The Greatest Celtics Duo Ever, A James Harden Takeover, Cavs Clinch Playoff Spot
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Wow.

Good morning, sweet world! And welcome to the No Dunks Podcast on The Athletic Network. It's Thursday, March 6th, 2025. I'm J.E. Skeets, here in the Classic Factory, and alongside me, it's the bearded one, Metopsha hot boy, Trey Kirby.

Ayo! Over yonder, making the magic happen, Super Producer JD. Hello. There he is. And joining us from the john, some have called him the porcelain punisher, it's Tass Mellis. No punishing here. I am not that guy. I'm not that guy in the office that that cold open was referring to. Those are great, great content.

Peak toilet content right there, I'd say. Do you notice the fly come in on that guy's head? No, I don't. That was great. That was great stuff. What a touch. Shout out to everyone joining us live right now on YouTube. Yeah, you're seeing a man on the toilet for the fourth consecutive day. He's got one more tomorrow paying off his February pick'em loss. I don't know why the toilet gets cleaned every day. JD makes sure to send in the cleaning staff. I don't do anything in here. I don't do a thing.

My favorite part is you walking into the bathroom before the show and pulling down your pants and sitting. It makes you laugh every time. It's like, going to work here today. It feels extremely weird being in here because it's on the monitor as well. I see the shot. I kind of have to think to myself, am I going to pull my pants down in front of the camera and then sit in front of the camera for an hour? Like that's a difference. Really weird. It's so good. All right.

Alright, well we will hit the beach a little bit later today, so maybe Tass will do an aqua dump. We'll find out. That's a little survivor tie. We'll get to Nobuffs later, but let's start by playing a little Whatcha Got.

What you got? What you got there? What you got? A little What You Got to recap some of last night's NBA action. First one, Peyton Pritchard and Derek White on fire in a win over the Blazers. Pritchard scored a career-high 43 points, knocked down 10 three-pointers. Derek White, he added career highs with 41 points and nine three-pointers. The two became the first Celtics duo in history to score 40-plus in the same game. Not to be outdone.

James Harden delivered a 50-point game last night. The All-Star Guard reached that total for the first time as a Los Angeles Clipper, and it's the 24th time in his career. He's pulling within one of Kobe Bryant for the most 50-point games in NBA history. So Tass, we'll start with you, my man. Bigger WTF from last night. Pritchard and White making Celtics history or Harden's first 50-point game with the Clippers. What you got? It's a very good question, Skeets.

I thought to myself first, the Celtics has to be the answer because you'd think somewhere along the line,

Two guys would have got 40 at the same time. Tatum and Brown, Bird and McHale, Paul Pierce and Garnett, Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker, somewhere along the line, something. Feels like it. But I'm going with James Harden because, as you said, he's fourth all-time in 50-point games. So you'd think he'd get one with the Clippers because it's Wilt with 118, and then there's a bit of a drop-off to Michael Jordan at 31, then Kobe at 25, and James Harden at 24.

And maybe I'm also going with James Harden because I had a recent discussion with some of our fans about the current player

who hasn't won an NBA title, the best current NBA player to not win an NBA title. And the discussion was four guys. It was James Harden, the offense, in of himself. Damian Lillard, the pure shooter, I'd say, if anybody left. Chris Paul, the most traditional point guard. And the fourth, Russell Westbrook. Hustle Westbrook. But I would think it's James Harden because he is an offense. He is the Luka...

Before Luka, as he kind of said. He kind of said that. He said, Luka's kind of like me. So I'm surprised that he hasn't dropped a quick 50 spot. Yeah, and everything was working last night. And they needed all 50 of those points, too. It was a close game. But he had the lefty drive going. He had that little floater going. He's a master in the pick and roll. And then he had his little patented sidestep or side back move.

three-point shot. Like, he was scoring from all over the floor, got to the free throw line a ton. A 50-point game. We've seen it before, but first time with Eclipse. Do you go with that one, though, TK? Or do you think it's a little more surprising or WTF moment what the Celtics did?

Look, I love a vintage Harden game. He even brought back the Houston slam dunk celebration. I've got a nose blade after he threw one down. Literally stumbled to the ground as if his body couldn't support himself anymore. His first 50 point game since he was in Houston, December, 2019. It's been a long time, but James Harden also had three 40 point games this season. He's got, like we're saying the most 50 point games of any active player. So it's kind of more surprising that he hadn't done it yet. Sure. I think on the flip side,

There have been 27 Celtics ever who have scored 40 or more points in a game. There have been 43 Celtics who've made the Hall of Fame. There have been 14 Celtics who've scored 40 or more in a game and made the Hall of Fame. And none of them are Peyton Pritchard and Darren Hoyt. This is crazy. Bill Simmons is going to have to go back in the lab and record an entire episode about this because this is literal Celtics history.

Nobody would have guessed that Peyton Pritchard and Derek White are the answer to a trivia question about Celtics all-time. Something big happening. But two guys going for 40. And Scalabrini, I feel like, knew it was going to happen. Pritchard hit his third three in the first quarter. That one from the corner where he's got, I think it was Scoot all over him. And Scal says...

It's going to be one of those nights. Called it right away. He's also the guy at the beginning of the season said Peyton Pritchard could average 27 points per game if he was a starter. Sounded crazy, but I'm like...

Maybe. When he's on fire, he was hot. He asked for a trade in summer of 2023 because he didn't have a big role, and we know the Celtics are stacked up top. Now he's going to win six-man of the year. At one point, he hit a three from, like, the right slot out by the hash mark, and Mike Tirico dropped a double come on. Come on when he shoots it, splashes through. Come on!

When he makes it. You've heard the double bang. I hadn't heard a double come on before. Incredible stuff, though, from the Celtics. Just running it up, making threes. And then it got close enough in the fourth quarter that they needed, like Peyton Pritchard, to be driving closeouts and finishing inside. They kind of got the complete game from both Pritchard and White. So I got to go with them.

