Did SGA End MVP Debate? + Best Year Of Kawhi Ever & A Big Question In The East

Hello and welcome to the hook collective podcast. We talk about the NBA, which we're doing on Tuesday afternoon East Coast time. Joining us from down the hall here in Los Angeles for a second straight week. Jackson, how did my room in our LA offices get stolen by McMahon last week and get stolen by Bontemps this week? I'm the home team. Why am I being relocated? This will be discussed off air. Tim Bontemps joining us from Los Angeles. So rare visit to the West Coast. I was going to say I never get to come to the West Coast. So love everybody. And the reason I'm in this room and not in the other room is because I woke up late to go to the airport with K-Bon in the center block on Thursday and in the scramble to get out of the house. One thing that was not brought with us was the excellent kit we have to do these pods. So here I am in the nice room. My problem. Jack is now my problem. Joining us from Oklahoma City where he was at the fabulous nuggets thunder game on Tuesday night is band McMahon. Howdy partners. Listen, if I ever visit Omaha, you're going to be in comming's because I'll be sitting right in that fancy chair with a big screen behind me. A potten from right there. You can you can find somewhere else. But I am in Oklahoma City as you can see by my my hookham hoodie here. Always be sure that's the big man motto. Always be sure. I guess it was. I said Tuesday night today is Tuesday. Yeah, it is Tuesday. Maybe the best game I've covered this regular season definitely on the very short list. Maybe the best regular season performance of Shay's career according to him and several teammates definitely on the short list. Well, now hold on seriously. The man is a is a final MVP regular season performance. A I did here regular season. Yeah, first time I heard regular season. And B you are out those stats, McMahon. The man had 35 points 15 assists zero turnovers. One person's done that since turnovers have been an official stat. That's LeBron James in a Cavaliers win over the Raptors in not believe March 2018. 14 of 21 from the floor arguably LeBron's peak of LeBron's career is 2017, 18, 14 of 21 from the floor, including two step back three spectacular step back three is in the final 14 seconds. The first of which felt like a dagger until there was a four point play in the next possession. Suddenly it's tied up again. And then the game winner tightly contested as emotional as I've seen Shay in a regular season game. By the way, God is doing this without Isaiah Hartenstein who's nursing a cast and without a component who is out sick without Jason Williams who still Jay Jay will. Yeah, it dubs out with the hamstring still without Alex Caruso. Yeah, I mean, dude, Shay, it was an absolute metric ton of white guys in street clothes on the thunder. I didn't I think you know, really consider it that way, but that is that that's factual plus dub. They did. Well, especially there, you know, like there are two A guys who were not active as well. He also as long as we're going to add to the stat line, how about a borderline iconic quote, post game. Well, not borderline, not borderline iconic iconic. You're talking about, I have the answers to the test, but I need to see the questions first. Bro, when I was just getting to the step back just just incredible. And listen, and the other thing, I mean, I didn't mention the nine rebounds, but like they're sending doubles at him every day in your every possession. And he just dissected the defense and like the two step backs, he said, hey, I knew I had no other possession. It wasn't every possession because they didn't do it late again. But, but that, you know, on those plays, he said, I had to go quick because it like if he penetrates the defense is collapsing. He sees the help defenders there. He knows he's going to, you know, run into a crowd. So if he got to a step back, then he could he could get a shot up, you know, over just one defender. And again, just an MVP statement sort of performance against a guy who's one of his primary competitors for the award. And, you know, joke out of 30 plus point triple doubles. I mean, Joker was bad, but Shay was just spectacular. Well, Dr MVP, we have Dr MVP here in the building in Los Angeles. I saw, well, first off, I do kind of want to know about if you could describe what it was like in the building there for the last couple of minutes because we had another door, yoke, incident, which the thunder fans were in their feelings when it was clearly a flavor. An obvious Flaker one. Well, and listen, they showed the play on the, on the jumbo trunks at the arena. They showed it from one angle where you couldn't see the smack in a face over and over and over again. I know they have multiple angles because usually when there's a controversy, I saw the angle that I saw on television, it was quite clear. I don't know what I mean, it was, yeah, you know, I don't believe it was intentional. He certainly said it was accidental. He apologized to Joker. I thought Joker was not nearly, you know, like Joker didn't wasn't offended by this. It was not like last time, but the fact it was those two guys, but it was also a key play. It was a seven point lead. I think there was 72 seconds left at the time. And then Joker splits the free throws. The, the nuggets hit a three and it's right back to a game. I mean, it was a wild finish again. Shay hit what felt like an MVP moment dagger with like 13.9 seconds, I believe it was putting the thunder up for. And then Joker hits a three and Jay will, Jay and Williams, the big man gets called for foul running over Jamal Murray's screen. So it ends up being a four point play at a tough moment for Jay will. He was awesome. He had 29 and 12 last night when seven of 11 from three and played minute for minute with Joker. Like Joker put his numbers up, but he made him work for it. And so he's