Thunder beat Lakers, Luka Doncic suffers hamstring injury, Brou’s MVP Ballot, Title Pie

An engineer around the corner, whenever you need, British Gas have over 6,000 en route at speed. Fixing lights that won't light or have started to blink, a pipe with a leak and that weird smell under the sink. If your boilers kaput and your blue fur needs a rinse, we've got your back to stop that cold water wince. You don't need to be a customer, we can help you too, taking care of things. It's what British Gas do. TSNC supply 6,000 engineers correct as of Jan 2026. Why from New York? It's a short snout of huge fear in a dentistry. Well, all this ass... You're a huge fan. All ass America. Would you find it odd if five times... Five times? Documented. In over three and a half years? No, five times in the last 23 months. That's a lot. I'm sorry. Yeah, it's about right. None of those. Because one teeth double dipped. So six times in the last 23 months, this guy texts in, gonna miss the meeting at the dentist. No. Nobody goes to the dentist at all. They gotta go to the dentist twice a year. Buddy, your teeth aren't even that good. I know. That was my goal. One more. First hour, first thing first. Speaking of medical issues, Lucas Hamstring did the Lakers season end last night. I would sacrifice every single one of your teeth for his health. She whizzed too much. Meanwhile, SGA dominant. Did he lock up back-to-back MVPs last night? Turns out he can get a bucket anytime he wants. He could have had a bam game if he wanted to. And finally, right out of the NBA oven, a fresh edition of title pie. Yeah. We have a delicious pie. We got a good pie. But you can't have any. It's a syphilis. It's just fresh. And just, you know, no colors on those teeth for six hours. Baking soda. Sounds like it's a pecan pie. No, that would be great though. Pecan pie. They're just very sugary. Yeah, I'm not into it. Right to your cavities. We're starting, oh, Christmas side Kevin Wilde's. Nick Wright, we're starting in OKC, third quarter. Lakers down 32. Look at Grabs' left hamstring, not good. Game's over for him. Season is in jeopardy. Same hamstring that caused him to miss games earlier this year. And he tweaked earlier in the game. Here's JJ Redick, take a listen. We'll do an MRI tomorrow, left hamstring. We'll know more tomorrow. You mentioned that Luke is going to have an MRI tomorrow. Notice that he was grabbing at the hamstring. I think it was late in the first half. Did he say anything about that or was that picked? Oh yeah, we know we checked him out. He got work done. He was cleared. I mean, again, we're not going to put a player at risk. Those things happen. OK. What does this mean for the Lakers? Well, look, as far as, first of all, because everybody's talking about should Redick have left him in the game. Obviously, you saw him in the first half holding his hamstring. And I was thinking they need to look at that, get him out of there. I'm not going to totally blame Redick because Redick's not a doctor. He's not a trainer. You have trainers. Luca has his own little staff that's with him. Then the Lakers obviously have their medical staff. And if you're going to blame anybody, I guess it should be, or the most blame, I should say, would be kind of the team's trainers who said, let's put him out there. I get as a coach, what were they down to half? 30 something. 31. Right. I mean, it's 33 as the half right now. Yeah. But a lot of times, especially in today's NBA with the three-point shot, you see teams sometimes rally from big deficits. So I get, like Redick said, look, first, no. There was going to be no rally. Well, agreed. I mean, they're just a better team. But I'm just saying, like, a lot of times you'll say, let's give them six minutes, see if we can make a run, cut it to 19. Even if you weren't going to win the game, but just so you don't just get exactly curb stomped in what is a big game. So I'm just not going to crush Redick. I mean, obviously you would have liked to see him get him out. But the bottom line is this, it just all depends on what we find out from this MRI. So a mild hamstring strain is a week or two. Moderate is three to six weeks and severe is several months. And obviously his season would be done. Three to six, it could be done. The playoff is starting two weeks. So I would, if he, I mean, it looks like he's going to miss the rest of, clearly the rest of the regular season. Yes. They can't be, I don't think they can beat Minnesota. Forget San Antonio and OKC. They can't, I don't think they can beat Minnesota without him. They can't beat Denver without him. I still give him a shot against Houston, Pickham series, whatever, but they are in deep trouble and the season's over if he is out for five weeks. Well, yeah. I mean, listen, they are, they are drawing dead in the long term without it. And we're going to talk more about what LeBron can do. I think LeBron, and I think he demonstrated it last year. And I know that's last year, not this year, but can still put the cape on for a spur of time. And so if this is two and a half weeks and he misses the first game of round one, or he hurt himself the very end, the final game of the regular season, the year the Mabs got to the conference finals. Jalen Brunson. And Jay, right. And he missed the first two playoff games that year. Came back and they made it, they beat the one seed sons. So I am not going to write off the Lakers in their entirety until we get the details. I will write them off. Obviously, if he's out a month, they're dead. And the West is too deep. It will also mean that even if somehow LeBron and AR, they do get the rockets and they carry them past it, it was a severe enough injury that when he comes back for round two, against either the thunder, the spurs, he's not full go and they need everything going their way for that to happen. However, if it is just the mild one and his body language was what was so concerning, he seemed to think he suffered a serious injury. Right. It didn't seem like he thought, ah, damn it. It seemed like he was devastated. But if it is just the mild one, the Lakers are still, despite the loss, in pretty good shape to be the three seed. And I think that the other takeaway from last night and we'll get to it later is, maybe they did last year, but the Lakers don't match up well with the thunder. And I don't know that anybody in the league outside of San Antonio and maybe Denver does, but that reaction is concerning. But they, here, listen, if we throw up the Lakers remaining schedule, if they go four and one, they lock up the three seed, even if Denver goes undefeated. If they go three and two, Denver has to go undefeated to overtake them. And Denver has three games left against the spurs and the thunder. So at three and two, Denver has to go undefeated. And so if the Lakers even just beat the jazz and the maves and go two and three, then Denver can only lose one game the rest of the way to overtake them. So the Lakers still should be the three seed. And if that's the case, and if Houston ends up falling back to the six, That's the thing they want here. Right. Then I think they are alive. But yesterday, obviously went as poorly as it could go. They were healthy for a half and got absolutely annihilated. And then the single most important player, I guess you could argue to any individual team in the league. Be careful. That's an MVP argument. No, it's not. But I'm saying we saw, I mean, he's one of them. Yeah. I mean, is he more