Mavericks Protest Loss To Warriors On Strange Play

which is now under protest. Didn't even know that was a thing, really, Jalen Brown is finally speaking, and damn does he have some shit to say, Plus some more news from around the league less than three weeks to go Nick before we get into the play in so do me a favor and drop that generic gas beat. Thank God, when we're talking about LA it's not about the Lakers. We do have something to talk about the

Lakers later on the show. It's good stuff, though. Paul Torch, who was having himself a big time redemption arc story, playing really well, actually a likable person so far this year, was awkwardly hitting the knee in a game on Wednesday and now most likely out for the year. That is rough. He left the arena in crutches. He left the arena on a cart. Sham's immediately noted that the franchisees had very big concerns that the injury was quote unquote serious.

If you watch the video of him and getting injured, don't according to the WOJE bomb. Boo, this is the bomb. This is the sound of the woj bomb. PG got imaging on his knee. It revealed that he just has a right knee sprain. He will be evaluated in two to three weeks. That is a relief. That is a big time relief because hey torn something or other. Meniscus, ACL, MCL PCL put what have been a really bad situation.

But it still is not a good scenario because that puts PG perilously close to missing the first round of the playoffs considering that evaluation, if everything goes perfect, requires a week of ramp up just to start playing again, probably then on a minute's restriction. I'm not saying it's done for good, but the timing on the injury could not have been worse. Clippers currently just trying to stay

out of the play in tournament. That's it. They're currently in fifth place, but they're two games out of tenth place. So losing, Paul George will say, is not really great. That's how tight the West is. Kawhi is already on load management on back to back games. You might have multiple games now with no PG and no Kawhi and just bones Island. Worse worst case scenario for a team

that I thought could be a sleeper in the West. PG, like I said, having himself a little bit of a redemption year, playing really well on the court, averaging twenty four six and five, almost forty percent from three and started a podcast. That's usually you become less likable when you start a podcast. PG actually did the opposite. He leaned into the whole like pandemic pee thing. He started the podcast called Podcast P and he's actually been really

insightful on there. He had this one clip earlier this week where he talked about how everyone was leaving him open when he first started playing for the Indiana Pacers and he would just shoot and his teammates would get so mad at him because he was a But I'm open though, and he said, you know what really sunk in when Danny Granger told me, why do you think

they're leaving who wide open? And I thought that was just such a such a really likable, endearing story, and he talks about how he went from being one of the worst shooters in the league to being one of the best two way wings in the league, and yeah, I've kind of come around. Fun fact, my very first episode of what was first called This League was starting out talking about how much I hated Paul George, how

much of a bitch I thought Paul George was. I take it all back, Paul George, I like you now. So the Clips were already five and five in their last ten games, and now they face the Thunder again, who they just lost to when he went down, the Grizzlies twice with Jaw, the Suns probably not with Kevin Durant, but still the Bulls who are playing really good basketball with Patrick Beverley, and the Pelicans twice, which I don't even know what you're gonna get from that, because maybe

Zion's back. I'm hearing some whispers. Who knows. Then the Lakers, that's a scenario potentially where they might not even make the playing game. If you're talking about worst case scenarios. Have the Lakers had the most fluky, weird bad luck that we've seen in terms of injuries since Kawhi got to this place. Ever since Kawhi's got there, things have been weird. I hope the Clippers last long enough for Paul George to play again, because I think this team

could be really great. They're really deep, but only if he's on the floor. Bomber, the owner, who I don't think likes me very much because he moved away from me when we sat next to each other watching Summer Leak. He thought he was slick. He wasn't slick, but he moved away from me. I think he's gonna need to use some sort of like some sort of like voodoo magic or tarot card reader or spend the money on whatever it's gonna do to get the juju bad juju

out of that building and get that franchise uncursed. Because it's just been one thing after another with this team and it doesn't make no sense moving on. Another thing that doesn't make sense was this bizarre situation that happened in last night's Warriors Mavericks game. So I missed it live and then I saw the hubbub on Twitter, and then I had to do some digging. This might lead to being one of only three successful team protests now