So you're saying Bill Simmons' Boston documentary series, I believe is nine episodes long. Celtic City needs a tenth episode for this game. Wow, that's a lot of work. But it is pretty crazy that it's Peyton Pritchard and Derek White. That's wild as the Celtics guys to do it in their, what, 79-year history of this franchise. Two guys scoring 40 in the same game. I just can't believe Steph and Clay...

the most prolific perimeter shooting duo in history. They never did this. There was never one game where both guys hit that many three-pointers. Combined 19 tasks. Though, oddly enough, Marcus Smart still holds the Celtics franchise record of 11 three-pointers made.

in a game. Strange. Almost even stranger than Pritchard and Derek White. But, uh, yeah, your thoughts on the Boston duo there. Yeah. Peyton Pritchard has grown so much from that championship win. He's gotten so much better trade, bringing up that time. He requested a trade. It didn't look like he was long for Boston. Didn't look like he was long for getting this good. He is real, real good. And when it, when it comes, uh,

when there's a need, when he's needed to just take over, especially, you know, as a secondary, a bench player, he can. And I do wonder how much he would score in as a lead guard.

I don't know. We see LaMelo dropping 29 a game. You may imagine this guy who's definitely gotten better. You could see it yesterday how far he was behind the line and feels comfortable with that. You never would have thought that little guy would be able to push it from that far, but he can. So very, very impressive on that side. Also impressive on the hardened side. Back-to-back nights. Back-to-back nights where he played 38 minutes. And he's able to do that at 35 years of age. That guy's old.

And he's able to play back-to-back games. And he was asked by Stephanie Reddy, how do you do it? How do you play this many minutes? Are you tired? I'll rest when the season's over. And that is one thing that James Harden

we don't really talk about, uh, but he never misses time. He truly never misses time. Yeah. It was, it was pretty funny to see the defenders. They were trying to put on James Harden when he was cooking. Like it was like Schroeder was getting his opportunities all up in them, but Harden's just too big, too strong. Get by him. Tim Hardaway Jr. There's a couple of times where it's like, Oh my God, you could see Harden's eyes like light up like this is going to be going in here. So yeah, they were throwing a bunch of different guys, but, uh,

Yeah, he was on fire. It was a throwback. You're right. You said 2019 the last time. Yeah. Clips 50. I guess you're right. He had a bunch of 40-point games. He still scores a ton, but 50-50 in a close game. Again, the Pistons kept it close there basically right to the end. It was an eight-point victory for the Clips. Any other thoughts, Tass, on either of those two games? Just nice to see a good Bogdan game. We talked about how bad he was the night before, and he showed up. Yeah.

He's filling in for Norman Powell, who will hopefully be back soon. And it looks like they've got depth if Bogdan can have these games where, yeah, he's not horrible because he hasn't had a Bogdan type of season. But it's good to see him drop three after three after three in the starting lineup. Yeah, 23 points for Bogie there in a Clippers uniform. All right, let's keep it moving. Next one. Had a couple of beatdowns in the association last night. In Milwaukee, Giannis scored 32 points to bring his career total to over 20,000.

Kevin Porter Jr. had a triple-double as the surging Bucks trounced the shorthanded Mavs, 137-107. That's a 30-point victory. In Memphis, Shea Gildas Alexander scored 41 and keyed a third-quarter rally as the Thunder beat the Grizzlies pretty handedly, 120-103. John Morant did play, we were wondering.

He was 8-22. Who was he playing for? From the field, yeah. Not a great game. So we'll start with you, Trey. More impressive ass kicking from last night. Bucks beating the Mavs by 30 or the Thunder stomping the Grizz by 17? I can't give either team full impressive points here. The Mavericks ran out of Chris Kamen bench.

You saw the picture of it, and it's like, who's going to lay down on that? Nobody was healthy for this team. The Grizzlies were obviously missing Jaron Jackson Jr. Santi Aldama didn't play either. They had Marvin Bagley running around out there. That was a surprise to me. These were like Bisman-like blowouts, but I'm going with the Bucs because I thought they had five guys who had awesome games.

Dame, 34 points, 5 assists, 11 for 15 from the field. That's awesome. Giannis, 32 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists, went over 20,000, had enough time to even sit and watch his own tribute video. That's awesome. AJ Green hit 6 threes off the bench. That's awesome if it wasn't for Peyton Pritchard. Kevin Porter Jr. had a triple-double off the bench. That's awesome.

Jericho Sims, he scored 10 points. Only the eighth time in his career that that's happened. That's awesome for him. So I thought the Bucs, they're looking good ever since the trade deadline. They're just a little bit different team. We're seeing a little bit less Andre Jackson. The shots are going to the right people. I think the offense is maybe a little bit more equal opportunity with Bobby Portis being suspended. And Kuzma had another nice game, 17 points. There's just more athleticism, more cutting, more creation out there. They look...

look like they've got a little bit of a boost in the arm here just getting guys who can run up and down the court so the Bucks saw the assignment they said the Mavs have nobody out here who can stop us and they just went out and dominated like Giannis had 15 boards how many of them were his own rebound like missing a shot oh I can just grab this and easily lay it in over Dwight Powell who did get hit in the face once again happens every game

But yeah, the Bucs dominated. They looked good. And the Mavericks, like they just literally had nobody playing. Yeah. Tass, which one are you going with if you had to pick between these two blowouts? I like how you almost said Jericho Skims. Yeah. Trey, as I sit here in underwear, we're definitely going to be talking about Skims. I'm planting this little seed later on in this show. Adam Silver in his Skims. Oh, boy. Oh, no. I know what you're going to say. Don't worry. I won't stand up and show my underwear. Jericho Skims. Okay.

I will say, Yanis Antetokounmpo getting to 20,000 points. He was asked about it after the game and said, I'm going to get to 30. Is that a surprise? No. He's probably going to get there because he's freaking Yanis Antetokounmpo. What I do like about Yanis Antetokounmpo, why I think he's even better than he was in that championship year, is right now he's getting so comfortable shooting that mid-range. He is getting so comfortable. Crossover, crossover, crossover.

