RECAP: SGA Cruises to 30 | Cason Wallace Improved Playmaking | Jared McCain Role

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This is Nick Gangsta with the Lockdown Mavericks Podcast. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. I love that I can run up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase of my Apple Card, which can be automatically sent to my high yield savings account through Apple Card right in the wallet app. With my iPhone, I can use Apple Card with Apple Pay basically everywhere I go. You can buy for Apple Card too, right in the wallet app on your iPhone. Subject to credit approval, savings is available to Apple Card owners, subject to eligibility, savings in Apple Card by Goldman Sachsbank, USA Salt Lake City Branch member FDIC, terms and more at AppleCard.com. Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Thank you for being here, because your support means everything. And if you're looking for another way to support the show that you love, while getting something awesome in return, check out the Everydayer Club. You get ad free episodes of your favorite lockdown show, access to a member's only group chat for fans of your team, and you can even jump into the national chats and talk about

1:03whatever's happening across the league. Tap the Everydayer Club link in the show notes to learn more. On today's Lockdown Thunder Podcast, SGA easily got his way to 30, but Jared McCain's role really stands out in what this means for the future for Oklahoma City after this game against Dallas. You are Lockdown Thunder, your daily Oklahoma City Thunder Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Let's get it going on the Lockdown Thunder Podcast, on the Lockdown Podcast, not work your teams every day. Another number one sports podcast network in the world, where I'm your host, me and remember, and at beatriderforthunder.nsi.com, Rowland Styles, follow me on Twitter, at Ryland underscores. I'll follow the show on Twitter, at LL ThunderPod, and on today's show, we're brought to you by Fandall. We're diving into the thunder taking on the Dallas Mavericks, and name only tonight. This was not the actual Dallas Mavericks, it certainly didn't feel that way.

2:06Chad Holmgren had a big first quarter and continued to play his role as a playfinisher. Jared McCain popped in this game as well, SGA cruised his way to 30, so much to discuss from this game on today's show, we're brought to you by Fandall. Fandall is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with the college basketball parlay profit boost, head to Fandall.com to get started today that's Fandall.com to play your game at Fandall. This game looked the Thunder did not have AJ Mitchell still, they did not have Jaylen Williams still, although Jay Dub was a participant in the post-shoot around affairs, shooting around here in the AAC, but it'd be easier to tell you who did play for Dallas than who didn't play here at the American Airlines Center, where we are recording this show live from the AAC and the Bows of the AAC, discussing this Thunder game in a win over Dallas. Okay, see, very quickly settled into this one, it was a 12-0 run in the start of the first quarter that really got them this win, honestly, you could have ended the game right there.

3:10Dallas got out to a quick five-point lead early on, but okay, see, railed it right back and Dallas was way too overzealous defensively, it got them beat quite a bit when going to the rim. I thought that the Thunder had the proper energy tonight, taking on a bad Maverick's team, a team in this game, right? You look at both these teams, heading into this game, they had the exact same goal, get the Thunder a win. That's a mission accomplished for both sides, Dallas going toward the bottom, okay, see, of course, trying to cling to the top of the standings as the Spurs felt tonight in New York, but okay, see in this game on top of getting the win and on top of their proper energy. That's some really good ball movements, possessions all game long, the ball was fizzing around the perimeter, and the Thunder, I think had a really high shot quality game. I think that a lot of these possessions were okay, see, you would describe that play in that ending shot as a possession where okay, see, in the possession by getting an A-plus shot attempt at the end of it, you saw the Thunder in this game continuously work for

4:13high quality looks, and it ended up working out in their favor by the end of it, but obviously this game, the Thunder did not shoot the ball overly well, but at least the attempt there for high quality possessions was on okay, see, side, they just started breaking down the press camera's room around me, not sure what's going on here in the AAC, we're having a battle of road environment, a tough road environment for Thunder tonight, overwhelmingly Thunder fans in the gym tonight in this game, but back on track here, now that the chairs are out of the press conference room, when you look at this game, again, the Thunder of the proper energy that was required of them to show up, do their job defensively and generate stops, generate turnovers, and do the gritty stuff needed on a night like this, especially whenever this game didn't really provide you a ton of energy, didn't provide you a ton of grit, so you had to really dig deep and get it to their credit, the Thunder did that, and in this game you can really describe it as the Thunder, a million dollar move once it finished, more often than not from a standpoint of the Thunder were generating