in league history. What is a team protest, you might ask, No, it's not what you think it is. It's where the NBA steps in and finds a call so egregious that it makes the teams replay the game from the point of the egregious thing that happened. So this happened twice since nineteen eighty two. The last time in two thousand and eight, Shack was wrongly called for a sixth foul in the final two minutes of a game when he

only had five. The game was replayed from the point of the foul on four months later, after the game was originally scheduled. Weird. So what happened in this game, Well, it depends on who you talk to. The Mavericks are very certain that they were fucked over, very certain. The Mavericks lost the game by just two points, which really felt like more. The end of the game was I

think five or six points. That was the deficit. But they are currently in free fall right we know that they are sitting tied for tenth They're a half game from being out of the play and altogether, which would be an absolute disaster considering that they went all in for Kyrie Irving and it has not worked. But the winning margin came in part because of this very strange call. So here's what happened. Five Warriors standing underneath their own basket,

and Looney gets the inbounds pass, uncontested dunk. Where was the Mavericks defense on this play? Why were they not involved? Why were they seemingly on the other side of the court doing nothing? Well, because Dallas thought that they had the ball. Dallas didn't know why the Warriors were being given the ball, but the ref allegedly signaled that the ball below belonged to Dallas before I guess correcting the call during a timeout that was also called by Dallas.

The MAVs are adamant that no one told them that there was any change. You look at the spacing on the floor. Even one of the officials, Michael Smith, was on the offensive end, which Jason Kidd says is evidence that there was mass confusion, not just among players but even other officials. So now the Warriors get two free points and that was the winning margin of a tight game. Mark Cuban, as you might imagine, owner of the Dallas

Mavericks Shark Tank enthusiast was pissed. He took to Twitter, went put his Twitter fingers to work and said this for those wondering about the play. With one minute and fifty four seconds to go in the third let me explain what happened. The ref called MAVs ball, the announcer announced it, then there was a time out. During the timeout, the official changed the call and never told us. Then when they saw us lineup as if it were our ball, he just gave the ball to the Warriors, never said

a word to us. They get an easy basket. Crazy that it would matter in a two point game. Worst officiating non call mistake, possibly in the history of the NBA. All they had to do was tell us, and they didn't. Have you ever read something and said to yourself, like this is a tweet that would be written by Donald Trump, Like that is one of these situations where it's like worst officiating non call mistake, possibly in the history of

the NBA. These superlatives, they just don't stop. So you have two refs that were on that side of the court, and we had two guys at half court going to inbound. The other ref obviously thought it was our ball as well, the NBA believes no mistake was made. Shock her that the refs think that they've done nothing wrong. When asked after the game about the call, Officiating crew Chief Sean Wright said, initially on the floor, the original signal was,

in fact Golden State ball. This can be seen on video. They are bringing receipts. The second there's a second signal, but that is a signal for the mandatory timeout that was due to the mass. So we said, yes, we pointed to the mask, but that was just because they fucking called the timeout. What are these guys idiots? Were they roops? Did they not know? So that's basically what they say. I don't understand what's going on. It feels like a mass, chaos, confusion. I don't think the protest

is going to be upheld. But I tell you what, I think the PA announcer is to blame because he's the one who announced it was Mavericks ball and the officiating crew declares that was never the case. But I would say this, if you hear the announcer say Mavericks ball, you should probably go over there and say no, it's not you know what I mean, Like, no, it's not

Warriors ball. If the game has to be replayed from the point of the mistake, you will wipe out all the scoring that happened after, and potentially that will alter both team's futures and fortunes going forward into the playoffs. And you can see from how contentious this gets where you have the owner writing a full memo on Twitter that the Mavericks are so desperate right now because they are in free fall. One little mistake can send you from sixth place to tenth place and potentially out of

the play in tournament all together. Right they are seven and eleven right now since the Kyrie trade. Luca's banged up, and Kyrie's injured too. He's missing games, the team as zero bench. There's no chemistry between Kyrie and Luca. They're in serious danger of a full collapse, a full rebuild, Luca asking out. You know, Mark Cuban knows how close they are to Luca saying get me the hell out of here. He is clinging to every single thing he can to keep them in some sort of contention just

