 Run it up, do run it back, yeah. Run it up, do run it back, run it back, run it up. Oh my goodness, it's early on a Monday from Los Angeles, California. This is Run It Back, and we did it. We are all in studio, you guys. How does it feel, Sean? It feels amazing. It's always great vibes in studio. Welcome back, brother. Did everyone have a fabulous Thanksgiving? We did. That feels like three weeks ago. The longest weekend of all time. Was that this for past weekend? Yes. Did you cook anything? I did not. I know you did. Lou, I know you cook. I thought you did. Yes, cooking is my thing, but this particular Thanksgiving, I wanted my whole entire family to relax. So shout out to Chef Dino, my chef cook for everybody. That's the way it should be. I don't know why families try to cook anything. Lou's a giver. Lou's a giver this holiday season. When they do that, it doesn't taste as good. No, it's not as good. You ain't going to clean it up. Sean Srania, Stadium Insider, Chandler Parsons, Lou Will, we got Antoine Walker on the show a little bit later today, but we do have a lot of basketball. I really do feel like it's been week since we've done this show. And we start with Sons and Nicks. Oh, a heartbreaker. They survived at the Garden 116, 113. Booker with 28, 11 assists. He also had the game-winning three-point shot with a, I don't know, second left, two-second stuff. Eric Gordon threw in 25. Brunson, oh, 35, eight, and six. The game winner for Devon afterwards, Frank Bogle had this to say. It was like, ice in the veins, Chandler. I ask both of you, what is required to take a shot like a game-winning three like that? The answer is balls, Michelle. The answer is straight-up balls. He is fearless. And you have to, to have this shot, first of all, to take it, you have to not care if you missed the shot. You have to be fearless. You have to practice this every single day and want these moments. And Devon Booker is a player like that where he is absolutely fearless. He wants this shot and he can care less what the media says about it afterwards. Anyone else's opinion about it, he has confidence in his ability. He's rehearsed this shot over and over again, going back to the summer league games where Joe Keemnoa was yelling at guys to double-team him in UCLA's gym. This is just another shot for him. And when you get this many reps and you have that no fear mentality like he does, he's a killer. This is a, he called game. A three to win the game in the garden. That's a good one. Good vibes. Yeah. I'm sure they had a good time in New York City, but when you're Devon Booker and you're the Phoenix Suns, everybody in that locker room is comfortable with you taking that shot. So when you have that confidence from your team and from the coaching staff, from your fan base, they're gonna live and die with the results. If you making that shot, it makes it so much easier as a player. So here's a fun question. He's averaging 29, eight and five over the period of the last seven. They've also won the last seven in a row. I know who was on this roster when I asked this question. Is he the most important part of the Suns? It's tough cause you've seen early on where Kevin Durant is playing every single game. That's just as important. I think that these guys were four and six and now they've gone on this run, seven in a row to get them 11 and six is impressive. I'm not worried about these guys not playing together yet because these other guys are getting valuable experience, right? Guys like Bates Deop, Nassir Little, these are guys that aren't gonna play as much or not nearly as much when they're at full strength. But these guys are getting valuable minutes. Grayson Allen, Eric Gordon are getting valuable minutes in the fourth quarter. But yeah, when you look at Devon Booker's game, he can beat you in so many different ways. He's one of the best scores. He's got a huge deep bag where he can post you up. He can get out in transition. Yeah, everything. He's got it all. And he's poetry in motion to watch. Guys like him, guys like Kyrie Irving, these guys are just, they're fun to watch. The way he plays, he's got that Kobe kind of face up, get to a spot, rise up over you game. He's super impressive. But yeah, it's again, it's gonna be him one night. It's gonna be Kevin Durant one night. This team is so low to the top that it's gonna be a different night. It's him and Katie's team. That's fair. I mean, look, they've had a lot of injuries. We've all been a little bit robbed because we haven't seen the big three yet, Lou. But the 11 and six record, you didn't have Katie in the lineup again and they still managed to have this record. Are you impressed? Are you shocked? What do you feel about this? No, I mean, they're right where they should be. This team is built for adversity. I mean, you got three different guys that can give you 25 to 30 points a night. So it's a plug and play type of thing right now. Katie goes out, Devon Booker is there. Devon Booker has been out the beginning of the season. Katie held it down. And so imagine how that's gonna look when they get Brad Bill on that team. You know, you're gonna always probably have two guys that can go out there and really carry this basketball team to a lot of wins. And so I think they went out and went and got these guys for these type of situations to always have a star player on the basketball court. And so am I impressed? No, I think this team is built for that. Yeah, and this is the luxury that they have, right? That when one of those top three guys are out, these other two guys can carry that load and can go and get you a game winner like Devon Booker. Now, my concern is the chemistry. Obviously, they want to get the reps. They want to play together. It's not easy just to, it's not just, okay, they're all healthy, let's go win. They're gonna have to know their role, their spots, the offense, their system, everything, that's gonna take time. So I would love them to get on the court. But like I said, this experience for those other guys and to be able to have Kevin Durant, Devon Booker on the floor at all times, they're gonna win games. They're gonna stay afloat and then fully loaded, watch out. And I think mentality-wise, Phoenix is in a great spot with so many star players on their team because of the mentalities that they have. You know, you have guys on that team that they'll take a backseat. If Devon Booker got it going, KD is the type of player. He said it publicly when he played on Golden State. He said, look, I'll just try to play basketball the right way, try to play the game and give us an opportunity to win games by doing things the right way instead of just going out on my own and trying to win games. So mentally, these guys are the right group of guys to play together, to be co-existent and to be successful. And also they are deep. They