 Fine. We'll start the show with the Lakers. Run it back. Starts now. Oh, hello and happy Monday morning. This is Run It Back. So much to talk about before we can get to that. I must introduce my panel, my friends, my comrades from Stadium Insider, Always and Forever, Shamsheraniah from what I can only assume is a sauna of some sort, is Chandler Parsons. Chandler, please enlighten us. Where are you today? I'm in Big Bear for the day and there's no heat in this Airbnb and I am cold, Michelle. I'm cold. Do you need to go fund me to get an Airbnb with heat? What happened here? We can help you out. What happened to your finger? Oh, I did this. It's nothing. Just an accessory. I swear that forever. Eddie may or may not join us in a little while. We hope so. We hope Eddie joins us in a bit. But guys, we have to talk Lakers. It's almost more of a Portland problem, but the Lakers somehow erased a 25-point deficit. That is no joke. It was a halftime deficit. They beat the Blazers in Portland. LeBron, 20 of his 37 came in the second half. This feels like a pretty big win. Chandler, how big? This is huge. The fact that, first of all, LeBron can do what he's doing and still dominate like he did in the second half. I got to give Thomas Bryant credit. I remember when he was not playing early on the year and we were saying they're getting healthy. Thomas Bryant's coming back. I thought it wasn't going to do much. This kid has been balling. He's been efficient. He's been dominating the paint since AD's been out of there. Shout out to him. This is a huge win. This just shows to me that the Lakers aren't throwing in the towel and the Lakers want to win. They're not just going to give up and lay down. They are missing key players still, but they seem to have found something here. They seem to have playing confident. A lot of teams lay down. When they get down like this, the second biggest comeback in franchise history, most teams throw in the towel here. This shows that they're not ready to do that. They're a game and a half back from Phoenix to get into playing. I think they're better than Minnesota. They're ahead of them. This is a huge step for them. It just shows everybody that they are not ready just to tank and give up. They want to win games like this. I said after their big Grizzlies game over the weekend, their success right now is a huge testament to what LeBron is doing. Even Russell Westbrook, as their primary creators on offense, and them being able to put together an NBA defense that we did not see earlier in this season, their ability to consistently create points and good looks for that team, even though they're not full of shooters, even though they really only have two, I guess, three primary ballhandlers if you want to give Dennis Schroeder some love. They've been able to steady the ship. Now they have AD coming back possibly this week. Shams are no better than me. You guys know how that goes. But AD possibly coming back this week, and then they're whole, and then they're going into the straight down line with some room to make moves if they want. They look like an improved team. It's been quite the month, and LeBron has been incredible. Let's not understate that. Sorry, Michelle, but he's been amazing. You're 20, 38, all that stuff. But since his birthday, he's been ridiculous. 37 points last night. Is he 38? I didn't know. I didn't know he was 38. He wants to play with his son one day too. Breaking news. Eddie, you're breaking news for us. Thanks, Eddie. Sorry, Dom. Chandler said that the Lakers are what a game out of playing. They're actually two and a half games out of the fifth seed, two games out of the sixth seed. So the Lakers are right there. They made a lot of progress the last couple of weeks, and AD's made a lot of progress in the last week or so, and that's why he's in position, possibly to come back at some point this week or next week. But they had always hoped that he'd be back before the All-Star break, and he's on track for that. Lonnie Walker is still out, but he's supposed to potentially be back soon. Austin Reeves is going to be right behind him. So they're starting to get some guys back. They have some flexibility going into the trade deadline as well. But to me, Thomas Bryant, the way he performed in the absence of Anthony Davis last night and how he's going to continue to play when AD gets back, that's going to be something to monitor 31 and 14, just a big-time game. And Pat Bev and Dame Lillard, I think in the first half we watched that game and we're like, what is Pat Bev doing? And I think as the game goes on, I mean, I don't know if he got into Dame's head or what, but Dame shot 5 of 17 from the field. We just did not see that same type of shooting in the second half of the game. So you have to give Pat Bev credit for that. He might not produce statistically, but he's going to do everything else in his power to make sure that he's able to have an impact felt. Portland's now two of seven in the last nine games. Yeah. They play San Antonio night. There's Pat Bev mocking a broken watch, also mocking Dame time in that his halftime speech, by the way, this is the legend already. His halftime speech is being credited with this monster turnaround. Love him or hate him. Chandlers, is this sort of cement his role on this team? I mean, this is what he was brought there to do. If you're going to have four points in 30 minutes, you have to find a way to impact the game. And this is, this is what he does. He's irritating. He plays hard. He's there to play defense, to motivate, to do everything. Because like Shams just said, statistically, he's not going to light it up. He's not going to go and have 30 point games. He's not going to have 10 assists. That's just not who he is, but he is this and he is motivating and he is positive and he plays so hard. And that can be contagious, especially for a team like this. It's going through so many ups and downs. You need a guy like Pat Bev. And this is hysterical with the watch thing. This is the best thing I've ever seen him do. So yeah, this is what he was brought to do. And this is his value on this team. He's not there to get buckets. He's not there to, you know, have double doubles. He's there to do this and to do all the little things that don't show up in the stat sheet. Yeah. When you make the other teams player tell you, I'll beat your ass in the middle of the game. And that's your role. You're probably doing a good job. Does it save him a roster spot? I don't know if that