- 2 months ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Welcome back to Newswire. Let's check in out west in the desert where Gilbert McGregor is up early
00:05with us to get ready for the NBA games tonight. Of course, we'll discuss that and also recap
00:09everything that happened last night in the NBA as well. Gilbert, great to catch up with you.
00:13And before we get to the games, let's get to the drama, the reality show that is the NBA.
00:18Giannis Antetokounmpo, is his time coming to an end in Milwaukee? I mean, first of all,
00:23I don't even know if this guy's healthy or not, let alone, we don't even know what these tea
00:27leaves really even mean. Does he really want to go? Does he want to stay? Rich Paul
00:31may be getting involved in this situation too. I guess we'll have to listen to his podcast
00:35to find that out. I mean, you can't make this stuff up. The good news here to me is it's one
00:41season without James Harden asking for a trade. I feel like we're seven years in of every single
00:46season with this, but I don't know. What do you make of this, Gilbert? This is a really hard one
00:50for me because I root for these small markets like Milwaukee to survive. How do they survive
00:55without Giannis if they make a deal like this? You know what, Craig? It's been hard to get a
01:00read on this Giannis situation. It kind of feels like he has been torn, honestly, in that he realizes
01:06that the Bucks can't really do much as currently constructed and everything that they've traded in
01:10years past to get guys like Drew Holiday and Damian Lillard has basically stripped them of any
01:15assets to bring anybody else in. And it almost feels like we're working to an inevitable ending
01:20of them having to trade him and part ways with him for the franchise's health and future long
01:26term. But I believe that Giannis is too loyal to actually ask for that trade. And I feel like
01:31he's kind of wanting them to do the work for him and say, look, okay, it's the we've reached the end
01:36of the road. Let's do it. But until that happens, it just kind of feels like it'll be this long
01:40stalemate. And now the trade deadline is nine days away. So it could happen and it might not happen.
01:46We're having this conversation again in the offseason. So it's an interesting saga, a tricky
01:50saga. But I think Giannis' loyalty is where it all stems from. Yeah, that does feel like an offseason
01:55move to me. I mean, how you do this right now under some pressure doesn't really make a lot of sense.
02:01All right. So let's get to last night in the NBA. We'll start off with the Doncic show,
02:05the Luka show. It's 46 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and eight three-pointers. I didn't,
02:11I should have probably checked before we came on here on FanDuel to see where Luka is,
02:14as opposed to Shea Gilgis-Alexander. Lakers win 129 to 118. I got to tell you here,
02:22you know, SGA probably ends up winning the MVP again. But I mean, Luka keeps putting up 45-46
02:29along the line here, Gilbert. He's going to put up a fight here toward the end.
02:34Absolutely. And you always get a little bit of a bonus when you play for the Lakers and you're
02:37wearing purple and gold. People see that a little bit different than they do from other star players,
02:41especially Shea, who won it last year. And some other guys to consider are Cade Cunningham and
02:46Jalen Brown, also in that MVP conversation. But as far as Luka Doncic stepping up, the Lakers have
02:51been playing a little bit better as of late, but they also are a team who really take advantage when
02:55they play against lesser opponents. The Bulls probably qualify as a lesser opponent. And Luka Doncic
03:00has a relationship with Michael Jordan. So it's fitting to see him play in the building that
03:04Michael Jordan built himself, basically, and have a game like that. So shouldn't be surprised.
03:09I'm interested to see what the Lakers do, maybe at the trade deadline and how they can start
03:13competing and doing better against some of the stronger teams in the Western Conference. But
03:17so long as they continue to take care of business like this, they'll be among the top six teams.
03:22Now, let's go to Minnesota here for a minute. They had lost five games in a row going into last
03:27night. They beat the hapless Golden State Warriors, who, of course, were playing without
03:30Steph Curry, but the games still count. Doesn't matter who's playing here. Nice distribution from the
03:35T-Wolves, Gilbert. And you see them a ton, of course, playing out West. Julius Randle,
03:41Hyland, Dante DiVincenzo, Reid, Gobert, McDaniels, all in double figures for Minnesota.
03:47Naturally, Anthony Edwards, the star of that team, obviously a different story when that's going well
03:52for them. But as of right now, Chris Finch has Minnesota at least back in the win column because
03:57losing six games in a row would seemingly have put him over the edge. At least that's what he said last
04:01night. Six games in a row would probably put a lot of people on the edge and probably start
04:06hitting the panic button for this Timberwolves team who has been up and down. You know, at times
04:10this year, they've looked like one of the better teams in the Western Conference. And other times
04:13they look like they could be beaten by anybody in the Western Conference. And last night was such
04:17a weird night with all the guys that were missing for the Golden State Warriors, which made it even
04:21more important that the Timberwolves took care of business and got back on track. I wouldn't be
04:24surprised if we see more of that from the Warriors this year, especially with Jimmy Butler being out for the
04:29remainder of the season. They need to be strategic. And when they make their guys available, they're
04:33not the youngest team in the NBA. When you talk about Steph Curry and Al Horford and Draymond Green,
04:37those guys like that. So I think the biggest thing for Minnesota, sometimes it takes an ugly one
04:42against a shorthanded team to get back on track. So when you get back in the win column, like you said,
04:46Craig, that'll be big for this team moving forward because the Western Conference is unforgiving.