5:14excellent looks all night, I think that you consider an overwhelming amount of the Thunder shots, A plus shots, and that the shots didn't fall for them at a high enough clip to truly bury Dallas as early as you would expect them to, but to the Thunder's credit, they continued to have good processing all game long, and it eventually did lead them to getting that 22 point lead, and it eventually did lead them of course to a very comfortable win against the Dallas Mavericks in the American Airlines Center tonight, it started out with a close to the third quarter, a 13 to 2 run, and then she goes to the bench to start the fourth quarter, and the Thunder wanted a 10 to 2 run to eventually get their biggest lead of the night, one lead changed one tie in this game, the Thunder minus 3 on the glass, but they did 417 turnovers while only giving it up eight times themselves, and here's the stat to back up the claim of the high quality shots, I'm going to say right now the Thunder shot 44% from the floor and 20% from 3, and I think that if you watched this game, you'd be shocked to know that if you were not checking the box score simultaneously, because so many

6:16of these looks were just wide wide open, and there's shots that have fallen for the Thunder of the past, so to be able to get a win in which you shoot 20% from 3, one, you won the possession battle, because you were able to play such intense defense even in a game that doesn't always require it, and two, of course, the shot qualities that you were able to generate eventually, you did see enough of them fall late to pull away in this one for OKC, Dallas on the other hand, to put a bow on the Thunder's defense, 38% from the floor for Dallas, 29% from 3%, 75% at the charity strike, OKC, a plus eight in points in the paint, the Thunder won second chance points, despite losing the rebounding battle 14 to 3, and OKC a plus six in transition in this contest. SGA, I thought that the mid-range attack was buttery smooth for him, he even drove the step back 3 over Clay, and a night-work shot one for 5 from 3, that was his lone 3, but it was also really good in transition. The first one, it's in semi-transition, and he just tosses the ball out there, a bounce pass out there for iHeart to go run underneath as iHeart's trailing the play, and iHeart makes that extra pass the chat for the slam. The second time was after Jay will

7:20got a block and threw it ahead the Shay, and Shay without a dribble fires it into Alex Caruso for a layup. He even in this game sprung into the air to put Max Christie on a poster, I mean, he was fired up after that poster, Duncan, rightfully so, but because you don't see that from Shay all too often. We talk a lot, as you every dayers know, about what wonderful moves that Shay pulls out and how he's the best player in the world and how great he is. The one thing that's not in his bag of time is leaping up at the rim and putting guys on a poster, Sally Max Christie, the victim here of an SGA poster. He talked about that post game and discussed that his legs are now more than they were pre-entry because of all this time off, and obviously he felt cut, he just saw that opportunity and he was pounding his chest going to the bench. It was a very fun moment for SGA. Picked Ryan, Nimzer's pockets, which was just a par for the course for SGA, a season-time guy, four steals in this game. It was shocking to see Shay check back in, with under seven minutes to go. Everybody on media row, including a gentleman that did not work for

8:26O.K.C. or Dallas, and was just an NBA personnel scout. Everyone was shocked that Shay checked back in, so I asked Mark about it post game. Mark had really explained quite well of just he saw an opportunity to really slam the door on the game by putting Shay back in there, and he said it could go on either way. He could have rode out the bench unit some more there, or the secondary unit some more there without Shay in the game, but he chose to try to shut the door on the game. He did shut the door on the game by making this decision, but he did say it could have gone either way. We talk all the time on this show that Shay gets to the rest fourth quarters, because of how wonderful his supporting cast is, and in this game, he went back into the fourth quarter, and that was a bit noteworthy, and Mark talked about that after the game. But effortless buckets for SGA, just shrugging off defenders in the mid range. This was a, again, overzealous memory defense. They were trying to play in your grill. They were trying their best defensively, but he just he just could not be bothered by their contests. And he got to 30 points