should, but they apparently really value that on this, on this team. So look, if there's a better point guard out there that could help set up the offense for these guys, they should absolutely look into that. But they clearly love Pat there. And he did his job last night, even though, like Shyam said, it might not show up in the box score. He definitely got in those guys' heads. And you kind of have to, to come back to 25 points down in the third quarter. Back to back, impressive wins. And like Shyam said, just out of the five seed, only a game behind the Warriors, who I'm sure we're going to talk about in a second here, but all of the issues that the Lakers have had in all of the mud, we've drugged them through all season long. And all of the, oh, the Warriors will be okay. We've said, and I'm guilty of it. I've done both of those things, a game behind them. And the Lakers get, I don't know, a schedule win versus the Spurs this week. So they're going to be making up some ground here. And it's been incredible. It's been incredible. I just love that fight. I would love to see that fight because I got my money on Pat Baff beating him up. What? No way. I got Lillard. I love Lillard. No way. Doesn't Dave's box? I got Lillard. Boxing. I'm taking like a fight, like in good old fight. Okay. Fair enough. Speaking of fights in the latest installment of overpaid sports talking heads, males who like to be the center of attention. Here's Shannon Sharp, court side on Friday in a $3,000 card. Again, I have to just mention that because what is, what are we talking about? This, this is ridiculous. I thought this was a joke. It took me four times watching all of this to realize, oh no, he's, he's doing this for real Chandler. Your reaction when you, when you saw all of this happen. I'm with you. This is a joke. And shame on the Lakers and the, and the Lakers security because I agree with Doug Brooks to a point that if this was any other person, if this was a regular person, this guy would have been kicked out so fast. Players would be complaining about how you can't just buy a ticket and say whatever you want. We're not performers. We're not animals. Shannon Sharp has been on live television saying just because you buy a ticket, you doesn't give you the right to go exactly what he did. So this was, this was silly and I know he's a LeBron fan. I know he, that's his guy. And I know the Grizzlies talk a lot of trash and they can be a lot to handle too, but he, this guy should have been kicked out so quick. He should not be able to go back to the game court side. Like this was, this was pathetic on the Lakers security honestly because this, this is not right. Nobody, I don't care if you're Shannon Sharp. I don't care if you're a normal banker and recita, you cannot go and talk trash like this to players that are working and competing. So I thought this was pretty weak and I thought there's no place for this and he should have been tossed right away. This is one of those weird occasions where everybody's wrong. Dylan Brooks did not have cared this much about whatever Shannon Sharp was saying about guarding LeBron. Shannon Sharp should have not been on the court yelling at the entire Grizzlies organization. The Lakers should not have allowed any of this to happen. LeBron should have not been his press conference, essentially cosigning Shannon Sharp. Thank you. Shannon sitting to warn that cardigan, like there's just so much going on here. It's, it's, I couldn't believe it. And then, and then he does the, and then he gives the quote to McMenamin and he says, yeah, I was, it's about LeBron. I couldn't, I was floored by this entire story. I'm, you guys know Laker games and staples are different than any other game in the league. It's like it's own little weird episode of entourage. So like it makes perfect sense to something this stupid would happen at a Lakers game, but I'm shocked that they let it go on and in the way they did, they let them stand in the seat. They let him and team a ramp make up. They, they let all this stuff happen. Like as far as security for a billion, that was insane. And I just want to know what he said to Steven Adams because Steven Adams is way more upset than anybody else. And I've never seen nothing like that in all my time watching basketball and all of the Lakers foolishness we've seen in our days. But I mean, look, that's, that's a Friday night at staples. And it just, sometimes it's just dumb like that in LA. It's just so embarrassed. Like this entire thing. Do you, you like it? Oh, I think it looks like a child made it. And then you pay three grand for it, which is weird to me. But you got to have the go yard, you got to have to go back to her. Yeah, it's a whole look. Look, and it's very embarrassing. Can we all agree? It's an embarrassing moment for a 50 something year old man. And the fact that it delayed the game at that afterwards he was defended. It's such hypocrisy because if this happened to LeBron, that guy would have been kicked out before we could even say anything. So it's just, it's, I'm embarrassed. I was, I had like third hand embarrassment watching this. I don't know what he had to drink that night. We've all been there. Maybe we were a little too loud, but that was just shockingly humiliating and his friends and family should be embarrassed. The fact that he was still there at the end of the game pointing at a bounce. It's like, get this guy out of here. Like, why is he still, why is he, he was a bigger part of the game than some of the players. Like that is, that is embarrassing on this. It definitely was. That was the way we live in. Yeah, it was a joke, but it provided a good 30 minutes of laughter. I think for all of us moving on, I know Eddie's just itching to get to this one. Kairi had 38 leading his team over the Warriors on the road. Look, his last three games, zero complaints. He's averaging just under 39, seven assists, eight rebounds. This, right? Eddie, this is the version people wanted in expected. Yeah. Not only the version of Kairi, but the version of the nets and, you know, not so quiet secret. They, they've been, been down the stress. They needed points. They needed stops and they took their, you know, their max third star off the, off the floor. But Kairi was, was sensational. He's had to a fan a few weeks ago, when he missed the Warriors game at Barclays. Well, if we play them, he has to guard me too. He definitely outplayed Stephen Curry. He's been great. His last three games. The other