ESPN reacts to Wemby & Spurs snap Thunder’s 16-game win streak to advance to the cup finals

ESPN reacts to Wemby & Spurs snap Thunder’s 16-game win streak to advance to the cup finals

WBY and the Spurs snap Oklahoma City’s 16game win streak to advance to the Emirates Cup finals. In his return from a 12-game hiatus due to a calf injury, WBY dropped 22 points, nine boards, and was plus 21 in 21 minutes. 21. He didn’t play in the first quarter due to a minutes restriction. And as a result, San Antonio trailed 31-20 going into the second. Wimby helped the Spurs cut a 16-point deficit and he hit the go-ahead bucket with two and a half minutes to go to put the Spurs in front for good. In addition to Webyama, Devin Vel, Stefan Castle, and De’aran Fox all finished with 22 or 23 points. The Spurs made the Thunder look as uncomfortable as they have all season, holding them to 41.3% shooting from the field and 24.3% shooting from three. SGA had 29 points but needed 23 shots to get there with only four free throws in the entire game. When asked about the budding rivalry between the Thunder and the Spurs becoming the best rivalry in all of basketball, SGA said, quote, “Yeah, there’s a good chance they’re young, really good, and have a lot of talent and play the right way. They play good brand of basketball.” End quote. San Antonio is nine and three in the 12 games Wimby miss. So clearly they’re more than just a one-man band. But when he’s healthy, that one man is the most unstoppable force on both ends of the court. Through the first two months of the season, the question is who can challenge OKC for NBA supremacy both now and into the future. Are we sure San Antonio isn’t the right answer? And if it’s not them, then who? So, I think the biggest part of what we saw in San Antonio winning was the little dig that WBY took at Oklahoma City after. He knows what’s going on here. He knows this is a rivalry budding as you said. And when he’s saying basically like we play a pure brand of basketball, he’s taking a shot at OKC because there has been this belief that OKC, specifically SGA, just seeks fouls and that’s how they play. We was very conscious to give that little dig to OKC. He is so beyond his years in terms of preparation for the stage that he will have for the next probably 15 to 20 years. And this rivalry and maybe add Houston to it is going to be awesome in the NBA moving forward. But then I want SGA to do a little swipe back. We need it on both sides. I don’t think you’re going to get that. I don’t think we will either. Not from him. Especially with the quotes you just read. very complimentary of San Antonio, but I I want it to be on both sides. I I’m with you. WBY is so prepared to be the superstar and every single aspect of his onc court game, off-c court game, he gets it. He gets that he needs to make comments like that in order to make this more enticing. And I like that he’s doing that. But then I’m also going to need it on the other side. I would like a healthy hatred on both sides. Sports hate is a good thing. It’s the best thing. It’s a good thing. It’s the best thing ever. It’s a good It’s a good thing. And I would love to see SGAA and Wimi go back and forth on this. This is what the NBA needs. But SGA is so nice. I don’t know though. I don’t know. I think we could get it. I think we can get it. We also don’t like the order of the comments matters. Maybe SGA at that moment didn’t know about the Wem. Good point. Good point. Well, I I will say this. This ain’t the last time these two teams are going to see each other. No, for sure. Right. Yeah. So, the the beef has plenty of time to to to fester and we’ll see what happens moving forward. Next number two, the Chiefs eliminated from the playoffs. The Chargers snapped Kansas City streak of 10 straight play of the Patriots all-time mark from 2009 through 2019. But the headline is Patrick Mahomes’s injury. Early diagnosis is a torn left ACL. It ends his 2025 campaign and cash out on 2026. Mahomes is the second most contacted quarterback through week 15, being hit a total of 153 times. Only Justin Herbert has been hit more against the Chargers. Mahomes was pressured on 18 of his 35 dropbacks, hit nine times, and sacked five times. Since the start of 2023, no quarterback has been hit more on pass plays than number 15. Even though the Chiefs have drafted offensive players with three of their last first round picks, it’s clear that GM Brett Vch has missed the mark in terms of adequately supporting his franchise quarterback. Put simply, the Chiefs have not the Chiefs have taken Patrick Mahomes greatness for granted. Unlike the Patriots dynasty, the Chiefs clearly haven’t found value where other teams don’t. They lead the N their receivers lead the NFL in drops over the last three years and they’re 22nd in rushing over that span. Until the Chiefs get serious about protecting Mahomes, we should be skeptical of the dynasty having a second act. Gosh, it was going to be a busy offseason anyway, but now with this injury that shifts things in a very dramatic way. You certainly wanted to get Patrick Mahomes more weapons. You want to get him more protection. you would like to spice up the defense, add a little spruce there. They have a lot of work to do if they want to get back to the top of the mountain and knowing that you’re going to miss that time with Patrick Mahomes in the off season. You’re going to miss those reps. You’re