Speaker 1: The drive blowing along on a Wednesday afternoon. Happy up
Speaker 1: day two. Yeah, Happy Thanksgiving to you the day early.
Speaker 1: Plenty of sports action to come over the holiday and
Speaker 1: the weekend that follows. A bunch of hoops included. They're
Speaker 1: in some NBA Cup action. Continues on to discuss that,
Speaker 1: of course, the very interesting Utah Jazz moment and more.
Speaker 1: Howard Beck, the ringer for the NBA Daily Assist today
Speaker 1: brought to you by bout Time pub Howard, how are
Speaker 1: you my friend?
Speaker 2: Are you love? Love coming into the dulctone of Big
Speaker 2: Hit Todden the Monsters.
Speaker 1: There you go. That was just for you. It's just
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 2: Love it great.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you for joining us each and every week, of course,
Speaker 1: as you do here on the station. Happy early Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: to you. What's the uh? What's the holiday look like
Speaker 1: for the Backs?
Speaker 2: Well, we have a long standing tradition that's more like friendsgiving.
Speaker 2: Because of the fact that we live in New York,
Speaker 2: our families are in California. So we will be heading
Speaker 2: up to uh Westchester County, north of the city tomorrow
Speaker 2: to hang with some good friends of ours who've been
Speaker 2: kind enough to take us in over the years. For
Speaker 2: over a decade now. But first, of course, first porter,
Speaker 2: despite the fact that it is going to be raining
Speaker 2: overnight and well through the morning, we are going to
Speaker 2: trudge out to uh Midtown Manhattan and watch the parade.
Speaker 2: Is something we've been doing since our daughter was very small.
Speaker 2: Again tradition with that same family who's taking us in
Speaker 2: for Thanksgiving. And yeah, we're just stubborn and weird and
Speaker 2: we're going to go sit there and get soaked and
Speaker 2: watch balloons go by.
Speaker 1: I love that. I love that. It's like such a
Speaker 1: I don't want to say stereotypical, like New York Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: It's just like what you actually think of Thanksgiving, the
Speaker 1: Macy's Parade, you know, the the New York the friends
Speaker 1: at the at the parade. I'm just going to kill
Speaker 1: a turkey with a bow and then cook it. That's
Speaker 1: that's our Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's exactly how I thought things went in Utah.
Speaker 2: So I appreciate you confirming it's everybody's just yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's well, good happy hunting, good luck. I hope I
Speaker 2: hope you can. Hope you can track down the cranberry
Speaker 2: sauce too. Those are tricky though they're very evasive, as
Speaker 2: I understand that the cans of cranberry sauce, you've got
Speaker 2: to really shoot very accurate.
Speaker 1: The tags are hard to acquire as well, so we'll
Speaker 1: make sure we get all the fix. And speaking of that,
Speaker 1: howurd what is the most underrated Thanksgiving dish?
Speaker 2: Oh Man, that's a good question, you know, this is
Speaker 2: it's funny because I feel like in the era of
Speaker 2: social media where we can like just throw up poles
Speaker 2: and lists and takes on everything Thanksgiving, like everything's got
Speaker 2: to be ranked. Everybody's got to trash each other's like
Speaker 2: favorite thing, like what you you like the marshmallow on
Speaker 2: Yam's thing? You're crazy, like you know, you know, like
Speaker 2: there's not a single Thanksgiving dish. It's somebody Like I
Speaker 2: didn't even realize until the last several years that there's
Speaker 2: a whole contingent of people out there who think that
Speaker 2: turkey is overrated, Like now, yeah, well, like what and
Speaker 2: that Thanksgiving meals are overrated and the whole thing. I
Speaker 2: don't know. There's just too much social media, too many
Speaker 2: takes too much time. I don't I don't, I don't
Speaker 2: know what. I don't know what the underrated one is?
Speaker 2: All I know is I love all of it.
Speaker 1: You're you're a fan of the balance Thanksgiving roster.