have so many guys that they can plug and play, they play off those guys, they got shooting, they got size, they got youth. They have a little bit of everything. So I really look forward to when they are finally full strength. I do too. And I think we got spoiled that KD started out playing every single game but now we got back to back misses. What's the extent of this? Yeah, so he jammed his foot against the Warriors last Wednesday, he warmed up on Sunday. I think they're just being cautious with him. I mean, it's crazy. He's 35 years old and the level that he's playing at, he's playing at obviously an all NBA form. So they have two days off before playing in Toronto on Wednesday, there's confidence he's gonna play in that game and then they played Denver in season tournament game on Friday at home. So, but like you said, the depth that they have, like Eric Gordon, 25 points, this guy this time for the minimum, Nassir Little, 11 points off the bench. Jordan Goodwin, a guy that was a throw in in the Bradley Bealtree, 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists last night off the bench. They have a lot of confidence in them. They literally got rid of campaign. He's been hoping. Just so they could have Jordan Goodwin play a little bit more and Frank Vogel liked him in their system. So this is a team that's deep. I can't wait until those three guys are back though. Like I want to see them on the floor. You want to see them build chemistry. I think Bradley Bealtree, they're gonna be patient with him with a back injury. I think that's likely gonna take some time but when books on the floor, I mean, Katie or not, this team is tough because he's that good. I think he's taking the next step in his career. How I mean, I hate to ask this now because hindsight is 2020, but when you sign a guy and then the back issue pops up, like, do you know at all that there's a back? I mean, you know there's back problems, right? But you don't know the extent. Well, this one with Bradley Bealtree, I mean, sometimes back things develop over years. I mean, you guys could probably speak to it than I can. But I think with this one, it developed in training camp. It's something that he tweaked his back in training camp. And unfortunately for him, it's something that has been nagging him for literally a month before they decided to shut him down. And still you can gamble, you can gamble knowing that he's having an issue when you still have Kevin Durant and Devin Booker to fall back on, you know? So you can be patient with him coming back. I'm still trying to figure out what a jammed foot is. Katie jammed it. Wouldn't you, I think, I think when you jam, I mean, is that the official diagnosis? There's been some medical terminology this year that, trust me, I lived on the injury report. I've never heard of these things. This is crazy. Are you writing them down? Yeah, Jim. Okay, good, thank you. More games, Blazers, Bucks. This one was weird, man. Bucks at one point were down 26. How does that even happen? It does turn into the biggest comeback of the season so far. Giannis with 33 and 16, Lillard, 31, five and four. Okay, a comeback of 26 points. In granted, I know what records we're talking about with these two teams, but what's that like, Lou, coming back from 26? That feels like a deficit you shouldn't be able to get out of. It's pretty easy, honestly. Because you're playing with house money. Like what else can you lose when you're down 26? So you go out there, you play free, play hard, try to make shots and cut into the lead. And once you get into a space where it gets down to 10 and 15, you say, you know what, we might have an opportunity. If we can get this thing down half of that throughout like the third quarter or so sometimes, third quarter, you like to manage games where you can, if it's a 15 point game, try to get it down to seven or eight by the next time out. So to me, it's actually pretty easy because you don't have any pressure on you. Yeah, like you kind of look at it like four minute segments, right? Or to the next time out, let's try and cut it down. There's going to be no home runs. Let's slap a bunch of singles. Let's continue to move the ball. And on the other side, when this does happen, it's everything's going wrong. You feel like when this is happening. You're not making the extra pass. Guys are trying to get it back in one possession. They're taking a horrible shot. So it showed a level of maturity that the Bucks continue just to keep their head down. It's more concerned to me that they got down 26 than impressed that they came back. This is more to Portland and their bad rebuilding young team and their maturity level obviously wasn't there to sustain this lead. But yeah, I'm more concerned that they even got down 26 to a team like this than the level to come back. I think that's probably, yeah, what stands out the most is how did you get there in the first place? This is obviously Dame's first game against his former team. What is it like to face your former team? Is there anyone out there that's faced their former team and not felt something? No, they're full of it. And obviously it means it's going to mean more when Dame goes back to Portland, when he gets the video, when he feels the love, when he feels the emotion, that is completely different. This is the perfect situation too for Damian Lillard, right? He goes to the Milwaukee Bucks as a contending team hoping to win a championship this year and he leaves a team that's in just disarray and rebuilding and doesn't have really a bright future yet. So this was a perfect situation for him where he's not kind of looking back, following the trailblazers if they won, who's ranked higher, how far they're going to go. The Bucks are a better team, they're going to go for this year. So there's no pressure from that aspect. But yeah, you feel a certain way, especially him, he's been there so long, he's argued that they're greatest player of all time in that organization. So it means something, but the game in Portland is obviously much bigger. And we all love a good amicable breakup, right? Yeah, sure. So this was a good breakup. They talked through everything, everybody was happy with how it went. And so I think that kind of takes the edge off of it a lot of times. And so I look forward to seeing him back in Portland, but I don't think this is anything that we really care about. Does it feel? And again, it's just a feeling. It's not hardened back to Philly. And Portland's so bad, it's not even like a big game, right? Like it's not like it's going to be at a, you know, so it's that that's all. Portland games is going to be crazy though. Yeah, but it's going to be more of a celebration than anything. It's boo. We like the boo's. It won't be money, I think they'll boo. I don't think there's anything to silence. Well, that's