Slam N JamAndrew Schlecht and Alex Speers discuss the headlines of the NBA, Rookie of the Year odds, and who the true contenders are in the NBA.Then Trill Bro Dude of the You Know Ball Podcast joins the show to have a lengthy discussion on the horrific start to the season, Joel Embiid's future, PG's podcasts and more. Then the guys draft the players that if removed from their team, instantly make them unwatchable. And finally... Andrew and Trill face off in a fun edition of Andrew vs. the Beat.Host: Andrew Schlecht and Alex SpeersWith: Trill Bro DudeExecutive Producer: Andrew Schlecht Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Full Episode
Welcome to the Saturday Slammin' Jam here on the Athletic NBA Daily. On today's show, we're talking headlines from the week of NBA basketball, rookie of the year odds, and we're going to have Trill Bro Dude from the You Know Ball podcast to talk about the chaos. That is the Philadelphia 76ers. And we're going to do some trivia after that.
But before we get all of that started, Al, please tell me, what are the top stories from the NBA this week?
Well, Andrew, the top story this week was Cavs-Celtics on Tuesday, a matchup between the top two teams in the East. The Cavs came into the game having won their first 15 games of the season. And despite getting down by as much as 21 on the road, Cleveland came back and made it a game before losing 120-117. Jason Tatum had 33-12-7 with six threes, while Donovan Mitchell led the Cavs with 35-8-3.
The Cavs' 15-0 start to the season is now tied with the 93-94 Rockets for the second best start in NBA history. These two teams will meet again in only two weeks on December 1st, this time in Cleveland. Now, the Cavs' winning streak wasn't the only one to come to an end this week. The Los Angeles Lakers, who had won six in a row, finally lost in a close one to the Orlando Magic.
Franz Wagner hit a go-ahead three with 2.5 seconds left to give the Magic a 119-118 win. In the win, Franz had 37-6-11. He's been ridiculous. And has been on fire recently. He's averaging 29 per game over his last six. For L.A., the loss stung, but what a week it was for the Lakers and especially rookie Dalton Connect.
Since being inserted into the starting lineup four games ago, Connect is averaging almost 24 points a game, including a wild one against Utah where he scored 37, including 18 straight in the closing minutes of the third quarter. Connect tied a rookie record with nine three-pointers in the game.
Afterwards, Jazz head coach Will Hardy said, quote, In the second half, it seemed like everybody in the gym knew that Dalton Connect was going to shoot the next shot, with the exception of a few people. The problem was those few people were on our team. The Jazz are 3-12 and have lost four straight.
One more loss and the Jazz will have a five-game losing streak, which is what the Phoenix Suns have been up to lately. The Suns, who started 9-2 but have been without Kevin Durant the last couple weeks, have dropped five straight and have a point differential of negative 2.4, which is only better than the Blazers, Jazz, and Pelicans in the West.
Of the five losses, none was more painful than a 120 to 117 loss to the Timberwolves in Minnesota. With 34 seconds left in the game tied at 117, the Suns missed three straight shots, including two from Devin Booker, who had 44 in the game, before turning it over to the Wolves with 2.1 seconds left.
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