 Run it up. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. Good morning. Welcome to Running Back, FanDuelTV. It is Friday. Guys, I love Fridays these days. Can I get a thumbs up for everybody else who does? Oh my God, you guys are the worst. Fine. No Chandler today. God knows where in the world he is on this fine morning. We got Shamsherani, a stadium insider, and Lou Will coming in, and now we got basketball to talk about. We're going to start with was a pretty big matchup, Sun Celtics, but didn't seem to be very difficult for this Boston team. There was a lot of that early on. They beat them 127-112. They're now 30 and 3 at home. First team to clinch a playoff spot. There was no poor Zingas out there. Still didn't seem to matter. Everybody with their points. 37 for Brown, 26 for Tatum, 23 for Booker, and 24 for KD, although he started out hot, and I'm the idiot that thought he was going to get 40. Oh, look, they handled business against the big three. We've talked so much about this big three team, Lou, about getting to see them all together and how many games we have left and all of that. Right now, you can get the Celtics for minus 125 to win the Eastern Conference and plus 220 to win the title. Are you taking both of those bets right now? Yeah, yeah, I take both of those. I take both of those in the heartbeat. I think when it comes to the Eastern Conference, they got that sewed up. I don't think they'll get a lot of challenges until they get to the to the Conference Finals when when they meet one of the one of the top matchups. Other than that, I think it'd be a cakewalk in the first two rounds. And you know, as far as them winning the championship, those are great odds for one of the for the best team in basketball. I love those odds. And so for me, if I can get these odds right now and hedge my bets on them winning the title and and get a plus 220 for that, I'm going to take my chances. Realistically, though, it's not as easy as it looks on paper. You know, the Western Conference is on fire. A lot of different basketball teams that can come out of the West Denver is playing really good basketball. Denver is playing just as well as basketball as Boston is right now. So you know, they got an opportunity to do their thing coming out of the West and have an opportunity to win a championship as well. And so but if I'm if I'm a bed man, I'm taking both of these. Right. It seems like you might as well throw a couple bucks on it just to sort of, as you said, hedge your bets just in case. Jalen Brown, Luke, can we talk about him for a second? He's been quite the tear lately. Seems to be no way to stop him. Last 10 games he's averaging 29 six rebounds, three and a half assists. He seems very much mindset. But I wonder this because I watch this team and then I watch other teams and there's definitely a difference in mentality, at least team wide. There seems to be a lot more fun being at perhaps in other locker rooms. This team starting with Jalen Brown is very serious. Is he the leader of sort of this this call to arms that it's championship or bust and this is anything else is a failure? Yeah, he said it publicly. You know, he's he's put it out there. This year is our year and we're not shying away from the expectations that that we have of ourselves. This is a championship year. And if we don't win a championship, we have failed. We've played really good basketball all year. But if we don't walk away with rings, it means nothing to us. And Jalen Brown has said that publicly said it out loud and it's shown in this play. He's leading by example. And that's what this team's need. This is what this team need. Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum are going to be the two guys that are going to lead them on the offensive end. Give them great looks on the defensive end as well. But on that side of the ball, you got Drew Holiday. If you need looking for another leader, you know, you got Al Horford. You want to stretch forward. You want somebody that's going to give you a look behind a three point line. You know this is a three point shooting basketball team. You got Porzingis whenever he comes back. Derek White was also a guy that was considered to be all star caliber this year. This team is fully loaded, but it starts with Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown mentally. Jalen Brown is going to be the leader of this team. And he's showing and he's proven it in this play. He is very serious guys. We got some fun video here. Maybe fun. I don't know you tell me, but Joe Missoula here heading to a timeout. We got some antics. I don't know. What is that? Have you have you seen this before? Lou, what's happening? This is hilarious. We haven't seen this before because we hadn't seen a lot of coaches that could even get off the ground anymore. You know who's going to contest the shot? Is Pop going to contest the shot? Is Steve Kerr going to contest the start? We know Doc got a bad hip. Doc can't get off the ground like that. Tee Lou can't get off the ground like that. You know, we only got one or two coaches that are even young enough, even athletic enough still to even be able to put this pressure on this shot right here. So this is this is hilarious though. If you're a player on both sides of the ball, you think this is funny. It's engaging. It gets the people going. So this is this is dope. This would have been funny to me if I was on the opposing team. I think the youngest coach in the league, right? So this is the luxury has to be of having some young legs if you're Joe Missoula. I've just I've never seen it. Both guys can't do that. But can I ask you this though? Lou all kidding us because we think it's funny. It looks funny. I have not seen it. But they're down what 18 at that point. Do you still think it's funny if you're a son? Well, don't shoot the ball. Right? No, just don't shoot the ball. You're down 18. Why are you shooting the 30 footer? You know, but like I said, a lot of times these type of things are done in jest. They're just fun. You're still having fun with the game. It's just a contest. You know, he didn't try to foul them. He didn't try to grab them. Anything. It was a contested shot going into a timeout. You know, a lot of times you got guys, they'll throw the ball down the court over their heads, turn around, shoot the ball on their own basket. You have a lot of different antics