Denver Nuggets' Rocky Weekend & Jayson Tatum's Looming Celtics Return

0:00Coming up, on Lockdown NBA Daily, after an eventful weekend for the Nuggets are we more or less confident in their ability to compete with the top of the West. Meanwhile, the Celtics keep rolling and we have a new potential return date for Jason Chatham, will he change things for the Celtics? And finally, how much longer can the Warrior survive without Steph Curry? Lockdown NBA Daily starts now. You are Lockdown NBA, your daily NBA podcast. Part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team, every day. I found the Seat Life comparison to Steph Curry, there's a pistol shrimp.

1:26It creates a cavitation bubble when it's claw snaps and when that bubble collapses, it reaches a temperature comparable to the surface of the sun. Are you just now finding that, like, I used to watch videos on that, like years ago, I fell into a TikTok wormhole to lay it. It's great to watch it. What is this thing called? It's called a pistol shrimp. It's a shrimp. That should be Steph's actual name. It's a shrimp. Oh, if you've never seen it, either way, go watch the videos. I literally just wrote it down. This is my homework. It snaps its claw so fast that it emits a flash of light. Wow. Something for me to check out from the Lockdown Bulls podcast, an expert on pistol shrimp also bears and bulls-creator for Blutreport, it's Hayes. Yeah, I'm going to start Lockdown pistol shrimp. You catch that. I'll give you guys breakdowns because the videos are great because they actually like put them in there against other sea life and they actually have fights as really fun to watch. Oh, so the pistol shrimp cage matches. We'll talk about that.

2:26Right now. Maybe some Pete Marevich and Steph Curry talked. Very good. We have a lot to get to today. We're going to start today with Denver Nuggets, who had an important weekend of games against the Thunder and then against the Timberwolves, two of the top teams in the Western Conference over the last couple of years, teams that everybody considers to be contenders in the Western Conference. Well, Denver went 0 and 2 in those games. I don't know about you guys. I came away impressed with how they played against the Thunder despite that loss. That Timberwolves lost a little bit more disappointing still, Matt. You cover the Denver Nuggets over at Lockdown Nuggets. What was the big takeaway for you from this weekend? It's just one thing after another. That's where Nuggets fans are going to add where it's like, it feels like it's the recurring theme for everybody outside the top two in the top six, like the wolves are going through there by monthly, hey, this could be our year, which is immediately followed by it's so over. It's just a cycle with the wolves. We're back. It's over constantly and constantly and constantly. But the Lakers, the Rockets and the Nuggets are all in the cycle where it just feels like

3:30it's not their year where Denver's defense was horrific in December. And then the injuries were catastrophic in January. And in February, it was like a culmination of everything in the first two weeks of the February. It was the defense that was horrendous and Yokech couldn't hit a shot. Now Yokech is back to be an awesome and the defense has actually been good, but nobody else can shoot. It's just like one thing after another that constantly kind of has beset this team in terms of what has gone on, what has happened, the injuries, not just the injuries, but the timing of it. And I talk about this a lot. And actually injuries or whatever, it's about when they happen. Do you have cluster injuries at a position that leaves your either rebounding defense or ball handling compromised or do you have them kind of spread out? Does it happen in a stretch where you are facing lottery teams and so you doesn't really matter. You're just better than them or are you facing some of the best teams in the league? The mix and match of when these injuries happen, I think is a lot of it, but the Nuggets

4:30overall, I think have left everyone really frustrated with what was supposed to be. This is maybe the most disappointing season of the entire Yokech era, which is saying something given some of the stuff that's going on. Funny. The most disappointing season in the area of Yokech would be one of our best seasons that we've had in the decade. So there you go. Perspective is great on that because I'd love to have a team right now 13 games above 500. Yeah, I tried that. They don't want to hear that. Hey, it turns out that when you have one of the best player, when you have the best player in franchise history, they do not want to hear like, oh, but you're still really good. They do not want to hear that. And don't get me wrong. I know I was like four years old during the Jordan era, but I'm sure somebody would be like, Hey, chill, we're 10 games above 500 people to say, what are we doing here? But the Nuggets, I still look at it. Maybe I'm just drinking the Kool-Aid. I still look at it as mainly injuries for them. If they're a healthy come playoff team, I don't care where they're seated. I don't care about any of that. They can beat almost any team that's in front of them if they're fully healthy.

