00:00Now that the cup is in the rearview mirror, let's move forward and take a look at some of
00:04the games coming up in the National Basketball Association as we bring back Dexter Henry to
00:09preview those. Dexter, once again, thanks for spending some extra time with us here on the
00:12show to go over it all. Tonight, let's start off 8 o'clock Eastern. All eyes will be on a couple
00:18of matchups here. We've got the Cavs taking on the Bulls. Cleveland 5.5 point favorites in this
00:24one total of 242.5. Cleveland starting to play better basketball. Tell me why the Cavs are bigger
00:31favorites than I expect in this game tonight. Well, look, the Cavs have struggled. They've dealt
00:37with some injuries. They've had a lot of issues in terms of scoring the basketball. Darius Garland
00:42has not looked as good as we thought he would look. But this is a just to be some must win for
00:48the Cavs. I think Vegas understands that as well, too. And that's why they're huge favorites here.
00:52They have not played well. They've lost six times in their last 10 games, including a loss to
00:58Charlotte. So this isn't good. The Cavs look need to make a move here up in the East. The Bulls
01:03have been a, you know, I'll say middling team since their hot start start. And they're kind of in the
01:09range of what most of us expected them to be in the play in. So this to me is a must win for the
01:15Cavs. I understand that, you know, they're on the road here, but the Cavs have to get this done.
01:20And they're huge favorites. They just have too much talent there with Donovan Mitchell. I know
01:25Evan Mobley is a little bit shaky in terms of this and playing and but they've got enough talent
01:30here to get it done. So I would take them to cover here. I think they know they have to turn it
01:35around. This is a game they have to get. And if they're going to turn around, you have to beat a
01:38team like the Bulls. And I think they can cover the five and a half tonight. All right, let's get to
01:44Grizzlies and Timberwolves. This has got to be a really tough game to bet, not knowing if John Moran is going to
01:48play or not. But that's the scenario tonight. And I guess why that's why Minnesota seven and a half
01:53point favorites total of 230 and a half. They'll tip off at eight o'clock Eastern. They're saying
01:58that he is questionable with an ankle issue. Dexter, I don't need to tell you that this line
02:04is telling me he ain't playing. Yeah, go ahead. No, no, no. I was gonna say the line absolutely tells
02:12you that. I mean, the other thing to watch too is Anthony Edwards has been dealing with a bit of a foot
02:16issue. So I would keep an eye on that line. If you're very confident in Minnesota, you know,
02:22I would keep an eye on that line. Maybe that drops a little bit too if Edwards does not play. But yes,
02:28I think that line indicates John Moran will not play. Now Memphis has been playing better here as
02:33of late. But I think Minnesota, who's been solid, they're, you know, around top six, seven in the West.
02:39They're a team that plays really good defensively. They rebound the ball well. Those actually go
02:44against what aren't the strengths of the Grizzlies right now. They're not as good of a rebounding
02:49team. So I would say if you're going to bet this game, look at rebounds, the rebounding numbers for,
02:56you know, Julius Randle, if you want to, Rudy Gobert, if you want to in this one. And I might
03:02actually be inclined to fade the under in the rebounding totals for guys like John, excuse me,
03:08Josh, I was gonna say John Moran, not John Moran, but Triple J, Jaron Jackson Jr. You know,
03:13he's only averaging about five boards on the game. And then his rebounding line is five and a half,
03:18not really strong. They're a strong rebound. He's going up against some good ones. And I even
03:22mentioned Nas Reed, another guy that Minnesota can throw into the front court. So I look,
03:26I would look at props like that. Fade Jaron Jackson Jr. here in the under on his rebounds,
03:31go over with Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert. Those are guys like the matchup. And then as far as the line,
03:37I would take, I take the Timberwolves in this seven and a half is a little bit much,
03:41but I think that might come down if they don't have Anthony Edwards. So that would be interesting.
03:45But even with Anthony Edwards, I like the Timberwolves, especially if they have no John
03:49Moran on the other side of Memphis, I like the Timberwolves to win this one easily.
03:53Probably doesn't matter if no offense to them, but if Edwards doesn't play, Minnesota still has a lot
03:57of other playmakers there. All right. So in Las Vegas, very interesting conversation with Adam Silver,
04:05who of course is going to meet at these big events with the media. He did get asked very
04:10specifically about this gambling situation with Terry Rozier and how it currently affects the Miami
04:16Heat. Now, naturally the Heat is more or less handcuffed by the situation because Dexter, as
04:22you know, regardless of what is being reported, because it's legal, Rozier, while he's been accused,
04:28has not been convicted of anything at this point. And so the NBA has to allow some due diligence to
04:33happen here. Here is Adam Silver discussing the Heat situation with Rozier, who's being
04:38accused of betting on his props. We don't have ultimately the, you know, the leverage,
04:45the authority that federal investigators have. So, you know, we take a backseat to their work.
04:50So timeline uncertain. In terms of Miami, you know, this is an unprecedented situation.
04:58And I think I'm incredibly sympathetic to the Heat and to their fans. But I think, you know,
05:04we're going to try to work something through, work this out with them. But there's no obvious
05:09solution here. I would just say that, you know, there's no doubt at the moment they have a player
05:15that can't perform services for them. And, you know, and as to the draft pick they conveyed,
05:22you know, obviously he hasn't been convicted of anything yet either. But this is an unfortunate
05:28circumstance. But, you know, sometimes there's these unique events and maybe sometimes, you know,
05:34they require unique solutions. So we'll be looking at this with the Heat and the other teams in the
05:39league and see if there's any satisfactory relief. But at the moment, there is none.
05:44I think they will find something, Dexter. But really, isn't this more of the story? All of a sudden,
05:50the Heat's playing horrible, right? So the Heat is like, wait a second, we lost five games in a row?
05:55You know, they're scratching, clawing for anything that they could have. I mean,
05:58two weeks ago, I thought, wait a second, the Heat may be the biggest overachiever in the NBA.
06:02They have regressed to the mean. They probably want to make some moves here at the deadline,
06:06picks, et cetera. But there isn't really anything that they could do. And it doesn't seem like Adam
06:11Silver has any answer, at least yet. Yeah, because he can't necessarily, you know,
06:15he's kind of talking, he's kind of, his hands are really tied. And Adam Silver kind of went a long way,
06:20about to say, there's nothing we can do right now. Because you don't want to take any action
06:25when there has not been any legal action exactly on Terry Rozier. And he hasn't been charged with
06:31anything yet. So you can't do any of that. As far as the Heat goes, Craig, you know, their offense,
06:37which was playing with a lot of this pace so early in the season, really caught a lot of teams off
06:43guard. No ball screens offense was looking really good. That offense has kind of slowed down since
06:48Tyler Hero has returned. And I think that brings up a lot of questions as to whether or not he's
06:53actually a good fit long-term in Miami. Does he work with what they're trying to do? I think that's
06:58something they will explore. The Heat are always aggressive. You know, they always want to try to
07:01get a star. They will try to get their name in the Giannis conversation. So we'll see what happens
07:06with the Heat. But there's not going to be any relief coming with the Terry Rozier situation,
07:10I don't think anytime soon. I agree. Dexter, thanks so much for spending some time with us
07:15here on Newswire. Happy holidays to you and your family. We'll catch up again soon. Thanks again.
07:20Thank you, my friend. Happy holidays to you. Thank you so much.
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