going into that timeout. You know, the timeouts are timed anyway. You know when they're coming. There's no big deals. Funny to me. I think it's funny. Of course, he was asked about it after the game. Here's Joe Missoula. That's our guy going in to try to get a shot and he hadn't made one. I didn't want him to feel good about himself going to the bench. Gary asked me about that a month ago and that's the bench rule. Guys don't shoot shots in front of our bench to go back to their bench to feel good about themselves. If I'm going to ask the guys that can test, the staff's going to do the same. That is so Joe Missoula. Okay. Michelle, very serious answer. But no, I'm not I'm not buying the statement. Listen, if we're going to ask guys to contest shots, then the staff has to do it as well. Well, if that's the case, somebody on your staff can get a 10 day contract. Like, no, you're not going to contest shots. You know what I'm saying. But other than that, it was done right in front of me. He's walking out on the court. His instincts probably kicked in. You got to put a hand up. It is what it is. Okay, but what happens if today, for example, the player comes down on his foot. Now, Shams has got to go around trying to figure out how are we going to handle the fact that a coach intervened or interrupted and hurt a player. I mean, you know me, I have to play party pooper to everything, Lou. Listen, these are trained professionals. During training camp, you're teaching guys how to contest, where to land, how to land, not step on feet. He's a trained professional. He's one of the trainees. He's a trainer. I mean, he's one of the guys that's implementing how to contest shots and land without fouling. This is just fine. Right. Fair enough. Fair enough. Look, Shams, there's a lot to talk about the Celtic team. It feels like none of this will matter if they don't win it all. They got the big four. Whether they win it all or not is the plan in Boston as of now to try and keep this core together for the time being. I think winning cures everything. Winning solves all the answers for this Boston Celtics organization because they're going to be deeply in the luxury tax second April and all that. If you're bringing back their core and you think about Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, Drew Haldec, Chris Ospreyzing is Derek White. Those five guys, I mean, we call her big four. It's really a big five. That starting five is the most lethal, I think in the NBA going right now and you think about this team. First team in the NBA to clinch a playoff spot. They've got a 10 and two record on back to backs. That's impressive. They've got the highest plus minus point differential in the league at plus 11. This team has been through conference finals appearances. They've been through deep, deep playoff runs. They've been to the NBA finals a couple of years ago in 2022. They are primed to get back to the finals. That's what this team is going for. It's a championship or bus season. This should be their season and at the end of the day at the end of the season, winning the outcome of the season, the production of the season, that's going to determine that's going to play a big part and if you do get to the finals or do win a championship, you can't not bring this exact same team back. We saw Brad Stevens last year. They make it to the conference finals. They lose to the heat and Brad Stevens made major changes in the summer. He brought in Chris Ospreyzing is traded away Marcus Smart. This is a different team brought in Drew Holiday, traded Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon. This is a totally different team. They've got the core of Jaylen Brown, Jason Taylor together, but this is a different team. I can't imagine the head scratching that's going to go on if they fall short of a championship just because so much is riding on this. But let's look at the Suns for a second, Lou. If you turn this one on, it was basically Tatum and Katie exchanging buckets. It looked like they're both headed to like 60 point games and then things sort of evened out. But the big three ultimately combined for 65 points last night on the Phoenix side of things. Ideally, if you could script it, what would you want out of this big three night in night out? In a range from 65 to 75 points, they're going to have to carry the load on offense. You know, if you put them at 65, you're going to get a 25 from somebody in a couple of 20s from the other guys. Or maybe you have a big night, a 35 and add in a couple of 15s, a 15 to 17 in that range somewhere from the other guys. They're going to need a lot of production from these big three guys. You know, other than that, they don't really have a lot of scoring threads. You know, Grayson Alley can go get you a bucket. Nerkich is going to be really well around the rim. He's going to have, you know, big nights here and there when the matchups are favorable his way. Other than that, I don't see a lot of guys that are going to hold this team to a standard of scoring like the big three. And they shouldn't. You got three of the best scorers in the world. They should hold the majority of the scoring punch. My concern is these three guys got to stop somebody from getting close to 50 and 55 points combined from night in and night out. That's going to be the only way they're going to win. But on the offensive side, they're going to have to at least put up 65 to 75 points in that range somewhere. All right, moving on to the other game in the West last night. This was a good one as well, at least on paper, Thunder Mavericks. Of course, no Luca for Dallas last night. They do ultimately lose this one, 126, 119. SGA 31, 9 and 5, Jalen Williams with 27, 5 and 4. Kyrie through it is 36, 12 assists and Gafford with 19, 15. We'll get to him later on the show, but Oklahoma City pulled away late in this one and you get SGA once again with 30 or more points. 