guy I want to shout out because this was a huge win for them as they're waiting to hear more news about when Kevin will come back. Nick Clarkson, 17 points, 10 rebounds a game. Since Kevin had got injured, also four blocks, nearly 3.7. He's been amazing. He was great last night. They did the hack of Nick. He's got to get through that. He's going to have to get through that as the games get tougher and the playoffs as well. But, you know, he got through it. Huge game for him last night. This is the nets you want to see. They're put, they finished the game on, I think, a 23 to six run to win the game. High scoring offense. They're shooting threes from all over the place. They put shooting all over the court and a huge shot from the Royce at the end as well. Great win for those guys. Yeah. Eddie kind of hit it. This is just such a good balance attack. Obviously, Kyrie has been unbelievable in the absence of Kevin Durant. And yeah, Nick Clarkson with an already thin team, the numbers he's putting up and the kind of the support and size he's given down low has been huge for them. Joe Harris was good to see him make some threes last night. And so this is kind of the balance attack where, you know, this was very, very impressive for them and their whole goal right now is to stay afloat win game. But on the flip side, the Warriors, we all know there's struggles, you know, on the road, but at home for them to be up 106 to 93 with eight minutes to play and allow a 27 to 10 run. It's inexcusable. And then these are the games that you must win. And a team with that kind of experience, you know, shouldn't allow this to happen. But Kyrie's been unbelievable. Royce did a big shot there at the end of the game. And this is a huge win for the Nets that, you know, every time they get a win without Kevin Durant, it's a huge deal. That's fair. Yeah. I mean Kyrie Irving 35 and five over the last three games in each game. And that's the first time in his career. To me, I think it's a realization that he has to do everything on the floor. He has to do it all for the Nets if they're going to win games without Kevin Durant. The first four games without him, all four losses Kyrie Irving did not shoot the ball well at all the first two games of Kevin Durant's absence. And so the Nets just are a completely different team without Kevin Durant on the floor. And if Kyrie Irving isn't producing at this level, they're going to be hard pressed to win on most nights. But what he's doing right now, I'm curious about the sustainability of it. But I mean, it's beautiful to watch the shot making the playmaking. We saw the first play of the game, the kind of drag dribble, get Nick Clarkson a wide open dunk on a behind the back pass. Like he's doing everything on the floor, creating plays, playmaking. He's one of the few guys, probably the only guy on this team that you can count on every night without KD to make plays for everyone else, as well as himself. So this is two in a row after losing four straight. We'll see how the how the Ben Simmons return to Philly goes on Wednesday. You know, but this is a big time win for for the Nets. I think definitely a confidence booster. I'd have to imagine Kevin is breathing a little easier right now, right? Like it was for a minute there. I thought, Oh God, no, no, we can't go do this road again. But I want to go back to the Warriors because again, I think it's a team. A lot of people keep waiting for the light switch. Seemingly they had it figured out at home at least. And this was ugly. So Eddie, I'll start with you. Are you surprised at all that at this point in the season, their inability to close out these games? Just it's not there. They don't have it. Yeah, I am surprised because they should be one of the steadier teams in the league in crunch time. And for all the people who say they're not taking these games serious, they only care about the Celtics or whatever it is. They switched their lineup to the small line. They wanted more offensive punts. They're waiting for guys to get healthier. They're waiting for their, you know, to be a little stronger defensively. They're working on stuff. You can watch them even not knowing what's going on behind the scenes. You can watch them slowly tinker in and working on things with their team. They are not happy with the way things are going. And Dramon Green talked over, I think it was in the last week, he did an interview with Small Crawford, and he said the strangest quote I've seen in a long time. He says, Yo, one of the biggest problems they're having this year is he can't hold guys accountable because of the incident. Obviously him punching his teammate, which was insanity to me, but there might be some truth to that. They don't look like they're holding each other accountable. They don't look like they're paying attention to detail. And we're further and further along in this season, we're going to get the 50, 60 games. They're still teetering at eight, nine, 10 seed. This might just be the team they are and maybe there's a switch. And when they get to the playoffs, they turn it on and their rotation is just setting guys and they're fine. But yeah, they shouldn't be losing these games. They shouldn't have lost the Celtics game. They had that game in their hands. And it's, it's got to be frustrating over there for them. Yeah, I agree. You know, they have way too much experience. They have way too much talent. They have too good of a coach. And again, we keep waiting on them. But this is becoming who they are. And it is concerning because they are just as close as they are to, you know, getting that home court advantage and sliding up. They could easily be the team that gets bumped out with teams like the Lakers and teams like the Thunder that are kind of surprisingly winning games. So this is tough. Andrew Wiggins has struggled mightily since he's been back. And again, the Draymond Jordan pool thing, that that's something that we talked about early on a lot, but that doesn't just go away. And again, like that, I don't just forget that if I'm Jordan pool. I don't just forget that if I'm Jordan pools family or agent or anyone surrounding him or the team. So it is hard to go to a guy like Draymond who has been your leader for so long and has such value for that team. There's almost like a little asterisk now going forward because a guy like that shouldn't punch another young up and coming star in the face. And that's not just something you can swallow and move on. So I'm sure there's some