Shoot it. He can bring it down and get comfortable and shoot it. Obviously, the guy who's guarding him has to take a step back. And I think this makes them a little bit more lethal as a team in general and makes him more lethal. He hit five mid-range shots yesterday as he just got comfortable, whether it's bringing it up, whether it's a secondary sort of playmaking,

Because you can't really do it as you come up every single time because you're going to get a secondary defender come and block that thing because it takes time to get into it. But he's got such a flow and it gives him more space. We obviously know the turnaround in the post that's going to be there, but he's getting so comfortable in that mid-range shot. It makes them...

A very tough team. And I think it increases or lifts their ceiling a little bit higher come playoffs. Obviously that Kyle Kuzma looking good as a catch and shoot guy also helps. But Giannis is playing peak ball. His last four games, I don't care about the other stats. I care about the free throw line. 77% from the free throw line. He's looking good. He's looking very, very good. I think you guys got the correct answer here when it comes to what you got. It's the Bucs winning by 30 despite the Mavs having nobody. But some love to the Thunder. They did it on the road.

You know, we were debating even in our pick-em last night. Is it the Thunder or the Grizzlies? I mean, the line was big, so I know some people took Memphis to cover maybe. But I love that Jalen Williams, the big one, the one with the Y, four for four from deep was great because then you know you have Wiggins hitting a couple. You know you have where did you come from, where did you go, Isaiah Joe hitting a couple. So suddenly, you know, he's splashing them as well. Holy moly is a game where no Chet Holmgren. I think he was out with a leg contusion. But just like...

Just a business-like win, like you said. It was like we said on yesterday's show. It'll just be, when do they go on their massive run? When do they lock in and sort of blow the game open? And it was at the end of the second quarter and then into the third. And that's when it happened. And Shea, man, 41 points, 8 assists.

It's like buried now. It's like this is just what he does. It used to be 31 last year. It feels like it's 41 more times than not this year. Just time after time after time. So good win there from the Thunder. Exclusively on ESPN+. UFC 313. Saturday.

Go!

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Today's date, March 6th. So they did it on the 5th. Meanwhile, Keyshawn George scored 23 points. Alex Saar added 21 as the Wizards beat the Jazz 125-122. Just their 12th victory. So the Cavs, 12-game win streak for the third time this season. Wizards got their 12th victory in a matchup of the worst of the East versus the worst in the West. So Tass, more surprising. The Cavs clinching a playoff berth already? Already?

or the Wizards defeating the Jazz last night? What you got? Well, to hear Alex Sarr's name, it's a little surprising. We don't hear it very often.

Also surprising to see him. He's on the board of Defensive Player of the Year odds. He's right at the bottom. Very much at the bottom. And he ain't going to come close to winning it. That's weird. I would say, though, the Cavs in general, as you said, got 50 wins on this date when their over-under number before the season was 48. They were expected to get to 48 the entire season. Wow. And now... Well, they're at 52 now, aren't they? Yeah, right. And they're...

What is it? Their fourth... Sorry, it's the fourth team in NBA history to have winning streaks of 11 games or more. Three of them of 11 games or more. It's the Lakers, the Shaq-Kobe Lakers, the Mavericks with Dirk in 06 and 07, and the Rockets, surprisingly. So four teams to do that

In NBA history, that's tough to do. And this team looks a little like OKC where they just turn it on when they need to turn it on. It happens in games. It happened to Portland last Sunday when they said, all right, let's win this game. And then in this one, too. You know, it takes a while for them and then they turn it on. It was super close until the end of the game when they got all five guys involved and that offense is clicking. And even though Evan Mobley missed a little bunny shot,

They get it done. So I think the Cavs in general are more surprising than the Wiz winning a game. I mean, Duncan Robinson hit a game-tying three-pointer, but they're like, ooh, you just stepped out of bounds. His foot was just on that line. It's like the Max Struess rising over the sideline there. Yeah, so then Cleveland hit a couple free throws, and that's how they got the victory. But which one would you go? More surprising. I'm with Tass. I think it is the Cavs. Nobody had them as the first team to clinch this year.

Pretty simple. And a really nice win for them as well. Like Tass said, they basically saved the Cavalanche for the very end of the game of this one. A 12-2 run to close things. Very similar to the way it went with the Bulls the previous night. And that's why it's kind of impressive. It's like, this was a back-to-back for Cleveland. This would have been an easy one to be like, all right, whatever. We won 11 straight. Just traveled. We're down. We played hard. Easy. Who cares? We lose. Big deal. But that wasn't...

what they wanted to do. They wanted to keep their streak. This team really cares. And afterwards, they're all like, yeah, it's awesome to win games, but we know we're going to be judged on the playoffs. So they've focused on the regular season, but they've got a bigger goal in mind. I love what I'm seeing from Cleveland. Also, it was Kevin Love's first game back.

in Cleveland since he went to Miami. It was cute to see him and Tristan Thompson messing with Richard Jefferson there on the broadcast. They were all talking about how they still got a text chain going. Very nice. Very nice for those guys. On the flip side of things, the Jazz...

These guys flipped the tanking switch hard. Last night, their top six scorers didn't play. No Markkanen, no Collins, no Colin Sexton, no Keontae George, nor Jordan Clarkson, or Walker Kessler. Their most veteran guy was Sfi Mikhailuk. How many seasons do you think Sfi Mikhailuk has played in the NBA? Probably.

Probably a lot more than I think. Six. Seven. Wow. That's crazy. I remember talking about Sfima Kaluuk with David Griffin back in the NBA TV studios. As for the Wizards, they had no Jordan Poole, but they did have the rest of their rotation, including Chris Middleton and Marcus Smart. The Wizards have won three of their last five. They've beat the Nets, the Hornets, and the Jazz. The Wizards aren't the worst team in the league anymore.

I was going to say, do any of you guys, you in particular, I'm talking to Tass and Trey here, want to swap out your nut dust bowl team for the Wizards? Because you're Jazz. You thought that might be a win last night, but they lose. Tass, the Hornets, they're only at 14 wins still, only a couple now up.