9:27on a step back in the mid range where Christie fouled them, because he jumped into the Shay's landing space, and as she ate 30 points tonight, five assists, four rebounds, four steals on 60% shooting from the floor, one for five, from three, five, four, six at the line, and 34 minutes of work. That was Shay's night. That was the thunder's night and the thunder, get a win here in Dallas, one that they have to have 100 to 87. And I know that it feels silly to call this a big win when the thunder and the Mavericks are the same goal tonight, which was to get, okay, see a win. But we talk a lot about the upcoming schedule and how it's the hardest in the NBA. And what the thunder going to have to go through here to try to endure that while trying to cling to the one seed, you can't afford to have a night where you lay an egg against Dallas or against Chicago on twos that you can afford to have a have a night where you just didn't have it. Ah, get him next time. Like you have to capitalize on all of these games where you're playing in fear of your opponents, because you're going to be faced with some tougher tests that are not always 100% of the time going to go your way, you know, historically speaking. And I think that

10:29Mark did a good job today of describing to that one of the other reasons to put Shay back in there was because is that he's he's since some he's since some fatigue, some general fatigue from this at the end of their stents, like at the end of the rotational stent for these guys, he sent some general fatigue. So we wanted to try to change that in a second half by getting guys in an out quicker. And so that's why Shay checked back into the fourth quarter so quickly and they didn't, you know, write it out so to say and see if they could shut the door anyhow. But Shay checked then shut the door on this game, shut the door on this win. Okay, see gets another win two in a row for the thunder. And now they've won what five of the last six games for okay see. So we'll have more on this including where I was right completely right about shut home. Let Uncle Rye take a little bit of a victory lap if you will while sitting here in the American Airlines Center. We'll do that coming up on today's lockdown thunder podcast. But first one say right now, better friends over at BetterHelp folks go check out better help today because this episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. March is the time to celebrate women, especially around national

11:31women's day. And to recognize just how much they carry at work and relationships and families. And all that is there for them and the unseen roles that they step into every single day. It's easy to celebrate their strength, but it's also important to make space for their emotional well-being and honestly that goes for all of us. So, you know, you can think about the women in your life whether it's your mother, your sister, the your, you know, spouse, the people who carry the most for your relationship and the expectations placed on them and all that goes into every day life and it can obviously for anyone get to a point where you could really benefit a lot of people. Many people can benefit from therapy and with BetterHelp over 30,000 licensed therapists are there for you. More than six million people have been served worldwide. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform and it works. Fill out a short questionnaire. You get matched

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13:33Thunder game and our two squad shows a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3.30 p.m. Central and our Monday live stream at 2 p.m. Central with Derek Parker, which will be happening tomorrow and bonus shows coming out. Not only on the weekends after the weekend games, but also in the midday. So check out that this week, including Mondays, which is going to be about the, I'm not going to say budding an official rivalry between Oklahoma City and Denver because yes, even on the Lord's Day, David Adam and still decided to talk about the Lodort and the Koleoka Pruhaha. But you every day there's no something about me and that's that I've been discussing Chet Homegren's recent stretch in tones that can only be described as trying to put out a fire burning in this fan base about his offense. And I've been talking about his play finishing role and this might sound like old hat to a lot of you. And if it does, we're thankful because that means you're in every day or I can listen to the show every single morning, every single day

14:33you know that we're here for you. And you can join our every day or club by checking the link in the show notes down below. And when you do that, you can sign up and get ad free episodes, every single episode ad free. And also you can text me, you can join our discord, our newsletters, and some exclusive content over there at our every day or club. But surprise surprise, Chet Homegren waltzes his way to a 19, a 19 that I hope I'm not betraying any confidence. I don't think that he'll listen to this anyway. But Royce Young on Media Row was just wow. Chet has a quiet 19 because it just felt so organic. And that's what Chet's offensive game is. It's an organically growing offense where when you put him in position to score the basketball, he's going to get it done. Now he's got to create not so hot. Like you look at tonight's scoring, we're going to go through it. Really one of the only times that he created his own shot was by taking Dwight Palfa pump fake, leaving Dwight Palfa gripping the earth and getting to the rim for finishing that mid-range. He had a step back mid-range as well. If the dribble you can count that as a self-creation bucket. But past that, you look at him. It's a rebound off of a Wiggins