to get into the playoff and let Luca cook. Fortunately for the MAVs, the last few games of the season are pretty easy. They have the Hornets twice, the Pacers, the Bulls, who are by the way, playing pretty well with Pat Beverley, Hawks and Spurs pretty winnable games if Luca plays. But they do have the Heat, the Sixers,

and the Kings all on the schedule as well. Another thing I think that this game showed me is that this is the third straight Warrior game that they've won now on the road, and I think the Warriors, the Warriors. The Warriors could be back. They could be back. Don't sell your Warriors tickets yet. This West is a disaster. Who is going to take the West? My guess is as good as yours. But I'll tell you one thing. The Dubs have championship pedigree in their blood, and they

know that these these other teams are weak links. They know that these teams have it, done it like they've done it. I went on the light Years podcast last night after the game. By the way, Kamingo was incredible, twenty two points, three, two threes, two steals, just a gritty win, probably his best game in his career. So I hop on the Warriors podcast called the light Years Podcast,

and we talked about it. Here's what we said. You look at the Denver defensive efficiency and rating over the last like since the All Star Break, and I think they're twenty six. They're giving up a ton of offensive rebounds. What does that mean for guys like Kevon Looney? Like, what does that mean? Like, so that matchup favors the

Warriors in my opinion, it does. Still you look at the Grizzlies, if the Grizzlies are a two seed in your seven seed, and you say to yourself, Okay, well we've seen this game, Like we know what it's like to have three three point shooter assassins on the team against the half court offense that has no shooters. They have Desmond Baine and that's it, right, That's why I'm he's gonna get some shot. He's gonna get some shots of So Jaw's not a three point shooter, Dylan Brooks

is not a three point shooter. Jaron Jackson's very mid from three, and it gets extremely physical. You kind of have to give the edge and the history history against the Warriors there and then the Kings as much as you know, I've been a King's backer pretty much all season, You say to yourself, Okay, are we gonna make this just like an up tempo offensive game like are the If you trust one team in a fourth quarter to get stops, which out of those two teams do you

trust to get stops? I trust the Warriors to get stops, especially if you can get some version of Andrew Wians back. So one, two, three seeds, I still say Vegas makes the Warriors a favorite. So if it's a wide open West and there's a team that's been going to finals and finals and finals, you think to yourself, well, I don't know, I don't know. And that's honestly, like nothing about this team inspires hope other than the fact that

everyone else inspires zero amount of hope. And I'm like, well, they really just need to get to like two thirds of who they are and they might just run the table because they're all mediocre. Yeah, I think that's it. I think that's pretty much it. Everyone stinks the Warriors have been doing this since some of these kids were in diapers, and that's really it. This is probably Bob Myers last year. They're most likely going to change their roster around. Do I think that they beat the Kings

in the seven game series? I don't know, but I tell you what. They made some good points on that pot about if you get one game in Golden One, especially if you get game one and those those Kings fans are already worried about the shoe dropping at any moment and them reverting back to King's behavior. You can steal their soul. You can steal their soul in forty

eight and at that point anything's possible. The West is so chaotic, I think that they it's also possible the MAVs could drop five straight and drop out of the playing tournament. So that's why Cuban is so adamant about protesting this game, and it underscores how important every game is. When a single playoff loss for Dallas because of a referee era could put them out of the playoffs all twogether. Fun stuff in the West. What a game? What a game?

So you know how you can sometimes hear certain players not at all. They don't say a peek for years at a time, and then all of a sudden, the floodgates just open up and they just never stopped talking. It's like, Wow, you had a lot on your mind for a while. You've been wanting to spill the tea for years and you've just been playing the good soldier. That folks is Jaylen Brown. Right now, Jalen Brown has had enough. There are multiple articles now being written about

Jaylen Brown. He's decided to address literally everything everywhere, all at once with the Ringer. There was so much tea spilled. They talked about Boston Celtics getting Kyrie and having Kyrie leave. You had the e May Udoka stuff. I mean, it was massive, It was sweeping. Logan Murdoch did a great job. They even talked about Kanye West and his relationship to Donda Sports. I mean, it was full on. Brown was completely unapologetic, direct as pretty much as much as you

might expect him to be. He's never really spoken like this at length before. But the big takeaway is really just how much the Celtics and Jason Tatum flirting with Kevin Durant fuck with Jalen Brown's head. He's already someone who said in this article, I do not trust people, I do not trust organizations, I do not trust teams. And they they were shopping me, and then they said they weren't shopping me, and we all got quote unquote on the same page. But did we But did we? Though? Like,