just sitting there thinking, man, I hope that's not the moment that's remembered. Well, here's Shay comes to save the day, the next possession, hitting that's it was really kind of a side step step back, three from the right wing, almost identical to the dagger he hit Saturday night against the warriors splash. And to punctuate a 35 point 15 assists, nine rebound, no turnover performance on a night that he tied a will chamberlain record. Whoa. May I just say as a little bit of a side comment about Jay will, Jay, and Williams. He had that game in Detroit was about two weeks ago where he's facing off against during in that game. I'm pretty sure during played in that game. Maybe he was suspended anyway. He had a game. Yeah, he had 30 and 11 in that game, which clear high 30, which the pistons won that game. But still, I don't think Shay played in that game. But it was just a very impressive. This is their third string center. No, she didn't play that game. And then he has this game against Yokech, you know, ostensibly he's guarding other guys. He's their third big to be clear. He's not their third string center. He's he's their third big. Well, if there's if their first two centers are out, he's there's third string. Well, but they they start his jet and hard and stop play together. Yeah. Okay. They start. I mean, he's a rotation. He's one of the he's one of the best if not the best backup center in the league. He's a terrific player. 29 and 12, right. You know, I've got those games against Detroit and Denver, which I think is, you know, other than the Shay play, which was amazing in this game. And I'll get to Dr. MVP here in a second. Yeah. The takeaway from this performance is just how freaking deep the thunder are. I know that we already knew that. But you see it in action. And this is the example of why I can't get to anybody else winning four out of seven because the margin for air that the thunder possesses are huge. Now it was made huge in this game by Shay. And if Shay's not there, we have a different conversation. But they're margin for air is huge. Yeah. And speaking of the depth, obviously all those guys out, they did get a key guy back last night, AJ Mitchell, who's out since January 21st comes back. All he does is scores 24 and 29 minutes and nine of 16 shooting off the bench. You guys know how I feel about AJ Mitchell. He's also caught. We're on agreement on him too. Bontems. I saw a lot of reaction to this game. Say it up. The MVP race is over. And now, look, Shay was already first in your most recent poll. I vote him first last four in a row. Right. Including the big one. That's right. And I'm not arguing against that because I already had him there. I will just say as another one of my side lights, I take my pulpit. I often see people in early to mid March declaring things over in the NBA, whether it's playoff races, whether it's seeds, whether it's awards in eight. What do you like to say, Brian? There's always time. There's always time. And in all honesty, when I developed my credo about there's always time, it off. It was after watching, making that same mistake when I was in my 20s. When I was a young lad, not an old lad like now. Yes. When I was young and dumb, now I'm middle-aged and dumb, ordering an old and dumb. Why would make this mistake? So while I'm not saying that Shay isn't the MVP, I will just say, be careful about declaring things on March 9th. Okay. And I watched and so Bontems, your assessment of the MVP race now in the wake of everything over the last couple of weeks since the poll. I have thought since the poll came out that there, while there were four people at the time when I thought I could win Shay, Yokech, Victor, and Cade, that list is now down to three. Cade is not winning MVP after those two games against San Antonio in the way they've tailed off. Like, there's really no chance I think of him doing that. Barring. That's violating the rule. Well, I'm just letting go. Violating. I don't disagree with you. Barring, Barring. Cade is Schroff, a g injury lock for the three guys ahead of him. I don't think he's winning MVP. I had this discussion with the great Mike Brie and over the weekend. Jalen Brown is not winning MVP. He's had a great year. He's not winning MVP either. While I will not rule out, Yokech finding way to win MVP, I think the chances of that have taken a pretty massive hit between the way he has performed as you've talked about a lot, Brian, coming off of this injury. He has not played quite the same level. He obviously was great yesterday. And they've been losing. Well, yes, come with the fact that there's sunk to six in the standing. It's a combination of his stats have taken a hit. And the team has taken a hit. And I do think Victor still has a chance, just like I think Yokech has a chance. However, the whole time, if Shay stayed healthy and the thunder were the one seed, Shay was going to win MVP. And the way Shay is playing, especially with all these guys out with the Thunder continuing. By the way, the spurs of one like, I think 16 out of 18 or something like that going into this game 16 out of, yeah, they're like 15 and one over the last 16. So whatever the number is, they've won a staggering amount of games. And they're going, we're doing this obviously ahead of this first Celtics game Tuesday night. There's still a couple games back of the Thunder. Like the Thunder have been able to stay a three games back as what man tells me. And they've been able to stay ahead of them while San Antonio's on fire, while they have all these injuries because they have this human metronome and she gave the South's and her who is always there is always awesome. And it's just really become one of my favorite players to watch because of the control he has of the game at all times. Like those two shots at the end of the game, like obviously you were there, McMahon. He knew exactly where he wanted to get to and got there and