not fun, is it? But then I don't think that's fun. None of this is fun. No. Oh, so mature. By the way, we're 17 games in and it's still weird for me to see Damian Lillard in a Bucks uniform. Like it just takes me a second every single time. Shoms, Chris Middleton. Miss, this is this one. What's going on there? He sat out and this is a guy, he had knee surgery in the summer. He's been dealing with knee issues of last couple years. And now he's out with Achilles tendinitis. He missed last night's game. And I think this is a Bucks scene that's being cautious with Chris Middleton because we know his injury history over the last couple years. They need him to be in the lineup and playing at a high level. And they were gradually, gradually really working him back to that mode. Mid-20s in minutes. And you finally felt he was turning the corner and then he suffers this injury the other night. He just looked like he couldn't move. There wasn't a moment. He tweaked his Achilles or tweaked his body. Obviously that would be a bad sign if you tweak your Achilles in a game. But under 20 minutes a game so far this year, just over nine shots per game. He's averaging around 11 points per game. Those are all his lowest since 2013-14. His second season in the NBA is first with the Bucks almost a decade ago. So this is, we're not used to this level lack of production from Chris Middleton. We just, obviously you hope he gets healthy. He gets right because this Bucks team will need him if they're gonna try to win a championship. Anything on the medical that you wanna ask about her? I mean, it's just concerning. Is the terminology okay with you? Have you heard of Achilles tendinitis? Yeah, I have. But this again, this is Chris Middleton. This is taking a long time, right? Yeah, absolutely. And there's so many, there's more downs than ups. He hasn't had to have that big week where he's going off and he looks back to normal. So this is concerning to me because he's such a valuable player to this team and he's not been that guy this season. It's sad. He's playing less than 20 minutes. That's crazy. And minute restrictions are the worst, dude. You can't get in a rhythm. You know you're coming out. You're trying to force things. You feel this pressure to get your numbers, get your shots up in these small window of time. So it definitely is one of the more just difficult things to deal with as an NBA player. We had Hawks and Celtics. Celtics going through some stuff. Look, they got the win. Tatum leads them. So one 13, one or three win. He had 34, nine and four. Jalen Brown had 21 and seven. Trey Young got a check on him. 33 points, seven assists, five rebounds. But the win also had some injuries. And they're starting to pile up. Porzingis, grade one cap strain. Drew Holiday, ankle. They are not a team that can really afford this shams. What's the latest? They're not, but they are in some ways. I mean, they're number one in the Eastern Conference. I think for them, it's about making sure the second half of the season, they're right. So Porzingis, it's a cap strain. It's not a serious cap strain, but any cap, you have to be careful. He's going to be out at least one week. They're going to re-evaluate him after that. And Drew Holiday is really day to day. He's got an ankle sprain. But I think for them, it's making sure he's not playing on an ankle that could get even worse or he could tweak it even more. So this is a Celtic scene that's going to be cautious with their guys, especially players that they know they'll knee down the straight. I mean, you guys have talked about it since the beginning. Yes, they are number one, but their depth is almost non-existent. So these types of moments, how long can they go? Well, it's important because, again, we talk about how this team is not deep in their bench. When you look, they've got basically Hauser and Pritchard and Horford. That's it. So they're only playing eight guys. So it is concerning because you need this team to be full strength. But they need Brown and Tatum healthy. They can't afford to have one of those two guys go down. And again, I don't think these injuries are serious. So the fact that it is early and it's nothing that's going to let them miss substantial amount of games. But it's important. This team, with the lack of a deep bench, they need to be fully loaded. They need those 20 and 10 from Brazilians. They need the defensive effort from Drew Holliday. So it definitely hurts. But how concerned can you be with a team that's number one? Right? It's weird. I'm not concerned. It's like you don't want the extended period. Lou, can we talk Tatum for a second? 34 points on 25 shots. I mean, he's going to have to do this, especially if these guys are out. This is business as usual to me. He's one of the two guys on his team that's expected to shoot 20 to 25 times a night. He's always going to give himself an opportunity to go get 30 points. So I don't think that injuries really matters how many points he scores. He's going to go out and try to get 30, 35 every single night, whether they're there or not. It's efficient. I like that. On the hawk side, Jalen Johnson will be missing some time. How long is that expected to be? Four to six weeks with the left wrist injury. The good news here is there was no full break, no fracture of the actual wrist itself. If it was, he would have been out multiple months, three, four months you're looking at. So it's a brutal loss nonetheless. 14 points, seven rebounds game, two assists. He's 50-40 splits this season. He's got that submerged. He didn't get much playing time his first two years. I know Lou, you played with him. I'm curious your take on his ascension this year and also the loss now that they're going to be without him for at least the next four. Yeah, I hate that he got injured. Finally got an opportunity to play, get on the floor, get his feet wet and having success while doing it. Averaging 14 points, like 14 and seven, which is a really good line for him. And how this team play, they like to play fast. They like to play up and down. He was a lob threat. He was one of the bigs that would get out and run in a break with Trey and Dejante. And so just a bad break for this team and a bad break for JJ. So I hope he gets healthy and pick up where he left off. Yeah, you always hate to see this when the kid has finally got that breakthrough season on the rise and then this happened. So like Lou said, I hope this isn't anything serious. The Hawks, they do have guys to plug in. They have the Andre Hunter, Sadiq Bay. They have guys like that to get these minutes from. But this is this is guy that we're talking about most improved player potentially. Like he has been absolutely hooping this year. So you hate to see it this early. And just in just being there with him, he was super patient, positive