I don't know if I believe them. When asked about his relationship with Jason Tatum, he was pretty blunt. It's not gonna please Celtics fans because apparently being dangled as trade bait for Kevin Rant would do that for you. He said, well, Katie and jt are friends, they were working out together and whatnot, So I wasn't sure what the energy was there. I wasn't sure what the direction

of the organization was. You add that to the fact that Ema Udoka, the guy that he promoted to get hired in the first place because they were on Team USA together, and he gets fired, and they're like, boy, I don't know what's going on with this organization. So he jumps on this three way call with Jason Tatum and Brad Stevens like I said, They're like, hey, Jalen, you're part of our future. No, and he was like, yeah,

I'm pretty suspicious of this. And Tatum was interviewed for the piece and he has this to say about Brown, well, a lot of people fans are fascinated with our relationship and how that's developing grown over time. He's got fans within the Celtics fan base I've got fans within the Celtics fan base, and I think our fans have more of a hard time coexisting than me and him do. We've never had an argument. I don't think we've ever had a real argument or a fight, nothing crazy like that. Yeah,

kind of weird. I think that people are either team Tatum or team Brown. Kind of reminds me of a relationship between a passive, aggressive couple who just keeps everything inside until one day one of them wakes up this morning and is like, you know what, you never take out the fucking garbage, you know what? That really And then you're just like, wait, what is this about the garbage or is this about something else? It's healthy to let things out a little bit more than they have,

I think. And it turns out it's not just the personal relationship with Jason Tatum that's damaged. It's his feelings for the entire organization that might not surprise anyone based on who the Celtics are known to be and who Jaylen Brown is known to be. Don't need to say more on that, but you know what I'm saying. The Celtics operate on different principles. He said, they look at it as a business where they tell you one thing and then behind closed doors they say another and they'll

trade you off. They'll tell you we love you, and they'll be having like, yeah, we're gonna trade him next week. Like where I'm from in the South, if you don't come through the front door, it's considered disrespectful. I feel a lot of times when you deal in these corporate spaces, everybody wants to come through the back door or come through at an angle. Yeah, Jalen Brown, I'm sorry to say that. When you are dealing with trade negotiations, if the trade falls through, they need to tell you they

love you. Like that's just how it goes. Otherwise, what is this relationship left? Very tenuous situation, so much to unpack, so much damage to undo. I think Jalen Brown might be gucci on the Boston Celtics as a whole. I think he's sort of ready to move on. It feels like it doesn't sound like he wants to be a Celtics anymore. He's a free agent after next season. If you can read the energy, JB kind of feels like he has already broken up with the Celtics unless something changes,

Unless he gets a Supermax contract, he's probably gone. This is what he said. I just enjoy the time that you have now. If it's your whole career with Boston, it's your whole career. If it's not, it's not. Some of the greatest players of all time haven't finished with their organization. Michael Jordan retired a wizard. As much as we feel like it, we like it here and enjoy being here. You see where life takes you, You see where the process goes. All you do is really focus

on what's in front of you. To be honest, I'll just say we'll get there when we get there. Oh boy. He also said this to Logan, which I thought was even more interesting. Brown was asked if he wants to stay in Boston long term. Brown says, I don't know. As long as I'm needed, it's not really up to me. We'll see how they feel about me over time and I feel about them over time. Hopefully whatever it is

makes sense. But I'll stay where I'm wanted. I will stay where I'm needed, and this is the most important line, and I will stay where I'm treated. Correct. Wooh boy. I don't know, Hey girl, I'm not saying we're breaking up, but you might want to get your own Netflix account. Like I'm not saying we're breaking up, but you might want to look at some new crock pots for yourself. I'm not saying we're breaking up, but you need to decide whether you're getting the couch or the mattress cuz

