Donovan Mitchell scored 33 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers won their league leading 47th game of the season. Dave DuFour, Es Baraheni, and Zena Keita discuss the importance the Cavs and Thunder regular season marks, Luka and the Lakers blowout win over Jokić and the Nuggets, whether the Knicks are contenders, and if Jimmy Butler is everything for the Warriors. Then, the gang debates who has it worse while comparing the cursed seasons of the Philadelphia 76ers and the Phoenix Suns.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Zena Keita & Es BaraheniExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson MoodyJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/we6bWXw2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What were the highlights of the Cavs' recent performance?
good morning everybody good morning guys uh another morning weekend in the books in the nba man we had so many games this weekend and you know i know we just had the all-star break but uh it feels like they just crammed like 700 games in the last three days yeah all like nationally televised we got our sunday slate the sunday slate is back by the way it's back Ja, es ist komplett zurück.
Kein Fußball, um wegzukommen, Leute. Ja, ja. And one or two of them might mean everything. So let's start with that Lakers-Nuggets-Game the other night. The Lakers won the game by 23. Luka's out there running the offense. Luka and LeBron. I mean, LeBron is legitimately playing like a top-five player right now. And he has been for...
Chapter 2: How did the Lakers dominate the Nuggets?
know the last six weeks it's kind of absurd um we were saying and i in particular have been saying that the nuggets are back i think the nuggets have a really good shot at winning a title even though you know we doubted christian brown being able to step into the starting lineup and make an impact but they've looked so good i have to tip my hat to the lakers i mean you blow out the nuggets and uh that's a pretty big deal so guys is this lakers win over the nuggets something
Ist es nichts oder ist es alles?
I will say it's something in a lot of ways. To bounce back from the way that they lost against the Hornets and then to come and completely dominate the game plan against the Nuggets, especially defensively. They forced Denver into 20 turnovers. They caused a bunch of bad plays from Nikola Jokic.
They forced them into a passer, which is technically not what you want to do with Jokic, but they just made it a situation where he was rushing defensively. He was getting into places where he didn't want to be. And to do that against the best player in the NBA is no easy task. So I think it's something from the defensive side of the ball. And if they're generating turnovers the way that they did,
Ja, genau.
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Chapter 3: What does the Lakers' win mean for their season?
so far pretty cool yeah the defense is going to be the big concern i think though if you go back and look jackson hayes has had a pretty good defensive season i mean it's not defensive player of the year level stuff but he's not been too bad and i think that that has shown a little bit especially in this game against the nuggets um the other side of the coin again i thought the nuggets were back and you get blown out by the lakers at home i mean especially this is a big game you know this is luca these guys didn't get up for this game and so zina you know
What does this blowout mean if you're the Nuggets?
I think it's nothing. I mean, literally, if you look at the streak right now between the Lakers and the Nuggets, the Lakers had lost the last five before coming into this game. So Denver was feeling pretty good. Now Denver was also on a nine game winning streak. There is something to the fact that none of the teams that they beat in that nine game winning streak were not a top 10 team.
Ja. Ja.
Ja.
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Chapter 4: Are the Knicks contenders this season?
I mean, the Lakers did a good job of throwing a bunch of different bodies at Jokic. I've never seen anybody pull that off for seven games.
So it was like the Vando, Dorian, Finney Smith. Like those guys were hounding them. And even Luca was doing well defensively. Like he really answered to LeBron guarded him a little bit.
I mean, again, it was a great it was a great game for the Lakers. Yeah, not a great weekend for the Knicks. They got stomped.
Oh mein Gott. Ich bin so müde, weil wir ihnen so viel mehr gegeben haben. Und dann öffnen sie den Wochenende, uns so überraschend.
Es ist wie die schlechteste Version des täglichen Verlustes.
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Chapter 5: What challenges are the Sixers facing this year?