49th time this season, he has had that, which is now officially the record for most 30 plus points in a game in a season in Thunder history, which means, yes, he has now surpassed KD Liu. Is SGA in your mind already one of the most consistent stars in this league? He has to be, you know, I seen him post game when one of the commentators asked him, you know, what is it about your consistency? This young man had the thought, the train of thought to say my whole life is consistent. It's the same thing. I sleep at the same time. I don't step, so I don't step very much outside of my box. My life is a routine. Everything is consistent and it works for him and it's showing up in his play. It's showing up in his life. You know, from where he started in this league to where he is now, he's been able to grow. He's been able to mature every single year and now you're starting to see the results of that, the results of him being a very mature young man and it's showing in his personal life. He's building a beautiful family. Shout out to his family. He's a model. He's everything that you want to be and on top of that, he's never forgot what puts food on the table. Basketball is the number one thing. Basketball is the number one priority. And this is where he's having the most success in his life. This is where he's having the most consistency in his life. So he has to be one of the most consistent guys and it's showing and it looks good on him. I'm happy for him. It is admirable at young age to be able to be so consistent on things like what you eat every day. For me, the sleep part, when they talked about how he's very adamant about his sleep habits, at that age, I mean, who amongst us is thinking about sleep? Now I regret it, but back then I didn't think about it. Lou, as far as bringing a ring to OKC and oh my God, can you imagine how wild that place will go? Is SGA going to do it? You know, I really do hope so. I'm one of his biggest fans. You know, like I've mentioned several times on this show before, I had the pleasure of building with this young dude and I know his mentality. He's a no-nonsense, mind his business, put his head down and do hard work and do his thing type of guy. And you got to love that from a young guy. You know, he's not a go out guy. He's not a drinker. He's not a partier. He's not into all of those things. He does his own thing. He skips to his own beat. And like he said, he's a very consistent young man and you love to see it. And so with him at the helm of this thing, I would very much love to see his career turn into a big time success story where he can bring two or three rings to OKC. And not to mention, that is a market that deserves it. When you talk about a team, an organization and a fan base that are 100% behind their guys and give them the support that they deserve, Oklahoma City is one of those markets. And so him being at the head of that, I would very much love to see him bring a championship to OKC. It's definitely deserved. And he puts the work in to make that happen. Shoms, before we get to Luca, I feel like you might be consistent about your sleep. Are you able to turn your phone off at night at a certain time and get your eight hours? Eight hours. I don't remember the last time I did it. Eight hours. No, the phone is always on. The phone is always ready for action. It doesn't matter what time of night, what time of day. I wouldn't say I would consistent sleep schedule. But I mean, I don't think we all do. That must be stressful, Shoms. Nah, it's the grind, baby. It's the fun. It's the high. No, I finally figured out how to use the do not disturb on my phone. It's a godsend. So we know that we lost Luca in the game before due to the hamstring. Didn't play last night. Any updates on when we can expect to see him back out there? Yeah, good news for the Mavericks. The MRI was clean on that hamstring. It's not believed to be a serious injury. He's going to be re-evaluated today, tomorrow. They play, they have that showdown against the Nuggets on Sunday. And there's obviously hope internally with the Mavericks that Luca Dunn just will be fine for that game on Sunday. But it's a hamstring. It's really going to be a day-by-day process. But the good news for the Mavericks is more of a day-by-day, day-to-day injury than anything that's going to cost him significant time. All right, that is huge. And sticking with Dallas, Shoms, I mean, Kyrie, we've talked about him. We talked about him yesterday. The sort of quiet, great year that he's been putting together. Is there a chance we see him in Paris with Team USA this summer? I'm told Kyrie Irving has a deep desire to represent his country, represent the USA in the Paris Olympics this summer. He wants to be part of this team coming up in the summer. We know about his pass with USA basketball. 2016, he was part of the gold medal team in the Olympics in 2014. He won the World Cup. He was part of the gold medal team that won the World Cup in 2014. He was also MVP of that tournament out of all the countries, out of all the players. He won MVP of that tournament. So he does have pedigree. There's also history with Kyrie Irving with a couple of the top players that are expected to be a part of this team. When you think about LeBron James, they won the championship together in Cleveland. Kevin Durant, they've had a close relationship. They were together in Brooklyn. So those relationships, that history will play a part as well. But when you look at the team that right now, the skeleton of a team, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Stefan Curry, Jason Tatum, Drew Holiday, Devin Booker, we'll see where Kyrie Irving could fare on that team if he is able to get an invitation. But this is, it's looking like the Avengers. Being formed right now for Team USA. It really does. Like it feels intimidating, but the world is so good now. Lou, what do you think? You want to see Kyrie on the team? Yeah, I would love to see Kyrie represent the country. You know, from everything that he's been going through in his career, COVID was a tough time for him. And he was dealing with a lot of criticism because he was standing on his beliefs and standing on the things that he felt were very important to him and things that he wanted to bring attention and light to and, you know, what better place to do that than the Olympics and represent your country and play well. I'm only curious though, on the lighter side, I'm curious to know how does this work with his shoe company? Him being signed to ANTA, who's a, you know, a Chinese based company. Is that like a thing or does that not matter, Shams? I don't know. Sell more shoes. I mean, for him, I'm sure he'd love to be there to represent ANTA. But I mean, I don't know how much it plays a part. Obviously in the past, you know, it's been Nike heavy teams, but we'll see what this team, it's all