got it was like the answers. Well, he has the answers. That quote was incredible. But and he gets the ball. He surveys the floor. He says, there's where the help is coming from. That's the question. Yeah. I mean, he's just amazing. He's amazing to watch. So yes, that's all, that's a long wind up to say, I think if Shay stays above 65 games, I do think the race is pretty close to over with the one caveat that if the Spurs can get ahead of the Thunder, then I think there's a real chance that Victor can make it a real two horse race because of he'll have the narrative behind him and obviously he's got some unbelievable stats to go with it. Well, I told you guys after the weekend, I thought that Victor had closed the gap and become the second horse in the race. But I agree that his case is going to have to be based on they catch Spurs in the three games in the back of the standings, two in the lost column. Obviously they have tie breakers. So I don't think Shay needed that. Like I don't think he was like, Oh, Shay's got to make a statement in this game. But as as Wimby was building some momentum, I was one L the statement. These the wins to stay ahead of the Spurs. I mean, that's the bigger thing. It's like the longer they stay ahead of the Spurs, the more I think you'll access thing on. All right, real quick, before we move on the nuggets, I know that they're that they're hurting right now. They're taking losses. They're scheduled this week is brutal. They have the toughest schedule or meaning in the league. They have Houston on Wednesday. Well, they have, boy, I should have it ready. They have Houston on Wednesday and then they have a tough back to back. I think San Antonio on, no, San, I think San Antonio on Thursday. So riveting riveting radio right now. Yes. San Antonio on Thursday. That's correct. Um, we're everywhere. Yes. We're worldwide. And it's a home road back to back. Here's the games coming up. Rockets, Spurs, Lakers. So it couldn't get worse before it gets better. I'm just going to say that if I was a nuggets fan, even though that was a gut punch loss, I wouldn't feel terrible. And even with my team's sliding in the standings, Aaron Gordon looked excellent. And I mean, I know they're going to be walking on eggshells a little bit because and the same thing will be the case for the thunder when heart and Stein comes back and to a certain extent, Jay will because these are guys who reactivating injuries. Jay, more Jay dab with the hamstring for sure. But I'm just like Gordon, you know, hard stars this year. Keeps hurting his calves. Yeah. So you're going to be, you're going to be walking on eggshells a little bit with Gordon the rest of the season. But he looked really good with a 10 rebounds. He had 23 points. He dominated the first quarter. He looks spectacular. And Peyton Watson is pretty close, possibly this week, not certainly, but possibly this week. And that, that'll be a big boost for them as well. But and to continue to manage the the risk thing with Joker, you know, they're taking measures to to manage that. He shot it very well last night, 12 19, three, six, three, that's certainly an encouragement sign. Yeah, that three point or I was going to let him have it. Can the way he's been shooting it and then they ended up with the four point play. I don't know who where Denver's going to end up like in the what seed or whatever. But as long as your team is healthy and I know that the thunder were banged up, I'm not saying like it guarantees anything, but I'm not I'm feeling better about the nuggets. And listen, I I think we all agree. There are three teams we think can come out of the West and two of them are the top two seeds and the other is Denver and one of the huge subplots of the final five, I guess month of the season, there's like 32, 33 days left in the season is where is Denver going to land? Because if they land in the four, five, if they land in the three, six, you're the spurs of the thunder and it's you have to go through both of the other teams or one of the other, the other two teams, that is going to be a pretty massive advantage potentially in the Western conference playoffs. And those three to six teams, the Lakers, the Thunder are the Lakers, the wolves, the rockets and the nuggets, they're all basically tied. I mean, they're like a game apart and they're probably going to be jockeying back and forth for the next several weeks. And it's going to make for a really compelling finish to the season. More who've collected podcast after this. Bontoms, you went to see the nicks. I know you hadn't seen the nicks in days. I knew you were very excited to see that. Yeah, so of course, my one visit to LA for the year and who is here? The New York Nicarbockers in the one game I will see. Yeah, well, the nicks got bigger problems that haven't to see you because they've had a tough couple of days here in LA. But you got to see, well, first off, you know, it's not like it's a new and such a novelty, but your thoughts on the into it, though. The toilet bowl is a fascinating arena. It's really unlike any place I'd been before, I think. I think obviously Steve Balmer spent a lot of time and a lot of money to create the place. And I think there's a lot of things about it that are really cool. Seeing the wall in person was cool. Like how steep the stands are. Like you could feel the noise in the building. A lot of the LED stuff was actually really cool. Like they did this mentalist thing during the time outs. We had to like guess what color was going to come up on the screen. And like, you could they like sort of tracked it down to one person who won and they like showed them on the screen with their name because they were in their seat. Like a lot of stuff like that was really neat. I just kept thinking the whole time that it just felt like a sterile atmosphere because they're like, let's just be honest. Like the Clippers don't have an incredible home