Nightcap Hour 1: Wemby DOMINATES the Rockets + Jokic says Wemby will TAKE OVER the NBA + Lakers BEAT the Knicks without Bron + Jayson Tatum LOOKS GREAT vs Cavs + Pistons SELL vs Heat

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But don't take my word for it. Try it and compare it against other cognacs and you'll see. It is the best cognac on the market. Please drink responsibly and stay safe. The Spurs beat the Rockets by the score of 145 to 120. The Spurs had four players with at least 20 points and put what? Wow, almost had another. What do you call them? Had Dylan Harper had 19. almost had five players with 20 points. Joe, this was a beatdown from the beginning. I mean, this was a close game. It was back and forth. And then in the third quarter, the Spurs just exploded and just went haywire. Wimby was Wimby. But when you get Champagne, he was knocking down the threes like he was knocking them down. De'Aaron Fox was sensational up and down the court. And Stephan Castle, you know, we keep talking about guys, you know, offensively. But he's a damn good two-way player. I've watched him over the last, like, five or six games. He's taking the toughest assignment on the opposing end and still giving you what he's giving you offensively. Joe, when you watch the San Antonio Spurs, how far do you think they can go when they're playing like this? Can they really come out of the West? Can they win an NBA championship? Yeah, look, Ocho, what they've shown you is that those three times that they beat OKC, it was not a fluke, fellas. It was not a fluke, ladies and gentlemen. Listen, this team is deep. They have so many guys that can beat you. But you know what was glaring about this? It was almost as if the Rockets was like two to three steps slower than the Spurs. It's like the pace that the Spurs was playing at, Uncle Ocho, it's like the Rockets couldn't keep up. Look, midway through the third quarter, I seen KD, what we talk about, when they complaining to the rest, we know we got them. Yep. I seen KD over there talking to the rest, his tongue hanging out his mouth. Hey, they the rare of them boys in the ground, man. Hey, Spurs got a lot of guys who they can throw at you who don't mind playing defense and can off the bounce and create opportunities for themselves or others. It's fun to watch, man. And not even to mention Wimby. Oh, my God. I mean, yeah, they destined. Okay, Ocho, they can win it all. Yes, yes. They got 57 bench points. You get 57 bench points and your starters play like they play. And Devin Fussell, he didn't have one of his better games. He only had five points. He was 0 of 6 from the floor, 0 of 3 from the three-point line. Oh, Joe, you watch San Antonio. Look, Wimby, you can talk about Wimby, but there's so much more than a Wimby. They look good, huh? I mean, to piggyback off what Joe said, obviously me watching the game tonight and Joe saying it looked like the Rockets were two steps behind, it looked just like that, even though my understanding isn't great as his. I mean, with me not having the knowledge that I do of the game, I mean, it looked like that to me. It seemed like they were lethargic. I'm not sure what was wrong. Or the fact that the Spurs were just two steps ahead of everything that they tried to do, whether it was in transition, whether it was offensively, or whether it was defensively. They played extremely well. I'm not sure any team has an answer for Wemby. I'm not sure what you can do to stop Wemby because he's good from anywhere on the floor, anywhere on the court. He can put the ball on the floor. Hey, mid-range. I mean, in the goddamn paint, Joe. I'm not sure what they can do. And like Joe did say, what they've done to OKC, as great as OKC is as a team, even with the depth they have on the bench, the Spurs match up really well with them. And I got a question for you and you and Joe. With the way the Spurs are playing, are they the favorite to win the championship this year? Or is everyone still leaning towards OKC to do so in a seven-game series regards to who they have to play? Or is the Spurs the favorite? Well, when you see them complete, when you see a complete game, the way they played today, Ocho, it makes you put them ahead of a lot of teams. But for me, man, it's the physicality that they play with on the perimeter. Like just being in KD back pocket the whole game, making it tough for him to get to his spots, pushing, shoving the whole game, picking up four courts, all that plays into the victories. not only that, but the guys that they have, man, Fox, Castle, Harper, these guys go off the dribble so easily, bro, and get to the basket. If you can't guard, man, you in trouble. I'm sorry. You ain't going to be able to keep them boys in front of you. I think the thing, Joe, when I watch them, you're going to have to have somebody score, and they're going to have to keep Wembley away from the basket. Because if you let him camp out from the basket, you're not going to get any layups. He's going to alter all your shots. and you see guys, they come in and they're very hesitant. Like, damn, I got to shoot this ball like 12 feet in the air in order for me to have a chance to get it up. Yeah. And he'll let you, you think you got him beat? He just spins around and whop, throw it out of bounds. So the thing is that OKC does have a guy that can play on the perimeter, which is Chet, which can take him away from the basket. But if your big cannot draw him outside of the paint, you're going to have hell beating him. Like you said, now they do have multiple guys. The thing that I love most about them is that when their starters go to the bench, that shock troop come in, and they give you the same type of pace. They give you the same type of tempo. Now, obviously, Cornette is not as good as Wimby. But when you come in with Harper and you come in with Johnson, man. And Brian. I like Brian, too. Yes, yes. High energy. He can guard. Everybody out there on the floor, he can guard. They play the right way. It's fun to watch them play, bro, because they can beat you in so many ways. but the attack that they have from them guards, man, the way they can get by their man so easily, Ocho. Bro, you ain't going to want to see these boys. Hey, Uncle Joe, honestly, I mean, based on what we've seen from the Spurs so far this season, I think, obviously, if they're healthy, if they remain healthy, especially going into the postseason, I think they got it. They're going to raise that trophy now. You going to put some money on them? No, I ain't going to do that, Joe. I don't want to put money on nothing when I'm not controlling the outcome, Joe. Okay. But I'm just saying, if you had the bet, you would do the same, though, right? Oh, boy, they up there, Ocho. I'm talking about, man, it's hard to go against them. I tell you that. It's definitely going to be a matchup. I tell you what, Amir Dukes is not very pleased with the way they play defense. They shot 58% from the floor. They shot 52% from the three. You're not beating anybody. I don't give a damn if you're saying, Antonio. I don't care if it's Sacramento. I don't care who it is. You let a team shoot damn near 60% from the floor, over 50% from the three, you're going to lose by 20 points. Hey, Singoon, he can't guard nobody. No, no, no, no, no. He's an offensive guy. He's an offensive guy. He's not a defensive guy. They put the game so fast. They put them in them pick and rolls, and they get in the isolation. They just penetrate, kicking, or getting by him, getting layers. but he's struggling playing at this pace. He's struggling playing at this pace because Wimby is just he had that floating around a three-point line blocking shots. Hey, Ong and Joe. And Wimby blocks a shot. Wimby blocked a shot. He'll 100 meters. He'll spread 12 yards. Hey, Joe, when you get in a situation like that where obviously Shingun is a liability on defense, why not just go small? You can't. He's an all-star. Damn, what are you going to put in there? That's exactly you play through him. You know what I mean? Like a lot of the offenses ran through him. I mean, hold on. He's a liability on defense. Now we, we, we, we can't steal, but he gives you so much offensively. If you take, let's see who you're going to put in there defensively. You're not going to