attitude, never got down on himself, continued the work, kept his head down, just grinding it out, have an opportunity, man. So this is this is a tough one. But I look forward to seeing him get back out there. He didn't play much when you were there at all. He didn't play at all. In fact, Nick MacMillan barely knew the kid. What is your name? Nick barely knew the kid because Nate had tunnel vision on what he was trying to do. And Jalen wasn't a part of that at that time. And so he kind of got some of that that rookie treatment. You know, so to see him on the court, it made me really proud to see the things that he was doing. And so to be out four to six weeks with it with a risk, man, that's that's that sucks. In your face, in your face, Nate. It could be. Wow. No, really, no, really. No, really. Another game last night, Spurs and the Nuggets. How about them Spurs, Michelle? Nuggets cruising past the Spurs. Yeah, that's fine. 132-120, Yoakich 39-11-9, Porter, 25-7. How about Wim and Yama, 22 points, 11 rebounds. Six steals, four blocks. He's now tied for the most steals and blocks by a teenager in NBA history. Look, the Nuggets have still lost four of their last six, okay? Yoakich is doing his thing. But the production from everyone else, I would not call that consistent. Who needs to step it up? Well, they need Jamal Murray healthy, first of all. They're a completely different look without him. We all know how important he is to their championship runs. Obviously, and they're getting good minutes from Reggie Jackson, but the bench, we've got to talk about Peyton Watson. Is he going to be that guy? Is Christian Braun going to still be this valuable piece that he was in the playoffs in the finals last year? Colin Gillespie, Gillespie? Colin Gillespie. Yeah, I was trying to figure out how that deep you was going to go in the last. Those are the guys that we were talking about this preseason that, okay, who is going to take those Bruce Brown minutes? And we haven't yet to kind of find someone to establish themselves as that guy. But I think it starts with Jamal Murray, obviously being healthy, being that one-two punch with Yoakich. We know what Yoakich is going to give you. He's going to give you these Goddy triple double stats. The other guys are going to be solid. KCB has been solid. Aaron Gorda, these guys, they have that infrastructure. They have the roster, but who is going to give that spark off the bench? Because we haven't seen it yet from those young kids. Let's take that jump. You heard him, Shams. When do we get to see Jamal? So I'm told Jamal Murray will not return tonight against the Clippers. So we're close, though. We're close. But after tonight, it's going to be a day-by-day process. They're going to see how he feels over the coming days. He could return this week. He could return as soon as Wednesday at home against the Rockets, or on the road Friday against the Suns. They're going to just see how he feels literally day-by-day. But the fact that they're at the point now where it's every single day, you see how he's feeling. Yeah. Denver's just five and five without him this season. So like Chandler said, this is a team that's totally different. They're a beast of a team without him, championship team without him. And he's one of the games, to me, one of the game's great competitors. He's a guy that always turns it up, come play off time. That's what you need. And so he's just going to make sure he gets right. It's regular season time right now. But I'm sure it's eating at him. I saw a video. He was shooting jumpers during halftime in street close. So this is a competitor that it's eating at him to be sitting in these games. But his return is imminent for the Nuggets. Yeah, day-to-days, we're in a different world now. By the way, is there any chance that they be a trade or anything? Go look for some scoring? Well, they're young right now. And this is a team that there's not going to be a lot of contracts that you want to get off of, right? Like the guys that other teams want, like Christian Brown, you don't really want to trade a guy like that. And the rest of the contracts are really veteran players. So I think this is a team that's going to be patient. They have their roster. They have their core. And they have a bunch of young players, Peyton Watson, Christian Brown, Colin Gillespie. They have guys that they can build around on the bench. Tony, they just had Bones Highland who could have been that guy, right? That's a great point. They could have used that bucket off the bench. Well, Calvin Booth said, we can only have one guy that offensive-minded. But who is that guy now on the bench? Christian Brown, but does he bring enough offensive ease? No. He does everything else. He's a utility player. I think he's a more solid, well-rounded NBA player. But if you need a guy to go and get you a bucket to close the game. Oh, Boo's got something. Boo's got something. Calvin Booth said what? I'm paraphrasing, but he's something to the effect of you can only have, you know, a certain amount of just offensive-minded players. They have MPJ. He said something. Something about not playing defense. And it was a shot, basically, at MPJ and Bones Highland. They had to keep getting rid of one of them, and they're not getting rid of one of them. But also, that's my point, they could really use that right now. Christian Brown is great. He's versatile. He can do everything. But they need a bucket, get it off the bench. They need a Lou Will off the bench. Oh. What happened, Lou? Oh. It's happening! Okay, we're going to do this every day until I have this. I love being here with you guys, trust me. Yeah, right. Look, Spurs have lost 12 in a row. Chandler, this is not for you, so just lay out. Okay. Are we looking at a trust-the-process situation here? Well, you know. No, no. I mean, do we have a choice? No, I don't think we do. Listen, when you lose 12 in a row, you've got to be positive with something. And so, I don't remember the process being this hard. Oh, come on. I don't remember it being such an uphill battle, but this is going to be growing pains. Your best player is a 19-year-old kid, so it's going to take some time. So is it similar to that? I guess so. I don't know, Chandler. Michelle. They stand these games tonight. This is your team. Why are you trusting the process? I have to trust the process. That's what I'm saying. I mean, I didn't think it was going to be an overnight change. Yeah, in all seriousness, this is what they had to imagine is going to happen right there. Absolutely. We talked about this earlier. I don't think they're trying to go out of their way to hand some over early. We got excited. Huge wins. If they get through this season, and Wim and Yama is healthy, that is a win. That's a win. And they can continue to grow Vacell and Kelda Johnson and Sohan, these