Thunder Stomp Pelicans | Move to 14-1

Thunder Stomp Pelicans | Move to 14-1

This is Trey Gas Alexander and I’m down to dunk. This is Jay Will and I’m down to dunk. They hat. There we go. I’m Isaiah Hartenstein and I’m down to dunk. I hope like Savior of basketball is one. Well, the the torch chamber has been been going pretty well. I’m Eron Wiggins and I’m down to dunk. I’m Chad Homegrren and I’m down to dunk. I’m Mark Dnel and I’m down to dunk. He just does a big smile and like I I feel blessed by God to be here with down to dunk be here with you. I’m Alice Truso and I’m down to dunk. I’m AJ Mitchell and I’m down to dunk. This is Isaiah Joe and I’m down to dunk. Oh jeez. Are you gonna sing it good enough for me to guess it or panhandle? Panhandle. Jeez. I’m tweaking. Name two famous Oklahoma. Uh myself and Jaylen Williams. Is that a crazy answer? All my friends call me Bob. Where’s Rachel? Okay. Unique story. You lived a whole life. Plane. Plane. This is Kase Wallace and I’m down to dunk. This is New Dory and I’m down to do it. True blood, Oklahoma. Pretty exciting if you ask me. This is Jdub, world champion JDub, and I’m down to dunk and eat burgers. Welcome to Down to Dunk. I’m your host, Andrew Schle, part of the Athletic Podcast Network. Before I get to my good friend Alex Spears, I want to tell you about two other friends of mine, Aaron and Jesice of Shelter Insurance. Give Aaron a call. 45773-5500 or Drew 405478-7714 today. Uh, Shelter Insurance, listen, very highly rated, number one on the Forbes list of the world’s best auto insurance companies. And right here in Oklahoma, they’ve been ranked number one for customer satisfaction by JD Power. Six out of the last seven years. Yes, that’s 67, everybody. Let’s make it eight. But honestly, what you need to know is that these guys are trustworthy. So give them a call or text today and support the people that support Down to Dunk. With me on a Tuesday night is my good friend Alex Spears. Alex, what’s up? What’s up, Andrew? What is up, Thunder are 14 and one? And they they played the Pelicans. Uh felt like they were kind of playing with their food a little bit last night where they would uh press real hard on the gas for a little bit and then kind of let off, let the Pelicans back in a little bit. Well, they they tried to they tried to see if you could win an NBA game in the first quarter. They wanted to see like could we could maybe we could score enough points that the game they would just call it. Maybe we could do it. It almost happened. They scored 49 points which is a Thunder record. Four points in a quarter. Uh just absurd. And like I think Shay took the least amount of shots that he’s taken since like his first season with the Thunder. Really? Wow. Last night too. So, I mean, it was like this weird combination of things happening there, but you know, they got the victory over the Pelicans. Uh, you were texting this to the group last night. What just a sad sack of a franchise, dude. I mean, are man, this this stretch, it’s like great. Obviously, the Thunder are playing amazing. They’re they’re doing everything you would want them to do in this situation. Like, none of these games have been close. They’ve been not just beating the teams they’re supposed to beat, but beating them the way they’re supposed to beat them. And yet, I can’t help feel like depressed during some of these games because some of these franchises are so bad and it goes so beyond just like, oh, you know, Zion’s injured or, you know, they’re just having a rough game or something. It’s just like the whole situation like when they panned out at one point and you could see the top level in that arena and it was just empty. And just reading the stuff about um Gail Benson and how I mean loyal makes it sound nice, but she’s like loyal to a fault with the people she puts in charge of these teams. Mhm. And then when it doesn’t go well, it just like has a snowball effect where these teams are just kind of left for dead because because there’s no owner behind it that’s getting like pissed off like like I would rather have a VC style owner than a Gail Benson style owner for all his faults. Yeah. I mean from the way it looked like she kept Willie there like Oh yeah. too long and then didn’t say hey you need to let him go. They just said, “Okay, now you can do what you want to do.” Which is just a my gosh, when you when you when you hear like the phrase about how like ownership is like one of the best advantages of pro sports, it’s like that that is a like awesome like example of why you don’t want your owner meddling in basketball ops. Well, I was I was thinking during that game like New Orleans is the smallest market in the NBA. They’re they’re 30th. I forget where OKC is. I know Memphis is 29th, so we’re probably like 28th or 27th, but regardless, they’re a small market. And just thinking back to getting the Thunder, we didn’t care who the owner like we knew nothing about Klay Bennett really at that time. We didn’t know that it would matter who it was. Yeah. and just realizing like how lucky we got to have an owner like Klay Bennett who just is I mean he’s he’s like an exceptional owner. Yeah. I mean he’s really made a lot of good choices over these years. Not only that like he when like if you go read our friend Sam Anderson’s book Boomtown again of just like what he did to get this team here. Yeah. you know, like it’s just uh like just the fact that he had like the vision to get the team here and then also had like the knowledge and fortitude to get the right people to manage it and then allow them to do it is uh is it is exceptional in so many ways cuz even as cool as it was to get a team, if these last 16 years had mirrored the New Orleans Pelicans history, like I I can’t imagine what that that would be like. like you’re obviously still a fan. You like want desperately this team to be good. You want to be able to like, you know, go downtown and watch the team. But that I mean that would just what that team specifically and just everything that they’ve endured while also getting the these incredible strokes of luck with getting the top pick with Anthony Davis, getting the top pick with Zion Williamson. Like they’ve had good stuff happen. Yeah. I mean the the Chris Paul era was like legitimately good. Like that was just a pretty pretty good couple of years. Mhm. Although although I guess not because at the beginning they they lost their team to Oklahoma City, but like when they eventually went back and they had that seven game series with the Spurs, like there that was probably the peak. Well, I remember they left and everybody was like, “Can we have that team instead of this Sonics team, please?” I mean, there were people there were people a lot of people saying that, but man, I ju I just uh I I just feel really bad for Pelicans fans, and I would never wish a move on a small market. Um, but the way things have gone over this time, you you just start to wonder with the way that the NBA has stopped talking about expansion, you just like don’t hear about it anymore. And yet, you still hear rumblings about like Vegas and things like that. And I I think it was Simmons or someone else talking about how they think the league is thinking more about relocation now than expansion and because they’re so focused on this Europe league. And uh I just I I just I I just feel bad for those fans and I feel bad for their announcing team too. Oh my gosh. Because they’re a really good announcing team. They’re awesome. Yeah, they’re awesome. Yeah, AD’s the man and Yeah, it is. I actually was I was watching their uh their feed last night and I did think it was funny in the fourth quarter. You know, OKC’s up by a lot. The game’s basically over and they flash the little uh the little thing that says zero OKC zero field goals in the last three minutes and 30 seconds. Like, who cares? The game’s over. You’re trying to show that like the Pelicans have finally stepped up the D