put Jeff green. Finney Smith is too small. Isaiah Crawford, Clint Capella, but he gives you nothing offensively. Yeah. Holiday Okoge, Reed Shepard is offensive guy. So they have a bunch of offensive guys. The problem is that Shingun is used to getting the ball all the time. With the addition of KD, KD got to get some touches. Joe, you remember last year, Shingun was an all-star. Yeah, he was an all-star. He was an all-star. But you got to share some of those touches. Yeah, I just don't – I think that's a tough cover for him guarding Wimby. Like, that's a tough cover for Shingun, man. That's a tough cover for him, Unc. Wimby's a tough cover for everybody. But if you think about it, look, if they play, Chad is going to be a tough cover for him because Chad can play on the boundary. Obviously, Joker is a tough cover for everybody. There's no answer, so we exclude Joker. Joker, don't even talk about him because ain't nobody doing anything with him. The problem that you have when you're – I made Joker pride himself on being a defensive team. If you look at him with the Celtics, hey, we're going to shoot – Yeah, we're going to shoot threes, but we're going to play outstanding defense. They don't have guys to play the type of defense that he wants to play. He got a couple. It's really that simple. Yeah. They don't. Yeah. And all things being equal, KD is phenomenal offensively, but he's not a defensive guy. Shingun is not a defensive guy. Now, I like Jabari Smith, but really the only guy that's got this on the defensive end that's trying to hold it down is Thompson and the Eastern. Yeah. And when you got those young guys, you look at that. What's the average age of San Antonio? 23, 24, maybe 25? Young. They getting up and down. Man, they got some hoopers, bro. They got some straight hoopers. And they run waves at you. They go every five to six minutes, they coming in with a new set. Yeah. Well, good luck keeping up with that. Because, look, they're top heavy. And most teams are. So don't think I'm saying it. But when you look at the most of their points, when you get 57 points from your bench, and you getting consistent play night in and night out, Dylan Harper was what? Western Conference Rookie of the Year. and you got Kelton Johnson coming off your bench. Kelton Johnson can start for a lot of teams. Dylan Harper probably should be in the starting lineup, but they say, you know what, we need that energy. We need those points coming off the bench because we know we're going to get from Vassell and we know what we're going to get from Stephan Castle. So now you're getting, Joe, on a given night, you're getting somewhere between 30 and 40 points a night from two guys off the bench. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you're right, huh? And you know what? it seems as though nobody has a problem with it on their team, neither. You know, they all vouch for one another. They play hard. They play the right way. You don't see nobody out there forcing nothing. And the game just looks easy, man. It looks easy to them. And defensively, they all sit down in the chair. But when you got Wimby behind you, hell, it ain't got, you know what I mean? Yeah. But I'm with you. Even if you play the chair a game, don't worry about it. If somebody gets your chair, don't worry about it. Get back there to Wimby. Wimby got something for you. Hello. Hello. But you know what, man? Hey, look, Castle's showing me a lot, though, Uncle Ocho. Yes. Hey, listen, I'm talking about like, ooh, he going to be a problem. I mean, we talk about all defensive players now. Look, Jalen Brown has played extremely well. We know what Kawhi McQuadre is not what he once was, the injury that's taken his toll. But when we look at this kid here, he's taking the toughest offensive assignment every single night, and you ask him to still give you those 15 to 20 points, that he gives you. Yeah. So, hey. Hey, man. You're saying. Yeah, young superstar in the making. Obviously, we know he won rookie of the year, but he's shown me, man, that he ready to take that next step, Uncle Ocho. Hey, the Spurs scary, bro. They scary, man. Oh, man. Hey, hey. Nobody want to see them boys. They don't, but I think the thing is, is that they took a page out of OKC. You see how well OKC? You can tell they genuinely like each other. They genuinely like being around each other. It's not like, okay, we get to a city and we scatter like mice when the lights come on. They like hey bro what you doing Hey let go grab a bite They talk about how they spend time with one another how they in the group chat communicating with one another And I can see very similar what the Spurs are doing That's how you – look, most teams that win are close. Now, there are always going to be a situation where sometimes you get outliers, where, hey, we win and fight and we don't really care about each other. But I think OKC and the way they play, I think everybody's trying to find that formula because your best player holds this thing together, and Wimby is clearly their best player. But, man, they young and they still got draft picks. Yeah, yeah. And the thing is that most of these guys, Champagny and Wimby, yeah, you made the trade for De'Aaron Fox. De'Aaron Fox said, like, I'm tired of SAC, blah, blah, blah, and I want to go elsewhere. And he lands here with Wimby. He probably the oldest on the team. Yes. So you got all these. He can put you in the pick and roll. Yeah. He can get down. Not joking. Hey, quick as a cat on a marble table. Man. Get down hill and get to the rim. He can say, hey, he can snatch you and back up behind the three point line. He got a crazy head that you think he about to hit, a bop him, he's to the rim on you. And now you got Wimby, and you got Castle, you got Vassette, they loaded. Hey, Joe, man, they're really good. Them boys made a statement today. Hold on, they been making a statement though, Joe. They been making a statement. Yeah, but I'm just saying against one of the top teams like Houston in the Western Conference, they just making a statement. the third seed Houston are. Yeah, shit. They made mincemeat out of them. Yeah, it's levels to this. Made mincemeat out of them. They did. They did. They made mincemeat out of them. And like I said, it's going to be very interesting. I want to see it. Hopefully everybody is healthy and nobody has any significant injuries. You want to see them at OKC? You want to see them at OKC in the Western Conference Final? I do. I do. Joe who you got Hypothetically speaking If those two Listen Beating somebody one game is one thing But a seven game series Who you leaning towards Well they've already beat them three out of four this year Yeah they done beat them three out of four this year That's regular season Now you know Joe the playoffs is a different ball game I get it I get it I get it I get it Hey I've been in that situation I've been in that situation Next Monday Our 2026 iHeart Podcast Awards Are happening live in South by Southwest This is the biggest night in podcasting. We'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past year and celebrate the most innovative, talented creators in the industry. And the winner is... Creativity, knowledge, and passion will all be on full display. Thank you so much, iHeartRadio. Thank you to all the other nominees. You guys are awesome. Watch live next Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific, free at veeps.com or the veeps app. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I'm Greg Rosenthal. And this is 40s and free agents. The games may be over, but the NFL never stops. This is my favorite part of the calendar. Yeah, mine too, Greg. Free agency, the combine, the NFL draft, pro days, trades. This is where teams reshape their future. This is where Daniel Jeremiah makes his money. On 40s and free agents, we break down every move that actually matters. From my draft evaluations, mock drafts, and team fits. To my top 101 free agents and how real rosters are built. cap space, contracts, and all the tough decisions included. You got quarterbacks on the move. We got teams rebuilding. It's hope season. Yeah, absolutely. It's hope season. We'll tell you what's real, what's noise, and what it means for your favorite team. Smart analysis, real conversations every week. I don't know about the smart, but definitely analysis. Listen to 40s and Free Agents on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Listen Go ahead Joe Go ahead What you gonna say I was gonna say I wanna see Castle And Shea Yeah Cause that's a matchup Yeah Cause Castle Hey Castle can pick it up Now they gonna run his ass off a bunch of pigs They gonna try to keep him in the pig They gonna try to keep his ass Run him off screen Hey They gonna try to keep Keep bumping him But He a hound I'm here He a hound man I know they won the season series of Spurs, but I'm going to probably give me a little edge to OKC. I probably give a little edge to OKC right now, Ocho. OK. They might be a year away. Because remember, OKC was in a very similar situation the year before. And they ended up getting upset by the Mavericks. Yeah. So I can see a very similar situation where, hey, you think, man, they're right there. And all of a sudden, they get upset. But they coming. If you think you about to have your way with San Antonio, they coming. Wimby only going to get better. I don't know if y'all know this, but Wimby going to get better. Hey, he like a cheat code out there, bro. It don't even look bad. How do you take the first shot? You pull him up from 27. At the top of you pulling from 27. Hey, Joe, you played the game, Joe. You've been around for a very long time. Someone like Wimby. There's no answer for Joker. I mean, Joker. You can slow him down. You can only hope to contain him. When it comes to Wimby, is there any way you can stop him? Anything you can do defensively? Anything you can do tactically, you'll slow him down? Or do you just have to say, you know what? He's going to always get his. We need to worry about the other four on the court. Nah, you're going to have to wear him down. Catch him early. Body to body. Body. And then you've got to hope for the third or fourth quarter and second half of the game, you're able to wear him down to where he's not as effective. but Ocho I mean man he can do a little bit of everything out there I mean I like how he took his time and you know he started the play making just making the right passes and guys getting wide open three next thing you know they up 30 points bro yeah it's like I mean the thing with Wemby Joe like you said you gotta have somebody that can body him you gotta wear him down because right now he's still in his young man kid body Yeah. He's not that old. He doesn't have his body body. So you got to wear him down. You got to have somebody that can make him work on the other end. And you got to go body with him. Hopefully you can get him in foul trouble. If you don't get him in foul trouble and he gets to play his normal allotment of minutes, which is about 30, play about somewhere like 30, maybe 33, 34 minutes. If you let him play his normal allotment of minutes, that means he's not in foul trouble and he's going to be down there. and he's going to be there down the stretch. Oh, yeah, yeah. And he's going to make it very difficult because all layups, I'm sending a return to sender. Dude, hello. Hello. Yeah, you. I'm throwing you in shot at it. I don't like what you're saying, so I'm going to send it back in 30 days. Yeah, man, they're going to be a tough matchup for anybody, though, in the postseason, fellas. I don't care who they play. Houston allowed the season-most points, 56 in the paint. Think about it. They allowed 56 points in the paint, guys, and they shot 43s. They made 21 of 40 from the three-point line. So you get up 43s and you still get 56 in the paint. Them dudes was – listen, they guards break you down so easy, bro. They in the paint themselves the whole time. Shoot layups, floaters. It's too much. You take that away. Now you got Chad Pennington and Vassar out there shooting the lights out, shooting the cover off the ball. It's like you got to pick your poison. Kelton Johnson come in and just pull him. Wop, wop, wop. Well, they look good, man. Hey. I don't know why, but hell, every time Kelton Johnson and Champagne shoot the three, I'm like, that's going to go in. They got me thinking they damn step forward. Hey, listen, because it don't be nobody two, three feet from them. You know what I'm saying? Because Wimby, he take the double team, triple team, and he just picking you apart. Them guys breaking people down, picking you apart. It's going to be tough to beat them, bro. The question is, look, I think the problem that the Rockets really have, they needed a point guard. Without Van Fleet, they can't go anywhere. Yeah, it's tough. I like Armin Thompson. I think he's a phenomenal player. He's a great two-way player. But without a true point guard, they not going nowhere. Yeah. I agree. It was glaring. It was glaring today, too. They needed Fred Van Fleet. They need somebody who can kind of get everything together. Yes. Get them together. You know, when things get a little crazy, you got to need somebody who can calm everybody down and make sure we get a great shot. But they was held to Skelter a lot of times out there, man. They were. My thing is, Joe Ocho, you need a point guard. Y'all mean to tell me that CP got that kind of baggage? Don't nobody want him? He can't help nobody in this situation? I ain't saying you got to sign him for the next five years, but he can't help somebody on a playoff run? Hey, ain't nobody pick him. I don't know. He probably wasn't getting what he – probably wasn't getting them phone calls. Like Ocho just – Oh, he wasn't? But I'm like, well, damn. I understand it's not a sub-zero. It's a little ice chest, but damn, they're going to keep the mitt cool. Right. Damn. Hey, you know, hey, back in the day, Joe, you know we had them ice chests. We throw the ice and put the meat on top of that, the refrigerator would go on out. Hey. Yeah. Hey, boy. Back then, ice, I think ice was like 50-cet of bags or something like that. Get you about three or four bags and put that ice, and put that meat in the ice chest. Hey, listen. You know as you age, you get up in them 40s, and you under 6'2", you know, it's tough to play. it's tough to continue to play, Ojo. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? They'll keep running. Yeah, like you gonna have to be up there 6'7", 6'8", 6'9", be able to play in your 40s to where you can still control the game a little bit. You know what I mean? Nah. Joe, you make a very good point. As you get older, the smaller you are, the harder it is for you to control the game. See, LeBron can control the game because he's 6'9". Yeah. Luca still will be able to control the game because he's 6'7", 6'8". Yeah. Jokic will be able to control a game because he's seven foot. Yeah. But when you lose foot speed and you're six foot tall, and these young boys, hey, these young kids now, man, they got jet packs on. You hear me? Because they not walking the ball up. That old, Joe, you remember back when you first got in the league, guys would walk the ball up. Yeah. They pushing this ish. They get that ball up. Listen, on May Bass, I've seen the Spurs catch a fast break, and they just got scored on. They scored right before Houston could even get back. Like, I'm like, the game is played at such a high pace, bro. It's like, even watching it, you'd be like, come on, man. They could have got a better shot than that. Because it's just come down, boom, boom, pass, three. Yeah, it is. Three, layup, floater. You know what I mean? It's just the game is so different now, bro. And that's what I'm talking about. Houston seemed like they were like two, three steps slower than Spurs tonight. Houston want to play in a half court set because they got a tremendous half court player in Kevin Durant. They got Shang-Goon that can put you in the pick and roll. He can roll. He can pop. KD, you know what KD is. But these young teams, they're not really trying to play half court. You got to have them track shoes on. Hey. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You want to keep up with us? Don't bring your teams. Don't bring your work boots. Bring your track shoes because we running. We run it. You know, hey. Oh, Joe, I know you see you ain't doing no work. You from Miami. You ain't had no. I had steel toe boots. Joe, I don't know. I know your grandfather, your dad had steel toes. You had them steel toe boots, them bro games. You know you put in a, if you had steel toe boots, you know damn well you put in a hard day. Hey, hold on. Why you do me like that? You ain't had no damn steel toe boots. I used to work on the docks at the Port of Miami down here. I had to wear steel, I was a long short man. What you were doing on the docks? I was a longshoreman at the Port of Miami. You hear me, Joe? So you, everything that come in, you have to go through you? Yeah, I'm doing all the containers, man, off them ships and them loads come in, Joe. Hey, I work in the crane, Joe. No, I'm telling you, Joe, I was a longshoreman. Ask about me, Joe. Yeah, I had steel, you got to wear steel-toed boots, Joe. Hey, my grandfather worked on the railroad. He always was steel-toed. Hey, hey, I had my steel toe boots and I had my overalls, Joe. Yeah, no lie. But back to what we said, Joe. Being in the South is working. You know damn well, you saw somebody with some steel toe boots, and this is when you know, when the cover has started to roll out the front of them and you can actually see the steel and the toe. Yeah, yeah. That boy Joe, he ain't got to work it. That boy working. He done put some work it. Yeah, he working. He working. He don't put some work in. Man, listen. What you talking about? Hey. But the Spurs, they beat the Rockets. Stay close. They're still the number two seed thanks to a 145-120 victory over the Houston, Texas. The Spurs placed four guys with 20-plus points, and Houston allowed a season-most 56 points in the paint. Well, Houston, you're going to lose a lot of games. If you let a team shoot 58% from the floor and 52% from the three, you lose it. Yeah, you ain't beat nobody with them. 145 points. Nikola Jokic. Who said Nikola? It's Nikola Jokic. Says he's glad he's retiring soon before Wimby takes over to the NBA. He's changing basketball. I'm glad that I'll probably retire before Wimby holds the entire league in a chokehold. never seen a thing like it you've never seen a guy that tall that skill that can put the ball on the floor can shoot the ball from three Kevin DeGrant can shoot it but that man is like five six inches taller than KD and on the defensive end it's like somebody Joe it's like you holding up two broomsticks in a lane you know what it is hey Uncle Joe Wimby is basically should be the face of the NBA then huh? or the fact that he doesn't have that charisma and personality like an Anthony Edwards, would he not be the first choice for it? Being that he's probably going to be the one to dominate the NBA for the next 10, what, 15 years, depending on how long he decides to play. Well, I think globally, you know, he puts a – he brings in a great brand because that's where the NBA wants to go. Yep. You know, it's going to be games over and, you know, during the season, the guy's going to be playing games over there in Paris and stuff like that. So it only helps the game if you ask me, man. But to be the face of the NBA, Ocho, he got a chance, bro. If he won the championship, for sure. It's just hard. I mean, things are going to change. It's different now because you talk about an American sport and a foreign-born player being the face of an American sport. Yeah. It's not like baseball because baseball, for the most part, has always had Latin players. They've always had Korean and Japanese started coming over when you had Hideki Nomo and Matsuori and Ichiro started coming over. But they've always had Latin players. Always, always. It's different. Baseball has always been a universal or world game. Basketball just became, let's say, the last 30-plus years. Yeah. Once they sent the NBA to the Olympics in 92, that's when everybody, that's when the Dierks, and that's when everybody was like, with, damn, that's what I want to do. That's what I want to be. Right. And so now, and because if you really think about it, the top five, six, seven players are foreign born. They're Canadian, they're Serb, they're Slovenian, they're Greek, they're French. They're not American. You got to go far. I mean, nobody's taking, you're not taking not one American player over Luka. You're not taking one over Jokic. You're not taking one over Shea. You're not taking one over Greek freak. you're not you're not you take your best when you take Jason Tatum you take whomever you say is your best American player and I guarantee you you're not taking them over Jokic Giannis Luka Shea you're not and I'm not so sure you take even Wimby in his third year I'm not sure you're taking one over Wimby so that's five right there yeah yeah the world is not as deep as America, but it's definitely, it's pop heavy. Okay, you got a couple in Greece and you got a couple in Slovenian, Serbian, Canada, X, Y, and Z, but as far as just depth, yeah, American got it. But those guys grow up playing together. Like Zion and Ja was on the same AAU team. Yeah. All those French kids, they played together their whole life growing up. Yeah. They grew up. The Serbs, the Slovenians, they played together their whole life growing up. The Greek team, they played together their whole life. And they started playing professional basketball a lot earlier over there, overseas Ocho versus over here. You know what I mean? They may be playing pro over there at 13, 14 years old. Oh, so you develop a little faster, huh? Yeah, there you go. There you go. Luke had been playing pro since he was 14. Yeah. Hey, can I ask you a question? Yes. you really take Luka over like an Ant-Man or a Jason Tatum? I would. It's your preference. Look, I think the thing is is that Luka kicks a lot. Today, Luka was locked in and we're going to talk about it in a little bit. He locked in. Caught him a couple of charges, poking the ball out from the back. Luka was balling today. But that's scoring. Right. He about to have his I think his fourth season where he averaged 30 He 26 He 26 Yeah he going to put yeah look he going to take bad shots He's very unorthodox. He's going to take some bad shots. He's going to complain. He's going to shoot a shot, and he's going to turn the look to the official, and he's got room and laid it up on the other end. That's just what it is. Damn. But I think the thing is, and you're talking about a guy that's been, he was a first-team All-NBA selection for five consecutive years. Five. Luke of the Don. It's just that if he were to stop complaining, I don't need him to sit in the chair, Joe. I don't need him to do that. Just don't get beat on the initial drive. Can you do that? That's all I want you to do. If he tried to beat you on the initial drive, cut him off, make him pull it back off, or make him give the ball up. That's all I need, Joe, because if he beats you on the initial drive, help got to come. If help comes, now you compromise the entire defense. Somebody else opens, yeah. Well, I'm sorry to tell you. That's all I need, Joe. Joe, that's all I need. Hey, he a bad boy. He a bad boy, but when it comes sliding them puppies, he ain't giving you no two slides. He might give you one, and that's a wrap after that. Yeah, he ain't. I don't know what got him in the J, though, Joe. I don't know what got him in the J. But Luka, he was kind of locked in today. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think him knowing LeBron wasn't playing, he know he had to lock in a little more. You know what I mean? Like, you ain't got LeBron out there. You know you got to be great. You know what I mean? Like, you and Austin going to have to carry us tonight. I think he knew that from the start. Yes. Yeah. I mean, this is tough. Austin looked really good tonight. He was aggressive, put the ball on the plate. Put the ball on the floor, get into the paint. Luka's Luka. When Luka make his shot, excuse me, guys. When Luka's making shots like that, you just hope he missed. That man take a one-legged shot from 28 feet, fall out of bounds, sit into the next bench. What the hell are you going to do? The other night, he kissed one off the glass from 29 feet. What the hell are you going to do with that? You hung up on him. He can get by you. He's so herky-jerky. He's so unorthodox. He's not going to beat you with speed. He's bigger than you think. He's stronger than you think. You're looking at his body like, ah, this milk toast. I'm about to cook him. Okay, cook him. Okay, cook him. It don't seem like he's supposed to be making some of the shots he takes. But he took 16 threes tonight. He was five for 16 from the three. He took 25 shots. That boy don't mind shooting that sidestep going left to that three doing. Nope. And on the fast break, he'll stop and let it go. But you look, he's going to have a high usage rate. He's going to look. The likelihood of him ever shooting 50% is not good because of the shot selection that he takes. He's not taking, you know, I mean, you look at him in the shots, you're like, Luca, you just got to accept it. Yeah. You just got to accept it. Yeah. Because you want him to be aggressive. You want him to assert himself. You can't take that away, especially when LeBron's not playing. Even when LeBron is playing, you still want him to be himself. But, hey, when you look at them Knicks, man, I told you, hey. This season of— Next Monday, our 2026 iHeart Podcast Awards are happening live at South by Southwest. This is the biggest night in podcasting. We'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past year and celebrate the most innovative, talented creators in the industry. And the winner is— Creativity, knowledge, and passion will all be on full display. Thank you so much, iHeartRadio. Thank you to all the other nominees. You guys are awesome. Watch live next Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific, free at veeps.com or the veeps app. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I'm Greg Rosenthal. And this is 40s and free agents. The games may be over, but the NFL never stops. This is my favorite part of the calendar. Yeah, mine too, Greg. Free agency, the combine, the NFL draft, pro days, trades. this is where teams reshape their future. This is where Daniel Jeremiah makes his money. On 40s and free agents, we break down every move that actually matters. From my draft evaluations, mock drafts, and team fits. To my top 101 free agents and how real rosters are built, cap space, contracts, and all the tough decisions included. You got quarterbacks on the move. We got teams rebuilding. It's hope season. Yeah, absolutely. It's hope season. We'll tell you what's real, what's noise, and what it means for your favorite team. Smart analysis, real conversations every week. I don't know about the smart, but definitely analysis. Listen to 40s and Free Agents on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Don't end how it's supposed to end. Your boy Yannis is going to be in New York. I don't know how Bridges played 27 minutes and then scratched. I mean, how are they going to win? They can't win like that. He got in power trouble early. He can't get you. First of all, he tried to be aggressive with Luka, and Luka's going to use that against you. He's going to get you on his back, and then he's going to stop, and then you're going to jump, and then he's going to move. You bump it from the back, and then guess what? You had free throw. That's the same thing. I think the thing is you want to try to get up into Luka. You want to try to be physical with him because that's the thing. Be physical with him. You try to take advantage of him. You put him in the pick and roll because he's their weakest defender. If you could say the Lakers have a weak defender, a weakest, because they got a lot of weak defenders, but he might be the weakest. So you try to put him in the pick and roll. You try to get physical with him because, you know, they say the same thing about European players. They're not that physical. You know, you get physical with Jokic and you get physical with him. Yada, yada, yada. I get all that. And so, you know, and he's probably done cried so much. He's like, man, I'm tired of the Joker crying. I don't want to hear him cry tonight, so let's call some fouls. And he went to the free throw line. Because remember, Joe, we talked about it the other night. He went to the free throw line ten times. The other night he went to the free throw line four times. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he went to the line ten times. Yeah, but they need him to be like this, though. He has to be aggressive because his offense is his defense, fellas. You know what I mean? Like, if that's the case, he completely took Bridges out of the game. He was a non-factor. You know what I mean? Yes. Yes. he done his job in that part but they gonna need these other guys to step up man I mean if you go against Nuka you got to give them at least half of what he's gonna give you because if you don't I mean he gave you 35 Bridges gave you nothing so he's plus 35 in that aspect yeah that's what I'm saying yeah so you got to half him up at bare minimum you like to play him to a tie now the thing is Joe and the same thing with SGA or right. You play Joe. If they get their numbers, let's just say Luca gets 30, 35 and it takes him 30 shots. Joe, I've done my job. Yeah. I've done my job. Yeah. She gets 35 and it takes him 28, 29 shots to get it. I've done my job. What I can't do is allow him to get 35 on 16, 17. There you go. There you go. Cause now I know he's being extremely efficient. Now he ate him 16 through. threes that he took, he made 11 of them. Now I'm in trouble. That's the thing with a score. If you get your numbers, and I make you get those numbers being inefficient, you gotta shake his hand. Quarterback throw for 350 yards, Ocho, and taking 57 attempts, I can't do nothing about that. I just can't let him have 350 on 30 attempts. Right, right. Because that just means If he got 350 or 30 attempts, Ocho, he probably completed 25 of them. I mean, you know, the funny thing about it is, depending on who they play, when you play these special players, obviously like a Shea, like a Luka, like a Joker, like a Wimby, and if you don't have a player that has the green light to be able to shoot in volume to match their point total, there has to be something else you can do to be able to stop them, huh? And Joe, something else to slow them down. But every time we come on and we talk about the game of basketball and how difficult it is to slow them down, how difficult it is to contain them. I mean, it's bad, especially when they only give you, well, Luka in general, since that's who we talk about, they only give you on one end of the court. They only give you someone one end of the court. Yeah, Joker, yeah. Do you realize that Wimby has more blocks than Joker in his career? How? He just got in the NBA. Exactly. That just goes to Joker. That's my point. Thank you. Ta-da! Ta-da! Yeah. Yeah, Joker ain't blocking no shot. No, that's not his game. His game is that I'm going to punish you so bad, so bad on the offensive end, and I'm going to get my teammates involved so much that you ain't going to be able to do nothing. And if you don't, like I said, that's why he killed. Look, if you go back and look at his numbers against Gobert, because Gobert can't make him work, he's not going to give you anything on the other end. So now Joker's just free to do whatever he's going to do. That's why he has a 60 point triple double or whatever he's had. Hey, Hogan, I told you that. You got to make a guy like Jordan. You got to make a guy like Kobe. You got to make him work on the other end. If you don't, if you let them coast. Got to make him uncomfortable. And let him use all that energy on the offensive end. You in trouble. You better make that man work on the defensive end. You got to make him guard somebody. Yeah. Facts. Facts. That's why they always took Larry and put him on the – you take Larry Bird and you put him on the weakest offensive guy. I want you to say that, NG. Yeah. Because I need you to bust the ass on the other end. That's why I always tip my hat to something like a Kobe or a Jordan or these guys that are offensive guys and say, you know what, I want the defensive challenge as well. Yeah. Because it takes a lot. You've got to exert a lot. Everybody can't do that. Yeah, I know. Jordan didn't have a luxury that he had, Scottie, so he could easily, like, you know what, A.C. Scottie. And you're talking about a guy that's 6'7", that has long arms, that can slide his feet as well as a smaller player. But everybody don't got that. You have to want to dominate the game, bro. They wanted to dominate the game. I'm talking about from start to finish. Yes. They