over the place. I mean, Joel Embiid, he committed to the team. He's going to be on the team and he doesn't even have a sneaker deal right now. He's talking to sketchers and engaged with them. He was part of Under Armour. So I think with this team, given how anyone could be signed to any given brand at any given day, I don't know how much is going to matter. I mean, Steph and Curry, him, LeBron, James, Kevin, Draynor are going to be the staple points of this team and Steph and Curry has got his own brand, Curry brand. That's a great point. I mean, everyone's got their shoes. French needs shoes. All right, we're taking a quick break. When we come back, you will be joined by the center for your Dallas Mavericks. Daniel Gaffer joins the show when Run It Back returns. Six-year bet. Center for the Mavs joining us now, Daniel Gaffer. And see, everybody jinxed you, Daniel. I wanted to tell you, we spent so much time talking about the 33 consecutive field goals yesterday and you were going for Wilts' record of 35. I thought it was so cool and then you missed it. Oh, okay, talk to me. Did you, how much was it playing in your mind, by the way, when you took the floor? Anybody say anything to you? When I first got out, it's funny how you say you jinxed me because I think Shay jinxed me a little bit too. He's like a former AUT made of mind. We joke around most of the time when we play against each other. So he came up to me before the game during tip-off. He was like, man, you're going to try to break the record against us, huh? And I think it just kind of played out from there. It was a real exciting day for me, though. At the end of the day, I just got in a position, just whiffed it at the beginning there. And it was tough. It was tough. I mean, it'd be hard not to think about it when the whole world's just watching it. Yeah, no, that's true. That is true. I got, it was kids and stuff, just like, you know, okay, seeing everything that was just like, oh, yeah, it's going to be Will's record and stuff. They was asking for autographs and everything. I was like, I'm going to try. I'm going to do my best. All right. You got, you know what? You can just do it again. That's no big deal. Will's got other records, 100 points in a game. Maybe we do that. That's a big answer for my position, but I give it a shot, you know? All right. I like the positive energy. Yep. Yep. Gap, is there a small part of you that's happy that this is behind you? You know, as you got closer, obviously, it seems like it started to play a little bit more. People were coming up to you, whether it's fans, other players, teammates, and did it impact your shot selection at all? I mean, I didn't see you, I didn't see you taking any threes, but you were doing your thing. Shot selection, not necessarily. The end of the day, you know, I dunk everything pretty much, you know? So it wasn't really anything too serious when it came to shot selection. I wasn't a little bit nervous, like the last two games when I was getting closer to it. So it's like every time that I was going to sleep or anything like that, I'm just having to force myself to kind of think about something else at the end of the day, because you know, I was just like wired. I was juice. I was ready to go. I was anxious. I was nervous. I was excited. It was just like a bunch of emotions all in one. Man, mostly your shots are assisted by Luca or Kyrie. You got to tell me, what's it like to share the court with those type of guys to be able to play with them? And yesterday I mentioned on the show, I say, yo, he's eating off the land. And by eating off the land, you got two of the most dynamic guards that you could play pick and roll basketball with, dump offs. Hey, you've been able to break records, score the ball at a hot clip. What's it like playing with those guys and from a game to game basis? What's it like playing with them and watching them cook? I mean, in all honesty, it's a real great experience for me. I'm grateful to be in the position that I'm in today to be playing with just two great players. And like just when I came in, you know, just guys on the team were just telling me to just, you know, do the things that I'm usually always doing, send screens and going for lives. And I always make sure that, especially like when I come to teams like this, make sure I at least pick the brain of the two main guys that I'm going to be sharing the floor with. You know, they told me the things that they don't like, they told me the things they do like, cause it's just like I have to be in the right spot at the right time. And the experience, just seeing the things that they do on a night to night basis, it's just, it's unbelievable. You know, and I'm just blessed to be able to sit on the sideline and experience most of the time when I'm not on the floor. When I'm out there on the floor, I just make sure I don't mess up too much. You know, get them down here and get them to their spots. You know, cause it's tough when you got, you know, the two best guys on the floor, getting on you about, you know, the things that you usually would do on a night to night basis. So I just got to make sure that I'm locked in 100% and just go finish around the room. Those are the main thing. Yeah, if your former teammate, Kyle Kuzma, he said, you have the easiest job in sports. Do you agree? 100%, you know, I just, I just go light a guy up, just go out to the two of our best players and I run to the rim at the end of the day. And if they getting doubled, you know, I make sure I stay around even an outlet, but other than that, I rebound the ball, block sides, come out with energy and be the anchor on the defensive being at the end of the day in offensively, just set screens and roll to the basket. So paint the picture for those of us who will never share a floor with Luca. What is it like? I mean, they say head on a swivel and we take that for granted, but it would seem with him, you really have to do that. Oh, yeah, for sure. Because it doesn't really matter where you are on the floor. He's always going to find you, whether you're in the corner, top of the key, he's driving down to the back. Because you could be in any position possible on the floor. And there's going to be some type of way he gets the ball to you, whether you're big, another guard on the floor sharing the floor with him, the three man, the four man, wherever. So it's just