Suns Trade For A Center, 'Skyhawks' Beat Bulls, Ja's Insane Highlight That Wasn't
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Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the No Dunks Podcast on The Athletic Network. It's Thursday, January 16th, 2025. I'm Jay Skeets here in the Classic Factory, and alongside me, as always, Tass Mellis. Podcast listeners, this is for you. Next to him, it's the bearded one, my top shot hot boy, Trey Kirby. Ayo! Ayo! And over yonder, he's going through it this morning thanks to equipment failing.

Failing him, it's Super Producer JD. I'm instruments only over here. Wow. Zero visibility. Oh, boy. So you thought it was the monitor that was crapping out. In the end, it might be your switcher. Yeah. And now you're doing this show blind, basically? Is that what you're telling us? Yeah, I can't see what's coming next. So, you know. Exciting.

Okay. So, hey, podcast listeners, this really is for you. This one. That says it every day, but this one, 100%. Thanks to everybody joining us live on YouTube, sticking through the delayed show here. We appreciate it. Hit the like button, subscribe. Do it for JD. He needs it today. He needs your support. And make sure you share the show, podcast listeners, five-star ratings and reviews. Well, I turn to the Southern lawyer. Would you tip your cap good, sir? We got ourselves free. Yeah.

Oh, geez, we don't need that. No, no, we don't need this graphic. We have it. We might as well use it. Okay. Yesterday...

The Charlotte Hornets traded backup center Nick Richards and a second round draft pick to the Phoenix Suns for forward Josh Okoji and three future second round picks. So the Suns do something here, Tass. They did. And they get a big because the one starting center that they had, he got the flu, then they moved him to the bench, and then they said, get the hell out of here. I'm talking about Yusef Nurkic. So they go in with Plumdog, they're going with a rookie, and maybe Nick Richards suddenly is their starting center? But they went and got him for Okoji in these...

Second round picks. Yeah, it's a tiny trade, but they needed something. They needed a big, it's pretty simple job that Nick Richards will have with Phoenix. It's a DRD. Just dunk, rebound, and defend, my man. This team does not dunk.

They take the fewest shots around the rim and it would help if somebody goes around there and gives them a little bit of space because yeah, use of Nurkic doesn't knock all that much. Nick Richards, double the amount of ducks that Nurkic has had this season. And Mason Plumlee is very similar to what Nick Richards will do, but Nick Richards just far younger. And that's the important thing here. And then the other side,

They do need help on the defensive end, rebounding the ball. We've seen two games in a row here where they've been pounded on second chance points. We saw Nyeka Nkongu of the Atlanta Hawks have 10 offensive rebounds. And the Charlotte Hornets, Nick Richards, the old Charlotte Hornets, you know, them scoring 26 second chance points. Very important stuff. He's going to also have to defend...

one through five a lot of the time. That's the problem with the Phoenix Suns is their defense. Just overall, this guy is going to have to be all over the place. Him and Mason Plumlee

Don't call me Miles. They're going to have the same job, I think. I mean, they're going to split the minutes at center. I don't know if Yusuf Nari is going to be part of this rotation again. I don't think so. It sure doesn't seem that way. They're trying to train him, just whether or not they can get anything in return for him, because he's got another, what, 19 million, I think, on his deal next season? Yeah. 18 and then 19 next year. And so January 15th, Josh Takoji became an L.

to be traded, he got traded. That's who the Charlotte Hornets wanted, and they got some picks at the very least. I mean, it's a lot of picks. Yeah. So Richards has been productive, TK, in his starts for Charlotte. He averaged 11 and 10, and this guy shoots a very high percentage. I mean, it's all around the rim. He is not stretching the floor. Don't shoot it, dude. Apparently he's had... He's in DSD. Over the last four seasons, Nick Richards has shot 65% from the field, which is fifth best in the NBA during that span, because again...

It's just all around there. Do you think he gets the start immediately for the Phoenix Suns? And you can see him at least contributing and helping. This Suns team that we talked about has very little identity and could use at least a big to do the dirty work. He'll probably start just because he's bigger than Oso Iguodaro and more athletic than Mason Plumlee, a one-time dunk contest participant. Easy to forget that one. Yeah.

But I think they shipped Mason Plumlee out of Charlotte because of Nick Richards once upon a time, right? Like he was the backup, became the backup for Plumlee behind Mark Williams. Will he help? No. I mean, this is Nick Richards. He's a backup center who's got to be starting for the Suns. But they needed something and they needed to do something to make it seem like they're actually trying this season. They gave up basically two second round picks in this one since the Hornets sent one back to the Suns as well.

Maybe that Suns one turns into something eventually, right? It's in 2031. They'll probably be pretty bad by then since they have no picks. I don't know if it's the smartest move, honestly, to trade two second round picks for a guy who's a backup center when you have basically nothing to trade. But the Suns had to do something. They've had a terrible season and they're getting nothing from their center rotation. So this might be better.

Yeah, I wonder if this is a sign that they're going to be unable to convince Bradley Beal to waive that no trade clause. And this is the only thing that they can do. So they say, we'll give up picks for him. This might be it. Or if they can convince a team to take Nurkic to get another second round pick back in that potential deal. Again, I don't know. Don't you think they would have to add picks to trade Nurkic? Yeah, maybe. It's been that bad. And he's got another year left on his deal. Yeah, that's the thing.

So they get a physical seven-footer here in Nick Richards. This stat blew my mind. You were bringing up the second-chance points recently that they gave up to the Hawks and to the Hornets that involved Nick Richards. When Nurkic has been off the floor, the Suns' opponents have rebounded almost 32% of their misses.

Almost one in three shots the opponent is grabbing when Nurk is not out there. That's an issue. So hopefully Nick Richards. I always get tongue-tied with his name. I don't know what it is. But Cody Hunt, he tweeted last night, Suns just went from the 30th best center rotation in the NBA to the 28th. It made me laugh. It might be true. And he put a sarcastic, let's go.

On that. So before you got in here, Tass, TK and I were like, oh, that's funny. 28th. Maybe he's right, though. Like, who has a worst center rotation in the NBA? We threw out the Pelicans, maybe. Like, Missy's been great as a rook. Not a lot there. How dare you do that to Daniel Tice. No, don't do that. Okay, the Jazz. Kessler's had a bit of a bounce back, but it's Eubanks, and it's pretty bleak. Yeah.

The Sixers without Embiid, I joked. Drummond, is that a rough go this year? But anyway, the point is, he's probably right, Cody, with that tweet. It improves them, but it's not much. It does. Yeah, their defensive rebounding is middle of the pack. They just need a guy to grab boards. And their offensive rebounding, very bad. Again, don't go out in the mid-range. Your job is to roll, set picks, play.

Dunk it, dude. Literally, they just don't ask him to shoot the ball. It's pretty freaking simple. That's what Nick Richards has to do for this Phoenix Suns team because they lack an identity and they just lack this simple stuff. They just need a body. That's for sure.

He's born in Jamaica. I was just in Jamaica for Christmas holiday. No one was talking about Nick Richards. I was surprised by that. Why weren't people talking about this guy? Nobody, unless you are a Hornets fan or you play fantasy basketball or you an absolute NBA sicko, you have no idea who Nick Richards is. Yep. You don't. And that's fine. Nor should you, really.