5:32So I think it is. Health is still one of the biggest factors for the Denver Nuggets. Yeah, there's some other micro things we can talk about, but I don't think we've seen a long enough stretch from this team being 100% healthy to where I'd really worry about it yet. Even at the beginning of the season, when they were, like you were still in corporate like, Cam Johnson season started off terribly. So, you know, you can't really take everything from that either. I want to get to the Cam Johnson point here in a second, but Hayes, are they maybe being a little too hard on themselves there in Denver potentially? Because I watched that Thunder game. The Thunder are the favorites in the league. They go to overtime with that team. That's the Nuggets. I'm watching that game. It's super physical. That to me felt like a team that could still go toe-to-toe with the defending champs. I came away despite the loss from Denver, a little kind of impressed by them, Hayes. Yeah, me too. Me too. I like the thing is, is that as long, this team is really talent and they're always going to have those games that you look at and you're like, okay, well, you know, maybe it's not as bad as we think. And that was what that game was for me. Like I said, I just, I don't get too far down on the different nuggets.

6:34I always look at them and maybe they'll come back to bite me, but if they're healthy in the playoffs, so be fun. Even if they're 90% healthy in the playoffs, so be fun. Expectations are the FIFA joy. And you know, from a Nuggets perspective, it's like, yeah, you played them all the way to the end. And Cam Johnson misses the corner three wide open. Yeah, that was tough luck. And then they lose an overtime when she doesn't play. And it's just like, yeah, hey, you hung in there. But the expectation for Nuggets fans, and this is a lot like, this is, I'm running about this right now for one of my sub stacks is the problem is this really is it. When you have a player like Yokech, the expectation is not be pretty good. It is not make playoff runs like they've lost one time once. Since 2019, they have lost once in the first round, which like the first round is the definition of, yeah, you were good, but you were a fraud. And then like the conference finals, well, to be honest, now it's like every round is like, unless you win the finals, you're a fraud.

7:36And honestly, it should be more of these finals teams are frauds, like I've mentioned before. But anyway, like a consistent top four finish should be really good. The Nuggets are in our in contention every single year. But with Yokech and the idea of three MVP's all like his performance is best player in the world title for multiple seasons, you should have more. And I just don't know if that's really doable in today's NBA, compared to where some of the other guys in history were Kevin Garnett, one MVP, one title, Moses Malone, three MVP's one title, Tim Duncan, two MVP's four titles, but he was only the best player on two of them. It's just a lot of it. I think is the expectations of the thief of joy. I want to talk about the expectations too, because with those expectations, as a front officer, forced to make some moves. I'm not necessarily saying that the Nuggets made the Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson trade because of expectations, but there is that pressure to maximize this window with Nikola Yokech. So they trade Michael Porter Jr. in that first round pick. They get Cam Johnson back. And you know, cat flexibility to help them get Valentinus and Tim Hordeway Jr. and these

8:39guys, they do all that last summer. The problem is now Cam Johnson has not made much of an impact. It was a miserable weekend for that guy, 0 for 6 and a squireless night against Minnesota. Maybe his worst game of the season, it definitely his worst game of the season. Matt, you guys talked about this recently, unlocked on Nuggets. I want to play a quick clip from that. Cam hasn't been a fit and that kills me because I think Cam Johnson is a good, I think he's a good player. I think he's a smart player. He makes plays the way that you want players to make. He's a professional. He comes prepared. He does his work. He gives a high level of effort on every play. He just hasn't been good. He hasn't been a fit and never. And it would be fine if he was like Michael Porter Jr. and literally didn't know what was happening most of the time or where he was. But if you threw him the ball, he could throw it in the air and it would go in. And it would be fine if it was like he was a dog and throwing himself across the ground and making a bunch of plays. You can do that, but he hasn't been eating. I do think that the coaching staff feels very differently than everyone else does

9:40about how Cam's playing. But Cam hasn't made shots and he needs to make shots and if he's not going to make shots, he needs to make plays and he hasn't made plays. Man, I want to highlight a key point that you made there that not only is Cam Johnson missing these shots, he's not really doing anything else out there right now. Should the nugget be more concerned about this? Good question. I don't think so. And so, you know, I'm able to kind of be a little bit more reasonable here than I get to be unlocked on nuggets because everyone just wants to doom over there right now. They just want every, like, kill Cam Johnson, destroy David Adelman. Here's the thing. You know who's shooting better from three this season between Cam Johnson and Michael Border Jr. Cam Johnson. Now, it's like, oh, but the usage, I get it, Michael Border Jr. is getting a lot of shots for a team that's going to win 20 games, a lot of shots over there. By the way, MPJ has a fifth percentile defensive EPM this season, just as a heads up. The nuggets are actually better this season with Cam Johnson than they were with MPJ and