issues still there. But again, this team is so talented that they still should be able to win games and close games out like this and stop a 27 to 10 run at home. You know, that's just an excuse. And remember before we say, yo, if they get the play and that's enough, they're in. We watched them lose two playing games just two years ago. Like it's not unforeseen for them to just put up. It wasn't even stinkers. They lost on a crazy late game shot to LeBron and then overtime to the Grizzlies. But we've seen them do it. We've seen this bite them before. So it can happen again. I know they just won the title. I know they're the big, the big bad warriors that they have the, the splash brothers in pool and whatever they call that lineup now, but they've done it before and we can see them do it again. It's not unforeseen. Wait a minute. I just want to make sure I understood the Dremon quote is he saying he can't get in dudes faces because he punched a dude before the season started. Like, is that what he's saying? So that's a beautiful quote. I might have that tattooed somewhere on me. That's an amazing quote. And I am, I stand firm on the fact that that punch has lasting effects. People think I'm crazy every time I bring it up. I just think it had lasting effects, but here we are. How about the Clippers y'all? Ooh, played together again. Kauai with 30, Paul George 21, Tyloo after the game with the biggest obvious quote of the year. When our two main guys are playing, we're a different team. Well, duh, Chandler. It's the only the 18th game they've played together so far this year. And it is fun to watch when they are out there all together. But what would you need to see how many more games them playing together as we head closer and closer to the playoffs before you're convinced? I mean, as many as, as many as possible, it sounds obvious, but this is, this is, this is their team. And when they're not a contender without Paul George and without Kauai Leonard and the lineup playing consistent and playing more together. And I don't care how good you are. I don't care how many years you have been playing. You need that time. You need that on court experience. You need those reps. You need all this. And they've just been so hobbled by injuries to where, you know, they still have time and they are right there in the thick of things in Western Conference. But this is what we expected. We expected this to be a two headed monster. We expected them to be a deep, great defensive team guys like Covington, Batum, Powell, Terence Mann. They have these live, active, long bodies that can cover, that can kind of give these guys nights off defensively, which is crazy because they're two of the best two-way players in the league. But this is the version of the Clippers that, you know, people expected to be a contender. And they're not a contender without both of those guys in the lineup and both of those guys playing at star, all-star levels. And this is a good step forward. But, you know, we just got to see more of this. They need to get healthy. They need John Wall still. They need Luke Canard. They need their full team to have a chance. Yeah, I have to see these guys play. I have to see them play playoff games, to be honest. They're going to keep doing this. It's just going to keep happening. I think Kawhi is missing another game coming up. Like, I need to see them play playoff games. I need to see them win playoff games. I love when Kawhi is out there. He looks amazing. He looks like Kawhi. Maybe a hint of a step slower, but he gets to his spots. He's the mid-range assassin. It's kind of ridiculous that he's become that because of what his reputation was when he came into the league. These guys were training for each other on draft night. And it's wild how their careers kind of mirror each other all the way up until now to where they're just injury plagued and can't stay on the court, but need each other to win this title that they want to win. And these playoff wins they want to bring back to this team had now had many throughout its history. But, yeah, I need to see them win a playoff series before I'm like, oh, yeah, this is the team. And knowing them, we might see, like, Kawhi rest for game five of the playoff series or something like that. You would not be shocked. So I'm not believing it until it happens. I was shocked he played here on Friday, to be honest with you. And I think he had, like, four dunks that seemed like he was taking the booze personally. I totally get it. On the other side of things, though, the Dallas Mavericks and Luca specifically, this story, it's going to go on through the rest of the season. He did have 29, but of course his team loses. They're now fifth in the West 25 and 23, three and seven in their last 10 Chandler. It feels like it's unraveling. Am I being overdramatic? No, I don't think so. And we talk about all the time Luca eventually is going to have his breaking point. He's going to get frustrated. You know, he does it all for this team. Everybody knows. And he needs help. And you see he gets frustrated. Maybe this is why he gets so many technical fouls and complains to the reps because deep down he's frustrated at his roster or his team. But yeah, this team has created a, I don't think it's a contender. I think I never want to bet against Luca because he can be unbelievable and he can carry a team. And they do have players. I like Tim Hardaway Jr. I like Spencer Denwood. I like Christian Wood. They have talent. They just, they're missing something with, and they obviously, it would be great and easy to say Luca needs a second star. He needs a Jimmy Butler. He needs a Brad Beal. That would be great. Shams maybe can know if that's possible, but I just don't, I just don't like this team as it's constructed. They're not deep. They're thin. I don't love their bigs. They don't really have a true point guard to allow Luca to even kind of take nights off. And they truly are missing Jalen Brunson, who's I have, think he's having an all-star here this year. But they definitely need something. I just don't know what their assets, what that something is. And I just don't think Christian Wood is the second best player on a championship contending team. I don't care how good your first option is, but I definitely look for them to make a move because they don't, they don't want to sit and look back and waste these years at Luca Donketsch and what he's done. So definitely expect them to make a move and get him help ace up. Yeah, CP, the