important than Yolkich? Okay. But regardless, but the team who can't sustain without him, he went down. And so all of that is, I would say this too. You don't rush him back. Like you don't say, Hey, this is LeBron's 23rd season. Let's try to get Luke in there and see if we can make a run. You can't make a run. All right. So don't rush it. If it means the, if the best thing long term is just for him to miss the rest of this season, so be it. I mean, they're not winning anything this year. Tough one. I mean, the fact that this is the same hamstring that he missed. Yeah, that's games earlier. Plus the body language, plus the fact that we didn't even talk about AR's back was acting up and Marcus Smart wasn't at the game. I'm surprised you have more a level of optimism. It's, well, it's just, I, I dis, I guess I, I disagree. I didn't know Bruce was going to say that at the, either thing he said at the end there, I disagree that, that he shouldn't push to come back. If it were, if he can, I'm just saying, I don't look at hamstring as something though that like, oh, it could change the trajectory of his career. Like we are at the end of the year. It is the, you know what I'm saying? I mean, you remember how long, how long James Hart, maybe he was out for a long time with a hamstring injury. I'm just saying they can be, you know, they can be problematic. My feeling, if this was, oh, he sprained his MCL and we're going to find out what, you know, what grade it is, that to me, obviously Achilles, but that to me, I'd air more on the conservative side of, you don't want this guy to have to end up having knee surgery, all of it. A tweaked hamstring that off, you rush back, might turn into a pulled hamstring. Well, you have the summer coming up. I'm just less conservative on that than I would be some other potential injuries. All right. Let's go back to the game. It was 44 to 21 at the end of the first quarter. Lakers were down 31 at the half-broot, end up losing by 43. The LA Times called it a, quote, reality check loss. Here's LeBron and Austin Reeves' take on the game. Take a listen. They beat the f*** out of us. They f***ed out of us tonight, obviously from the start. Okay, bro. Hey, Jason. Did last night say more about the Lakers or the Thunder to you? Well, the Thunder, we knew they were capable. They are arguably the best team in the league. There's clearly the defending champs and they, everybody knows they got a great shot at repeating. So to see them perform that way is not surprising. Doesn't teach me anything about them that we didn't already know. The Lakers, I learned a lot. And what I learned is they're done. Luca, Luca could be back tomorrow. They're done. As far as winning the West, they do not match up well with teams that are athletic, young, energetic, and deep. All right. And that would be the Thunder, the Spurs, and the Detroit Pistons. Those teams get after you in waves. The Lakers have trouble getting the ball up court at times. All right. And their last six games this season against OKC and San Antonio, they're 0-6 and have lost by an average of 23 points. Only one of those games was within single digits. That was OKC and that was nine points. Detroit pounded them earlier in the season and then beat them a week or two ago without K Cuddam. It's just age. The Lakers, we know, are not athletic. And they just can't a team like I said, talented, deep. It plays with energy, covers you all full court. They just can't handle that. Not athletic. So they can't. That is tough. And that's what they're look. I think Minnesota could beat them in the first round. Sure. Use is not. I mean, they got a man Thompson, but they're not like especially athletic. So they have a good shot against them. Denver is not that athletic. That would be a really good series. They have done well against Denver. Right. But a team like OKC or San Antonio, I just think it's going to be too much for them. So listen, last night, and I am probably historically on this amongst the three of us, the most Lakers optimistic year to year because, you know, that was LeBron's. I have, you know, my favorite player ever and Lucas, one of my favorite players ever. And now they're on the same team. So I may be a little rose colored glasses historically with the Lakers for this show. And even I going into the yesterday's game was like, I don't think last night's going to go well. Not anything they're going to be down 30 at halftime. But I talked about it. I felt for them to have any shot against the Thunder. Marcus Smart-Stefan is going to be important. He wasn't there. The Thunder, I think, you know, oddly from a standing's perspective, kind of the Thunder have a tighter race for second than the Lakers had for third going into last night or between second and first. So there was that. Shay has the, I think the quiet, like, are people really going to steal this MVP for me? Like all of that led me to feel last night was going to be tough for the Lakers. I didn't expect them to be down 30 at halftime. I didn't expect Luca to get hurt. With all that said, the path that there was for the Lakers to make the finals that existed before last night, I think is the exact same this afternoon. And that path is, it is simple to explain. It is very hard for everything to fall the right way. But this is what it is, KW, that they stay in the three line. And in round one, they get Houston or Minnesota. They would greatly prefer Houston, but that that is the round one matchup. They win that. In round two, the experience and lack thereof of the Spurs really comes to fruition. And that is enough to tilt that series. And also in round two, Denver takes out the thunder for you. And then you are have a conference finals of Denver and the Lakers. And since the Lakers got Luca, they have totally flipped that series. Those are, that's like a seven, you know, team parlay that has to fall. But that was, I could see it. You, the thing is, right, because I think you, because you didn't, you mentioned Denver at the end as a team that's not that athletic. And not that young. If the Lakers were it, but it is, we need someone to take out the big bully for us. But the team most equipped, I think, early in the playoffs to take out OKC is Denver. Because we saw him playing round two last year. It went seven games and it feels like that would be, so that's the path. And that would have been the path in all likely, unless yesterday's game was the reverse. The Lakers are up 30 and it's like, oh man, the Lakers have the Thunder number. Nobody has the Thunder's number. The Thunder are really, really good. The Thunder are the worst matchup it would appear because of what Bruce saying for the Lakers. But that path, unless we find out Luca Nancic is out four to six weeks, I'm not going to slam the door to that path. Now we have title pie coming up. The Lakers slice certainly didn't get bigger, but it didn't go down to the, you know, the Knicks slice size, which is what I think some people would have it right now. The Rocket slice size, like they have been though demoted to just above puncher's chance. You know what I mean? So like the, the, that's about fair. Right? Like just above puncher's, more than a, the Hornets have a puncher's chance. Okay. Well, that's two. They hit a lot of threes. But you know, and because you can, I can see, I can see the Spurs beating the Lakers four-oh in the series. And I can see the Spurs being down three, two, going into a game six in Los Angeles. And us