Anthony Edwards literally bruised a dude's skull with a dunk

one ridiculous dunk. Speaking of injuries, we get into more of those from around the league. We also must on the show talk about DeAndre Ayden's air mattress confession a debacle. It was, Anthony, let's get into it. Drop that motherfucker beat the should be Rhana crash, boom boom. What's that sound? That is the Lakers hitting squarely into a wall at

the worst possible time of the season. Not only are the Lakers seven and six and the last thirteen and one and two in their last three, but here's where it gets better, folks. The Houston Rockets, who we talked about. Actually, I think last show still hot, still very very hot seven and one in their last day and breathing down their necks for that ten spot, that final play in appearance. But that is not why we're talking about them today.

No friend to show Bill Ryder dropped this bombshell this morning. Sources tell CBS Sports that Los Angeles Lakers players Christian Wood, Jared Venerable, and Gabe Benson will miss the rest of the season, while Jared Vanderbilt still could return. Sots of say the expectation is that that will not happen. Oh boy, that is awful news for a team that is reeling right now, a team that could use these players at some point, and with ad just coming back from a scratch, Cornya,

things are not amazing. The crazy thing is that the Lakers have basically been just bread crumbing up pretty much all season. Like remember who was it last year? We can't fully judge this Laker team until until Kendrick Nunn plays. We can't judge this team until we see what Kendrick Nunn is like in the lineup. Gave Vincent is the new Kendrick Nun of the LA light Lakers. It became a joke. Can't judge this team till Kendrick Nunn is in the lineup here we are and they were just

being cagey. Oh, Gay Vincent's coming back return is imminent. We kept hearing the return is right around the corner. They kept showing us videos at practice of Gabe Vincent somehow getting upset shots from eighteen feet. The truth is Christian was as several weeks of rehab after getting surgery on his left knee before he can hit the court again.

Van Doh may return, just like he likes to return all of his clothes that he gets from his private shopper, but there's no certainty to it whether just like there's no certainty as to whether he'll pay. And they have seemed to be teasing Gabe Vincent coming back for months, and he does not seem to be close to seeing the court in a game situation, even though they keep telling us he's cleared for on court work. He has played all of five games this year. Honestly, that's five

games more than I remember. Not gonna lie to you all this underscore is just how awful the trade deadline was for the Lakers, which brings me around relate to my point, why is Rob Polenka just unscathed at the job that he has done for the Lakers. He pulled a rabbit out of his hat last deadline, got the Western Conference Finals appearance out of it by being a very banged up Grizzlies team and then taking out a

Golden State team on their last legs. They were literally coughing dust before getting swept to the Denver Nuggets in what they call the most respectable sweep in NBA history history, the most competitive sweep in NBA history. And then this year the Lakers Big three of Braun Ad and d Low. Do you know, you know what this team reminds me of The Lakers sort of remind me of what the

Warriors did after they somehow won the title. Right, they knew Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins like and the rest of these like schmucks shouldn't be extended, right, You shouldn't be rolling these dudes back out. You knew midway through that season and they weren't the ones, but then they

had to pay them. They're the Eastern Conference Finals team for the Atlanta Hawks, where it's like John Collins, DeAndre Hunter, bog Don Bogdanovich, and it's like we know these dudes are not the ones, but we went to the Eastern Conference finals, so we kind of had to pay them.

So then they roll out the same team the Lakers ruey Hachi Mura they paid, uh d Lo gets paid, Tory and Prince comes back and you're like, still no shooters, but I guess, and they still refuse to go out and get a buddy Healed who could have opened up spacing for Lebron James three years ago and they didn't do it. Then they haven't done it now. All of

this is Rob Polinka's fault. Here's the nail in the scouting coffin, because we could use some guys that could play some basketball right now, some young legs, some cheap legs. According to our very own Anthony Irwin. Shout out to my guy, Anthony Irwin for basically writing this segment for me of the Lakers lounge. Polenka whiffed on the draft not once, but twice. Here is what Anthony Irwin said, love him. According to sources, a consensus pick for the