wanted to dominate the game. It was no way that you had a chance to win, which is why they picked back then, back in the day. When you look, like, we always talk about the top four, the eight teams in the NBA, really probably four or five. They play tough defense, bro. They play extended pressure. They pick you up full, weigh you down like they were doing KD tonight, picking him up full, weighing him down. That's what they're going to do to you the whole entire game, and hopefully in the fourth quarter you ain't got enough energy to continue to play at that peak level. You know what I mean? Yep. Yeah. The Lakers beat the Knicks 110-97. LeBron James with a late scratch, do an elbow contusion, arthritis in his left foot. But LA held the number three team on offense to just under 43% shooting with 19 turnovers, which is 20 points below the Knicks season average. Like I said, Mikel Bridges only gave him zero points. But you look at Rui, came in, played really well. He gave him 13 points on three out of eight from three. Marcus Mark, he's a defensive guy, but he didn't shoot the ball well today, but you had Luca had 35, Austin Reeves had 25, and like I said, Joe, you and I were talking about this, Luke Kennard. Luke Kennard has been a godsend. They basically swapped Luke Kennard for Gabe Vincent. Gabe Vincent, look, they got him after he had that great run with Miami. He was a guy that made some threes with a 3 and D guy, but I don't know what it is, but when guys can shoot the ball wherever they are, until they come to the Lakers or they team up with LeBron, and all of a sudden they forget how to shoot the ball. Too much pressure It's different over there wearing that jersey It's different over there wearing that Purple and gold Big city bright lights It's a little different You know what's going on Expectations The number one killer Is expectations We've seen guys with nothing expected We've seen guys with nothing was expected Teams with nothing is expected of them And they woo And then the next year when they have those expectations, what they do? Because now we have expectations where we didn't have that last year. You have expectations on a player where we didn't have that last year. So let's see now. Now that they know what you can do, they know who you are, they know what type of team you are. Can you still do it again? Yeah, that's the hard part, man. You have to be hungry for success to do that, bro. Like to want to do it over and over. I thought they did a great job. They only had 13 turnovers, the Lakers. Luka had almost half of those. But look, he has a high usage rate. The ball's going to be in his hand. When you have the ball that much, it's hard for you not to turn it over in an abundance. It just is. Most guys that lead in usage are going to be up there in turnovers. Just the way I agree. Go back and look at guys that's leading usage and see their turnovers, where they rate. yeah but this was a big win they was this was a big win for them they they needed it yeah it was it was a huge game too huge game yeah they they i'm telling y'all man if the knicks don't do what they supposed to do this year your boy that's where your boy gonna be at watch watch about the young boy from greece yeah greek freak did that this this season huh well he well you talk about He's talking about he don't want no ball, Dominic Garvin. What do you think, Brux? They going to trade Brunson? Hey, listen. Hey, look. He's going to have to deal with this. You're going to have to get with it because we got a plan now. Yeah. Ain't nobody trying to hear all that, man. But if you think about it, with the exception of maybe San Antonio, all the really good teams, they're ball dominant. That's what I'm saying. Who do you think got the ball with OKC? Who has the ball with the Lakers? I don't think Boston's going to break up their team. Boston swings the ball. They're not swinging. Cade has the ball. So I'm just trying to figure out where he thinks he's going to go. And somebody as great as the Greek freak is, right? You don't think he can adapt to a different situation where you don't have to touch the ball all the time, as great as you are? That's not who he is. He's not Cade-y. His numbers won't be as gaudy as they are now. He won't be 30 and 15. Nope. He might have to take it down, Uncle Ocho, but take it down about 24, 25, and 12 or something. I'm saying, and be able to win the championship? Yes. Man, what you doing over there? What y'all doing in Milwaukee over there? Y'all ain't got nothing going? True. Y'all ain't got nothing going. So I'm just saying, hypothetically speaking, if he is to go to the Knicks, so that means, basically, if he does bring the ball up, I mean, That don't make no sense. He will have times, Ocho. I'm not saying they're going to take the ball out of his hands, but it just probably won't be as much. We got options. Yannis got to have a high usage rate. Look at Yannis' usage rate. He got to be top five. Some good games today, man. I think the thing is, all things being equal, Joe, Giannis really prefers because Giannis knows he's going to be looked at differently if he leaves now. Because we look at all the guys. What do we commend Jordan for? He won six championships in one spot. What did Kobe do? Five championships in one spot. Tim Duncan, one spot. Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, one spot. Steph Curry, one spot. What do we criticize LeBron? KD. But hold on. Giannis knows what comes along with that. Hey, hold on, Joe. But look at the team. Look at all the players you named that done it in one spot. Look at the teams that were built around those said players that you just mentioned. The teams where LeBron has played for, did they have anything that matches up or were even equivalent to the other four on the team that they played at? People don't care about that, Ocho. People don't care about that. You don't take that into account at all, no? No. We do. Joe do. Basketball, a lot of basketball people does if you're not trying to paint a narrative. because what they say, if you're as great, if you're the GOAT, you should be able to win a championship regardless of who you play with. That's tough. You know that other part, Joe. You know that support and cast matter. That's in any sport. Man. See, the thing is, as long as a team can – well, the team traded him. So now the team traded you. That's okay. But if I request to go to a team because the team isn't good enough, or the team trades me because they want to bring a player in to try to win. Now I want to go somewhere because you not bring the players in to try to win, and I want to go somewhere you use that against me. Yeah. Yeah. I just don't want to see a situation where Giannis gets stuck in a situation to where he's playing meaningless basketball. Ain't nobody doing that? That's what I'm saying, Ocho. That's what I'm saying. I know he's been there his whole entire career, and he probably don't want to uproot and move to. But this is a different era, Unc. This ain't, you know what I mean? It's not the 80s and 90s. No, this ain't that. Like these guys on my mind. They caught KG in that situation. KG came into the 90s and guys were loyal, didn't want to leave until they're on their last legs. And KG probably stayed four years too long in Minnesota. KG was supposed to have been got up out of there. But KG wanted to be loyal to the soil. Yeah, and he'll tell you. he probably wish he would left early He could had him a couple of championships Absolutely Yeah so it like I know Giannis got one and he wanted to stick around in Milwaukee saying all the right things but hey man Wouldn't Dame Lillard also be an example of the same thing, staying somewhere a little bit too long because you want to be loyal? Yes. Yeah. But you see, now we put in so much because it's the ring or nothing. See, it used to be, it wasn't like that. Right. But this ring culture now, because fans say, well, there have been some great players that don't have rings, and you have second and third and fourth options that have rings, and they got people saying they're better than one option that doesn't have rings. There are some guys that got rings, and people actually think they're better than Charles Barkley. They're better than Carl Malone, and you're