Maybe you will now because he'll be maybe on some more nationally televised games and if he comes in here and makes a difference, okay, people will start talking about him. I don't think it's going to be the bump that we quite saw with like Daniel Gafford going to the Mavs. I don't think it's like going to that level, but like we all said, it's going to help. Probably. It should. Can't get much worse there for the Suns. Can't get worse. And I sort of feel happy for Nick Richards. Like,

his guy has been in Charlotte his entire NBA career, like on pretty bad teams for the most part. So at least he goes to a team in the Western Conference that's struggling, yes, but, but, you know, is better than the Charlotte Hortons is my point. Upgrade from 14th to 11th. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Any other thoughts here on...

on the Suns Hornets deal I mean Josh Okoji is a good defender I don't think he's going to be long term for the Charlotte Hornets it's all about the picks I assume in this move it's all about the picks they're doing a good job of getting picks in I think they're up two first rounders and eight second rounders uh

including last year's trade deadline when P.J. Washington went out, Gordon Hayward went to the Thunder. They're getting picks in. They're completely in teardown mode. It makes you think, are they going to move Lomelo eventually? Like, they're just letting him shoot all the time. Maybe a pump-and-dump scheme now that they signed him to the big extension, and maybe they want to reorient themselves around Cooper Flagg. But, I mean, they traded their backup center and got some picks. Good. Right. Yeah, Mason Paul is just...

He's older than I felt he was. Maybe he has been around for a long time. He's got a bit of a baby face. Yeah, he does. He can't grow a beard. So surprising to me that he'll be 35 pretty soon. So that is old. OK, I wouldn't even know. No, no, it doesn't feel that way. And he was in a dunk contest once, but I guess that was freaky.

eons ago. That was a long time. Where was that one? That was the Brooklyn one. With Oladipo when he came out dressed in a tux. That one? I think that's right. I think that is true. I don't know why I remember that. Didn't they have to like sing? He sang a song maybe? Yeah, like a Sinatra or something? What?

Was it? Or was it a classic? Yeah, he did sing New York. I think he did. He sang New York. I was going to say my classic man, but that wasn't him. That was Aaron Gordon coming out. Weird times with Doug Coddett. And back to the Suns, like my final point on them, like we said, like, can you get anything in return for Nurkic? Good point from Trey. Do you have to attach more capital to get off that deal? We'll see. And then the other thing is like,

Can you trade Grayson Allen? And you do have a future 2031 first round pick. I mean, that's really all you have left is my point. Unless you get Bradley Beal to waive the no trade clause. Then maybe you got something. But even then. Or trade their good guys. Or trade Durant. Yes. Yes. Yes. It doesn't seem like that's what Matt Ishbeel wants to do. No. No. But should they? Yes. Obviously. All right. We'll leave it there for now. Let's move to some games. Crazy. Crazy.

oddly games and weird storylines and plays coming out of a lot of action from last night. Let's start with one that we watched on playback right to the end. It went to overtime. Jalen Brunson scored 38. Josh Hart, triple-double. Knicks beat the 76ers. No Joel Embiid. In OT. Knicks dodged a bit of a bullet here, I will say. And Maxie, despite sort of having a rough start,

Turned it on, and it was really the only reason the Sixers had a chance to even win this game. You had that great steal on Brunson where he poked it from behind to then obviously get the goal tanned to get it into overtime. They came up short, but any takeaways from Knicks beating the Philadelphia 76ers? Listen, the Philadelphia 76ers, they play hard. They really do. The Knicks could have blown out the Philadelphia 76ers with the way they were shooting the ball.

They were hitting 53% of their shots, 43% of their threes, hit three more threes than Philly. All the Knicks who shot threes hit multiple threes. And the 76ers, as you said, no Joel Embiid in this one, still went to OT. But Nick Nurse has these guys working. When we're talking about Nick Nurse and him potentially being on a hot seat for the Philadelphia 76ers,

what are you going to get in a replacement? A coach that comes in and says, hey, Joel Embiid, can you play? Really just to get somebody to convince Joel Embiid to play because he's got these guys working back-to-back nights. They've played hard against OKC. Yes, they lost. And in this one, a good effort. They've got guys up and down the roster.

Jeff Doughton banked home a three. The night before, Justin Edwards banked home a three. They just have these names that are going deep to help them out because Brunson was frigging awesome. I thought he set the tone for his team, even though, look, first possession, Oubre tried to push on a steal after Mikkel Bridges missed the shot. Oubre pushed. Brunson, beautiful steal to set this thing going, and he got a three for Bridges. This team is just...

It's been reeling a little bit. They lost 5-7 coming into this game, and so they just needed Jalen to be their guy, and he was. The Jeff Doughton Jr. 3 that he banked in at the end of the third quarter, I think it was, heading into the fourth that tied it up.

he had the weirdest reaction to hitting a prayer three. Like he almost seemed upset. He was sad. We were watching it on playback. He was like rattled by it. It was very strange. Paul George came over for the, I'm throwing my arm around you. Are you okay, man? You just hit a basket.

Points are points, guys. You're an NBA player. You hit a basket. You're sad. What's up? Very, very strange. But yeah, Knicks dodged a bullet here. They had that nine-game win streak in December, but you said at TAS they were sort of struggling, had lost the 5-7 heading into this game. And then meanwhile, the Sixers...

You know, they won 10 of 13 games starting in late November, but then since then they've lost 7 of 9, including 4 of their 5 home games in 2025 here. So they remain in the 11th spot. The Bulls are right ahead of them still. Can't catch them. No, can't catch them. But I guess I was going to say a good win in the end. The Knicks sort of needed this W to right the ship a little bit, but it wasn't the most convincing. I saw a lot of Knicks fans not all that pleased with how much...

It had to take from Brunson and obviously another incredible scrappy Josh Hart game, stuff like that, just to get across the finish line. 49 minutes for Josh Hart, his fifth triple-double of his career. Eleventh of his career. Eleventh of his career, fifth with the Knicks. They said he's only three away from tying their all-time record. Clyde Frazier had eight.

That's a tiny number in 2025, but I guess they haven't had like a Jokic or a Westbrook to just kind of rack them up. But 17 rebounds I thought was huge from Josh Hart playing basically as their rebounder without Carl Anthony Towns there. And Precious Achua also picked up the slack. His defense was really good, especially in the fourth quarter and overtime. He had six rebounds in this one, three blocks. He had a steal as well. Did have a late goal 10, but when he was blocking all those shots, you're like, I'll look at that one a little bit. And Carl Anthony Towns.

any towns. He wore an Eagles shirt in the first half, apparently sweated through it, and then said he had to change into a Knicks shirt. He said, hey, Twitter, sweat stains ain't it on ESPN? Had to pull another fit out. Anyways, go birds. Okay. Do you buy his reasoning here for switching? Because a lot of people are obviously wearing the Eagles there in Philadelphia. But tons of Knicks fans in attendance, too. Yeah, a lot of Knicks fans. And Brunson was asked about it. He loved it. He's a Philly guy. But he said it was because he was sweating through it. Yeah. Yeah, I mean...