Lakers was Kobe Buffkin. When he was selected fifteenth by the Atlanta Hawks. The Lakers had to scramble so as to say, the scouting department preferred Whitmore once Buffkin was off the board, but Polenkas and others higher up in the organization Akay Linda Rambis and Kurt Rambas and probably Genie Buss, we're concerned about his medicals. Polenka having seen this is my favorite part. Polinka having seen Hood Chaffino play well in the Big Ten Conference tournament, saw something

special and made his final decision. There's just so much to unpack here. First of all, Kobe Buffkin at the top of your big board was a choice when you're drafting seventeenth. That is mal Feastins. He has been not very good for the for the Hawks since he arrived, and some people might even call him a bust. He is just chucking down in the G League. His his literal upside ceiling comp is a man that is considered the most overpaid player and the lowest net rating player

in the NBA right now. Jordan Poole, that was his absolute upside. Jordan Poole. Kobe Buffkin. He is chucking to the tune of twenty three point six per game on twenty shots per game, one point one eight points per shot. The league average is one point one five. This is the G League that we're talking about, So this is like hitting two point fifty. It's like right above the Mendoza line in the minors. Fam you're not good enough

right now, You're not good enough. Buffkins played all nine games this season, despite the fact that Trey Young has been gone for the year. Since the All Star break, the tanking Hawks brought in fucking Paddy Mills over Kobe Buffkin. They said, this man's been sitting on the bench in his no, this man, Paddy Mills been sitting on the couch in his tube socks, eating lace. And they said, we'd rather have him anyway. It's not like other people

didn't see the flaws in Kobe Buffkin. John Hollings, your friend of the show, said this at the Summer League. Buffkin having to run the offense every place seemed to really slow him down. You could almost hear the gears cranking at times as he got and thought through the pick and roll. Read Buffkins stats also took a blow, shooting four for twenty nine from three. He needs to improve as a shooter, but mostly his numbers are bad

due to small sample vary. I'd be more troubled by the multiple finishes that were swatted at the rim, again caused by him seeming to cruise through an opening too slowly. He was so bad that an anonymous Hawks executive told Friends of Show, we had a lot of friends of show. Ye know, a lot of fucking big ball NBA expert friends of show. Keith Smith from Spo Trek, somebody told

him Kobe Buffkin needs to settle his ass down. The ass part was me, I bring all of this up because this was the dude that you were salivating at at seventeen on your big board, Rob, Rob. And to compound problems, when the Hawks reached for Buffkin at fifteen, not exactly the most stellar front office the Atlanta Hawks. As soon as Buffkin was taken by the Hawks, you knew you fucked up. You knew, oh, we're not seeing

this entire board well. And then you don't have an answer immediately when your guy is taken, and your your answer is to take a guy you saw in the conference tournament play well once in the Big ten for Indiana, and we're like, yep, that's our guy, that's the kid we like. We saw him play well at the conference tournament. So yep, I like that Hood Shaffino kid hoo Chiafino currently averaging one point six points per game in twenty

one games. Much of those games are in garbage time where even he looks overmatched there, folks, I don't know. I liked me also, Tristaicrik non GM non player evaluation expert like Hood Shaffino as well. I liked the band workout that they put a hit and put out of him on Bleacher Report. I was like, oh yeah, maybe like Tom Brady's got the plasticity down. I like the fact that he could do a nice little downward face sing dog he had it down. Look at his look

at his crow pos hoot Shafino. How does that translate into buckets for the LA Lakers. It doesn't. It doesn't. You know who would have been valuable at seventeen who was actually there? Heimi Hawkes, who went with the very next pick the Miami Heat, saw the Lakers right above them and said, there's no way this team is going to take who we want. That's you know, who cares that they got to the Western Conference finals. They don't

know what they're fucking doing. They're over there just literally grabbing the wall blind, just trying to touch whatever comes their way. By the way, Jimi Hawk has played who do you play for? A again? Checks notes the UCLA Bruins. Uh, just a mere fifteen minutes from Rob Polinka's office, and he was like, Nah, I'm good on this guy. He's a senior. He was there for four years. You had him up close and personal for four years. He will

make All rookie years the first year. He's probably gonna be an All Star at some point, and you missed him. You know what? Who else have helped Brandon Pajemski who just played up the five from the forum in I don't know, Santa Clara, Saint Mary's excuse me? He will also make the All Rookie team? Who else would have helped you? A guy that was actually slotted to go fourth at one point, Cam Whitmore and his medicals slid him to the same team that liked him at four

with the twentieth pick. That Cam Whitmore is averaging twelve four to one in seventeen minutes a game, who is widely seen as an absolute steal. Palinka, what the fuck are you doing? Baby? If you miss the plan or you flame out without making the playoffs. Heads are gonna have the role and it won't start stop with Darvin uncured Ham, No, it will not. Polinka hired him. Polinka. I don't know if he'll be fired, but like the roars of the firing will be loud as they've ever

been about. We move on to Tyrese Halliburton, all star point guard from the Indiana Pacers. Who is I have to say, and I don't really want to say it out loud, and I don't think anyone else wants to either, is that Tyrese Haliburton is going through it right now. And I don't mean going through defenders, I mean going through a slump. And it has been a fucking bismal

to watch. Really, the numbers you don't want me to read them to you, six for thirty six from deep in his last five games, and that puts him in Jordan Poole territory, Miles Bridges territory is the only players to make six or a few threes on thirty six attempts or more during any five game span this season. I scalled what's colder than being called Hella Burton? Fuck dude.

