OKC is new DYNASTY of NBA! – Stephen A.: Shai & Thunder will win back-to-back NBA titles this season

OKC is new DYNASTY of NBA! – Stephen A.: Shai & Thunder will win back-to-back NBA titles this season

Listen, I think they’re on the verge. I walked into this season being very, very, very excited about the season. I think my Knicks are going to the finals. Um, I think they could take the East and and but Detroit is coming in Detroit. You got to pay attention to them. Um, they are for real. But then I looked at Oklahoma City and I’m like, my god, what can’t they do, right? And Shay Gilas, Alexander, I mean, they’re just they’re walking through the league like it’s nothing. It’s like, we’re the champs. We know we’re the champs. We know we’re better than you and we’re going to show you. Maybe this game will show it in the first quarter. Another game will show it in the third quarter. Another game will show it in the fourth quarter. But make no mistake, by the time we get finished with you, it’ll be very, very clear. They’ve won 16 straight. They’re 24-1. The only loss on their game on their season was to Portland, which was the second game of a back-to back. And by the way, they had played that game without Jaylen Williams, and I forgot who else they were playing the game without. I mean, they are just unreal on both sides of the ball. So, I look at them as repeating. I don’t see any competition for them right now anyway. I’m hoping Houston steps up. I was hoping the Lakers would step up, but they can’t guard me on the perimeter, and they got a problem with that. So, I mean, you know, when you look at it, all of a sudden, we were raving about Luca being in shape. Now, we looking at them, he doesn’t look to be in the same shape, that level of defensive tenacity we were hoping with a with a send. We haven’t seen that. You you’re seeing people attack the Lakers interior and stuff like that. So, you wonder about that. Then you get reminded say, “Okay, Denver. Denver did take them to seven games. Did take them to seven games last year in the semi-finals. Joic is still Jokic. Murray is still Murray. Porter is gone, but they still got Aaron Gordon, too. Plus, they went younger and they retoled and re and and you know, they they revitalized their bench. So maybe Denver has a shot. But OKC just looks in a class of their own by themsel. And not only a team that’s gonna win 73 games, but a win a team that’ll coast to it unless they make it difficult for themselves by taking nights off, which I don’t see happening. Me neither. Me neither. Uh, next time we see you, potentially the Super Bowl will be there in Santa Clara watching. Who are you? Rams and else. I started the season thinking Philly and Baltimore. Let me let me put myself on front street about that. Um, I don’t think that’s going to be the case now. I honestly believe that the Los Angeles Rams are probably going to the Super Bowl, right? I really, really do. I believe as long as they don’t, you can beat Seattle, but you don’t want to have to go to Seattle to do it. You want them to have to come to Sofa. Going to Seattle is a different monster alto together. But I’m still picking the Rams to likely come out of the NFC. The AFC is a bit tougher because Denver and New England seem to be the two best teams. I don’t think it’ll be one of them, though. Okay. Um, I’m high on the Texans. I just think their defense is something to behold with Hunter and Anderson and those boys getting after you. Demo Ryan’s got them boys on another came in their past two games on the road in Cleveland and in Chicago this past weekend. So, let’s welcome on our NBA analyst, John Gonzalez. John, a little bit of a roller coaster up and down for the Warriors, but in some positive news, Steph Curry coming back. Of course, we know this team needs Steph. Any team would need Steph if he is on your team, right? But how much of a boost is this going to be? Not only from a basketball standpoint, but also from a morale perspective tonight. Yeah, it’s huge, right? I mean, they’re dead in the water without Steph, as you mentioned. You know, they just sort of tread water without him. They did win these last two games on the road, which is a nice boost for them. They’re home tonight against the Timberwolves, but they need all the help they can get right now. Jacqueline, there’s no Draymond Green tonight. He’s out for personal reasons. No Al Horford. He’s got a sciatica issue. Jonathan Kaminga for whatever reason back in Steve Cerr’s doghouse. He caught a DMPCD in the last game. So, they