00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on SportsGrid. We got Dexter Henry in the house and he is covering
00:04the National Basketball Association for the New York Post and weighing in on some picks as well
00:09with us as he always does and joins us now. Dexter, great to be back here on Newswire. I really
00:12appreciate that. So, all right. So this is some unfortunate news for the Cleveland Cavaliers
00:17because they were running so good here. And then unfortunately they lose James Harden. We'll
00:20probably find out. I mean, usually this is like 48 hours. We got to know what's going on here.
00:24A fractured thumb. We don't have a timeline yet, but I'm going to guess it's not days. It's probably
00:29weeks. They lose to the Bucs last night, 118 to 116. But that is really the bigger story here at
00:35this point because Cleveland is feeling so good about themselves over the past month after making
00:39that deal. And I'm guessing now the only silver lining to this, Dexter, is that a fractured thumb
00:46should have Harden back, I would guess, for the playoffs. I don't think we'll see him until then.
00:53Yeah, I think they're going to play this very cautiously. I mean, I was looking at some stuff
00:57that Jeff Stotts, who runs the Twitter account in Street Close, he said, look, there's a world in
01:02which you can miss about six games, which generally in the NBA is about 17 days with this, and then
01:08play with some sort of protection. Now, the good thing is this is his non-shooting hand. So that
01:13does help the Cavs in that now when it gets to that, it's just about how can you play through
01:17it
01:17with discomfort and all of that. I've never broken my hand and then tried to shoot a basketball or
01:22dribble a basketball with my offhand. So that has got to be very rough. But yeah, I think the plan
01:27for the Cavaliers to take this cautiously, try to get him back for the playoffs. They were playing
01:31good with them. He was really activating their bigs. Jared Allen had been playing some good
01:36basketball. So a little disappointing. You know, they lost last night, Craig. No Spider Mitchell.
01:42No Evan Mobley in that one on top of no James Harden. So it was a tough one, but still
01:47you think
01:47they probably would have had enough to beat the Bucs and they come up just short. So tough one there
01:52for the Cavs and we will, sure, all of us will have our eye on how they do without Harden
01:56now.
01:57Yeah, definitely so. All right. So also in the NBA last night, if there's a triple-double to be had,
02:02it's probably from Nikola Jokic and he did have one last night. 103-84 was the final there. And so
02:08Denver are going to be formidable in the playoffs because you simply never know when Jokic is just
02:12going to blow up and take over a series because that could happen. And for Boston, they've done so
02:17well without Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown playing some great basketball. But now we hear that Tatum
02:22is maybe even back at practice. And so in the future, does Boston have a shot to get Tatum back
02:28maybe for the playoffs? And if not, maybe for round one, maybe they literally get him back for round two
02:34or beyond. That'd be a huge boost for them. It is. It is crazy because I think a lot of
02:38this year,
02:39I think so many of us thought, okay, there's no chance Tatum is coming back. He's sitting out the
02:43whole year. Now the thing you've been hearing is that everything has been progressing well for him.
02:48Now, the other thing is when he comes back, how does he look? How does he integrate into this team,
02:52which has played a little bit differently this year? They've been cutting down on the volume of
02:57threes that they were shooting last year. And some of that is personnel, but the Celtics have had a
03:01really good year where they're competitive in a way many people didn't think they would be.
03:04They get smashed last night by the Nuggets. What I thought was impressive about the Nuggets
03:08getting this win and one of watching this game is Nikola Jokic didn't shoot well. 11 of 28 from
03:13the field, 413 from downtown. And this one, Jamal Murray leaves early due to illness. So it was
03:20an impressive performance by the Nuggets at home. The Celtics had come into this game winning five.
03:25I think they won five in a row. Yeah, five in a row, the Celtics had won. They weren't able
03:29to get
03:29it done. They looked like he just ran out of gas. We know Denver's a tough place to play,
03:33but yeah, I thought it was impressive by the Nuggets without Nikola Jokic's best. I know we got the
03:38triple-double, but he did not shoot the ball well, and they still were able to have a dominant
03:42victory over the Celtics. Detroit just keeps on rolling too. I mean, whoever they get put in front
03:47of at this point, they beat. And at this point, I think it is fair to say, look out East
03:52because I
03:52think Detroit may be the overwhelming favorite to come out of this thing. They beat the Thunder last
03:56night. I know Oklahoma City's not playing without their guys, SGA and Jalen Williams, but they seem to
04:02still win when they don't play without him. And Jalen Williams, I believe, came back last night to play
04:08124-116 was the final in this one, but I just am so impressed with Detroit at this point.
04:15I don't know. Do you have them right now as the favorite to win the conference?