thing that makes it tough for them average is they've got some picks that they're not able to use until the summertime. So they have a lot more of an asset pool base come the off season to go get a star. And I think that's really where the runway of this team begins is you find a player or two that you want to target and then you have three, four first round picks that you have at your disposal that you don't have right now. That's the tricky part this season. Do you want to burn a first round pick when in the summertime you'll have a really Mormon asset base? So that's the tricky push and pull. But I think what's curious now, the last couple of games, they've been without Christian Wood, a major part of this roster. He's got a fractured thumb in his left hand. I'm curious, Chandler, your perspective. I'm told that he's going to get an update tomorrow on the thumb and he's going to try to play through it as of right now. But how tough is it to play through a fractured thumb? Is it most likely he's going to have surgery? Like what's your doctor prognosis right now? Yeah, that's tough. And especially with the thumb, you can't really hide a thumb. Like you're touching the ball, you're playing defense, there's so much contact. It's like Steph in his shoulder. It's not something you can kind of play and get around, especially him where his game is pretty much all offense. And that is going to affect his game moving forward. And fractures obviously turn into more severe breaks. And this is definitely something that could linger and get worse. But again, this team needs him. Dwight Powell, Maxi Gleeber, Devel McGee, like these guys aren't Christian Wood and they're going to take a huge hit with him out. But yeah, that's definitely something that you can't really play with and hide. It's going to affect him. It's going to bother him. It definitely can get worse. Guys, I want to let you end up how my brain works. Lately when we've been picking our parlays, this team is the team I look to first because they're on something right now, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Let's take a look at the final seconds of their game against the Nuggets. Giddy has to get it in. Shea flashes, catches, Gordon on a little fly by and Shea banks it home to regain the lead for OKC. Ball isn't bound into Murray. Shock block is off, toward the defender. Murray pulls it back behind the three point line. Murray makes his move, stops, stays for the tie and is shot. And OKC with the defensive stop to pull out the victory. Don't look now, SGA with the go ahead bucket. 9.2 seconds left, leading his team over Denver, of course, no Yolkic, no Porter Jr. But OKC has won seven of their last 10. They're only a game under 500, currently tied for 10th in the West. We all thought for sure they're going to tank again like that's sort of what they do, right? But at this point, I ask you, Eddie, could this be a playoff team? Not only could it be, I think it's going to be. They play hard, they play defense, they're coached up. And Shea is an all-star, no doubt about it. He's one of the best young guards in the league. Josh Giddy has come along. Their future is bright out there, even if they're not tanking. And this kind of gives them the luxury to do that. They have a number one overall type pick talent coming back onto their team next year with Chad Holmgren. This is a nice team. And shout out to Lou Dort for that defense on that last clip on Jamal Murray. This is why you give Lou Dort the money you give them for those type of possessions. We've seen him be a difference maker in the playoffs before. I want to see them in a series. They're going to be a tough out for the Grizzlies, the Nuggets, who they just beat or whomever, maybe at the top of the standings. This is a good young team. And I'm ready to see them on that stage again. Chandler, you agree? What are you seeing? I do. I love this team. And again, the whole tanking thing to get Victor, they have their version of Victor right there on the bench that's been in their system that's working out, that's getting stronger, that's getting healthier every single day. And for a guy like Chet to come back to these two guards with Josh Giddy and SGA who are absolute studs, I love what they're doing. And like Eddie said, I would love to see this team in a playoff series because it is not an easy out. SGA is an absolute stud. Lou Dort, that defense there at the end, that just kind of shows you his value, what he does while he can still make shots. And just their future is so bright going forward that, yeah, I think tanking is in the rear view mirror. And this is a team with a promising future who I like to set up in their future probably more than any other team in the NBA right now. And when they're good at that place is rocking and it's the hardest place to play in. So they have a lot of great things going for them. And those two kids and SGA and Giddy, they're special. And to have guards like that where one can go get a bucket and one is playmakers, solid point guard. I love it. I love their future. And I would love to see them in the playoffs. Five and one in the last six games. And like these guys said, they're right there on the brink of the play in the playoffs. And I don't know if anyone in Oklahoma City, anyone around league expected that. But you know, when you look at the way Josh Giddy and Shay Gildes, I was in or have led this team, the long term question is, can these two guys, how are they, how are these two guys going to play off of each other? How are they going to succeed? We saw last night, Giddy set up SGA for the score and then just great defense by Lou Dort. The team building to me, you have to give them praise for Josh Giddy, SGA, Lou Dort at the head of the snake. Chet Holmgren's kind of waiting in the wings. But then they draft a kid named Jalen Williams. They have Jeremiah Robinson Earl, Kenrich Williams. He was on the court right there on those last two possessions. They can trade him today for a first round pick, but they've held on to him. They signed to a long term deal and just the vision to sign him initially on a deal. And then now for the long term, those are the types of guys you want to build with. And when this team wins big, Kenrich Williams is going to be a big part of it. Guys, I have to ask, look, look into your crystal balls, SGA is averaging just under 31 a game. Do you see him as the number one option at some point on a contending team, Eddie? Maybe not number one. It's strong. It's hard to be. I mean, he's a little taller than these other guards in his class, but it's hard to be that slight and be the number one guy. But I think he's a John Morant type talent and John is the number one on a contending team. So it is possible. And as his jumper has gotten better, as his career has gone on, he's become an absolute all star, like a star player in this league. And it's exciting to watch him and shout out to Shay. When he had the game winning shot in Miami, he did the side step three, and I hate the side step three with the game on the line, getting back to the midi. It's another game winner. There you go. Like long live the midi. Bring the midi back into this league, please. But yeah, when you compare him to John, when you compare him to Trey, who's played in the conference finals. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, when you're 24 years old, you're averaging 31, five and five. And you are the only kind of scoring option on this team. And the whole defense is set to kind of maintain you and hold you and you still can't do it. Yeah, I think this kid is an absolute star. I think his future is bright. I think you add some other talent around the team, some vet leadership for this young core. I think this team could be very, very special in the next two, three, four years. And I think he is a number one option on this team going forward and they are going to make some noise. Looks like it was all worth it, you guys. It was all worth it in the long run. Knew what they were doing. Up next, Shoms will have the latest on Yanis and the Wizards are shopping around a former lottery pick. All of that when Run It Back returns. Welcome back to Run It Back. The Bucks are playing Detroit tonight. We haven't seen Middleton or Yanis. And what feels like a very, very, very long time, Shoms, is tonight the night. Do they return? Tonight is expected to be the night they're both slated to return tonight in Detroit. And this is a long time coming, especially for Chris Middleton. He has not played since December 15th. He's dealt with nagging, knee issue, irritation. And he looked like he was ready and on the cusp about a week, week and a half ago. But he's really wanted to wait and make sure he comes back at the right time. Yanis has also missed the last several games. He's been out since January 11th, but he's going to be back as well. This is a team that needs to get chemistry, needs to get some reps with Chris Middleton, Drew Holiday, Yanis and N'Gupo all on the floor together. Chris Middleton has only played seven games this year. There are four and three in those games. Chandler, what do you want to see? What do you expect to see from both of them? I mean, I want to see Yanis dominate. He's playing Detroit. He's been out. He should be rested. Hopefully he's fully, fully ago. But this team did a great job kind of staying afloat with these guys out. But these are their two guys. These are their team. They've done it before. They do need the reps. They need the time. And Middleton, even the games that he played earlier, he didn't look like himself. He was hesitant. He struggled shooting the ball. I just want to see him play confident, get to his spots and be efficient tonight. And it's going to take time. When you miss this much time, I don't care how good you are. It takes a while, but it's, this is good for the Bucks. This is good for the league. It's special when these two guys are clicking and they're both playing. Oh, that's next one. Jonathan, Isaac, we haven't seen him play since 2020 Shoms. Tell us, tell us the good news. Two and a half years away from the game, he just spent some time in the G League playing a little bit. And he will be making his return tonight, his season debut against the Celtics. This is a guy that, like you said, hasn't played since August 2nd, 2020. He had an ACL tear that night in the bubble. There was other damage in that knee as well. It wasn't just the ACL from what I was told. So that's had this extended layoff. He's had some setbacks throughout it. He's got two years and $35 million on his contract after this year. So they're going to need to see him, see how he looks. This is a team that does have a lot of young talent guys. Palo Bancaro, Bowl Bowl, Franz Wagner, Marco Fultz, Jonathan Isaac, Wendell Carter Jr. It'll be good to see Jonathan Isaac back in that fold. Yeah, some G League love there. And you're right. That team's actually fun and seemingly having a good time together. This is great news. And the latest on the Wizards in Hachimura, what's going on there? The Wizards are engaged in pretty serious talks to move Rui Hachimura. And I would expect a deal sooner rather than later. They're in talks with several Western conference teams that need scoring. This is a guy that's just had a career high tying 30 points on Saturday against Orlando. So we know he can fill it up. He's dealt with some injuries this season, but there's a log jam at Forward for the Wizards. And Hachimura will be a restricted free agent this summer. It's clear that Kyle Kuzma is kind of becoming the guy of the future long term in DC. We'll see how quick a Hachimura deal happens. But I'm curious, Chandler, your perspective, this guy that's in his fourth year and he's already possibly going to be moving on after this team drafted him in the lottery. How did it end up this way? I mean, I love him. He's 24 years old. He can kind of do it all. And he just kind of hasn't had that breakout season that we kind of expected for him coming out. And, you know, this year's been tough for him. He has guys like Kuzma who's playing very, very well. He has guys like Przingis brought in who's playing well. So there isn't really a fit here anymore for him. And I do think that they can get something substantial for him with his future, with his size, with the way he can play. He's having a great year and I expect his kid to be on a different team and getting a pretty good payday coming up this summer because he can kind of do it all. And if I'm a contender and I'm on these teams, this guy can fill a lot of different holes on a roster. Yeah, you understand why he's so enticing. He's kind of the prototypical NBA player right now. He's 6'8". He's mobile. He should be able to guard multiple positions. You want to see him improving as a shooter, but he can get buckets and he's crazy athletic. So you see the potential. You see why teams are lining up to try to figure out what's going on. Sometimes it just doesn't