high. Yeah, they tripping. You're high. Yeah. But because people have placed so much value on rings. me i'm i'm an eye test guy yeah rings now if i'm factoring in joe if i'm saying est great i think you have to bring rings into the occasion and even though i understand that this is a team game yeah i factor it all there i factor in regular season mvps final mvps all nba all defensive uh all that. Yeah. Points, rebounds. I bring all that into the equation because I think you have to when you're saying great test. But these people, I mean, a lot of people like, Oh, he ain't got no rings. He bad. People like they crap on Charles Barkley. If you actually saw Chuck, Chuck play, if you actually saw him play, you will never see another guy, six foot four under lead to NBA and rebounders. He did that dominated. Charles Barkley was a power forward at 6'4". And back then, everybody played with a true five and a true – boy, please. Yeah. Everybody had a big. And they had a big-ass power forward to go alongside him. So you had Robert Parrish at 7'0", and then you had Kevin McKell at 6'10". You had Ralph Sampson at 7'4", you had Akeem Olajuwon at 7'0". Yeah. That's how everybody played. You had Rick Smiths and you had them big-ass Davis boys in Indiana. Everybody played with a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. It wasn't no stretch, nothing. Nah. No, sir. And, look, I get it. But, nah, I mean, you got guys, oh, man, he got a ring. There are a lot of receivers that got rings. So, if y'all say, so now receivers that got a ring, he better than Randy? He better than T.O.? okay I'm gonna let y'all say that I'm gonna let y'all say that I ain't gotta call no name but there have been some receivers that's won some Super Bowls and bless them you've been fortunate of a team I was a part of a team I ain't win no two I was part of a team that won cause I understand that it takes a team to win championships but boy let's not fool ourselves now let's not fool ourselves there's some quarterbacks that won championships and quarterbacks that haven't Yeah. Come on now. Yeah. Yeah. But social media has done that because what it's done is that it's allowed everybody to have opinion and have their opinion heard. Yeah. Whereas – and so now, oh, he better, he better, he better. I listened to the Michael Jordan because I saw that pop up, but he's like, I ain't going to get a part in this GOAT conversation. He said, you know why? He said, because I didn't play against those guys in their era and I didn't play against these guys in these era. He said, it's not to take anything. KD, I think KD and LeBron. He said, Kobe. He let Kobe call me not in my prime. He called me to tail end. But, no. And it's hard to compare errors because errors do different things. Some errors, they mainly ran the football, Mocho. So, how you going to say a guy, well, he only caught. Yeah, Lee and Swan only caught 300 passes. But they only threw. I mean, I think he had 300 catches for a career. But they might throw the ball 200 times a season. So if you throw the ball 200 times a season, how many fans do you think they're gonna catch when you divide it up between four wide receivers and two tight ends? Yeah, you right. And running back stats now are not gonna be like they were cause they don't run the ball. Well, you got a two back system. And he got rid of the running back. The old, the old, the, the, I don't know. I don't know if we're gonna see Derrick Henry might be the last of the true power. I can't hear y'all. Is it my phone? Oh, there it goes. You're back. You're back. It went out for a little minute. Okay. Okay. Huh? No, I thought, could you guys hear me now? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought my stuff went out over the house. Okay. Jalen Brown has scored 23 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, and the Celtics beat the Cavaliers, 109 to 98. Jason Tatum in his second game back had 20 points. So after, you know, his second game back, I think he had, what, 12 points? No, he had 15 points the first game with 12 rebounds. He had 20, so you see the improvement there. He had a big three to push the game out of reach. And I think he had a tweet that says, girl, I missed you. I think he said something like that. But he had, on 27 minutes, he had 20 points on 6-16 shooting, 2-9 from the 3, 6-7 from the free throw line. JB was 7 of 17, 1 of 3, 809 from the three-point line. He had 23 points. Peyton Pritchard, 18 points. So, 7 of 12. And, hey, I don't know who this kid is, this left-handed. Scrammer. Scrammerman. Sherman. But, man, he was letting that thing fly. Hey, man. Because every time they got close, he'd be spotted up in the corner. I'm like, damn, who is he? Hey, Boston looks scary now, though. Hey, hey, Uncle. All right, Joe, Joe, that's when you're on the court and somebody hit a three, you're like, who the hell is he? Hey, Uncle and Joe, I'm surprised. You know, I mean, Jason, you know, obviously I was worried, especially coming off that injury. But seeing what he did, first game, 15, this game he had 20. And I'm sure, I mean, he played 27 minutes a night. and as he gets a little bit more comfortable, gets a little bit more acclimated to the speed of the game and everything catches up, he gets back in rhythm. Man, hell, they might be here to deal with again. They was already here to deal with without Jason Tatum. Now you add him back into the fold. You know, I'm sitting here talking about, you know, let Jason Tatum work yourself back into the game. You know, let Jalen Brown steer the ship. Well, hell, you came back and ain't missed a goddamn beat. Man, listen, once he gets back fine-tuning, and Uncle Ocho, and that'll be right probably when the playoffs is about to hit. He'll be comfortable enough to where he know he got the strength in that leg and that Achilles and kind of get it out of his mind. Yeah, man, it pushed them right back at the top of the – at the Eastern Conference. Yeah, dang. They just – because it makes them so deep, and now you got another guy who you can rely on as far as closing out games, managing games, taking the initiative, guarding some of the top guys. put Boston right back at the top, bro. Dang. Yeah, I think I agree with you. And we're going to talk about Detroit, who's been struggling as of late. I don't know what it is with Cleveland. You just don't believe in them at this time of the year, do you? Nope. Hey, Unc? I don't think anybody else does or should. Two-headed monster, Unc? they complementary pieces. I don't see nobody who's going to win them a game in a tough playoff series. You think Harden, Mitchell, and Mobley, they're going to be solid. I think they'll be good enough to win a couple games, but you're going to need somebody who's going to have an out-of-body experience on the postseason for you to advance, bro. Like, you need a little luck when you're in the playoffs. Like, you can have your great players play great, but you're going to need somebody to be able to step up and have one of them nicer where they had 18 to 25 points and we get that dub. And I just don't see it. I feel like when I watch Cleveland play, they have to work so hard to score the basketball that it hadn't really looked real free-flowing like when you watch Boston, like when you watch OKC, like when you watch San Antonio, when you watch these top teams play. they just don't move the ball like that nope and Evan Mobley had a good game he had 24 points 8 rebounds yeah Donovan Mitchell shot 50% from the floor he had 30 points Harden had 19 10 and 4 but that was it you get 7 points from Dean Wade you get 5 from Merrill 1 of 7 from the 3 for him Thomas Bryant Schroeder Jalen Tyson I just don't know you're not beating anybody with 13 bench points you ain't beat anybody because the one thing you know about Boston Peyton Pritchett coming up the bench he gonna give you 15 yeah 35 while you playing yeah let you know he like okay I'm cool I'll sit back like JT back and JB doing what he does but let one of them be out and see what he do. And then put his ass in the start line up. Or don't put him in the start line up, but let him get 35 minutes and see what he do. Let him cook. Let him cook. He efficient as hell, Joe. Anytime you get an opportunity, whether it's off the bench or whether it's starting, he