fan base. It's a lot like when I used to cover the Brooklyn Nets. And the irony of being at this game last night was there were a lot of Nick fans in the building who were losing the game. We're making a lot of noise. And at one point in the fourth quarter, there was a very loud, let's go nickschant. And then all of a sudden the sound in the arena shot up to about 10,000 decibels. Well, they started playing some song over the over the nicks fans cheering and drawing them out. But the the the the in itself is amazing. And like it's a really cool. It was a really cool visual experience to see. To see a game there. And you can see the vision of it. It's just, you know, it's interesting. The whole thought was a very interesting thing to finally get to see. Most arenas that are new are very nice. But generally you have the same experience. I mean, the chase center is beautiful and opulent. But it's not like being in the chase center and being in fyser form is that different in Milwaukee. These are newer arenas. But this is different experience. Okay, so I just want to point something out before we talk about this game specifically. On December 18th, the Clippers lost in Oklahoma City by 20 to fall the 621. Okay. When they beat the nicks last night by eight on Monday night, the two days ago by the time you hear this, they improved to 32 and 32. 26 and 11 since then. I think it's the third best record in the league. And I and I got to say, watching the game, watching Kauai play great. We just spent the whole first segment talking about Shay and how great Shay is. You can make a real argument. Kauai has been the best player in the league over these last couple of months or certainly minimum right there with guys like Yokech and Masha and I just kept thinking watching this game that it is the ultimate curse of this entire era with the Clippers that after everything that's gone on and the likelihood of this punishment coming down at some point in the next month or two months or three months or whatever, whenever we're going to find out what happened with the Clippers, if anything, with the salary cap stuff with Kauai. Um, that now is the time when they have no chance of really doing anything that this guy is playing like this consistently over the course of a season. It it's just the ultimate knife twist in this whole saga. He's got a shot at first team all NBA. Forget a shot. If he plays 65 games, he has to be in my opinion a first team all be a player. He's been unbelievable over Jaylen Brown. I would have him over Jaylen Brown. I mean, who's been better this year over Anthony Edwards? Uh, yeah, I think so. Yeah, I would have Kauai, I would have Kauai on there as, yeah, I think I would have to have Kauai on there. I think I'd have to. He's been unbelievable. That's bold. I mean, I mean, he's been great. I'm not ready to say that. I've got to say that. First team all NBA is pretty bold. I mean, first CMaw NBA, I think first CMaw NBA is less about team success and more about individual accomplishment. And I I mean, is he is he not better than Jaylen Brown? Is he not better than Anthony Edwards? Is he not better than Jade Cunningham right now? Oh, wow. No, he's not getting, but he's not getting an over. I'm not talking about to me. There's there's three guys compete for one spot there and then Kade's got a spot. Kade is going to be on the team, but I mean, like if I'm just talking about pure talent. If you're picking a guy to play a talent, but that's what I'm saying. First CMaw NBA is about individual excellence, I would say, as opposed to team accomplishment. I think it's different than MVP. I'm not voting for Kauai lender for MVP when their team was six and 21 and he's in the eighth spot in the West of conference playoffs. I don't think you could be on an MVP ballot then. But to me, that's different than all NBA. And this guy has been one of the three or four best players in the sport for at least last three months. Do we argue that? No, I would argue first team all NBA, but that's fine. It's a long discussion. The point is he's been absolutely phenomenal. He's playing as well as he has, maybe in his career, certainly in his clippers tenure. And the clippers, again, after a horrendous start, whatever was I go, my God, are they gifting? Okay, see it? Top five pick. They've had the third best record in the league and are a potential first round matchup for those very thunder or for the Spurs. Either way, what a storyline. You know, Kauai versus the Spurs or Kauai versus the potential, okay, see, Dynasty that his arrival in LA helped birth. I think if he's healthy, they're going to be the seven seed almost for sure because with all the injuries the Spur, the sons have, I mean, they could be healthy by then. But if I'm picking, they've moved into eight last night, I don't know if it'll be that way. I don't know who's all playing tonight, but they've moved into eighth, right? Well, the Warriors lost to the jazz Monday night. The Warriors have all these injuries. Steph is out. I think the clippers are going to be ahead of the Warriors. It's to me, it's a question of candy. The jazz were two and 20 without Larry Marken and they got to move and prove to three and 20. Yes. So now the question of me is, can the clippers potentially catch the sons who are a few games ahead of them, but obviously have a billion injuries right now and are trying to fight through it? McMahon, huge break for the clippers, trading if it's a Zubat's right before he was out for the year with injury. Amazing, amazing fortune. Ben Natherin, the pace just asked to revise the terms of the trade after the season. I don't think that's happened yet. We'll have to wait and see. Ben Natherin, he's not exactly scoring with efficiency, but he had 23. He scored no. He had his averaging 19 form, and now Daria Scarlett is healthy and back. He's in the starting lineup. Yeah, I think 23 or 24 for that game. So listen, the