here in the fourth quarter. Like, the game’s over. Yeah, that that was um th that was probably the biggest mismatch we’ve watched so far this season. Yeah, just just cuz I mean if they had Zion, it it would it would have felt different, but having those two rookies and asking them to create offense against this defense. Yeah, it was just that that was the quickest that was the quickest I’ve ever felt like, okay, there’s no chance they’re going to lose tonight. There’s always like a little question like, is this at least gonna be a competitive game? You know, I’m wondering when I turn on these games against all these terrible teams. Yeah, maybe this one will be competitive. This one was like three minutes once once Lou Dort hit his uh fourth three in the first quarter in like first eight minutes. It’s like and that’s his fourth three. I was like what of the Yeah. Yeah. It was it was weird. And like this is a weird it is is one of the weirder box scores to read because it like this was a blowout, but they shot the exact same from the field. The Thunder only took one more shot than them. Like they basically won on like made threes because they made 17 out of 42 and the Pelicans made 12 out of 28 and at the free throw line where the Thunder went 23 of 28 and the Pelicans were 13 of 15. But the Pelicans shot 49 43 87 yesterday. Yeah. like they they turn they did turn it over 20 times. That’s a lot of times. The Thunder turned over 16 times. And like when you read the box scores, if I could just read you like the percentages and the turnovers, you think, oh, maybe the Thunder won by like five or six, you know, but like they they blew them out. Like the Thunder are finding like very funny ways to win games at times. And this was like one of the funnier ones where it’s like the the first quarter just kind of like carried them through the rest of the game. And like you said at the beginning, it’s like, yeah, can we just win this game? They they tried to do that against the Blazers where was like, can we just win this game in the first quarter and just like end it now? Um but they were able to accomplish that in in New Orleans. And uh so yeah, so I mean their next couple games also against bad teams. Yeah. I just I’m I’m just like I’m craving a good matchup. Like I’m ready. I I I hate that we don’t play Denver until the new year. Like I want to see Denver right now. Although they do have Christian Brown out. I want to see those two teams full strength, which maybe that will be when they I mean I want to see him with JDub back. Yeah, we want to see Jdub back. I I just want to like see some good teams so bad. I hope that Wii’s injury is not like too serious to keep him out of like I know he he’s by based on his timeline he should be back by Christmas. Yeah, he should be back that week where we get to see him twice. That would bum me out because that’s that’s like the next matchup I’m looking forward to. Yeah, I mean they got the Wolves a week from tomorrow cup game. you know, you just don’t I mean, they’re better than the they’re better than a lot of these teams they’ve played. Although, like it’s it’s funny like you look at the way that the the Warriors and Lakers have played recently and you’re like, “Oh, like those would be good m those would be good matchups.” And those were not. The Thunder just destroyed those teams. Uh and so I don’t know. Can I tell you who the Wolves have beaten? Can I tell you who their nine wins are against? No. Their nine wins. All nine. Okay. At Portland. Great win. I was there. Quality. Quality win. Indiana, Charlotte, Brooklyn, Utah, Sacramento, Utah, Sacramento, Dallas. Those are the only teams they’ve beaten. That’s it. Yeah. Every good team they play, they’ve lost to the Lakers twice. They’ve lost to Denver twice. Now, Anthony Edwards was probably he’s I know he was out for the first Denver game. Yeah. this last Denver game. I mean, Denver dominated them. The Denver was in control of that game. Was not was not close. I’m just saying I feel like the Wolves have gotten some love recently. And similar to the Thunder, they haven’t played anyone. But unlike the Thunder, they did not win the championship last year. And so, we we’ll see. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll be wrong, but I’m I’m now I’m feel like unless it’s Denver, Houston, and maybe like Cleveland, New York, may all throw Detroit in there. They’re on 11ame winning streak. If it’s not one of those teams, I’m like expecting uh the like Golden State Lakers blowout now. Yeah. I mean, the thing about the the league this year is that there’s a lot of mid teams. There’s not a lot of like very good teams. Like even like Cleveland, like we did we had Cavs week last week. That Cavs team is is not like striking fear into the heart of their opponents right now. I got to show you this. So last uh on Slam and Jam I talked about the land of the lost. Yeah. And since then there’s I felt like there’s been like a lot of articles about how articles podcast and Yeah. Yeah. And uh and I got to show you this one because this was really good. This is from Neil Payne. Mhm. And this is from his substack. So what we’re looking at right now is the teams this season ranked by uh point differential. Mhm. So OKC is number one plus 15.5. Denver’s number two plus 13.2 all the way down to Washington at -6.2. He went back to 0405 and said based on their ranking, how do they compare to every other team who was in that rank spot since 0405? And what he found was basically like these are some of the best teams for their given ranking that we’ve seen but also some of like the worst like from the 22nd spot which is the Clippers all the way down to Indiana at 29 for the the rank for their ranked spot. So like Indiana is the 29th worst point differential for that spot. They are the worst version of that team since 0405. Wow. But meanwhile, at the top, like OKC, Denver, and Houston are all the number one team for their ranked spot in point differential since 0405. That’s wild. So, he’s talking about how there’s and and it even extends to like I mean, you go down to like Boston at 10, Cleveland at 11, Atlanta at 12, Miami at 13. These are all the best versions of those teams since 0405. And so the the article is just about how there’s this huge separation and it it’s I don’t I don’t know how to He’s also talking about how many blowouts there are. 22% of the NBA games this season have been 20 point deficits at the end. Like a quarter. Wow. There’s also been some amazing games, too. There has been. There was that one night. I feel like they’re all bunched up in one night. Yeah, it’s like we get a week’s worth of basketball in one night is what? Yeah. Like so I don’t know. It’s just a it’s a strange season and it’s this balance of trying to figure out like are we are we really watching like some of the best teams in recent memory or are we watching some of the worst teams? and and his argument is basically I think it’s a combination of both because I I do think with and we’re going to talk about some OKC stats later, but with what OKC is doing right now, even given the schedule is absurd. Yeah. 15 and a half net rating is nuts. Yeah. And they played two of those games were in double overtime. That’s That’s right. Remember remember the beginning of the season, all those fun games that came down to the wire. I like I like close games or I like blowouts against good teams. Yeah, those are my two vibes. I like those. Blowouts against bad teams. I’m just like, “Oh my gosh, let’s get this.” I just honestly all I worry about is injuries. It’s just like this seems like such a waste of Shay. Like I would hate Shay to get injured in a stupid game against the Pelicans. Hey, the good thing is he’s not playing fourth quarters. So that’s true. That helps. That does help. Just not playing them. I mean, if you take away those two double overtime games for the Thunder, they have a plus 17.3 net rating. Yeah. Just just just insane. You