we're breaking up. So I don't know. Boston and Jaylen Brown are in a real predicament. If you know, he's not happy and he doesn't want to sign an extension, which by the way, he's not gonna sign an extension because he's only eligible for one hundred and twenty five percent raise. If he makes all NBA, he's he's eligible for a much higher extension. But if he doesn't make all NBA, that's all you can offer him, and you have to wait until he hits free agency. And if

you hits free agency, anything can happen. Then you add into the fact that the Boston Celtics right now don't look great with Joe Mizzula if they get bounced early. Now you've got whispers uh that Atlanta is keeping an iron monitoring the Jalen Brown situation, which, by the way, Jalen Brown as you notice is from Atlanta. This thing could go sideways fast. Yes. The latest news, like I said, is the Atlanta Hawks are working to clear cap space aka John Collins with the clear intent of making a

run at Jalen Brown. Things could change fast in Boston. Let's talk about Austin Reeves because it's I think it's well passed when we should have mentioned him. It really has been coming since last This is the guy that's made Laker fans stop crying about losing Alex screw So pretty much overnight. He's been on a tear ever since returning from injury. Laker Austin Reeves, undrafted free agent Austin Reeves. They call him what I call him, like the the Hicck,

Kobe Bryant or something like that. It's crazy. In his last nine games, Austin Reeves is averaging twenty four and six thirty eight percent from three and an average plus minus of ten point eight. That is sick. To just get him off the street and for him to contribute

like this is insane. Better yet, though the Lakers are eleven and eight since Reeves came back from injury, they are eight and ten in games he's missed so far this year doesn't feel like a lot until you realize that a fifty eight percent winning percentage would with him, which is where they're playing with him in the lineup, would put them squarely in fourth place in the West. Right now, looking at a home series in the playoffs

at Crypto dot com arena, I don't know. Could Austin Reeves be the new player to build around on the Los Angeles Lakers? Could he be the lakers most important piece? I don't know. I'm not saying he's is. I'm not saying he's not. But he is getting he is scoring like a superscore star, and he is getting superstar calls. In the last last four games, Austin Reeves has gone to the line fifty three times. Is this man Lebron James?

Is this man Kevin Durant? Who who in their right mind would make that script up where the undrafted free agent is getting more superstar calls? Then? I don't know. Steph Curry. Let's look at Steph Curry all right, So last four games, Austin Reeves has gone to line fifty three times. Steph Curry twelve times in his last four games. For comparison, our Guy Samsbandiori from The Light Years podcast tweeted this out. Curry forty five drives, two free throw attempts,

Austin Reeves fifty drives, sixteen free throw attempts. Curry passed sixteen times on those drives. Reeves passed seventeen times out of those drives. So, in other words, Austin Reeves right now is getting superstar calls from the refs. As an undrafted free agent, he is going to align an average of thirteen times per game. Joe l Embiid currently leads the league in free throw attempts at ten per game. Austin Reeves is getting better calls, a better whistle than

Joel Embiid. That is, in the sane. Yes, he gets more offensive calls, plays call for him when Lebron is out. Of course, he's averaging nine and a half points per game when Lebron is playing and sixteen points per game when Lebron is out. But that does not diminish what our hill Billy Kobe has been up to this season. He has got been nearly the same winning percentage as Lebron has when he plays the season five h nine winning percentage versus Broun's five eleven winning percentage. The Lakers

win pretty much in every scenario with Austin Reeves. Austin Reeves in total is twenty eight and twenty seven. Reeves without braun Is twelve and eleven. Reeves without a d is seven and six, Reeves with d lo Is seven and four, Reeves with Vanderbilt eleven and six. If you look at Austin Reeves completely for the year, he has a plus one oh seven for the season. That's top fifty. This man, this man is called the hill Billy Koby. That's top fifty. If we redrafted. I thought about this.