Speaker 2: I just I just want to just just absolutely gorge myself. Yes,
Speaker 2: it's all good. The only question is like how to
Speaker 2: to to dole it out on that first time through
Speaker 2: when you're putting on the plate because it's just not
Speaker 2: enough room. You know you're gonna go back for a
Speaker 2: second round, and I don't want to have too much
Speaker 2: tur at the expense of you know, the sweet potatoes
Speaker 2: or the homemade rabbioli that one of the people who
Speaker 2: comes to this event every year makes. It's it's tricky.
Speaker 2: I gotta I gotta save room for all of it.
Speaker 2: And of course I mean huge, huge, huge pumpkin pie
Speaker 2: guy another thing that people have weirdly decided to go
Speaker 2: contrarian on in recent years. But I love pumpkin pie.
Speaker 2: I could eat it year round, And yeah, I got
Speaker 2: to save room for that.
Speaker 1: See I liked it.
Speaker 3: After all the years, you still haven't got it figured out.
Speaker 3: You know, you're trying out new things every year. On
Speaker 3: that first time through, I find myself in the same
Speaker 3: thing one year over. Did it on the rolls the
Speaker 3: first time through, second time, you know, maybe too much turkey,
Speaker 3: you know, and then you you try.
Speaker 1: To paste it and space it.
Speaker 3: But as a decision maker on a very important day,
Speaker 3: you know, you've had to try and use different strategies.
Speaker 1: It's all a part of how blessed we really are.
Speaker 2: I love a good role, but I'm thinking, actually the
Speaker 2: strategy should be avoid the bread. Bread is filling, even
Speaker 2: if even if it's the greatest freaking dinner role, like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you're just gonna you don't want to fill up on rolls.
Speaker 2: There's so much other good food.
Speaker 1: And this is true. You you have to be, you know,
Speaker 1: vigilant with the bread and the stuffing because while it
Speaker 1: is good. While a good a well cooked role is phenomenal,
Speaker 1: and the stuffing is good, it's so it'll it'll fill
Speaker 1: up your stomach immediately. So you gotta either save it
Speaker 1: for last or just get a small serving go from there.
Speaker 1: All right, Howard NBA cup action last night?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 1: What had what had your uh? What had your attention?
Speaker 1: Last night? The Lakers and the Suns go to battle. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Phoenix gets back their stars and they looked good in
Speaker 1: doing so. Victor wembin Yama showed well against the Jazz
Speaker 1: in there when they're the Rockets move on as the
Speaker 1: winners in their group after beating the Timberwolves. Of course,
Speaker 1: a good matchup between Milwaukee and Miami, and then the
Speaker 1: Bulls get to win over Washington. What's what's had your
Speaker 1: intenna's going with the NBA Cup and and what do
Speaker 1: you make of the results from last night?
Speaker 2: As you may recall, I don't care about the Cup
Speaker 2: at all, So I'm just watching these games like I'm watching.
Speaker 1: Any of.
Speaker 2: It is I mean it literally is. We can pretend
Speaker 2: that there's something more at stake, and we can project
Speaker 2: and say, look how hard they're playing. Teams play hard
Speaker 2: in November. Team like they do? They just do. I
Speaker 2: know people think they don't. Some other Cup has made
Speaker 2: them play harder.
Speaker 3: It hasn't.
Speaker 2: This is like very much projection by people. There are
Speaker 2: some great games I watched. I was most at tuned
Speaker 2: to Houston and Minnesota last night, and the Rockets are
Speaker 2: just super impressive, and I think, you know, the Timberwolves
Speaker 2: are still kind of figuring things out right, Like it's
Speaker 2: Evencenzo and and Randall, the two guys they got for
Speaker 2: Karl Anthony Towns, Like they're still trying to figure out
Speaker 2: the chemistry there and fit and the rhythm and all
Speaker 2: those things. But they had a nice, nice game last
Speaker 2: night from from the rookie Dillingham. Uh so they you know,
Speaker 2: Mike Conley's out, they got to figure out to do
Speaker 2: a point guard and so so bling him. I thought
Speaker 2: showed well. But but the Rockets in that game ire
Speaker 2: just just super impressive. Like they are. They're athletic, they're long,
Speaker 2: they're energetic, they are just playing their butts off. It
Speaker 2: feels like every second of the game. And they're they're
Speaker 2: interesting right like they're I think they're third in the
Speaker 2: West right now. Young team that made a bit of
Speaker 2: a leap last season, but it wasn't clear if that
Speaker 2: was just one of those kind of late season surges.