clippers, I don't know what to make. It's very hard for me to judge this season and say, oh, like this is great. They're accomplishing it. I don't even know how to judge the season, but I will say that the guys who are playing and the coaching staff who had this team at, you know, at 6 and 21 and what they've done, that, you know, it's something to be said. Also, I think they have the fourth easiest schedule, the rest of the way. 6 and 21, they go on a run to, you know, near 500 and then trade their, I would say, second and third best players. And then they keep winning afterwards. It's, it's wild. With this, this scandal and potential punishment, looming over their, you know, looming over into a dome like a black cloud. And again, who knows what would happen last year? Varen Gordon doesn't get that tip dunk. So they've had a lot of what it has. They've had 12 months of healthy, Kauai, that's spanned sort of two seasons. I'm not sure they're going to get much out of it is what I'm saying. No question. Okay. Speaking of that we spent the next, the next of last three or four, they're, you know, they lost Oklahoma City at home, which, you know, happens. Then they lost to the Lakers on Sunday afternoon, on spring forward day. They go eight of 34 on three. The Lakers played really well that game. I don't know how you want to grade them in this game, Bontemps. Towns had another good game. Like I know everybody thinks that like Towns had a really good production game. He shot the ball really well. And he was like minus 15 or 17 in the game. It was like a very, yeah, and fouled out. Yeah. Here's a stat that made me raise my eyebrows from our stats info group. That was Kat's first 30 point games this December 27th. He went 32 straight under 30. That's a second longest streak of his career. The first or the longest streak was when he was a rookie starting out. Like the, you know, the first stretch of his career. That, that, I know like he's felt like he hadn't been a featured part of the offense and all that, but 32 straight games under 30. That honestly caught me off guard. That surprised me. Yeah. I mean, look, the next of Kev felt off and kind of clunky for a while. And, you know, I would say that, you know, this, this recent stretch has sort of been emblematic of that. I mean, they, they were down pretty big at home to the Rockets and the Rockets fell apart in fourth quarter of that game as they have plenty of times this year and the next game back and escaped it. And, you know, they then got, they had the nice win at home against the Spurs on Sunday afternoon at MSG. What weird things tend to happen, just like they tend to happen for the road team in LA, which is why, like the other day, we sort of wrote off that loss they had to the Lakers. But, you know, we're sitting here with a month ago in a regular season and you look at how Boston's playing in particular. And yes, I know the next beat, the Celtics last year in the playoffs, but that was an incredibly weird series. And I don't feel like it would repeat that way many times, given the next had two 20 point comebacks in the first two games of that series on the road. And it's hard right now for me, if you're a Nick fan, to sit here and feel confident that the nicks are going to be able to make the kind of playoff run that they have been expecting to, since they fired Tom DeBito, and especially since James Dolan went on the radio two months ago and said, we have to make the finals and we should win them. It's like they, they look like a team that is not going to come close to making finals nor winning them. And, you know, there's time for that to change, but it's a, it's a weird fit. And, you know, it's certainly not ruling them out in a wide open Eastern conference. But I think there's a lot to be concerned about if you're a Nick fan. The bit of pushback I'm going to give here last night. There was a defensive dud. But for a stretch of, you know, several weeks now, they have been deep inside the league. Yeah, we like, yeah, exactly like. So if the, if the, and even the lost OKC, like they, Oklahoma City scored 103 points. You know, that was an offensive. Well, it's competitive game. Yeah, it's competitive games. Yeah. And, you know, a couple losses and a long trip, L.A. I'm not going to trip on. I am going to uplift the Nick's fans here because I am going to now tell you the Nick's schedule for the next two weeks, which is why they have, I believe, the second easiest schedule coming in. St. Goldie behind Cavs Corner, which I think is why I say that, but yes, with a, how about the robust win for the Cavs on Monday? I mean, don't mention that Maxi and Embed and Paul George didn't play. And VJ, go by the way to, go in over the blue coats. Yes. At Utah on Wednesday. Now, Utah is a hard place to win, you know, but once they won a game, you can, that has not happened there. Not winning two in a row. At Indiana to finish up this, they have lost the Indiana already this season. Just, just as a reminder, lose any of these games. It's the NBA. So at Utah, at Indiana, things have the same goal in mind. Go on. Next Sunday, warriors at home, Tuesday. It's a lot easier game than it used to be. Bonds, I'm sure you better be there for this one. Pacers at, at, at, at Nick's. Following next Friday, they had a couple of days off. They can prepare to go over to play the nets. Then they can recover, prepare for the wizards. Oh my. Then staying at home, they don't, by the way, I think you're back from this road trip. They don't go anywhere for two weeks, other than Brooklyn. Then they play the Pelicans. So let me recap. Here are the upcoming games. Jazz, Pacers, warriors, Pacers, nets, wizards, Pelicans. If you can't get healthy on that group, I don't know what to tell you. They've done a good job of winning a lot of these games all year. And look, they're going to be, they're going to obviously be a top four seed. And look, I would