Why would you say I'm so sweaty that I sweat through my shirt if it wasn't true? Yeah, I agree. And it was bright green. I think it would show the pit stains. Very good point. It was also a thick shirt, so it could be hot, period. It was thick. It was thick.

It's not possible he meant sweat stains from his teammates. Oh, like hugs? Maybe. Chucking it out there. I don't know. Maybe they're so mad he was wearing an Eagles shirt that they're like coming up and giving him these nasty hugs so he has to take it off. Maybe so. It's possible. Just a note on Josh Hart playing 49 minutes. Knicks have top two in terms of minutes played in the NBA. Mikkel Bridges, number one. Josh Hart, number two. And on the broadcast, they said no...

NBA team has had the top three in NBA minutes played in a season ever. And they don't right now. Could they? It's not too far off. OG Ananobi is basically just over a minute beneath number three Tyrese Maxey. So it could happen to the New York Knicks. And that's why Tibbs was...

Smiley. Oh, yeah. See, they're top. They are top three in total played. And then Brunson is number five. Jeez. Yeah. Yeah. So they said where we are top three. I guess that it might be total minutes played rather than minutes per game that they're going by. But I guess that's why Tibbs was smiling in the first 15 seconds. I've never seen a Tibbs smile in a game period, but he was smiling. He's like, yes, I get to play all my guys a lot. And that is a slight worry for this next team.

Top heavy. We're playing a lot of guys. But their bench is coming through, as you said, Achua. I think campaign has been awesome recently for this team. So they do have guys producing.

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Alright, let's move on to Keaton Wallace. Who? Some of you might be saying, "Keaton Wallace and his, let's call him the College Park Skyhawks, beat the Bulls 110-94."

Unbelievable. Oh, look at these guys. We both got hats. They both just threw on their college park Skyhawks hats. Amazing stuff here. It's the second time I've worn it. I feel so good about that. I wore it at a Skyhawks game last week. I get to wear it again. Look at it. Looks great on you. So yeah, Keaton Wallace, obviously a call up from the G League team and Daquan Plowden.

in his first NBA game scored 19 points again being called up from the Skyhawks he finished 7-8 from the floor he hit 5 threes we just saw these two guys on Sunday here in Atlanta we called the game the Skyhawks versus the Motor City Crews both these guys played and Plowden had an incredible dunk Tassie talked to him at halftime going into the locker room oh tell me about that windmill he's all smiles and then they go they get the call up and they go and beat the Bulls they were like the two

best players in this game and I'm not exaggerating. Oh, Keaton Wallace was the best player on the floor. Yeah.

They were challenging him to shoot threes, but then he started making all of his threes, and the Bulls are like, yeah, no, we're not changing our strategy here. We're just going to keep letting you shoot. Eventually you'll miss, right? You too, Daquan Plowden. Eventually you'll miss, right? He did finally miss after he made his first seven shots, finished seven for eight. But when you are a team that is so shorthanded, like the Hawks were, that you're calling up three guys from the Skyhawks. Dominic Barlow was on the bench, never got in. But you just play very free, and you could tell that they were playing free, and the Bulls were whatever the opposite of locked in is.

I told you, it's not a surprise when the Bulls win any game or when they lose any game. They play to the level of their competition. That means they're good against the good teams and they might hit some threes. And the bad teams, they just do not care. And that's exactly what it was. Always play to the level of their competition for sure. Yeah. The Skyhawks. Literally, they're the Skyhawks to me after last night. They shot 13 of 43 from three. That's 30%. And they outshot the Bulls who were six for 27, 22%.

And College Park forced 20 turnovers in this one against Windy City. Eat your heart out, Andre Ingram. Yeah. I guess he tied him. Didn't Ingram score 19? Did he? In his debut? I don't know. I think so. He's right around there. Now on the Mount Rushmore of G League call-ups, I've got

Andre Ingram. Andre Ingram, Sundiata Gates, Daquan Plowden, and there's probably another guy who did Chuck and Sweet. You tell me who. Well, listen to this. According to Statitudes, Plowden is just the fifth player in league history to make at least five threes in his first career NBA game. Can you name any of the other four guys that did it in their first NBA game ever? I'm not talking about G League call-ups. Not G League call-ups. Nope, nope, nope. In fact, I assume none of these guys were G League call-ups, but...

So there's some big name players? No, guys you know. But let me give them to you because you'll never guess them. Donyell Marshall? In his first game ever? This guy has ridiculous three-point records, man. It's so weird. I thought the exact same thing. Jake Lehman did it?

PJ Washington? I vaguely remember that. I do remember that one. And then I don't remember Chris Duarte doing it. But now you can add Daquan Plowden. Mr. Plowden, that's his name. That name again is Mr. Plowden. I wish I did that on the Skyhawks call. Yeah.

Could never get it out. So I'm glad I got it out here. Glad you got it in. You mentioned last night. I can't wait to say that on the show. It's too good with snow we had here in Atlanta. Come on, it's perfect. Man, what a joke the Bulls are. We have the receipts, by the way, in our Slack channel. I think Trey even tweeted it out. Once we saw, because this was our pick-em game, I went with you. I backed the Bulls. Oh my God, who knows with this team, right? And then we saw the list of all the Hawks missing the game. Immediately we were like, well...

That's a Hawks win. Oh, yeah. And sure enough, they won pretty comfortably. Oh, yeah. Just get all the lowlights. They allowed so many boards. Bounce.

On the floor. You know, on the defensive glass, they literally let misses hit the floor because they weren't getting after it. It's because they're boxing out so good. Yeah, right. It was unfortunate. Yeah, Keaton Wallace is a baller. He's played 17 games with the big club this year. He's played. And Kobe Buffkin is injured for the big club. He's out for the entire season. So Keaton Wallace could be their backup point guard in minutes. That's for sure. The night before he hit a Skyhawks game winner. So either guy can play. There's no doubt about that.

As far as Daquan Plotin goes, it was great to interview him about his big windmill. And I asked him, why were you looking at the video board? Because he dunked it and then he looked at the video board and he goes, I wanted to see how high I jumped. Ha ha.

He's a very cool guy. He's a lot younger than DeAndre Ingram. I love it when you talk about him like right now. I know him. I do know him. I talked to him this close. I was worried. I put on a tuxedo for him. Not a tuxedo. An old bow tie for him. Just for that guy. He's like Andre Ingram. Andre Ingram is way older. This guy is 26. This guy can play a little bit. He's going to play some. He's been in the...

But, you know, he could get called up for sure. Hey, look, the no-dunks bump is real when it comes to the Skyhawks. Who was it last season? Veek Preachy? Oh, yeah. That was our guy. We saw him in person. Yeah, Kobe Buffkin to some extent, too. We saw him have a 40-point game when we were on the call. Now it's these two guys. It's Wallace and it's Plowden. These are our guys, man. Hello.

I'm going to bat for these guys. I always love to see a guy who went to Bowling Green University as well. Sure, sure. Who are the NBA players that went to Bowling Green? They said somebody. Antonio Daniels. That's a good one. They said it on the broadcast. That's the biggest current one. There is also another current one, which is surprising. Tumani Kamara. I don't know where he went. Good guess.