I think it should be in play if you guys want to potentially swap out your team for a Wizards team that's 12-49. Here's the standings for everyone on YouTube. The Wizards will turn on the tanking when they need to. When they get a little too close to Charlotte or Utah, they'll say, all right. But wait, what do you mean? They're the exact same. I hadn't really thought about this, but I saw Ziller write it in his newsletter. That game last night, because of the lottery reform...

it does take a little, you know, like buzz off the game or it makes it a little less relevant because there isn't any incentive to be, you know, worse or a little bit better, whatever. It's like, well, we're all the same. We've got our bottom four. We're bottom, so it really doesn't matter. I hadn't really thought about that. But Tass, did you want to swap your Hornets for the Wiz? Would you do it? Yeah, I think I'd be happier just watching the Wizards. Oh, wow! Just because I watched the Charlotte Hornets yesterday and I thought they are just coming down the floor and letting it rip.

like they're at the YMCA shooting in the first three seconds of the shot clock. I went to go check the stats. It felt like they shoot extremely early in the shot clock. Do they or not? They don't actually. They're sort of, they're kind of in the same average space as good offenses, like OKC and all that. So maybe they should take a heck of a lot longer to get into their shots. But I think I did have more fun watching Washington. Trey, would you allow it? Would you allow the toilet man to take the Wizards? Tsk.

- I would allow it. - Okay, it's done. It's done, this is the first in Nut Dust Bowl history. - I'm taking a team that has fewer wins. - That's crazy, I like it. I think it's good. I think it's a good move, Tass, I'm telling you. I think Trey's right, they're not the worst. - They're not the worst. - And they have vets on their team. - And it's like the same team for the most part. Like their rotation is kind of the same, but they got better at the trade deadline, I guess. - Wow. - Middleton and Smart for Kuzma. - All right, this is big. All right, Tass now has the Wizards.

Trey obviously has the Jazz and I have the Pelican. I could never abandon Johnny Juzang. 27 last night. Let's go. Okay, so that's what you got. There were a couple other games last night, Trey. We had Edwards and McDaniels. Which one is it?

Jaden. There you go. Each scored 29 points as the Wolves beat the Hornets and handed them their eighth straight loss. And then Jokic had 22 points, 14 boards. Westbrook had a good game. Nuggets beat the Kings, 116-110. Any takeaways from either of those? Nuggets-Kings was pretty interesting. Denver came out, gave...

a terrible defensive effort in the first quarter. This is a Kings team that is now starting Jonas Valanciunas. They gave up 42 points in the first quarter. Denver did. Jokic was looking pretty frustrated in this one. The guy was getting hacked all

all night long. Jake LaRavia was just sitting in his lap for the entirety of the game, but Zeke Najee and Russell Westbrook really won this game for Denver in the second half. They had a little run at the end of the third quarter that kind of got Denver back in the mix, then a 12-2 run that started the fourth quarter that was basically Westbrook getting to the rim every single time. They weren't guarding him, but he was getting to the rim and actually finishing mostly left-handed layups. And Najee was scoring, he was defending. When he checked out for Jokic to come back in halfway through the quarter,

The crowd gave him a crazy ovation because he really helped flip the game the way he was, you know, switching out on defense and getting back to get a body on Valanchunas. It was great stuff. Denver locked in defensively in the fourth quarter. Sacramento scored only 17 points, and that was mostly Zach Levine just hitting bombs from really, really deep.

But I do think Denver's going to need a solution here for how teams are guarding Jokic because they're guarding Jokic as if he's prime Shaq right now. They're putting four guys on him. They're hitting him every single time they can because there's no way a foul's going to get called every single time. And they're daring Westbrook, Christian Brown, Peyton Watson, Najee to make shots. I mean, they're not even guarding Michael Porter Jr. all that toughly right now. Over the course of a seven-game series, surely Denver figures it out. But clearly this is going to be the game plan against Jokic is like,

We can't let him beat us, and we can't let him pass us to death either. So we're just going to put as many guys on him as possible and see if the Nuggets can come up with something else. So Michael Malone needs to come up with something else happening outside of Jokic when they're quadruple teaming. Yeah. I mean, the Kings also poorly played defense on Jamal Murray. They fouled him three times on three-point shots. He went 9-for-9 on those free throws. He went 14-of-15 at the line overall. When you saw that, you're like, what?

the hell was going on? But a lot of those were because they were fouling him on three-point shots. But yeah, it's interesting. You're not wrong about how they were like so many bodies at Jokic. And they still got the victory. Tass, any takeaways? Yeah, seeing Jake LaRavia right on top of Nikola Jokic every single possession. Call him Jake Lap-Ravia, I guess. I mean, he was right on top of him every single time. And he was scrapping. And he's bigger than you think. He's 6'8".

I thought he was a little bit smaller with Memphis Grizzlies game away at the trade deadline. And he splashed threes on the other end. He was doing his part. There's no doubt. And he was ready to scrap in front of Jokic as they clearly front him and then bring another guy. They are all over him.

I don't know how many of Jokic's horses scratched him, but it must feel like he's in the barn. I mean, there's guys on top of him at all times. What are they going to do? Jamal Murray, yeah, he hit some free throws, but the key is being peak Jamal Murray. I mean, that's the key to this team, really. He just needs to break down guys, and he does get it on.

in the playoffs. That's what he does. Speaking of guys who get on the playoffs, Jane McDaniels was really good in the postseason, came into this year really slow, but he has picked it up. That 29-point game against Charlotte showed that since the All-Star game, he's balling 20 points per game, nine boards, good percentages. He's good from the corners in terms of shooting three, and that's what this offense absolutely needs. And so he just looks better. He looks like himself and Peyton Watson back for the first time, as you said there.

It was a while. He's been gone for like a month, so they're getting their depth back. I do like, just to go back to the Denver game for a second, that Westbrook had a good game with one of his super fans in attendance. Did you see that guy that traveled from South Korea and had the signs? He had his guns out because he was wearing a Westbrook jersey, and they interviewed him, and he was like a super, super friendly guy. They basically had a picture-in-picture for this guy as Westbrook was going off. I know. Let's check in with Kim and see how he's doing. It was amazing. Sure did. It was amazing.