saying, oh my God, like you're not, not even, oh my God, us saying, yeah, we probably should have, this is what happens. I mean, that's the long call you have to take the experience that's out there. And so that's the possibility that's, that's the path to the Lakers. So I'm not, I'm not writing them. I'm not calling them dead, as I think a lot of people are today. Yeah. I mean, look, he, you are right in that the unknown, the great unknown is San Antonio. Is the experience or lack thereof going to be an issue? All right. That's a great unknown. And obviously the Lakers, beyond that, Lakers are like the most experienced team just because of LeBron. All right. So you do have that outside of that. And then like you said, Denver does match up pretty well with OKC. So if they could take them out, you need a lot of things to happen. You do have a great superstar player. Look, because I think as, as, as much as OKC and San Antonio are ahead of the Lakers, I still think the, the healthy Lakers, like in the East would be a legitimate contender to come out of there. Absolutely. Legitimate. Boston probably be the favorite, but I would definitely give the Lakers a chance to come out of the and like the, listen, last night it felt to me like the Lakers game plan part of it was, all right, we're going to, we don't have Marcus. We're going to have to give something out, give something up. Lou Dort, we're not guarding you. And Lou Dort starts the game making four straight threes. Austin was really shaky early in the turnovers and all of a sudden you're down 20 before the first quarters over. And it was, and it got away from him immediately. I'm not saying they could now. Where smart, because they could not stop Shay from getting into the paint. Correct. And then he was kicking out for threes. So smart. If he's in front of him, he does, obviously does a better job than Leravia of Stovney. But I, they just got, they need things to really fall their way. And if you're, and if you're, if the difference between being able to be competitive or getting blasted by the defending champs like this is Marcus Smart's health, then you're already on very tenuous ground. I'm not trying to act like they're not. But I also don't want, this team had won 15 of 17 against a lot of really good teams. Had beaten, the teams were talking about that they potentially are going to have to play. Luca was playing as good of a month of basketballs he's played in his career. Everything goes bad for a game. I'm not going to write them off because of it. Unless we find out the injury is substantial. And the injury, I would, because I think Luca will fight to come back from it. It was just his emotion was, his emotion was more disconcerting than when it, the injury. But his, he pulled his jersey up over his face and almost felt like he's going to rip his jersey. Yeah, I thought he was going to rip his jersey. I'm like, oh, the season is over. That was my, his body language was that this is really bad. This is bad. It's the same way. It wasn't, wow, out of the blue. Like I already missed games. I already tweaked this earlier and I tried to play through it. So maybe there's an element of frustration at himself when he could have sat down 30. At the same time, I just want to pop this graphic up and then we'll move on. Most 20 point losses of current playoff teams, they do lose like this. And maybe it's just a quirk of the team and people have been in and out of the roster so much. That's where I think the age comes in. I think that they are more likely to be like Leco or the Roe. We'll fight another day and the younger and deeper teams are more, you know, if they're getting blasted. All those teams, other teams are young for the most part. Yeah, but they're not, but they're also not. Not very good. Yeah. I mean, they're, yeah, they're not bad. Thunder in LA next Tuesday for the rematch. Did SGA just end the MVP discussion? That's next on FSS, one of the Fox Sports channels, series XM. We're headed into week two of the UFL. Here are the highlights from week one. First up, Houston, Dallas, Austin Reed. My guy sets the single game yards record 376, three touchdowns. Dallas rolls the gamblers. You were excited about the gamblers more. The name change. Yeah, I like the name. I like the city. 36-17 had a pick six, returned a kick. Number two, Stallions Louisville. Eric Garot with the hit to jar the ball loose. Stallions recover. The Stallions are a fun thing. Oh, God. Oh, God. Stallions are all over. I understand, but I don't know if we're running that play again. Right there, you got a, oh, you saw it coming. Nice hit. Stallions win 15-13. They are 19 and five in the history of their franchise. Just dominate. And finally, Bruce, for you, DC defenders Matt McCreane with the first four point field goal. Not enough. They lose 16. So how far was it? It was at least 60. 60 yards. 60 on the nose. Sign that young man up. For the NFL. You think he's like Brandon Aubrey Esker? I'm just saying he just kicked the 60 yard. Pretty good. Okay, we'll see. 60 yard or outdoors. And four points. Yeah, pretty good. More UFL tonight, eight o'clock DC versus Columbus, eight Eastern, only on Fox. We're going to head back to the hardwood. SGA ends the night with 28, seven and seven. Had 21 and a half when the Thunder were up. 30. Do you think he locked up the MVP last night? Well, and the other thing that happened last night was Wimby didn't play. Right. And his team looked great. And now that that that. I mean, the fact just to me, just the fact he didn't play. Listen, here's the thing. I know because you didn't actually say a word there. He's went, what do you want him to lose? Yes. When his case got better and he lost. But so, but I do think one of the biggest, one of the biggest strengths of Wimby's case is that team's record and how much they're overachieving. And I think the fact that they are now 11 and five in games he missed just gives a little bit of credence to the idea of he's not the only guy on that team that got a ton better and that we underestimated Castle and Fox. Like that's it. Like, and so that the it, I do think KW that if the Spurs last night lost by 30, that would have that would have hurt Wimby's case. Yeah. If like this team has won 20 in a row when Wimby's played and he misses a game and they get blasted by a team fighting for the play. And I do think that would help them. But the reality is, and I don't think this was at any point this season has this been particularly close. And Tim Bond, Bond Tim's last and final straw poll came out and it was polled. It came out today that he called it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. So this week and what this says is this thing's been over. Wimby made a nice push up to second and that is where it ended. And the reason it ended there, Brew is historically, if you do a couple of the things Shea has done, you win MVP. If we just, this is the thing from yesterday where we showed 30 plus points on 60 wins that aren't more than 60 wins. Every single one of those guys has won MVP. This is, Shea is not going to win the scoring title, but he is going to be second in the scoring title. This next graphic. Yeah. I was going to say this 65 game rule. Oh no. Luca is going to be eligible for scoring title, but not MVP, but whatever. Not getting scored. But Shea has scored enough points that would typically win a scoring title. All those guys won MVP, except for Jordan, when people gave it to Carmell Lones, they didn't