going to miss that chemistry, those that cohesion with whoever is going to be out there with him. We don’t know if Travis Kelce is going to be back. A lot of questions about the Kansas City Chiefs and how viable they will be as Super Bowl contenders moving forward when Mahomes gets back out there. Horrific injury for Mahomes. awful that he is going to be out for part of next year, maybe the majority of next year. We don’t know yet, obviously. I’ve thought about a million different things with this team, right? I’ve thought about the gap year with Mahomes obviously out. Do they say to Kelsey, “Don’t retire yet. Just take the year, come back when he’s ready.” I’ve also thought about the idea, could they be a reclamation project team for a quarterback to try to recoup value, and then flip a quarterback somewhere else? I’ve already thought about could go out and get Kyler Murray for a year and then trade him somewhere else. It’s like I’m like the the thoughts are going crazy here because of the fact that this is something we haven’t seen, right? I said before this season that the parallels to New England were crazy and that the same year that Brady got hurt is the same year now that that Mahomes got hurt. That said, I don’t know that we had ever Well, I know we have never seen a year like this for the Patriots with Brady playing the majority of a full year, which is why the question becomes, are we going to see this as a last dance or is this the end of of the first part of the Chiefs dynasty? But CC, quickly, if I could ask you a question, where did this go wrong for Kansas City? I’m not talking about like the last, let’s call it year plus, including the Super Bowl. And how do they get it right? I think it went wrong for Kansas City when they haven’t gotten the production from first round draft picks that they should, especially guys on the offensive side of the ball. Remember the Clyde Edwards Aair pick? How’d that work out for Kansas City? Not great, right? Josh Simmons, we all love the pick when the Kansas City Chiefs made it. How much of a contribution has he been able to make this season? He’s been in and out of the lineup. Mhm. So, when you have situations like Jawan Taylor, they spent a boatload of money on him in free agency. How’s that worked out for the Kansas City Chiefs? So, when we start talking about Brett Vch and the job that he’s done in Kansas City, yeah, he’s found a way to pivot and to change the identity of the team on the fly that led to them winning back-to-back Super Bowls a few years ago, but they seem worlds away from it. And I think the biggest reason why is because some of the investments that he’s made around Patrick Mahomes haven’t panned out. And so I think that puts the Chiefs in a position where they’re gonna have to make some tough choices in terms of moving off some from some players that might still have a lot of value around the NFL, but they might have to move off of those guys in order to get more pieces around Patrick Mahomes. Next number one, are the Jacksonville Jaguars good or are they a product of a soft schedule? Jacksonville has won six straight games in the playoffs and a 65% chance of winning the division. Their remaining schedule at Denver, at Indie, and the Tennessee Titans at home. On Sunday, Trevor Lawrence ran it up against the Jets, scoring 48 points. Taw had six total touchdowns, five passing, and one rushing. More importantly, no turnovers. Trevor Lawrence is the fifth player in the Super Bowl era to achieve that feat. the last two quarterbacks, Drew Brees and Aaron Rogers. That’s pretty good company to be in. And oh, by the way, head coach Liam Cohen, his 10 wins are tied with Doug Marone in 2017 for the most in the first full season of a Jaguars head coach. Remember, in 2017, the Jacksonville Jaguars went to the AFC Championship game. Trevor Lawrence yesterday against the Blitz, he was surgical, seven of 10, 150 yards, two touchdowns, no picks on throws of 10 airs or more downfield. Trevor Lawrence was 11 of 14, 225 yards, and two touchdowns. All career highs. So, the question that we have to ask ourselves are, we sleeping on the Jacksonville Jaguars as a title contender in the AFC this year. We might be. We might be. Now, Trevor Lawrence had been inconsistent at times, this team. We didn’t really want to believe in them. He right now is playing the best football of his career. And this little pocket that we’ve seen, the numbers, he’s playing the best football of his career. I believe he had his best passer rating ever this past game. And yes, yes, it was versus the Jets. And I know that’s your question. Is it a a product of the soft schedule or a semi-soft schedule? Because they’ve had some some good wins in there. But if Liam Cohen has done what we wanted him to do, which is to quote unquote fix Trevor Lawrence to get the best out of Trevor Lawrence, then yeah, we need to watch out for the Jacksonville Jaguars. They could absolutely be a team that can be scary come January. And think about it, it could have taken three coaching regimes to get this out of him. But if this is if this is the Trevor Lawrence we all expected when he was taken with the number one overall pick back in 2021, then watch out because we know how good he was in college and how great he could be. So, if you were to max out every single quarterback,

ESPN reacts to Wemby & Spurs snap Thunder’s 16-game win streak to advance to the cup finals