take that game that Rockets game away, like the Rockets are still good at a plus 11 and a half, which would be like in a normal setting like oh my gosh, they’re plus 11 and a half. Yeah. You’d be like going crazy for that number. Except for the Thunder Thunders is six points better per 100 possessions, which is just it’s mindboggling. And then the Thunder defense is still over seven points better per 100 possessions than the Detroit Pistons who are number two. So, and I I do feel watching these games that like the offense has taken a jump. It feels like they are just um there’s they seem so much more in tune with each other. Like that that pass that Isaiah Joe of all people made to iHeart where he went behind his back. That is just not a pass Isaiah Joe would have made in previous seasons. Nope. And and then he tried it later with Brandon Carlson. Did not work. Did not go as well. Nope. But good idea. Still good idea. And the one with iHeart was beautiful. Like they just seem like there’s the chemistry on the court. I feel like last year it was all about the chemistry off the court and this year I feel like the chemistry on the court has gone to another level. Like these guys just know where everyone’s going to be. Yeah. There’s no one that sticks out in a bad way of the like regular rotation. No, I mean it’s that’s that’s part of like what makes this team so great is that there’s not really any like super weak points on the team. And even like last night like AJ didn’t look great, but like he’s still like even in a bad game like he’s just still so useful. Yeah. Like just helps this team kind of stick together a little bit better. It’s just I don’t know, man. I mean, I will say those Dort three-point attempts, I just haven’t seen Dort for a few for for a couple weeks. So, that was a little jarring. I had to like remember like, oh yeah, he’s going to take all these shots. Uh he led the team in threes for multiple seasons. Yeah, I feel like he only makes like super important threes that swing games or he hits all of his threes in bunches. This is that he he is such a bizarre shooter. Yeah, it’s weird to think about Dor as a shooter, but and I know his his percentages aren’t good right now, but he’s been good in these last two games. So, yeah. Yeah, he he’ll get back up there. But just just a he I mean, he’s he’s probably the only one that like when of the regular rotation players, it doesn’t like always totally fit into like the offensive identity. He can sometimes stick out, but as we saw in the playoffs, like sometimes you need that. And there were moments in those playoffs where he was the only one willing to kind of break out and just go and get it. Well, just know he’s not afraid, you know. No, he is definitely not afraid. Where like some I mean like Isaiah Joe’s somebody that you watch him during the regular season, it’s like, yeah, we should just play that guy instead of Lou, you know, like he should just play instead of him. It would make everything better. Look at the twoman groups with he and Shay, like they’re unstoppable. look at, you know, all these metrics and then once you get to the playoffs, it’s like, ah, we I don’t care what the metrics say. Like, give me Lugans Dort, please. Yeah. Because like Jason Wallace and Isaiah Joe and even Aaron Wiggins at times is like those those guys are not ready for the moment. And Lewis somehow built for the moment. And so you still certainly need that guy even though like the regular season, especially when you’re playing teams like the Hornets and the Pelicans and the Kings and the Jazz like Thunder are getting right now. So yeah, all those guys look great. Even Chris Young Bloodood comes in and hits a three and you’re like, “Oh, look at that guy. That guy’s kind of fun.” But yeah, I don’t know. Oh, your your mic is is not on. Thank you. Sorry. Um, so the next game to like get the juices flowing. Yeah. Should be the Wolves game. Yeah. Blazers. You don’t believe in your Blazers to be real? That’s a payback game. You think so? That’s a big old payback game. You You put that one loss out there, Denny. 14-1. should be 15 and0. Bro, it it is it is kind of wild to think about because I I was looking through a few teams yesterday, uh looking at their schedule, some teams that have like one win in an island of losses or one loss in an island of wins. Mhm. Just to see like what streaks could have been because I love streaks. Um the Thunder, I mean, that’s a legit one because they were up so big in that game. If they just had one more guy not injured, yeah, they they probably win that game and they’re 15 and0. Although, if they were 15 and0, it would be so much more stressful. It would it would be more fun. But I I remember that uh what was it? 2016 start of the Warriors season. Yeah. Where right around this point when it got to 15 wins because the Cavs got to 15 wins last year. They were 15 it. Yeah. Right around here is when it started getting like, oh, every game is like a huge thing, huge deal. That’s true. A spectacle. And that would have been very fun as a fan, but I think at for the Thunder, it’s kind of nice that they’re flying under the radar as much as you could for a team that’s 14-1 with a uh greatest ever point differential. Yeah, it’s true. It just kind of pop the bubble early. It’s like, oh, okay. You know, it’s whatever. It it does like somehow relax everybody to a degree where it’s like, “Oh my gosh.” Like, it’s Yeah. You know what’s funny? I don’t I don’t know how many people got this schedule. It’s a Oh, is that a magnet schedule? A magnet schedule. It’s very nice. The only problem with this schedule, and my wife was pointing this out, so it says, you see where it says home and away? Yeah. Oh, yeah. That’s a bad the Amy was looking at the schedule for this week on Sunday as we’re like planning our week out and everything and she was like, “Huh?” She was like, “They So they’re at home Monday and and Friday and then Wednesday they’re away.” I was like, “No, it’s the opposite.” She was like, “No, it’s not. Look at the schedule.” And I’m like, “Babe, I know the schedule. Like, let me let me look it up. Let me double check. But they printed these wrong and they hand these out. They handed these out at the game and they printed these things wrong. So for those that are looking at the schedule, wondering about home and away, the amazing magnet schedule. I love the getting the magnet schedule, but just don’t look at home and away. Uh, now they play the Kings next and I don’t think Keegan Keegan Murray’s coming back on their next game or is he going to be back for that game? Uh, let me take a look at the injury report. Uh, I was looking at I think Dom is out. Oh. Uh, yeah. Okay. So, Keegan Murray’s out. Okay. So, he must be coming back there next game. Dom is out. their two-way guys are on assignment. And yeah, then for the Thunder, still no wigs, still no JDub, still no Kenrich. I know a lot of people have been thinking that maybe JDub’s coming back tomorrow. He’s been posting cryptic things on his uh Instagram account. Uh he’s he’s listed as out currently. So, yeah. I mean, that run starting Sunday, Portland, Minnesota, Phoenix, at Portland at Golden State. Mhm. Those those I mean, that’s better than the run they’re currently on. Mhm. Yeah. There could be a loss in there. Yeah. It It’s just funny because earlier in the season, I was because of all the injuries, I was kind of anticipating the losses. I you know, I called the Portland one. I was like, “Oh, this one’s obvious.” Yeah. But but I’ve gotten to the point now with this team where it’s becoming harder and harder to see the losses because of the way they’re playing. Like thinking about how these other teams would have to play to beat the Thunder, it it’s becoming less realistic to me. I’m becoming like more of a homer uh as the season goes on. Now they’re eventually going to lose. There’s going to be there’s probably gonna be a bad week here or there. It could