work. It's your first stop. Look at somebody like Lori Marketing. Maybe you just need to change the sooner. Maybe you need a roster that better maximizes you. You know, we might scoff at him being that level of player, but a year ago, if you've asked us about Lori Marketing, we didn't scoff at him too. So, you know, I think it'd be a good thing for him to move on and for the Wizards to get something for him, rather than him leaving for nothing in the summer. And yeah, it looks like, like Sam said, they're pushing all their chips in on Kyle Kuzma. And that's not a bad bet either. I love it too, because he's been asked about wanting to be traded, asking for a trade. And he's like, no comment. Just want to be where I want. I'm wanted, which don't we all? Guys, don't we all? Shoms, thank you as always. We will see you right and early tomorrow. But up next for us, Anthony Edwards threw down two posters in one game. And afterwards dedicated it to his girlfriend. See, we love love. We got to talk about you. We hear these MVP chants in here tonight, a season high scoring night. How much joy were you playing in this win? My girlfriend birthday is in two days, man. She's going out of the country, so I had to put on a show for her. I feel terrible for fans who buy tickets who are expecting to see someone play and they don't get to see that person play. It's a brutal part of the business. That's why I'm going to continue to advocate for 72 game seasons. That, of course, is the Warriors didn't play Steph, Clay, Dre, that was all Friday in Cleveland. It does suck for the fans, because they won't get another shot to see them. The Warriors did win the game, though. And Kurt did mention there he is always going to be pushing for a 72 game season. Chandler, would it work? I honestly like it. I think the season is too long. It's between and they've already shortened preseason. When I was playing, there was like seven preseason games and it was brutal. They've done a good job shortening that. But yeah, I think it'll help. But at the end of the day, once they knock it down to 72 games, this is a business and teams are going to do its best for their team to win a championship that year. So 82, 72, 62, they're still going to arrest their players. They're still not going to play every, they're still not going to play every back to back. And I do believe Steve Kerr, that is a brutal part of the game. I was a kid growing up in Orlando and I loved going to the magic game. And I was devastated when Shaq wouldn't play or Penny wouldn't play or these other guys that were in the Western conference, they'd come in one time and they would sit or not even make the trip. I hated that. But again, owners, GM's, medical staff, the team, they don't care about little Chandler and the crowd. They're trying to win a game. They're trying to win a championship that year. So I see both sides and it does suck for fans, but I do think 72 game season would help. But I still don't think this completely eliminates load management. I still think guys will rest. I still don't think guys will play every back to back, but it'll definitely kind of minimize the length of the schedule at least. Yeah, I'm like an old, I'm like an old weirdo and I like stats and I like history and just less games feel so weird. It doesn't feel right in the sense of, you know, statistics and records and all that good stuff. Plus, like Chandler said, if Kawhi Leonard's schedule is 62 games, he's going to play at 35. Like they're still going to rest guys. They're still going to find time to do that and whether they stretch the schedule out and give more rest in between or whatever, you know, the advancements of medical science have said they need to rest more. They, they, they, they're, they're just going to do that. So I don't know. I've seen guys break their legs in game one. So they're going to get hurt if they play 50 games. You know, not that I'm trying to be, you know, not worried about their health. Of course I am, but I don't know if less games fixes the problem so much as it just highlights it. We're going to still see guys get hurt. It's still going to be frustrating. It sucks for the Cleveland fans, but if I'm the Cleveland fans, I don't want to see no more of Steph Clay and Draymond ever again. Like I'm sick of those guys, but I get it. Like, like, like Chandler said, little Eddie in the third row that doesn't get to see his fair player. It sucks. But, uh, yeah, the Warriors are trying to win games and they won that one. So I guess it works. 809 miles. Take my son to see Steph sit the bench. Ooh, that's a long time. Um, you know what, Stan Van Gundy and Katie the other day had the most beautiful Twitter exchange I've seen in quite some time, but Stan was asking like so much trust, so much science, so, so big staff and personnel telling him what to do. And guys still seem to need more rest. You'd think it'd be going the opposite direction with technology and all that. So Chandler, I, this is what I don't get. Like, what's the end game here? Are we going to get to a point where they play a quarter of the season and just it's a waste of everyone's time? Oh, and until they make contracts not guaranteed for star players, guys are going to sit. That's just how it works. And guys do get banged up and bumps and bruises throughout a season. No matter how long, how lower the season goes and how much you shorten it, there's still going to be an Eastern Conference team that goes to a Western Conference team once a year and someone's going to be unhappy because one player that they wanted to see play is not playing. There's no perfect solution for this. I just think for the overall game, I think maybe the average game would matter more if there's less, but there's really no solution here. And when I played in Atlanta in my last year, I would tell the medical director, Hey, you know, my knee is this and that. And I feel like I could do it. And the minute you're not 100% now, it's not even out of your call. You are not playing. You are not practicing. So a lot of these teams have given full say to the team doctors and the, you know, the medical staff that players really don't even have that much say anymore. So the idea of like a player now being soft or sitting, it's not even his choice half the time. So you also got to take that in. You know, the day it's just organizations are trying to fringe, trying to protect their players, which makes sense, but it definitely, it sucks for fans that want to see the star players