Insane. 37 Punkte Verlust am Freitag. Sie waren unter 27 in ihrem Verlust gegen die Celtics am Sonntag. Sie kämpften zurück und machten ein Spiel aus dem Verlust. So give them credit. But they are now 0-7 against Boston, Cleveland and OKC. And there's a few blowouts in there. I think, guys, that this is more, it's more of something that we've already seen from them this year.
If I can kind of just set the floor. I do think that this team is very clearly not Boston, Cleveland and OKC. But I think that they're right below that. But guys, I'm going to ask you something, nothing or everything.
I'm going to say it's everything. And what I mean by that is this team was built to beat a Boston. This team was built with the purpose of coming out of the East. And right now, when you look at the way that they've performed across OKC, Cleveland and Boston, they are combined negative 19 in the plus minus column. They don't rebound well against these teams.
They don't shoot well against these teams from outside the arc. They struggle overall. And what's satisfactory? Coming up right below these teams? No, you want to beat these teams. In the regular season, if you're not able to pull that off, what's to say you're going to do that in a seven-game series?
Ich meine, er hat wahrscheinlich nicht viel von seinem Schuss. Ja, du hast es nicht. Ich kam in diese Saison mit ziemlich hohen Erwartungen für die Knicks, je nachdem, was sie gemacht haben. Sie sind alle in, so alle in, wie man es möglicherweise kann. Und du addest Karl-Anthony Towns, die Offense, der Feuerkraft dieser Offense sollte groß sein.
Ich meine, es war alle Saison, aber es ist einfach, zu schauen, wie die tollen Teams dieses Team entfernen können. Kat und Brunson in Pick and Roll konsistently on the defensive end just gets torched. And that is I mean, maybe Mitchell Robinson comes in and helps that a little bit. But I don't think there's a solution that can make them compete with these three.
And then on the offensive end, like teams are starting to figure out how to guard and game plan for Brunson and Kat. So I agree. I think it's everything. Es ist auch Jahr 1 für dieses neue Team. Sie versuchen, die Identität herauszufinden. Vielleicht ist es nur ein Fehlablauf. Nächstes Jahr ist das Jahr, in dem sie gehen. Und sie sehen sich wie die Gegner, die sie sein könnten.
Aber gerade jetzt, für diese Saison, stimme ich. Es ist alles.
Yeah, and they're just about to get back to full health. Let's point that out. Mitchell Robinson, it does seem like he's going to be back soon. And I think, you know, Zena especially, big on bigs. We've talked about this quite a bit, having the optionality of going with two bigs. I think it's going to be important for them.
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Chapter 6: How is Jimmy Butler affecting the Warriors' performance?
I mean, is this something all Jimmy Butler or is there more to this?
It's everything, baby. It's everything. I will tell you this right now. The Warriors look like they are aging backwards. Their pace is up. They're not turning the ball over. Their read and react offense is read and reacting. It's doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. You're seeing Brandon Pajemski, Moses Moody playing with the feel of the game.
I mean, whether they have a shot, they're pump faking and going, pump faking and dishing. Everyone's attacking the basket. It is fun basketball. I literally was in the arena today as they took down the Mavs. Es fühlte sich an, als wären wir wieder in Oakland.
Voracle, Oracle, jeder im Publikum, Warriors, wie die Chance, wir gehen, weil das Produkt auf dem Platz war, wie es in den Tagen der Warriors war, running and gunning, diese Todes-Typen-Lineups, die rauskommen und dominant sind. And then, on top of all that, Steph Curry gets 30 points. I mean, yeah. Jimmy Butler is such a key opener for this offense.
And it's not even just from what he's doing and making them number one in free throws in the NBA, which is insane in the last 15 games. It's also the fact that everyone is mimicking and fitting in with his type of game, which is a run and go and attack type of offense and also tough defense. Vielen Dank. It's everything. This is a game changer for the Warriors.
The defense is the part that I love for this team right now. Dave, you shouted them out early in the season. You're like, this is going to be one of the best defenses in the league. They were for like a month and a half. They were a top five defense. They fell off a cliff. But now you add Jimmy into this equation.