gonna give you that work. Yeah. When I watched him today, I was like, man, he's shooting step back. I mean, he's shooting turn around, step backs. Ball high as a mofo. Okay, hey, confidence through the roof. Swish. Yeah, so look, you know, he's so confident because he done played. He's been the starting point guard a lot throughout this whole season. So his confidence through the roof. He in the right spot. He in the right spot he needs to be in. Come in, give us that spark plug, and we might need you to go for 30 tonight. And he can do it. Yeah, with no problem. I think the thing is it's going to take Schroeder some time. Schroeder's a guy that can win your game. We've seen Schroeder play well in the postseason. We saw him play well for the Lakers. We saw him play well last year for Detroit against the Knicks. So Schroeder has some experience. We'll see how that works out. But they need their big guns. Harden, Donovan, Evan Mobley. Now, they were missing Jared Allen, but they're going to need their big guns to be firing. Without them firing, they're not going to do anything and they're not going anywhere. Right, right. I agree. The only thing about Schroeder, you got Harden and Mitchell. Both of them, one of them going to always be on the court and they always had a ball in their hands. And Schroeder needs the ball. And Schroeder kind of needs the ball. He does. So it's hard for him to be effective, you know what I mean? Yep. Pistons were blown out by the Miami Heat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. By, hey, they were blown out by who? Blowing out the number one seed. They blew a 20 something point lead. the Bucks, excuse me, Detroit did, blew a 20-something point lead to Brooklyn and ended up losing. Tobias Harris had nine. Jalen Durant had 24. Cade was efficient today, only had 26. Paul Reed, but this game wasn't even close. Nah. You just, you don't have enough firepower with Detroit offensively. Like, that's a great game by K, but for them to win, like I said, he always has to play kind of over and beyond. Like, he probably need about 35 tonight, honestly. But you need these other guys around him to step up, bro, and be effective and be able to help. I don't know what's wrong with Detroit, man. They have tape, but I don't know if they got bored because they got such a big lead on everybody or what. I mean, I'm trying to figure out what happened to Norman Powell. Why they not playing him? the guy that could have been an all-star. He was an all-star. Yeah, he was an all-star. He must be hurt. DMP coaching decision. But Detroit's going to have to do better defensively. Man, they let six guys get in double figures. Bam had 24. Tyler Hero had 25. Phil Larson had 10. Jaime Hawkins, 19. Kel Ware, 12. But you also, Uncle Joe, but y'all both got to understand, and chat, y'all also have to understand what the Pistons had to deal with tonight. The Pistons were playing the best team in the East. You hear me? The Pistons were playing the best team in the East. So y'all sitting here confused on why Detroit look and why they've tapered off. But hello, look who you playing. You playing the best team, probably the team that's going to come out East. It might not look like it right now, but I'm just telling you what's going to happen. Wait, come again? Wait, what you said? Okay. I don't got them coming out the East on the show, but they'll make some noise. They got some guys who are capable and guys who can go off and have big games. And they well coached, bro. Them dudes ain't going to really do a whole lot to hurt themselves. You just got to be disciplined when you play them. But they, I mean, this don't surprise me that they beat Detroit. I think they're definitely capable of doing that. You talk about a series. Oh, yeah. Hey, Joe. Hold on, Joe. Don't do that. Now, we talk about a seven-game series. Boy, it's a wrap. You know, you know, you know. What do you mean? What do you mean? What I mean? We got this. You don't believe in. We rise to the Cajuns in moments that matter. So in a seven game series, if it happens, which is going to happen when we come out the East, you know, somebody going home, I don't know who it's going to be. But the fat lady going to sing. You don't believe in the heat? No. Okay. Okay. Can I ask your question? to do yeah you not believing in the heat are you willing to put money in that belief or you just saying it because you just you just they're not coming out the east yes i put money on the heat are not coming out of the east all right we're gonna leave it at that i want you to remember these words i want ash i want you to clip this statement from unk and we want to keep it at that yeah but during uh joe he can't give you 24 and 5. what do you need it but tall he got to be double-digit rebounds. Yeah, he need to be double-digit rebounds. But they don't get – like, you know, Bam don't really – he the center, but he like the point center. He kind of like similar to Jokic. Like, he'll bring it up. He'll initiate the offense. So he ain't just under the basket all the time. You know what I mean? So that's what you want to have. You want to have a big who can pull them big guys away from that basket and get them to where they are uncomfortable. And I think that's really much what happened because Bam had a great game He had a great game today, too. Bam played road, yeah. Hell, Bam shot got up 10. Bam got up 10 threes. Yeah, he been shooting a three lately. He been shooting a three lately. They look good. You know, Miami does this, Ocho. You know, they come out. They have a great game. They play well. They get them a nice little seed. And then, you know, it'll be first round. I'm just keeping it real, man. You want me to be honest, don't you? I want you to be honest, Joe. But didn't you play for the Heat, Joe? Yeah, I played for the Heat. way had a good old time. I don't like your tone. I don't like what you putting out there in the atmosphere. The tongue is powerful, Joe. I have to be honest when I'm on here talking to you on Ark. I have to be honest. So that's both of y'all don't have no faith in the heat. Nope. Alright. Say less. Nope. Meanwhile, the Pistons have lost four games in a row. Oh, Joe, Joe, is it time to panic? Nah, ain't no time to panic. I mean, they just got to get it back together. Like I said, they got such a big lead on everybody in the East, I think they done got a little bored on Joe and me personally. You know what I mean? Oh, man, we got a few games we probably could squander over, but they got to get back on track now. This thing winding down. I don't like that for the simple fact you ain't won nothing to be bored. Yeah. You should get bored of winning championships. I mean, people get sometimes, and you have a little lull when you won a championship. They ain't won nothing. You're right. You're right. I'm concerned because you lost to the Nets. You got a 20-something point lead and you lose to the Nets. You can't lose to the Nets. That's why I put it toward them getting bored because I'm like, man, they were beating the Nets head in. It's like, and you lose that game, man, you done got bored, bro. I don't know what to tell you. Like, you need to, you know, get it back in gear. But, you know, it's starting to wind on down, man. I expect for them to tighten up and make this late run. Hey, Joe, I think they're going to be all right, Uncle Joe. you know even in battle some of the best sluggers go in the slumps you hear me yeah they're going to slump man you know they're gonna be straight next monday our 2026 iheart podcast awards are happening live at south by southwest this is the biggest night in podcasting we'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past year and celebrate the most innovative talent and creators in the industry and the winner is creativity knowledge and passion will all be on full display. Thank you so much, iHeartRadio. Thank you to all the other nominees. You guys are awesome. Watch live next Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific, free at veeps.com or the veeps app. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I am Greg Rosenthal. I know that, Greg. We're teaming up on 40s and free agents, the podcast that owns the NFL offseason. 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