say if the Nix can find a way to get into the four seed in the east, assuming Detroit stays in one, but if they could get Toronto in Detroit in the first few rounds of the playoffs, I feel pretty good about the Nix chances. That I think is the bracket they need to be all the season. Oh, you're completely, this is for what? The distance dominance of them all season. Yeah, I am. I am. I am. Okay. Last year, last year, the Celtics. I'll talk about caution. Last year, the Celtics dominated the Nix all season. And I thought that the Celtics are going to roll the Nix and the playoffs. And they were up 20 and the second half of the first two games and collapsed and lost. I was also around back in 2014 when the nets played the heat. And one, I think at least three of the four games in the season series between the two teams and lost in five games in the second round. Like it's not, it's not the first time this has happened. That's like when you make a good point. It completely goes against all the trends. That is the exception and not the rule. Okay. So we mentioned the calves a little bit earlier. Cows play in the magic on ESPN on Wednesday night. I will say if you take a look at the play in zone of the Eastern conference and you know, unless you're a fan of these teams, why would you? There's this weird little uplifting thing that's happened here largely because there's a bunch of tankers that are being played. But yeah, there's a few uplifting things here. So there's some games on Tuesday night. We're not going to know the outcome of. But the magic are going to come into that game against the calves having one four in a row and Palo Ben Carrow for all his, you know, would you would you call it controversy? Or is that too strong of a word? I certainly headbutting with the head coach. Yeah. Yeah, that definitely happened. I'd say for all of the disappointment that is surrounded both Palo and the magic this season. I think is a fair way to put it. They were expected to be a top 14 and said they've been in the play in the vast majority of the season. Joel Glass from the magic, foil podcast listener wants us to know that Ben Carrow is averaging 25 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while shooting 49 percent since the All-Star break. He did at the All-Star break sort of, I mentioned this last week when we were talking about the controversy. His statistics at least are somebody who has tried to refocus. They are winning games. They're on a winning streak. They've won like eight out of 11 or something like that. And they are back above the play in line, which they were below the play in line for weeks on end. They've won seven to ten to be noted. And Franz Wagner is still recovering. They just gave an injury update on him. He's not quite ready yet, but he's making progress. All right. So the heat meanwhile, who are in seventh now, they've won five in a row and eight out of ten. As we speak here, I think they might play it tonight. So I don't want to get too far ahead. Cloning snapping the Buzz City Killer is winning streak. Snapping in half. And the Buzz City killers are still reeling, having lost two in a row. And the Hawks, one of the biggest shames of the week in the NBA are that the Hawks are of one six in a row and are playing very good basketball. Jalen Johnson putting up huge stat lines. And the headlines being stripped away from the performance on the court to the performance off the court of the promotion's department with the Magic City, which by the way, in my 23 years, I'm not sure I have seen a press release quite worded like the way the NBA worded the press release, when they announced that the Magic City promotion was being canceled. It was NBA cancels Hawks promotion. In other words, we are coming in and telling them to shut it down. And a quote from Adam Silver. There are many, many actions that happen in the NBA. And many, many press releases that come out without and without and Adam Silver quotes. And not only in Adam Silver quote, but it was a meaty paragraph. I was going to get to it. Yes, let's read the quote. So the NBA, the NBA today announced it as canceled the Atlanta Hawks' planned in season, Inter-Inter-Interimation for the Game of March 16th. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver issued the following statement, quote, when we became aware of the Hawks' scheduled promotion, we reached out to Hawks' leadership to better understand their plans and rationale. While we appreciate the team's perspective and their desire to move forward, we have heard significant concerns from a broad array of league stakeholders, including fans, partners, and employees. I believe canceling this promotion is the right decision for the broader NBA community. And then the Hawks release a statement. Yes, they did. While we are very disappointed in the NBA's decision to cancel our Magic City Night promotion, we fully respect its decision. As a franchise, we remain committed to celebrating the best of Atlanta with authenticity in ways that continue to unite and bring us all together. Here's the single best part of that release, the single best part, the full array of award-winning culinary options available at State Farm Arena for Hawks Games. We'll be available, comma, including wings, period. So let me translate all that. The NBA was like, you guys should do in what? Call on the phone. What the hell are you guys doing? Well, we're doing it. No, you're not. And the Hawks are going, all right, well, you're still or the boss is, but we're still going to do something. They're also honoring the purchases of the Magic City. Honeys that have been sent out, those are going to be real collectors items. So you can get your hands on one of those. I'm going to have to stay in power. eBay is going to be alive. It's going to be lit. Anyway, the Hawks of 1, 6 and a row, they play the Mavericks tonight. Do we think the Mavericks are winning in Atlanta