young guys. That's all that matters. They're not expecting to win games this year. It's just to lose 12 in a row. It's hard to do. I think my prediction was they add maybe eight to 10 wins from last year's record. That was my prediction. What was that, Wim? And I don't even know if that's going to happen. What was it, 20-something? It wasn't great. They're on pace to not do it. They're on pace to not do it. They're on pace to not do it. They're not winning. Guys, I don't like the attitude that we're starting with. The future is bright. The future is bright. The present is tough. Wow. Okay. You know what? The other night, Clippers were in San Antonio. I was working this game, actually. Kawhi, as Kawhi does when he comes back to San Antonio, hearing the boos, and Pop did not like it. Excuse me for a second. Pop's on the mic. It's not who we are. Not Dr. Boone. I'm telling the fans to lay off. I was shocked. I looked at it better. Each manager was like... I'm fed up from now on. I'm just going to throw it out. I've never heard of such a thing. And by the way, we are booers. I am from San Antonio. I've been a Spurs fan since I was a kid. And I love to boo. So for the record... That's awesome. It's part of the game. This is like a high school coach that felt bad. It was, okay. So I know that I was like, I've never seen him. I've never seen him. I've never seen him. I've never seen him. I've never seen him. I've never seen him. I've never seen or heard that. Have you guys ever seen that happen? No. Absolutely not. But he was right about one thing. In the 17 years that I've traveled to San Antonio... Yep. The most classy energetic fans that I've experienced. When you travel, I'm telling you, it's not that nice. It's like a friendly. But like the booze were never like violent or ominous. They were just booze. Yeah. Classic fans. I think Pop is just at a place where, you know, Kawhi has been on two teams since then. Like, let's let it go. And he brought a championship there. Like what other... But you can't tell people how to be heartbroken. But this is such old news. Like you've got the new future. How long though? How long are you going to school on this? I mean, some people mourn forever. Yeah. Now, I don't think Pop was right by getting in front of grown people that paid their part of their money to do what they wanted to do. I don't think that was the... I love they got louder after him. They got louder and they never stopped doing the rest of the game. Yeah. They said Pop, you might have us confused Pop. Right. When was that his first game when he came back the first time in Toronto? Yeah. In 20... I think it was 2019. Or it was January. That's in January 2019. January 2019. That was... That was me. That was excessive booing, for sure. But it's gotten lighter every single time. Every single time. I don't know. What's the issue? I missed the issue. Well, he asked for a trade from San Antonio. It was not a great breakup. Yeah. It was acrimonious, for sure. To say. I mean, look, I've booed him as a fan. I mean, as a... I mean, as an employee. I've been... But do we have Kawhi literally saying anything? No. That's the thing is... He never said anything. He doesn't care. He's a robot who's amazing at basketball. I think he had a couple shots after that. They were like, see, that's... The booing's not helping, but it just makes you feel better. It's cathartic. Michelle, I'm gonna break some news. Kawhi Leonard is probably top three funniest teammates I've ever had. Get out! Everybody has him confused, but I love it for him. I love that, though, for him. So that's the funniest Kawhi Leonard moment... Like, funny like... That's PG. Funny how? For the sake of his reputation. I'm keeping these things to myself. Is he a joke teller? Is he corny? Is it... No, Kawhi Leonard is a hilarious human being. Dang it. Is it like Dirty Joe? What are you talking about right now? I have no scoop shows. I have no scoops. I have no scoops. Give us a joke. We want to go watch. Give us the punchline. Give us the punchline I want. Hey, hey, hey. There you go. It's... The laugh is funny, actually. All right. For one day, we're gonna... Maybe in the break, we'll get some scoop. We don't have to share it. All right. We've got a quick break here. When we come back, three-time All-Star NBA champ. Chicago Legends. Yep. We'll be here only for that. And a small walker, Chicago Legends. Running back, running up, running back, running up, running back, running up. Running back, running back, running back. Last, second shot, slow, pull up on the block. Antoine Walker. Walker shot, play it, once more. Let's do it. It is an NBA champ. Let's do it. Three-time All-Star 12-year NBA vet, Antoine Walker. Antoine Walker is here. Thanks for joining us bright and early on this fine morning. Let's talk Celtics. We saw you there, 13 and four best record in the NBA. As far as Celtics starting, fives go. Where are you putting this one? Of all time? Yeah, I'm doing that. I mean, that's too early for now. That's too early for that. The jury's still out. We gotta see what they accomplish and if they can stay healthy all the way through. But I like this team. I like the makeup. I think Adam Drew, I mean, was amazing to be able to get a guy like that with championship experience, a guy who's gonna allow Jaylin and Jason to still be great offensive players who's not gonna get in their way and take shots away from them. So I love what they put together. I think they got a great chance to make a deep run, get to the finals and hopefully win a championship. I love this team they put together. All right, I know how Paul would answer this question, but you, Paul Pierce, that lineup, how would y'all fare against this version of the Celtics? They're deeper than us. I gotta be honest, they're deeper than us from, you know, they're probably, they can go eight, nine deep. When me and Paul was together, we probably was six deep. Oh man. I mean, we probably played six guys. Me and Paul played 40, 42 minutes a night. We didn't have the depth that this team has right now. Antoine, you're a part of the maybe the best draft class in NBA history in 1996. You, Kobe, Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Steve Nash, Stephon Marbury. At the time, who did you think was gonna be the top dog, the best player in that class? Myself. I mean, I don't think arguably, I think we do have the best draft class, if you really look from top to bottom, honestly, if you go into the second round and guys that have been very productive in the league and had good careers, we probably do got the best class from top to bottom. But I mean, it's tough. I mean, at that time, you're thinking, for me, I'm feeling like it was a situation. You guys got to remember the Celtics had limb bias situation that just happened. They had a really tough, drafting