I don't know how you'll get it. I'm never going to get it. I found out like last year where Bowling Green was. I had no idea for the rest, like my entire life. Surprisingly, yeah. I'm with you. Like you didn't know, right? No. It's Kentucky. That's weird. I thought it was in Ohio. Like I was like, it seems like it would be in Ohio. Rashawn Holmes went there. Oh. And Nate Thurmond went there. Hall of Famer Nate Thurmond. Oh, at Bowling Green. There you go. Do you think Ryan Sutton tried to get into Bowling Green? Ha ha ha ha ha.

You're looking for it. You're not plowing now. Now you're digging for any joke you got. Ryan Setton's a bowler, so you got to mention Bowling. Anytime you talk bowling, I have to mention him. He didn't go there. No? He showed up. Maybe Bowling Green's in Canada. Who knows? It'll be a part of America soon. All right, a couple other games to touch on. John Moran had 21-12. Okay, hats off, boys.

Good loss for the Ismins. What number is 37 on the College Park Skyhawks? I can't believe you don't know that. I mean, it's not...

It's the mascot. That's right. I got a mascot shirt on. Sorry, JD. Sorry about the switcher. Okay. There you go. There you go. I was looking at it the whole time. I'm like, okay, Veep Krejci, I think is 27. That's right. So I'm like, yeah, who's 37 anyway? Kali might be more popular than Harry the Hawk here in the city. No way. I'm just saying. Kali's jacked. Kali's jacked. He's flexing all the time. He's on the flex cam. All he does is hit the gym, though.

That's it. That's all he's got. He's got muscles. Harry has personality, charisma. He does a lot more with his beak than Kali does too. Way more beast stuff. I can't believe he said that. All right. John Morant had 21 and 12, carried the Grizzlies past Wemby and Yama and the Spurs, 129, 115. Let's just show the highlight that wasn't. Chas, this used to be a segment you used to do on the starters. And man, John Morant dunking on Wemby after the whistle.

I don't think there's ever been a highlight that wasn't, a highlight that never actually happened that's that popular. I mean, that is the highlight of the game. Period. Yes. That's what we'll remember. And Wemby went to go block it as well because there's Spurs fans saying, oh, it was after the whistle. He wasn't trying to block it. He was trying to block it. I mean, he went up as high as he possibly could. And this...

I mean, it's easy to forget what John Morant was able to do coming into the season because of how he was injured last year. And we have seen that.

Highlight after highlight after highlight of what he's doing. And then he said, I'm going to stop dunking. Yeah, he did. He lied to me. He's special, dude. That's one of the greatest highlights that wasn't of all time, for sure. Oh, absolutely. This happened, and then I went and started watching, I guess, the Timberwolves Warriors game, and it was at halftime, and they showed this 15 times. They were talking about it like it counted. Yeah, I know. And, you know...

As time goes on, it'll probably count in our minds. Ooh. Right. Unless somebody gets Wemba Nyama like this again, are we going to see a better dunk on Victor Wemba Nyama? Maybe over time. Because, I mean, Zack Eady had one that counted in this game. They weren't running that one back 100 times, you know? No, no, no. But in my mind, that whistle was because it was an and one, not because he got fouled on the perimeter. You make a good point. Like, we're going to see, like, the John Morant compilations moving forward of all his greatest dunks and...

This will probably be slipped in there, and as time goes on, you're going to forget that it actually didn't count because they came after the whistle. They attacked Weminyama all game. It was John Morant, not just this play, a couple other ones where he went at him, hit floaters, and then, like you said, Big Zach Eady dunking on him once, having a hook shot on him the other time. Now, Weminyama had eight blocks all in the first half. He had us on playback looking up who has the record for most blocks in a game. Who is it against? Like Elmore Smith? Is that his name?

Elmore Smith. Yeah, yeah. 17, you know, way back in the day. It's been a long time since somebody even had like more than 12. So Wemby was on pace to set that, but obviously didn't get one there in the second half and instead got posterized after the whistle. And what will be overlooked is that Zach Eadie also dunked on Wemby. Yeah, well, that's what he said. He's not a sexy. No, definitely Zach Eadie dunking is not a sexiest job around Kentucky. No, but it was fun to see Wemby go at

Triple J and Jaron Jackson Jr. That battle was pretty good. And when we had a bad night shooting the ball, Jaron Jackson Jr. was a damn good defender. Played him well. And the opposite happened as well. I mean, Wemby did a great job against Jaron Jackson Jr. But what we will remember...

is Mr. Morant. That whistle happened just before, too. I mean, it was a foul on the perimeter, but it was like they were lining each other up and then the whistle happened. Like, who cares about the whistle? Just swallow it for a second. Let's just watch this. That was just art. It was literally just them two. Yeah. It was like the entire side of the floor. Like, let's see what this is like. It's like everybody is like, oh, this should be an event at All-Star Weekend. Get rid of the dunk contest or at least fix the dunk contest. Have fun.

blockers out there. Remember we used to say this for like 20 years, like how cool would it be if you tried to dunk on Mutombo, you know, rest in peace or Ben Wallace, like let's see that. This is sort of what it was. Like it was a pretty good example of what that would actually look like.

Now guys would get injured I'm sure trying to dunk on one another but yeah it was a little moment in time there. I got two last things. First of all Grizzlies they get my league pass team of the week award because they have played just awesome games this week. Rockets, Wolves, Rockets and then this one against the Spurs and we got to give a big shout out to Desmond Bain. This guy's

playing pretty well right now. 21 points in this one, 8 of 13 field goals. Had a really slow start to the season through November, 13 games, 14 points per game, shooting 41% from the field. In December, got up to 19 a game, 52 from the field, 41 from three. And in six games here in January, he's up to 21 a game, shooting 56 from the field, 41 from three. Definitely the team has changed with John Morant coming back.

ED play in, you know, Santy Aldama is a bigger part of this team than he was Marcus smart. He never plays, but he's around. I think it's kind of been tough for Bain to figure out where he fits in with Jaron Jackson, Jr. Being a lot more of the offense as well. But if he's able to score 20, a game shooting 50, 40, that's going to be awesome for the Grizzlies. They need somebody on the perimeter who does it from the outside and

And Bane is a lot better at driving now than he was when he came in. So if he's hitting threes and getting to the rim, good stuff. The Grizzlies can have a decent offense. One other very funny moment from this game. I'm sure you guys saw it. A lot of people out there on the stream team are listening to the podcast. Just illustrating Chris Paul's sort of basketball IQ, but in a very funny way. Zach Eadie fell to the floor, had the ball. So he can't get up, obviously. He can't go anywhere. So, hey, you put your hands on the ball. Obviously, get a jump ball situation. But Chris Paul's like...

like, well, why would I wrap him up and then try to have a jump ball with Zach Eaddy? Reaches across, grabs Wembyn Yama's arm and hand and puts it on the ball. Like you tie him up to try and get the jump ball.

so damn funny and legit like wow in the time in like immediate second thinking to do that is pretty next level thinking he's smart it looked to me like when DeAndre Jordan grabbed that offensive rebound there was like 1.2 seconds left and Chris Paul's like shoot it shoot it shoot it shoot it DeAndre Jordan's just like laughing he just processes things very quickly I also like the Chris Paul moment where Scottie Pippen Jr. picked him at half court just picked his pocket took it down for the layup they try and inbound it to Chris Paul and Scottie Pippen Jr. took a charge on Chris Paul I was like ha ha

You just got Chris Paul. You got Chris Paul. 100%. That's the teacher and the student right there. All right, let's move on to a controversial ending between the Pells and Mavs. So 15 seconds remaining. Dallas trailing 117-116. P.J. Washington got a steal near midcourt, and the Mavs pushed the ball in transition. Dinwiddie received the pass. You can roll it in here, J.D. Goes up for a potential go-ahead layup.

and as Trey Murphy III trailed, goes for the block and they say, "He got it! That's a block! Play on!"