I hate saying it out loud. I really do. In his last twelve games, Haliburton has put up fifteen four and ten on forty percent from the field and nineteen percent from three. I'm sorry, guys, those are bad numbers. He was asked in the postgame presser after a five point loss to the mitchell Less Calves, where he went four for fourteen and one for nine from three. Hey, is something amiss? He said this. I'm just trying to

figure it out right now. Obviously it's frustrating. I've never went through a slump like this in my entire life, but it's all part of it figuring it out. It sucks. Everybody's got the answer, but it's about me figuring it out. So I've got to be better and I will be better moving forward. I just gotta be better. Point blank.

It's clearly the delineation is the hamstring injury. Before it, Tyrese Haliburton was stacking up MVP level stats twenty four for four and fourteen on fifty forty and eighty seven After it, sixteen four and nine on forty four, twenty eight, oh my god, and eighty six from the free throw line. Getting worse actually, as a season winds down, slump city

population Haliburton two different players. He was asked again about the slump and how he's been seeing a psychologist for some time, and he said this, not everybody cares how we feel taff the world. I'm just helping them make money on DraftKings. That's what my social media mostly consists of. I think it can be funny. Sometimes someone will tweet, Hey, I lost a thousand dollars because of you, and I'll

give a fuck about that. That's why it's important for us to have conversations with people who value us as human beings. Can it be both? I'm sure he'll shoot his way out of this slump soon. Too good of a player, not too We've ben Mathron out for the season. Even more falls on Halle's shoulders offensively. He needs to figure out this shooting slum. Oh, it's gonna be a

quick exit in the postseason. I mean, this is not a great team right now, I'll say the Pacers a sad end to what was an incredible beginning of the year for our Indiana Pacers. We move on to some news from around the league, and that begins with Anthony Michael, Jeffrey, Jordan Edwards, who had one of the most incredible dunks in NBA history last night. So this is what happened. Ant swords down, soars down the lane, just ripping through John Collins. Doesn't make a business decision. He rises up

to block Ant. That's a mistake. Maybe the most violent dunk I have ever seen with my own two eyes. Aunt slammed the ball down on the way down, dislocates his finger, dislocates John Collins's face, and puts Collins out for the game in what was thought to be a concussion. Dude, I've never seen anyone dunk on another human being that they needed to be removed from game action. Sham's tweeted this Utah's John Collins has suffered a head contusion from

a play contesting Anthony edwards poster dunk tonight. Did he have to say? Hey, like, John Collins may not return dnp posterized sources say head injury but no concussion for Collins. Someone broke down the numbers on An Edwards's dunk. Here's what we got. This is it is crazy. Aunt Edward's vertical forty three point nine inches. It's the largest I've ever seen. Max ball height eleven point three nine feet. The hoop is ten feet and he was almost two

feet higher than that. Take off distance ten point six feet away, ball speed through the rim, Here's where the concussion comes in twenty three point six miles per hour. Have you ever been hit with a basketball or a person going twenty three miles an hour? Maybe the funniest thing was set after the game. And it's not the part that I can't say out loud. You gotta google that yourself. When Aunt Edwards watched his own footage on TV and had to be bleeped out from YouTube, he

said to a kid. Kid was like, hey, and I want your jersey, eh, And he goes, no, I gotta give it to John Collins. I love it. Edwards never changed lost in the absolute chaos of the dunk is that the fact that Aunt led the Wolves to a massive victory, going out for twenty five in the second half on thirty two, seven and seven with three stocks. He also set a Minnesota record for most three dy

point games in a season with twenty seven. Oh boy, Minnesota could have had Steph Curry, but you took Johnny Flynn. Pretty damn good though he got it. Whatever's now. He immediately rose to sixth in the MVP betting conversation. If he continues to play like this, the Wolves are gonna be a problem in the playoffs. Even without contact. We had to get to some injury up dut Jake Well out in Philadelphia, Oh watch out. Jojo is thinking about

returning second week of April at the latest. The hope is that he will be able to put a couple of games under his belt before he plays in the playoffs. If that's the case, folks, the Sixers are gonna be a devastating team for almost anyone six seven, eight seed. You don't want to see that. No one wants to see Nick Nurse and Jojo and my man Tyrese Maxi right now, and also Kelly Oubre It's now been six weeks since his surgery. He's tracking for a play off return.