tough. Dominique Wilkins had left the year before and went over to Spain. So for me, it was an opportunity of a lifetime to get an opportunity to come in and play. And I'm always tell people what was overwhelming for me and actually was actually the best thing for me. Bird was still a part of the organization. Obviously, Red Arbeck was still around and then you got Timie Heisen doing, obviously doing on TV. Then ML Carr is the head coach and GM. Dennis Johnson is the assistant. Casey Jones was the assistant as well. So I came into a situation where I was around a number of greatness. Guys that knew how to win wanted to win. So I was just a part of the first step in the rebuild process of getting the Celtics back to being a championship team. All right, Antoine, you led the league in three-point attempts, three different times while you were in Boston. Someone famously asked you, why you shot so many threes? Do you remember your answer? Oh, that was an all-star game after a rough night. It was all-star weekend, I should say. It was a rough night. So I was a little frustrated with the questions at the time. I didn't really want to be there. So I said, oh, because it was one no fours. I mean, that's a good answer. I didn't get so funny. That's incredible. I would laugh if somebody gave me that answer. Look, you were a man ahead of your time, because now people are shooting threes left and right. What made you, why did you shoot so many threes? I was very lucky. I got, Jim O'Brien became the coach after Rick Bettino left. And Jim O'Brien coached me in college. A lot of people don't know that. He was the head assistant coach at the University of Kentucky. So he knew my game really, really well. And he basically gave me the green light. He wanted me to shoot eight to 10 threes a game. He thought that was a big part of what we could do, spacing wise. Paul, me and Paul, being on the same floor. That's what we had our success at, because if you're gonna double Paul, then you're gonna leave me open to be able to shoot a three. So it was just, I got a credit, Jim O'Brien for actually opening a floodgates for me and allowing me to shoot so many threes and not getting on me. I know it was tougher fans in the beginning. I had to deal with the boon. And sometimes people get on me, but the coach and the team knew that was part of our game plan every night. See, Bowie gets part of the game. By the way, would you guys be against if they ever added a four point shot to the game with that? You know this? Yeah, cause the records, we can't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that, Lou. Don't do that, Lou. Lou's thinking about it. But you know what? I didn't really think about the records. What if you did a cut off with the records? You're like, alright, these are the new records. Yeah, my give and take is it'll probably mess up the game because everybody is in Steph Curry, but it's definitely gonna be a lot of invitations. But I like the idea of a four point. So you've had, you've had obviously one of the more famous on court celebrations with the shimmy. I know I did. I know I did growing up. How did that come about? Do you remember your first time doing it? Tell us about the shimmy. Man, come from college. So in college, we always used to dance and just having fun off the court and stuff like that. So in the game, one game in college, I did it and coach didn't say nothing. You guys, maybe you do, you don't know. Coach Petino's a really strict discipline coach. So he, and we pressed, we pressed a lot. So when we played, we were a really pressing team. So he was like, look, loans that don't stop you from getting in the press, you can do it all you want. So I just kind of saved it for like three point plays or like special moments during the game when I used to do it. But they kind of carried over. There's only one coach that told me I couldn't dance. And that's when I went to Dallas. Don Nelson told me he didn't want to see me dancing. And that was the only coach that actually had a problem with it. So, but it just became like natural. It was something that just came out natural when I started playing. And the fans started to like it in Boston and started to do it. And then I think Tommy Heinz is the one that made it called the shimmy because I didn't give it a name. Wait, did you ever do it in Dallas? I did it one time. He stopped me. That's how he found out. Yeah, Don Nelson, he's like, yo, I don't want you dancing. I mean, I gotta do what Don said. It's all a family. You gotta do what he's saying. Right, sir, he hates dancing. Is it true that Shaq yelled at you in game six of the finals for doing the shimmy? What's the story on that? Yeah, I got a, we was on a comeback. And I got an M1 in the third quarter and we was making out run. And I started shimming on the floor. Man, he came and snatched me up. And he was like, nah, nah, we ain't doing that yet. So, yeah, he was, Shaq was nervous like this. He must have been nervous. We've seen some of the guys this, today doing it now, Steph will do it. Dylan Brooks comes to mind. You got a favorite, you got a favorite modern day, shimmy? That I like, I mean, I like, I just don't like the fact that I don't get enough credit for it. You know what I mean? I don't matter if I'm doing it. I like Steph's though. Steph's is really good. I like Steph's shimmy. But I just don't like the fact that I don't get the credit for it. That I started that, that I made it cool to be able to dance in the court. Yeah, it's true. You might not get it from the media, but the players know. Yeah. Players know. About to get it now though. Yes, it's important. By the way, I love, you did the shimmy against Michael Jordan. How did that go? Yes. How does that work out? It don't work out well. Listen, the first, my first three, well Mike, the first three years when I got in the league, I came in the league in 96. Obviously, I went against those great teams that won championships. I was 1-11. I won one game. And that was the first game that I played against him as well. In my second year, we won the first game and I never, tell me I never win again. And we never won again. God, it's good. But I got my revenge though. Two things came to, first thing first, when he came back in old one, I was kind of the main guy, Louis, I was the guy at Chicago that kind of ran the runs to pick up ball. So he had to call me to get all the guys to come work out with him. So that was, I felt good about that. He had to go through me, to get that going. And then obviously I became very close with him and became a really good friend in that time when he came back with the Washington Wizards from 2001 to 2003. And just got an opportunity to be around him. But I never changed my demeanor in the way I handled myself. But I also dominated him too in those two years