10:43Yokech. And you can be like, well, that's because of the rest of the team. Okay. Cool. But like, you get some sort of credit for helping the team play that way. Cam's honestly been fine. The coaching staff has continued to trust him. But one of the problems I have is I don't. Yokech was super frustrated with him early in the season. It's been less since Yokech came back from the injury. He hasn't really had many of those moments. Tim Marner with Jr. was asked last night about like, hey, because Cam's dealing with an ankle injury. It was bothering him in the OKC game, but they don't have any wings with Peyton Watson and Aaron Gordon out. So he felt like he had to play through it. And like, Cam was, it was not good in the locker room. Like, you could tell how much pain and discomfort he was in. He's emotionally upset, but he's also like physically pretty racked and he's like trying to play through it. And like, you go out there, you compete, you get judged, I get it. Tim Marner with Jr. was asked about it about like, what do you know, when Cam's going through something like this and the ankle, like, what do you kind of say to him? And Tim was like, everybody's dealing with something right now. That's how it goes. Like, everybody in this locker room is dealing with something and it's going to like, going to probably stuck up for your guy, a little bit, a little bit more there.

11:47And that's, you know, Tim, I don't think meant to take shots at Cam. He's just being real. I don't know that the chemistry fit is what it probably should have been for how smart Cam Johnson is. A lot of people that I have blamed for about that that is complicated. But in general, that to me gets kind of to some of the point here. And look, with Peyton Watson being restricted for agent, it's not going to surprise me at all of Cam Johnson's move this summer so they can pay Peyton Watson. Hey, he's really quick. Before we get out of here, your thoughts on how Cam Johnson has fit in or fit out in Denver. Yeah, I agree with men. I've been a little bit surprised that he hasn't fit in as well. But I think this, if he does stay past the season, we've seen, we've seen it before. But sometimes players have that rough first year of adapting to a new system. This first time he's on a team with actual expectations too. So maybe it's just some of that that he has to adapt to and maybe it would be better in year two if he has a second year in Denver. We're going to move on. We're going to talk about the Celtics who keep winning and we have a new projection of when they could get Jason Tatum back in the lineup. How much is that going to change things for Boston? We'll talk about that next.

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13:53Welcome back to Locked on NBA Daily. The best way to support the show is to subscribe on YouTube. We are Monday to Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern wherever you get your podcasts. Celtics got a nice win over the Sixers on Sunday and they've really cemented their status as the number two seed in the Eastern Conference. And now you've got Bill Simmons hinting that Jason Tatum is looking at a return on Friday against Dallas. Hey, what should be the expectations for Jason Tatum if he comes back after having not played in what's nearly going to be 10 months? I don't think you should have any expectations for Jason Tatum. Like just just let him come back and ease his way back in. We this next month, this month, the March could be really important for him to just even get back to a place of being, you know, even semi comfortable in the basketball court. So I'd say this for Jason, like take the shots that are smart, play, play with your team, default to them. Like you're not going to see the Jason Tatum that isolates a lot of things like that. But I don't think you should have any expectations right now. Just let him ease back in and let's set the expectation maybe after a week or two or getting back.

14:53Yeah, I'm trying to think of like what the expectation is like from a reasonable people that will be there will of course be people that are like, see, he sucks with these struggles. And he plays awesome. He'll be like, this is how it's going to be forever. No, probably not. The recovery day is actually the most important thing was like that's actually the biggest thing is it's the day after and how he feels the day after is going to be the hardest part. The adrenaline will get him through the first game. I think a lot of it is the if I what do I know, but if I were talking to a player, I would be like the biggest thing is you need to start trusting yourself right away. You have to force yourself to trust your body. The training staff says you're good to go. Your personal doctor say you're good to go. You feel good enough to play. You're in condition. The injury is healed. You have to trust it that you have that's the hardest part man is they come back and they just don't trust the stuff that they used to have because it's we do not consider enough how the mental impact of this on athletes and the trauma that it kind of creates.