tonight? I suspect the Hawks are going to be at seven in a row. Hawks have been beaten up on the papers. And Thursday they play the next eight in a row. The magic needed a buzzer beating dunk by Wendell Carter Jr. to beat those Mavers, but yeah, the Mavers are, the Mavers are well on their way to pairing Cooper Flag with a nice prospect in the Strasse. The Mavers are below the Grizzlies who are truly doing some, I mean, we're not, we don't talk about tanking here, but if we did talk about tanking, we could do 25 minutes on some, some stuff the Grizzlies are pulling off. Yes, I'm just going to, correct. I was going to leave it at that. The Grizzlies are desperately trying to move up the lottery standings and having six success just because we're not talking about it. Memphis, we see you. We see what we're doing. We see Andrew report. We see you. Tim Deacon out of respect. We see rotation. And by the way, the next five games for the Hawks are home for Dallas, home for the Nets, home for the Box, home for Orlando on Monday on NBC and Peacock, and then at Dallas. So like they, I mean, they could easily get to at minimum 10 out of 11, which, you know, now they then get into a, you know, they, they then have, and even after that, they have a Memphis game, they got a Sacramento game, they got a Brooklyn game, like they, you know, the Hawks are going to get some easy wins here down the stretch. At least they should. And Wendy, this is where you're, you're, you're love of ordinary time. Yes. The ordinary time. I really do your mind with that. Didn't I? I got a lot of, I got a lot of comments about ordinary time and the liturgical calendar breakdown from the Cross the League. Uh, yes. The only thing I will say is it's not ordinary. If a large chunk of teams actually are trying to avoid victory, that's not ordinary. Why do we have to change the rules? Classic sense and the classic sense. Yes. I will just, I will just say that the Hawks are obviously incentivized to win because they don't have their pick. So they're in this, you know, they're incentivized to win and root against the Pelicans, which, I will say, by the way, we mentioned that the clippers rising up. I know nothing ever goes the thunder's way. But like when they were six and twenty one, that unprotected pick, Hendo Club, Macidie, looked a little, a little tantalizing. And now like, why not be a lottery? Though, by the way, I will say this, this is my Kimmel lottery pick, though. Uh huh. That's right. As I mentioned, all these teams are winning the, the, the losers in that is Philly has plummeted to eighth, which they're barely hanging on to. And you know, and beat us out. And now Max, Max, he's out for two games. Well, many is getting really evaluated. I mean, it sounds like it's not going to be a super long term thing, but we don't know for sure. Paul, Georgia, mains out for at least a couple more weeks as he serves out this suspension. And VJ Edge comes out for a few games now with this back issue. Like, you know, they, like we said a few times, if they're healthy, they've got a chance to be a, a nuisance team at minimum in the first round for one of these top teams, but they have to be healthy and they have to get in. And you know, the, the way things have gone the last few weeks, like, look, there are a couple of wins away from me right back at sixth again. That's sort of the nature of this thing. But we just talked about all these easy games that Lana has. Like, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of various, tank games on the schedule for these teams. And, you know, the more games you're without all your key guys, you know, the harder it's going to be to avoid being down at the bottom of that playing picture. Hey, hey, Janus returned the bugs, the bugs hung in there. We're actually stacked some wins without them. The, the bugs right in the mix too. Janus is back, right? He's going to leave him to glory, right? Uh, well, oh, did they keep losing by like 30 with him back? Uh, not too weird. Let's share where the bugs are. That what their expectations are. They're in purgatory. That's where they are. More hoop collective podcast after this. The cone is factor is a cornerstone thing that we do. We've been doing it for, you know, approaching a decade. We feel back the curtain really. We just got back to our current. We're in a, we're in a meeting last week. And O'Loyle listened to the pod said, Hey, McMahon, it's March. What happened to Coney's factor? The guy goes, Oh, I forgot. I got to do it. Then we get to Sunday. What happens? We don't have it again. I thought we were away, Brian. After I did the, I did the hard work. I did the rankings. I blame Jackson. There's going to be, there's going to be 700 honorable mentions now. I'm well, I'm glad there's ready to go. We're going to sit back. Okay, a couple of things here. Number one, we've, we've paid a lot of attention. Given a lot of, uh, flack to Wendy for the Wendy sleep updates. I've become like a, a friend rotation player in, I'm get up. Yeah, it's not so funny now. Is it? I had to get up at the beginning of the month. When I was out doing NBA today in LA, which is a three 15 wake up call to get on the, uh, yeah, to get on that. I'm sure. I'm running games until your phone goes off at three in the morning. And as you boys know, I've got, I've got like a policy against like single digit A and flights. I, you know, once got demoted at a job in college for a refusion to come in before it was double digits on the clock. Like the band sleep update is a thing. It's an issue. It's something. All you need to know is this. McMahon is flying home, book, home of city today. And he's taking the two 30 flights. For a game. 20 hours earlier. No, I was out. Time out. I was scheduled for get up. So the plan was get up, do the show, take a nap, go to the airport. And you know what? You could have done. You know what you could have done then. You could have