happen, but it just doesn’t feel real. It doesn’t feel possible right now. There been three guys that have played every game. Yeah. Three guys that have played every game. Shay, Hartinstein, and AJ. And there’s something to like those three being the ones that have played every game. Well, those are their top three in passes per game. Uh they’re they’re top three in touches per game. Top three. I mean, those are the best passers, period. Yeah. Although I was thinking about, you know, because their passes per game are very low. Although the Lakers are now the lowest, so they’re 29th and it doesn’t matter as we’ve talked about. But I was looking up last year and JDub was he did have the most passes per game. So when he comes back, that that’s going to get a boost. We’re that that’s going to be nice. I mean, it’s isn’t that gonna be nice having JDub back? Yeah, it’ll be nice getting an allNBA alldefense player back on the team again. That’ll be nice. Adding another passer because even in that uh Pelicans game, there were a few stretches offensively like when they started making that run in the second quarter. Mhm. Where it started feeling a little disjointed throwing throwing another good passer playmaker on there. Well, and also throwing a guy who plays forward. Yeah. Because like you look at the roster like the the only guys that are listed as forwards on this roster that have played games are Lou Dort who’s listed as a small forward who is 6’3. Okay. And he might be generously 6’3. Uh Jay Will is listed as a power forward. Okay. And Chad is listed as a power forward. That’s it. Everybody else is a guard. Literally everybody else is listed as a shooting guard on Basketball Reference. Yeah. So on Cleaning the Glass, uh Alex Cruso is a forward. Uhhuh. Basically everyone is a wing except Shay is a point and AJ is a combo guard. Uhhuh. That makes sense. But like they don’t have like a true wing on the roster period. And so like there’s been and they’ve gotten away with it. Most the brilliance of Kase Wallace as a defender this year has helped so much because like Dort missed a lot of time and in a normal year that would be a huge huge loss. Yeah. But the fact that they have this roster so layered with guys that can just go is pretty wild, man. Like I just I don’t I don’t know. And you and when you think about the position that they’re in with their draft picks and you think about the possibilities there and you see Derrick Jones Jr. go out for this Clippers team, you’re just like like what like what could what could really happen here? Like could the Thunder honestly get like the seventh pick? Yeah, it’s not just that. It’s like the they’ve had really bad luck. Like they lost that Philly game, dude, by two points where James Harden had two shots at it in that one. Well, and also last the last two-minute report came out said that Quinton Grimes fouled him and he should have gotten three shots that would have won it. Killer. They they lose to Boston the night before by three where Harden missed a buzzer beater. Where did you see the end of that? Did you see that play? Uh I’m trying to remember what remember what happened. Well, I mean, it was like this like last second play basically where the Clippers got the ball all the way up the court and they shove it. Oh, it was such a beautiful play when what Zubots and just like tipped it to him. Yeah, beautiful was right there and he missed and he missed it. It was just like I can’t believe and it was it was kind of a little bit of deja vu with like the situations. Yeah, I was man that was one of the like best versions of that play. Mhm. I mean, obviously the the baseball pass from Steven Adams to Dennis Shruder is going to top it, but to beat that one. The coordination of it, it looked like a I mean, it looked like like a football play. It like the hook and ladder. It did. It was It was amazing. It was great. And they lost and they lost the game. Uh and they just had a lot of close losses. I mean, they lost to Miami by one. They lost to uh Atlanta by three. So th this is like this has gone better than expected I would say for the Thunder. But I would like to I’m going to run through some teams. Okay. Mhm. I would like you first we’re going to do uh well actually tell me if this team has like better than a 5% chance of finishing ahead of the Clippers in the standings or whether you think it’s like a 50/50. Mhm. Okay. So, like for instance, the Wizards. Oh, yeah. They’re they’re they’re finishing behind. Yeah, I agree. Like 100%. There’s no chance. No chance. Indiana, no chance. Brooklyn, no chance. New Orleans. Um, I would say there’s a slight chance. What does slight mean? Single digits. Um, uh, 11% chance. Okay. Uh, Sacramento. Uh, no chance. Wow. Why are you so much more positive about the Pelicans? I don’t. Sacramento. I don’t know. I just I don’t know. I have no reason. Uh, what about Dallas? Uh, Dallas could Dallas could get it together. Okay. So, maybe that’s a 50-50. What about Charlotte? M I kind of like Charlotte. Is that weird? I did notice on Clean the Glass they have like team I forget what the stat is called but it’s like how many wins you should have won. Yeah, based on all your advanced stats and they are uh they’re the team well they’re tied with Boston where they they should have 1.6 more wins. They’re they they’re playing like a five and a half win team. They’re playing good ball. Like I feel like they’re coached well. I feel like they have players that So you think there’s a chance they could there’s a chance that that team, especially playing in the Eastern Conference, blah blah bl could pass LA. Like that’s um there’s there’s a possibility. I think we both agreed Memphis could I mean that’s a Memphis should Memphis they they should get it together. Although like the stuff going on with Easto tonight and I mean it’s a disaster over there right now, man. And then the last team I would say is Utah. Yeah, I mean Utah should I mean they it should be like a 5% chance that they that they’re better, but Utah’s played pretty well, but like they have no incentive to I know that that’s Yeah, I feel like there’s zero chance. They’re going to pull the plug at some point. Only five and eight. It’s not like they’ve had like some crazy record, but so based on that right now, we’re saying like best case scenario, they’ll probably the the Clippers would finish somewhere around like seven. Yeah. 7 to to 12 is kind of what I think, which is again, it goes back to how bad the league is right now at the bottom. The fact because the Lakers I mean the Clippers have been miserable. They’ve been so bad. Yeah. And we’re like, yeah, best case scenario, they could probably finish seventh. Like I I to to finish better than that, you would need a a harden injury, which that would send them off the cliff. A harden injury would they would have nothing. As long as he’s healthy, he’s going to keep him in so many of these games. I just wonder if I mean, he’s had some injuries in the past. I wonder if this this could be like a Kyrie Irving situation with with Dallas where it’s like they need him too much and he’s like being overtaxed and they run him into the ground. Yeah, because of his age, like they just run him into the ground and like now what? Then you could see scenarios where like a lot of those teams could pass them and like somehow OKC winds up with pick five. Yeah. You know, like that that is that is something that could sincerely happen. And you know, with the way that the lottery odds are set up, it’s it’s not what they used to be. And so you just never know what they’re definitely getting a bite at the apple, I’d say. Yeah. And even if Good saying that if you got like the ninth pick in the draft even like man, give Sam Prey the ninth pick in this class. Yeah, we we got to start rooting for the Grizzlies because I’m realizing the Clippers, they’re just I mean they’re right there for the 10th seed. Yeah. which then you’re in the playin and