And Westbrook had a good game. 25 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 10-20 from the floor. Hit a couple threes. Hit 4 threes, actually. And then Westbrook, after the game, they told him about him. They went over. Game is Jersey. Signed it. Hugged him. He hugged him like twice. It was great. It was a great moment. You travel all that distance to see your favorite player. Okay, incredible that they even get you on the broadcast and all that. But then the guy you're there for has a good game.

when it's not every night he has that you know this isn't Jokic or Shea like at Westbrook's point of his career it's like you know you have some duds in there yeah it was a great game Russ played great so I was happy for that Scott Hastings did the interview yeah he was like I don't know what was going on there I don't know I didn't really like that was one of the first things I saw when I tuned in was him interviewing Kim the South Korean gentleman um

But then I was like, okay, so he's going to be on the broadcast, right? And then no, it wasn't. No, he was just there to talk. Amazing. All right, well, let's hit the beach. Answer a few of your questions. We're on the beach because it's the only place to read your emails and your tweets. All these coming by way of email today. First one. Hey, diddly ho. No Dunkerinos.

In European sport, doing the double is always a sought-after achievement and can really cement the legacy of a team. The double, of course, being winning both your domestic league and the top European competition in the same season. My question to you: Will teams respect the NBA Cup enough that doing the double, winning the NBA Cup and the NBA Championship in the same season, will become a big achievement?

and something which could impact teams and players' regencies. And if so, who do you think could be the first squad to do it? Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. That's from Johnny. Johnny Juzang? No. Just Johnny. Check him in. Who wants to start us off here? Do you think the double will ever become a thing in the NBA with the NBA Cup and the title? Will it just take a long time to get there or no? Yeah. I think it'll be a thing. Some team will probably win both. Could the Bucs do it this year?

I guess there's a possibility. There's a chance. I think they've got maybe a 2% chance now. They had a 1% chance at the trade deadline. Okay. I don't know. OKC, I think, could double finals it. They made it to the finals of the NBA Cup tournament. They could obviously make the finals and win it this year. That's pretty close. The Lakers won the first one and then went to the conference finals, right? Is that right?

How many years have we done the NBA Cup? No, this is the second year. Last year, they did not go to the conference finals. They went from play-in tournament to conference finals. My bad, but...

It has been veteran teams that have won the NBA Cup so far because you don't have to win seven. You don't have to win four games in seven series. You have to win one game. Right. And you've got to play it great. So to me, Denver is kind of a good mix of here's a veteran team who knows how to win big games, but also still in the title picture, though I think you'd say they're on the outer edges of it right now. So maybe Denver. Okay. Though I don't know how fired up they would be to have to play another game. You know? They're just like, ugh.

I could just go to the horse track instead of going to Vegas. That's the question. Yeah. That's the real cue here, Tass, is like, are we ever going to care enough about the NBA Cup? Or are the teams and the players ever going to care?

I don't know. If it happens, Adam Silver's going to be so happy. He is going to be elite. He is going to be on the sideline. He will rip off his suit and run on the court in his skims. He won't be naked, but he'll be so happy because this is his ideal dream. Johnny just thought up Adam Silver's dream because he has tried to emulate Adam.

The football world. I'm not even calling it soccer because Adam Silver probably doesn't call it soccer. He respects it too much. Yeah, way too much. The thing about soccer and football is that it emulates so much of the season. It's just... There's so many tournaments. And it is... Look, these...

Two leagues, sure, they're important. But the way that they have their schedule is exactly the same as their regular season schedule. Everything is the same. And so I think it's different in that this one week thing in the NBA schedule that's really just a tiny part of a big NBA schedule, it doesn't emulate soccer enough.

Because they've got five tournaments. I can't even name you all the tournaments. They've got these U.S. club ones coming here that are starting next year, I do believe. Maybe it started last year. I don't know. There's so many. And so these two stand out as big ones. When you win those two fixtures...

Good word. That's a tough word. And the Regencies, the question here, will it become a big achievement and something which could impact teams and players' Regencies? You don't hear the word Regency very often. And so, yeah, it doesn't feel like it's going to emulate it at all just because the season is just so packed. Well, soccer, they play twice a week.

And these things are exactly like twice a week as well. So it's dissimilar in that way. Yeah, I'm naive when it comes to the fixtures, like you said, and all these tournaments that they play, soccer slash football, overseas. But from what I can tell, your domestic league and then maybe these top European leagues, you're not playing the same teams. And this is the issue with the NBA Cup. It's like...

just trying to make the regular season games more exciting and then we get the bonus game and a little trip to Vegas and there's money on the line and it's working for the most part early in the year but like you're still just playing the same teams the double will probably mean something whenever we have the international version of an NBA league

Which they've talking up here, right? They possibly want to explore that. Maybe then that's something. Oh, you won the NBA championship and you also won whatever it's called and whoever sponsors it. That like international tournament where you're playing the best teams in Europe and the Thunder won that one. Okay. Then maybe that's something. This...

This, I don't think people care enough. Mainly just because you're playing the same team. You ultimately play for the championship at the end. Yeah, maybe. Spurs are going to be the first team to do it. Victor Wendig-Alma cares. He cares about this kind of stuff. He wants to win everything. True, true, true. All right, Tass, next one. If you could pick one NBA team to not win the Cooper flag lottery, not win it, who would it be and why? Shout out to No Dunks and the stream team.

Love y'all work. That is from Malik. So the team that would make you happiest to see not get that number one pick, which team or did you, would it make you smile to see? Uh, yeah, they're the fourth team. Yeah. I like when that envelope was opened. Uh,

Who wants to start this off? I mean, I'll start because the obvious answer is the Dallas Mavericks should not win Cooper Flag and the draft lottery. They have a chance, right? I mean, a minuscule chance. I think, is it 1%? They've got 1% right now. They have a 1% chance. Worst record in the league. Hey, crazier things have happened in the NBA lottery, but the Mavs can't win it. Even if that were to happen and the ping pong balls were to bounce their way, Silver's got to change it. He's like, no, no, no, we can't do that. We cannot reward them.

for trading Luka Doncic and what they've done to their fan base. And no, no. So that's my easy answer, I got to be honest. Yeah, I actually think there are a lot of teams who it's cool for Cooper Flagg to go to that are going to be in the lottery. So for me, I hate to say it, the team I don't want to win is New Orleans. They've had their chances with the biggest prospects in the world. Literally, like the two biggest prospects that have come out of the NCAA in the past 15 years have both gone.