like, yeah, you have to keep your hand on the swivel. Have to always have your hands ready, be shot ready. Because sometimes you miss the shot if he has tried this issue, he's going to try to get on you at the end of the day. But it's just dope because he puts so much trust in his teammates and he tries to make everyone better on the floor from just like the position that I'm seeing at the end of the day. So I mean, like I said, the experience is when I'm here and we're seeing the stuff that he does on a night tonight basically is unbelievable. And I can say consistent with him for so long because there's something else that I'm trying to get to a point to be able to do too. Consistency is a big thing for me and just seeing how he holds himself and how he's consistent with everything he does on the floor. That's for sure like something that is contagious throughout the day. Is there a pass that sticks out to you that that he's done that you sort of remember more than others? I thought the one the other night, the nutmeg with Clay Thompson was cool. But then I was educated by both Lou and Chandler that that's not that big a deal. How was that one? Yeah, yeah, that's true. That is, that's a bit of a regular pass coming from me, I'm in all honesty. It's crazy. Yeah, there's no, I would say there's no passes that's really surprised me more than just like the full court passes he's thrown me. If our contestant shot him a three point line and he gets the rebound, he just launches it. You know, to have trust in the big land to be able to make the pass like that. That says a lot, you know, at the end of the day, I just got to make sure that I catch it. I played wide receiver in ninth grade and I couldn't catch a cold. So catching those passes like that is something that, you know, it's like, okay, I got to get better at this because I'm going to get these more often. Oh man, you're having flashbacks. It's not like it's a weird one. All right, Luca and Kairi. Can we talk Luca and Kairi for a second? Because I mean, Kairi sort of has an air of mystery to him. And we see Luca's personality shine through a little sarcasm. What are those dudes like off the court? They're real down earth people, you know, it's just, you really expect, like when I first got around Kairi, I was expecting him to kind of be a little bit more, I would say, like you said, on the mysterious side. But once I got to actually sit down and talk to him, it's just like, he's just a regular person, you know, without the NBA status. He'll just be just like, you know, regular person is like anybody else. So it's dope to just kind of like pick the brains of guys like, you know, Luca, he's pretty chill, you know, me and him at the same age. So it's just like, it's just like, man, you know, I feel old just because it's just like how my mentality is. I have a real old soul. So it's just like sitting around Luca, he's real quiet. He reminds me of a young me, like a young, young me at the end of the day because every time that I've seen him, he's either on the phone playing cards or he's, he's sitting down just looking at stuff on his Instagram feed. So it's just dope. They both real down earth guys and they don't really do too much off the floor. Gaff, you started your career with the Bulls. How do you kind of look back at that start for you? And then you ended up in DC. Now you're in Dallas. And how do you view the three cultures that you've been a part of? And, you know, the, obviously, I'm sure it's night and day playing for the Wizards this year versus the Mavericks. But how do you kind of reconcile with the culture that you've been a part of so far in your career? Oh man, he's in every one of them. Just like the fan bases, the organization, everything. And then with open arms, you know, Chicago, of course. It took his toll. It was a lot of things that I felt like I took for granted in that situation. Whenever I was there with that team, like I traded to Washington and I had to take another step and just like my career and how I wanted to blossom in the league. And, you know, it was there for three years, man, a lot of great friendships, great relationships with a lot of people on the team, the organization, in DC, and to be put in the position that I'm in now. I mean, it was just kind of like when I got to Washington, just come in and just be me at the end of the day. They gave me the freedom to pretty much just do anything that I needed to do to be able to help the team win at the end of the day. So, I mean, coming here, I'm back close to home in Dallas. I'm like four to five hours away from my hometown. South El Dorado. If anybody's watching it from down there, I know they're going to be mad if I don't. But it's just, you know, each one of the coaches has not been too different, but at the end of the day, they always made sure that they, you know, walk with the new guys and with open arms. And I really appreciate that. Just being a guy that's, you know, been on three different teams now. Just being on this team, I just feel like, you know, the love this was like continuously from Chicago team to the Wizards team to now Dallas. Just the love is, you know, through the roof. And I appreciate it a hundred percent, most of all. I know you're not invested in it no more, but, you know, you played in DC four seasons. That was a tough stretch. What do you think it takes for the Wizards to be a winning organization? Do you think they have what it takes to be a winning organization? Oh, a hundred percent thinks that they have what it takes. At the end of the day, it just falls down to just like a level of consistency and something that we were just getting to before I got traded was just like the level of accountability with everybody on the team. At the end of the day, we came out night in, night out. We were trying to figure it out. But one thing that we never did when I was there was just like, you know, I always come in and it's like, man, we don't know what to do. So we just don't kind of give in night in, night out. We just come out and just lay down and let everybody beat up on us at the end of the day. We always had plans on how to at least try to come out and make some type of fight on a night-to-night basis. And that's something that I see them trying to get to, you know, these next coming years when it comes to the organization, trying to rebuild and trying to find just