yeah, they would need to win two games, but they could do it. The Grizz will be better just because they’re going to start getting guys back. Go Grizz, go. Yeah. When is Ty Jerome coming back? He would be so helpful to them. God, they just need point guards. They need Scotty Pippen. Scotty Pippen. Get Scotty Pippen back. They don’t have any any point guards. Their centers have been out. They just have all the in between guys. Yeah, they said Ty Drone will miss at least four weeks and that was October 20th. So, he should be closer. Well, he’s definitely closer back in the next week or so. Yeah, that that’s that’s that’s a fun little subplot. I’ve been watching a lot of Clippers games because they’ve been close. They’ve been good games. Oh, yeah. And then and then they lose. Great. Yeah, we’ve been Ash and I have been watching We’ll flip on the end of a Clippers game. It’s been It’s been fun. Uh, it’s been so fun watching the end of these games. Uh, okay. We’re going to take a quick break. When we come back, we’re going to go through some Thunder Stats. We’ll be right back. And we’re back after that quick break. First, before we get to the Thunder Stats, I want to tell you about my good friends over at Bob Moria. the Bob Marqueia player of the week. Al, I’m gonna give it to Chad Homegrren, who I don’t feel like I feel like Shay gets a lot of shine because he’s the best player. I feel like AJ gets a lot of shine because he’s like the new cool guy on the team. Mhm. But I don’t think Cadet gets enough credit for the season that he’s had so far. I thought he was the best player on the court yesterday for them against the Pelicans. He had an awesome game. He was a high score for the Thunder and he’s I mean he he has taken a step up like he’s just a a much better player than he was last year. He’s almost at 20 points per game. He’s almost at like 28 1.6 assists, 1.3 blocks per game, shooting 40% from three on 4.3 attempts per game. got to keep keep ratcheting up the the attempt numbers, but like his shooting just looks so much better. I mean, he’s shoot he’s almost he’s at 59 40 86 shooting splits. Yeah, he’s he’s been he’s been awesome. He’s been the version that we saw at the beginning of last year. Yeah, he’s back. Yeah, he’s and I think part of it was he did miss a couple games and so you at least I started to get a little worried like oh my gosh this is going to be like a AD thing. Yeah, it’s like every couple of games he has to leave but now he’s up to 11 games played. Yeah, he played played the backtoback. Yeah, he’s playing a lot more than a lot of guys in the league. Yep. So shout out something else that’s underrated Kia Carnival. amazing underrated minivan that you should go check out today. Go buy more kids today. Tell them that Down to Dunk sent you and go test drive a Kia Carnival. If you are a dad or a mom, you got kids, you need space, you need a safe vehicle with modern tech and it’s just a a joy to drive around, go get yourself a Kia Carnival. Go test drive it today. You can also get a Telluride, which is a a very cool SUV, 2025 Kia Telluride STX for $2.95 a month for 24 months on 10,000 m per year with 3,9.95 [Music] due at signing. Or you can get 0.9% for 60 months right now at the Kia uh what’s their they have their end of end of the year sales event. So go check that out. It’s very very cool. Very cool. You can also get an EV6 right now for 3.95 a month for 24 months on 10k miles per year. You can also get the K4. I need to go test drive a K4. I’ve been I’ve been eyeing them. I’ve been seeing them on the road. photo. I was like, man, I really would love to get get behind the wheel of a K4 right now. 2.95 a month for 24 months on 10K miles per year. Go check out our friends at Bob Moria today. All right, Al, you have some some stats, some thunder stats. Yeah. Yes. Stats to make Andrew say, “Wow.” Wow. Now, I played this game with Tyler Parker once upon a time. Oh, yeah. I want you I want you to be honest, Andrew. Okay. So, don’t just say wow. Okay. Okay. I only want you saying wow if you genuinely feel like it deserves a wow. I’ll say I’ll save my wows for for something for something real. Okay. Cuz some of these some of these I’m going to be upfront with you. Not that great. I was trying to get to 10. Didn’t couldn’t do it. I got to eight. Uh okay. Should I do I’m gonna start I’ll start hot. I’ll start hot. Okay. Plays defined as cuts were 9.4% of Chad’s offensive possessions last season. Okay. 9.4% of what Chad did on offense was a cut. Defined as a cut. This year it’s doubled to 18.9% of his possessions. His percentage of shots at the rim is basically unchanged. But the increase in cuts is probably why he’s shooting a career-high 79% at the rim compared to 72% last season. This is all from uh that that last part was from cleaning the glass. That’s pretty interesting, huh? Yeah. He’s become I mean I I I view Chad I know like we’re we’re very excited about his self-creation. Yeah. But he always has the thing to fall back on which is that he’s like an incredible finisher. Yeah. He is he is such a good play finisher. Great touch. Great. Great touch. And and it and I think the cuts are that that number is indicative of how much more active it feels like he is. Yeah. How how much more of a part of the offense. Yes. He’s he’s doing he’s getting the catch and shoots, but he he’s more involved with the offense than I feel like he was at points last year. Yeah. And I think it also comes from like an understanding of how to play with iHeart. Yeah, for sure. how to play within the offense a little bit more where it’s not just like this like standill three situation or I’m like directly involved in the action kind of thing. Like I think that he just is understanding more how to play with this team. And I have to give the guy so much credit because I I think that he well he’s like 28 and two or whatever I said he was like he if he was on some bum team he could average 26 10 and three blocks or whatever like he could put up like crazy stats. It it’d be fun watching him in that situation. I think that I think that’s in there and but I also think it’s so good that Thunder got him because I do think like his desire to win like is far more than his desire to like have those statistics and like that’s not the that’s not the case for a lot of guys in the league. Um and part of it could be that he already got paid. and he got paid a lot of money and so like that also helps but you know there’s there’s not I don’t know he’s he’s a he’s certainly a special player like a special personality so yeah that that one is not super surprising because that that just kind of tracks with like what what we’ve been watching. Uh, next one. Probably not surprising either, but uh, just as a reminder, I know you know this, but yes, they’ve played every terrible team in the world uh, this season, but it is not because the, you know, this dominance is not because they’re getting lucky on opponent three-point shooting. OKC is currently 24th in opponent three-point shooting. And last season, only three teams saw opponents shoot better than 37.7% from three, which is what uh OKC’s opponents are doing right now. So, that number is probably going to come down. Mhm. At least a little bit. And I hope we save it for the games against the good teams. Wouldn’t that be nice? Let all these bad teams just have fun. Have fun out there. That would be so nice. That’d be nice. Now, something they can control because there’s a lot of luck involved in three-point percentage. OKC’s opponents take the third fewest percentage of their shot attempts at the rim, and they shoot the worst percentage in the league. Wow. Those attempts. I’ll say wow to that. Dominant. Yeah. Dominant around the rim. Not surprising, but it’s not surprising, but it’s really dominant. Yeah. It’s It’s pretty impressive what they’ve been able to do there. Yeah. I was looking at I was looking at this stat earlier, too. The the team that is getting