Speaker 2: Is this for real? The West really good? They don't
Speaker 2: have one guy to just hang their hat on. Like
Speaker 2: Jillen Green is really good, but is he gonna be
Speaker 2: a perennial All Star? I mean I don't think so.
Speaker 2: Jabari Smith's really good, but a perennial All Star shng
Speaker 2: goun Like they're all really good, But I don't know
Speaker 2: that you've got a top ten to top fifteen talent
Speaker 2: there among any of those guys not guaranteed, but the
Speaker 2: collection of them all. Yeah, and Amen Thompson and Dylan
Speaker 2: Brooks and of course Fred van Vliet. Like it just works.
Speaker 2: It's a it's a team that really hard and has
Speaker 2: a lot of youth and athleticism. Emaio Duck has done
Speaker 2: a great job there. I was, I don't want to
Speaker 2: say skeptical. I was. I was not completely sold in
Speaker 2: the Rockets coming into the season, and right now it's
Speaker 2: hard not to be. Even if they don't have a traditional,
Speaker 2: you know, cast of stars that you don't normally see
Speaker 2: on a contender. And I'm not saying they are a contender,
Speaker 2: but they're legitimately really good because of the collection of
Speaker 2: talent they have.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we're one month into this thing. Their
Speaker 3: togetherness and their defensive culture is real. I love what
Speaker 3: they've built all together, and like you said, they play really,
Speaker 3: really hard. As you look at this first month, I mean,
Speaker 3: there's so many things that could change between now and
Speaker 3: the end of the year, But thirty days into this thing,
Speaker 3: in your eyes, what is.
Speaker 1: Real to you?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's a great question. We're almost at
Speaker 2: the twenty game mark. We're getting close. And that's usually
Speaker 2: you know, teams always say, you know, twenty twenty five games,
Speaker 2: maybe thirty in that's when things really have started to
Speaker 2: settle into reality. And look, there's some surprises, right. I
Speaker 2: knew the Cavs would be good, maybe top four in
Speaker 2: the East, but seventeen and one, like, nobody saw that coming.
Speaker 2: The Warriors have, I think, exceeded most people's expectations, even mine,
Speaker 2: and I was always a Warrior's believer. They've been phenomenal.
Speaker 2: The Rockets we just mentioned, I'm still waiting. I'm like,
Speaker 2: it's kind of a waiting seem mode on a couple
Speaker 2: of teams. Like the Bucks started out terribly. They've rebounded recently.
Speaker 2: Giannis has now hurt, but the Bucks seem to have
Speaker 2: finally kind of gotten some sense of who they are
Speaker 2: now and some stability. The Pacers are kind of underachieving still.
Speaker 2: The Nets are overachieving, which is just weird because the Nets,
Speaker 2: this was a season set up for them to tank.
Speaker 2: They orchestrated a move to get their their own draft
Speaker 2: pick back from Houston on the belief that they would
Speaker 2: be terrible, and instead Jordi Fernandez, their rookie head coach
Speaker 2: has been incredible, and they're eight and ten, which is,
Speaker 2: you know, not great record, but it's far better than
Speaker 2: they were supposed to be. And they're blowing the tank,
Speaker 2: they're blowing the Cooper X sweepstakes, and of course we're
Speaker 2: waiting for the Sixers to get healthy. And I remain
Speaker 2: I don't want to say a Sixers optimist, but I'm
Speaker 2: not going to bury them until we get to a
Speaker 2: point where either the record is so bad you know
Speaker 2: in another month that you just you know that there
Speaker 2: is no digging out of it, or if they're bad
Speaker 2: when all their stars are actually healthy. Like the one
Speaker 2: thing we haven't seen with the Sixers yet is what
Speaker 2: happens when Tyree Spect see Paul George and Joel Embid
Speaker 2: are actually all playing at the same time. Because that
Speaker 2: was the whole point of the exercise of getting Paul George.