But you're going to see the replay here. That ball hit the glass before Murphy touched it. Should be a goal tent. Now, a lot of times, Tass, the officials will call it, right? They'll say goal tent so they can go and look at it and confirm whether or not it was. They didn't here, and that's the issue. Mavs, out of timeouts, couldn't challenge. And so that was pretty rough way to lose a game for the Dallas Mavericks. I'm not happy about that.

You're not happy about that? No, I said they're not happy about that. Oh, they're not. I thought you said I'm not happy about that. I couldn't give a shit whether or not I lost this game. Yeah. No, no. Yeah, no. I don't care at all. It could have been a good win for them without Kyrie and Luka. Kyrie just came back and he has to sit in this one. And then Spencer Dinwiddie did a very smart thing and literally just

put his hand almost on the glass. He was literally, he knew, I just got to get it to the glass as fast as possible. Now, watching it live, I thought, what a beautiful block. I had no idea. Then watching the replay, of course it hit the glass. He literally did it on purpose to make sure that the air quotes, you know, ball hit the glass, so it would be called. That didn't happen. And then you look at it and you think, I don't think it was going in anyway. But...

Doesn't matter. Hit the glass. That's the call. Trey Murphy, beautiful block. This was the biggest win for the Pelicans this season. They've won three and four, which doesn't happen in New Orleans this season. It was a really great finish for this game. That was their biggest win. So it was...

I don't know. I don't feel too bad in that situation just because it was just a big win for that team. What's weird though is like, again, we talked about it in the Sixers-Knicks game, that the maxi to get into overtime, it was called a goaltend and they called it. Like the officials like, "Okay, let's go review it. Let's make sure." And like in real time, we were like, "It was an obvious goaltend, guys. Like, what are you doing?" But again, they usually call it just to sort of save their asses. I'm talking about they as the officials because it's like, "Well, if we call it, then we can look at it and make sure we get it right."

So that was like a little surprising that they didn't when they should have because if you watch the replay it's obvious it is a goal 10 whether or not it goes in but didn't what he says like I've been

I've been making money my whole career doing that. I've been making Bitcoin my whole career. Yeah, yeah. That's my whole thing. I just put it on the glass, whether it's going to go in or not, because I know the guy's going to try and block it, and I'm going to get the goal 10. And yeah, they should have called it is the point. I guess they don't call it because Trey Murphy came out of nowhere to make that block. And so I think they were all impressed. Wow. That was a very, very great effort by Trey Murphy III.

Maybe they were just surprised that a guy came out of nowhere. And it looked clean lie, but obviously not close. Any thoughts on this game? It was a wild ending. There was a lot going on there, even like we showed you there, the steal to go the other way. Yeah, they played it perfectly. Dallas played it perfectly to actually get the steal without fouling because I feel like the Pelicans inbounded with what, like probably 13 seconds left or something like that. They got the trap. P.J. Washington knocks it out. They go the other way. No need for a timeout. Got a layup that should have...

Gave them a chance to win the game at the very least. So, to me, it looked like an obvious call in real time. Like, I thought it was a layup that was going to go in. So then the fact that they didn't call it, especially having just watched Sixers versus Knicks where they did the same thing. Very weird. But also, we don't need any reviews. So...

what's supposed to happen there? Like you're supposed to call it and go for an instant review off the biggest play of the game. That really takes the wind out of the sails. But you know, it's bad when the NBA doesn't put up a wild ending on YouTube. They had to delete their post about this on Twitter as well because they got community noted. Because they called it a block. They said it was an emphatic stuff off the backboard, which is true.

But it was also a goaltend, majorly. I immediately thought that too. I was like, how are they going to handle this one on the NBA YouTube page? What are they going to say for the caption of the video? Yeah, don't even put it up. Other games last night. I'm going to split them into the Eastern Conference wins and the Western Conference wins. R.J. Barrett starred as the Raptors beat the Celtics, 1-10-97. They snapped a 10-game losing streak against the Celtics. It's been a while since they had beaten them. Lillard scored 30 as the Bucs rolled over the Magic. And Mark Williams...

He's got no Nick Richards breathing down his neck anymore. He goes for a career-high 31 points as the Hornets beat the Jazz 117-112. Any thoughts on any of those Eastern Conference Ws?

any concern about the Celtics right now? They're losing to bad teams. They lost to the Bulls. They lost to the Sixers. They lost to the Raptors. That's all I'm pretty sure with Kristaps Porzingis in the lineup. They're only 9-8 in the 17 games since he has returned. Their three-point shooting in the month of January. Boston shooting 33%. That's not good. Opponents shooting 40%. That is very good. And it's basically the starters who are playing poorly. Drew Holiday, 31 from 3 in January. Tatum, 31.

Derek White, 28. Jalen Brown, a miserable 20 from three. So I don't know if it's something to actually be worried about. Like we saw the Celtics last season, they lost back-to-back games to the Hawks when the Hawks were injured. I don't even think they had Trey Young at that point. It was DeJounte Murray carrying the team. He scored 40 on 40 shots, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah. Um,

They obviously went on and dominated the playoffs, won the championship without Porzingis playing the majority of the playoffs. So it didn't actually matter. But the Eastern Conference seems better. You know, the Cavs are way, way ahead of the Celtics right now. So I think they got to be a little bit worried. Surely they'll shoot better going forward just because, you know, they'll figure out exactly how they're going to be defended and that kind of stuff. But opponents shooting 40% is bad. I'm not as worried about the offense as I would be about the defense. Right.

How dare you? They're losing against bad teams. Did you see the Toronto Raptors last night? I'm not so worried about the Boston Celtics. I mean, they are on pace for like 56 wins. It just, it smells like a championship team that's come into this season playing well to start. And they have this lull. They're just going through the motions. Yeah, I think it's important that they finish second in the Eastern Conference. That's the scary part. The Knicks aren't too far back. Only a couple games back. So that's the scary part for them.

But they just weren't ready for this team that was ready to move it. They were passing so well, 35 assists on 45 baskets. They weren't ready for that offense. They just weren't ready to play that hard because they were really moving it extremely well. Shout out to all the guys out there that were –

Doing it like... RJ Barrett, incredibly efficient game. But even Scotty Barnes, not a great stat line. But he was guarding really well against Tatum, Brown. They were all guarding Tatum and Brown. And Derek White, who's gone extremely cold the last couple months. They were doing it. They're 10-31 on pace for 20 wins. Was it the Raptors' best win of the season?