the best luck right now as far as like teams shootings of Chicago, it’s Indiana. Oh, really? Which is like, oh no, what is about to happen to the Pacers? The other team, the other like teams, there’s actually there’s four teams that teams are shooting 31%. From three against and it’s Miami, Toronto, Indiana, and the Denver Nuggets. So, okay. Interesting. Interesting. Uh, here’s an SGA stat for you. SGA currently averaging 1.7 turnovers per game. In the history of the NBA, a player has never averaged 30 points per game while averaging under two turnovers per game. In fact, there’s only been three seasons of a player averaging 30 plus points and under two and a half turnovers per game. Two of those are SGA seasons and the other is MJ. Wow. Yeah. Wow. I’ll say if he if he really did that, I mean, 1.7 turnovers is crazy. for for a guy with his usage. I mean, remember back in like peak Harden, peak Westbrook days. I mean, West I think Westbrook had a season putting up five a game. I was gonna say like I was thinking four, but maybe it was that many. Yeah, let me let me see what his his worst was. Five seems Yes. during his MVP season, 5.4. Goodness gracious. Per game. Great player, great season. Great play. That is crazy for a guy with like he his Shay’s usage is not quite that high as MVP Westbrook, but he’s at 33% usage and 1.7 turnovers. Russ’s career for his career, 3.9 turnovers per game for his career. And I think it just speaks to how good SJ’s handle is because the ball’s in his hands. Yeah. You go look at his touches, his dribbles per touch. Guy is touching the basketball. He’s dribbling it around and he is not turning the ball over. He has a He has an incredible handle. Like he maybe he’s not as flashy as I mean people always reference Kyrie as like oh Kyrie has like the greatest handle. Mhm. Shay is Shay is up there and here that I feel like that stat highlights it. He He’s completely in control at all times. At all times. He’s completely in control. It is I bet he’d be good at the yo-yo. Hey. Uh, you ever had a yo-yo? You ever I don’t I don’t want to give him any ideas because I don’t want him to retire to become a professional yo-yo guy, but I bet he’d be pretty good at it. Uh, you get a sponsor Duncan sponsorship over there. That’d be cool. That would be cool. Uh, okay. Here’s here’s just one that makes no sense. So on cleaning the glass, you can um look at how a team performs against the teams that are top 10 in overall efficiency or net rating, mid 10 or bottom 10. So OKC has played 10 games against teams that are in the bottom 10 in net rating currently. They are 10 and0 in those games. Against those teams, they have the third best defense in the league and the 19th best offense. What? Ain’t that weird? But overall for the season, they have the fourth best offense. I don’t actually understand how this makes sense because that it’s 10 of It’s 10 of their 15 games and it and it cuts out garbage time because it’s It does. It does. cuts out garbage time because like that’s where I would say like okay because there’s a lot of times like these fourth quarters where things just start to slip away as they’re like trying to squeeze in some young blood developmental minutes. You know, it’s like this is I will say their two worst offensive games were against Dallas and Sacramento earlier in the season. Yeah, that’s true. Remember? Yeah, there were some there were some games early on that was like they were just in the mud. Well, yeah, Indiana, they they weren’t great in that game. They weren’t great against Houston. Yeah, it seems goofy that they went to double overtime against Indie right now. It does how they played. Feels very goofy. Um, okay, I have a few more transition defense. Now, this is this is blowing my mind. All right, let’s talk about what they did last year in transition defensively. Defensively. Mhm. They gave up 114.9 points per transition play. So when the other team when the opponent is in transition, they gave up 114.9. That which is good. That that was good for second in the league. And Boston was number one 114.1. Okay. So obviously your defensive rating on transition play is going to look worse than it would in the half court. They were around 115. That’s that was really good this year. through 15 games they are giving up in transition 97.1 points per play. This is per 100 possessions. 97.1 again last year 115. This year 97.1. Wow. 90. Now uh if you want a really good wow I’m gonna have to I’m gonna have to bring this up. Okay. So, I did want to mention Toronto is second, 106.2, also very good. Yeah. And then, uh, Dallas is number three, which kind of surprised me. I know that they’re a good defensive team, but I they don’t scream like transition defense, but they’re they’re at 113.9. And then after that, it starts getting looking more like last year. Uh, but those two three teams are kind of outliers right now. Okay. Points per play. I said OKC is 97.1. Mhm. What would you guess the LA Clippers are? Who are 30th in the league? 149. I don’t know. Very close. 145. Wow. That is the difference between the Clippers and the Thunder as transition defense. 145 to 97. That is nuts. It’s the difference between the Thunder and the Unction happening in LA. Now, let’s go to the other side of the ball. Transition offense. Now, last year in transition, the Thunder scored 127.2 points per play. Solid, unspectacular. They were 11th in the league. Number one was Cleveland. Cleveland was at 131.3. Okay, they were number one, 131.3. This season in transition, OKC is scoring 144.8 points per play. And I I just think these those two stats like they were good like they were a solid transition offense team last year. They obviously got in transition a lot but in terms of like their efficiency on those plays they were solid transition defense last year they were very good second in the league. They are like blowing the league out of the water when it comes to transition plays on both sides of the ball this season. Yeah. And I mean that makes total sense that that they could do that, man. Kase Wallace is just like a one-man fast break wrecking crew, man. Yeah. Like he he he is the the way that he turns the Jets on in transition and it could be a one-on-one situation. He doesn’t care. Like he’s going to go find a way to score. Like he’s he’s special in transition. He’s still finding his way as an offensive player in general. I think like I don’t think that we’re we quite see what he could really be as an offensive player. Some of it’s that he’s like so like the way that I describe him and I think Mark has described him like this too is like he’s really low usage but really high impact. Like we’re still trying to figure out what he is but like in transition like I it’s pretty easy to define what he is. Yeah. Yeah. for sure. Uh I just checked the chat. Got a couple wows in there. Got racking them up. Racking them up. Wow. Okay, last one. And unfortunately, this isn’t going to be a this isn’t a showstopper or anything, okay? It’s just the last one on my list. Okay. Uh but but you know, we’ve talked about how much better OKC has become as a defensive rebounding team. So, cleaning the glass, they are now fifth in defensive rebounding. They’re ahead of Houston as a defensive rebounding team. Yo, they’re ahead of San Antonio as a defensive rebounding team. Very impressive. The the where where you would see that on clean the glass is, for lack of a better term, their putback defense. So like when a team shoots the ball, misses it, if they get it back, they would have their putback offense. So last year when a team missed a shot, they generated 19.6 six plays per 100 misses. Okay, against the Thunder. That was 23rd in the league. So basically, the Thunder weren’t getting as many defensive rebounds. The other teams getting a lot more opportunities. We’re just talking about second chance opportunities. This is just regular season. This is just regular season. Yeah. And teams were scoring 