Anthony Davis and Zion Williams. Exactly. Yeah. They've had their chances. You can get the third pick. You can get the fourth pick. That's still good. You're still getting a great player. But we've got to spread the wealth out here. And honestly, hopefully Cooper Flagg goes to an Eastern Conference team.

Like, selfishly? Talent-wise, he needs to be in the Eastern Conference. And if the Spurs win the first pick with the Hawks draft pick, I will be upset. Oh, boy. I'm not even a big Hawks fan, but, like, the idea that he could be here in the city, we're watching this dude, and he goes to play with Wemby...

It's over. And just also to add on that, the one year the Hawks win the number one pick is on the, you know, beside it on one side is Wenminyama and the other side is Cooper Flagg. And, you know, Rishashay is looking like a good player, but like not to the level of those guys. Okay. What about you, Tass? Do you have a team? The San Antonio Spurs stand out to me. Absolutely. That's the one that... I do not want it. I do not want it. They're good enough. They've got Victor Wenminyama. They just got De'Aaron Fox. Yeah.

Yeah, I want to see the talent spread around well enough. Yeah, I do like my parody. I got to be honest. So that's the one that definitely stands out to me. The New Orleans one is a good one. And looking at these odds, I had to go look through the odds. I had to get up here off my toilet to check the Tankathon odds because as you guys said,

that the top three odds are exactly the same. There is a tiny drop off at four and I had to make sure of that. It's not that big, but it goes down to 12 and a half and then fifth. So it goes 14 for the top three down to 12 and a half or four down to 10 and a half or five where the Toronto Raptors, they lie right now as they tank. And it ain't, it ain't a big deal in the NBA office right now that the Raptors decide, Oh,

You guys just don't have your stars play the fourth quarter anymore. There's lots of those teams that it's happening to, but it's not as bad when the deal just got signed for the next decade, the next 11 years, is it? That the money is coming in, so nobody's looking at this league and saying, oh, these guys just don't play anymore.

So it's not as bad right now. So the odds aren't that bad is what I got to when looking at the tank-a-thon. I mean, it's a little drop-off getting to fifth and sixth, but it's not that bad. You got over a 10% chance of the number one pick. It feels good. It feels good. It feels like you're in it. How often are you guys...

Spinning the wheel on Tankathon. Yeah, every once in a while. Trying to get my wraps up there at number one. Yeah. I mean, I'd even be happy with like, yeah, top three finish for the wraps where I am. I spin it every day. Okay. Until the Bulls finish in the top four. Oh, you keep going. And I close out. Okay. Okay, you're doing your part. Big game for all of us. May 12th. Biggest game of the season. It's the draft lottery. It's the only game that matters for our two teams right now. Unfortunately, that's true. You don't wake up dreaming of McDonald's fries. You wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns.

McDonald's breakfast comes first.

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Alright, next one here. Salutations! There's been a ton of questions about Kevin Durant and the moves he's made going back to July 4th, 2016 when he first left OKC to sign with the Warriors. But there's one important question about his career I haven't seen asked which puzzles me. Would KD have been better off staying with OKC for his whole career, never winning a title, and getting compared to guys like Karl Malone or Reggie Miller for the rest of his eternity?

Obviously there's a chance he wins in OKC, but let's assume he doesn't. Would that have been better for Kevin Durant than the reality of what he has now? Thanks. That's from Austin S. Trey, we'll start with your takeaway from this question. Again, assuming he stays in OKC his entire career, never wins a title, is that like better, I guess, for his legacy is what we're getting at here than going and winning titles with the Warriors and then bouncing around?

I don't think it's better for his legacy. When we look back on the guy winning two championships and two finals MVPs with Steph Curry and LeBron James in their primes, that's going to age pretty well, even if he doesn't get another one outside of those two with Golden State. And it's looking like it's not super likely at this point for KD. So I don't know. Would he be ahead of Karl Malone if he stayed in OKC and just –

continue to be an awesome player for OKC. They challenge for titles just like Malone did with the Jazz there because I think that Karl Malone is still the best player with no title in the NBA history. This guy's still third all-time in scoring. Like, it's pretty amazing the stats that Karl Malone put up, but

KD is fourth in points per game. Karl Malone is 25th in points per game. Obviously Malone stayed very healthy, had a long career, though he did eventually leave his team to try and win a championship at the end and fell short a little bit there. So then you got to think who is the best one team, no title guy. And it's either John Stockton or Reggie Miller. KD is better than both those guys in my book. So I think he would be compared favorably to both Malone and to Reggie Miller. So why not just take the championships?

Okay, okay. You want the titles. You want the finals MVPs. Those are pretty exclusive. Okay, maybe it's more interesting, the question, the hypothetical. He stays with OKC for his entire career and only ends with one title. He does the Dirk.

Right? Yeah. But he's giving up another title that he won with the Warriors. Would you rather just have the one title with one team? Yeah, that's the ideal one, man. You think so? Yeah, of course. Well, especially in his scenario, joining a 73-win team and all that. Yeah. What do you think, Tess? Yeah, the one at home or the one with your original team is worth three on the road. It's just like... Wow, it's worth three? Yeah, I think so. Like, LeBron going back to win in Cleveland is worth every single one of his...

as a member of the Miami Heat or the Los Angeles Lakers. They're equal. One equals three. I think that's how it works. And I love this question. I think it's more about Kevin Durant and what he would want and whether he would want to have a free steak at Kettleman's Steakhouse every time he's in OKC because it's about what he is to Oklahoma City, really. I think that would be a part of it. And I think

Durant would look back and say, nah, I love the camaraderie that I got with a championship team and smoking a cigar. If he smokes a cigar, I'm not sure, but you know, that kind of thing, that kind of thing can't be replicated. And so I do think that he would go back and still do this, say the exact same way. But it's a great question from Austin. What's the, what's the answer for you when you guys contemplate who's the best current NBA player to not win a title?

