Laker fans.
I've never seen a group of people feeling so confident in a loss. I've never seen it. I have never seen an entire group on Twitter say after a team at home wins that game that that team that just won the game is cooked.
I've never seen that before. But that's where we're at.
Nuggets are up one zero, but apparently the Lakers have figured some shit out. Apparently this like the Kobe stopper. You know, remember when Ruben Patterson was the Kobe stopper back in the day. Like, apparently the Lakers have a a Joker stopper and they just he's just been waiting in the wings, just sitting on the bench, waiting to
show case his superhuman talents of stopping Yokic. Stopping not just Jokic, but the entire Denver Nuggets offense comes to a screeching halt when Rui Hachi Mura is on Jokic. Apparently that's where we're at because for the let's check the notes, it was ten trips down the floor ruey Hachi Mura pretty large, like very large sample size. According to NBA Twitter, ten trips down the floor where Rui was on Jokic and the Nuggets only scored six points.
Apparently they figured something out. Now, La fans, you know how they are gold Stars participation trophies, going to the beach surfboards. That is what they're doing with their Game one loss, which is weird because Michael Malone noted in his postgame presser that Denver ended up winning the game when Jokic put up just a measily stat sheet of thirty four points, twenty one rends, and fourteen assists with two blocks. He missed five shots. They figured him out.
It's over. It's over for the Denver Nuggets. At one point, the Nuggets had a twenty point lead. So, like I said, they feel that the ruiy Hachimura adjustment is what changed the dynamic of the game. The game got tight, they were free safetying Anthony Davis, not letting anybody go into the paint made it look crowded. Anthony Davis was a block monster. But let's be honest, can we just be
Let's put the jokes aside for a second. Ruyachimura went away from the Washington Wizards for an indefinite period of time because he wasn't focused. There were things happening inside of him and inside of his life and inside of his brain where basketball was not front of mind.
Ruyachimura is not the most.
Locked in human being for a full forty eight minutes, Luryachimura, You're not gonna be able to put him on Jokich for the entire game for the next presumably four what'd you say you win four games?
The next four that the Lakers win.
We'll just say, I'm very optimistically you're not gonna be able to put Ruy Hachimurro on you Ogish that entire time.
He will be in Trebu trabu.
He put Ruy in pick and roll. See what happens right at the beginning of the game. Rui's might start tonight. We'll see what happens. Jamal Murray, Jokic pick and roll, barbecue chicken on a hibachi gro like, what's going to happen. Yokich will pick them apart. It's really just a matter to me of whether Denver can play defense for the full game. When they play defense, they get stops, they create turnovers, they go out into transition, they look very fast,
they look very athletic. When they don't do that, they look very slow because the Lakers are defenses. I mean, it's very simple defense set very hard to score defense, not set very easy to score. I know this sounds like very simple game, but in a lot of ways it is. There's no way that the Lakers should feel that Game one was a victory at all.
In fact, you.
Might feel that it was a demoralizing loss because you could have stole one, you had the opportunity, you were down three in the fourth quarter. But don't take my word for it. Take it from coach Malone. See what he had to say.
Is this kind of discussion being based at Like even though the Lakers lost, you know, they're walking out of here last night like they think they've got something. I'll bet you every red penny I have that Darvin ham would rather be up one zero than down one zero.
Yeah, I mean, what does that even mean? Like what are we even talking about? Michael Malone is having none of this. You guys figured some things out. You guys have won something like we'll see how the Lakers are spawning tonight.
Who knows.
Maybe I'm wrong, Maybe the Lakers are one game two. Maybe Rui is the Yoki stopper two time MVP getting stopped by our man Rui Hachimurro.
All right, let's move forward. It was fun while it lasted.
The hope, the dreams, the imagination, all the like the season tickets I was gonna buy. Uh, I was moving. I was gonna move to Portland. Cover wemb Yama full time.
What is it? Ten ten eighty the fan, it's an Odyssey station. They'd have me.
I'm sure cook maybe get transferred cover wemby'all. I was ready to party like it was two thousand and seven.
All over again.
Brandon Roy was the good luck mascot the last time he was the good luck mascot.
We got the number one overall pick.
When I think we had like a four percent chance of getting it, we had a ten and a half percent chance. As Blazers and things look good. We rolled into the top four.
My heart was fluttering.
Houston got the number four spot, and I said, this is fucking it. Yes, Detroit five, Houston four. We've moved up at least two spots, why not one? Why not move up another one? Why not move up? And then we got the.