Speaker 2: They're very top heavy, and so as a result, when
Speaker 2: you don't have multiple of those guys, you're just not
Speaker 2: going to be very good. And so the Sixers are
Speaker 2: three and thirteen and they look terrible and everyone's ready
Speaker 2: to bury them, and there's been some drama as well,
Speaker 2: but I still think that's a team that if those
Speaker 2: three guys are healthy and playing the way we know
Speaker 2: they can next spring. I don't think they're a team
Speaker 2: anybody in the East is going to want to have
Speaker 2: to deal with. I think that they still have potential
Speaker 2: to make a deep playoff run. I think the skepticism
Speaker 2: from everybody else comes with the yeah, but they're never
Speaker 2: going to get healthy. Well, all right, we can't see
Speaker 2: the future. I get why people believe that, but I
Speaker 2: think we need to wait and see if there's a
Speaker 2: healthier outcome here somewhere.
Speaker 1: Let's see it in a little bit on this dynamic
Speaker 1: a little bit more. Howard you mentioned, of course we're
Speaker 1: twenty ish games in for a lot of teams. That's
Speaker 1: way too few games to get a good feel of
Speaker 1: the hierarchy of the league. But it does appear we
Speaker 1: have a little clear mark of delineation in the East
Speaker 1: where Cleveland and Boston are kind of way out front
Speaker 1: of just about everyone else in the conference. Is there
Speaker 1: anyone that belongs in Tier one in the East with
Speaker 1: Boston and Cleveland? And then on the second part of
Speaker 1: that question, you look at the West, there are ten
Speaker 1: teams within three and a half games of each other,
Speaker 1: from one to ten. You can't really see a clear
Speaker 1: mark of delineation. There is there a Tier one in
Speaker 1: the West, and who may belong on.
Speaker 2: That in the East. If you had asked me before
Speaker 2: the season, I would have said Boston's in their own tier,
Speaker 2: and then there's a fight to decide who gets to
Speaker 2: be their biggest threat, and whether that was going to
Speaker 2: be New York, Milwaukee, Philly that would have been my list,
Speaker 2: and then Cleveland hovering in there. I wasn't entirely sold
Speaker 2: on the Cavaliers again, a first year head coach, not
Speaker 2: a rookie head coach. Kenny Ackintson was head coach in
Speaker 2: Brooklyn before, but Kenny in his first year with Cleveland
Speaker 2: doing an incredible job there, so I didn't see that coming.
Speaker 2: I still think that the Celtics, especially now the poor
Speaker 2: zingis is back. Yes, by record, they're the second best
Speaker 2: team in the East, but let's be real, they're the
Speaker 2: defending champs. They've got everybody back and Peyton Pritchard's having
Speaker 2: an incredible season so far too, so their depths looks
Speaker 2: even better. The Celtics are still the favorites. I think
Speaker 2: they're still still Tier one, and I think Cleveland is
Speaker 2: the lead of Tier two in the East, and I
Speaker 2: think the are still figuring things out with towns and
Speaker 2: you know, a you know a little bit of reshuffling
Speaker 2: in their roster. They picked up Michel Bridges in the
Speaker 2: off season. But I think some combination of Cleveland, New York,
Speaker 2: maybe Milwaukee and again maybe Philly those that's the group
Speaker 2: that's battling it out to see who gets to be
Speaker 2: in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics and see
Speaker 2: if they can take them down. But I think the
Speaker 2: Celtics are still clearly the best team in the East,
Speaker 2: regardless the West. I mean, I think everybody coming in
Speaker 2: the season, it was kind of the consensus out there
Speaker 2: that the Thunder was going to be their year. And
Speaker 2: you know, they've got a one game lead on the
Speaker 2: Warriors and Rockets as we speak. They've had some injury
Speaker 2: issues of their own. Obviously, chet Holmbrin's still out for
Speaker 2: a while, Hartenstein, who was one of their big off
Speaker 2: season pickups, was out for a while. The combination of
Speaker 2: talent and depth, it's probably still Oklahoma. And then again
Speaker 2: we're now saying, but who's that you know, who's in
Speaker 2: the mix to challenge them, and that part's really hard
Speaker 2: to figure out, Like, are the Rockets, as we just discussed,
Speaker 2: are they for real? Are they? Are they that level
Speaker 2: of real? Are there? Are they ready with all that youth?