really need Steph Curry. And yes, he’s 37 years old, but let’s not forget he made second team allNBA just last season. He is ninth in the NBA this season in scoring at just under 28 points per game. So, this is this team, by the way, is not very good offensively. They’re just 22nd in offensive rating and they’re just barely above even in point differentials. So, without Steph, it’s really hard for this team to generate offense. As you mentioned in the leading, they’re 13 and 12. They’re eighth in the Western Conference. They got to start making some moves here, Jacqueline. They’re behind the Wolves who they play tonight. They’re behind the Suns. They’re just barely ahead of the Grizzlies who are under 500. So, if they want to start climbing the standings, it’s got to happen sooner than later. And they have to be thrilled that they’ve got Steph Curry coming back tonight. And also a note for that matchup, Anthony Edwards also listed as questionable for that one. When I trad tomorrow night, one of those matchups being the Spurs taking on the Thunder. Some big news coming down for the Spurs. As long as practice goes okay, it looks like Victor Webbyama is going to come back. He’s been sidelined since November 14th due to a calf strain. So, what are your expectations for WBY and how much higher is this ceiling for the Spurs, not only against a dominant Thunder squad, but just in a really competitive Western Conference in general? Yeah, he changes everything. And this is the matchup that everybody wanted. We were hoping that this was going to happen, Jacqueline, that he was trending in the right direction. They said they were being cautious with him, but that they were hopeful that he’ll play on Saturday. And as you mentioned, you know, barring any setbacks here, we’re going to get Victor Wanyama with a healthy Spurs team against Oklahoma City, who’s just been throttling everybody. That’s going to be Kent’s uh appointment viewing television. So, how does WBY change things? I mean, you know, he’s probably not going to qualify for awards this season because he has to reach the 65 game threshold. He’s already missed half of the team’s games. He can only miss five more games the rest of the season. But if you took that threshold away, Jacqueline, he would be the runaway defensive player of the year. He led the league in total blocks last season by a lot and he only played 46 games, half a season, still led the league. This year, he’s leading the league in blocks again at 3.6 per game. The next highest in the league is Jay Huff at 2 and a half blocks per game. So, he’s averaging more. WBY is more than a block per game higher than the next guy, right? So, he’s just unguardable also offensively. 75. He can play inside or out. He’s changed his shot a little bit this season, too. last year just a ton of threes. Fewer this year. He’s much more dominant inside. He’s unstoppable now. It’s going to be interesting to see how he looks after this long layoff coming back against the best defensive team in the league. If anybody can guard WBY, it’s going to be Oklahoma City. But yes, it really raises the level for a young, fast, fun, athletic Spurs team who ran the Lakers off the floor the other night even without WY and now they’re getting WBY back against Oklahoma City. So don’t miss that one on Saturday. Speaking of Oklahoma City, their games and and no shade, no disrespect, have not been that fun to watch because they are just blowing teams out of the water. They’re such an a tier above the rest of the teams. They’re sitting at 24-1 and that start is tied with the 15-16 Warrior squad as the best 25game start in NBA history. Now, it looks like they’re not going to skip a beat in trying to defend that title. Is it too early to be putting this team into conversations with other legendary teams in the NBA like the 2000’s Lakers, the 2017 Warriors, or dare I say the Jordan Bulls teams? No, let’s do it. Now, I I disagree with you slightly though that that they haven’t been fun to watch. I I guess like it’s not fun if they’re playing your team, but man, they’re just so dominant and there’s something really interesting and entertaining and and jaw-dropping about what they’re doing here because they are so good. As you mentioned, they’re tied for the best start through 25 games in NBA history. Last year, Jacqueline, they had the best defensive rating in the league. They’ve improved on that number this year. Last year, they had the best point differential in the NBA. They were beating teams on average by just under 13 points