22.4 points per 100 misses, which was 22nd in the league. This year, opponents generating 16.3 plays per 100 misses, third best in the league, and they’re only generating 18 points per 100 misses, which is fourth best in the league. Like that aspect of OKC, which was seen as a weakness for basically all of last season until CE finally came back post Allstar break. And even then, people still had the narrative in their head like, “Oh, you can beat you can beat this team up on the glass.” Yeah. You know, like you can get second chances against them. That was not true by the end of last season. It is like evaporated now. It has become a strength of this team now. Yeah. Yeah. And some of it is like the Thunder you you don’t I don’t know like the Thunder are a team that is getting the benefit of playing double big like you were saying the benefits of playing the two bigs together and they are starting to like really flow and Mark is doing a good job and Mark talked about how the fact that Jay Will is versatile enough allows them to just like play two bigs all the time basically. And what we what we focused on all a lot of last season was how the it was so hard for other teams to make the math work and how OKC not shooting it well throughout the playoffs like just made it closer, you know, but if if they had just had a normal shooting playoffs, they would have dominated. They would have looked absurd. Oh yeah. And the fact that they have cleaned up another thing, there’s like one less thing that you can count on or or at least target in a game against OKC. Yeah. It makes the math that much harder to beat this team. Like if you’re not getting second opportunities against this team, you’re dead. Yeah. You’re toast. You’ve been dead because you’re probably going to you’re probably turning the ball over. Yeah. Thunder. And if they have just a normal shooting night, it’s over. Yeah. Yeah, the game is over in the first quarter. It was almost like a a blessing in disguise in some way that they like the way the Shay put it. They didn’t win the title in a way that they wanted to. Yeah. You know, because it gives them like, okay, well, how do we win it then with in a in a way that we want to? Like what does that look like? And how do we shape the team like that during the regular season? And we’re we’re seeing it to start and they and again they don’t have JDub. They’ve had guys out like Aaron Wiggins missing time. If Aaron Wiggins played for any other team in the league, they would talk all the time about how he is not there because he is like that good of a score and that like big of a piece to most teams in the league. And I feel like it’s just like a footnote right now that Wigs has been out. I I it’s it’s too early to be talking about this, but like it’s why I’m so excited about the playoffs because everyone’s trying to look glass half full about the other good teams in the league. Mhm. You know, like which which a lot these are true arguments like Denver is obviously better than they were last season. Yeah. But I don’t feel like people have fully like baked in how much better OKC is going to be in in in that type of a matchup. I mean, Denver I I still think Denver could beat OKC in a series. It it’s possible. It could happen. Yeah. But I think it would look a lot different from last year’s series. Yeah. Yeah. I I think in particular like the Thunder have just fared better against zone in general. And a lot of it is like the passing and the the big to big passing and the movement like they’re starting to to just figure out how to play better together. So, and OKC does not play anyone in the regular rotation who you would think to target as much as Tim Hardaway Jr. and uh Valenunis. Yeah, those guys have been awesome for them in the regular season. I’m excited to see what happens. Let’s see. Yeah, the Yeah, the Thunder don’t have those guys. Like Isaiah Joe is probably the guy that is most like that I would guess. Other than that, I don’t know that the Thunder really have somebody. And the beauty of it is like they’re so deep that if somebody does become like targeted like that, they don’t have to play him. Yeah. Yeah. They don’t have to. I think Deardo Jr. is becoming like pretty essential to what the Nuggets do. Yeah. Yeah. And I maybe that’ll fade. Like Cam Johnson just had his like first really good game. Maybe that will fade as Cam starts to figure things out. Yeah, maybe offensively because like there’s no reason why Cam I I don’t know if it’s still true. But last time I checked cuz I was I was like should shouldn’t Cam Johnson be picked up in fantasy eventually? Like what’s going on with this guy? He’s Yeah, he’s making 1.1 threes per game. What is that? That’s It’s not good. How’s that even possible? Why is he only taking 3.8 per game? He just can’t find his fit in the offense. And I think that he’ll he’ll eventually figure it out. Like he’s a smart enough player. He’s a good enough shooter. He’ll figure it out. But it’s not been easy for him so far. He’s used to playing on these teams that don’t matter. Like the like the situation doesn’t really matter. Who cares what happens in Brooklyn? like he’s in a somebody has to score the points situation, you know? I mean, it’s I think it’s I think it’s probably genuinely pretty tough to go from that where like your comfort zone is like I’m just going to I’m going to play. I’m going to get as many shots as I want. I can do whatever I want. And then But isn’t it weird like cuz those Phoenix teams were good and they were good. That that’s that was the last time he was on a good team. Yeah. He was he was playing about what he’s playing right now and he was still taking 5.6 threes per game. I I just don’t understand how especially losing MPJ. Yeah. Volume shooter. I think we all just assumed I mean he took over seven last year. Yeah. MPJ he was he knew how to play with Jokic. He knew how to and I know that he’s not as versatile of a player, however you want to phrase it, but MPJ knew how to play with Jokic like flat out. And I I do think that and and it’s hard too because like the last thing that we saw of MPJ with the Nuggets, he was not even close to himself. Yeah. I was outrageously injured and like had to get they had to like space out his injections because they were worried about like long-term ramifications for his body. I don’t know. It was a very weird situation with him. He’s been hooping this year. I think he’s in the perfect spot. Yeah. I mean, like you look at his game logs like the last several games. 34 points, nine boards, seven assists. 24 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists. 21 points, six boards, three assists. Those are his last three games. Like he he is hooping. He’s reaching hooper nirvana. I wonder how long does he have to do this before people get tricked, you know? Uh I don’t No, I mean I was not a fan of that trade for the Nets be for that reason that I just felt like you’re it was kind of like trading for Zack Lavine where it’s like I don’t care how good he plays. I mean, have you seen Zack Lavine stats? Zavine has the most absurd efficiency stats year after year after year. Yeah. And no one wants him. Mhm. And but who knows? Maybe someone will bite. It’s a lot of money though. It’s a lot. 40 mil. It’s a lot. I the team the team that not that we’re anyone is sitting here like, man, I really wish that Andrew would talk about Michael Porter Jr. trades. Um, but I I can’t stop thinking about like Toronto and like they just need shooting so bad from the wing and like all they have is like all these like wing creators. Uh, yeah. I just wonder about him interact. I mean, yeah, if you if you can get off of Emanuel quickly, sure. And Brooklyn probably would love a guard. They could use a guard that is actually good. Yeah. And that’s actually a guard. Yeah. I don’t know. Who cares? Who cares about any of this? None of this matters. Uh, okay. The Thunderplay. The Kings. We read the injury report