Slam N JamAndrew Schlecht and Alex Speers discuss the week of NBA Basketball, who should be DPOY?, their favorite quotes, players, and stats of the week, and more. Then they are joined by Scott Agnes to discuss the Indiana Pacers and if their recent play is a sign of things to come. 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: Scott AgnesExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio/Video Editor: Jake Kleinberg 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 NBA Cup aftermath, Defensive Player of the Year odds, and Scott Agnes joins the show to talk about the Indiana Pacers. But to start us off, Al, tell me about the top stories this week.
Well, Andrew, our top story this week was the crowning of the 2024 NBA Cup champion, the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks were led by two-time NBA MVP and one-time NBA Cup MVP, Giannis Anetokounmpo, who put up a 26-19-10 line with Three blocks in the 97-81 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. That's right, 97-81. The Thunder shot 34% from the field and 15% from three.
The last time OKC had that bad of a game, me and Andrew were arguing about whether Alexey Pokushevsky would be a Hall of Famer or just a multi-time All-Star. For the Bucs, it wasn't just another memorable elimination game performance for Giannis. It was also the second NBA Cup championship for summer free agent signing Torian Prince and assistant coach Darvin Hamm.
Will we get a Hamm man three-peat next season? Speaking of three-peats, the Chicago Bulls have won three in a row, including a shocker on Thursday night, a 117-108 win over the Celtics in Boston. After losing only four home games all of last season, the Celtics have already lost four this season, and it's not even Christmas.
Zach Levine led the Bulls with 36 points, another strong performance in what has been a bounce-back season for him. Could that bounce-back lead to a trade? Well, this week, the athletic Sam Amick reported that the Denver Nuggets have expressed significant interest in Levine, a deal that would likely involve Michael Porter Jr.
In the meantime, the Bulls are now 13-15, 9th in the East, with the 12th-ranked offense and 23rd-ranked defense per Cleaning the Glass. Now, potential trades are fun, but what about real trades? Well, we had two this week. First, kind of a minor one in Indiana as the Pacers sent a 2031 second round pick swap to the heat for Thomas Bryant. Not super exciting.
A second, more exciting trade, though, followed with the Golden State Warriors sending DeAnthony Melton, Reese Beekman, and three second-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Dennis Schroeder and a 20-25 second.
Now, the Warriors are in need of some offensive help in those non-steff minutes and also just in need of help more generally because since starting 12-3, the Warriors have lost 11 of their last 13 innings. including a 144-93 destruction at the hands of the Grizzlies in Memphis on Thursday night. The 51-point loss was the fifth biggest loss in Warriors franchise history.
And in his first game as a Warrior, Dennis Schroeder did get the start, but he went 2-of-12 for five points. The Grizzlies, meanwhile, are 19-9, second in the West. Now, in a week without many basketball games and not a lot to talk about, it was a particularly bad time to publicly steal a PlayStation 5 from a child. But that's exactly what the Charlotte Hornets decided to do.
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