like their niche in the league, you know, because I mean, a couple of years before we were, I had made the playoffs when Russ was there when I first got there. And then I think the year after, we were close to at least trying to make a play in Berg. So at the end of the day, like, you know, when I was there, we told them ourselves, you know, we for sure, like put ourselves in position to succeed. It's just, you know, on a night-to-night basis, we just kind of like, hey, couldn't figure out how to just like finish out a lot of stuff at the end of the day, you know. So like I said, it's just, you know, the accountability part once they take the steps in the right direction from when I left, I'd seen that it's just, you know, when DK, he became the head coach and stuff, he really just kind of like changed, I would say, the scenery and the atmosphere with just how he wanted everybody, he wanted everybody on the team, how he wanted people to act, so on and so forth. So any show that covers NBA these days has to have a fashion segment. It has become a part of the game, one that I cherish. And on the Kyle Kuzma side of things, did you ever look up and say, what in the hell are you wearing, sir? What's going on with Kyle Kuzma? I stopped worrying about, oh, I stopped worrying about cool stuff once he did the pink sweater. I was like, yeah, I don't even want to ask questions at this point. Oh, the giant pink sweater with the sleeves? Yeah, yeah, that one got me. I was like, yeah, because I had seen a couple before, he had came to the Wizards and it was just like, okay, you know, he has one of those fashion, kind of like Russ at the end of the day. It wasn't, it wasn't, where Russ was at, at the time, when I first had seen it, but like now, once I seen the pink sweater thing, I was like, yeah, it can't get no worse than this. And then I seen the big, yeah, I seen the big bubble jacket that he wore the day we went to play Brooklyn, if I'm not mistaken. And the collar of the jacket was like at the top of his head. I was like, bro, what are you doing? God, I love it. I love it so much. He gives the stuff. And where does he keep that? No, he has a different sense of it. Does. Is he getting those made? Does he have a stylist? Like, how does that work? I don't know. He's real big and passionate and he tells his stories all the time with just like all the stuff that he wears and whatnot. You know, I was like, yeah, man, that's cool. And all, but some of this stuff, some of this stuff is getting outrageous. You know, it takes up a lot of space in your locker. I mean, thank you can't fit in there. Great point. The jacket alone needs its own locker. Speaking of outfits, maybe you could help us and explain the following. I will show you right now as we roll up some images. What's going on here? So my stylist, yeah, put this together, of course. Really? What's up with the mask, though? That pirate to the Caribbean? So the mask, yeah. And all honesty, I was expecting the mask to have something when it came to just like up top on my hair. When I first like decided to put it on, I did not know it was going to be an octopus mask at the end of the day. And I just, you know, I sent it to my stylist before I head out of the door before every game. And he's like, yeah, man, swag it out. Swag it out. Look cool. And I was trying my best to put the most serious face I could possibly put on with this mask on because I just knew it was going to get a lot of sideways looks because everybody didn't even know it was me at the time because it was just like my first time. I'm like dressing up. I'm digging the hoodie, though. I'm looking for that hoodie. What kind of hoodie? I can't, I can't even, I can't even remember what, who had sent it to me if I'm not mistaken. I can't, my stylist had did it. But it's not too far from here, if I'm not mistaken. I for sure find it, you know, and get it to you. I got you. But not you, Lou. You can't wear the hoodie without the mask. The mask is vital. Nah, I'm going to leave the mask at home. I'm going to leave at the DG. I'm going to leave the mask at home. But I love that hoodie, though. I told him, I was like, I appreciate the mask. But we for sure, like I've worn hats with like long ears on it before. I was like, yeah, let's keep it. Let's keep it with the ears. You know, you did it. The octopus, you know, octopus, yes. Octopus a bit different. I felt like a wrestler coming out, you know, getting ready for Royal Rumble, man. Nice, not awful either. No, not at all. So, yeah, in high school, you played the drums in the marching band. What was that like? Yeah. I mean, you had to have been the biggest drummer in high school history, marching band history. I was. Do you still play the drums? Are you going to start an all NBA rock band? Oh, y'all done brought back the OG video. That's what started it all, man. But no, like when I get to a point to where it's like, I'm fully settled with just everything here in Dallas, I'm for sure going to try to get back to it. My wife, she's been on my butt about it for the longest. She's like, yeah, you need to get back with music and such and such. Because I play music all the time around the house. And she just gets mad because, you know, I put so much energy into it when it comes to me listening to it. So it's like, yeah, she's like, if you don't lock in, you know, some bad going to happen to you. I was like, oh, yeah, let me go and get right. But just, yeah, was most definitely like one of the tallest guys that was like out of the blue, you know, playing the bass drum, marching down. My cousin was in the band. He played the snare drum. He was always right beside me. So when I first started doing it, it was just something that, you know, I wanted to try out, see if I was going to get better at it. I started off with just like the clarinet, played three different variations of the clarinet. So it was regular one, bass clarinet, concert bass clarinet. So I was getting better over time when it came to the concert season where we had to sit in the chair and hold the instrument. I was getting better over time too when it came to the marching band stuff. I wanted to play the snare drum. I'm not going to lie to you. I wanted to be on just like the smaller drum as possible. But it was like, no, oh, you're going to put the biggest drum on your shoulders and we're going to see what you do with