earlier. Still no dub. Still no Kenrich. Still no Wiggins. And no, you said no Sabonis. Keegan’s coming back the next game. So yeah, no Sabonis. No Keegan. Uh potentially Westbrook’s last game in Oklahoma City for the season because they’ve already played here. Oh, you’re thinking like if if he retired at the end of the season? Uh I’m saying his last game for this season unless he switches teams. Oh, well, why is that exciting? I’m not saying it’s exciting. I’m just saying a fact that this might be if you’re if you’re really into watching Russell Westbrook in person in Oklahoma City, this could be your last chance. Oh, well, now you’re making it sound like he’s going to retire again, which that would be exciting. What? What? What do you know? This could be your last chance this season. See, that’s not as exciting. You got to figure out what you’re trying to sell to the people. I don’t know. I’m not trying to sell anything. I’m just trying to state facts here. Oh man. Oh yeah. Uh okay. So Kings tomorrow night in OKC. Then they’re back on the road to play the Jazz. I’m kind I mean I I kind of like watching this Jazz team. Oh yeah. No, that Yeah, that that’ll be fun. They’re kind of and to be clear uh once they are in like close competitive games every game I I will look back at this uh part of the season fondly be like oh remember how remember how relaxed that was we didn’t have to worry about anything. It is extremely relaxed. It’s extremely relaxed. Yeah. It’s really nice. Yeah. But yeah, they play these two teams and and who knows it’s a cup game on Friday. You never know what could happen in a cup. The Jazz game is a cup game. Yeah. Uh that’s in Salt Lake. It’s in Salt Lake. Um I’m trying to remember what their court looks like. Uh let me take a look. Do they have They don’t have one of the crazy ones, do they? I don’t remember. Y’all didn’t do a crazy one now, did you? No, no, no. It’s just purple. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. Oh, they have a nice one with the mountain in the background. Yeah, it’s nice. Let me throw it up. Let me Let me throw it up here. Throw it up. Throw it up. Oh, I’m glad they’re not having to play on that Minnesota court, dude. It’s so bad. It’s so brutal. Yeah, that’s here. Uh yeah, they have three cup games left. Friday night, then next Wednesday against the Wolves, and then that next Friday after Thanksgiving, they have a little Thanksgiving sandwich there. Suns. Suns. Yeah, it’s funny. Last year, um, the Thunder Here’s the Jazz Court. It is pretty nice. The last year, it’s funny, like the Thunder were traveling during like every holiday. I was talking to somebody with the team and they were talking about how they were like on a plane the day of Thanksgiving. Oh, because they were traveling. Um, but this year not the case. They were here for uh Halloween. Nice. They were played like that home game and then they had two days off before they played another home game. Amazing. They’re here for Thanksgiving where they play the little they play the Wolves, then it’s Thanksgiving, and then they play the Suns. So, that’s great. And then they’re here on Christmas. So, and and they get like a long stay for for Christmas and New Year’s because they play uh don’t play, no one plays on Christmas Eve, but they play on Christmas Day. Then they are two days off and then they play Sixers Hawks backtoback and then they have the Blazers on New Year’s Eve and then they travel out for a quick West Coast road trip um on the 2nd. So they’re here like the 24th through the 1st, which is really nice for everybody. So yeah, they get to actually spend the holidays here in uh in OKC. So that’s So I guess it’s the reverse if you’re the mascot though, cuz like if you’re the mascot, you’d want them to be traveling technically. Yes, cuz Rumble now has to work on Christmas. Yes. If we’re if we’re speaking about Rumble’s preferences or storm I almost called them stormtroopers. Uh stormchasers. Stormchasers. Yeah, same for them. Same for the O City Crew and the Thunder. So, it’s not all good. It’s somebody’s Somebody’s paying the price. It’s not all good. And uh Rumble the Bison is paying the price. Just make I I’m just saying if you’re going to the Christmas game, be nice to the Stormchasers, okay? Don’t Don’t harass them. I know some Stormchasers, very nice people. And Thunder Girls, they’re gonna have to work Christmas. Gonna have to work Christmas. Yeah. Sorry about that. Thunder Girls got to do it. Do it. It’d be interesting. Who’s the halftime show? Halftime show people have to work, too. Yeah. I hope they get Christian Scooby. I’ve seen Christian’s already been through OKC. Oh, really? Yeah. But maybe they get him on Christmas. That’d be nice, man. Man, I hope Wim is healthy. I know. Like, but I I hope that he’s healthy because I want to see Wimi on Christmas in person. WBY chat that I mean that’s a marquee. Isn’t any better? And like what does what does it look like when Alex Caruso gets a chance to defend? Like come on. We all need to see that on Christmas. Just get knocked out repeatedly by Wimy’s elbows. Just back in concussion protocol for you AC. Oh man, Mavs Warriors is on Christmas. Why do they Why do they put the Mavs on? Rockets Lakers. That’s good. Assuming LeBron’s healthy. LeBron’s back first game tonight. Yeah, he’s playing right now. He’s got 11 points. Listen, NBA Daily for the for the recap. Okay. Yeah. Can’t believe they put the Mavs on Christmas. Yeah, that’s rough. They should bubble wrap Cooper until that game because if there’s if he was like out with an ankle if he like turns an ankle or something and I’m watching Oh, by the way, I was trying to come up with a stat for drives per minute. Yeah. Well, I wasn’t trying. I did it. And like among players who have played 10 games this season, Shay is like fourth or whatever. And but AJ is 13th. I thought AJ might be a little bit higher to make it exciting. But the player who is number one in drives per game plays for the Dallas Mavericks. Do you know who it is? Is I don’t know. Brandon Williams. It’s Brandon Williams. Interesting. They just they’re just like, “We need you to do guard things.” Yeah. And he’s doing it. He’s doing it. Do as many guard things as you can do. Oh, actually Shay is number two. Okay. Brandon Williams number one. golly. And like a healthy lead, too. He’s the only player that does guard things on their team. I know they have D’Angelo Russell, but D’Angelo Russell doesn’t do Yeah. guard things. Jeremiah Fears is in the top 10. He’s been pretty good. That bucket at the end of that game was so dumb. Like I just I The guy’s played a lot of basketball. He’s played in so many settings. He played D1 college ball. He played highlevel high school basketball. It’s like, dude, why would you do that? Why would you do that? Like, how dumb is that? I just don’t get it. I just um You know who else is in the top 15? Huh? Trey Man. Trey Man. Tricky Trey. Yeah. Right behind AJ. Man, I like Trey Man. I wish it would have worked out for him. Maybe it is. Well, here. I mean, yeah, I like Trey. He’s a good dude. That’s a bummer that he’s uh that he’s there. He looks cool in his baggy baggy uniform. Yeah, now that I’m looking at it, uh because Giddy’s obviously in the top 15 as well. A lot of current or former Thunder players. Hey, there you go. There you go. Uh, all right. Hope everybody’s doing great. Thanks for tuning in for a late night edition of Down to Dunk. We will have another edition of the Fry Pod. Hopefully, it’s full full team on Friday again. That was fun last Friday. If you haven’t listened to that yet, I encourage you to. It’s one of our more fun shows we’ve done in a long time. So, go check that out. Trying to think if there’s anything else coming up. Nothing I can announce yet. So, all right. Uh, enjoy the rest of your night and we’ll talk to you guys again on Friday. [Music] [Applause] [Music] la.

Andrew Schlecht and Alex Speers discuss the Thunder’s 14-1 start