 What's the word y'all? Is this the first recap of 2023? It might be. I'm excited for it because today was a crazy day in the association. Lillard dropped 60. We finally saw Jorlin B versus Ben Simmons. Steph got ejected for being mad at Jordan Poole and Anthony Davis returned after a long injury. I'm trying something new. Let me know what you think. But before we get into the recap, let's talk about a sponsor, the EnjoyBasketball brand, a brand that I'm the owner of. A lot of y'all already know this, but we have a newsletter that drops Monday, Wednesday, Friday that keeps everybody in touch with the game of basketball. It's for the enjoyers and you watching this video, so I'm assuming that you enjoy the game. But like today, there are so many things that happen in the association. It was impossible for anybody to watch every single one of these games and that's what the newsletter is for. It's for you to keep in touch and it's perfect because it drops before class, it drops before work, and you can read it on your commute. You can do whatever you need to do and I think we're close to 40,000 subscribers. So hit the link in the description. Obviously 100% free and you get these emails that keep you up to date with the game. So shout out to the team. We got some great writers. Let's start off with Damian Lillard 60 because I'm the honest with you. This is not a game I watch live. I got the notification once he hit 50. I was like, all right, let me tune in. So I watched the last, what, 10 or so points, but I missed out. But that's why we watch possessions, ladies and gentlemen. After the 60 point game there only two people in NBA history would more 60 point games than Damian Lillard and those two people are Will Chamberlain and Kobe Bean Bryant, rest their souls, man. That's an elite company to be a part of. Now dropping 60 in itself is crazy, but dropping 60 when you shot 21 for 29 is ridiculous. When you hit nine threes out of 15, the tips is ridiculous. And I watched the possessions again. I didn't watch his live. I recommend you do the same thing. Find how many open looks Damian got. It's not a lot of them. This man has stepped back three hand in his face heavily contested. Green is going in. Reverse layup over a bigger defender. It did not matter. This man was on one tonight and he did his thing, man. It's so great to see a Damian Lillard game. I'm mad at myself for missing it live because I don't think there's a lot of things better than watching Damian when he is super hot live. You know what I'm saying? And I missed it, but luckily we got the possession. So I, you know, I got to see it a little bit. We finally got to see Ben Simmons versus Joel and B in Philadelphia. Always supposed to be a show that the fan is there with an old Ben Simmons jersey and he got rid of the Simmons last name. He put loser on the back. They were booing them to all hell in a great game, man. The Brooklyn that's held in this one for quite a long time. And on the Ben Simmons tip, the third quarter was one of the most aggressive offensive quarters I've seen for him this whole season. You know, we got all the videos going viral about Cary Irvin having to tell him to shoot and all of this stuff. And it hasn't been great for him on the offensive side of the ball. Something about being in Philly today made him try to do a lot of things offensively. But you have Seth Curry having a 32 point game and Cary Irvin doing what he does in the fourth quarter. But the real MVP of this game for me from the Brooklyn that side is of course, Nicholas Claxton. He continues to add to his game. You know what I'm saying? We knew that he was great defensively this season. Like if I had an all defensive vote right now, I'm pretty sure I'm putting Nicholas Claxton on there. That's how good he has been. But him dropping 25 points on 11 from 12 from the field is really, really great. But those 76ers though, they have won 19 of their last 23 games. 19 of their last 23 and they're going under the radar, man. And I keep telling Philly fans it's better to go under the radar because as soon as the ex-mittages come and you fall, then you feel bad as a fan and everything is all chaos. So just continue to go under the radar. In these games, you miss Joel and B from the time you miss Tyrese Maxie for a good chunk of these. The one who says the thing has been James. James has been in this line up and he's been great. Now we now talk about Houston James Harden. We was average at 30 plus points per game. His game has changed a little bit but he's still super effective. The most interesting thing for me when it comes to them is if they're going to continue to have Tyrese Maxie come off the bench. Cause so far it's looked pretty good. Now he's played 27 games and 20 of them. He's been a starter. But in those five games and him coming off the bench, it just adds another element. And obviously he's talented enough to start in his league for sure. But maybe for the sake of the team, you keep him on the bench because the Anthony Melton has been working very well alongside James Harden. And right now, Russell Westbrook is the bed in favor 216 man of the year. I mean, with this, if he continues to come off the bench for the rest of the season, I mean, he might win the award. All right, let's talk about this cause the mentors is going crazy. I made a video about the Memphis Grizzly sometime last week about how good they have been. They were on 11 game winning streak and they have not won a game since. I think they've lost their last four. I'm not a guy that believes in Jinx's. And I don't think the Kenny for real Jinx is real, but they have not won a game since I dropped the video. I think it's purely coincidence. But it was so bizarre to see Steph Curry get ejected on that play because I felt the change. Like it felt like it was an ill-advised shot from Jordan Poorwills at 116 on the clock late in the fourth quarter. And I feel Steph frustration there. And I understand why the refs had to do it, but I hate that they did it, man. Luckily for the Warriors, they were able to close this out without him. But for us, us the fans to have Steph Curry be missing the last couple of minutes, Steph versus Jai, we missed out on something that could have been a lot better, but it still ended up being good. And this is a quality win for them, man, because we've been waiting for the Warriors to do the thing when they turn it up and win a seven out of eight or something like that. And it just hasn't happened. And this might be the game that maybe changes things. I don't really know. We've seen Steve Kerr change the light up quite a bit over the last couple of weeks because he's allowed the small ball line up to start games and have Kevon Luni come off the