Speaker 2: I think the Warriors have a shot, but it still
Speaker 2: feels like a stretch up with the Warriors in, you know,
Speaker 2: in a finals conversation, given you know, they don't have
Speaker 2: a lot of elite talent. After Steph, the Sons needed
Speaker 2: to get healthy. They finally got guys back, like they're
Speaker 2: in this conversation somewhere. The Grizzlies, you know, always having
Speaker 2: health issues, but have a have an argument to make here.
Speaker 2: And then the Mavericks and Nuggets you know, are sitting
Speaker 2: down there, you know, surprisingly low in the standings. The
Speaker 2: Mavericks obviously had injury issues with Luca being out. The
Speaker 2: Nuggets just can't quite refine the magic they show it
Speaker 2: at times, and then they you know, you know, get
Speaker 2: crushed the other night by New York. But I'm not
Speaker 2: ruling out the Nuggets in this conversation, and I'm not
Speaker 2: ruling out the Mavericks in this conversation. I think the
Speaker 2: only teams that I don't think I don't think either
Speaker 2: of the LA teams are really in this Dell fate. Eventually,
Speaker 2: I think Minnesota will still be heard from. I think
Speaker 2: the Timberwolves will rise again in the West and be
Speaker 2: part of this conversation. I don't know what to make
Speaker 2: of the Sacramento Kings right now, but they should not
Speaker 2: be eight and ten.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought they'd be better than they have been.
Speaker 3: And I joke, I made the joke yesterday. Well, Jay
Speaker 3: Crowder has been picked up. It's all fixed now. But
Speaker 3: by no means did I have them, you know, hosting
Speaker 3: the Western Conference finals. But they were big on trying
Speaker 3: to take a step forward, and quite frankly, they've taken
Speaker 3: a step back, and it looks bizarre on some of
Speaker 3: the losses they've had. They've been lifeless at times like
Speaker 3: that jumps out to me with a team that kind
Speaker 3: of came in saying, all right, let's take a real
Speaker 3: step forward. To me, the record is one thing. It's
Speaker 3: the lifeless level of performance that jumps out at me.
Speaker 3: Are there other teams out there just with the quality
Speaker 3: of play that has surprised you in this early going.
Speaker 2: Of the year. A little disappointed in the Indiana Paters. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I've always been a big tyrese Albert and guy. And
Speaker 2: he's just not depending on the night, because I've seen
Speaker 2: this come and go. But you know, he's a player who,
Speaker 2: on his talent alone and on some of his just
Speaker 2: some of his accomplishments over the last couple of years,
Speaker 2: you could say, Okay, Perennial All Star guy, who's gonna
Speaker 2: be in the All NBA conversation, But he's you those
Speaker 2: guys generally play with a certain amount of swagger and
Speaker 2: a kind of consistent assertiveness, and especially when you're the
Speaker 2: guy with the ball in your hands most of the time,
Speaker 2: you really need to always be aggressive in an attack mode.
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying he's been passive. He just some
Speaker 2: of the swagger that I have loved about him, where
Speaker 2: he just has a confidence out there and he's trash
Speaker 2: talking and he's you know, you know, just just enjoying himself.
Speaker 2: Like he's fun to watch when he's at his best.