15:37miss and dribbles around his defender from the low block to the front of the rim and gets a finish. He then, you know, whenever you look at it, finish in the dunker spot, case and while I shovel the pass to him, he followed up another Wiggins miss and transition for another layup. He threw down the Isaiah Heart and Stein lob. Like these are situations where the guys are getting him involved or he's getting himself involved based upon other areas where it's not just hey, Chet. You're the only healthy big three member. You're the best player who's healthy. Go get it done, kid. Like these are ways that his teammates are taking that pressure off of him. The big, the big connections were great. Case and Wallace was great as a secondary playmaker. He was able to take advantage of some put-pack opportunities. Just stuff that was available to him. It was nothing out of the ordinary. It was nothing that was eye popping except for the play for Dwight Palfa. That was like eye popping and like awesome. And the sense of just like, oh, Chet home window. That's only that's something only he can do. It was just finishing off plays. And he's a very, very, very high in playfinisher. He's an elite playfinisher, frankly, because you

16:40look at the stance of which he's gotten to play finish. It's what got him to scoring 18 points per game earlier this year. It's what got him to these 19 points today. And then you couple that with there's elite defensive ability where you saw him in this game. As soon as he dribbled into that rim finish and then he goes and breaks up a lob on the other end defensively. He ends up with two blocks tonight in this contest. I thought that Chet was really, really good tonight. 19 points, nine rebounds. And it says two steals two blocks, 57% shooting from the floor, plus 13 in this one and 28 minutes of action. It is good to see him get back to a playfinishing role. And I think that if this was this is the version of offense, that is what you'd expect from Chet home. Look, if this team is whole, if this team is is complete, this is how he's going to be utilized. And it's a very efficient, very solid scoring night for Chet home. He played his role really well. And that's what you want to be. It's a star in your role. And this is his preferred, I think, and natural, I think, for this season scoring role. Now again, he can expand his game. And in the future,

17:43I think that you will need him to expand this game as a more on ball shot creator for himself to the degrees that big men need to be. And I think that that I think that he has the tools capable of letting that happen in the future. But it's just not who he is right this second. And then whenever you see I hard in there, you see Shay in there, you see these guys who are capable of generating some high quality looks from. And he gets right back to business as a score. And tonight it was no different against Dallas. I think the Jared McCain, like what he's able to do really leaves you encouraged for what this can look like in the playoffs. They're running a lot of fun looks for him. And it's changing the dynamic of the Thunder offense. Like he had a couple plays where he passes the ball up to Jay will at the top of the key. Then he goes into such a pin down screen for Shay. Shay takes that screen, gets the ball from Jay. Well, Jay will then replaces and goes and pin down screens for McCain. McCain lifts up. SGA is taking on bodies because you just thrown out two screens and now he's taking on a double team. And now he's hitting McCain sliding up from that pin down from Jay well for a wide open

18:43one dribble three. And you know, you look at it and it was a shot that didn't go in. But it was a great look. And then they almost ran the identical situation here where Shay did get it to him for the three. And you just can see how there's a lot of moving parts on the play that leverages perfectly. Shay's scoring gravity with McCain shooting gravity. And whenever you can muck up the pictures there and especially you can involve both of them, it really puts the defense in a bind to her. Even if it's not a situation where the play ends with a McCain shot or the play ends with a Shay shot, because of all this eye wash over here, because of all this eye candy over here, what's happening on the back end, right, on the weak side corner? What's happening over there? Probably you guys going to be open because the low man's going to rotate and focus their attention to the strong side of the court. So it just opens up a lot for this thunder team. And then he gets the ball off of a Jay will, it's the ball off of a Jay will screen. And then sets, and then gets the ball to Jay will an AC says a screen for him. Jay will get it right back to McCain. McCain shot fakes since a guy flying by and drives in. Mavericks and draft McCain punishes a floater.

