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After back-to-back losses for the Pistons, are you worried they have peaked?
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00:03Good morning on a Friday.
00:04Get you into your weekend.
00:06Thanks for getting up with us.
00:07Jim Costa, John Jansen, Heather Park.
00:09Got Greg behind the glass.
00:11Screening your phone calls, bringing in the texts.
00:13Talking about the deadline.
00:16I don't know if our teams have ruined it for you.
00:18Or you still get up today and you're excited to see what could be happening.
00:21The possibilities of what Steve Iserman could do to improve this hockey team.
00:24Or if you feel like you know the guy pretty well and you don't have a lot of hope,
00:28maybe you dread the day.
00:29And in that way, they've ruined the deadline.
00:31And it's not one team.
00:32It's a collective in the city.
00:34We got the cookie jar coming up at 735.
00:36We'll have some fun with that.
00:37John, you're looking forward to it.
00:39We have murder is one of the questions.
00:41Oh, I know.
00:42Cities you don't want to live in because damn near every hockey player has a no trade clause.
00:47It's kind of ridiculous, right?
00:48Like how everybody's got a no move clause or a no trade clause.
00:52I don't think it's ridiculous.
00:53I think it's good negotiating.
00:55Oh, I mean, I get it.
00:56They've earned it.
00:56They've collectively bargained for it.
00:58But in comparison to other sports, it's like, wait, why is the third line center have a 12 team no
01:04trade clause?
01:05He's going to block a move to half the teams in the league?
01:08Yeah.
01:08He's going to play half the minutes in the game.
01:12Anyway, so we'll have some fun with the cookie jar, some vacation inspired questions from my time on the beach.
01:18We'll do that at 735.
01:20You're looking forward to a Heather topic later in the show.
01:23I am.
01:24I am too, actually.
01:25I'm hoping, I am expecting that we might get a couple of bars out of Heather.
01:32Oh, well.
01:34Heather Park.
01:34We might get her to sing.
01:36I don't know if that's going to happen.
01:38We'll see.
01:39We'll see.
01:40We'll see.
01:41We can, I think we can be, without sounding too bad, I think we could be a little bit manipulative.
01:50You think we can peer pressure her into singing?
01:52I don't fall for peer pressure too easily, unless it involves Swedish Fish and, I don't know.
01:57I'll go see what we have in the stack.
01:59What's the bistro, guy?
02:01Sold out!
02:02Who's got them all?
02:03Well, right here.
02:04Fine.
02:05We'll make the attempt.
02:06We're going to lighten up and have a good Friday.
02:08Dangle the Swedish Fish right in front of us and I get it a bite.
02:12Like I said, it's not all going to be, I hate our deadline.
02:14We will have some fun on this Friday.
02:15Let's talk about last night's Pistons game, John.
02:17And the question that came from one TJ Lang, former Lion, yeah, he asked me last night,
02:24he goes, have they hit the wall?
02:26I think there's a number of different ways that you can take a look at this question.
02:30And one of our frequent callers, Deval, called in and one of the things he talked about was
02:37the time of year.
02:38And that's what typically everybody thinks about when you think about hitting the wall
02:42is at this time of year with 20 games left, especially with the style of play.
02:48They're not a team that takes a night off.
02:50Some of the back-to-backs can be tough on them because of their style of play, the aggressive
02:55nature of the defense.
02:56And then you look at the roster and you say, well, they're young guys.
02:58They should be able to handle this.
03:00But wear and tear always plays a factor in this time of the season, especially when you
03:06get to the playoffs.
03:08The other wall could just simply be, and not to join two topics together, but Cleveland.
03:16They add Harding at the deadline, make themselves a little bit better.
03:22And without both, you beat them with one, well, you beat them, but you take them to
03:27OT.
03:28And then with Harding, Harding, Harding, sorry.
03:32Yeah, they, they, not former president Warren G.
03:35Harding.
03:35I don't know how much he'd be helping.
03:37Thanks, Tony.
03:39I don't know any other Harding.
03:40That might be the most Tony reference you've ever made.
03:42Hand in the air.
03:43That is pretty bad.
03:43Anyway, continue.
03:46But you, then you look at, okay, San Antonio with the freak that Wemby is, and you look
03:55at OKC where you beat them, but they were down their top six scores and it didn't, wasn't
04:01a comfortable win.
04:02Now they are going to go out to Oklahoma.