moved. Not earlier. No, absolutely not. Well, there you go. I got canceled because then I fell for anyways. So my apologies for Cajones factor being over due this month. It's not everyone's fault. I am, you know, you disrupt my sleep and I end up things go haywire. And I apologized. I don't, I should apologize for when he goes. I can relate to the windy winding and winding and winding over the years. I will acknowledge that. So winding, it's just reality. It's reality. Okay. Card being a star. Having said that February, short month, obviously, not a short-list. No, it is sort of when it was given right over on a mission. No on a mission this month. We're heading. We're heading right to. By the way, I'm just going to give you a little secret. The March early front runner, Shay Gildes out, Xander. He's already on the other side of a mission. Oh, I got a feeling he's getting the fire in that. All right. I just mentioned those Milwaukee bucks, maybe. Actually, we're stacking some wins together without Yannis in the month of February. All that optimism for Yannis. I'm getting Yannis and Cajones factor for coming back and then starting to lose. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no That sport hasn't happened, but oh, oh, scoot, Kevin Porter, Jr. is certainly getting the brass balls. He's having a very good year. All things considered and he has had injuries. He's turning, but he's helping save his career. There you go. All right. The silver. There was one singular game winning buzzer beater last month. I don't do boys recall this one. Anybody? Buzzer beater. I doubt buzzer beater felt. It's not 10 days into the month. I forgot what happened. It's a good one. Exactly. It was Jalen Green. And it was actually. Oh, that was a hell of a shot. That was a great shot. Jalen Green was horrific in this game and they needed it. Brooks was out. They didn't have, they didn't have Booker. The man was six of 26 from the floor. But did that cause the cone? It used to shrivel. No, sir, free Bob. Not only. Did he hit? The overtime buzzer beater. One of his other five field goals in that game was a three pointer late in regulation to send it into overtime. And our, you know, he has been research. Folks has some good stuff here. The third player in the play by play era. That's since 9798 with multiple game time. Or go ahead. Field goals in the final five seconds, the fourth quarter and overtime in a single game. Joining our podcast brother and Jeff Teague and Brandon Roy is the other ones. The third player with a three point game winning buzzer beater and overtime in son's history. The great Eric Bletsow and Stefan Marbere, I'm using it some historic. I don't want to be company in the first player. Oh, this was actually double OT. The first player has right. Eric Bletsow. He didn't want to be at that nail salon. There was an all time rich. I respect Rich Paul a lot, but the all time explainatory thing. Rich Paul's story time with Wendy. This is tell the story. People probably have forgotten about it. Go ahead, Wendy. Eric Bletsow's frustrated and Phoenix and all of a sudden this tweet comes out. I don't want to be here. And Rich Paul tried to explain the way he said, no, he was at the salon or the nail salon with his wife. And he just he was tired of being there. That's what he said. One of the one of the great non-trader requests in NBA history. Anyways, I love you, Rich. A night that is same like Jaden Green couldn't buy a bucket. He hit two huge ones and including the only buzzer beater of the month. So we're going to give him the silver for that. I'm going to let you guys have one guess each on who got the gold. I honestly don't remember what happened in February. I'm really not being facetious. I'll give you a hint. I'll give you a hint. That's what I bleep and do. Come on, fellas. Come on, fellas. Anthony Edwards. Oh, yes, right. Right after a crisp, fenced yells at him. That's right. You're doubled. Stop taking bad shots. Pass the ball. He's doubled. He takes a tougher shot. Am I going to say it's a worse shot? A tougher shot. He stepped back three right in front of the of the wolves bench. Nox is down. It is a dagger. Makes it a four point lead in the final seconds against the clippers. Turns right to Finchy. Poison him and yells. That's what I bleep and do. It's a time I dig Jones. The junior's walking by. Couldn't help but crack a smile just because this guy is so freaking audacious. But here's the thing. And wasn't lying. That is what he does. Last month, the guy led the league in clutch scoring at 35 points in 19 clutch minutes. Like the efficiency wasn't awesome, but the wolves did win for those five games. That is absolutely what Aunt Bleepen does. For that reason, he is the gold medal winner of the overdue sound of the snooze alarm or snack the snooze alarm a few times February, a homemade factor player of the month. And glorious, glorious. And once again, on the on the mantle, the golden balls right there right next to his player of the month trophy, which I think he's one of you. Like man, you got to go catch your early afternoon flight. Bond's and I are going to saunter on over to crypto.com tonight and see your boy. You should have sent us the trophy. We could have presented a little bit to Aunt tonight. We worked on some sort of trophy or belt. I don't think they've ever made to the production line. You can use a budget for me. I'm sure he will be so thrilled. You know, actually, I can predict what he would say. Hey, Aunt. What's up? Hey, you were named Tim McMahon's Cahoney's factor, golden, you know, testicle player of the month. You know what Aunt would say? Dope. Like dope. All right. Thank you to Mark Jackson and Devon, our producers. Thank you to Mick Bond's heads and McMahon. Thank you for watching. Listen to who collectively catch you later this week. Best of luck to your college basketball team. And they're Cinderella dreams. Are you smiggles?