Probably. Again, snapping the streak against a really good team who could use a W. Probably was at home in front of the home crowd. I wanted to make this note just about the Bucs' steamroll and the Magic. The other day I did point out, sort of made fun of them a little bit, the Bucs being 0-8 versus the top three teams in the Eastern Conference.

Cavs, Celtics, Knicks. Frank Madden, who covers the Bucs, did point out they are 12-2 against all other 500-plus teams, including 9-1 against the other East teams above 500, which include, of course, the Magic last night. So struggling against the top three, but doing really, really well against the other quote-unquote good teams in their conference and in the league. So fair point, Frank. Duly noted. And they just crushed them. Lillard was hot to start.

And him and Giannis did enough to take care of the magic.

The Western Conference wins. Four of them for you. Green and Shen Goon helped the Rockets beat the shorthanded Nuggets, 128-108. Warriors fended off the Wolves, 116-115. Curry had 31 points. They're back to 500. Hachimura and AD helped the Lakers end a little three-game skid. They got the 117-108 win over the Heat. And the Clippers routed the Nets, 126-67.

for the largest margin of victory in team history. 126-67, clips over nets. But do you have any takeaways from the Western Conference wins, TK? Well, I mean, 126-67 is crazy. This game was tied after the first quarter, 21-21.

Can you believe that? They lost the last three quarters by what? Nearly 60 points. 59 points. Tyrese Martin coming in at a minus 56. Worst in the league this season. Second is his teammate in this game, Noah Clowney. Minus 44. Bilal Koulibaly earlier this year had a minus 44. Not the worst ever, though. Scoot Henderson, minus 58. Still has it. Last season, 67 points. Obviously the fewest this year. But Kawhi Leonard played 24th.

23 points in 24 minutes. Jumper was money. Looked like mostly mid-rangers. Looked like an easy game for him. Yeah. But he played. LA's largest lead was 64 points midway through the fourth, and that was despite Ty Lue pulling his starters late in the third quarter because it was garbage time early in this one. One starter that they've changed coming into this game, they pulled Chris Dunn from the starting lineup, and now it's Kawhi Leonard bringing the ball up a lot of the time. We've watched him play.

actually play point guard sort of and now and they have their starting lineup which they would play in the playoffs it's James Harden Norman Powell Kawhi Leonard Derek Jones Jr. who helped the Mavs get to the finals last year and Evita Zubats they kind of look like their team we'll see if Kawhi Leonard plays basketball the rest of the season but

But other stuff, I thought the fact that Jalen Green dunked on Dario Saric's head and that was just totally overlooked because of John Murray. Yeah, it was actually the dunk in the night, the official dunk in the night, according to dunk score. It was huge. It was sexy. It was a great, he lost him and then the cock back, huge dunk, as he usually does. He tried to give it to Zach Eady earlier this week. He tries to dunk on people.

And on the other side, Christian Brown had a great dunk as well. That was on Cam Whitmore. That was pretty as well. So good dunks there. I was surprised. See, this was a trap game for the Rockets, potentially with no Jokic, no Aaron Gordon. And the Nuggets are 8-0 on the second night of back-to-backs.

coming into this game. I was surprised by that. Another 8-1. I think the Miami Heat, they needed Jimmy Butler watching them in the fourth quarter. Well, we're going to find out what happens there. I cannot wait. Yeah, because Tyler Hero was great to start. He got a little colder in the second half, but Bam Adebayo just wasn't there. I mean, he was playing well. He was trying to play well on Anthony Davis defensively, but he had seven shot attempts in this game. Their second highest score was Haywood Highsmith with 11 points.

That ain't good enough. They literally needed, as the Lakers picked up their defense in the second half, they needed somebody to finish the game. They needed Jimmy. What is going to happen? Suspension is over, but Chris Haynes and his briefs telling us they might change it, I guess, is what he was saying in terms of how they delegate his suspension or what

elongate it, whatever. Just let's have a longer suspension. That's what it looks like. How can you let him come back if he

He's just going to come back for a couple games? I mean, it's really weird. I don't think he's going to play. I really don't. But it's a bit of a staring contest here between Pat Riley and obviously Jimmy Butler in his camp. Like, who blinks first? Because those are both some stubborn-ass dudes. Oh, yeah. So buckle up here, I guess. I did see that the Miami Heat are bringing back their Vice uniforms. They're going to be wearing them instead of, I think, their actual white uniforms. And they used a picture of Jimmy Butler wearing the uniforms.

Interesting. It was like Hero, Bam, Jimmy, and I don't know who the other guy was. I forget at this point. But he was definitely featured. Yeah, you've got to get rid of the inventory. Interesting. Quickly. Interesting. Those jerseys are 50% off, I'm sure. Maybe that's it. Maybe. It was interesting to see the Golden State Warriors, a team that's rumored to want to blow it up. They had some fight in them last night to give it to the Wolves in the first quarter without Draymond Green and a bunch of other guys.

They fought, and they got into a little bit of a fight themselves. I saw that. Yeah, Gary Payton II and Buddy Heald going at it. Dennis Schroeder came in and was peacemaker and took them aside. Let's talk it out. They were just fighting about where they were supposed to be on the floor. I've never seen Gary Payton II sort of that animated. No, he was mad. He was pissed off at Buddy Heald. You know what the hell we're doing over here? You don't know where to go. And then you're right. You had Schroeder pulling them both to the side.

you guys are going to make up right now. Talk out your differences. Yeah, so it seems like they're a team, even though they could use some offensive help. That is for sure. There's all this talk that Steph wants them to blow it up, but then this aftermath here where he says, let's play it by ear here. Let's not go trading all over. So that part's interesting. Although, you know, the Wolves...

They stink coming out of the gate. You know, they do look a lot better with Dante DiVincenzo. They're now 4-2 with Dante DiVincenzo in the starting lineup. They lost the game to the Grizzlies where they shot 57%. What up with that? That was a close game. But this one was just a bad, bad start. Even though Dante's cooking. 28 points for him. Six threes for him. He's had 19 threes over his last four games.

That's the guy that Ant needs beside him, but they just can't get to stinky starts like that was stinky. I think Anthony Edwards said postgame, our starters are terrible. He's like, we have no energy when we come out. They were down 34-12. They did a good job to get back in this game, but putting themselves down like that in the first quarter meant that they had to play perfectly down the stretch, and they didn't. Dante DiVincenzo fouled Buddy Hilde on a three-pointer with three and a half minutes left.

Anthony Edwards completely lost Curry for a three-pointer with two and a half minutes left. Then Nas Reed once again loses Curry for a three-pointer with 50 seconds left. That's the one where he's yelling at the fans. And then Andrew Wiggins grabbed an offensive rebound off Gary Payton's missed free throws with six seconds left. Like, if they make any of those four plays, they win this game. But the Timberwolves just aren't locked in. They're not...

They have no attention to detail right now. They think they're just going to be able to coast through wins. Julius Randle was benched for the fourth quarter of this game. They were going with Nas Reed. People tell you that's going to work better. It doesn't. He doesn't play defense, and you can see it here. So I just don't think they have the mix right. They'll win some games. They might get a good matchup in the playoffs, but I think this has been a disappointing season for Minnesota, and it doesn't really... I mean...