04:51And right now, Minnesota is 18 to one to win the Western Conference. Oklahoma City still
04:56the natural favorite at minus 160, followed by Denver, San Antonio, and Houston. If the Lakers
05:01get things going, maybe they'll move up. And the Clippers, shocking to even see them on this board.
05:05But again, they've put themselves in that position to be back in the mix. Meanwhile,
05:09Cleveland did not get off to a good start this season, Gilbert, but they're starting to play
05:12better. They beat last night the Orlando Magic 114 to 98. So they've now won four straight games.
05:19Mitchell with 45 points and can't rely on that every single night. But, you know, it's funny,
05:24as we talked about Gilbert a couple of weeks ago, it feels like every team in the NBA at some point
05:29is going to go through a slump. Cleveland went through it. Feels like they're digging their
05:33way out of it. It remains to be seen how far they can go. What are your feelings on the Cavs?
05:37The Cavs are an interesting team, you know, and personally speaking, their lead assistant coach
05:42actually came out here and is now the head coach of the Suns this year. And I think that they
05:45miss his presence a little bit in that locker room. And they've run into some issues this year.
05:49Some of the things that got exposed last season during the playoffs against the Indiana Pacers,
05:54their ability to handle physicality, to play fast, and trying to find that balance with some of the
05:58guys on their lineup. But what last night is a reminder of is when you have Donovan Mitchell,
06:02you have a chance. And this is a guy who was not voted as a starter in the Eastern Conference
06:06All-Star game. And I think he believes he's one of the best guards in the Eastern Conference.
06:10So to go out and go off for 45 points against a Magic team that is typically known for their defense
06:15and their stingy defense, it's just a reminder of how special of a player Donovan Mitchell is. And
06:20I think that he's the type of player that, you know, there's a lot of noise around him and what
06:23he has not been able to do in the postseason. So he's motivated. The Eastern Conference is wide
06:28open as many people probably believe. So I think the Cavs have as good of a chance as anybody else
06:33as soon as they figure things out. Let's get out to some of the games tonight. So Gilbert
06:38naturally is all over this one tonight. The Phoenix Suns are at home tonight. And they are eight and a
06:43half point favorites against the Brooklyn Nets. So all right, so you're going to get a win tonight,
06:47Gilbert. I don't think there's any doubt about that. Brooklyn's not good. Total to 11 and a half.
06:52But against the spread, that's the question here. The Phoenix Suns have enough tonight to cover.
06:58This is a big line, especially for them in the NBA. I'm going to guess they haven't been double
07:02digit favorites in many games this season. Yeah, it's been a while. And these two teams just met
07:07last week in Brooklyn. Phoenix took care of business, but the Nets fought in that one. And tonight,
07:11Devin Booker's unavailable. It's unclear if Jalen Green will play or not. The Nets have a few names
07:16on their injured list as well. But I think that the Suns have lost two in a row. They don't want
07:20to lose three straights their second game back after a long road trip on the Eastern Conference.
07:26And I think that they'll look to make a statement. So I have confidence in the Suns taking care of
07:29business tonight. They've had the next man up mentality all year. I think that continues tonight,
07:33and they have a win. I think they pull away from the Nets late to cover.
07:368.5 points right now over on the FanDuel Sportsbook. Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets
07:41slipping a little bit here. Now they're looking and saying, maybe we do need the Joker back here
07:47in this lineup pretty soon. I think they're going to get him, if I'm not mistaken, coming up after
07:50the All-Star break here. Pistons minus six tonight in Denver. Total two, 18.5. Whenever I'm going to bet
07:58against Denver at home, I don't really like doing that because usually the altitude gets to some of
08:06these teams. If they haven't played there before, naturally Detroit's going to make their lone trip
08:10to Denver now this go around. But I think Detroit's a much better team without Jokic in the lineup here
08:17tonight. This is a tough one for me. Do you like a side here at all? Absolutely. Absolutely. You know,
08:21it's not just Jokic as well. You know, it's Christian Browns, Aaron Gordon, and Cameron Johnson
08:25all out of the lineup for Denver. So they're going to be extremely short-handed without four of their
08:29key players. Detroit has been a really good team, a hard-nosed team. But the Nuggets have found ways,
08:35especially at home. Jamal Murray has stepped up. Peyton Watson has stepped up. I lean Detroit in this
08:41one just because so many guys are out for Denver. Detroit has been so good all season. But it's
08:45going to be a tricky one. I feel like Denver could just come out and maybe keep things close,
08:50especially you mentioned the altitude as well. So that's one to keep an eye on. Regardless,
08:53it's going to be a good game. But if I had to make a choice, I would say Detroit because
08:57Denver is missing four of their key players. All right, Gilbert. We'll enjoy your coverage tonight.
09:01For those of you who are out west and want some good Phoenix Suns coverage, Gilbert McGregor and
09:06Phoenix Sports. He is your guy tonight and the guys and girls covering the game tonight. Thanks
09:11again, Gilbert, for coming on. Really appreciate it. We'll chat again next week.
09:13Sounds good, Craig. Looking forward to it.
Comments