want to give it to Jordan that year foolishly. And so I just, I think Wimby, or Shea has, I'm the biggest Luke of fan maybe on TV. And the furthest I've come is, Luke of not just should be second in MVP to Shea. So yeah, I mean, I think, I do think Brew, with that half dozen games left, this thing's over. I think the straw poll shows that it's over. For me, my ballot, which we're about to show, if I, if some, and I don't think San Antonio will get the number one seed, if they somehow got the number one seed, Wimby could win Brew's ballot. If that makes him feel better. Before you go to Brew's ballot, or were you one of the straw pollers? No. Okay. So that's, He would never tell you if he was. No, he wouldn't lie to me. He would say I'm not gonna. I don't remember. All right. Are we ready for Brew's ballot? Hit the music in the graphic. All right. Number five, Jalen Brown. Love it. All right. Look, he has averaged 33 and a half points over his last seven games. So everybody is great to have Tatum back, but he has continued to play well and even stepped it up a little bit. Number four, Luca Donchers. Who was number four. He won Player of the Month. You're shocked? He won Player of the Month. Is it MVP of the month or the season? What, there's been five months. He's been player of the month twice. He's not having a better season than any of the three guys ahead of him. All right. And I am not the only one. You just showed Bonsam straw poll, a hundred of the roughly 130 voters. And he's having a fantastic year. Half of the good month, it's just calendar code. Yeah, he's just worth it. It's a quarter. Number three, Nicola Yolkic. That's my biggest issue is I think those two should play. I don't know why because he's the one of only two players ever to average a triple double in multiple seasons. And we know he's going to be the first player ever to do the lead, the league and rebound in a sense. Like he's having a great year and Denver's hot. They've won seven straight and you know, like you could flip but to act like how in the world do you put Yolkic ahead of Luca? Why? How do you I mean, I just I'm not saying how in the world, I'm saying that's the one I have the biggest issue with. Oh, I think I think that Luca has established himself as firmly top three. Now, oddly, he might end up not top 100 because of the stupid rule. But that's that's all. But go ahead. And then number two right now, I got Wimby there. Like I said, if they get the number one C, he could win my ballot. But I don't think that's going to happen. And Shay, here's the thing about Shay. You mentioned some of the stats. He is the best clutch player in the league this year because everybody's talking about the numbers, the record I've talked about. But there are other things too. Best clutch player has the most clutch points in the league. And we know he's sat out a lot of games in the fourth quarter. They have needs to be clutch leads the league in clutch points per, you know, average points in the clutch. And then he doesn't turn the ball over. He's correct. He averages 2.2 turnovers a game. He is the only starting point guard in the NBA that's in the top 20 in infrequency of turnover. Then the whole team doesn't. Turnover rate. And it's nice because when he does turn the ball over, the other team gets called for a foul. Oh, OK. Let's just stop here. Here we go. Can we? Can we? I'm going to say, if he were flashier, more exciting, more spectacular, more high flying, he'd just dunked him. I think we'd be comparing him to Kobe Bryant at least. Yeah. Oh, I listen. He has his. And he will get to that point if he continues to play like this. His statistical profile of like you can put these two, these back to back seasons by Shea up against back any guard ever back to back seasons. Now Jordan had better back to back seasons. But Jordan's the only guard that definitively, you know, wades statistically. Statistically. Right. And magic is just very different because his stats are. And that's the thing too, because SGA is a shooting point guard, you know, like so he's a unique position. Can we? Can you throw dust? I'm going to be a little annoying for a second. Can we throw this straw pole back up just for a second? And I just want to ask you a question, KW. If this ends up being. It's probably. Don't you think this will probably be what it is? No, no, no, but I'm saying this, this golf, if Shea ends up with 90 of a hundred first place votes and Wimby ends up with eight. Does the. Pining and campaigning for the award take on a slightly different hue. Oh, that's an interesting take. If it's like this guy was like. Begging is too strong, but really, really outlining, and then and and then the as it turns out, yeah, you weren't ever really in consideration. Then he's in consideration. Well, I mean, Luca's never been in consideration. Clearly not. Luca has never been in. Consider there's not. You're in you're on the ballot. No, no, no, you're in. But there's I mean, bond teams talk to a hundred people and eight of them thought Wimby was the MVP. I'll tell you what, can I answer your question with a question? Yeah, probably do you think it's better for the Spurs if he doesn't win MVP? So it's the same when like Drake didn't win MVP before the Super Bowl. That works out great. Great question. Well, it was an offensive line. No, it worked out great. He was a, you know, 20% actually, I think it does. Wilds, I think it is better for them. I do too. Well, here's the thing, Drew, but if he were to win it, it's no, he don't think when Wimby would be like, all right, I take it. I could see winning it propelling him. I could see not winning it propelling him. The guy certainly has a killer mentality. Like that is that that is not up for debate. I just, I find it, I don't, I couldn't think of the right comp for it, but somebody that really, really was, I want this. Here's why I deserve it. I'm campaigning for it. And then it turns out they might just get smoked. I think MB pushed forward the year before he won it. Yes, but it wasn't, but it was, but I, and I'll look at the voting. I don't think he ended up with eight first place votes. I mean, that's irrelevant. At EDF, we don't just encourage you to use less electricity. We actually reward you for it. That's why when you use less during peak times on weekdays, we give you free electricity on Sundays. How you use it is up to you. EDF, change is in our power. That's final four starts tomorrow night. You know what time that first game is, bro? Michigan's small favorites against Arizona. Six oh nine. Six oh nine, right? Illinois small favorites against the Huskies. Dan Hurley, not a fan of the final four watches that they receive. I would love one of those, but take a listen. We came here for rings, not watches. You know, everyone that comes in final four gets a beautiful watch, you know, but only one per, only one group's going to get a ring, you know, so get off social media, stop injecting the dopamine into your arm and get serious about the preparation and the practice because we don't hang banners for final fours at Yukon. Gee whiz. I have to go check out Campbell. I'm not sure. No, they don't. They have one giant banner that has final four. It says sweet 16s, elite eights, final fours, and it just has the number. And then they hang banners for titles. Odd to win the title. Arizona, Michigan tied at one Illinois at three of the Huskies in the last place. If we look at it that way, is Yukon being disrespected? A