Three spot and I knew it was over.
My soul immediately left my body and looked at me from above, and I realized Portland's trading this pick.
That's what's happening.
This pick is not even any Don't even look at Athletic, don't look at scouting reports of any of these young kids. They do not concern you. You are married to Damian Lillard, and what Damian Lillard wants is outside of Victor Wambama. You do not get any more young kids. They do not exist in your mind. In fact, start looking at your own roster. Say what kids can go? There's more
kids on the current roster, they can go. I thought it was funny though, when Victor wamba Yama saw first and foremost, he saw Houston get the four spot, and they cut to him immediately. Apparently Victor Wambyama also did
not want to go to Houston. Shocking, shocking. I know that he would not want to go to a team with a bunch of chuckers on it, a bunch of lottery picks, and when they won like what twenty two games or whatever it was, and a new head coach that's got all kinds of misconduct allegations in a city full of temptations, and he's by the way French.
I don't know if that was a great fit.
So Jabari Smith quote tweeted it and with the little emoji of taking notes. Okay, Jabari, you go ahead take those notes, baby boy. What you need to do is type, take notes and give them to your teammates so they can get you the fucking ball when you're open underneath the rim.
So poor Charlotte.
They end up with the second overall pick, and now they've got to worry about what they're gonna do, because are they gonna take Scoot Henderson, who would probably not pair great with their other point guard of the future, LaMelo Ball. Are they going to take Brandon Miller, who, by the way, Brandon Miller, according to Zakalo today looks horrible.
He's out of shape, like I thought it was, like, oh like Brandon Miller not in good shape, meaning like mentally like yeah, no shit, he's been going through a lot.
No like he's physically.
Not been working out, like just not in shape, been drinking sodas and eating bon Bonds and Cheetos and chilling on his couch.
We'll playing call of duty.
According to Zach Lowe, also, Brandon Miller not been doing great in the interview process either, which does not shock me, uh, considering all the things that have gone down recently.
So that's bad.
What Charlotte is going to do is a big off season story. We know Victor will be a Spur. Pop is probably gonna be continuing to coach until he gets his Joe Paterno on, like straight from the court to the grave type stuff for him. I know that's morbid, but literally like they're gonna have the drag him up out of there. And now we've got to figure out the biggest story for the next generation of the NBA. The hype is that big for Victor. We've been talking
about him for it feels like two years now. His hype is so big that you have Chris Brussard saying if he's if he turns into Hakeem, he's a bust. That's where we're at. That's how big guy. That's an insane statement. Uh, Hakem fucking Elijah One, NBA Champion twice, twelve time All NBA, twelve time All Star, that guy, if he turns into that guy, he will be a bust.
Get out of here.
So let's just credit the Spurs for being the luckiest organization, like in the NBA, they were so lucky they would have won it, like four times.
They win the lottery multiple times. Fred Katz was.
In the lottery draw room and tweeted that the Spurs didn't just win the number one overall pick, their number got drawn twice more. It was written, the script had been determined. It was always the Spurs. It was never anyone else. In fact, that the Blazers somehow would have gotten quote unquote lucky. They wouldn't have gotten lucky. Victor
wam Miiyama wouldn't have gotten lucky. US NBA fans wouldn't have gotten lucky because Victor Wamiyama would have been some version some combination between Sam Buie and Greg Godin, probably multiple micro fractures in his shins, probably never seen after forty three games, and Henderson would be the next Michael Jordan. That would be what would happen. Of course, if Blazer's got the number one overall pick. So Spurs last time they had the number one overall pick in both years
they won fifty six games the next year. That's the best record in the lottery era for a team with the number one pick. They're gonna be a lot better, probably not winning fifty six games, but man, this could not have worked out better for the NBA, for the Spurs. For yeah, I mean, like listen, San Antonio and France go together like Joe Mizzula and never calling timeouts, Like that's just it's just written. Like you got Boris diaw, you've got Tony Parker, Like the entire country of France
was rooting for Victor to go to San Antonio. This is what he said, Victor, there's a special relationship between France and the Spurs because of Tony Parker and Boris dil I know half the country maybe, if not the whole country wanted the Spurs to have the number one overall pick. And before you say, well, Trista, this is a Patrick Ewing situation. Sometimes it just happens for a reason. Like I said, if it wasn't Portland, I wanted him
to be in San Antonio. Another big man, transcendent big man going to the Spurs, playing underneath Pop and probably playing the most boring brand of basketball you've ever seen.