that aren't playing. I have one suggestion and this was brought up by my partner here of the Spurs, Bill Land. And how about this? If you know, for example, in Cleveland that those guys are going to sit then an hour and a half before the game, you make them available downcourt side. And like, if you get there early enough, you can maybe get a selfie or an autograph, something that was sort of appeased the little kids that are like, I wanted to see stuff play. I don't know. There's something there. Like just so it doesn't feel like they're just pooping all over all of these fan bases whenever they drive 809 miles to see Steph Curry play something. And we're just trying to fix it guys. These are the things we think about on a Friday when we're getting beat by the Clippers. Anywho, that man has a family and we, we teased it. And now we shall pay it off with the Anthony Edwards dunks on Shingoon. Catching the same body twice to the same game is just, right? That's disrespectful. There's something, there's a beef here. There's got to be something personal. So when you dunk on somebody off two feet with two hands, you just think they have no shot at blocking you. That is dangerous to go up with two hands. And it's like, he didn't even see this manner. Respect his existence. The most disrespectful. No thoughts of a lamp at all. Just straight dunk on his head. And then as if the other one didn't happen, let's do it again. Oh my God. Why does he keep doing this to people? Which one do you think is better, Chandler? I mean, you don't really see the two foot, two hand banger, but this is more of like a better poster. This is more of a, the other one was more of a body. This is a cooler, like still shot picture, but he also traveled right there and split his feet. So if I'm, if I'm my voice, this one's under protest. I like the two hand dunk better too, but look, like hand over the box for this one. That's just, oh my God. He actually said on the, on the first one, he said he'd wish he'd gotten up higher, which I, that, you know what? Shams needs to take some time right now and spend the next three days figuring out what Shingoon did. Like maybe he's still a girl. No way a big, no way a big white guy getting dunked on Michelle. No, but that's twice. And there's, and there's like some, there's some personal in there. It feels very personal to me. Something happened. I'm with, I'm with Eddie on that. All right, Lori, Mark and then. All right, again, two white guys. Now what? Yeah. Another one of these. Yo, he's just catching the Euro bigs all year, I guess, because he got a, he got boots earlier a couple of weeks back, same dunk, same, same gather, everything. Like I'm so happy Lori's going to be in that game. He might start if they get the injuries or whatever. He might mess around, start that game and he deserves it. He's been incredible. This is a, this is a whole new player. Maybe I didn't watch him a lot in Chicago and Cleveland, but yeah, he's got bodies. He can do it all. He is, he's, I always say, but he got so strong. Like he hit the weights crazy and it is showing cause he is just a hell of a year. It's a seven feet. He's incredible. You just need to change the scenery. Pascal Siagan with the block on Horford. Those are always, those are always the worst. He don't see the guy coming. I didn't even see this guy. He thought he had a bunny and then Pascal standing over him like he did something crazy. You're seven feet tall, buddy. We get it. Like it's crazy. Did he block this here? That young was also sending it to the third bro. So anyway, Atlanta owl dunks that, but this is not Atlanta. Shout out to the big fella. Yeah, you're right. He's just in the middle of three trees. I don't know what he's doing. Josh Green. Dun dun dun. Touch the earth. The face first drop is crazy. That's disrespectful. That's weird. They don't want push off there too. Like I can't even say that was cause of the push off why he got broke like that. Yeah, Norm, what happened bro? What happened? It doesn't even complain for a foul. He's just fell on his face. Good job. It looks like a dance. Capoeira. I like it. That kid has crazy bounce. We need a lot more people to be in this dunk contest. That's all I'm going to say. Look, our parley picks have been hot, stinky, disgusting garbage, which means we're due. We'll try again after the break. You do not want to be on the sidelines during the NFL playoff. So get in on the action with fan duel and official partner of the NFL right now. All customers could place a same game parlay or same game parlay plus a three legs or more on the NFL playoffs and get bonus bets back if you don't win. There's so many ways to bet on the NFL playoffs, including exclusive player props, live, same game parlays, alternate spreads and so much more. So download the app today to start betting the NBA playoffs. All right. We're starting fresh. It's a Monday. It's brand new. Let's just throw everything that we've done in the past away. Three leg parlay Eddie go. If I know anything about Yannis under the combo, I know he likes dunking on lesser competition. I'm expecting him to go on the over against the pistons. Hopefully there's no minister restriction and he gets like 10 dunks in. This is easy. This, this feels like free money. Can't lie, which means probably scores 20. Yeah, you're too confident. I don't like it. I don't like it. Chandler. Yeah, I like the Kings plus one and a half. I thought it was they were favored one and a half points. They're coming off a bad beat against Philly Grizzlies played last night. Their guys played a lot of minutes. I really like Sacramento Kings plus one and a half. I actually liked that one too. I feel pretty good about that one. I'm going Tatum under 31 and a half points. They're playing Orlando. I think Orlando will put up a bit of a fight and believe it or not, kids, 31 and a half points back in my day was a lot of points. So it still feels like that. And I'm going to stick with it. Just have that feeling. Bet 20, win 112 bucks. Slowly, but surely we're going to build our empire of parlays back up from the ground. Chandler, where in the world will you be joining us tomorrow from? Do you know yet? I'll be home tomorrow, but back back to the dungeon though, because it's going to take a while to get that thing set up. But I kind of like this better than the actual house. I mean, it's just very weird and very Jacques Cousteau. And I don't know what to do with you anymore. Eddie, love you. See you guys tomorrow.