The Athletic NBA Daily
Ja Morant and Westbrook Blunders + Nets Need Lottery Luck | Slam N Jam
05 Apr 2025
Andrew Schlecht and Alex Speers discuss the week of NBA Basketball, the most improved player, and our players, stats and quotes of the week. Then they are joined by Mike Smeltz to discuss the Brooklyn Nets and what prospects are worth building with, coach Jordi Fernandez and his potential, which players they should target in the draft, and more. Then the boys play a fun edition of Andrew vs. the Beat, a trivia game where Andrew is pitted against a beat writer.Host: Andrew Schlecht and Alex SpeersWith: Mike SmeltzExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio/Video Editor: Jake KleinbergFILL OUT OUR SURVEY PLEASEThe athletic.com/athletic/survey25 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Full Episode
welcome to the saturday slam and jam here on the athletic nba daily on today's show we're talking about the most approved player our players of the week and mike smeltz joins the show to talk about the brooklyn nets uh before we get to al's top stories of the week we're going to direct you guys to our quick survey about your podcasting habits go to theathletic.com athletic survey25
Again, three lucky entries will get $100 to Amazon on a voucher. So you should go do that. If you're a longtime listener or even a new one, we'd love to hear from you, from all the slammers, all the jammers. Again, go to theathletic.com slash athletic slash survey25. That's theathletic.com slash athletic. Slash Survey 25.
Again, if you want this to be a review for Slammin' Jam specifically, you need to leave it for the Athletic NBA Daily. So please go do that. We would very much appreciate that. With me today, my good friend Alex Spears. Alex, tell me about the top stories this week.
Well, Andrew, the top story this week was the race to the finish line in the Western Conference with the fourth seed through eighth seed only separated by two games. First, it was a big week for the Wolves. The Wolves won all four of their games this week and did so loudly. In a win over the Pistons, we got a big old dust-up in only the second quarter.
This started between Nas Reed and rookie Ron Holland. Confrontation between Reed and Holland quickly grew as Dante DiVincenzo, Beef Stew got into the mix, and the mass of players and coaches went into the first row under the basket. In the end, five players and two coaches were ejected from the game.
Four players I mentioned plus Marcus Sasser were suspended a game, though Beef Stew got an extra one for his history of on-court beef. And in their very next game, the Wolves were involved in one of the more memorable games of the year, a double overtime win over the Nuggets in Denver, their sixth straight win over Denver going back to last year's playoffs.
For the Wolves, it was Anthony Edwards who scored 24 of his 34 in the fourth quarter in overtime, and Akeel Alexander-Walker scored 26, including five three-pointers and the game-winning free throws after Russell Westbrook fouled his three-point attempt as time expired in the second overtime.
Now for the Nuggets, it was already a tough loss, but it was made even tougher because Nikola Jokic had one of his best games ever, putting up 61 points, which is a career high for Jokic and the most points scored by any player this season. He also had his customary 10 rebounds, 10 assists, making it the first ever 60 point triple double.
And to add insult to injury, the Wolves game was the first night of a back-to-back for Denver. They had to play the Spurs the next night, and because Jokic had played 53 minutes, head coach Michael Malone opted to rest him, leading to a second straight loss.
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