15:58It's not trauma like some of the worst things that can happen in life, but it is trauma because this is like your entire universe is basketball and all of a sudden you were ability to do this thing that you've always done was gone and you have to be able to get back to a mental place where you can plant off that foot and feel like it's going to be there. It's going to hold up. You've done the strength. You've done the work. You've had the surgery. It's been repaired. You're in it. It's been long enough. You were in a position to do this. You have to trust your body. That is the biggest thing. If he gets through the through the game and he is able to do those things, I don't worry about the shooting efficiency. I don't worry about the finishing ability. I don't worry about how much burst he has. It's about can he get to a place where he can feel like he can trust his body to play basketball. If you do that, he'll get better every single game. I think one of the interesting things here also is to watch the team dynamic. How much do they defer to Jason Tatum to try to get him going? Get him those shots versus doing what they're doing. We could see a little bit of a period where it looks a little awkward at first. We saw this when LeBron came back and the Lakers were rolling with Luca and Reeves and

17:02they were trying to get LeBron involved and they dipped and then it's been up and down for them all season. That's more of a Lakers thing than an injury thing. When Jason Tatum does come back, it is going to be a great deal. It's going to impact Boston's rotation, right? There's a lot of guys in this rotation who are playing well. We're going to talk about who should play, who should not play down the stretch and in the playoffs when Tatum comes back in particular. They do have questions at the center. Here's more from lockdown Celtics. I talked about, I think Vouch might end up being the starter and I still think that that could be the case, which I know people are going to be like, John, did you not just see what Neemie did? Yeah, if Vouch becomes a starter, it's because Joe likes the combination. With Jason and Jalen and wants the floor spacing. When I say that Vouch would start, it's not that I'm saying Vouch is better than Cata. When I say I want Cata on the bench with Peyton Pritchard, it's because I like those two working together. It's almost like last year.

18:02Pritchard is a starter. Vouch played 20 minutes in this game. It's kind of almost starter level minutes. Cata played 27. It doesn't matter who starts. So John over at lockdown Celtics gets into all the different kind of rotation questions that the Celtics team is dealing with. But in that clip, he said something that was really interesting to me. It's kind of like last year. The Celtics team has been very good all season long. They add Vouch at the trade deadline. Are they, did they reload already? Are they as deep as they were last season? It feels like it's close to it, like especially based off the way that they play. Looking at this roster, if you gave me the roster last season, the roster this season is just looked at the names. I wouldn't say that I think that it was as deep, but watching them play this year, it does feel that way. You're adding Jason Tatum to this. Vouch is a player that you know exactly what he is and what he can do well and what his weaknesses are. I think his weaknesses are covered up a little bit better on this Boston team. So I think this is a team that can go the distance in the Eastern Conference this play

19:03off season. I didn't necessarily think that. Hey, you did not recognize that that was a cry for help from West. He really needed you to say that no, they weren't really. I'm sorry, West. I hate it, bro. I'm going to pat on the head and don't worry, buddy. It'll be okay. No, I'm going to go even further. They're better than last year. This team is down. Can you believe this John Herala said the defense was going to be absolutely horrendous. Like John, who knows the Celtics inside now, was like the defense is going to be an absolutely joke this year. They're ninth in schedule adjusted defense now. They're top 10 in offense and defense. They have the third best net rating in the NBA. They take less threes than last year, which to me is monster. They're still one of the highest teams because it's an advantage, but they they're not such a one trick pony as last year. They have a much deeper offensive repertoire they can get to mid range shots with Jalen Brown diving the rim.

20:04The Vouchovic stuff I think is really interesting from the perspective of I kind of agree with John because you can cover for Vouch better with Derek White, Jalen Brown, Tatum. Those guys are going to cover for Vouch defensively and they're going to be able to run the kind of stuff that they need plus the five out capability is huge. If you think back to when Luke Kornet was coming off the bench and how great those pick and roll minutes were off the bench for Boston last year, Cated can fill that kind of roll offensively while also being a great defensive player. And if you need defense, you can just go to Cated. They've got more options now. Tatum will open up more lineups. They can go super small. They can go super big. They can they can do a lot of things like this Celtics team is going to be a problem in the playoffs. And I think that there is a chance that their playoff peak might be a little bit better even than last year's. Look, the Haydor and me would want to be okay West is just come over to the dark side. I want you to be okay.