Encouraging news and very encouraging news for Philly. No such good news right now for the Knicks. Og and Andobi's comeback has been cut short. And I went against the Dubs that saw Brunson Strapp staph to the tune of four for thirteen from three, pretty damn good. Og went to the locker room with elbow discomfort, no reinjury, just inflammation. This is what the quote says. I'm told that Ognobi is going to be out more than just tonight. That

right elbows flared up again. They need to calm it down. How long he's out is unclear, but certainly it's a concern for this next team. They don't know the status also of Julius Randall moving forward. The team is pretty much unbeatable with og on Nb on the court, fifteen to two, that's about as good as anybody splits are are they not like fifteen to two? And without Randall and Mitchell Robinson, we know what it is like. The

Knicks struggle to defend the rim. They struggle to defend anything there, even though without Ogannoby they were holding teams like eighty points per game. The Knicks need to rest them though, until that elbow is completely healed and solid and no more inflammation. Also, there are some real bullshit reports going on. There are reports that he doesn't want

to play through pain. The truth is Ognobi against the Blazers and against the Warriors and against the Kings was playing with like one arm, really, and he wants to play. But the knickstaff is being very cautious about it because why because they're fifteen and two with him in the lineup. Maybe you want to save those fifteen games for the playoffs. Out in Cleveland, Donovan Mitchell has missed ten of the

last fifteen games. He will miss another week after having a procedure for a broken nose nasal fracture the calves. This is pretty much Jalen Brunson's status right here. The Calves are four and six in games he's missed. They're twenty one and four in the last twenty five games he's played, so they need to figure out a way

to get him back. It is imperative that he gets back healthy for the playoffs, especially considering that they might end up playing the Sixers in the first round with Joe l Embiid fresh off of a nice eight to ten week stint of rest, which is when Joel Embiid is his best and finally, speak of health, DeAndre Ayton is finally healthy and is bawling out for the first time this year. DeAndre Aiden, you know who is partly to blame for his early season woes. Guess just guess

what it is? Is it like I don't know, just mental transitions with the plan from the suns of the Portland was rain no, no, guess again it was air air mattress. He was banged up because of the mental toll of poor sleep, given the fact that for many weeks who knows how long he did not specify DeAndre Ayden was sleeping on an air mattress. Many people in my Instagram comments are saying, I've made this up, and that just shows you how ludicrous the story is. Considering

that as one hundred percent fact. He said. This quote is actually like bonkers the more you read into it, because he says, I've got all the money in the world, but at the same time, this is an inhumane where money don't matter, having people around you and the support you need. I was adjusting to everything, just being comfortable waking up. I didn't have a bed. I was on an air mattress, trying to figure this out. Having all the money in the world, sleeping on an air mattress.

You can delete all the middle parts, but how do those two things happen together? I have so many questions. Was he like taking some sort of stoic vow of like discomfort and like pain that he wanted to punish himself for things I'm not working out in Phoenix. I don't know why. I don't know the reason that someone with thirty million dollars a year is sleeping on an air mattress. I've yet to hear a good explanation. I've heard that NBA players are not allowed to sleep in hotels.

I know that is incorrect, considering the Demonisa Bonis when he was traded to the Sacramento Kings, slept at the hotel just outside of the Golden One Arena for the duration of his first season in Sacramento. I've heard that NBA teams put you up in an Airbnb, where that would be an organ I don't know. I've heard that maybe he was waiting for a seven foot size mattress to come in the mail. But why an air mattress

instead of a regular small mattress. Do you is it preferable to sleep on a long, extra long air mattress over two mattresses back to back, don't I don't know these answers, But I slept on an air mattress for twelve hours one time, No six hours one time, and it was six hours too many I'm one hundred and fifteen pounds. It deflated before I could fall asleep. Before I could fall asleep. DeAndre eight and is seven feet

tall and two hundred and fifty pounds. There is no way there's an air mattress supplier in the world with a modicum of lumbar support. So just an absurd story. I would not have believed this if it didn't come straight from DeAndre Ayton's mouth. I just I don't know why you don't just call the Blazers to say, can we figure this out? Listen. I can barely get an orthopedic chair at my company, but if I was making thirty MS and max money, I would say, I'm gonna

need you guys to sort this for me. As a Blazer fan, I can say, thank god he got a sleeping arrangements fixed, because ever since he got that little crick out of his neck from sleeping on a baby feed in a baby feet his position on basically the floor, he is bawling the fuck out some coming back from injury, which I suspect now was also from the air mattress. He's averaging twenty seven to fifteen and one with one

point six stocks on thirty eight minutes per game. As they say, that's what a sleep number gonna do for you. And if DeAndre Ayton doesn't get a mattress sponsor after this, someone on team Dominating isn't dominate. That's all the time the way. After this episode of the Heat Check, come

back Friday for an all new episode. Check out the feed for past episodes and many episodes which drop unexpectedly, like your bracket rankings in March madness, No, sir, South Dakota State will not be hill topping their way to a fucking thing. Do not forget to follow the Heat

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