04:04They'll get a chance to play them again.
04:06It's the stiffer competition that they're facing.
04:10And is that just simply the wall?
04:12They're banging up against a wall that they're not prepared to break through.
04:18Maybe not built to break through.
04:21I think they're a very, they're a one dimensional basketball team and that's going to get taken
04:25the wrong way by some people who are sensitive about this.
04:28Their dimension is defense.
04:30It's the bedrock.
04:31It's the foundation.
04:32It's the pillar.
04:33They have not played well enough defensively the last couple of weeks, including last night
04:37where they gave up 71 points in the first half, 38 in the opening quarter.
04:41Just not good enough.
04:42I know Asar got hurt.
04:43I know Durin's in foul trouble.
04:45It's supposed to be in their blood, in their bones, in their DNA.
04:49They're a good defensive team lately.
04:50They have not been a great defensive team.
04:53And they're one dimensional because we know what happens on the offensive end.
04:56Cade, I mean, when you face a great rim protecting team, they got Victor Wimbanyama.
05:02Cade's 15 of 42 shooting against the Spurs this season.
05:06That's 35%.
05:07Like they can put a lid on the rim.
05:10And the same thing with Mobley and Cleveland Cavaliers.
05:13So it's one dimensional.
05:14You're not going to make jump shots.
05:15You have to be elite defensively.
05:17Cade's going to have to hit tough shots.
05:18Durin's going to have to hit tough shots.
05:20Their path is hold the one seed.
05:24Play only one of Boston or Cleveland.
05:27Hope that Tatum is not Jason Tatum.
05:30He's coming off of an injury.
05:31And that Harden is Harden.
05:34And then you only got to play one.
05:35And if you beat one, you suffocate them with defense.
05:38You're playing for the title.
05:39But I think last night did reinforce San Antonio's on another level.
05:44The teams out West are on another level.
05:46The Pistons aren't a championship caliber team right now.
05:50Right.
05:51There's a clear separation between the top teams in the West and the top teams in the East.
05:55Yeah.
05:55I mean, who's a good matchup for San Antonio?
05:58I mean, they're bad for everybody because they've got guards who can get in your face.
06:02Castle's a pest on Cade.
06:04But then even if you work through like three waves of the defense, your reward is Victor Wembenyama staring down
06:12at you.
06:12I mean, I don't want to discount anything about Oklahoma City because they're the reigning champs and they've played as
06:20such.
06:20But I think the team that actually may match up best to them is Denver and the style of play
06:29that Joker plays.
06:31So San Antonio has played not to do Spurs radio.
06:34They've played OKC this season and done very well against them.
06:39Three wins.
06:40Yeah.
06:41I mean, so it's not a great matchup.
06:43Nobody matches up well with them.
06:45Right.
06:45That's why I say 14 games.
06:47Maybe maybe Denver.
06:48Yeah.
06:48And that's a capital M on maybe.
06:50Yeah.
06:50Spurs and Denver have three games remaining against each other.
06:54Yes, the San Antonio Spurs won the first matchup back in November.
07:00They end the season playing on the final day against one another.
07:04Yeah, I just know what Victor Wembenyama does is unlike anything I've ever seen a player do on a basketball
07:10court.
07:10You know, we've seen Wilt put up crazy numbers, but Wemby shooting threes.
07:15He's getting transition.
07:16Oops.
07:17And none of us has seen that.
07:18Yeah.
07:19Nobody's seen that.
07:19No, no, no.
07:20Nobody's seen Wilt.
07:21Wilt.
07:21Nobody listening has seen Wilt Chamberlain.
07:24Well, I mean, maybe some have, but it's a very small part of the point is a basketball player has
07:30existed that plays dominantly in the paint and puts up crazy numbers, but not this way.
07:34The way Wemby plays threes.
07:37Oops.
07:38He still gets crazy blocks.
07:39I mean, some of these plays where John, he's not like at the rim blocking shots.
07:43He's like barely in the paint.
07:45And then he takes two steps and bam.
07:47It's the foot speed.
07:48Yeah, Julian, the quickness that he has for someone who's seven foot four.
07:51He's not around there lumbering every 20 seconds, 90 feet.
07:57No, I mean, I'm in awe watching him.
07:58And I know he was drawing some fouls last night and getting under people's skin, but you watch him play
08:04and you're like, dude, that's a cheat code.
08:05Yes.