04:19I mean, they should be the favorites. I still struggle to believe a team that has not won a
04:25playoff game in recent memory is going to then win three and get to the finals. I do like how
04:30they
04:30play. They're very physical. They know who they are. They cut well. You know, I thought last night
04:35they took care of what they were supposed to do against a Thunder team that didn't have five of
04:38their top six players. You can look at that final score and it wasn't as close because here's the
04:43thing. The Thunder got out to a 12-point lead after one in that game. Then Detroit responded and I
04:49think
04:49they were plus 18, I believe, in the second quarter. So they bounced right back and they led by six
04:54at
04:54the half and then they pulled away. I came away from that game, Craig, a little bit really impressed with
05:00just how deep the Thunder are and how well coached they are on Mark Dagonal because they really
05:07competed in that game where the Pistons had more talent and they were competitive and fought and
05:12even had that early lead. So the role players have a lot of confidence. Cason Wallace has played really
05:17good. The other Jalen Williams, not J-Dub, he played really well with a career-high 30 points
05:23in this game. So they have a lot of depth and you just wonder with the Thunder, once they get
05:27healthy
05:28again, how truly scary they are and how legit they are to repeat here in the NBA. But the Pistons
05:33are formidable. You just wonder if they go up against a team in the second round or in the
05:39conference finals like the Knicks, the Cavs, even the Celtics, depending on what we said happens with
05:45Tatum, how do they handle those teams that have the experience of being there when they have not?
05:49That's my one question mark around Detroit. SGA, by the way, on the other side, can only miss six
05:55more games and then he'd be out of the MVP conversation. He's still the favorite at minus
05:59130 over on FanDuel. Cunningham's odds are the shortest they've been all season now, plus 550 to
06:06win the MVP. Jokic is 3-1 and then I honestly think that's it. Wemby 18-1, Luka's fallen back
06:12way back 40-1. Jalen Brown's had a great season. I don't know why his, I mean, he's probably not
06:16going to win, but I don't know why his odds are so deep there. Okay, so now let's get to
06:21some games
06:21tonight, Dexter, because that's what we got to lean on you here for. The Miami Heat taking on
06:25the Philadelphia 76ers, both teams fighting for a spot in the East to not have to play in that
06:31play-in spot, total of 240 and a half, but I don't know how you could take the Heat right
06:36now, not
06:37knowing who the bleep is going to play in this game tonight. They got like three guys hurt. Norman
06:41Powell, I think he's questionable for this game tonight and if they're missing all the guys that
06:45they're listing is questionable here. I don't know why even the 76ers are only a point and a half
06:49favorite. Yeah, and then the other thing, I think if you're eyeing this game, you're on the
06:53Sixers side, you're saying, okay, is Joel Embiid playing? Well, he is probable, listed as probable
06:58for tonight, so he is likely to play. Now, here's the thing, Joel Embiid has, you know, sometimes
07:05Bam Adebayo has been a guy who's given him a tough matchup, so that's a matchup I'm looking at here.
07:11Joel Embiid's points line at 27 and a half might be a bit high in this game. You may want
07:16to look for
07:16the under in that because of the matchup against Adebayo because he's missed some games and he
07:20might not be back in rhythm. That might be a play you like. I can't take the Heat in this
07:25matchup.
07:25I'm with you. I'm taking the Sixers to cover here. I like the one and a half points. I take
07:30the Sixers
07:30to cover here against the Heat. I think you got to go with the Sixers. Also, Rockets take on the
07:36Magic tonight. Let's look at the odds. Rockets minus two and a half in Orlando, total 215 and a half.
07:41Houston, slightly better this season in terms of record. They just came off that smashing of the
07:46Sacramento Kings and they get it done again tonight. Yeah, here's my thing with Houston.
07:52They struggle to score late in games. We even saw them blow that game. The 18-point lead in the
07:57fourth quarter to New York. The Magic are also a good defensive team. These are two good defensive
08:01teams. I look at that line 215 and I thought about it like, do you want to take the under
08:06here? But
08:11I like the Magic in this spot. I might hit that Magic money line or take the Magic plus
08:15the two and a half. I think they have upset potential. I think they can keep this game
08:18really close, which is why I like that. I think this can be a very aggressive game where it's
08:23kind of mucked up a lot. Low scoring, like I said, but I do think that line is appropriately
08:27placed. So give me the Magic. I'll do the Magic plus the two and a half points in this
08:32one. I like them here. All right. Plus two and a half there. Finally, let's hit Lakers
08:37Suns tonight. Lakers minus five, total of 220 and a half. And Lakers, you know, all the
08:44scuttle is about that last shot, I guess, that Luka passed up, threw it to LeBron tonight.
08:49And so I'm looking at the line here and I'm wondering, there's just more motivation from
08:53LA tonight or I must be missing some key injuries with the Suns here.
08:56No, I think, no, Craig, I think motivation will matter here. You know, I would say, look
09:01for a big game from Luka. Lakers should win this game on the road. No Devin Booker, you
09:06know, no Dylan Brooks as well, too. They should win this game on the road. I'd look
09:10for a Luka to have a big game. Look for, you know what? Take a nice play. Luka triple
09:14double. Let's go with that. Sprinkle something a little bit in the Luka triple
09:16double. Big plus money there. Minus money. All right, Dexter, thanks again. We'll see
09:23you next week. No problem. See you next week.
Comments