21:05I want you to be okay. I'm like, boy, Max, he's really destroying Vouch in this pick and roll with the way that Vouch is dropping. Is this going to be like an NS canter situation where you can't play Vouch? And to your eyes, like, okay, then we just go to Cated. Yeah, all right. Crutch it. Yeah, you're just like, all right. We'll ditch it for this game. It doesn't matter. Vouch was a minus seven or something in that game. It didn't matter. Cated was awesome. Had this crazy historic night. You're probably not going to get that every night from Cated. But you're not going to need that, especially when Jason Tatum comes back and is going to give you this some kind of production, right? I don't think we can expect MVP candidate Jason Tatum when he comes back. I think that would be unfair if we're talking about expectations. But a guy who could step in and just be better, bailer, shireman or Jordan Walsh, that's kind of at first. And then, you know, kind of build up from there. And I mean, that is slight to Jason Tatum, despite the fact that I'm a hater. Can you play Vouch of Vitchvert and drop coverage versus Jalen Brown in a next series? No. He'll kill you. Jalen Bronson. Yeah, Jalen Bronson. No, he'll kill you. Right. Can you get away with it in a double big lineup and put him on cat?

22:07Yep. Probably. Yeah. You can probably do that. Space Mitchell Robinson out. Mm-hmm. Look, I said this before, but like the only reason we say that the East is wide open is because of the Jason Tatum injury and for the because of the tires, Halibur and injury. It's really both of those injuries. Like, if both of those guys were healthy from the start of the season, we would have labeled one of those teams the favorites in the East. But certainly with the Celtics, if Tatum comes back, all of a sudden this whole idea just changes, right? That the East is wide open. Yeah. I agree with you to a certain degree, but I'm also saying this as good as I think Boston is and I think they're good. It's also like styles are going to make fights. That is the entire thing of the playoffs of the last seven years is styles make fights. And you're it you can very reasonably argue, yeah, but Boston and O.K.C. were so dominant. Well, kind of O.K.C. struggle into series and they didn't have matchup advantages. They were good enough to win, but it was really close. Boston never faced a team that could really match up with them in 2024. There's just not I don't think that we're going to have a run maybe, but I don't think

23:10we're going to have a run here where a team winds up with no bad, bad matchups. Styles make fights in the NBA playoffs. It's going to be really interesting when the Celtics are playing the heat and the two seven matchup in the first round. Yeah. Looking for to those games. Meanwhile, the Warriors got some tough news over the weekend, not like the Celtics. Your might, however, be a silver lining. We'll talk about that next. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandall. College basketball is nonstop big games tight spreads momentum swings every single night. From early tip offs to late night west coast shootouts, there's always action on the board. And now, Fandall is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins. With the college basketball parlay profit boost, you can build any college hoops parlay that you want. Rivalry games, ranked matchups, whatever fits your need. You can mix spreads, you can mix totals, player props, whatever you need to do to match how you see the slate playing out. Then you can apply that profit boost and instantly bump up the potential payout. Look at the odds around your team and if they are in season and go safe, you can go bold

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25:13The premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast, just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support your, it's for our show by saying that you heard about us on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast, terms and conditions apply, need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Thanks for making Lockdown NBA Daily your first listen every day. The Lockdown podcast network has a show for every team check out Lockdown nuggets and Lockdown Celtics. For more on today's top stories, it's time for our weekend winners and losers, Hayes, why don't you kick us off. Uh, we can winners, uh, I say, uh, we actually won yesterday, so I'm going to say my bulls. We got to win the first one in a month. Bulls fans actually have no, you know, there's been more people complaining about the win than not, but I was good to see my team actually get a win and it was the worst fourth quarter of basketball I've ever seen by a team with Milwaukee Bugs place. So they're the losers there. You need to win every once in a while, even as a tanky team, just to keep morale a little bit higher in that locker room. Matt, what about you?

26:14You did. Nick's truck the bucks and then get the big win versus the spurs on Sunday. So they've got to be a winner. Defences playing great. That was, uh, they, they continue to kind of have these defensive performances that exceed expectation. Their floor and ceiling are so high. It's kind of hard to get a read on the Nick's, but when they do play well, they play absolutely awesome. Uh, they're like six and two versus the top six teams in the Western conference. So the Nick's were in the West. They would actually probably look a little bit better, which is ironic. Uh, Timber will obviously get to be here too again that went over the, over Denver. They really wanted that one. They wanted that one. Minnesota is, uh, I wouldn't say that they are, quote, peaking at the right time because of one, I don't believe in that. And two, uh, it's probably a little early for that kind of concept where it's like you still got another month before we get to the, the playoffs. Um, so I think those are, those are probably my winners for the weekend. My winner is Shays MVP Canada. See, he comes back from 11 games off scores 36 and a win over Yokech and the nuggets 30 over the Mavericks. We're back.