DiVincenzo starting has definitely helped. I thought he was their best player last night, hitting threes and actually helping on the glass. But the rebounding is so bad. Like Gobert doesn't hardly rebound anymore compared to where he used to be. Randall's not the same rebounder that Towns is. They have to play perfectly and they're just not capable of it right now. That's a disappointing loss. Yeah.

Well, let's move from the games last night to some NBA trivia. Who wants some trivia? These guys. Yeah, these guys do, I think. We love it. Maybe you do, watching or listening. Now, there's a theme to today's trivia, guys. Next week, JD and I are headed to France to cover the 2025 NBA Paris Games. We're obviously pretty excited about this.

If you have any food, drink, must-see recommendations, let us know in the comments. Tweet at us. We're going to be there Wednesday through Sunday for both NBA games. They're playing two games over there between the same teams. But we got the Pacers and Spurs. But I know you guys are sickos. So to get in the spirit of heading over to Paris, I have some trivia questions about those NBA Paris games.

First question. This is not going to be easy, but you guys are the sickos of sickos. So I think, you know, I'll give you some hints too if you get a little stumped. All right. First one is, what year was the first NBA regular season game held in France? 1997. No, it's much, much more current than that. Regular season game. Oh, regular season. Not preseason games. I was like, I know the Bulls went to Paris. I saw Michael Jordan wearing a beret. Yeah, so much more current.

2013. No, even more current. Yeah, it's a lot like... Go ahead. Yeah, I don't think it's like 2020 or 2021. It's 2020. January 24th, 2020 was the first regular season game in Paris. Okay, you got there. All right, this one's fun. Who was the first French NBA player to score in the Paris games?

Killian Hayes. That is a great guess. It's incorrect, but a hell of a guess that you named one of the French guys that actually played in one of these games. But no, it was the game prior. And I'll give you the teams if you want. Was it Nick Batum? Well done. Well done. He's a French. He's played there before. That's all I remembered. So Batum scored five points for the Hornets in 2020.

And I mean, what's funny about that game when you think about it is when the NBA picked the Hornets to play the Bucs in that game is when they had Tony Parker on the roster. And then, you know, they picked the game in March and then the summer happens and Tony Parker retires. And so the Hornets still got to go. Yeah, they did have Batum. He was the first one to score in a regular season game in the Paris games. All right, good stuff. Good stuff. All right.

Who scored a season high and Paris record 45 points last season? Last season. Yeah. Oh, that was, it was Nets Cavs. Okay. Was it Cam Thomas? No. No? No. Who was it? I mean, don't overthink it. You nailed the teams.

Donovan Mitchell. Good job. Oh, it was Donovan. Yeah. How easily we forget. I mean, I'm with you guys. I was like, oh yeah, he scored 45. It was, I think it tied his season high in the end. I think he had another 45 point game. After the game, he said, quote, I'd love to come back and play in the Olympics. He was trying to call a shot there. It's like, I'm awesome in France. You should bring me. But they didn't. All right, good stuff. Next one.

Which two-time All-Star with a French-sounding surname once scored 30 points in Paris? Wait, say it again? Which two-time All-Star... Two-time All-Star. So I'm giving you the little NBA tip there, or hint. With a French-sounding surname...

once scored 30 points in Paris. Zach Levine? Well done. Zach Levine said his great-grandfather was French, and he said, after the game, quote, maybe the air up here was good for me. I love all these guys having good games over there. You know, something about playing here. I like it. Zach Levine. Thought you might go with Karras Lavert. Karras Lavert. All right.

Which former NBA dunk champ had four highlight reel dunks in his Paris game? NBA dunk champ, four highlight reel. Donovan Mitchell? No, no, it's a good guess, good guess. Okay, other dunk champs. Derek Jones Jr.? Atta boy, Mellis! Derek Jones Jr. He had three oops in that game. Bulls played the Pistons in 2023. Then he had like a big one right at the end. It was pretty nice. Putting on a show.

for the people there in Paris. All right, two more. Which rookie nearly missed the Paris game because he misplaced his passport? How are we going to remember that? A misplaced passport. You guys are sickos. We cover the NBA day to day. We talked about it. Let's get a year. Let's get a year. 2023. Can we get a nationality? I assume he's American. He is.

Americans have problems with their passports at times. I've given you a couple things here. 2023 was the year. Yes. He was a rookie in that year. He's an American. And I'll give you this. He's a big man. A rookie big man in the 2022 draft. That's right. That's right. Isaiah Stewart. Oh, you're very close. Jalen Duren. Jalen Duren. Nice. Jalen Duren.

Amazingly, he, I don't know what happened. Either he found it or they got him another one quickly because he misplaced it. He got there. He played in the game. He had a perfect shooting game from the field. He went four for four, had 11 points, 12 rebounds, and 18 minutes off the bench. Like, he had a really good game. So good for him. Jalen Dern, good stuff. All right, final one here. Let's see if you can remember this. Who's the only player to have ever been ejected in the Paris games? Oh, man. Happened last year. I'll give you that.

Oh, Tristan Thompson. Do you remember? Bonus question. Who did he get upset by in that game to get ejected? Because he went and bumped him and he fell to the floor, this guy. Nick Claxton? Well done. We watched it together. We watched it together. Tristan Thompson got so mad. He was pulling out his barrel chest. He was really mad. It was weird. Yeah, Claxton, he dunked near him, I'll say. It wasn't really even on Tristan Thompson.

He said something to him. Like, he talked a little shit. And then as timeouts were called and they were all going back to their benches, Justin Thompson just straight, like, bumped him with his shoulder. I don't know if Claxton sold it a little bit, but he fell over. And then we had a little clearing of at least the assistant coaches and players out there. I remember it leaked what Claxton said to him. You're what the French call les incompétents.

I got a bonus question. I got a bonus question. What, you didn't watch Home Alone over the holidays? No. Although Danielle and I were driving past you, and you, Trey, were driving with your fingerless gloves. And she said, oh, this is like Home Alone. Oh, yeah. The White Bandits. Yeah. It's a little depressing how many times I was told in December that I look like Marv from Home Alone.

But I did set a calendar reminder October 1st. Be Marv for Halloween. You gave yourself a month to get ready? I want to forget. Cool. You guys did so well there. I'm really impressed by that. I have a bonus question. After next week's games, we might... Now the keyword is might...

have a total of four French players to have played in the NBA Paris games. Keyword there is might, so I'm obviously projecting with the Spurs-Pacers game. Can you name all four players potentially after those two games to be French to play in Paris? You've done it really well. After these games. After these games. Wemby.

Victor Wambanyama. Correct. Killian Hayes. Correct. I thought you were going to struggle to get that one. That was a quick pull by you early. Born in the U.S. to American father. French mother, though, but he reps France internationally. Yep. Batum. There you go. This is the tricky part. Might. Might. Play. Yes. It's on deep in the Spurs rotation. Yes. Yes. He is French and he's on the Spurs roster. He plays. I mean, it's very likely he'll get in.

Not Mamu. Not Mamu. Not Sohan. Not Sohan. He's from England, isn't he? Zach Collins. No, no. Everybody forgets this other French guy on the Spurs. He's got a unique... He's got a unique... Tony Parker retired. He's got a unique name. Yeah. But you don't think of his French, right? I think you do. Once you... Okay. Yeah.