19:47So it's like again, McCain brings the ball up, gets it to Jay will. Then AC says it's a machine. Then Jay will gets it back to McCain. Now the AC screener gets lost on the screen. You know, McCain's defender gets lost on the screen and AC's defender does not fly out to McCain in time. And when he does, he's reacting late. So now he's over pursuing thinking of shots coming. He flies past McCain. McCain dribbles in. Bigs and draft. He shoots a floater. Nails it. He dribbles into a turnaround. Midi off the dribble. McCain does gets a second chance on a long rebound that that case and wall is really fought for. And this was another area where McCain is just impressive because the first shot misses of the possession. Case and wall is flies in and just grinds out a rebound. And McCain is seeing this happen in a play that he's not involved in and to play that, you know, the shot looks like it's going to end the thunder's possession. Looks like they're getting back on defense. But he sees the angle that case is taking to have the shot to get the rebound. And he McCain slides over into the slot to create a passing window. Case and ticks it out to McCain. McCain knocks down that three. And so these are all the ways that

20:50you can see him start to alleviate pressure. It'd be a safety valve for the thunder offense. And be a difference maker because of the actions you can put them in. And because of his just cerebral nature of being able to understand positioning and location on the court. It's the best serve his teammates where he didn't just wait around and see, well, is he going to get three better not? He anticipates the rebound coming. Gets into a passing window just in case and then then is able to cash out cash out that three. I thought that was really good stuff from him. And all night long, he was working in that mid-range. He had a baseline step back jumper to give him the nine points and 10 minutes of action off the bench by the two minute mark on the second quarter. Three middies in that first half. And in this game, he was working in transition, but also he continues to get to the rim in that transition opportunity. It's it's a situation where he gets the ball around the wing and just decides to go behind the back and try to get to the rim. He successfully loses his man gets to the rim for a nice look and doesn't make the shot. So again, you want to polish up that rim finishing, but the

21:54explosiveness and the mid-range tragedy created and his ability to get to the rim recently. It is also vintage stuff from him and vintage being pre knee injury that he is every day looking more and more comfortable from. He has more on-ball juice, I think. Then even I who you every dayers know have been have been a big praiser of McCain since the trade and a big advocate for the trades since it happened. Like even I didn't give him enough credit for the on-ball juice he would have this season. I thought that was more of a future endeavor. But right now he's got that on-ball juice to create shots for himself and it allows you to really think what can this be in the postseason because in this game his compete level defensively was there. It really was. And this is the concerning part I'll say is that like I think that his compete level is strong enough and your defense is good enough to where you can stand to have him on the floor in the postseason. Because even tonight, yeah, the maps tried to get mechanical in the ball every single possession and that's a smart game planned by Dallas frankly. And the thunder being so comfortable even to

22:56take a ball screen have Shay switch on to the ball handler instead and the score instead. Their ability to switch truly one through five and feel good about it and the amount of high end defenders that they can put on the floor. It makes you think that because of McCain's motor and because of McCain's own screen navigation and ability to at least stick with you. Like you look at a lot of the shots that people make over McCain. It's simply about heart. It's not about bad positioning. It's not about lack of athleticism to stay in front. It's simply about height. Like they just can get it over him and he can he can not really bother a ton of drivers. It's by the way that the NBA is continuing to grow when it comes to guys on the ball and their heights and the ways that they can get shots off. And so the competitiveness level you have to imagine the thunder going to have enough guys in every lineup where it will not be the downfall that keeps him off the court in the playoffs. Now again, I could be wrong on that. This is the concern. But just from watching how much that he fights through screens and watching how much of these stays in front of guys, I think that there's going to be plenty of avenues to make up for it. If

23:58he becomes someone that you really do need to see on the floor for the offensive stake because other than point seven of his last eight games and double figures tonight. Rebound and assist as well. I thought that McCain was really good and McCain showed you a lot of promise for what his future role can be for OKC both now and in the future because you're seeing him get more comfortable actually running sets with this thunder team and how it's working for this for this squad. Coming up, let's talk case in Wallace. So I thought despite not scoring the ball well, had a really, really good game. But first once they're right now, better friends over at Fandall go check out Fandall today because college basketball season 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's giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a college basketball parlay profit boost. You can build any college hoops parlay you want, rivalry games, ranked matchups, whatever fits your need. And you can even mix spreads and totals

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27:09talked about the benefits to having a secondary creator, secondary playmaker and how much of that is valued in the system that the tonight case and really did that. The decisions were not just basic. They were they were not just, hey, you get the ball kicked out to you. You shoot or you swing the rock to the next guy. He really played at a slower pace today and he really got to a point where he was able to find advantages for this offense and the half court and he also ran the shore well in transition. He had seven assists by the 330 mark in the third quarter. The game I think has really slowed down for case and Wallace and it's allowing him to truly read the floor. Like his decision making is so much better because of it where it's not just okay. I don't have the shot. So I'm going to play off the catch and get to a floater. I don't have the shot and we're trying to barrel into the rim. I don't have the shot. I'm trying to swing it to the guy next to me. He's able to if he doesn't have the shot, play off that catch, read the floor. See, hey, Chet's defender is stepping up beyond the restricted area. I'm going to fire this pass into the dunker spot behind the defense and let Chet have an easy slam. Like those type of quick decisions,