27:15Obviously still the favorite for MVP and, uh, we talked a little bit about it. Eligibility last week. That does not seem to be an issue now that he's back. Uh, let's talk about some losers. I want to kick us off here because I need to talk about Steph Curry and the Warriors. Curry ruled out for another five games, uh, and the team is still not sure if he's going to come back and when he's going to come back rather, um, Matt, should they just consider shutting him down until the playoffs. They're three games out of seventh place. They're five games out of six. They're still two and a half games up on the ninth place Clipper's team. That is not, you know, they've been up and down since the trade deadline. What's the value of bringing Steph Curry back? Are they more, are they better off? And they're asking this question locally in Golden State. Are they better off just sort of shutting them down and then bringing them back for the postseason to make sure he's as fresh as possible? I can't believe you're asking this question. They can't afford this West. They're not good enough. And it's like, oh, but they won't fall out of the play internament. You, we have one team that has made it out of the 10 spot. And that is the Miami Heat last year, who then got absolutely

28:15detruculated. I don't even know if that's a word by the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was absolutely nightmarish. And usually that tendency doesn't even make it out. Um, like there's no team that's going to catch them because the Memphis Grizzlies will lose however much they have to to avoid making the play in. But I mean, this warrior's team is like, they're not good. Like this team is bad. They're very bad. They need stuff and they really need to put themselves in a position where they can get home court. Phoenix is struggling right now with Devon Booker out. He's supposed to be back with this week. Like you've got a chance to be able to get to seven. I don't think you're going to get to six, but you could get the seven, which is fine. And that at least have a chance of making it. I, you know, obviously, if you're thinking about this and you're like, let's just start shutting down for the playoffs, what should I know for the year and just kind of kick it back next year? Get Jimmy back, just kind of reset. Like, all right, it didn't happen for us. Maybe next year and stuff's probably the last season. We can maybe make a run here.

29:16I, I just, um, nothing really makes sense. They are trying so hard to make a run with everything failing. And it's just like, oh, we got Chris. I was supposed to have. No, he's sick again with that condition. And I don't know what happens here with the warriors, but the reality is like, this team is bad. Like they are not good. Hey, there's no hope. Like there's no hope. They're not going anywhere. Nothing's happening this season. It's not going to happen. Let them go back to the drawing board. This also maybe LeBron wants to come play season with Steph. Maybe something like that this season, though, it's done. It's they're nothing's happened in this season for no matter if they have Steph Curry, nobody's not happening. I'm a LeBron apologist. I am on record right now is saying that would be the lamest possible way to go out for LeBron to pair up with stuff in Golden State. That would be lame. It would be lame. Luckily, when you're a billionaire, you can afford to be lame. Doesn't stop him. Hey, it's your loser. I said that well, the Milwaukee Bucks is that side of that.

30:16Just I don't, I don't, I don't know. Like yeah, the Milwaukee Bucks are still my loser because you lost the bulls man. Come on now, Matt. The rockets were in a bad schedule. Spot, but that lost the heat was not ideal. I can't believe they've benched a men Thompson. That's pretty what Womps and Twins getting benched lately at the end of some of these close games. What is happening? I think that one kind of matters. I will also say the Blazers are without any obvious. I think that team is spiraling. Can we, like, I get how good the top of the West is? But God, the middle of the West is so bad. Like Blazers warriors, are you, these are not serious teams? Like these are just not, you are not serious people from that perspective. So it's like them and the nuggets are probably the, the losers of the weekend. I know it's like, oh, the Thunder, like the nuggets compete it. Well, they didn't want to compete. They actually want to be good. Oh, one more winner. How about Keon Ellis with like five blocks with one hand with a broken finger?

31:22Shout out to Keon Ellis for that performance. That was pretty amazing. Those are Sacramento Kings for not understanding what they had there when they had them. I guess I didn't think he was going to be that good, man. I was like, oh, come on. Like two coaches didn't think, oh, no, it's just it really is. It really is the Kings. The Kings be Kings and as always, feel like what you heard today. Subscribe to Lockdown NBA Daily wherever you get your podcasts, including on YouTube. Thank you to Matt and Hayes for their expertise every day. Thank you for making the Lockdown podcast network your first listen. We'll see you right back here tomorrow on Lockdown NBA Daily.