bench because they need that kick in the butt right off the rip. And they need Jordan Poole to be the starter version of Jordan Poole, because he's significantly better as a starter than coming off the bench this season. But again, it hasn't really happened. And hopefully for their sake, this is the game because you don't want to be one of those playing teams. And I know the gap between five seed and 13 seed right now is practically nothing, but you don't want to be on one of those teams that have to win to get in. I'm so jarring. I just need you to stay on the court, man. Oh, it's hard for me to convince people that it's you to DPOY if you fouled out with 25 minutes played, bro, you gotta stay on the court. That last foul was so avoidable. It's ridiculous. And Anthony Davis came back and Rihachi Moore got his debut. They went against the Spurs and Locator Spurs was doing they thing for the first three quarters. And then we saw the Lakers turn up in the fourth. LeBron ended up with 20, 11 and nine and then that streak of him having to drop 30 plus point games for them to even be in it. And they won this one pretty convincingly. Anthony Davis for his first game back looked really good. He had a couple big time blocks. One of them is when Dennis Schroeder got a block in the corner on Trey Jones. And then they dumped it off to Zach Collins on the office of rebound. He tried to go up and Anthony Davis blocked that too. So the crowd was jumping and they got their win. And eventually Anthony Davis will be back in the starting lineup or not. No, let me stop. Let me stop. A lot of Lakers fans were saying how the bench unit that they ran today was better than the starters because they had Russell West becoming off the bench. Anthony Davis and newly acquired Rihachi Moore. A win is a win. You need it that right now. Second game of a second ever back to back. And yeah, let's get to some of the other games that may not have been as exciting or as newsworthy. But let's just start. The Hawks win after a controversial no call with the Jean-Té Murray was guard and Shay Gilles Alexander. By the time you see this video you might get the last two minute report or whatever. But I don't know. I personally believe that as long as a whistle is not blown, you play good defense. And that good defense helped them win this game. Boy, OKC, OKC went from a team where the first month of the year I was not watching their games. I was watching Shay's highlights. I was watching Shay's possessions. It has evolved dramatically since the first month where I'm genuinely right now, if I'm ranking my most favorite teams to watch right now it's the Kings and it is the Thunder number two. Like that's how fun it's been. Jalen Williams, J-Dub, because you got to specify the other Jalen Williams. You know, sometimes you play, sometimes you don't, sometimes you start, sometimes you don't. You know what I'm saying? J-Dub is a super fun rookie, bro. He's my favorite rookie in his class by far. And earlier was Jeremy So-Chan, bro. I was basically trying to figure it out. Jalen Williams has taken that over completely. He is relentlessly going to the basket. He does not miss in transition. I just, I love him as a player. So, you know, keep doing your thing, J-Dub. And you know, Shay ended up with what? 29 in the first half and ended up with 36, you know. But in this one, the Atlanta Hawks closed one out. I mean, it's been team notorious for just blowing leads and a blue one in this one, but got the last stop, which is all that really matters. Brandon Ingram came back, but it didn't matter because Anthony Edwards continues to do his thing. I'm very curious to see if he's going to get some all-star consideration. They're a 500 team at this point after this win, a 37, 6, and 5 game. He's been one of the most consistent things, or the most consistent thing on the season for the Timberwolves. So it would be interesting to see if he gets in. This might not be the year, but he continues this. I feel like next year is like his lock year, you know what I'm saying? I was so excited when I saw Bugs versus Nuggets on the schedule and then I saw that there was no Yolkets, no Jamal Murray. So this is a game I didn't watch. I ain't got a lot to eat. The Wizards continue their win streak. The first game in a Kendrick Nunn era, he caught a body too, which is crazy. Kendrick Nunn caught a body in this very first game, but it's becoming more consistent where Alperin Sengoon is the best player on the court. This has got to be like the fifth game in the last seven where he has been undoubtedly the best player on the court. Koos was getting all the touches and attempts that he wants and maybe that's the reason he gonna resign here if he does because nobody's stopping him from taking all the shots, but Alpey was undoubtedly the best player on the court in this one. And that's really good for the Houston Rock, especially after the last game, the last win where Jaylen Green ended up with 42. They're doing a lot more dribble handoffs between Alpey and guards. And I think that's the recipe to maximize him, but also allow your team to be watchable and better offensively, because there's not a lot of people on this roster that I feel like you can trust as a playmaker. The Orlando Magic almost pulled the Chicago Bulls by allowing the Indiana Pacers to have a comeback, but luckily they nipped it in the bud. Wendale has been so consistent. 18-10 tonight, I didn't realize he got the double double. 18-10 from him. Gary Harris started and hit six for six for threes, but I'm super happy to see Jonathan Isaac back on the court. He had a better game, won the game too, but in this one steal, he ended up with two steals. His defensive versatility is one of the best in basketball, so eventually he'll get off this eight minutes, minutes restriction, and eventually playing real minutes, and they just got a log jam. Bo, Bo, Mo, Bamba, Frantz, Mo Wagner has been playing minutes for them. And now, Jonathan Isaac, those are like all guys that are forward slash centers that deserve to get PT somewhere. So I wonder what the hell they gonna do. And the Raptors step on the neck of the Sacramento Kings and just hold them at bay for the entire game. The entire game. You know, in the NBA, you begin those fake comebacks. Oh, they narrowed it down to six, never. The Toronto Raptors were a control this game from the very beginning and never let up. First recap of 2023, that is crazy. I mean, we've been dropping videos of course, but they haven't been really recappy. They've been like, we got one topic. Let's talk about that one topic. This is when we sat down and watched a bunch of basketball so we can talk about everything. So let me know what you think and I'll be back tomorrow.