NBA Wednesday Recap & Thursday Preview: Gilbert McGregor's Picks

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00:00Welcome back to Newswire. Congratulations is in order for my next guest. You may have followed

00:04Gilbert McGregor's work for many years over at Sporting News and followed him on our show

00:09covering the National Basketball Association. I'm glad to say that Gilbert is going to continue

00:15on with us, albeit a new affiliate, PHNX Sports. He's going to be doing television shows,

00:22streaming shows, and covering the Phoenix Suns basically full-time. But for us here on Sports

00:27Grid, we'll focus, of course, on the Suns, who we can speak about, but also covering the rest of the

00:32NBA as well. So congratulations, first of all, in order, Gilbert. I know that you had to move to

00:37Phoenix as well, and I know that you're making time for us still hopefully weekly with us here

00:41on Sports Grid. So thanks again for that. Absolutely. Appreciate the congratulations

00:46getting adjusted to life out here in the desert, but really glad to be back on Sports Grid talking

00:50basketball with you. Yeah. And Gilbert, by the way, folks, really good picking these games against

00:55the spread, but even better in the discussions that we have with Gilbert on the show. It's more

00:59of a conversation, which I always appreciate. All right. So without further ado, before we get to

01:04your poor sons after last night, let's talk about the Spurs and the Lakers. There have been a lot of

01:09surprises, Gilbert, in the NBA this season, but I would put San Antonio up there with the rest.

01:1517-7 probably would have been a reasonable record if you would have guessed that that would be after

01:2024 games, and you would say they've done a great job. But a lot of these wins are coming

01:24without Wemby. They beat the Lakers last night 132-119. That's a huge upset in the NBA when you're

01:31getting seven and a half points and you win the game outright. Naturally, some of their numbers

01:35defensively have slipped a little bit, but offensively, it seems like they've picked things

01:41up. So what have they learned team-wise with Wemby, and what will happen when he returns? If I'm not

01:47mistaken, it's later this month. Yeah. I mean, you talk about the Spurs team with an abundance of

01:51riches. They've gotten pretty fortunate, had some lottery luck, and talk about Stephon Castle's

01:56performance last night, the reigning rookie of the year. Dylan Harper, who's had some flashes

01:59since he's back in the lineup. And I think they exposed some of the Lakers' vulnerabilities.

02:04You know, we've seen the Lakers drop some games. They're 17-7, but they had a softer schedule

02:09at a certain point this year. When they faced tougher opponents, the Suns were able to get the

02:12best of them last week, and now the Spurs last night. And convincingly, without Victor Wemby-Yama.

02:17So I think that we're just seeing some of the kind of issues and flaws in the Lakers and the

02:23way that they play when they play younger, faster teams, and they can't keep up with them. They don't

02:27like to run. I think that's what the book is on the Lakers. So we see a young team, young guards

02:31giving up down the floor. And now the Spurs, you know, who knows when Victor Wemby-Yama could get

02:35back. It'll be pretty soon. And they've had the luxury of being able to be cautious without them,

02:40which I think is an exciting thing for the Spurs.

02:42Yeah, their win total has jumped on FanDuel. 50 and a half right now, over under much higher,

02:48of course, than it was at the beginning of the season, and certainly in the mix

02:50for the Western Conference NBA Finals, 40 to 1, if you feel that bullish on them.

02:55So when Gilbert, of course, was doing his Sun show last night, he probably was like,

03:00are you kidding me? I got to make my first Sun's appearance on SportsGrid tomorrow after this.

03:05The Oklahoma City Thunder absolutely hammer Phoenix by almost 50 points. But it feels to me,

03:12Gilbert, like the Thunder are doing this to everybody in the NBA. They're getting comparisons

03:17like the Golden State Warriors. I got to say, Gilbert, it feels like the Chicago Bulls. It

03:23feels even better than that. I mean, the Warriors did it one season. I feel like this dynasty is just

03:28rolling on here. And Oklahoma City, of course, maybe at the end of the season will rest some guys.