28:10decisive decisions, but ability to read the floor at that level. That is something that he's really grown into over the course of really these last few weeks, but obviously it's been a body of work that's gotten to this point and it's why I was so encouraged by his stent pre-shay return. And I think that tonight you saw kind of what we've been talking about. You ever there's a firmly talk about how yes, it won't look like 20 points a night. Yes, it won't look like, you know, case in having a plus, you know, and above 20% usage rate on these nights whenever whenever Chet is able to play and the steam gets more healthy, but there are tangible things that that can make him better and that can make this team better that he that he was able to learn during that restriction February that you can now implement into who he is today. And so I think that whenever you see him today, only score four points. But again, if you watch that game without the box score pulled up, I think that that would stun you. I think that you would feel his bigger impact offensively through the assist that he had and a steal and a block in 30 minutes of work, despite not shooting the ball well, he really kept the thunder at a good advantage on the offensive then.

29:12I say a Joe. He loves playing in this building, huh? I mean, he just took over that third quarter. What do you have? H straight points in that third quarter. It felt like a nice given go from him to start the night with J. Will where he gives it up to J. Will and then wraps around the DHL, J. Will fakes the DHL and then finds I say a Joe cutting baseline for an easy slam. I hit a couple of threes off of the HOs and went off the dribble to get the 14 points in that fourth quarter in the midst of that H straight that he scored in the fourth. And this is the building where it all started for him. This is the building where he really served as a launch pad to his NBA career at Thunder 10 year. And he had some fun today. I think that it is a shame. It's like a tangible example of what we talk about with like, Hey, I know that you think you have the standard team figured out, but there's still so much growing that they can do. Just the nature of the injuries, the nature of like, you know, the lack of games that they've all played together. You're seeing now this I heart I Joe DHL and this two men game from them being taken to a whole new level. Like

30:17in this game, I heart does the between the legs. Tump off to to Isaiah Joe and I heart's man jumps out to Joe because you cannot right now leave Isaiah Joe anywhere close to open. He's shooting the absolute lights out of the gym. And so when I heart sky jumps out to Joe, Joe sees that as the opportunity to drive into the lane and Dallas swarms Isaiah Joe in that lane and I Joe whips a pass. I'll have triple the chat home green top of the key for three. Now look, that shot didn't fall, but it is a example of how Isaiah Joe is leveraging his strengths as a shooter to help this overall offense. And it's why the stuff in February. Yes, it did not have the entire core together. But even in a 14 point night, which isn't as loud as some of the other nights have been for him a three for seven night, which is as loud as some of the nights have been for him. And for Isaiah Joe, even now you're seeing the remnants of that February stretch in this game by generating that look by being more comfortable on the ball, being more comfortable attacking closeouts, getting those closeouts, getting that respect from I heart's defender to jump the DHL because

31:20he understands that I heart's about the wipe away Isaiah Joe's defender on that screen. And I heart tonight, even at the floater going, I mean, it looked like a night whenever he started the thunder's night with a floater to get the thunder to two against the Dallas Mavericks. He struggled after that to really score the basketball, but he had a huge block at the rim of Daniel Gaffer. He was really nice defensively, even contesting triples in this game to allow the chat. That was a lot of fun. He threw up this late shot clock three that almost went down and would have been a heck of a way for him to get his first thunder three of his career with OKC. But my stat that doesn't matter, but I think exists because I still haven't fully fact checked this, but just got feeling of just seeing every Isaiah Hart and Stein game multiple times in OKC because I am a sickle that'll watch you the game live and goes back and watches the next day. I believe the thunder undefeated when I heart shoots a three and that trend did continue today. We talked about his DHL playmaking and his prowess there for the thunder seven points five boards five assists a steel two blocks in just 25 minutes. Really good game from him. I thought that Caruso, he was someone who was an energy