Speaker 2: I feel like some of that spark has been dimmer
Speaker 2: this season or just inconsistent. But the Pages were a
Speaker 2: team that I that I thought would be a little
Speaker 2: bit more of a presence in the East, and right
Speaker 2: now it feels like they're they're just missing something. I'm
Speaker 2: not sure what what you know, what you could put
Speaker 2: a finger on, but it feels like they're just a
Speaker 2: little bit off.
Speaker 1: Yah, are most looking forward to maybe uh storylines that
Speaker 1: you're you're most dialed into heading into uh little Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: break for us here on on on the radio side,
Speaker 1: we got four days off before we're back on a
Speaker 1: on a Monday. Give us, uh, give us the lowdown
Speaker 1: on what we may see in the time in between.
Speaker 2: I have not looked ahead at the games. Obviously. The
Speaker 2: whole NBA is off tomorrow, happily, so we get cord ourselves.
Speaker 2: I don't even know what that is. I will not
Speaker 2: be watching football. I'll watch a parade and then I
Speaker 2: will gorge myself. But no, I mean, you know, look,
Speaker 2: the NBA picks back up on Friday. There's nothing. I
Speaker 2: don't know if there's any one thing this weekend. I'm
Speaker 2: more just kind of curious, you know, over the next
Speaker 2: few weeks how things settle in. Because December fifteenth is
Speaker 2: the unofficial startup trade season. It never really actually happens
Speaker 2: that way, but that's when everybody signed over the summer.
Speaker 2: Most guys signed over the summer anyway can be traded.
Speaker 2: And we are getting close to the point as we
Speaker 2: opened the discussion with of teams having to decide, all right,
Speaker 2: are we actually this good? Cool? Are we actually this bad?
Speaker 2: What are we doing now? Like the Nets, I'm not
Speaker 2: saying this facetiously, the Nets cannot afford to be this good.
Speaker 2: They're gonna have to start trading some of these pieces
Speaker 2: because they need to be They need to be worse.
Speaker 2: They've got their pick and they and they need a
Speaker 2: franchise star and they don't have that on their roster now.
Speaker 2: And so it's nice to have a bunch of guys
Speaker 2: overachieving and winning games unexpectedly. It's fun for the fans,
Speaker 2: but they need to probably trade like a shrewder and
Speaker 2: Dorian Finney Smith. So I'm more curious to see if
Speaker 2: teams get some clarity in the next few weeks. The
Speaker 2: New Orleans Pelicans were supposed to be at you know,
Speaker 2: one of the better teams in the West, but injuries
Speaker 2: have just wrecked them, and you know, they've got to
Speaker 2: I think despite all of that, they've got a lot
Speaker 2: of interesting talent there and you know, are they going
Speaker 2: to decide maybe this is a year to take a
Speaker 2: step back, given that things are already kind of out
Speaker 2: of control and they're four and fourteen. It's it's it's
Speaker 2: decisions like that that I think you know are going
Speaker 2: to come into focus over the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: And so, yeah, nothing this weekend, but over the next
Speaker 2: few weeks, I think we start to get a clear
Speaker 2: picture of what the actual pecking order is.
Speaker 1: Well, that's kind of what we come to you for anyway, right,
Speaker 1: not necessarily asking you to break down the Lakers OKC
Speaker 1: matchup in specificity. We're we're talking big picture NBA and
Speaker 1: the storylines as the season goes along with one. Howard
Speaker 1: Beck of the Ringer at Howard Beck makes it easy
Speaker 1: on all the social media as you can just search
Speaker 1: for him there and always appreciate his time. Howard, Happy holiday,
Speaker 1: Happy Thanksgiving, and we'll catch up with you. Actually not
Speaker 1: next week. It depends on your schedule. I know you're
Speaker 1: you're busy for the next little while, so we'll catch
Speaker 1: up with you whenever we can over the next three
Speaker 1: or four weeks.
Speaker 2: Sounds great. Happy holidays, guys, have a good one. We'll
Speaker 2: talk soon, all right, man.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the parade and the rain right yeah. Enjoy the football,
Speaker 1: Howard Beck of The Ringer, Brought to you by our
Speaker 1: friends at bout Time Pub