Updated Conference Odds & Wednesday Previews with Carlin Gay

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00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid. We got Carlin Gay in the house to review the NBA

00:03games from last night. Maybe get some picks for tonight as well. Carlin, I'm glad that you were

00:08not on the show yesterday because if I was going to review this game between Oklahoma City and San

00:13Antonio, which I did, I thought for sure that the Spurs would at least cover this game given the

00:19fact that they have been the kryptonite for the Thunder. But man, I was wrong. So let's get into

00:23it here. What happened last night to the Spurs? 119 to 98. I know OKC has been doing this to

00:30everybody all season long, but this is the one team they haven't been able to do it to. I'm sure you

00:35have a better answer to it than me. Why did the Thunder finally figure out a way to not just beat

00:40the Spurs, but blow them out? I don't know if I have a better answer other than the champs. Like

00:45the defending champs needed something to get up for in the middle of the long season when they're

00:50really just looking forward to the playoffs and being healthy. And they found one. Everyone

00:54thought that, you know, the San Antonio Spurs team, which is very much up and coming, and

00:58they have Victor Wamiyama, and they're also getting back healthy. And they, as you said,

01:02the Spurs, the Thunder's kryptonite, and the Thunder heard all that. And they wanted to put that

01:07to bed and remind everybody they're the champs for a reason. They're a pretty good basketball team

01:12when they actually play. And they did that for 48 minutes yesterday. Jay Gildas Alexander came out

01:17right out of the gate, and he had one of those games that said, you know what, we're going to

01:21put you to bed early, and we're going to sit out with the fourth quarter, which is exactly what they

01:25did. And they reminded the Spurs and everybody else, including you and I. And I'm glad I wasn't

01:30on the show either, because I want to put the Spurs. I'm glad that, you know, that I didn't have that

01:34on my resume. But, you know, they came out, and they shut it down. And right now, it's the Oklahoma

01:40City Thunder versus the field right now, when you look at, you know, who could win the NBA

01:44championship. So also yesterday, when I did the show yesterday, the Hawks were big favorites,

01:50or not big, but significant favorites. Anything more than two or three is somewhat significant

01:55over the Lakers. I found that odd, because I thought, okay, well, that must mean somebody's

01:59not playing for LA. Well, lo and behold, both the big guys played for LA, Carlin, and they end up

02:05taking care of business against the Hawks. And so I guess the bigger question that I would have for you

02:09is with LeBron playing, and with Luka playing, both in this game. And we know that load management is

02:14a thing in the NBA. Do you get the sense here that maybe LA feeling some pressure and saying to

02:20themselves, hey, look, these plans to sit guys, we may need to scrap that, or we're going to fall

02:24too far behind? Because I know J.J. Redick has been not too shy about disclosing some of the issues

02:31that the team has had this season. He has been an entertaining coach. I don't know if everyone has

02:37been in tune to all his press conferences, but if you want to hear the truth about the LA Lakers,

02:40you don't have to go any further than J.J. Redick. He's been giving you the reel, which is not what

02:45most head coaches do. But to answer your question about these two players and LeBron and Luka,

02:49they really haven't played that much together, right? The trade happened, and everybody lost

02:54their minds. It hasn't even been a calendar year since that happened. And when it did happen,

02:58LeBron wasn't in the lineup. Then he eventually came back. They got bounced early. And now they're

03:03kind of going through the regular season together. And LeBron didn't start the season. Luka was out of the

03:07lineup as well. They're still trying to figure out how to play basketball with each other.

03:12And you're starting to see that a little bit. And hopefully they can start to gel.

03:16The one thing that I would say about the Lakers, right? Like, if you're looking long term for this

03:20basketball team, they are a great offensive team. They're going to have great offensive nights,

03:25like last night, where they can score, you know, 141 points because they have two of the best players,

03:30two of the top 10 players in the game. But then they have nights where they're going to give up 120.