32:26giver for this team and we talked about earlier that the crowd was on the thunder side, but obviously it was like a paycom sell out crowd like it was just a smattering of fans who made noise and Max fans, you know, we're out to launch in this game rightfully so because the mavericks are horrific this season and they've done a lot of damage to the reputation with their fan base, but Caruso really brought the energy and juice whenever he entered the contest. And even on the bench, you know, he was clapping and kind of coaching guys up on the bench all night, but in a dead arena against a dead opponent who wants to be anywhere, but here he was able to draw out some energy from this thunder team to continue that way that we talked about earlier of the thunder playing with the proper energy to have him. I took a miss free throw coast to coast and finished at the rim. That was fun to see to get the thunder a two for one chance. He drew on a legal screen in this game as well, but Alex Caruso had six rebounds tonight shot the AC. And yes, Aaron Wiggins did have another tough game, another tough game. And I know, I know everyone wants to say, you know, stop trying to make fetch happen. Name that movie in the comments and you get some lockdown thunder brownie points. But look, it'll absolutely get to

33:31that point where you can no longer play Aaron Wiggins if this trend continues of his of his poor offensive showing. And it is getting late early. I'll agree with you there. But even though it's getting late early and even though it's going to get to that point eventually, this game against these mavericks, it's not one. Because if you're ever going to spark something back in Aaron Wiggins, if you're ever going to spark something back in Aaron Wiggins, this was a great game to test it out. This was a great game to try it. And so I think that the thunder have got to stick with them. I think that you're going to need some of what he provides on the offensive end eventually throughout this season. And it's it's difficulty. But 50 minutes tonight, you had more rope to give him, more leeway to give him because of the opponent, whereas like you look at that Denver game, he only played eight minutes in that Denver game because he was not good from the jump. Not good in this game either, but you're just trying to spark something from him on the offensive end. It's just not sparked right now. The pilot light is not lit on Wiggins's offense and it's got to get

34:31lit somehow. This was a good game. Chicago Chicago's another good game to try it and to try to light that pilot light for Aaron Wiggins's offense because Chicago in the same boat their their game plan on Tuesday's little case he went. So you're going to need Wiggins to try to shake out of it there. But look against New York against Denver next week against these other teams. It's it's going to be really harder to justify him playing unless he can shake out of this and I your guess is as good as mine for what happened to Wiggins and what's happening for Wiggins. I I agree his handles not as clean as it used to be. He's not creating this operation that he was did and he certainly does not have the touch that he once did. But this is where I fall on the Wiggins conversation is just number one. Nobody knows more than Wiggins and he's not playing well. Nobody wants to play better more than Wiggins does right now in this team. And number two, it's it's not like he just forgot how to do these things. These are the things that made him into an NBA player and I I'll say it again

35:32I said it on the bonus show this weekend. This is the first time his NBA career. He's not an additive offensive player for OKC is the first time he's not adding to the thunder offense. So I don't know if there's anything underlying the lining there whether it be physically or whatever but man it's got to get better than this it's got to it's got to and you have some opportunities today against the house you have some opportunities against Charlotte ever gets a Chicago on Tuesday. But man I don't know how you can play him on against the next and the thunder will of course but it's it's hard to justify those minutes just like on Friday you know they tried to play him against Denver didn't work out they played eight minutes and didn't play him they play him of his eight minutes seven of them in the first quarter and hardly played him after that so it is what it is like this is just not a good showing from Wiggins here recently he knows that he desperately wants to turn it around you know hopefully for his sake he can do that and so we'll see how this ends up trending. So again this is locked down thunder every single day Monday through Friday plus after every single post game plus our squad shows on Tuesdays and Thursdays with Jeremy

36:35Lamb at 3 30 p.m. Central on YouTube plus our livestreams with Derek Parker at Monday on 2 p.m. Central on YouTube plus a little afternoon show bonus shows each day little short shows to get you through to the next pad because we do all the thunder coverage here that you could possibly want so subscribe anywhere YouTube podcast from folks let me know your thoughts on the Dallas memories we're going to get out of here we're getting we're getting up the boot we're leaving the boot from these kind folks in Dallas so we got to get out of here it's send the national large sin help get us out of here see you guys tomorrow until then be good and be good to one