touch. Listen, I understand it in this regard. Michigan, Arizona, and to a lesser degree, but still Illinois have just cracked everybody all term. Yeah. You know what I mean? They, they, they, none of those three teams has really been in jeopardy throughout the tournament. Yukon played a really good close nip and tuck game with Michigan State and then obviously had the epic game against Duke where they were down most of the time. So I get that piece of it. However, with this, and I say this lovingly, total lunatic head coach come the tournament. This team is just as dangerous as any team in the nation. The last four years, they, in 2023, they were a four seed and smoked everybody in route to a title. But the, the yeah, but there was, yeah, but it was weird tournament. They played zero, one or two seeds in the national championship game. They played San Diego State after playing Miami in the final four. So then the next year, they were the number one seed and they smoked everyone again in route to the title and were an all time team. And even last year, listen, they lost in round, they lost in round two, but as an eight seed, by two points to the eventual champion. So I, I don't think, Yukon is not my pick to win it, but I think they got better than a five and a half to one shot chance to win it because you do feel like brew. If it's close late, they are going to be the most comfortable and they are going to execute better than anybody else in the field. Yeah, I agree that they're being disrespected, but I think it's a lot. I think they should be favored over Illinois and it's not just kismet and pixie dust. Like they are 33 and five, finished the season number seven in the country. Illinois is 28 and eight, finished ranked 12th or 13th, depending on the poll. So they were ranked higher. They're expected to do more. They've beaten obviously the number one seed in Duke overall number one seed. They beat Michigan State, which was a number three seed. I get it was close, but still beat them Michigan State close game, but beat Illinois during the regular season in the big 10. And Illinois beat a number nine seed Iowa to get to this point. So this, I, and I get Illinois, some people think they're more talented, but Yukon's resume this season is better than Illinois. Yeah. And Yukon also has two seniors who are their two best players, you know, Reed and, and, and, and caravan and caravan is a two time champion. Reed is because he's a transfer hasn't won a championship, but you know, he's hungry. So I, I think Yukon should be favored in this game. And I do think, especially when you throw on Nick, the coach, and I, I'm not, I know underwood is a good coach too, but Hurley's great. I think they are being disrespected. Yukon also already beat Illinois. Yeah. So, you know what, it wasn't close. It was a, wasn't close, but it was a weird game. Wagler only had three points. Now he's playing great. Sriakovich only had three points, but on the Yukon side, Terris Reed, Jr. and Brayden Mullins only played 25 minutes collectively because they were hurt. Solo ball was the leading scorer in that game. Solo ball has yet to have his moment in this tournament. Carabants has moment, Mullins has moment, Terris Reed has moment. If they win this game, solo ball needs to play well. That's my prediction. Finally see a big solo ball. Hold on real quick. Yeah. What is your prediction for the game? Not if they win this happens. I told you, I don't want to get into my family dynamics. No, no. It's a disaster. Who do you have? I'm, I am picking Yukon. Who are you rooting for? I'm rooting for Yukon quietly. Okay. So my entire wife's, they, they, they've got all sorts of orange, but there's orange everywhere. We've got like a sun kiss to commercial. I'm sure. Coming up next. So the NBA get rid of 65 games. Should Nick mind his own business when I'm waiting for the team? I thought it was title pie. I forgot. I was thinking about it. I knew you forgot. Coming up next, it's the tastiest segment in all of sports. It's title pie and there's a lot of movement. Okay. Stay tuned. The 65 game policy is backfiring. Not a neutral news read. You think? My own take. Luca played a 64th game last night and will most likely not play again this year. Maybe he will. Also aunt set out with an illness. So he is now ineligible. Here's the list of ineligible players for award season. LeBron, aunt, Yannis, Steph and Cade with a note. Kauai and Joker need to play four of the five games. There are very few guys who are actually eligible yet. Wimby needs to play three. Yeah, this could get even worse. I mean Wimby, Kauai, they aren't locked. And Joker hasn't locked it. Right. Right. You just said that. He needs four or five. So if he misses sits one and then gets the stomach bug. Which is what happened to aunt. Aunt came back from a real injury, got sick. They're like, you're out of there, buddy. You got to do one of those in for a second. No, you got to play 20 minutes. 20 minutes. 20 minutes. You're not allowed. Just sitting the corner. Because I thought initially, you know what, bring Kade back, sit him on the bench. That's what I was thinking about. But Josh Allen gained streaks. So here, so this has become the rare rule that is simultaneously reviled and very difficult to understand. Because here's the other, Luca got hurt yesterday. And we were like, oh man, he's at game 64. And then folks are like, wait a minute. If you play at least 62 and you suffer an injury that knocks you out for the rest of season ender, you're eligible. Then other folks were like, wait a minute. You have to also, that is true. But you have to suffer that injury prior to May 31st. It's April 2nd. And you have to have played 85% of your teams games up to that point. He's at 84. And then Bon Tim's getting a lot of run on today's show. Shout out to Bon Tim's. He's like, wait a minute. Luca still could be eligible. Throw the tweet up. As I just reported on SportsCenter, there is one way Luca Nantjit can be eligible for end of season awards. By filing an extraordinary circumstances grievance over missing two games in December over the birth of his child. An arbitrator would rule on it after the regular season. Even not to like, Kate's like, I got to collapse the loan. Yeah, but that's not a great word. That's not a short, near-farm move. This is specific for like, I honestly think like family, off-court emergency, whatever it is. But even when I read that, I'm like, Brew talks all the time. The time between when the season ends and the awards are due, the ballots are due is very tight. So he can't even file it until the season's over. We're getting the ballots out. It doesn't work. So it's just, I don't, Brew, here's, I don't understand why Adam Silver does not just say, you know what, if someone wants to sue me over it, somebody, some gambler's like, wait, but I bet because of this, I'll deal with that down the road. I'm calling it off. Vote your conscience, America. I'm calling it off. Yes. No one would mind. No one would mind. As you guys know, I've been calling for this since January. Yeah. That, or at least right before the All-Star break, I said All-Star weekend when he does his annual meeting with the media, he should make an executive decision and say, we are ending the 65 gamer. Now he doubled down on it three weeks ago or whenever he spoke to the media and doubled down on the rule saying it's been successful in curtailing load management. And it has. But none of these are about load