I went to the twenty twenty one draft, which is the year that Austin Reeves was eligibly drafted but not drafted if you look at it, which was a loaded draft. By the way, he probably is a mid first rounder in one of the most stack drafts in history, where you're going over. He probably gets drafted over Jalen Suggs, probably gets drafted over is z Air Williams, James Bookknight, Josh Primo, Chris Darte, Moses Moody, Moses Mody, Corey, Kisbert,

maybe Davion Mitchell, that's crazy. So the Lakers live or die not with ad or Lebron, but rather a twenty four year old undrafted kid from the Haulers of Arkansas, the NBA's Western Conference. It's just very weird right now. It's very strange in the West. I don't know what's going on. Scriptwriters are on drugs. Let's move on. Kitty Cat. Kitty Cat is back. Karl Anthony Towns makes his return last night after missing a total fifty two games. Fifty two games is how long ago he went down. Time

goes fast in the NBA. So there was a lot of drama about how bad the injury was. As you guys know, it was a Grade three calf strain, but the Wolves tried to downplay it. They said it was a Grade two calf strain. But he's finally back. Chris Finch put the ball in Karl Anthony's Towns hands against the Hawks with three point one seconds left, and I'll

be damned, it worked. Karl Anthony Towns ends up going to the free throw line, pulling off at one twenty five four victory over Atlanta, which I thought that they would lose. He had twenty two four and three. He had two steals, played very well within himself for a first game back. But more importantly, the Wolves need somebody that they can rely on at the end of games, because boy oh boy, they are teeter tottering looking from the outside. In eight games left more than enough time

for Karl Anthony Towns to shake off the rest. But with Anthony Edwards out with an ankle injury, man, the Wolves are not healthy. If they could get aunt Man back in time, maybe they're dangerous in the playoffs. Remember, they did take the Memphis Grizzlies into a very, very tough series. Gonna be fun to watch. Not a lot

of father all about Karl Anthony Towns back. I'm happy to see him on the court again until the offseason, when, of course you'll see trade rumors heating up where he'll play in twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four, because most likely the Wolves I think will move him. But shout out to Karl Anthony Towns coming back into the lineup. Shout out to Karl Anthony Towns doing something in a late game scenario, even if it is the regular season,

and the regular season doesn't matter whatsoever. Moving on Shaden Sharp. So I think people downplay this man. People are slandering Shaden Sharpe's name for no reason. Yes he is not a Rookie of the Year candidate. Yes he's not as good right now as Pawell, Ben Caro or Benedict Matherin or even Aalen Williams. But man, last night best game of his young career. Six start, forty minutes, he was a plus twenty eight. But here's the thing that was

more exciting. Twenty four to nine and three nine rebounds. That's ridiculous. Twenty four nine rebounds, three assists and four steals for Shaden Sharp. That's a nineteen year old kid just putting up buckets, beating a Utah Jazz team. That is very tough, very tough. I think right now, this Shaden Sharp performance, to me, he's only know trade list Blazers are a tanking team. They are not going anywhere. They need another star, and you know what in order

to get another star or not trading Shaydon. That's it. Not for ogn Andobi, not for Pascal s Yakam, not for Andrew Wiggins, no one. I think right now, you're looking at a kid. I'm gonna predict it. Shadon Sharp is going to be one of the most talented people in the NBA period, hands down six'. Six his selling is the. Roof as they, say with only ten games left in the, season there's not going to be a play in for. US i know THAT i want him to start every single. GAME i want to see More

shade and sharp. Development he's. Strapping his defense looks really. GOOD i want to see what he will do with thirty five minutes a. Game DARE i say numbers like that will be the. Norm do not stunt this kid's, Development allow him to, grow allow him to. FLOURISH i Know Damian lillard looks more impatient THAN i am about The. Blazers he's starting to get frustrated. Again BUT i haven't been this excited about A blazers player Since, dame, unless of,

course we Get Victor wombiama and then everything. Changes that's all the time that we have for this episode of that he. Checked check Back tuesday for all new. Episode do not forget to watch the. Feed please follow us as THE nba season head towards the. Playoffs please, download please, Subscribe please, Rate please, Review tell your friends about the. Podcast if you like THE. NBA i think we do a pretty good job of covering all the topics big and,

small tea and nerd. Stuff follow us on Social even if TikTok gets banned in The United, States i'm moving To. Canada i'm gonna start making tiktoks From canada and follow us also on the places that aren't getting shut, down to On, twitter On, instagram maybe On. Facebook Maybe i'll start taking my takes To facebook because the heat check never, sleeps not even when the government is trying to shut my favorite social media platform. Down that's all we got