Ryan Rupert. He's a trailblazer. Is the chat helping you out? I'm not looking, man. I'm not looking. I forget. Charles Basset. His initials are S and C. Scott Calvin. Santa Claus. S.C.? Stefan Castle? No. Nope. It's not coming to me. I definitely know who he is.

Okay. I mean, if you say his name in a funny way, it's almost like the guy that sang the thong song, I guess. What? Cisco? Oh, CD CISO. Oh.

Oh, CeeDee Sissoko. I'm wearing a College Perk Skyhawks game. This guy played in the G League last year. There you go. For the G League Ignite. There you go. He'll get in. He'll get in. He's over there. You know they're going to put him in there for the crowd at some point. So, yeah, those would be the four guys. I can't believe I forgot that. Yeah, I thought you'd get that one. Because I remember CeeDee Sissoko went... What's his name? Sissoko. I think it's Sissoko, yeah. But it's a tough one, yeah. Was it...

It was a pregame introductions when Jeremy Sohan farted, right? Or is it a member of the San Antonio Spurs farted? Oh, yeah. It wasn't Sohan? Or nobody knew? Nobody knew. Who was that? Everybody was like, oh, somebody farted. Yeah. And CD was getting a little smelly. He didn't like the smell. That's all I got to say. I remember him from that. Do you think CD said, who planted that fart?

J.D. laughs from the other side of the room. Come on. That's a mellow slide. That's good. That's good. There's a question here that you, I'm sure, would know after doing all this research. Gustavo Vega asked in that first game, the 2020 Paris game, did Rudy Gobert get sick? There was a game where Rudy Gobert got sick. Why would Rudy Gobert be playing for the Bucs or Hornets?

Yeah, he shouldn't be. Remember that trade? Those are the only... And you've got to remember, there have been a lot of preseason Paris games, for sure. Maybe that's the reference. I'm sort of shocked that this is only going to be our fourth time regular season games being played there. And first time ever that they're going to do the old back-to-back there in Paris, too, where both teams are going to play two games, which is smart. You're going to go all that way. You might as well do that, especially when you've got Wemba Nyama.

One of the trivia questions was going to be, it was during that Bulls-Pistons year, who was the biggest celebrity at the Bulls-Pistons game in Paris? Neymar? No. Well, no. The joke was Wemba Nyama. Oh. Because that was like the big deal. He was there and everybody was going crazy. Oh, the 19-year-old kids here. So you're telling me it spurs Pacers twice? Yes. Pacers fans don't get to see Wemba Nyama play in Indiana? Oh, guess not. Sad for them.

Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting. Now, both of them will have a home game, which I found out too, like when it's your home game over there, they do fly out your entire like operational team. Okay. So will they fly out both? Sounds like a party. Operational teams, they probably will. This could be a party, JD. You're going to be partying with the guy who runs the clock for the Indiana Pacers. Yeah.

And you know he's going to know when it's last call. For sure. Yeah, you're right. Okay, Pico.

Tonight, Tass, where are we going? Oh, I know where we're going. We got a beautiful rematch tonight. It's the two best teams, the National Basketball Association. Cleveland going to OKC. OKC favored by two and a half. Cleveland winning last week. So I assumed everybody's taking OKC. How can you bet against OKC? But Isaiah Hartenstein injured his calf, so he will not be playing.

So there's two of us that are taking Cleveland. Comfortable with two extra points or winning this game because OKC has to win by three. Ash and I are taking Cleveland. You guys got OKC. Understandable. They're going to be teeny tiny against that biggie team without Hardenstein and Chet. And Mobley and Jared Allen like cooked in the first game. So yeah, if they do that and they hit corner threes, then they're going to win again. But I'm...

I'm thinking that OKC home crowd and we're going to see a better performance from the Thunder, especially from the jump here. So that's why I'm taking OKC, but I'm one and eight in this month. So one of the worst records of all time, I think, when we've been following pick-ems. Respect. So that's how bad it's been for me, but I just hope it can at least try to live up to what we got in the last game between these two teams that people were saying game of the year. We had like 30...

Was it 30 lead changes? I think it was. Yeah, eight ties. Instant Classic and potential NBA Finals preview, right? All that stuff. I just hope we get another game like that tonight. Yeah, we shall see. I was actually trying to be a good guy here because Tass and Ash Halpton first, they picked Cleveland. I said, ooh, I want to take Cleveland because I know there's no Hartenstein, but I didn't want to force Skeets to have to take OKC. So I'm like, whatever. I'll roll with OKC. We'll see how it goes. I couldn't believe you. I know I'm 1-8. I guarantee OKC wins this game tonight.

Okay. Okay. I feel very confident. Hopefully by three or more. Didn't love to see the Hartenstein news, of course. Yeah. That's... Ooh. But that's okay. Dagnall will go small, baby. Big Isaiah Joe game tonight. Big Isaiah Joe game tonight. All right. Calling it. Where'd you come from? Where'd you go? All right. Let's call it there. JD, kudos to you.

Kudos to you, man. Guy was flying the plane blind. And he landed it, I believe, perfectly. Hit the light box. I haven't landed yet. Still, we're coming in now. What do you got to do? You got to hit a clipper, bros, and then put up a board. That's it. That's true. You've nailed it. I'm giving you props. Oh, thanks. I appreciate that. And you were laughing at all my good jokes. Wow. There was less...

I was more locked in, so I heard all the cool puns. Oh, yeah. You're never usually listening to us. Yeah. Usually I'm looking at all my instruments, which I don't have. Or I'm looking out the window. Well, anyway, that's why we call you the super producer, man. Only this guy can do it live without any of his equipment. It's incredible. Wait till you see what this guy can do in Paris, man. We're going to have an entire studio show with one camera. Uh.

Anyway, thanks for joining us. Hit the like button, subscribe. Podcast listeners, five-star ratings and review. And we will see you tomorrow for the Drop Podcast. We're doing mid-season awards. Worst of the week, rapid fire. Going to be a good one here. Hopefully we get the switcher words. Fingers crossed. Till then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. And remember, early in the season, the Spurs had an incident where it appeared somebody farted and the entire team and coaching staff

Didn't know where it came from. So, if you don't get a great interview in Indiana, you can ask the Spurs coaches, hey, did somebody fart in that early game, early in the season, that caused C.D. Sissoko to wave his hand in front of his face and Chris Paul to be like, what is, who's doing that? Who did that? It was probably Jeremy Sohan. Remember? He was kind of flaunting. He was proud of whatever was going on. Anyways.

That's going to be the biggest story in France. Hey, during the Summer of Champions, which was in Paris, we had the poop report. So it's just an extension of that, really. We got the fart report. Fart files. Fart files, that's right. I should get a detective hat. All right, brace the day, people.

Hello, I'm Ian McIntosh and I'm the host of the Daily Football Briefing. What is the Daily Football Briefing? It's a special 10-minute daily show designed to bring you up to speed with the most important stories from across the football world. Except on Monday mornings when it's 15 minutes and we try to cram in the results, standings and stories from the top 10 leagues on the planet.

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