pick at this point. And it, like, the truth is, whether these guys, their big three play or not, they're bad when they're out there, they're bad when they're not. So it doesn't even matter if he's out there or not. Um,

Like, cause I think like a team like the Raptors, yeah, they might pass them. They might here just down the stretch. There are only a couple of games behind them. So, you know, that, you know, that keeps them sort of in the bottom five. There's all those crappy teams, the nut dust bowl teams, maybe the gaps too big. Maybe one of them goes on an insane run. It's probably unlikely, but I think it's there to keep in the bottom six and thus keep your pick. I think you're, you're feeling pretty good. That's possible.

whether they play or not, but I'm with you guys. They got to shut them down. It's sad to watch. It's very sad. But what a... We were like, my God, the Sixers won the offseason.

We were like, this is awesome. This is good. Look at this team. Executive of the year. Yeah, Laurie had won it. He had won it when it was November, for sure. And then they started as poorly as they did, and then they've just been spinning their wheels since, whether guys are in or out. And then, oh, my God, yeah, the Paul George somehow has even been worse than Joel Embiid. Yeah.

He's playing, but you forget about it sometimes. Yeah. So those are our NBA Weekend Losers. Who'd we miss? Who'd we miss when it came to winners? Let us know in the stream team as you are. Let us know in the YouTube comments. Pick'em, Tass Mellis, still alive. Because that Friday night, you took the Cavs, I took the Knicks thinking they'd keep it close and they got beat by 37.

So you're alive, bud. Yeah. And that's why I'm quite happy to see you take the Detroit Pistons tonight. I said, I will take the opposite team as I'm only three games behind you, Skeets, here in the final week of February. Five games remaining, down by three. Next week will be the week that most likely I will be doing something extremely embarrassing. Yeah. Can I speak to that? Hopefully next week.

I'm a little, I'm not happy with the shipping speed. Let me just leave it at that. For this particular item we want. Didn't get Prime on that thing? No, it's not. It's not from Prime. It's from their factory. Custom. Yeah, that's what I think. I think it is. Really? Because it made me pick the date I want it. Like, I'm like, what? Just send it to me. But I feel like they haven't made it yet. Yeah. So they're making it. But anyway, we might have, we might not. So.

Don't worry about it. Whatever. We'll do it when we get it. We'll do it when we get it. Because it'll be worth it. It's fine. Tonight, the Clippers are going into Detroit, both playing on a back-to-back. And we're probably going to seal it here. The Clippers are probably going to lose this game, I imagine. Why are you saying that? Well, it doesn't feel like Norman Powell is playing. Okay. There's a chance Kawhi doesn't play again, even though he didn't play yesterday and has been playing in back-to-backs, one part of back-to-backs. The Pistons are hot as hell, baby. They are.

They're hot. Six straight wins. So, basically a pick-em. Couple of us are taking the Clippers train. I've got the Clippers train.

So you're saying if Detroit wins tonight, I guess even lose by one, that it's over because you will not have enough February left. Is that correct? We can still be tied because I would be four down, four days remaining here, 25th through the 28th. It's not a leap year. It's all we got. Wow. It's about Tuesday through Friday. No birthday for Tyrese Halliburton this year. Sad. That's sad. What about this week? Who is the retired player who's also a 29th? Vontigo Cummings. That's the one, yeah.

I love that you know that off the top of your head. I should know the other ones, but nope. Yeah, we should know all the Leap year movies in the NBA. I was going to say Sean Leonard because it was another V name. Okay, so it's Cummings, Halliburton. John Chaney. Oh, wow. Old timer, born in 1920. Damn. First Leap year. I was going to say that before they even had the first. And Chucky Brown. Oh, Chucky Brown. Wow. Okay, we can remember that from now on. I think so. That's it? That's

That's it? That's it. Wow. That's amazing. Yep. So Halliburton is the only all-star. Only leap year...

Baby all-star. Yep. But he's, he's got quite a ways to go to be the all-time games played leader for leap year babies. 694 games for Chucky Brown, only three 14. Of course, Chucky Brown played it. He played like on a hundred teams, right? He played at least over 10 teams. Yeah. All right. Good stuff. Good little track. We'll be tracking that for the rest of his career. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's Monday night, which means we'll be back on playback tonight around 8 30 PM. Eastern. You know,

You know, sort of catching the second half of the early game. So we're on there 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the action. Some good ones. I'm excited for Nuggets Pacers. Obviously Nuggets winning streak snapped by the Lakers, but Pacers are hot. And that's a nice little test for them with Denver coming in here upset after a loss. So that's a good one. Oh, we have Wolves Thunder again.

This one in OKC, right? Bull Sixers. Bull Sixers, of course. Big one. Big one. So anyway, we're on playback tonight. That link is in the show notes. Come hang out with your boys. Watching a little basketball. Otherwise, we're back tomorrow live from the Classic Factory at 10 a.m. Eastern. So hopefully see you then. Hit the like button. Subscribe. Podcast listeners. Five-star ratings and reviews. Clipper Bros! You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome.

Thanks for joining us. And remember, Buddy Heald likes wearing bucket hats. That's why they call him Buddy Buckets. Brace the day, people.