it. Yeah, they're not going to waste that. I'm paying them many times. By the way, were you first chair clarinet? Like how good were you at clarinet? Um, I was terrible at the first one. Um, then I got to a point to where I was, I sucked at trying to get high notes. So I went to the bass clarinet, which was it kind of got like the tone and stuff. Kind of got lower as I like upgraded with the clarinet. So I got to Contra bass clarinet. That was the third variation of it that I played. And every time we went to regionals and stuff, I can't even talk. Um, I was always just like the only one that was playing that certain clarinet. So I always had made it. So it's like, I don't even know if I was like the best of the best or if anybody else just didn't want to play this big clarinet at the end of the day. It counts, man. It counts. By the way, fellow band nerds, so I appreciate the stories. I love it. I'll saxophone, much cooler instrument, but we won't have to argue about that here. Daniel Gafford, Dallas Mavericks. It's going to be a hell of a stretch down these final weeks, Daniel. Best of luck all the way. And thank you. Thank you all so much. All right. Running back. We'll be back. We'll take the gap. Oh, I love that sound because it means it scoops time with Sean. So Ben Simmons shut down for the rest of the season. What's the latest? Ben Simmons has undergone back surgery for the second time in three years to relieve a nerve issue in his lower back. This is since joining the Nets in 2022. This is again another setback for him in 2022. He did not play once he joined the Nets. Then he underwent back surgery. Last year he got shut down and then rehabbed the injury. This year tries to play 15 games and now is done for the year. Underwent back surgery. The Nets are hopeful and expect him to be fully healthy for the start of next season in training camp. But he's got $40 million left on his deal. His future obviously very much up in the air. Man, that's daunting. Steph Curry, by the way, his line just launched their first NIL athlete. What's up with that? The University of South Carolina freshman guard, Malaysia Fulwile, has signed a multi-year NIL deal with Curry brand that has been in the U.S. That makes you the first collegiate athlete to sign with Steph Curry's signature line Curry brand at Under Armour. So Curry brand signed Deer and Fox to a shoe deal earlier this year, which we spoke about. Steph Curry, this is an interesting wrinkle to me. Steph Curry is the only active NBA player that's signing pro and collegiate athletes two contracts under his own brand. So I mean this is along with Michael Jordan under Jordan brand. Steph Curry is doing something very unique at Curry brand. I mean you'd think they'd be snatching up all these opportunities but I love to see it. Shams, love you mean it. It is Friday. So take the weekend and when I see you next we will be bright and early in Los Angeles, sir. Thank you. I can't. And Lou, you don't get to go anywhere because we got that man has a family right now. Kick it off, starting things. Jalen Green, I think it's our first one, yeah? Oh, Jalen, Jalen Green. And the news a lot lately, Jalen Green. Oh no. Oh no. By the way. Did he turn around? I mean. Okay, look, hitting with boom. Okay. Take a peek. That's like Lou and his prime right there. Fire it up. Steph Curry, I'm spinning out of here. Hey, I like this. You do like this, Ike. This groovy right here, yeah. He got to step it up. Shams going his out. He got to go. The great. Oh, I thought this was going to go a different way. Shout out to DG. DG, I need that hoodie, dawg. I know. I'll find that hoodie. We're going to find it. Man, that guy, he thought he was about to do something. We got to give Gaffer some credit, man. Luca and Kyrie can't help him with this. This is talent right here. He don't got the easiest job in the league. Man, he was coming in hot, too. All right. Oh, that's a moment. A little guard on guard action. That's all right. Still looks nice. Yeah, a little rim. We call that a rim burner. I know, but isn't there something a little more like points to when the dude on the receiving end is a star? Super star. That feel good. Yeah, not like a 6-4 one, though. Well, that's fair. That is fair. No, Brooke. No. He looked mad. Come on. Sabonis. Is that our league leader in triple doubles, if I'm not mistaken? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. And look, he looks mad. It's like he knows no one's giving them the respect they want. Keep that. Keep that fire. Yeah, that's crazy. I didn't know that stand until yesterday. It's insane. Come on. Get a nix what they looking for. Yeah, Beto, how you feel about that? What do you mean, how do I feel about that? They blew him out of the game. They beat them once. They lost one. What do you want from me? Hey, listen, give the nix credit, too. They didn't hold in the 80, but 93 is pretty good as well. We're paying attention. Let's see. Give them credit. It's evolving. Give them credit when it's due. Got to be white. This was a nasty blast though. Oh, no, Coby. You got to know better than this, Coby. You fighting traffic. Somebody's walking you down. Dang, that was a lot of physical activity. I feel like somebody's going to get hurt. Yeah, right here, this one of those, you pull the ball out and get set up right here. You guys, you still got nine seconds, man. Come on, a smaller bar's got to know better than that. Well, for a minute there. All right, we got Saddy Pippin Jr. Oh. Which one, Scottie Pippin Jr.? That one. The dunker? Okay. One. Oh, well, there you go. Okay, Pops. We see Pops in the building. Oh, Scottie. Oh, Scottie, Scottie, Scottie, Scottie. Got to love it. I guess that Australia tour went well. We didn't talk about that here. We probably should. All right. Oh, my. That boy's on a trampoline. Look at that. Oh, this is correct. Look at that. That should have been making the rounds much, much more. Look, it's a kid on the Sacramento Kings that got up. He was impressed. Look, check them out on the bench. Oh, this'll do it. Now, look. Oh, look, they forgot what team they were on. That is some Anthony Edwards-type stuff going on right here. Look. That's kind of a big deal. Look how high he got. Look at the air. That's what I'm saying. All right, we're taking a quick break. When we come back and talk a little betting with our pal, Michael Bowling. That's right. That's