management. I don't think guys are load managing quite, certainly not like they used to. This is about injuries. And here's the thing, 60 guys, this was in according to the athletic today, 60 players in the history of the NBA have made all NBA teams while playing 64 games or fewer. So it's not like this has happened throughout the history of the league. That's an 82 game season. Yes. That those are, that's not including any of the truncated seasons. So it's just, just, just the, just to lock out whatever it was. So I think you should make this unilateral decision. If the players associated, say, hey, you can't do it, talk to them, have a quick negotiation. The play association already said it. Yeah, they're going to agree with you. They already, remember they released the rule? Yeah, I remember it really, but I'm saying you, if you got to meet with them and you know, just for CBA reasons, like the bargaining, do it. They're going to agree with you. They want to get rid of this rule. You, Adam, and I've known Adam since before he was the commissioner. You can't let this happen. You can't, I mean, this is ridiculous. If you don't have Anthony Edwards, Luca Donchis, and Kay Cunningham on the all NBA teams, when we clearly know they deserve it, and then you're going to have a bunch of guys or a few guys that everybody knows are not all NBA caliber players. Just should end this right now. And even if he wanted to split the baby a bit and just be like, Hey, I'm making the executive decision for this year, and then we'll address it in the off season. 65, it's actually 60. Because then Cade, Aunt Luca, it would, it would fit, it would temporarily fix what we're really worried about, and then they can address it down the road. Because the other, the other piece of it is, and again, maybe, maybe very few people care about this. But when you are trying to talk about and compile lists and figure out the greatest players ever, things like, I remember when I did my 50 greatest players the last 50 years for Bird, one of the things was, I was like, there were nine years in a row, he was top four MVP voting. He won at three, but it was the things where it was like this uninterrupted run of excellence. And the fact that for Luca as a for instance, or Aunt or whomever, like this year is just going to show up on all of their accolades as, oh, must have been a down year. And it's also not going to make sense because 65 games is not the minimum to win any of the record titles. So Luca is going to be the scoring champ. Luca now locks that in barring Shea's score and going bam out of bio the next few games. And not be on an all NBA team. I just hate it so much. And I don't think though, Nick, I don't think they should do it in a weird way. Well, this year we're going to make so and so. Just get rid of the rule period because every year there will be some strange thing that happens and you can say, oh, we'll let him be eligible. Get rid of the rule. Total partner. Live from New York. It's a show that has a truncated segment. Don't use Bruce. That's a great word. It's a great word, but it doesn't sound right coming out of your mouth. Second hour, first things first. Today, Ken LeBron, Kerry the Lakers. Now that Luca's sidelined, we're still waiting to hear about this MRI. Yeah, I want to know. Staff returning to take the Warriors on a mini run. Watch out. Maybe. That'd be fun. It would be super fun. Just for him to get into playoff, right? But right now you're in for a real treat. Time to see which teams are heating up, which teams might have the recipe for success, and which teams are totally cooked. It's title pie featuring Nick Wright and a pie. We brought the pie back. We brought the pie back. That is a humongous pie. Huge pie. I was talking to our producer, Hubs. Thank you. So warm. All right. Oh, it was my pie fork. One problem, Nick. You were like, where's the pie? The segment needs a little bit of something. Hubs remembered why the segment works so well, do you? Because you guys eat while I do it. We ate during the pie. You were like, stop eating. We're like, no, no, go on about that. That's why you go to the dentist six times. Take it away. To the pie. Just let's just get right to it. I mean, it is a great looking apple pie. Take your time, Nick Reid. I'm not going to zoom in that much on it. Go one percenters. Go to the pie. You don't need to see me there, does it? Clippers down to one percent. They lost to the Spurs without the Wimby. They are actually, these guys, this is distracting watching. But it does add that other element of humor. You just go ahead and work. Listen, to Clippers down to one percent. Also, not just because they lost yesterday, but they all of a sudden might be in that dreaded 9-10 part of the play-in, which makes it so much more difficult to even get into the tournament. If you do get in, you're just guaranteed to play the Thunder, as opposed to playing the Youthful Spurs. Not great. They're down to one percent. And do you guys think Darius Garland owes Danny money or something? Yeah, what? Like that. I mean, all of a sudden, I've downgraded Darius Garland in my head because of the just constant attacks by Parkins during overtime. Yeah, he's talking about Darius Garland. Up to two percent. This guy. Up to two percent. They're like hot ones with a pie. Like, you should do it. I'm like, oh my gosh. Should I ask you an introduction? Even though, like, when you talk with your mouth full, if you're just at a regular dinner, much less on your mouth. Rockets. They had a good week. There's no way. Listen, some of it was playing tankers. I'm not quite certain. Stop doing this. Stop showing this guy eating. Rockets up to two percent. You have killed that guy. Yeah, he's hungry. You know who's not having a good week? Who? Our guy Ramsay. Oh, he's one great. He sure is. Down to two percent, the New York Knicks. He stopped braiding his hair. He started coming in all disheveled. I don't even think he combed his hair. If you go and wear the Afro Ramsay, pick it out. Pick it out. Make it look nice. You just woke up. I don't need to braid my hair. You whisper. The Knicks are done. I'm just. God, start it. I asked Ramsay today what's going on with you and Brew. And he said, and I quote, I don't know, man, he just likes to bully me sometimes. He wins. And I was like, that doesn't sound like Brew. But now two hours later, you're just, I mean, I really don't get it. I care about Ramsay. I hope he's OK as his team falls apart. At three percent, the Cavs. Danny's Cavs. They're fine. And they have played well. And I listen, I do acknowledge that regular season wise, there is proof of concept that the hardened trade has worked. And that they, I don't deny that at all. Sure. And they do have, while I wouldn't call it a big four, they do have four very high quality players that, you know, any team would want. And Donovan, Jared Allen, obviously Evan Mobley and Harden. I just don't, and good coach, yes. I just don't trust it come the postseason. They're still three percent. We fine until game six. Yeah, there you go. Way up all the way to four percent, the Sixers. They're, they're a little scary. This is like an old flame for you. I, it is true. And I, you still in the trust to process. But no, I'm not, I was never a trust the process guy so much. However, you know, if your team's biggest stars can never get play a full regular season and then be healthy in the playoffs, it's not the worst thing in the world. If it's