03:35And, you know, it's not a situation in the NBA right now where you can outscore your opponent

03:40and be a contender in the NBA. We'll get it done in the regular season. But once you get to the

03:44playoffs and you go up against better defenses, you're going to have to find a way to stop some

03:48of these better offenses. And right now, the Lakers desperately need someone that actually cares

03:53about defense. And while Marcus Smart is that guy, should be that guy, he's not Marcus Smart anymore.

03:59He is the artist formerly known as Marcus Smart. And DeAndre Ayton, you know, he is not a great

04:04defender and it hasn't been throughout his entire career. So if you're a Laker fan, what you're

04:09looking for is a trade at the deadline to figure out how to get more players that are going to care

04:14about defense because your two best players in LeBron and Luka Doncic, I want to say they care about

04:20it. But, you know, the signs out there don't seem to show that they do.

04:2620 to 1 Lakers right now to win the NBA championship. The team that really, honestly, in the last month

04:32has probably been the most impressive to me has been Denver just hanging around win-loss win-loss,

04:37which is a lot more than anybody would have thought playing without the best player arguably in the

04:41NBA in the Joker. But they're still hanging around in their chase for the Western Conference.

04:46Now, Carlin, let's get to some games tonight.

04:48Hold on, I'm going to give you a sneaky good team here, Craig, that I've seen play. And I know

04:52people are going to say, you know, injuries, etc., etc. The Philadelphia 76ers are slowly starting to

04:58get healthy and they're slowly starting to figure it out. And if they can stay healthy, you can knock

05:03on wood or wherever you want to knock. If they can stay healthy, that is a team that could cause some

05:08problems in the Eastern Conference. So if you're looking for one of those sneaky teams right now around

05:12the midseason to put some money on and say, maybe they make it to the NBA Finals and you never know

05:15what happens, that's the Sixers. Yeah, East Wide Open. I don't think there's any doubt speaking of

05:20the Sixers, they play tonight. And it's basically a pick-em game because not that the 76ers, who you

05:25mentioned, are playing so well. It's just that Cleveland, I don't know what has gone on with

05:29them this season. It's a complete role reversal from a year ago. I got nothing to point my finger

05:35out here, but certainly there's a lot of eyes looking deeply at that team and that coaching staff

05:39right now, Carl. Yeah, and they're having a head scratcher of a season because I think a lot of people

05:44expected them to be near the top of the Eastern Conference and it just hasn't been able to be the

05:49case. And it's not like their individual players are playing bad. You look at the seasons that Donovan

05:53Mitchell's having, you look at what, you know, their backcourt is also having and Darius Garland.

05:59They're having good, they're putting up good numbers. It's just they're not doing it consistently

06:02together on the same night and it's been causing problems. And the main thing for me, what Cleveland

06:07has always been, even through the LeBron James era, is they've been a really good home team.

06:11That really hasn't been the case this year. They've dropped some games that you don't expect

06:15them to drop at home. So, you know, I would take the Sixers in this one. You know, the Sixers,

06:21again, like I said, they're slowly starting to get healthy and they're slowly starting to figure

06:24things out. They had a good showing against the Raptors the other night after losing to the

06:29Raptors in that baseball series that we'll call in the NBA now. But I do have the Sixers

06:34coming forward tonight with victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

06:37All right, throw one more at you and then we'll let you go for the day. We've got the

06:40Knicks taking on the Kings. Knicks 11 and a half point favorites, total 230 and a half.

06:46I will be sleeping when this game ends. When I wake up, who will cover the spread?

06:53I'm going to go with a Knick win here, but I will say that that total is going to be a

06:56little lower. Those legs out there on the West Coast for the New York Knicks, I don't know

07:00if they're going to be up there getting those threes to be able to fall. So watch for the

07:04Knicks legs. It's going to be an ugly game if you do stay up for it. Probably under

07:0830% shooting from three-point range for the New York Knicks, but they win the game. Scrap

07:12it out.

07:13Under 30% that I'll be awake. Thanks, Carlin. Have a really good night. Appreciate it.

07:17Carlin will be watching. That's why we have him and then he'll break down the games for

07:20us.

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