that ain't bad. We'll run it back when we return. All right, Michael Bowling's back with BR betting. We got some games that we want to go through right now. Clippers, Pelicans being one. Oh, my God. We're talking about the Pelicans. See, we do talk about them sometimes, but they are down. The Clippers are Kawhi and Russ back-to-back. They won in Chicago last night. The odds right now are Pelicans minus seven in the over-underset at 2.17. Michael, what do you got? This is going to be a fun game, I think, for New Orleans. I'm rocking with Pelicans tonight minus seven. It is kind of a big number, but the Pelicans have been playing really good basketballs of late. And I think that C.J. McCollum, who I'll get to a little later, has started to really come to his own, come into his own. So the Clippers have that deep injury report. You kind of never know who's going to play. Everyone's always questionable. So I like the Pelicans tonight minus seven, and I'm leaning under 2.17. Both of these teams love playing unders. The public is on the over, so I'm fading that. You usually got to fade the public. It's normally a good plan. And I will say, unders have been cashing at over a 60% clip since the All-Star break. So I don't know if we're getting close to the end of the season here, and there's a drop-off, but the numbers kind of don't lie. So I'll take the Pelicans minus seven and the under 2.17. All right, that's an interesting nugget about the unders, Lou. What are you looking at here? You know, I got to be honest. Here's some insider information. Uh-oh. Since I've played for the Clippers, we've just never played well in New Orleans. It's just not one of our places. The sun don't shine bright out there. It's different from LA. We just never played well out there. I'm far removed. I'm very far removed. I like the Pelicans tonight. I'm going with Mike. That is some inside scoop from our very own Lou. You got to love it. All right, let's move over to the Nuggets Spurs. Nuggets, what can you say? They've won 10 out of the last 11, but they are traveling to San Antonio to take on Wemby. I'm trying to build it up, you guys. The odds right now at Fandall Sports Book are Nuggets minus 10 and a half over, under 2.21 and a half. Okay, I'll start with you, Lou. Wemby versus Yoakich. What do you think? What do you think I think? I think this is a mismatch for the walk and triple double until Wemby shows me he could guard the post efficiently and stop some of these things that Joker is going to do. Joker is going to play inside, outside, mid-range. He's going to give them a lot of different looks. Nobody else has been able to stop this. I don't see Wemby being the guy to do it. This is a big, live-sided advantage towards Joker tonight. Dang it. It's not my quadruple double night. All right, fine. Michael, your official picks on this one. I do agree with Lou here. I think Yoakich is going to feast. I don't think that Wemby has anything for him in the paint. But I don't need the nuggets to win. I just need the spurs to cover. So give me the spurs plus 10 and a half. They've been playing really hard. I think that minute's restriction for Wemby has kind of been lifted a little bit. He's pops letting them kind of rock in the fourth quarter. 10 and a half points, a lot of points. They could easily get blown out, but I know that they're going to play competitive at home. So I'll take the points here, and I'm leaning under here as well. If there is a blowout situation, maybe I'll catch one of the two. But this is going to be a more competitive game, I think, than a lot of people anticipate, just because of the hype that Wemby will probably have to try and prove his worth against Yoakich tonight. Read my mind, Michael. We're going to do something every week right now. We're going to put together a BR betting or run it back, same game parlay. So we will start with this game right here, Michael. You got the first two. Talk to me. All right, so one guy I love betting, Michael Porter Jr. I'm going to take him to have two threes tonight. The Spurs give up the most, or 30th in the league against small forward shooting threes. He's cashed this in his last three in a row. He's got tons of volume. I think he shoots between like nine and 12 a game. He's an absolute monster out there. So I'll take MPJ for two threes. And then on the Spurs side, I like Wemby to have four dimes. Four assists for Wemby. Nuggets are middle of the pack against Power Ford slash centers in this. He's also cashed this in seven of his last 10. And they've never faced, he's never faced the nuggets yet. So I think what Lou is saying earlier is Yokech is going to present some issues. They're going to throw a lot of different looks at him. I think he's going to be passing it off tonight. So he'll have forces. Okay, okay. Lou, you represent, run it back. I'm going in. Yeah, I'm going to go all in on the Denver Nuggets. I like Jamal Murray over on 22 and a half points. I think the guard play is going to be there. They're not going to be able to do nothing with him. And with that said, I got the Joker at over 10 assists. I think Jamal Murray is going to be the recipient of a lot of that. Michael Porter Jr. is going to be a recipient. A lot of that hopefully is going to be on two May threes. That's what I got. Look at that. Plus seven 40 if you take the advice of our two esteemed colleagues here. I like that. Listen, I would bet this if I could. All right, Michael. We got some a little prop party, a mini prop party going. You want to kick it off with, I guess I think you got CJ up first. Yeah, I do. So in that Pelicans game, Pelicans Clippers. I really like CJ McCollum over six and a half rebounds and assists. This is cash and six of his last 10. He also had a clunker against the Cavs. They kind of got blown out to some perfect bounce back spot. Moving on. I love Paulo Bancaro to have over six and a half boards tonight. The Raptors are 25th in the league against this position, giving up boards. I think they miss a lot of shots. And I think that he really is going to hit the glass tonight. And then finally, my guy Bam over two and a half steals and blocks tonight. Cash and three of the last four. The Pistons are pretty rough. So let's cash it. I love this. This has been awesome. Michael always appreciated having you here. It's fun. Lou, you're all right. Happy Friday. We'll see you all on Monday.