like, what if they both play like a third of the regular season, maybe then they'll be healthy in the playoffs. Plus Maxi has now ascended into real star status. So you have Maxi, you have a good rookie, Paul George, fresh off, he got a couple months off, got a little, you know, performance enhancement allegedly and you've got him being good strategy. Kelly Ubre's like a poor man's Dylan Brooks. The, okay. All right. So listen, they're at four percent. But is that fair? That there's a, there's a legit question. Moneyball ass. Well, no question. Like, can you just sit guys for the bulk of the season and then, oh, here comes. Well, in March, they start playing. And they're using steroids. Paul George wasn't benched. He was suspended and it is worth noting on that note. In baseball, if you have a PD suspension, even if it's over, even if you serve your full suspension in the regular season, you can come back to play, but then you miss the post season. There's some chatter out there about that. Yeah. There is, that would be a legitimate rule, you think, but they're at four percent. Solid. Up to five percent. Bruce Pistons. I'm calling him Bruce Pistons. I think Bruce is the most believe in the Pistons. Danny yesterday basically just called him the try-hards. I didn't think that was fair. I think that what they're getting in, oh gosh, the guard who scored all four. Dennis, I was going to say Dennis, but I knew it wasn't. Dennis Jenkins being like a legit scorer now in K's absence. Again, assuming K comes back like Kade in short order from the claps lung, they found a little something here. They obviously didn't lose the one seed. They're up. The biggest drop. Nobody should be shocked by who it is. The Lakers. Down to five percent. They had the fourth biggest slice of title pie last week, I think just behind. I know they were behind the Celtics in the Thunder. I think they were also behind the Spurs. They were right close to the Spurs, but the Luca injury just casts a pallor over everything. Plus, feel way less confident if they end up falling to four, which they could. I think it's unlikely they could. And they end up having to go through the Thunder in round two. That to me would be a death knell for them. Their path is, they stay at the, oh correct, but they stay at the three seed and Denver beats the Thunder for them. They then falling to the four seed themselves having to, that would probably mean you play Minnesota around one and then Thunder around two, not great. Up to six percent Minnesota. They survived dance injury. They have, you know, at the moment I understand they have fallen to the six, but they play Houston in game 81 and that season series is tied a game of peace. So that will almost assuredly decide the five versus six. And if they end up with the five and Denver's the four, they're like, we beat you guys in the playoffs before. We can do that again. And now, well, one more relatively small slice, but up. It's biggest slice yet this year, Denver. Joker's still playing great. They, they, you know, like the rest of the teams in the top four in the west just went, have won, you know, they're nine and one in their last 10, eight and two in the last 10, 10 and no in their last 10. Jamal Murray's on a scoring binge. Their team is back to close to full health. And they feel like they're kind of peeking at least offensively at the right time. Spurs tomorrow. Spurs and well, here's the other thing about Denver. Denver's got five games left. Two against the Spurs, one against the Thunder. So Denver will have a lot to say about a lot of the seating in the West. Could they fall to six? In theory, they could. Yes. I mean, in theory, they could. Absolutely. At 15% same as they were last time we did it. The Spurs. So I, there was no reason to move them down, obviously. I also didn't love, there was a little bit of my brain that said, wait a minute. Was this just preventative about Wimby sitting? Or did something happen that we didn't know? Because we know he wants the MVD. Right. Right. We know that like he probably was not a big fan. And I don't think going into the Warriors game, they plan to sit him for the Clippers game. Because I think they would have done it in the reverse order. This is an ankle. It's had injury maintenance and their management. It just struck me as enough to where I'm not making their slice bigger. I will make the Thunder slice bigger as they are at 24%. They've been the best team in the league all year. Yeah. The first two months, the year we were talking about them winning 73 games. They had a little slump by their standards, but they're going to go wire to wire in first place and probably have the league MVP. However, they don't have the biggest slice brew because the Celtics do at 26%. Tatum better than even I expected him to be at this point. Jaylen Brown still playing at first team all NBA ish level. And their path is so much clearer than the Thunder's. That is title pot. Yeah. It seems like you're not saying, I know your pick is Boston, but you're not saying they're the favorites. You're just saying because they have the easier path. No, I am saying I think they're the favorites. I'm not saying I think they're the best team. Okay. You know what I mean? It's that it's path related. So I can live with that. That's true. I get, you know, you want to give everybody a little slice, but I'm taking out these three teams have no shot. The Clippers, the Rockets, I'm down on the Rockets. Yeah. I'm down on the Rockets. All right. I mean, they're a good team, but I'm talking about Consention. No, down on them. Philadelphia Nick, while they could make it tough on the Knicks or whoever they face in the first round, there's no way they are running, getting through the entire East. They just, Embiid, I would love to see it because he is a phenomenal player, but I cannot see him playing two months of injury free basketball. I am moving though, Detroit ahead of the Lakers and the Timberwolves. In part because again, Eastern Conference, easier path, but man, they're 12 and four without Cade. Like you said, Jenkins has kind of given them something they didn't expect during. It's like probably going to be an all NBA player. He's played great without Cade. They, they found something. So I think Detroit is still assuming Cades back going to be problematic in the East. Like that. You go KW. I don't care what Dustin said. I want to hear your. Dustin, very quickly. Thunder sure do look like the champs. Hey, did you watch that game last night? Wasn't close. Do you know why? Oxymoron coasting winning. What's that? I felt like they were coasting a little bit this year. Okay. Oh, wow. They're, they're pointing up, you know, the chase, 172 was done. They're like, all right, let's just put it into second gear. And then last night, like, you know what, let's put it into either fourth or first gear. I'm not sure if I'm talking about metaphysics, like theoretical gears or an actual car. Their wind percentage is crazy. Their defense is actually even better than they were in the regular. Well, better than they were in the playoffs last year. And this is the counter argument to the idea that the champs always lose. They're winning it. They're at 79% at this point. Is that a list of champions or a list of your champion picks the following year? Both. Okay. Got it. Both. So you're right with the defending champs again? Did you see the game last night? I'm just curious. So unbelievable. You're riding with the defending