Between James Harden, Damian Lillard, Russell Westbrook, and Chris Paul. Those are the four that stand out for me. I mean, obviously there's going to be guys who get there later on in their careers, but we can't talk about Luka now. That ain't as fun now. So right now, because these guys are towards the end of their careers. And you're asking who's the best of those four? It's good because there are four different types of players. That's the difficult part of it. Sure. Who would you go with? I know for sure I would have Harden number one and Lillard number four.

Take your choice on Chris Paul or Russell Westbrook for coming in second. Westbrook's got an MVP. Chris Paul is probably the second best point guard, pure point guard in NBA history. But, you know, Harden won an MVP and finished second how many times? Yeah. He kind of is the Karl Malone of our generation. Yeah, he is. He is, which almost like is a knock on him in like 30, 40 years from now in ranking those four guys just of people bringing them up and talking about them.

So you think it's better to be Chris Paul and never even get close? Well, he got close. Yeah, he made the finals once. So did Harden. Yeah, I know. Harden was close to beating the Warriors. Harden's Rockets teams were awesome. And maybe do with Chris Paul. Yeah, it's a good... No, I guess my point was, I think, I just wonder, are people going to talk about Chris Paul or even Westbrook more than Harden?

And maybe even Damian Lillard, if they all end with zero rings here as part of the equation. I don't think Lillard's in the conversation with these guys. Okay, okay. He's one level down. The other ones are MVPs and, like, top 30 guys all the time. And, you know, Lillard is probably top 50 all the time, but...

He made, what, one conference finals, I think? Yep. Rank them. We've got to have people rank those. That's a good one. Between those four, Harden, Westbrook, Chris Paul, and Damian Lillard. I'm with you. I would have Dame last. Again, this has to take into equation that they don't win a title here. From here on out, they just end their careers with these incredible numbers. Like, all top 75 guys, of course. Even Dame made that, right? Yeah, he did. He did. Yeah, which was a little perplexing. All right, final one, Tass.

Weird. A sneeze that sounds like, oh, Canada.

Weird. That was my impression of O'Kane. That was pretty good, actually. Yeah. It worked out a lot better than I thought it would. Any weird show or NBA moments that randomly pop up in your brain? Love the show. That's from James in Ohio. Respect, James, for thinking a sneeze.

sounds like O Canada or maybe you didn't but you think of that moment anyway I don't remember this moment at all so Matt sneezed on the show and Lee said that sounded like O Canada that is weird that's a deep cut that's very random I assume that was a drop podcast back in the starters days I don't know why

There's just one moment that stands out to people. We should compile a list of those thinking about ranking them. I mean, there's moments that people email in and say, I remember this weird moment where you complained about the air conditioning. That's me. That's me. I don't like air conditioning right on my back. Come on now.

Yeah, there's moments. There's good moments. Well, why do you go first for this one, Taz? Because I think I know what your answer is because you teased it earlier. Oh, no. I already talked about Adam Silver. Oh, I thought for sure it was going to be for this question. Because anytime we see Adam Silver, anytime we see Adam Silver, I'm like, that guy's wearing skims underwear. That's fucking weird. But I can't help it now because of him saying it.

And I swear, every time somebody brings up Adam Silver, like Tass did earlier, somebody has to mention Skims. Got it. That one, I thought for sure you were going to say here, because I have it on my list. I was like, oh, yeah.

Adam Silver, every time you see him, that guy's wearing Skims underwear. That's a weird thought. You think he switched exclusively to Skims? I don't know. He's got the hookup. Yeah, probably. Yeah. I mean, it would be so soft underneath the suit. I mean, it would just be so slippery. You know, it's got that material feel. Yeah.

I guess. What's your answer then, Tass? Either weird, like, you know, no dunks slash starter slash Jones moments or NBA moments. No, let's get weird. This one's weird. Last week I was with my daughter and she was taking a photo of me and like a good parent.

I farted and I made a joke about it. And I said, does the camera smell the fart? And that's a flashback. That's a callback to when we were in San Francisco and we were, we were, uh, we were filming our version of the full house opening. And, uh, there was one gentleman who lent us his guitar and his stoop and

And he was playing his guitar and he had a strong cologne on. And while he was playing his guitar, he said, does the camera smell the cologne? We say that all the time.

That's a great one. You just borrowed a dude's guitar. I know. He's like, yeah. Yeah, come on. Sit on the stoop. And then he was kind of doing the Jesse, the John Stamos impression. Yeah, he was pumped to be on that. That's a good one. That's a random one. And very old. Yeah. I mean, Trey literally said,

Can the camera smell the what yesterday? You said it yesterday. I did say it yesterday. Who knows for what? Was it on air? No, no, no. Post game. Post game, yeah. Can the camera smell the... I think it was you being in there farting, I'm sure. I don't know. This bathroom smells great right now.

My favorite part about this pick-em payoff is that you don't come out of the bathroom right away after the show. You're in there for like another five minutes, like cleaning up, doing stuff. I always think you're going to come back into the studio immediately. I was like, we're still waiting a little bit here. I've got to pull up my pants and stuff. JD or Trey, do you guys have an answer for this?

I was writing down things all day as I thought about them. How about Tass wearing Danielle's pants for the dancing pick-em payoff one of our first years on the starters? He had to dance for an entire episode. And I feel like you wore a pair of Danielle's...

linen pants or something like that. Oh, wow. Great callback. I had forgotten about that. Weird one. Weird one. I just think about the way your legs were moving in those pants. They're so airy, those pants. Yeah, they're very airy. And I felt like you were doing a lot of moves to kind of show the fullness of the pants. Let them billow out.