The off-ball awareness, the connectiveness that he has on that end, getting into passing lanes, the steals that he can pull off. It just completes everything for that team defensively. They're so good when they're like that.
Jimmy Butler's edition really slotted guys back into the roles that they should have been in. And I will tell you one of the things, the little wrinkles that they broke out against the Mavs on Sunday, using Gary Payton to face guard Kyrie Irving. Like we've seen that, but I really liked the way they use Brandon Pajemski. So essentially, they now have two guys that can hound you.
That's 48 minutes of being able to shut down. And that live to hound you. And I just think that, you know, having Jimmy Butler and, you know, sort of like him and Draymond with their basketball IQ as helpers allows you to have, you know, one person out on an island.
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Chapter 7: What does the 40-20 Club signify for NBA teams?
Es gibt eine Chance, dass OKC und Cleveland die 50 vor 20 machen, was ein weiterer Niveau für das ganze Ding ist. Aber es ist ein Test, wie dominant alle drei dieser Teams waren. Und um ehrlich zu sein, sind sie wie ein Kuss über alle anderen. Es ist jetzt sehr klar, dass es eine Gap gibt, die mit diesen dreien geschaffen wird.
After years of essentially being told the regular season doesn't matter, I think, Zena, this is a pretty clear indication it does. I think this is actually everything. I think that these three teams, and especially OKC and Cleveland, just running away with the one seeds in each conference, I think that's everything.
Now, I'm going to play a little fun game here. I think it depends on the conference. I think it depends. If you are in the Western Conference, I think this is everything. I think this is a really, really big deal. If you're in the Eastern Conference, I'm going to say it's something. Okay. I'm going to say it's something. And that's only, I'm looking at the two conferences.
I'm looking at, the Pacers have what, 32 wins? And they're 4th? Wenn man auf den Westen schaut, sind die Leute mit 31 Gewinnen in den siebten und siebten Spots. Es gibt eine Unterschiede zwischen den beiden Konferenzen. Ich wechsle es um. Ich gebe der OKC den Respekt, den sie verdienen. Aber Boston und Cleveland, ihr müsst mich ein bisschen mehr beeindrucken.
Okay, Leute, bleibt dran nach dem Break. Wir sprechen über ein paar Teams, die einfach, ich weiß nicht, in den Dumpfen sind. Es fühlt sich ein bisschen, ich weiß nicht, vielleicht nicht weit genug an.
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Chapter 8: Is the regular season more important this year?
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Und die Zeit und das Geld, das ich dadurch spare, kann ich anderweitig investieren. Vor allem in Wachstum.
A couple of contenders in the Philadelphia 76ers and the Phoenix Suns did not expect to be where they are at this point in the season. Obviously, the Sixers have just had a snake-bitten, literally snake-bitten season. Maybe the only injury that they haven't suffered on the roster this year is a snake bite. And they've just been unhealthy and bad. And then the Phoenix Suns.
An embarrassing loss to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, which is why they're in this segment. Let's just be straight up. They are three games under 500. They don't even they don't look like a play in team, much less a playoff team and lifeless. I just look at this and I think, how did we get to this point? With the Sixers, it makes so much sense.
The injuries have just eaten them up from the inside. The one bright spot they had, Jared McCain. I feel like we do this about once a month now with the Sixers. We point out all these bad things, all these good things.
Und jetzt haben wir neue Nachrichten, dass es eine Debatte darüber gibt, was mit Joel Embiid zu tun hat, ob er Arzt werden muss, ob es besser ist, um ihn zu bleiben, zu spielen, was ich meine, wiederum, all das ist einfach, es ist eine Saison, die essentiell verloren ist. Und das ist der Gesprächspunkt. Was macht ihr von diesen beiden Teams? Ich meine, ich möchte fast fragen, wer hat es schlimmer?
Okay, warte.
Seht ihr Beast Games?
Nein, leider nicht.
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