08:06That's an alien.
08:07He's playing humans, but he's from a different species that they play basketball at a different level.
08:13Yeah.
08:13You know, I think at this point you hear like defensively.
08:17Well, what am I supposed to do against the guy seven foot four?
08:19I don't know.
08:20Maybe you can't do anything.
08:21How about like there's the point?
08:22There's a play.
08:23Duncan Robinson, actually, of all people hit a floater.
08:26But how high the ball had to get to go over when you have to legitimately change the way you
08:33play.
08:33And and maybe in a seven game series, teams can get used to it.
08:36JB talked about a pregame like it was beneficial to have seen him one time, but clearly not not enough.
08:42I mean, I'm not saying it's a cakewalk for them to win the NBA title.
08:46I'm just saying the Pistons.
08:48It's a bad matchup.
08:49But you could say that about almost everybody in the league.
08:50It's a tough matchup when you play San Antonio.
08:52It is.
08:53And there's there's no doubt about it.
08:55And it's it's one because he is so young.
08:59You're going to have to deal with for a long time.
09:03Two, four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97.
09:05Have they hit a wall?
09:07And John, you had brought up.
09:09Does this at all make people walk back what they think this team is going to do this year?
09:14Having seen them play Cleveland and play San Antonio.
09:18You know, does this change people's mindset so clearly I don't think anybody had any
09:23misconceptions about what would happen if they made it to the NBA finals, because it's going
09:27to be one of three teams and those teams we've talked about already.
09:30It's going to be San Antonio, Denver or OKC.
09:32If anybody else comes out of the West, I'll be shocked.
09:34Agreed.
09:36And we've seen the Pistons play against those teams.
09:39But in regards to actually making it to the NBA finals or making it to the Eastern Conference
09:46finals, I think there are a lot of people that are looking at what they've seen from
09:51the Pistons, maybe even since the All-Star break and walking back their expectations a
09:59little bit.
09:59Should they still make it to the Eastern Conference finals?
10:02Well, maybe it depends on which one of those two teams that they play.
10:06If they hold on to the one seed, do they play Cleveland?
10:09Do they match up better with Cleveland or do they play Boston?
10:12And what's the impact of Jason Tatum?
10:15Because Jalen Brown quietly is having an MVP season.
10:22Yeah, like he'll get MVP votes.
10:24Yeah.
10:24Yeah.
10:27As it sits today, the Pistons are the one seed and I think they will be the one seed
10:32and I think they would avoid Cleveland or Boston until the Eastern Conference finals.
10:38So I still think they should make the Eastern Conference finals.
10:40I think they should certainly win the first round, which should be the step forward that
10:44they didn't take last year.
10:45And then if they play the Knicks, I'd love to play the Knicks.
10:48I think the Knicks are terrified.
10:50Yes, I think everybody would love to play the Knicks.
10:51So then you go two rounds in and I don't think anybody's backing down or walking back from
10:55that this team should make the Eastern Conference finals.
10:57But with Tatum coming back tonight for Boston and this stretch where you've seen Cleveland
11:02play them very well while shorthanded.
11:05Yeah, I don't think it's a gimme or a given that they're winning the Eastern Conference
11:09finals.
11:10Yeah.
11:10And so in terms of walking things back, I thought they were they were a team.
11:15They were playing as a team that should be going up against the Western Conference champs
11:20in the NBA finals.
11:21Now, I think their ceiling might actually be Eastern Conference finals.
11:27Some text coming in.
11:29This is absolutely a team with no chance to make the finals.
11:35No way they're making it out of the East right now from an unnamed texter.
11:41Guys, Wemby is one of the Monstars.
11:44We need Bugs Bunny in the crew from Space Jam.
11:46Whoa, Roy in Clarkston.
11:48Yeah.
11:49Another one says that, yes, Wemby is a Monstar.
11:54Guys, you mentioned Stoney.
11:56I'm going to be Stoney.
11:57If the Pistons didn't get screwed in the lottery, we'd have Wemby.
12:00That's Stephen Frazier.
12:02This is another frozen envelope.
12:04Okay.
12:04We won the lottery once with Kate and we're complaining that we didn't win it twice.
12:08Yeah.
12:09I mean, Brad Holmes is wondering why you're so mad we have Kate Cunningham.
12:17Anyway, we'll get more feedback on this cookie jar at 735.
12:20Happy Friday, 97.
12:21One.
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