Great Biscuits Vasquez, I will always think of for Greatest Vasquez. There's a couple of businesses around here that are like Brito something, B-R-I-T-O. And I remember way back when we used to do Facebook thank yous and we did one for a guy named Hector Brito. And then we started doing the pun gun. And I think of that every time I see Brito law or whatever it may be. Here's some more. At one point, the Houston Rockets posted a tweet saying,

of a horse with a gun next to it and said, close your eyes, it'll all be over soon. And it was a huge social media kerfuffle. I think the social media manager for the Rockets got fired and we did a podcast and this came up and Matt was still running the drop board and he was just...

shooting a horse a hundred times probably that was very funny that was very funny that was like in our office like in we weren't even near the studio we were just up in a weird office um we had yannis on as a like rookie and at one point he says tassos yogurt is greeky freaky good that's a crazy sentence

We had Marvin Bagley on a Halloween episode and we got him to wear an eye patch because we were all dressed as Austin Powers characters and he was the number two draft pick. Incredible. There was one day where everybody on the internet thought LeBron James had six toes. Yep. Damari Carroll calls them salmons. And of course, Kyle Kuzma called Spencer Dinwiddie Din-Shitty Island. They're just things I always think of when I see these people.

These are all good. I have a photo that I always think of any time I see Devin Booker, or for that matter, anybody fall into the crowd. I always think of Devin Booker fist bumping the baby during his son's playoff game. I love this photo so much.

Everyone's just so damn cool in this photo. Look how happy everybody is around him. They're like, wow, this is incredible. That kid's wearing a Supreme t-shirt. I think this is a game where Booker had like 31 points in the first half too. He may have got injured actually in this game. Anyway, just a great moment. Love that. And then for our show, Hall of Famer, David Aldridge.

Remember the time he caught the light? Oh, yeah. Doing a live hit on our show. Like, he's outside. He's on remote. And there's a, you know, we're not with him, but there's obviously a light set up, but it was windy wherever he was, and that freaking light fell down while he was talking. This guy just grabbed it like Spider-Man or something. It was, like, iconic. That was cool. Yeah. Yeah, and he just kept talking. Oh, yeah, didn't miss a beat. Like, nothing happened. Damn, that's a pro. That's a Hall of Famer. So those are my two that come to mind. JD, you got anything to add?

I mean, every time I get a package, it's, "Your package is going to be delivered." Totally. Was that Jonas? Jonas Altenas. A Purulator commercial. To this day, literally, anytime I get a package or Rachel's like, "Oh, there's going to be a package coming today," I'm, "Oh, your package is going to be delivered." I can't help it. I can't help it. That's good. Great question, James, taking us down memory lane.

Let's hear from everybody out there in the stream team. In the YouTube comments, you can tweet at us some of your favorites. What, you got a couple? JD going in on Mother Teresa. That was good. And honestly, for me, I'll always remember JD's opinions on Prince when I'm listening to Prince. Because every time I'm like...

good how does JD not like Prince I never said I didn't like him that's true that's true I just say he's slightly overrated slightly makes people so angry the mother Teresa take listen that's your all-timer man stand by it yeah that's good that's good all right that's beach stepping keep your questions coming no dunks at theathletic.com you never know we're gonna hit the beach great stuff this week all right pick them results got another W there last night

Who was with me? Esh? Everybody else except for me. Oh, excuse me. So a lot of us taking the thunder. That's right. That's right. The thunder to cover that eight and a half point spread. They took care of business. So I'm three and oh, Tass one and two. Trey, I believe one and two and Esh two and one. Where are we going tonight, Tass?

We're going to L.A. where, of course, it's the Lakers. They're playing extremely well. It makes sense that the three of you picked the Lakers over the New York Knicks who are coming to visit. The Lakers have four and a half points. They got a cover, so they get one by five or more. But me, I like to lose. Apparently, I'm picking the New York Knicks just like yesterday. I pick the one team that loses. You pick the three that win.

I'm sitting on a toilet. I just want to replicate this next month in April when I lose March. Inevitably, as Trey and I are at the bottom, as you said. It's so early, man. It's early. Come on. Don't talk like that. March is a long month. We got lots of shows left. But yeah, you guys are taking the Lakers. That makes sense. Carl Anthony Towns, expected to be back.

He should be playing. Austin Reeves actually expected to be back as well. No Rui Etchamore, I assume, still. But there you go. Should be a fun one. All right. Lakers by four and a half. Three of us taking that. 10-0.

Tass Swervin taking the Knicks. Okay, we'll be back tomorrow with the Drop podcast. Talk about that game, I assume. Worst of the week nominees. Five-star Friday fun. Oh, yeah. So if you want to get one in at the last second, go ahead. Leave us a review. Appreciate that. And a whole lot more. We'll do rapid-fire questions, of course. We'll have a blast. Also coming up later today...

Go ahead. Oh, where are you going? Yeah, I'll talk about Survivor. Oh, that works well, actually. The first time you pulled up this graphic, JD, you could see Skeet's face on that gentleman's butt on the left. It was somehow seeping through. I was seeping through that man's butt? Yeah, it was interesting. You were seeping through. I was seeping through Mitch's butt? Hey, I'll tell you right now. So he seeps. There it is. See that? There you go. Oh, and then on the right, it's me in a toilet. Ha ha ha!

I was going to say, Tass, Mitch turned into Rick Barry last night during the challenge with the underhand shoot. Oh, he was money. Oh, he was money, Mitch. So no buffs. The whole point of this graphic here is for us to talk about our Survivor podcast, which comes up at 1 p.m. Eastern today.

TK, JD, Nora, and myself. Please discuss. Please discuss. Yes. Whether or not any sort of challenge, the best way is to shoot underhand. Because it sure feels that way. Yeah, yeah. You don't shoot it normally.

Right. We did have Eva was shooting like a jumper and then started missing. Some people started with it. Oh, yeah. I think you're right, Tass. I do. I do. That underhand. One hand or two hands? Two hands probably. Two hands probably just for, you know, steadiness. It worked for Mitch anyway. We'll talk about it. Did you hear that Joe, who is on Survivor, is married to Katie Christensen? I did. Of the Sacramento Kings broadcast team? I did hear such a thing. That's pretty cool. I know. It is pretty cool. We already love Joe to begin with. He's got an NBA title. That's right. That's right. That's my winner pick, too.

All right. So join us for No Bus later today, except you, Leo. All right. Until tomorrow. Clipper Bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. And remember, just end the show, JD. I got no quote, but I got a little stiffness in my back. Want to get up as soon as possible. Embrace the day, people.