too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We dominated him. We got back, we got the league back. Yeah. Yeah. Antoine, like you said, you did pick ups with MJ. You guys trained a lot together over the summers. So what was that like? What were those pickup games like? And also guys coming through, I know LeBron came through at one point. What were those runs like, especially with LeBron in there? Well, it's two parts to it. Michael wanted, obviously when he came back, he wanted to play against the best competition. I think at that time, if you think about Chicago history, we probably had 20 pros, 20, 25 pros just in the city alone. So the runs were really good. Then you add the Bulls players and then obviously guys flew in to work out. So those runs were legendary. Michael wanted real tough competition and really wanted to, you know, put himself through a test on his way coming back. The funny story LeBron came, he did come and LeBron didn't get a chance to play. He played at the end. You guys don't know, he didn't get a chance to play. He was in high school. He was young then, right? Yeah. He was young. Yeah, he was in high school. And I'm going to be honest, Tim Grover was one of those guys. If he was a paying client, the paying clients were going to play first. No matter what, they were going to get their work out in. So LeBron got to play at the end. So we didn't really get a chance to see LeBron really go at it because he played like the last two games. But he did come up there for a weekend and worked out what it did individual instruction and those things. But he didn't get a chance to get in the runs back then. Sounds funny that LeBron didn't get that play. It's weird. Yeah. Did he, did he face off against MJ? Like did they, because there's pictures of them on the court together. No, no, no. Working now, I said, yeah, individual instruction and that thing. But I'm talking about the actual runs, playing pickup ball and getting tests into it. LeBron had to wait. You know, Mike going to play four or five games. Y'all know that the veteran's going to play four or five games and then they put their ice pack on after that. That's funny. God, that's weird. You also, you played on that Miami Heat 0506 championship team, Shaq, D-Wade. What was that like playing with those two future Hall of Famers? It was, it was special, man. Not just those two. You know, I would be remorse to leave out Gary Payne and Eliza Moore and those two guys as well, being able to play with those Hall of Fame guys. And then playing for Pat Rowley. But it was fun. I mean, the way we put the team together, it wasn't perfect. You got to remember, Stan Van Gundy was the coach for the first 20 games before Pat ended up coming down coaching. And it was, it was a roller coaster ride because Shaq ended up missing the first 20 games. He got hurt at the first game of the season. So we had to figure it out. So it wasn't the prettiest season, but the goal was only to win the championship. That's all we cared about. We knew if we got it together, jailed at the right time, we got in the playoffs, nobody could beat us. And obviously Dwayne Wade had one of the most amazing finals that we've ever seen that year. He was just, he was simply amazing. Championship was accomplished. You guys pulled it off. You got to let me in. How crazy did y'all go in South Beach after winning that championship? Well, we won it in Dallas. So we stayed in Dallas. This is crazy. We stayed in Dallas to about three, four in the morning. And we asked Coach, can we go back? So we ended up charting the flight early like eight because we wanted to get back to Miami. You know, we went to the strip club. We did Dallas, gentlemen, we went to the strip club. We went there and had a ball. And it was special, Miami is special. You know that. The details of it, I don't want to get into that map. We spent a lot of money that night. Well yeah, we spent a lot of money, we had a ball. It was, for me personally, I always tell the story. I went, I partied for 30 days, 30 nights. 30 for 30. What? As you should. How? I mean, it's summer anyway. Right. You got time. But 30 days, 30 nights is that's a lot. There's no shoot around tomorrow. No, I went, I went 30, I took one of my boys and we tried to hit all the proper cities. I was going to the Espeys. I'm gonna tell you, I tapped out probably like day 23. I suppose I met the team for the Espey awards. And I think I got alcohol boys and I think I was done. I didn't make it to the awards. You know what? Having gone, you didn't miss anything. You're fine. You're good. But I didn't make it. You could go back and look at the foot. I didn't make it. The total team made it, I couldn't make it. I was, it was a time. I tried it. I tried to go 30 days, but I went to 22, 23. That's pretty good. That's a real hit. That's a real hit. That's legendary. That's a hitter. That's a real hitter. Or for me, it's a lot. Two in a row is a lot. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, the back. Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't try to make it seem like I'm more, like I'm more. Oh no. No, it's legendary. Yeah, y'all guys have, you had to run the week of seven, but you're a champ, though. You know, we just, I'm currently on one right now. No hate coming from me. That's what we're partying about. We just, we just going out. You're just doing it. Yeah, just hanging out. No reason. You know, I understand. After the 0-6 NBA finals, I think D-Way was considered by some to be the best player in the league. What do you think made him so great and be able to emerge as one of the best players in the league, if not the best player in the league in 0-6? D-Way worked at it was incredible. I think a lot of people don't notice if you were behind the scene, but Eric, the way Eric's approached him and him worked every day, he played a huge part in D-Way's development of his individual skills. I mean, the way those guys do the work every day and work on different moves and trying to perfect in this game. But D-Way was special because he wasn't your typical two guard. I mean, he attacked the basket like no other. He wasn't the guy that was gonna shoot, bail you out and shoot four or five threes a game. He was gonna continuously be in attack mode. He was one of the best off-the-ball defenders that get in the pass lane to get down the break and great in transition. So especially watching him at that time, just D-Way, it was something special. He was super athletic, could get to any spot in the court. And also, he's competitive, you know? I mean, I was just being a little biased on from Chicago, but he has that competitive drive, like no other to be great. So that's what I think separated D-Way. Cause D-Way is only like six, two, six, three on a good day. It's crazy. Like he ain't like, he ain't, he ain't like six, five, six, six