John Hollinger + Slammie Awards
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What are the top NBA stories of the week?
welcome to the saturday slam and jam here on the athletic nba daily on today's show we're talking top stories of the week our quarterly slamy awards and john hollinger stops by to talk about his new book the basketball 100 by everybody here at the athletic it's a great great book suggest that you go pick it up now but to start with al tell me what the top stories in the nba were this week
Well, Andrew, the top story this week was the conclusion of group play in the NBA Cup. We have our Elite Eight, who will now move on to the elimination round. In the East, we've got Orlando going to Milwaukee and Atlanta going to New York. In the West, it's Dallas OKC and Golden State Houston. BetMGM has the Thunder and Knicks tied for the best odds at plus 300, but don't... Don't overlook my Atlanta Hawks.
Is that our bet MGM line of the week?
Is that our bet MGM line of the week right there, Al? Yeah, and I'm going to give you my pick right now, Andrew, because the Atlanta Hawks have the worst odds at plus 1,800, but are exactly the type of weird team that could do this. Just to get this far, the Hawks had to get out of a group that featured Boston and Cleveland, two teams who have seven losses combined, three of which came at the hands of the mighty Hawks. So crazy. Speaking of Celtics and Cavs, now they might be out of the race for the NBA Cup, but they can still win the second most prestigious trophy this season, the Larry O'Brien. And this week, we got round two of Celtics-Cavs, this time in Cleveland. Down by 12 entering the fourth quarter, the Cavs would outscore the Celtics 43-27, including 20 from Donovan Mitchell in the quarter to win 115-111. Now, it should be noted that Boston played without two starters, Jalen Brown and Derek White, but
they did have Chris Stapps Porzingis back who scored 21 in the loss and played a season high 32 minutes the Cavs are now 20 and 3 which is incredible on its own even more incredible that they could be 22 and 1 if they could just beat those damn Atlanta Hawks Those Atlanta Hawks have won five in a row, including a win over the Milwaukee Bucks, who had previously been on a seven game winning streak. The Bucks season has finally normalized as they've clawed their way back to 11 and 10 fifth spot in East. Giannis is leading the league in scoring. He's putting up over 32 a game to go along with 11 and a half rebounds, six and a half assists while shooting a career high from the field. Next up for the Bucks is a game that has already happened by the time you hear this, a marquee matchup against those Celtics in Boston. Now, that's probably enough about good Eastern Conference teams. What's been going on with the Wizards, you ask?
Well, let me tell you. They're 2-18. They've lost 16 in a row. They have lost by single digits once. Again, they have lost by single digits once.
They're two and 18.
The next four are against Denver, Memphis, Cleveland, and Boston. So let's just agree to bump that losing streak up to 20, okay? If they get to 20 straight losses, that would be tied for the 10th longest losing streak in NBA history. Every game beyond that, appointment viewing. The team that may decide Washington's historical fate is the Charlotte Hornets because after those next four games, Washington goes Charlotte, Milwaukee, OKC, Charlotte, New York, New York. And that last matchup against the Knicks is on December 30th and is on NBA TV for some reason, which is great for us because there's a non-zero chance the Wizards could be looking to avoid the second longest losing streak by that point.
Now, from losing streaks to winning streaks, the longest winning streak in the league currently is held by the Dallas Mavericks, who have won six straight, including their most recent win, which was over those Wizards. After a slow start to the season, Dallas has won 10 of their last 11, including five without Luka Doncic. Assuming they beat Toronto on Saturday, Dallas will head to Oklahoma City next Tuesday for the NBA Cup elimination round game on a seven-game winning streak. Now, a team whose six game winning streak seems like a distant memory is the Los Angeles Lakers, who have lost six of their last eight. They've dropped to 12 and 10, ninth in the West.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What are the top NBA stories of the week?
0:11–13:09
2
Who is the League Pass Team of the 1st Quarter?
13:09–23:44
3
What is the Say What? Stat of the 1st Quarter?
23:44–31:55
4
Which team had the biggest surprise this season?
31:55–42:02
5
What are the biggest disappointments of the season so far?
42:02–1:06:11
6
What bold predictions can we make for the rest of the season?
1:06:11–1:21:12