champs again. Yes. I wasn't going to if, if the Lakers kept it within 30 at halftime. They sure look good. The pies. You should get it here. Look at Bro. It is good pie. What's that cinnamon hits? Yeah. Really good. Lakers had won 13 of 14 headed into OKC. They lose the game, Luca, and maybe the season. But there's still time for a twist in the plot. What if LeBron goes back to the number one option? Can he carry the Lakers with Luca out? Listen, I, I think he can temporarily. And if he, if, Bru, you have talked, I think you have focused more than anyone on TV about LeBron accepting and then thriving in this sudden new role for him. That's unlike any role he's had assuredly in basketball in his life. I don't care. The seven-year-old basketball team LeBron was on. He wasn't the third option. He's probably the best player. And doing it to the tune of winning and all of it. If he is able to, because I don't think it's going to be like when your ace pitcher goes down. So I got your number two is now your ace. I think Austin's going to stay in the role he's in. Second option. And I think they are going to ask LeBron to assume the Luca responsibility, which is orchestrator of all offense. If he's able to do it at the end of his 23rd season, age 41, even if it's only for a couple weeks, it'll be a magnificent thing to watch. And the reason to hope it's not, you know, a fairy tale is we are, I know I care more about Player of the Month awards than just about anybody, but 13 months removed from LeBron, winning Western Conference Player of the Month, which was started the day they traded for Luca. But remember, if we put up his numbers dust from last February, remember Luca was injured at the beginning of this. And LeBron that, you know, in February when Western Conference Player of the Month was 29, 10, and 7 on crazy efficiency. And in the last two years, Brew, in games where LeBron was the best guy, meaning no Anthony Davis, no Luca. All right. Lakers are 11 and four, and he gives you 28, 7 and a half and nine. So he cannot do this for a, you know, a long stretch. But can he do it for a couple weeks to get him to the finish line? Maybe a playoff game or two? I think it's on the board. He can definitely take the ball handling duties. It'll be, I would, he won't play like Luca, where he's come totally controlling it and shooting that much. But he and Austin could share it. He can go back to putting up his typical 27, 7 and 7, those numbers. I just don't think they would be like a contender status team. Oh, I agree. If he can do that, and he can even be efficient at it. But men, to me, obviously, okay, seeing San Antonio, Minnesota would be better. Denver would be better. I still get my shot against Houston. Man, you are. I'm down on, I know they've had a nice little week, but I'm down on the Rockets. I would give them a chance to beat, I'm talking about without Luca, give them a chance to beat Houston. But I, they would not be contenders. Because the other thing is this, if I have no doubt LeBron could put up those numbers, but their defense would suffer because he won't be as energetic defensively. And they need him in that role. So the defensively would be a problem. I'm looking at my phone to see what the date is. It's April 3rd. If we found out Luca is going to be reevaluated in two weeks, and say we might before the playoffs and going to be back in three weeks. So it's from now until April 24th. And they do draw the Rockets. Can LeBron, can LeBron, well, they should be at a stay at the three state stay at the three state with LeBron doing it and then be, you know, split the first two against Houston without Luca. If he can do it, I mean, if that's the path they get, I think LeBron can do that. Yeah. I think it's a crazy ask for someone 41, but I think he can do it. Steph, cleared to return this weekend against the Rockets. Could the Warriors make a little bit of a run? That's next. Not a run. What is it? Fresh episode of winners and losers to send you into the weekend, winner batting gloves. Yukon warming up with Franklin batting gloves on. Brutie, you like this. What is the advantage? What does that do? I think the idea is that when you take them off, it's even easier. Yeah, it's just even easier to drive. Yeah, I've seen guys with like oven mitts or... Yeah, and I've seen someone put the ball in like a plastic bag. Oh, that was like... I mean, it must have some advantage. It's all, it's rude of the same tree of when we were talking about baseball, like kids growing up in certain countries playing baseball. They're trying to hit like... Yeah, bottle cap. Yeah, bottle cap. Winner debuts, number one prospect, 19-year-old Connor Griffin. It makes his debut for the Pirates today as we speak. Signed a nine-year, $140 million contract. He's the first teenage position player to debut since Juan Soto, youngest shortstop to debut since A-Rod. My Pirates fandom. You got a lot of young talent. Draft number one every year. He's supposed to be electric. He's supposed to be... I mean, they're starting... A-Rod and Juan Soto. I get he's really young. I'm not going to put anything on him, but they got enough... They're starting to get enough talent where you would think, can you win a few games? It would be nice to win one or two games. Yeah. But as a pirate. Because they're just going to lose these guys if they don't... Yeah. I'm thinking about becoming a pirate. Snakes. Red Sox. Well, Red Sox is from America. Yankees. I like the Yankees. Dodgers. It's kind of crazy. Nah, no, Dodgers are too hard to root for. I just root for Mookie Betts singularly. Okay. Winner threes, Steph Curry. I called this one. It's clear to return on Sunday against the Rockets, who Brew can't stand. I like them. I'm disappointed. No. Houston, I'm disappointed. They've won games recently. He doesn't care. I'm disappointed. They were supposed to be a contender. You're not. They're still a contender. They're not. They're not a contender. They're not a contender. They're just disliked. I'll be surprised if they get out of the first round. Yeah, everyone will. So will Wilds. This is one of Wilds. If it's Rockets Lakers, I will take the Rockets. If with the healthy Luca. Luca's there's no guys. We were optimistic this whole show. Luca is not going to be ready for that series. You you saw a tweet. Yes, because you know, everyone's like, say, I don't, I'm not a doctor. I don't want to. I am a body language doctor. He was very upset. I do not think he's going to be ready. I think we're, I don't want to end the weekend on a bad note. Well, I like late for that. No Huskies women tonight. Men on Saturday. And that's the we're not. We got another 45 seconds of the show. Why don't you give us some of your medical insight into why Luca won't be back? Because he's body language. A. He heard his hamstring earlier in the year. So it wasn't just like a random guy hurting his hamstring. And he missed several games because of that. Several games. Now he heard it again. So I could argue it like I know it was checked by the doctors. Then he was sent back into the game and it was me. They heard those doctors need to rough day. I am not. I I want to make this very clear. I am not guaranteeing anything in either direction. But I think saying Luca is not coming back. You forced me into that. I would be surprised if you came back. I said if Luca comes back, you're picking the rockets and I'm picking the rockets either way. And just saying it will not come back. Sent those down.