walking around. But, you know, he finished it. You know, the way he finished around the basket, you would thought he was that big. Recently, KG sat down with Paul Pierce and said that Jordan Poole literally doesn't belong in the NBA. Harsh facts, do you agree with it? Do you think it's a little too much? What's your take on it? Yeah, that's a little bit too much to deny him. He definitely deserves to be in the NBA. This guy, I mean, he's been, I mean, his production speaks for itself. Obviously, you know, you know, it's off the court. I don't know him personally. I mean, obviously, you know, it seems like he gets into different situations with different guys streaming from the Dremer and Grain situation. So maybe that's what it is. But basketball and the ability wise and the way the game is set up now. Yeah, he definitely could be in the league. I mean, he definitely should be in the league. Great three-point shooter, go get his own shot. It's tough to say that, but I don't know what he's like off the court. So that's the problem. I never got the chance to meet him. So I mean, those guys may know some, you know, some secrets that I don't know. Man, did not deserve it. All right, Antoine, we appreciate the time. This has been awesome. Thank you so much for joining us. We got scoops. Thanks for having me, guys. I love the show. You guys doing great. Thanks, man. Come on anytime. We got more after this. I'm about to go icons. Run it back, yeah. Run it up, run it back, yeah. Run it up, run it back, run it up. I mean, there are some days when these are amazing, and I think this first one right here with Luca is crazy. What happened? Watch. The other angle, you can see, if there is the other angle, you can see it better. Yeah, there you go. This is crazy just because he could have just easily just thrown it over him. Yeah, but why? It really was a turnover. They got lucky. Yeah, should have been a steal. Why must you squish fun things? It is an outrageous thing to do. That is an outrageous thing. All right, fine. Is this better? Oh, why? I can get jiggy with that. Is it a travel? Did he travel? Oh, we're not. That's not it. It doesn't matter. Yeah. No. He is a, wow, that, okay. Yep. Yep, that must be fun. Rockets. Guys. Oh, it's also, it's Jalen Green. Oh, there's one of the Quartz that I don't hate. Quartz sucks. No, I don't hate this one. It's pretty. No, this one, he touched the earth. This court, you like this court. Every time these Quartz come up, they steal the show. I don't know, man. Well. We're not even supposed to be talking about the Quartz. We were just sitting there thinking about. I think we still show this, even if he missed the shot, because this was not, he didn't step on his foot. It's a good thing. That was an absolute break off. I think we're just embarrassing for a brief moment. I think the Quartz cool. No, you don't. Yes, I do actually. All right, how about here? Oh, the disrespect of the two feet, two hands. You know what I mean? I feel like there's like a real risk here of falling in the back. A power up is disrespect. Did we really just get two highlights from the same game? Same, we're the same. This is the same game, right? Yeah. And Miles Turner block shots. This is nice. This is nice. Yeah, I think this is good. See, he likes it. Oh, this one hurts. Yowzah. I mean, it kind of is bad. Oh, you know what I mean? It was gonna be great. I like the behind the back. I like the intent. Just a block shot. If it wasn't Winby, we wouldn't kick. It's a block shot from a little guy. I'd like to see him use the left there. I mean, I'm real like he's 6'2". Yeah. He's riddle. Compared to him. He's just a riddle guy. He's a riddle guy. He just came out of nowhere. Must have felt cool. I think that would feel great. Yeah, it's just a free, yeah, let's go. Oh, here you go. It is, oh my dear. This is the highlight. Two highlights in one, the bang, yeah. Don't finish your breakfast then. Look at it. Is that Capella? Another really good shot blocker. He was here. No fear. He did try. I'm gonna pat their head. I mean. Okay, this was a fail. I hadn't seen this one yet. So we're... Finally, a halftime fail. I've been waiting for one of these. Oh no. So mean. No, no, no! Oh! Yes! What is wrong with you? No, because I... Oh! Lose the mean. It's right up here. I didn't have a place to get hit. I saw one and it was like this lady was stacked on top of a man and I was like, this could be catastrophic. She falls off. And you rooted for that. I mean, this guy's got a broken rib. This could have really... He's out four to six. A little rib. Shums. You think that, by the way, you thought that was where his ribs were? Look, that's not a rib, brother. Yo, what? That's what I thought was. That's worse than a rib. Shums, get the scoop on this guy's end. Get the injury report on that, Kat. Wait, you thought those were ribbed? I did. That's a growing injury for sure. Are we doing Dog of the Week here? Mm-mm. Oh, we're gonna go to break. Then let's make fun of Lou for being the mean one again as we go to break. Run it back. We'll be back. We'll close things out. I was waiting for a halftime fail, he said. Yeah. Listen. Run it off. Prop party. Chandler, why don't you start? You know what? I'm gonna start with Nicholas Batume over... Are you now? Five and a half points. Come on, this guy, he can knock down two threes. I'm going, Nicholas Batume over five and a half points tonight. By the way, we're sticking with the Lakers stickers. Oh, my God. Oh, Lakers stickers. We're sticking with the Lakers filly game is what she was trying to say until she had a siege. Lou? Six odds. Tonight, I like D-Lo to go for 15 plus. Oh. Yeah, I'm gonna keep it simple. I'm gonna keep mine simple, too. Joel and Bede, a double-double. That's a safe. Yeah. OK, but who's getting more right than usual? Me, this guy? Sick odds, sick, sick odds, Michelle, 270. You're gonna lose money if he gets double-double. I know, I've really been not quite good at this. Feel good to be back in studio. Everybody, yes, yes. Any changes we want to make for tomorrow? Any, anything different you want to do? Mm-mm, I'm just... I like the temperature in here. They figured it out. I was a little toasty when we first got in. The temperature's good. Sopping wet when we started. You're wearing his belly diaper. Lou, how are you feeling? I'm doing well. I'm doing well. We have guests this week. We have Vince Carter tomorrow. Love it. Jeff Teagan. Jeff Teagan, can he eat him? Oh, Jeff Teague has been something. Shout out to Keeney Meachel. Teague's got stories. Will he share some with us? Teague's hilarious. Well, fact-check him live as he's telling him. That's what we're gonna do here. That's gonna do it for us on a Monday. Enjoy everything that's happening tonight out there, and we will be back bright and early in the morning. Say your mic.