per game. That was nobody had ever done that before. It was unbelievable, right? Well, guess what? They’ve upped that number this year. They’re they’re beating teams on average by 17.4 points per game. They just throttled the poor Phoenix Suns, who I think I have to go into witness protection, by 49 points. Uh they have SGA the MVP. He might be the MVP again this year. Jaylen Williams is back and healthy. Chad Homegrren, we just talked about WBY maybe not qualifying because of the games threshold at 65 games. Chad Homegrren might be your defensive player of the year. Then that perimeter defense that’s just so outrageous. They come at you in waves. Quesan Wallace, Lou Dort, Alex Caruso. They’ve got bench offense with AJ Mitchell and Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe. I mean, they just can beat you so many different ways and there’s so many different combinations that Mark Dagnel can mix and match with these guys and throw at opposing teams. So, yes, if if you don’t like watching blowouts and you don’t like watching the Stars sit in the fourth quarter because they’ve already put up such a massive lead, they they can be a little there’s no intrigue, there’s no drama to them, but boy are they good. And the NBA win record is 73 by the Golden State Warriors. I’ll take them the Oklahoma City Thunder to beat that. 74 and up. The sky’s is the limit with this team. Yeah, Thunder fans don’t come for don’t come for me. Maybe I’m just speaking from a place of jealousy because my team I don’t think I mean obviously no one’s team unless it’s OKC is looking like that out there. Speaking of my team, John Gonzalez, you know, I’m not a diva. I’m really not. I go with the flow. I’m pretty chill, right? And when I heard we were doing an NBA segment, I said, “No, no, I will not do it unless I get to talk about the Orlando Magic.” So, here we are. Let’s talk about him, right? Fourth in the East. Desmond Bane has been playing out of his mind. I’ve been seeing stats that are comparing him to someone named Tracy McGrady. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of him or not. Anyways, how legit is this team? And I want to know, can they actually win a freaking playoff series this year based off of what we’ve seen right now? Yeah, it could happen, right? And I’m glad that you stood up for yourself in your Orlando Magic because they are playing better. They’re fourth place in the East as you mentioned. They’re 15 and 10. They won seven of their last 10 games. They didn’t have Paliban Carol early and now they’ve got no Fran Vagner who’s got a high ankle sprain, but they’re just sort of like figuring out. They got off to a slow start, right? But now all of a sudden they’re still good defensively. I mean, they’ve been a really good defensive team under Jamal Mosley. They’re fifth in defensive rating. That’s something that we all expect, right? What we didn’t expect, Jacqueline, and I think even you didn’t expect it, even though you’re an Orlando Magic fan, is how good they’ve been offensively, they’ve been really surprising, right? They’re 11th in offense in offensive rating. For over a decade, they’re in the bottom third in offense, and now all of a sudden, they’re almost top 10 in both offense and defense. So, super impressive. You mentioned Desmond Bane. What a huge boost he has been to that offense. This is the Desmond Bane that was promised. He also got off to a slow shooting start when they acquired him from the Grizzlies. They had to pay a big price to get him, right? Four first round picks. Well, so far that has paid off. He’s been huge for them. He was huge in the last round of the cup uh against the Heat where he had 37 points and six threes. And now we get to see him and the Magic against the Knicks in the semi-finals in Las Vegas. And how great is it that we get a Knicks Magic rematch just two games after Bane pegged OG Anovi with the ball like they were playing dodgeball, but only one of them knew it. So, we get to see that matchup. I’m super excited for that game. Uh, I hate to say this, I think I have. The Knicks in that game, but the Magic are playing really well. It’s okay. I’m going to have to like go on X and and start trashing Ashley Nicole Moss if if the Magic should win. You know, that’s I’m I’m asking for trouble there, John. We certainly appreciate it giving us an NBA check-in, talking about some of the top storylines coming out where Steph Curry is expected to play and

OKC is new DYNASTY of NBA! – Stephen A.: Shai & Thunder will win back-to-back NBA titles this season