03:33But what I love most about them is they treat every night, Gilbert, like it's game seven of

03:38the NBA Finals. What a great attitude they have. And unfortunately, on the side of the Suns,

03:42they had to take the brunt of it last night. I mean, yeah, I mean, showing a picture of Brandon

03:46Carlson and Usman Jane just speaks to the fact that this Thunder team is very deep. The 10th,

03:5111th, 12th man on their roster would get rotational minutes on any other team in the NBA. And the fact

03:56that they're on a historic pace is no accident. This team is 24-1. I think 70 wins is the floor

04:02for this team, which feels pretty ridiculous to say. But with Shea Gillis-Alexander as the head

04:07of the Snake and all of the guys that are playing beside him, they honestly have two teams worth of

04:14good players. And they've drafted well. Also, by the way, they have a, right now, 48% chance of

04:19getting a top four pick in this upcoming draft. Just throw that out there as well. So an abundance of

04:24riches in Oklahoma City that they have right now. This team is just very dominant. I won't say that

04:29they're a flawless team, but in order to beat them, you have to play perfect basketball for

04:3346, 47 minutes, which is really, really hard to do. They're really good defensively. They're really

04:39good offensively. There's a reason why they're probably, they are the favorite to win the West.

04:43They're the favorite to win the NBA Cup. They're the favorite to win the NBA championship because

04:46it's going to be really hard for a team to beat them four out of seven times. And you talk about

04:51championship hangover, they have no signs of that. They seem like they're just extending their run

04:55from last year. And they're tied for the best start in the history of the NBA at 24 and one with those

05:02Golden State Warriors. Ironically, standing in the way of that record through 26 games would be the

05:09San Antonio Spurs. That's the Thunder's next game coming up this Saturday. So those of you who are

05:14following history, that's the way to go there. If we have Gilbert on the show, we know we got to get

05:18a pick or two or at least an opinion on a game. So let's do that. We got the Houston Rockets tonight

05:23taking on the lowly Los Angeles Clippers. Two guys probably headed to the Hall of Fame in the Hall

05:29of Shame for this season. Houston minus nine and a half, total of 221. I mean, at some point, I expect

05:37the Clippers to start winning and maybe even finish around 500, Gilbert, but no signs of that as of yet.

05:42I mean, they definitely started off on the wrong foot if that's what they want to do. I like Houston

05:46in this. This is a Houston team that's getting more and more connected as the season goes on. The Clippers are

05:51still trying to figure it out, especially because the game is in Houston. I think I like the Rockets

05:55and the points just because I saw them play last week. They look like they're figuring it all out

06:00and they're just, they're peaking. They're just, the momentum's getting together at the right time

06:05for Houston. Milwaukee Bucks are a wreck getting nine points tonight, of course, playing without their

06:10top guy, Victor Wimbayama. Boston, I mean, honestly, like losing the players that they have.

06:16Why do I always confuse Giannis and Wimby? I've done that so many times on the show. Giannis being out.

06:20Thank you, Frank. Giannis being out for the Bucks. Celtics minus nine, total 223 and a half.

06:25Great coaching job once again going on in Boston, putting themselves in a position maybe to contend

06:31for the East title. Yeah, Celtics have been really hot lately. I know there are going to be some more

06:35and more murmurs about Justin Tate potentially coming back, look good in one of the workouts that

06:38he shared footage of yesterday. I like the Celtics. I don't know if they win by double digits,

06:43but without Giannis, it will be a little more difficult for the Bucks. But Celtics have figured some

06:47things out. They put Jordan Walsh in the starting lineup, who doesn't sound like a big deal, but

06:51it's done a lot for them. And I like the Celtics taking care of business tonight in Milwaukee.

06:55All right, Gilbert, thanks again for coming on. Congrats on the new gig, as always. And we hope

07:00to catch up again soon. Hope the move went well for you, too. Sounds good. Looking forward to it.

07:04And let's look at it.

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